Damon (English dæmon, in another spelling daimon) is a manifestation of the human soul in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. Daemons exist separately from people in the form of animals and represent the essence of their owners, the most striking features of their character. Only in children are daemons capable of shapeshifting, while adult daemons take on a single form. The adoption of an image by a daemon is considered the final stage in the process of growing up a person.
The bond between a daemon and a human is intimate, so they must stay a short distance apart (with the exception of witches), if too far away the daemon and its human experience pain. Contact between a human and an alien daemon is forbidden, but daemons themselves can touch each other. Many features of daemons correspond to concepts from other cultures and ideas about the human soul. Daemons can talk and express their feelings, give advice to their owners, and resolve problems with other people's daemons.
In the world of Lyra, the soul has a physical manifestation in the form of an animal, i.e. daemon. He has his own individuality despite being an integral part of man (one soul is contained in two bodies). The book says that in our and other Universes, a daemon is one with a person without any external physical manifestation. They only have form in the Lyran Universe and some others. In some universes, daemons are invisible and cannot communicate with their owners.
"An unthinkable violation of etiquette" was considered a touch of a person to someone else's daemon; even in battle, the warrior did not touch the daemon of the enemy, but there were exceptions (for example, for lovers). Physical impact on a daemon causes vulnerability and weakness in the person to whom the daemon belongs. However, daemons can safely touch each other; relationships between daemons usually emphasize and show relationships between people.
The child's dæmon does not have any particular form, and can change depending on desire or circumstance. As children mature (around puberty), their daemons lose their ability to transform and take on a form that most closely reflects the person's personality. For example, a person with a dog daemon is most often a servant, while a person with a cat daemon, on the contrary, can be very independent. Witch daemons always take the form of birds and other flying creatures in order to be able to accompany their witches in flight. Many creatures, including armored bears, do not have their own daemons, and parts of their souls are in other items. So, for a bear, a particle of the soul is his armor.
Damon usually has the opposite gender of the owner; however, in some cases it may overlap. Philip Pullman admitted that the reason for this is not clear even to himself. This can both mean a person's homosexuality, or indicate some kind of distinctive feature or special gift (for example, clairvoyance). The only mention of same-sex people and daemons is in the book Northern Lights, where such people are described as "rare" or "noble".
Lifespan
It is not clear when, how, or in what form a daemon is born. When a person dies, their dæmon becomes "smoke particles" (in the books it's not supposed to be Dust, but that's what the particles look like in the movie). Likewise, if the daemon is killed, then the human also dies. The origin of the daemon names is not mentioned in the trilogy, but Pullman later clarified that they are given by the daemons of the parents. The daemon Will Parry from our world did not originally have a name, Serafina Pekkala gave him the name Kirjava (a Finnish word meaning spotted or colorful). A daemon accompanies a person throughout their life, but it is not known what happens to a daemon after a person's natural death. Witches' daemons live for hundreds of years, just like their masters.
Separation
Man and his daemon are united spiritually, into an indivisible whole. A strong connection between them forces them to be at a small distance from each other. The forcible separation of a person from a daemon (i.e. separation) causes unimaginable physical and emotional pain for both, often causing death; however, some cultures have adopted techniques that allow daemons to gain greater freedom. For example, witches, as well as people who choose to become shamans, must endure grueling ritual trials that involve separating from a daemon for a period of time while they are on a spiritual quest. After reuniting, they gain the ability to move away from each other at a much greater distance, while maintaining a strong bond between them.
In the trilogy, the Sacrificial Recruitment Center uses a special guillotine to separate humans from their daemons without killing them. However, unlike the tests that witches and shamans undergo, the guillotine completely destroys the connection between a person and a daemon, often turning a person into a kind of zombie. The Sacrificial Recruitment Center is constantly improving the process through experimentation, but Lyra encounters at least one boy who hasn't been able to come to terms with life without his dæmon. The separation process is accompanied by a huge release of energy, it was she who was used by Lord Asriel to create a bridge to another world.
