#hdm meta

[peetapiepita]

You know how I've been complaining about Everlark and Silverparry deniers this past year. They've been bugging me a lot.

Today I saw a tweet about people being anti-romance these days and harping on the writers whenever the main characters have a romantic relationship. It's getting ridiculous.

I'm now struggling to remember if that was a thing 10/15 years ago when both fandoms were more active. I honestly can't remember because I wasn't on as many platforms as I am now and the ones I had been on seemed very romance-friendly as far as I remember.

On tumblr, I was mainly just THG/Everlark-focused 10 years ago and I honestly don't remember any Everlark deniers coming my way at all. Was it really the case or was it just me living in a bubble?

People today saying Everlark never had romance/they should be just friends are so weird to me as well. I was convinced they were just trying to be different but their persistence is weirding me out. Why does two fictional characters having a romantic relationship disturb you so much? Why are you hell bent on denying what the writer wrote in her books?

I don't know. I'm just really confused. Would love to hear your experience and opinions on it.

[hatters-workshop]

How do you reckon theatrical plays work with daemons in Lyra's world? I know they don't have movies in the same way we do, but I would imagine they have some kind of performing arts. Like I imagine characters in stories would have set daemon shapes, do you reckon there are like... daemon costumes for actors whose daemons don't match the character's shape? Or like daemon... make up? Fur dye? For if someone has something close, but say your cat daemon is white but it's mentioned in the narative that Hamlet's is a black cat. I imagine kids whose daemons don't settle til later into puberty would be very popular in acting circles, as their daemons could change to match the characters' for longer. Maybe children performing as older characters is common in a similar way to how men used to perform on the stage in female roles in the past, so that they can match their daemons to the character's. Or maybe media that is written specifically to be a play has character's daemons left a little vague, like generally feline shaped, or canine, or bird, so that it's left a little more to artistic interpretation for casting. Maybe there's much-talked about versions of certain plays bringing new aspects to the roles by casting someone with one daemon shape vs another, like someone playing Lady Macbeth with a grass snake vs a viper etc. Casting calls put out for people who have certain shaped daemons and an interest in performance.

Or maybe there's daemon swapping (though obviously not touching, though maybe there's ways of faking it, like how we have ways of fake kissing or slapping or stabbing etc in plays in our world, or maybe it's just standard costuming for actors to be covered from the neck down so there's no skin contact) where an actor will be on stage but another person's daemon is performing the role of their character's daemon. Maybe there's a special hidden spot built into theaters, either behind or under the stage for their human to be so that the daemon can move freely around the stage but not tug at their tether, and likewise for the human actor's daemon to hide. But imagine, daemon actors, performing in their own right! Maybe there's a kind of prestige to a play having one or more actors performing with their own daemon as is? Like people celebrating how perfect they are for the role?

[regardstosoulandromance]

I am watching HDM s2e5 and oooh boy when Marisa and Mary meet and Mary immediately assumes Marisa has a doctorate and is and equal and starts asking her about her work and just the look on Marisa’s face!!! No one takes her seriously unless she’s intimidating them!!! And Mary living the life she could have had she not been trapped in the patriarchal hellscape on her own world!!! There’s that inkling there that she wanted to be a scholar and she wanted to study science but she had to claw her way there by marrying well and gaining power in the church and oooooh boy there’s so much subtlety in that scene.

[lordeasriel]

Just thought I'd drop in an idea I haven't seen anywhere else about a possible connection between HDM and BoD. We know the rose oil allows the user to 'see' Dust, but it's never mentioned in HDM. We also know that Asriel somehow got hold of a "special emulsion" that allowed him to photograph Dust. This got me wondering whether the special emulsion is made with the rose oil. What do you think?

Hallo Anon!

That's actually a very neat connection and if I had to guess, I'd say this is on the "very likely" zone of the Canon spectrum.

Though the roses' property have only been scientifically proven 5 years after Asriel's presentation, I think it's a reasonable thought to suggest the special emulsion would share some of its properties with the rose oil, if not being the actual same thing! Asriel could have had some experiments that lead him to the oil itself or he mimicked the effect using something different and either way, I think it connects very seamlessly to the plot.

I like this idea a lot, anon, thanks for sharing!

