#hdm books

[three-atoms]

His Dark Materials covers designed by Alisa Coburn

[nomattertheoceans]

The biggest criticism I have about the plot in the Land of the Dead is about how the theme of storytelling was handled.

Lyra is and has always been a storyteller, although she lies her way through life so easily for such a large part of the story. The meeting with the harpy is so important for that, as is the rest of the arc with the harpy, because she learns the importance of being truthful and honest, and it makes her grow into a better person and actually literally saves all worlds from eternal damnation.

The moment where she starts telling the Deads her stories and that after a while she realizes the harpies are listening this time, because she's not lying, it's such a great moment.

And then when the harpy saves Lyra, and Lyra names her, and they make the deal, it has impact because we saw the development of it all in their previous interactions. We saw the importance the stories have for the harpies. In the show, it rang a bit hollow imo, I feel like Lyra knowing they didn't like being lied to came out of nowhere.

I don't know, the show rushed through this theme a bit too quickly for my taste, I wished they'd have taken more time with it

[now-that-i-saw-you]

So much of From Eden is just Vera being a cute little baby and domestic! Silverparry and I eat this shit up

[hellishfig]

i rly desperately want my friends to watch his dark materials

and yet i’m also making a powerpoint (for our powerpoint party) that is titled “why not one person here should watch his dark materials”

it’s for my irl friends (two of whom are also tumblr friends)

the subtitle is “a secret ploy/genuine warning”

bc yes i do think some of my friends should NOT watch this show

but also some of them rly should

just so that i have people to talk to about it irl :’(

[kirjavas]

never not thinking about iorek byrnison eating lee scoresby's dead body, so as not to let it rot but instead allow it to sustain an old friend on his journey. and how this act fulfilled lee's dying wish to help lyra by giving iorek the strength to go on and find her. thinking about consumption as a form of love, loving someone in their entirety and wanting to eat them whole but also love and grief being something you carry inside of you that guides you forward

[wizard-legs]

Just revamped this Golden Compass illustration I did about two years ago, and wanted to post since I’m kind of in a winter mood! hand drawn typography by yours truly :P

[bookishable]

it's always better to have loved.

philip pullman, the amber spyglass / guillermo del toro's pinocchio (2022) / fleabag (2016-2019) / andrew garfield / art by @catadromously / anne carson, euripides / markus zusak, the book thief / shannon barry / little women (2019) / the good place (2016-2020) / fyodor dostoevsky, crime and punishment / his dark materials (2019-2022) / @starpeace

[lonicera-caprifolium]

"... What I thought was that if you-- maybe just once a year-- if we could come here at the same time, just for an hour or something, then we could pretend we were close again-- because we would be close, if you sat here and I sat just here in my world..." "Yes," he said, "as long as I live, I'll come back. Wherever I am in the world, I'll come back here--" "On Midsummer Day," she said. "At midday. As long as I live. As long as I live..."

(from Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass)

[casualavocados]

You think things have to be possible? Things have to be true!

Amir Wilson as WILL PARRY HIS DARK MATERIALS 2.07 | Æsahættr —The Subtle Knife: Chapter 15

[mxbongwater]

[the-real-list-of-ominous-threats]

I'm going to force you to watch a terrible adaptation of your favorite book

[three-atoms]

His Dark Materials covers designed by Rachel Farrell

[nomattertheoceans]

Experiencing the high of Lyra and Will and Mary being happy in the world of the Mulefa, all the while knowing the ending that's about to come... It's a lot to take in all at once.

[lordbelacqua]

For Lyra.

[hellishfig]

they did include a moment of lyra being called a liar

but it was very early on, right after lyra and will entered the land of the dead, and pan was still with them

i understand why it was changed, but that moment from the books really stuck with me, and i still would have liked to see it

one thing that i rly wish had been included in the his dark materials tv show that was in the books was the part in the amber spyglass where lyra and will are in the land of the dead and lyra tries to lie to the harpies

and the harpies immediately know and start attacking her, screaming “LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!”

and the echoes of the words come back and sound like they’re shouting “LYRA! LYRA! LYRA!”

and lyra begins to cry, bc one of her greatest skills is lying, but the lies built up and now that’s the defining part of her character, so similar to her mother

the instinct to lie is ingrained in her, but she learns in the land of the dead that the truth is just as, if not more, powerful than even the most well crafted lie

i feel like that would have been great in the show, instead of lyra immediately telling true stories, if she had that moment of confronting her nature and growing beyond it

[kirjavas]

making my peace with how lyra was characterised in the show vs the books because so much of it relies on her age and even dafne keen being only one year older than lyra when filming set her up to portray a different character from the very beginning. it doesn't seem like a huge difference but lyra being a child and not a teenager is of fundamental importance to her path in the books so it's inevitable that she was written more like a teenager in the show (and you can't stop child actors from ageing, you can only adapt the writing and directing to match how they mature). the show wrote lyra's arc in accordance with her maturing to the age of around 16, so they chose to have her grow out of her habit of lying and instead wield the power of truth to further her on her journey. it was a different journey from the books, but it got her to the same place: saving her friend and countless others with the power of storytelling and a silvertongue