The film "The Golden Compass" was released in 2007 and, despite the fact that it was received with interest by the audience, and the box office receipts more than doubled the budget spent on filming, the picture never received a sequel. Perhaps the reason was the negative assessment of official critics, perhaps the takeover of New Line Cinema by Warner Brothers, or the controversy surrounding the book trilogy "His Dark Materials", the first part of which formed the basis of the picture. Nevertheless, the film itself, even without a sequel, leaves a pleasant impression and can teach young or already adult viewers a lot.
The plot develops in a fantasy world, which is simultaneously inhabited by witches, huge bears and people. From the very beginning, we get to know the main character, a girl named Lyra, and her daemon, a fluffy animal that turns into a bird, a ferret, or a cat. In this world, each person has his own daemon, which is part of the soul of his master, is inextricably linked with him and always accompanies him.
While the child is growing, his daemon can change shape, turning into different animals, birds or even insects. But sooner or later, when its owner becomes an adult, the daemon is forever determined in the guise that most fully corresponds to the inner world and actions of a person.
Around this feature, the main events develop, in the midst of which Lyra finds herself. The supreme power in the person of the Magisterium decided to completely subjugate people and for this it destroyed all the golden compasses - devices that help people find out the truth, and conducts experiments to separate daemons from humans. As one of the main villains directly states, having rid people of daemons, they will make them "free". But what kind of “freedom” is this, which their rulers promise people: the opportunity to live in harmony with their conscience or the opportunity to completely abandon their soul, freedom as permissiveness unlimited by any moral framework?
Lyra and her friends are not satisfied with such a prospect of a "free life" at all, and she sets off on a dangerous journey full of adventures and unexpected encounters. She will have to enlist the support of a huge ice bear, learn how to use a magic compass, fly on a fantastic airship, appreciate the external gloss of the luxurious chambers of the Magisterium, visit the North Pole, fight with many minions of the "free world" and find out the price of true friendship.
What does the film teach?
There is a place in the picture for real nobility, courage, self-sacrifice of positive characters, and cunning, deceit and deceit of villains, who are accompanied by daemons in the form of snakes, owls, praying mantises, wolves.
The film "The Golden Compass" touches, among other things, on philosophical questions about the meaning of life, the structure of our world, the struggle between good and evil, and the place of each person in this struggle. And although the views of the audience on these issues may not coincide with how the filmmakers portrayed it, nevertheless, the leitmotif of the film, expressed in demonstrating the importance of caring for one's soul and the struggle to preserve it, is unlikely to seem irrelevant or insignificant to anyone. .
Unfortunately, the film did not do without “bookmarks” typical of Hollywood in the style of villains speaking Russian in some scenes or, out of place, the close relationships of minor characters mentioned out of place. It is unusual for the Russian viewer to see witches as goodies. However, in the general context of the picture, these details are not of fundamental importance.
,
Vladimir Babkov
Plot
The novel takes place in a fictional parallel world, where science and magic are intertwined, where, in addition to people, witches, armored bears and other fantastic characters live. The world is ruled by a religious organization that calls itself the Magisterium.
The girl Lyra Belacqua lives in Oxford at one of the colleges, makes friends with the children of the servants from the college and fights with the children from the city. Lyra's parents died, and her uncle - the powerful Lord Asriel - makes frequent expeditions to the North. During one of the expeditions, he finds the mystical Dust and is going to open a laboratory to study it. During Asriel's long journey, the college master gives Lyra to be raised by Mrs. Coulter, who takes the girl to London. When Lyra realizes that Mrs. Coulter is not who she says she is, Lyra tries to run. She ends up with wandering gypsies who have been watching her from the very beginning. Then her path lies to the North, where the gypsies send a detachment in order to save children kidnapped from all over England by terrible "priests". There, Lyra meets witches, armored bears, and learns about Lord Asriel's plans. She also has to find out that her parents are not dead. With the help of an ice bear named Iorek, the girl gets to the fortress of Bolvangar, where the "priests" hid the kidnapped children. It turns out to be difficult to save them, but Lyra is helped by true friends and the magic item Alethiometer, capable of showing the truth...
