#cittagazze

[casualavocados]

Little grocery shops and bakeries stood between jewelers and bead-curtained doors opening into private houses, where wrought-iron balconies thick with flowers overhung the narrow pavement, and where the silence, being enclosed, was even more profound. The streets were leading downward, and before very long they opened out onto a broad avenue where more palm trees reached high into the air, the underside of their leaves glowing in the streetlights. On the other side of the avenue was the sea.

HIS DARK MATERIALS • Cittàgazze The Subtle Knife / Chapter 1: The Cat and the Hornbeam Trees

[hellishfig]

thinking about how will was led to the world of cittagazze by a cat

he was led to the knife, and to lyra, by that cat

and his dæmon, kirjava, settled as a cat

because he loves cats, but also because a cat is what led him to love

[transvioletbaudelaire]

will & lyra jumping in the lake and splashing each other as baptism imagery -> the idea of growing up as a “rebirth” into adulthood -> the epigraph for that chapter in the amber spyglass “the birthday of my life has come, my love is come to me”……

[secondbetrayer]

“  who  did  this  to  you  ?  ”

MEME | accepting

“Some mean big kids. But I fought ‘em off.” That wasn’t entirely true, Lyra merely said it to sound tougher. It had been Angelica’s group, some of whom were probably younger than Lyra was and were definitely smaller in stature.

“Going to have some cool bruises for a while too, en’t I?” Even though she ached and they were still quite painful at the moment, she liked the idea of the bruises. The thought of them on her skin made her feel tough too.

[knifebearer]

reposting my journal entry from the forum about yarah settling as a snow leopard + my Feelings on the cyclical nature of that:

Ah, hey. Hey. Yeah.

So, uh, long story. I think that Yarahel might've settled as a snow leopard? Which I have complicated feelings about, obviously, since... y'know. The obvious that's plastered all over my profile, haha.

I don't know why she necessarily decided to stay like this, and like, detached from all of my weird baggage about having the same form as my former father, it's kind of neat? I like snow leopards, they're a good animal. Good form. Kudos to my fellow snow leopards out there.

At first I was sort of in denial about it, because like, of course Shiloh Silvertongue of all people in the world has a snow leopard for a dæmon. That was a little too on the nose for me, so we tried on different hats with big cats until Yarah decided that she was tired of going poof and changing it. And she's stopped changing (unless it was to take the shape of a red panda, which I'll talk about in a second.)

I... have complicated feelings on the matter. I know that a form is only what you make of it, but for like, personal spiritual and metaphysical reasons, it was really difficult for me to accept that Yarah had decided to settle that way. My soul being the shape of my (former) father's soul is kind of, well, cyclical. And I dunno about you but I'm not too keen on killing god a second time around.

I think if Lord Asriel and Stelmaria saw me now they'd both promptly laugh in my face. Haha! You're continuing the cycle, idiot! Yeah dad, thanks.

Anyway, red pandas! I saw them at the zoo once and felt drawn to them in an "aww cute" kind of way. Then I saw the HDM tv show and that Pantelaimon took the form of one in Cittagazze, and Yarah promptly took to taking that form when I was big sad or feeling nostalgic. And then I ended up with two plushies of red pandas, and now I fear I'm growing a collection.

Anyway, Yarah kinda... hops into the plushies when I'm sleeping or cuddling with them. So I'm cuddling her. It's nice. Real nice. The bigger weighted one I sleep with at night, and the smaller one comes with me out places when I'm too tired to project.

Lots of typical stuff happening. I go out, I do schoolwork, I play my silly roleplaying games, I go to the library, I make art... Yadda yadda.

Bye for now,

Shiloh Silvertongue (and Yarahel).

[peetapiepita]

Love how producer Dan McCulloch is like a parent to Dafne and Amir lol

Just watched an interview where he said the kids would sometimes hide under the trailers and he'd have to pull them out before shooting. Lol.

He also said they were always telling Dafne and Amir off so they probably did a lot of sneaky stuff that they wouldn't tell him. He always knew the two of them were stealing props from the set, though, because they stole too much metal and those were always clinking when the two of them exited the sound stage. 🤣 He said he had no idea why they were so drawn to metal in particular. Lmao.