[appretiartis]

The thing that hurts the most about The Secret Commonwealth is that we spent so much of The Golden Compass learning that being separated from your daemon is traumatic and horrible and how the church wants to sever kids from their daemons and how Lyra barely escapes it and then... She and Pan get estranged from each other on their own volition. The Magisterium gets what it wanted, anyway.

[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

[bruisedconscience]

Daemon Test for SHAWN SPENCER

A dæmon (day-mun) is a type of fictional being in the Philip Pullman fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. Dæmons are the external physical manifestation of a person's "inner-self" that takes the form of an animal. ... Dæmons are usually of the opposite sex to their human, though same-sex dæmons do exist. 

Pinniped

Your daemon would take the form of a pinniped! Those who have pinniped daemons are cheerful and imaginative people who know how to work hard and play hard. They are known for their boundless creativity and often have their head in the clouds, excelling exceptionally at one area of their life.

Sea lion

Your daemon would take the form of a sea lion! You are an imaginative and talkative individual who does best when they have a creative outlet. More so than others with pinniped daemons, those with sea lions are deeply emotional and struggle when bored or isolated. They are open-hearted and enjoy work that feels like play.

When deciding on your daemon's appearance, consider the pattern of your daemon's coat. A darker-colored sea lion may indicate someone more private and reserved, while a lighter-colored sea lion may indicate someone more open and gregarious.

This seems like an immediate great fit!!

Originally, I was hesitant about giving my muse a predominantly water-based animal, but then I read that sea lions can be outside of water for more than 20 days at a time and can run twice as fast as a man can!! So…

This girlie is now perfect!! I haven’t come up with a name for them yet, but if I do, I’ll update this post :)

[kittymattress]

not me monitoring the notes of that book poll to see who also loves HDM and scrolling through their blogs to maybe glean some fresh thoughts about the story from what they've posted about it

[cozcat]

mary malone and her daemon + love

It's been a few dates, and lovely though they have been, it is still only a few, the first she's been on since– since before.

He likes her too, and he says as much in soft chirrups and fond words she can only hear as she slips into a state of consciousness she now finds as easily as breathing, and she'd feel like she's gone mad were Will not able to see him too, but the part of herself that does not have a name is as real as the blood in her veins.

She's known it for a while now, but it strikes her anew: no matter how much she loves someone, no matter how much they love her, there is a part of herself that she can never share with them, and it is a lie she cannot avoid living.

[three sentence fic meme]

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

i'm 16 years late to complain about this but it's fucking criminal that the dw team got lucky to film in this gorgeous contemporary style building aka the senedd / welsh parliament (and they knew they were lucky to get it) and they completely butchered the exterior shots with that ridiculous neoclassical/deco front.

[peetapiepita]

Peeta Mellark & Lyra Silvertongue Comparison:

Lairs, Manipulators, Silvertongues, Sunshine Personality, Reserved Deep Down, and Falling for the Carer.

I said I was going to write about their similarities and today is the day!

First of all, Peeta and Lyra are both blonde. (I'm just kidding.)

The actual first point, Peeta is described as having a silver tongue and Lyra is literally named because of her silver tongue. That's the biggest similarity they have. They're both very charming and convincing. It's like a superpower they have.

They're both very good lairs and manipulators, too. Peeta can lie to a whole nation with a straight face and they'd believe him. Lyra is again, literally named because of her good lying skills and she sometimes can't stop herself from lying.

They both started lying and manipulating people because they didn't have a loving home environment growing up. Lyra was an orphan raised by college staff and she had to lie a lot to get what she wanted. Peeta was in an abusive household and had to lie a lot to just survive.

They both have very outgoing personalities and seem to get along with everyone. But they actually only open up to a few people. Lyra couldn't really trust anyone in her life until she embarked on the journey to the north and met Iorek. Peeta couldn't trust anyone until he had Katniss and Haymitch as a found family. Even then, he reserves his "bad side" from them and only shows them his helpful and sunny side. Deep down, he's so far from the exterior of this super sociable person.

In both of their relationships, their SO is a reserved person who terrifies everyone else, but Peeta and Lyra fall for their SOs first because they're drawn to their tough and caring personalities.

