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His Dark Materials trilogy

His Dark Materials trilogy
Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials is an epic trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass . It follows the coming of age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes. The novels have won a number of awards, including the Carnegie Medal in 1995 for Northern Lights and the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year for The Amber Spyglass. In 2003, the trilogy was ranked third on the BBC’s The Big Read poll.His Dark Materials has been marketed to young adults, though Pullman wrote with no target audience in mind. The fantasy elements include witches and armoured polar bears; the trilogy also alludes to concepts from physics, philosophy, and theology. It functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing, original sin. The series has attracted controversy for its criticism of religion.

Philip Pullman photo

“Without their tiger gods, the tribe declined into fear and melancholy and begged her to allow them to worship her instead, only to be rejected with contempt; for what good would their worship do her? she asked. It had done nothing for the tigers.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997), Ch. 2 : The Witches

Philip Pullman photo

“But as the wave expended its force and the waters withdrew, the bleak rocks remained; there was no arguing with fate; neither his despair nor Lyra’s had moved them a single inch.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 37 : The Dunes

Philip Pullman photo

“How can I just go and sit in the library or somewhere and twiddle my thumbs, knowing what's going to happen? I don't intend to do that, I promise you.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Lyra, in Ch. 1 : The Decanter of Tokay
His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (1995)

Philip Pullman photo

“You said I was a warrior. You told me that was my nature, and I shouldn’t argue with it. Father, you were wrong. I fought because I had to. I can’t choose my nature, but I can choose what I do. And I will choose, because now I'm free.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 31 : Authority's End

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“I hold the subtle knife on behalf of the Guild.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Giacomo Paradisi in Ch. 8 : The Tower of the Angels
His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997)

Philip Pullman photo

“Her dæmon's name was Pantalaimon, and he was currently in the form of a moth, a dark brown one so as not to show up in the darkness of the hall.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Introducing Pantalaimon, also called Pan, in Ch. 1 : The Decanter of Tokay
His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (1995)

Philip Pullman photo

““I wish…” she said, and stopped. There was nothing that could be gained by wishing for it. A final deep shaky breath, and she was ready to go on.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (1995), Ch. 23 : The Bridge to the Stars

Philip Pullman photo

““Doesn’t it scare you, having your death close by all the time?” said Lyra.
“Why ever would it? If he’s there, you can keep an eye on him. I'd be a lot more nervous not knowing where he was.””

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 19 : Lyra and her Death

Philip Pullman photo

“The Master of Jordan College is a foolish old man. Why he gave it to her I can't imagine; you need several years of intensive study to make any sense of it at all.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Mrs. Coulter, on Lyra having the alethiometer, in Ch. 9 : Theft
His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997)

Philip Pullman photo

“"But suppose your dæmon settles in a shape you don't like?"
"Well, then, you're discontented, en't you? There's plenty of fold as'd like to have a lion as a dæmon and they end up with a poodle. And till they learn to be satisfied with what they are, they're going to be fretful about it. Waste of feeling, that is."”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Lyra and the seaman Jerry, in Ch. 10 : The Consul and the Bear
His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (1995)

Philip Pullman photo

“Who is this man who's got the knife?”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Will, in Ch. 8 : The Tower of the Angels
His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997)

Philip Pullman photo

“If they live in the world, they should see and touch and hear and learn things.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 23 : No Way Out

Philip Pullman photo

“It lay heavily in her hands, the crystal face gleaming, the golden body exquisitely machined. It was very like a clock, or a compass, for there were hands pointing to places around the dial, but instead of the hours or the points of the compass there were several little pictures, each of them painted with extraordinary precision, as if on ivory with the finest and slenderest sable brush. She turned the dial around to look at them all. There was an anchor; an hourglass surmounted by a skull; a chameleon, a bull, a beehive… Thirty-six altogether, and she couldn't even guess what they meant.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Lyra, investigating the alethiometer, in Ch. 4 : The Alethiometer
His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (1995)

Philip Pullman photo

“Had she thought there was no meaning in life, no purpose, when God had gone? Yes, she had thought that.
“Well, there is now,” she said aloud, and again, louder: “There is now!””

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Mary in Ch. 34 : There is Now
His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000)

Philip Pullman photo

“Even if it means oblivion, friends, I'll welcome it, because it won’t be nothing. We’ll be alive again in a thousand blades of grass, and a million leaves; we’ll be falling in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we’ll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 23 : No Way Out

Philip Pullman photo

“Seems to me the place you fight cruelty is where you find it, and the place you give help is where you see it needed.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Lee Scoresby to Stanislaus Grumman in Ch. 14 : Alamo Gulch
His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997)

Philip Pullman photo

“It was all very well, the alethiometer telling her to be truthful, but she knew what would happen if she told the whole truth. She had to tread carefully and just avoid direct lies.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997), Ch. 4 : Trepanning

Philip Pullman photo

“He showed me that to rebel was right and just, when you considered what the agents of the Authority did in His name…. And I thought of the Bolvangar children, and the other terrible mutilitations I have seen in our own southlands; and he told me of many more hideous cruelties dealt out in the Authority’s name—of how they capture witches, in some worlds, and burn them alive, sisters. Yes, witches like ourselves…
He opened my eyes. He showed me things I had never seen, cruelties and horrors all committed in the name of the Authority, all designed to destroy the joys and the truthfulness of life.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Ruta Skadi in Ch. 13 : Æsahættr
His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997)

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“Both the Oblation Board and the Specters of Indifference are bewitched by this truth about human beings: that innocence is different from experience. The Oblation Board fears and hates Dust, and the Specters feast on it, but it's Dust both of them are obsessed by.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Stanislaus Grumman to Lee Scoresby in Ch. 14 : Alamo Gulch
His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997)

Philip Pullman photo

“In Lyra’s heart, revulsion struggled with compassion, and compassion won.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (1995), Ch. 13 : Fencing