One thing I'm sure the producers didn't know about is Amir and Dafne etching their names on the brick wall in Cittagazze. Amir said that and I could tell no one knew. Dafne got sold out by Amir because he also said it was her idea. Lol. One of the bricks from the set of Cittagazze has "AW" and "DK" carved in. That's a nice idea, like all the "L + W" on the bench in the Botanic Garden.

[kirjavas]

I have a few numbers for the HDM asks, are you ready????

3, 11, 12, 16, 28, 31 & 36!!

✨✨

bring it!

favourite costume i love all of lyra's cittagazze outfits, especially the blue jacket. i'm just a big fan of the mediterranean vibes tbh. also mrs coulter's green dress is iconic

favourite mrs coulter outfit GREEN DRESS !! but i do also love the fur coat

favourite set/location asriel's lab, the mulefa world or the world of the dead

any book scenes you would have liked to see in the show the scene where lyra lies to the harpies was at the top of my list for season 3. i am still so disappointed we didn't get to see it, dafne keen would have acted the shit out of that

pick a meal probably the omelette scene (i don't even like omelettes but i would love to have will parry make me one)

pick an unhinged mrs coulter moment the scene where she's like "thorold, i should feed you to the wolves.......... but i won't" is simply underrated

which world would you most like to live in lyra's just because i want a dæmon, but on balance the mulefa world because there is no corrupt theocracy

[taylortruther]

The hardest part about rereading the trilogy was that I didn't enjoy Northen Lights as much because I wanted Will. He's such a fantastic character and his relationship with his mother is fascinating.

There's so many mentions of cats regarding Will and I love this because his dæmon settles as a cat. It's like he's connected to cats on a spiritual level (do you think we can use this to convince Taylor to read the books). One of my favorite moments is when he meets Lyra for the first time he describes that "he stayed calm and quiet as if she were a strange cat he was making friends with." His soul is a cat and the first thing he thinks about Lyra when he meets her is that she's like a cat.

And when the children in Cittagazze hurt the cat and Will immediately defends it and Lyra's convinced for a moment that that is his dæmon. And when Lyra wonders what his dæmon is and decides "whatever its form was, it would express a nature that was savage, and courteous, and unhappy."

One of my favorite characterization of his is his ability to be unnoticeable, which is almost like the magic Serafina can do. It's such a catlike ability! And it's such a heartbreaking little detail to add to a character that spent most of his life trying to avoid social service separating him from his mother.

There's a moment in the book when they realize the words anbar/amber and electric mean opposite things in the world and I always remembered this scene because 1. It's funny and 2. It's such a small worldbuilding detail and I love this shit. There's also a scene where Lyra finds the idea of wearing pants as a girl completely outrageous that's so funny.

I love how Pullman uses dæmons to describe intimacy like that moment when Will panics because he's the bearer of the knife and Pan puts his head on his lap to comfort him and it's such a crucial moment in the book because Pan wouldn't have done that to anyone else, but Lyra's own soul is desperate to comfort Will (much to her surprise).

"I think Lyra's braver than me. I think she's the best friend I ever had." I lose my mind every time I see a quote that immediately makes me think about that best friend line in You Are In Love.

There's a lot of Lee Scoresby in this book and his relationship with Lyra is so wholesome. It's kind of wicked of Pullman to have Lee say he considers Lyra his daughter and then kill him off. Just another parental figure who dies without Lyra ever knowing.

But at least all the scenes with Lee gave me some great quotes like "You are an enemt of the church, Lee Scoresby." (Icon) and "we're renegades. Not by our choice, but by their malice." and "shame to die with one bullet left, though."

And the funniest line I've ever read in a book:

"What do you mean, a palaeo-archeologist? Archeologists already study what's old; why do you beed to put another word meaning old in front of it?"

The book also presents Mary Malone and I don't have much to say about her but she is one of the best characters ever and I'm kind of obsessed with her discovering a means to communicate with angels and them just being like "you're a snake" (she would've loved reputation). But seriously I love how criticial of religion this book is that it presents the serpent as a positive influence. The serpent is a sweet and kind doctor who's willing to work hard to communicate with new civilization. She introduces Lyra and Will to love which is the purest thing in the world.