[hatters-workshop]

So we know that in the His Dark Materials series we have the concept of a Death, which is a humanoid form which appears before you when you are dying/dead to take you to the land of the dead. The people of some worlds seem to be aware of them, judging from how casually the people in the suburbs of the dead talked about it, and I took it as it being similar to a daemon to them. But people from other worlds can see their own death when they accept it/welcome it. We've also seen that seeing a death doesn't mean you definitely die/stay dead.

We also have the stories from the witches. That their goddess, Yambe-Akka, appears to them when they are about to die. What if the idea of a death got translated through the lens of a goddess, by a witch who accepted she was dying, and saw a person offering to guide them into the afterlife, and then for whatever reason didn't actually die. So that witch tells her loved ones and clan members, about a smiling person welcoming her and offering to take her on, and the name springs up (maybe it means something in one of the witch's languages) of Yambe-Akka, and the story spreads and builds.

So basically, my theory is, a witch from Lyra's world saw their Death and accidentally created a whole goddess' lore around it, and ever since, whenever a witch has died, she's seen her own Death and thought it was her goddess.

[regardstosoulandromance]

still thinking about the part when marisa tells carlo boreal that if he had her he would know what to do with her like go off none of these men have ever seen her for who she really is!!!!

[lordeasriel]

Hi Effie! I enjoy much of your HDM meta but I interpret the witches in particular very differently and I was wondering if you'd be open to hearing another perspective? I don't want to type up a wall of text if you're not interested in it lol

Hello anon! I'm glad you've enjoyed the stuff I've written!

It's perfectly alright that you have a different interpretation of the witches. Frankly I don't care much for them, but if you'd like to share, I always welcome any HDM opinions here, even if I might disagree with them!

I'm interested to hear what you have to say because most of my wicthes meta tend to be a lil old and I can't remember what I said there but I'm certain it was controversial lol But please do share your POV if you feel like it!

Cheers and thanks for the message!

[kirjavas]

this but also

lyra and will's love being enough to bring dust back into the worlds. mrs coulter's love for lyra and her and asriel's devotion to each other being a catalyst enough for them to make the ultimate sacrifice. mary's truthful story of experiencing love guiding lyra and will to discover their own feelings, enough for them to find the rest of their story together. balthamos and baruch dying apart as an act of selflessness that was enough to protect two children. familial love, romantic love. self love. platonic love. whilst love wasn't enough to conquer the loss, the story also gives us hope in that loving one another is something to live for even if it ends in heartbreak. the love didn't save everyone but it still matters that it was there.....

the lee scorseby “you love her but thats not enough is it” line is also like at the very heart of the story. the fact that mrs coulter loves lyra doesnt stop her from treating her cruelly and it doesn’t stop lyra from rejecting her. the fact that lee loves lyra doesn’t stop him from dying and leaving her. the fact that lyra loves pan doesnt stop their separation. the fact that john parry loves his wife and his son doesnt stop him from leaving them and it doesn’t bring him back. the fact that will and lyra love one another doesnt stop them from being torn apart. love never conquers loss in hdm the way it usually does especially in kids media and thats what makes the ending so jolting and devastating because you keep believing until the last second before will closes the window that there's going to be a happy ending, because how could there not be, they're in love…. but then they lose each other anyway

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Question • Rave Saves You (IIDX Extended Version) • Vermilion (Extended Mix) • Click Again (Extended Mix) • Zapper -Shakin'41- • Voxane (Extended Mix) • Catana • Fake Time Reprise • Condor (Extended Mix) • Golden Cross (Extended Remix) • Fuze (Nhato Remix) • Southern Wind (StripE Remix) • G-Sigh (HDM Rework) • Bleep On Love • Extrema Pt. 2 (Exclusive Live Version) • Meta Dimension (Remo-con Remix) • Don't Believe Da Hype • 6th Mode (Remo-con Mix) • Hello Mr. Breakbeats (Acid Mix) • Narky Light • Cold Front (Live Mix) • Tube • Tube Type • Talkin' Talkin' • Atavism (Mac & Mac Remix) • R.A.V.E. (Remo-con Remix) • Instability • G-Sigh (Nish's DnBoot Remix Live Version) • Fuze • Paper Bag • ロンドンは夜8時 (Remo-con Remix) • Acid Shower (Remo-con Remix)

Apple Music (partially available) ♪ YouTube (partially available)