The world in the novel
Daemons (Almas)
Each person in the world of the novel is accompanied by his dæmon. Damon is an integral part of a person's personality, a particle of his soul. If a daemon and an adult are separated, they will both die. Damon looks like an animal that personifies certain traits of a person's character. At the same time, the child's daemon can change its form, and as the person grows older, the daemon loses this ability and remains forever in one guise. In this regard, at a young age, a separation of a person from a daemon is possible, which does not carry death. However, after that, children remain crippled for life.
The gender of a daemon very rarely matches the gender of a human. The exception is the daemons of the witches, who match them in gender, and can also be at a great distance from their witches. Witches' daemons take on the form of birds or other flying creatures only to be able to accompany the witches in flight. Daemons are conductors of Dust, connecting it with a person. When a person dies, the daemon turns into a haze and dissipates in the air, and when the daemon dies, the person dies. Damon accompanies a person throughout the life path.
States and peoples
Armored bears (Panzerbjorns): By and large, panzerbjorns differ from ordinary polar bears only in the presence of reason and the opposed thumb. They are dressed in strong, massive armor made of meteoric iron. Each panzerbjorn forges his own armor. Armored bears live in the north, their only state is Svalbard.
Witches: Witches have a human appearance, but, unlike humans, they can live for many centuries (in the first part of the trilogy, Serafina Pekkala mentioned that the oldest witch mother is about a thousand years old), and also fly. The witch uses a cloud pine branch to fly while armed with a bow and knife. They are not afraid of the cold and are dressed in black and blue silk. There is no unity between witches, they live in clans, headed by witch queens.
Religion
The main religion in Europe is Calvinist Christianity. Once Calvin became pope and transferred the papal throne to Geneva. After his death, the papacy was abolished and its place was taken by the Magisterium, which is a complex system of competing organizations. By the time of the novel, the dominant church organizations are the Disciplinary Court of the Ecclesiastical Consistory and the Ministry of Uniform Decisions on Initiate Affairs. There are rumors about the revival of the Holy Inquisition. The church has an absolute influence on society. There are also their own army units - the Swiss papal guards, the Muscovite imperial (under the command of the Magisterium) and detachments of soldiers deprived of daemons (including Africans). In the third book, a certain Pope Calvin is mentioned, who gave the go-ahead for the hunt for Lyra, so it is possible that the papacy is preserved, especially since the elite parts of the Magisterium are constantly mentioned - the Pope's Swiss guards.
Science and Technology
Experimental theology is one of the basic sciences. In the second book of the trilogy, you can find out that this is the same as physics in our world. Antar energy is used for lighting, driving cars, etc. (same as electricity, but only available in wealthy homes, scientific centers, headquarters of the Magisterium and is not widely used). Airships are used for flights, gyrocopters and aircraft are mentioned as something rarer and airborne weapons are usually not carrying (airships are often armed with machine guns). Of the weapons, magazine rifles, machine guns, flamethrowers, armored cars (in Once Upon a Time in the North), fire fighters - napalm catapults are described, although bows are still in use. There are cars, but horse-drawn traction prevails. There are antar hydroelectric stations (HPP), but antar lighting is not developed, yielding to gas and kerosene. Antar electricity is used in industry and scientific mechanisms, there is an atomic industry and primitive nuclear charges (they tried to kill Lyra with this). There is a steam fleet and gasoline (internal combustion) engines. A chthonic railroad is mentioned (
,
Vladimir Babkov
Plot
The action of the novel takes place in a fictional parallel world where science and magic are intertwined, where witches, armored bears and other fantastic characters live in addition to people. The world is ruled by a religious organization that calls itself the Magisterium.
The girl Lyra Belacqua lives in Oxford at one of the colleges, makes friends with the children of the servants from the college and fights with the children from the city. Lyra's parents died, and her uncle - the powerful Lord Asriel - makes frequent expeditions to the North. During one of the expeditions, he finds the mystical Dust and is going to open a laboratory to study it. During Asriel's long journey, the college master gives Lyra to be raised by Mrs. Coulter, who takes the girl to London. When Lyra realizes that Mrs. Coulter is not who she says she is, Lyra tries to run. She ends up with wandering gypsies who have been watching her from the very beginning. Then her path lies to the North, where the gypsies send a detachment in order to save children kidnapped from all over England by terrible "priests". There, Lyra meets witches, armored bears, and learns about Lord Asriel's plans. She also has to find out that her parents are not dead. With the help of an ice bear named Iorek, the girl gets to the fortress of Bolvangar, where the "priests" hid the kidnapped children. It turns out to be difficult to save them, but Lyra is helped by true friends and the magic item Alethiometer, capable of showing the truth...