I LOVE THAT PART with the amber/anbar! and i love how pullman on occasion describes something without actually describing the thing. he does it here, where he says they look at each other with the same expression. but he doesn't describe the expression - because he knows the reader is also feeling what will and lyra are feeling so there's no need. the reader can fill in the blank. it's just so clever.

you know what part i love, speaking of mary? how she's telling will and lyra about the moment she felt desire - with the marzipan - and lyra describes feeling as if she's a house whose windows and doors have all been opened. like this knowledge just opens her and frees her! all from a story, the same way that the harpies will free the ghosts by telling them stories to lead them to mulefa/rejoin dust in the universe!

also i love how lyra and will are both so strong and good that as much as it hurt them not to be together they both knew they had to part. like they didn't entertain the alternatives for very long. they accepted their universes were more important than them being together and it was just another fact they had to accept. and after all the loss they'd both experienced, it made sense they accepted it so quickly/firmly.

also also, did you ever read those "extras"? they were like excerpts of handwritten letters and documents from the different characters. and something from mary suggested that will was living with her which i think is just really sweet because lyra had an entire world that knew what had happened but in will's world, only mary knew.

[amemoryofwot]

Mary hugging the Cittagazze kid oh my heart 😭

[aercnaut-archived]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻.

repost, don’t reblog

tagging: no one bc this is long as hell HOWEVER IF YOU WANT TO PLEASE TAG ME I WANNA SEEEEEE

nabbed from @manaborn

basics !

FULL NAME. lee joseph scoresby

NICKNAME. mr. scoresby?

GENDER. cis male

HEIGHT. 6’0”

AGE. 35

ZODIAC. virgo

LANGUAGES. english, spanish, and more that pullman didn’t specify but enough that he had to go through a list of the ones he knew to communicate with a shaman

physical characteristics !

HAIR COLOR. black with a few stray greys here and there

EYE COLOR. deep brown

SKIN TONE. tan

BODY TYPE. on the slimmer side of the dad bod spectrum. 

ACCENT. texan

VOICE. i’m bad at describing voices so i’m just gonna say its l.in manuel miranda

DOMINANT HAND. ambidextrous with a preference for his left

POSTURE. straight and confident

SCARS. main verse has three bullet wounds on his chest, one on his ankle, and one on the left side of his head

TATTOOS. has a sleeve on his right arm that features a design that resembles his mother’s turquoise ring, a hare that looks like hester, and a compass

BIRTHMARKS. a few moles and freckles on his face

MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). his eyes

childhood !

PLACE OF BIRTH. the country of texas (pullman gave no further elaboration)

HOMETOWN. not mentioned

BIRTH WEIGHT. he doesn’t know, but he was born a few weeks early

BIRTH HEIGHT. same as above

FIRST WORDS. hester

SIBLINGS. only child

PARENTS. cody and sophie scoresby

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. his mother did her best to raise him, but his father was a violent drunk who abused the both of them regularly. he learned his kindness from his mother, and his roughness from his father. he idolized sophie growing up, but now that he’s an adult in charge of a child of his own, he’s gotten to feel a little bitter about her parenting, too.

adult life !

OCCUPATION. aeronaut and hired hand

CURRENT RESIDENCE. the sky?

CLOSE FRIENDS. i.orek b.yrnison, l.yra s.ilvertongue, s.erafina p.ekkala, hester

RELATIONSHIP STATUS. single

FINANCIAL STATUS. chronically broke with more debt than what he knows to do with

DRIVER’S LICENSE. probably not.

CRIMINAL RECORD. is it under his true name? no. does it exist? yes. 

VICES. cigars, cigarettes, the occasional bottle of vodka

sex and romance !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION. bisexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. biromantic

PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch

PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch

LIBIDO. average

TURN ON’S. intelligence, kindness, brunettes, a certain amount of chaos

TURN OFF’S. cruelty, materialism, self centeredness

LOVE LANGUAGE. touch and words of affirmation

RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. tends to get protective and a little jealous, but holds back to avoid being like his father. a lot of his negative traits in relationships tend to be from just trying not to end up like his father, which can be good (understanding, honesty, willingness to communicate), and bad (passiveness, rose colored glasses, and a tendency to run away from a relationship if an argument gets a little rougher than what he’s comfortable with.) he’s also married to the sky, which has left plenty of relationships grounded.

