#his dark materials spoilers

[tragic-ships-tournament]

Tragic Ships Tournament Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Bristleroot:

"They are Warrior Cats' best written couple after RavenBarley, which isn't saying much but I love them. I remember having to put the book down and do something else because Bristlefrost's death was that upsetting. SHE DOESN'T EVEN GET AN AFTERLIFE WITH HIM! And the clans still treat her and Rootspring with suspicion afterwards for being a Half-Clan relationship, as if she didn't literally sacrifice everything for them. Also "Only warmth. Only love." fucking murdered me the first time I read it, I was sobbing."

Silverparry:

No propaganda submitted :(

[lailedcat]

shoutout to mary malone his dark materials, a character I imprinted on as a wee unaware queer child in the west of ireland, and shoutout to the show creators who made her a queer woman from the west of ireland. thank you.

[ultimate-tragic-couples-showdown]

Round 2a - Poll 4

Merlin & Arthur (Merlin BBC) vs Lyra Belacqua & William Parry (His Dark Materials)

[fire-lord-katara]

Metatron didn't tank the Blasphemy Couple and was sent to super hell

[ray-theoretical-trucker]

im reading "his dark materials" by philip pullman rn and i almost finished the second book(the subtle knife) and im so mad at it and sad about it cause lee scoresby is one of my favorite characters in there

if u know u know cause spoilers

but i really wanted to rant cause 😭😠😭

[monsieurenjlolras]

I forgot about the part of Amber Spyglass where the kids find the half-eaten but still living senile decrepit body of god and then watch him die

[liskantope]

I just finished rereading Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, the first book of which I'd read quite a few times over the years (it was always and still is my favorite) and the third book of which I had probably never read a second time, after reading it for the first time as a teenager. I had little to no recollection of a lot of major plot events in book 3, in fact, and felt like I was reading some parts of it for the first time. All in all, I found the third book to be better, less of a slog, and less unmanageably over-ambitious in its scope than my impression had been when I had most recently read it half my life ago. In fact, while I'm not uncritical of many aspects of the book, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it tied together the whole trilogy, both in terms of character arcs and the established physics of Pullman's universe (or parallel universes).

One thing that's more striking to me now about the third book, though, is how in several ways it's a little ambiguous whether Pullman is retconning something rather than revealing a new layer to the plot or a character's motivations that he had deliberately hidden in the first book.

[A major book 1 spoiler and mild book 3 spoilers below.]

One example of this, which I think was most likely deliberately planned, is Asriel appearing at the end of book 1 to be on the Church's side in wanting to exterminate Dust (at a climactic moment in which he is revealed to be ruthless if not downright evil in other ways, and is locked in a sweet embrace with our main villain Marisa Coulter), and then in book 3, by which time it's been clear for a good while that Asriel is plotting against not only the Church but God himself, Asriel explains to Marisa that he was only pretending to want to get rid of Dust because he thought she'd "prefer a lie".

Another example, that I've wondered about ever since I first read the trilogy, is the fact that it's stated early in book 1 that Lyra is prophesized to commit some great betrayal that will have profound consequences, and with the twist at the end of that book, I (and probably most other first-time readers?) assumed that betrayal to be her unknowingly leading her best friend Roger to his doom. But then it's explicitly stated in book 3 that the betrayal is her choice to leave her dæmon behind at the entrance of the Land of the Dead. I can accept that this makes more sense in some ways (it was an action taken in the light of full knowledge, unlike what she did to Roger), but it kind of makes less sense in other ways (Will did the same thing along with her, even if he didn't have an external dæmon), and I enjoyed explaining it through the book 1 twist a lot more.