The world in the novel
Daemons (Almas)
Each person in the world of the novel is accompanied by his dæmon. Damon is an integral part of a person's personality, a particle of his soul. If a daemon and an adult are separated, they will both die. Damon looks like an animal that personifies certain traits of a person's character. At the same time, the child's daemon can change its form, and as the person grows older, the daemon loses this ability and remains forever in one guise. In this regard, at a young age, a separation of a person from a daemon is possible, which does not carry death. However, after that, children remain crippled for life.
The gender of a daemon very rarely matches the gender of a human. The exception is the daemons of the witches, who match them in gender, and can also be at a great distance from their witches. Witches' daemons take on the form of birds or other flying creatures only to be able to accompany the witches in flight. Daemons are conductors of Dust, connecting it with a person. When a person dies, the daemon turns into a haze and dissipates in the air, and when the daemon dies, the person dies. Damon accompanies a person throughout the life path.
States and peoples
Armored bears (Panzerbjorns): By and large, panzerbjorns differ from ordinary polar bears only in the presence of reason and the opposed thumb. They are dressed in strong, massive armor made of meteoric iron. Each panzerbjorn forges his own armor. Armored bears live in the north, their only state is Svalbard.
Witches: Witches have a human appearance, but, unlike humans, they can live for many centuries (in the first part of the trilogy, Serafina Pekkala mentioned that the oldest witch mother is about a thousand years old), and also fly. The witch uses a cloud pine branch to fly while armed with a bow and knife. They are not afraid of the cold and are dressed in black and blue silk. There is no unity between witches, they live in clans, headed by witch queens.
Religion
The main religion in Europe is Calvinist Christianity. Once Calvin became pope and transferred the papal throne to Geneva. After his death, the papacy was abolished and its place was taken by the Magisterium, which is a complex system of competing organizations. By the time of the novel, the dominant church organizations are the Disciplinary Court of the Ecclesiastical Consistory and the Ministry of Uniform Decisions on Initiate Affairs. There are rumors about the revival of the Holy Inquisition. The church has an absolute influence on society. There are also their own army units - the Swiss papal guards, the Muscovite imperial (under the command of the Magisterium) and detachments of soldiers deprived of daemons (including Africans). In the third book, a certain Pope Calvin is mentioned, who gave the go-ahead for the hunt for Lyra, so it is possible that the papacy is preserved, especially since the elite parts of the Magisterium are constantly mentioned - the Pope's Swiss guards.
Science and Technology
Experimental theology is one of the basic sciences. In the second book of the trilogy, you can find out that this is the same as physics in our world. Antar energy is used for lighting, driving machines, etc. (the same as electricity, but it is available only in rich houses, scientific centers, the headquarters of the Magisterium and is not widely used). Airships are used for flights, gyrocopters and aircraft are mentioned as something rarer and airborne weapons are usually not carrying (airships are often armed with machine guns). Of the weapons, magazine rifles, machine guns, flamethrowers, armored cars (in Once Upon a Time in the North), fire fighters - napalm catapults are described, although bows are still in use. There are cars, but horse-drawn traction prevails. There are antar hydroelectric stations (HPP), but antar lighting is not developed, yielding to gas and kerosene. Antar electricity is used in industry and scientific mechanisms, there is an atomic industry and primitive nuclear charges (they tried to kill Lyra with this). There is a steam fleet and gasoline (internal combustion) engines. A chthonic railroad is mentioned (
"Vain experience, that's what it is."
Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass (Northern Lights)
December 5, 2007 in Russia was the premiere screening of the film "The Golden Compass", filmed by New Line Cinema based on the first book from the trilogy "His Dark Materials" ("Dark Materials") by Philip Pullman. Apparently, in order to compensate for the fairly simplified film version of the novel (in the UK the book was published under the title "Northern Lights", and in the USA - as "The Golden Compass"), editions of all three parts of "Dark Materials" in Russian were laid out on the seats in the hall . The general impression of the picture can be conveyed in a few words: beautiful, uncomplicated, fascinating.
The plot of the film is built around the adventures of the main character, 12-year-old girl Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards), who became the owner of an alethiometer device (he is the golden compass), which shows the "truth" with the help of several arrows and various symbols. As the characters in the film cryptically say, Lyra is to become a key figure in the war between good and evil, which is about to break out or is already underway. By the middle of the film, the idea arises that the Americans created their own "Guest from the Future" with Alice and a myelophone.
The parallel world where Lyra lives resembles ours, but not quite. Airships, witches, talking bears and scientific laboratories. Each person has a "daemon" - an outer soul. It changes its appearance in children, has a permanent form in adults, but in any case, it coexists inseparably with a person. There is also an authority here, the building of which for some reason resembles the Palace of the Council in Equilibrium - the Magisterium, with the Priests working for it.
Photo gallery for the film "The Golden Compass"
We note right away that those who have read the book should not count on philosophical calculations related to criticism of the Christian worldview, for which Pullman's book has already been criticized by some media and American Catholics. The creators of "Compass", I think, did not dare to enter into a conflict with the conservatives and gracefully cut down the atheistic component to the struggle between the Magisterium (together with the Priests) and the gypsies. At the same time, the Priests (who got their name from the initial letters of the Sacrificial Recruitment Center organization) suggestive of cruel "people in white coats" kidnap children and conduct experiments in an attempt to separate them from daemons, and the gypsies nobly oppose the Priests, trying to free the children.
If we compare the book and the film, both here and there there is the notorious Dust, around which, in fact, all the intrigue revolves. Priests in Lyra's world are afraid of her and consider Dust to be a material manifestation of original sin, but in the film there is no "original sin" as it is, and Dust is vaguely called "evil" that "accumulates around children" as they grow up. On the other hand, there is no opposite statement "Dust does no harm and is even useful" in the film, there is only a hint that it can be used to get to other worlds.
By the way, compared to the book, the film makes a significant curtsy in favor of the "magical" component of the universe. If in the novel, for example, the "projector lamp" runs on kerosene (!) And almost unchanged Norway and Oxford are mentioned, then in the film, energy for everything in a row is obtained from incomprehensible sources in the form of flickering spheres, you almost never see names familiar to our world (for with the exception of Lapland on a flashing map), and the guards of the northern laboratory of Bolvangar wear hats similar to Cossack hats and brandish sabers.
The greatest admiration is, of course, daemons in the form of all kinds of animals, birds, insects and reptiles, as well as armored polar bears with Scandinavian names. Lyra's Damon, Panteleimon, in the form of a cat makes you remember Shrek's companion with plaintive eyes, but it's even funny. But after the fight between two bears for the throne of the bearish kingdom of Svalbard, which deservedly caused an ovation in the hall, as well as the final battle (which, however, is far from the extras in The Lord of the Rings), it becomes clear due to which the Golden Compass today became the most expensive project of New Line Cinema. According to various sources, from 150 to 180 million dollars were spent on it.
It looks very nice in the role of the main villain, Mrs. Coulter (by the way, blonde, not brunette, as in the book) Nicole Kidman. James Bond Daniel Craig, who plays Lord Asriel, does not appear in the film much, so his fans are likely to be somewhat disappointed. The gypsy king John Faa (Jim Carter) with his eyeliner looks like an aged and fat Jack Sparrow. Somehow, the witches look quite indistinct, but quite mysterious, and among them Serafina Pekkala, played by Eva Green, known for the paintings "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Casino Royale". Dakota Blue Richards (Lyra Belacqua) looks the most natural of all.
In summary, New Line Cinema has made a great children's film with intense action, great music by Alexandre Desplat, politically correct portrayal of conflict, and seriously crafted "magic" scenes.
And yet - no doubt, in the near future the worship of saber-toothed squirrels and red cats will definitely be replaced by the cult of polar bears. Get ready.