miscellaneous !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG. never let me down again by depeche mode

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. singing and making up songs on the spot with hester

MENTAL ILLNESSES. ptsd, anxiety

PHYSICAL ILLNESSES. after the shootout at cittagazze, lee has lasting pain in his chest and ankle, as well as chronic migraines from being shot in the side of the head

LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. right brained

FEARS. cliff ghasts, ghosts, killing, people with rattlesnake daemons

SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. lee is one cocky son of a bitch. even in verses that don’t use lin’s lee, he’s fairly sure of himself purely because of age an experience

VULNERABILITIES. his loyalty and dedication to people can be exploited very easily and has almost (or flat out has) gotten his killed several times

[theuntitledblog]

His Dark Materials (2019-2022) - REVIEW

SYNOPSIS

Young orphan Lyra, who resides in an alternate world governed by the autocratic Magisterium, lives with the scholars in Jordan College in Oxford. When her friend, Roger goes missing, she goes on a quest with her daemon Pantalaimon to find him and discovers a secret that involves several kidnappings.

This television adaptation, a joint project between the BBC and HBO is a far improved offering than 2007's 'The Golden Compass' which was a disappointingly tame adaptation. Based on Philip Pullman's trilogy of novels, His Dark Materials is a bold fantasy dealing with parallel worlds, angels, witches and has some pretty dark content. But perhaps the biggest talking point of the novels and something that the show has maintained is its anti-religious themes; the story is literally about waging war to overthrow God. Yet His Dark Materials is a show that doesn't appear to be talked about too much; the scope is no less ambitious nor the story any less complicated or action packed. But His Dark Materials does feel like a high end BBC drama as it sadly lacks the spark to match the more cinematic and spectacle driven television we have gotten used to. It's a shame because the story has a lot of high stakes, plenty of consequences plus interesting and complex characters to get fully immersed in.

After impressing in 'Logan', Daphne Keen makes for an engaging lead as Lyra Belacqua who starts off as someone caught up in the games of others and realizes that she is also a major player in them. Her lineage is as complicated as the central plot revolving around child abductions, the theories of her Uncle, Lord Asriel which are all linked to the ruling Magisterium's obsession in suppressing the knowledge and influence of the phenomenon known as Dust. The subject of Dust is what drives the story throughout all three seasons and links the characters together including Will Parry (Amir Wilson) who becomes as much as a lead as Lyra, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) who's seeking to overthrow the Authority, the ambitious Lord Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) and Lee Scorsby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) care-free American adventurer just to name a few. There are so many characters on the board to consider and the writers aren't afraid to sacrifice them when needed plus this doesn't take into consideration the daemons. The characters from Lyra's alternate reality exist with animals called daemons that are a physical manifestations of their souls that can talk and interact. But there's no doubt that the MVP character/actor who stands out above them all is Ruth Wilson's Mrs. Coulter who, along with her golden monkey daemon, is as mysterious and terrifying in equal measure as any character gets in this show.

It's a show generally grounded in a gritty reality rather than the more extravagant fantasy set locations that you might come across in other shows. Lyra's world is both familiar but also different to our own with its more fantastical elements coming through the depiction of the various creatures, races and worlds we encounter across all three seasons. The use of airships, the noticeable lack of modern technology such telephones and mobile devices, the Gyptian river boat community, the city of Cittagazze to the Kingdom of the Armoured Bears. The third season introduces the more fantastical elements as Lyra and Will travel to the Land of the Dead while Lord Asriel confronts the Clouded Mountains hiding the Kingdom of Heaven. The production values and special effects are superb especially with the talking animal creatures such as Lyra's daemon, Pantalaimon and the Armoured Bear, Iorek Byrnison. The later inclusion of Angels, Spectres and the strange Mulefar's also convincin on screen, in fact there's not many instances where this show doesn't deliver from a visual perspective. What does betray its television budget somewhat is the absence of daemons in some scenes with large amounts of people. It's understandable from a production point of view and they try to imply their presence by having a few visible, but it is quite distracting and only really where the show reveals its limitations.