A third example, where I feel much more sure that Pullman just changed his mind, began with a scene in book 1 when Lyra is visiting Dr. Lanselius and is given a quick task to do outside, and while she's gone Lanselius discusses a devastating prophecy about her with the Gypsy characters that are in the room, emphasizing that all will be ruined if Lyra knows anything about the prophesy. A similar sort of scene happens later in the book, when Lyra is asleep in the balloon and Lee Scoresby has such a discussion with Serafina Pekkala. And in both of those scenes, I was kind of rolling my eyes and thinking, "If it's crucial to the fate of the world that Lyra not know her destiny, they're being awfully incautious here, given that Lyra could be just outside of the room or only pretending to be asleep." And then, as it happens -- now remember, I knew book 1 fairly well but had forgotten even many of the major plot events of book 3 let alone most of the dialogs -- in the chapter "No Way Out" of book 3, Lyra reveals that in fact she was standing outside the door during the Lanselius scene and so overheard part of the prophesy, and this is used to guide her motivations. This certainly vindicates my kneejerk reaction of thinking the characters were acting very recklessly in that scene, but the interesting question is, had it occurred to the author that they were acting recklessly, and at the time of writing book 1 did he have in mind that Lyra was in fact secretly outside the room listening?

[ramyaknox]

When I say true love and tragedy, I don't mean romeo and juliet, I don't mean they both die at the end, I mean this. "every atom of me and every atom of you"

I can't think of it without crying. I can't think of any better way they could've expressed how much they care about each other, it's deeper than I'll love you all my life, than til death do us part, it's deeper than we'll be together in heaven, it's we'll be together in every beautiful thing to exist, everywhere forever. Even though we can't be together now.

We will come back here, though. When we’ve lived our lives. We’ll go through the Land of the Dead…and we’ll tell Gracious Wings everything we’ve done. We’ll find each other. Here.

HIS DARK MATERIALS 3.08 | The Botanic Garden

[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

[nooowestayandgetcaught]

will & lyra | touch (s3 episode 8c)

[tragic-ships-tournament]

Tragic Ships Tournament Round 2

Propaganda under the cut!

Satosugu:

No propaganda submitted :(

Silverparry:

No propaganda submitted :(

[ultimate-tragic-couples-showdown]

Revival Round - Poll 11

Mia Fey & Diego Armando (Ace Attorney) vs Lyra Belacqua & William Parry (His Dark Materials) vs Moebius N & Moebius M (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

[alicentgwayne]

Now I can't forgive him, but... I don't hate him either. // It's hard with fathers.

[alethiosr]

I think there’s something so symbolic about people who have daemons who settled as animals not native to where they grew up. People who are so far from where they belong but often don’t even realize it or give their daemon’s form a second thought. Do they long to go to where their daemon would be more at home? If so, do they chase that feeling or do they ignore it?

Lee Scorseby ended up far in the arctic simply looking for work, not even aware that Hester was an Arctic Hare until Iorek told him. He had assumed that Hester was a Jackrabbit and only realized that the arctic meant something to him after speaking with Iorek. He could’ve found work anywhere else but he somehow ended up where he needed to be anyways.

Lord Asriel is probably the most interesting example of this though. He was always traveling, always looking for something, never being content to relax and exist in one place for long. The first time we ever see him he’s described as looking like a wild animal trapped in a small cage, totally out of place with his surroundings. When he finally stops moving is when he creates the Republic of Heaven and the basalt fortress is built. It’s in another world with vague geography, but it’s likely roughly within natural snow leopard range. The last place Asriel ever lives is where he and Stelmaria might’ve finally felt some sense of belonging.

It’s not something given much depth and thought within the books, but in a way it doesn’t need to be. We get to see it naturally in a way that isn’t forced. It’s beautiful and real just like many of the other intricacies regarding daemons. It adds to these people as people instead of becoming something too fantastical and bizarre.

[someoneslightlygay]

That’s what Philip Pullman was saying

God is but a devil that convinced people otherwise

[dustywave]

anyway what’s up with children being sent to svalbard to be tortured and indoctrinated into cults. why does this happen in his dark materials and in severance. is it a deliberate homage or is there just something about svalbard