For just 24 episodes, His Dark Materials is a series that doesn't outstay its welcome, each season feels generally well balanced nor does any particular season hinder the storytelling at the expense of the others. James McAvoy's virtual absence from season two is perhaps the only exception to this but he makes up for it with a strong standing in season 3 as the show does well to build itself across three seasons towards the long teased battle against Heaven. It's also got its fair share of set pieces and excellent character interactions in a generally excellent adaptation of the novels and puts to bed permanently the memory of the poor 2006 feature film. The controversial themes are at the forefront, it executes its set pieces efficiently and the computer generated characters are never not convincing. What it does lacks maybe is some emotional warmth, this is a dark adaptation filled with horror, betrayals and deaths and there's very little in here to compensate for that darkness. But otherwise it is a handsomely made fantasy series that should be a showcase for the BBC even if HBO have bigger and more popular heavy hitters such as Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon to bear the flag.

VERDICT

While come across as a little low key than other fantasy shows, His Dark Materials has plenty to offer with a well realized series of alternate worlds, multiple threats and memorable characters.

4/5

[casualavocados]

"Well, this was a mercantile city. A city of traders and bankers. We thought we knew about bonds. We thought a bond was something negotiable, something that could be bought and sold and exchanged and converted....But about these bonds, we were wrong. We undid them, and we let the Spectres in."

HIS DARK MATERIALS • The Subtle Knife — 2.04 / Chapter 8: The Tower of The Angels

[transvioletbaudelaire]

Thinking about how they call it the “bearer” of the subtle knife instead of keeper or wielder or master or something like that because that phrasing recognizes the knife as a burden, something you have to bear the weight of because it brings more bad than good to the worlds it cuts into and also to the individual who uses it. it fits with Will so well because he has always gone through life just bearing it, bearing responsibility and bearing sorrow and bearing loss….. he’s had such a burden of a life by the time he makes it to cittagazze it makes sense that his weapon is just the same

[knifebearer]

hello sudden kin memory of me holding will parry's hand while the sun sets in cittagazze . would you like fries with that

[kirjavas]

for hdm asks 3, 20, 31

favourite costume all lyra's cittagazze outfits, her paddington bear cosplay and the costume design for the witches in season 2

favourite piece of music from the soundtrack i have a few: scholastic sanctuary, play the serpent, goodbye explorer, asriel's republic, love across worlds, into the abyss and all the music in the scenes with the bridge to the stars <3

pick an unhinged mrs coulter moment when she gets hit in the face by the spy fly and proceeds to scream bloody murder at lyra behind a locked door

[secondbetrayer]

viciousgold:

Marisa nodded. “Yes, I’ll show you.” She began leading Lyra towards one of the beds. Her mind wandered to the alethiometer again, and she thought about what she would ask it if she could read it like Lyra could. Part of her envied Lyra for this. There were so, so many questions Marisa had, ones that would likely never be answered. “I’ll be over by the window if you need me. Sleep well, my darling.”

Lyra let out another light yawn, scooping Pan up in her arms and following her mother. Once she’d been shown to the bed, the girl let herself flop down on to it, murmuring a goodnight to Mrs Coulter. It wasn’t as comfortable a bed as the one she’d had in her mother’s apartment, but it was still comfortable enough. A bit more comfortable than the bed in Cittagazze. 

Adjusting herself on it and moving the covers over her body, Lyra threaded her fingers through Pan’s fur and let her eyes close. And, despite knowing the danger they were in, before long both the girl and her daemon were drifting off to sleep.

viciousgold:

Marisa nodded. “Yes, I’ll show you.” She began leading Lyra towards one of the beds. Her mind wandered to the alethiometer again, and she thought about what she would ask it if she could read it like Lyra could. Part of her envied Lyra for this. There were so, so many questions Marisa had, ones that would likely never be answered. “I’ll be over by the window if you need me. Sleep well, my darling.”

Lyra let out another light yawn, scooping Pan up in her arms and following her mother. Once she’d been shown to the bed, the girl let herself flop down on to it, murmuring a goodnight to Mrs Coulter. It wasn’t as comfortable a bed as the one she’d had in her mother’s apartment, but it was still comfortable enough. A bit more comfortable than the bed in Cittagazze. 

Adjusting herself on it and moving the covers over her body, Lyra threaded her fingers through Pan’s fur and let her eyes close. And, despite knowing the danger they were in, before long both the girl and her daemon were drifting off to sleep.