#philip pullman

[denimbex1986]

'...Every so often, a screen adaptation doesn’t just do justice to a beloved book — it surpasses it. That’s a rare alchemy, especially when the source material is as celebrated as Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. But in this case, the HBO/BBC series doesn’t just bring the world of daemons, Dust, and armoured bears to life — it deepens, sharpens, and elevates the story in ways the original trilogy sometimes struggled to achieve...

With a stellar cast, cinematic production values, and sharp writing, the series took the very best of Pullman’s vision and made it more accessible, emotionally resonant, and — dare we say it — fun...

John Parry (Andrew Scott) is transformed from the narrative device into a tragic figure whose reunion with Will is one of the show’s most emotionally satisfying scenes...

The TV show trims the philosophical fat, deepens the characters, and delivers a story that’s coherent, emotional, and visually stunning. It doesn’t just translate the books — it elevates them.

So if you’ve read the books and felt overwhelmed or underwhelmed at times, give the show a chance. It’s the best version of His Dark Materials — daemons, Dust, heartbreak, and all...'

[kirjavas]

what's really special about his dark materials is that there are so many heroes in the story who are trying to fulfil a prodigious goal, or are motivated by a higher power, but the most important change is brought about by a little girl with a wicked ability to lie, a boy who hates fighting and a random physicist who climbs trees and whose main power lies in her use of words

[the-wanderer]

[sankta-wraith]

His Dark Materials has such a beautiful depiction of love, because in the end love is what saves every world, but the rest of the series is almost a lesson in all the things love can’t save. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter loved Lyra, but it doesn’t stop them from abandoning her and using her as a pawn in their respective schemes. They loved each other but it doesn’t stop them from manipulating and hurting each other, and it doesn’t save them in the end. Lyra loved Roger but it doesn’t stop her from getting him killed, and it doesn’t bring him back. Will and Lyra loved each other, but it doesn’t stop their separation. John Parry loved Will and his mother, but he still left them. Lyra loved Pan, but she still left him behind in the world of the dead. There’s no absence of love, but it’s not the cure all other books often make it out to be. The love is there, but it doesn’t change anything. And yet in the end it’s Will and Lyra’s love for each other that saves every world. It’s Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter’s love for Lyra (and each other) that lets them defeat Metatron. In a series where love has consistently failed to save the character, two of the most important and seemingly impossible feats are accomplished solely through love. And yes that means that the story inherently contradicts itself, but that’s what I love so much about it. Love is by nature contradictory. The point of the story isn’t to show that love is all powerful or that love achieves nothing. The point is that love doesn’t usually doesn’t solve anything, but that we should continue to love, and that every now and then, love truly will save it all.

[his-dark-materials-trilogy]

[unchangingwindoww]

so naturally their speculation flourished.

― The Secret Commonwealth, Chapter 2

[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

[a-whole-tempest-in-a-teacup]

(it is enough. it is more than enough.)

Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery | Mademoiselle Gachet in her garden at Auvers-sur-Oise, Vincent van Gogh (1890) | 'Toad' - Mary Oliver | About Time (2013) | 'No Choir' - Florence + the Machine | Comic by eOndine | The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman | Superstore 'All Sales Final' (2021) | 'The View Between Villages' - Noah Kahan | Meadow with Poplars, Claude Monet (1875) | 'The Orange' - Wendy Cope

[alethiosr]

I find it incredible that His Dark Materials has multiple papers and even books written about it. While the series is essentially a Bible to me it’s also just incredible to think about it from an objective lens. To write something so influential that people dedicate their time to analyzing it and writing papers about it must be a great feeling. I hope it brings Philip Pullman a lot of joy knowing people care that much about his work.

[leadoodles]

One of my favourite things about his dark materials is how well it creates cultures and expands upon them.

Each group of people we meet is unique, with their own traditions and taboos.

You never touch another person's Dæmon.

Scholastic Sanctuary, the fear of Dust, and the contrast between Lyra and the scholars in Jordan college.

The nomadic practices and songs of the gyptians, who I was legitimately surprised about when I learned that they weren't a real but niche culture.

Bears do not kill other bears, but also do not pick on the weak. Iorek accepts his exile with humility. He knows what he did. Plus the idea of making armour with meteorites, which are commonly found at the poles due to both magnetism and the fact that they are easily spotted in the snow.

The Magisterium, who legitimately believe they are enacting the word of god.

The north, Lyra's world's equivalent of the wild west, with balloons instead of horses.

Cittagaze, the honour of the knife, how the children have accepted their fate and try to enjoy the time they have left.

The witches, one of the most interesting interpretations of witches and druids I've seen. Not generic 'ooh wave the wand and cast magic' but instead powers far more unique and tied to the world. Separation, flight from CLOUD pines, and making yourself boring.

The Mulefa. Pullman made motorcycle gazelles and made them legitimately believable as a species.

The angels. Not a unified force, but one twisted just like the Magisterium by doctrine and lies.

I love HDM.

Edit: removed a section on Book of Dust as I have mixed feelings about it and I don't think it's relevant.

[thoughtkick]

You cannot change what you are, only what you do.

Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials)

[derangedrhythms]

[…] but she was deep in a mood of wintry isolation […]

Philip Pullman, from ‘The Secret Commonwealth’

[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

[kirjavas]

philip pullman releasing a devastating third installment in a trilogy where childhood ends in a flower garden oh we are so back

[his-dark-materials-trilogy]

Philip Pullman:

'Lyra: what will you do when you find this place in the desert, the opening to the world of the roses?'

'"Defend it", Lyra said. "Die defending it."'

When readers left Lyra in The Secret Commonwealth she was alone, in the ruins of a deserted city. Pantalaimon had run from her – part of himself – in search of her imagination, which he believed she had lost. Lyra travelled across the world from her Oxford home in search of her dæmon. And Malcolm, loyal Malcolm, too journeyed far from home, towards the Silk Roads in search of Lyra.

In The Rose Field, their quests converge in the most dangerous, breathtaking and world-changing ways. They must take help from spies and thieves, gryphons and witches, old friends and new, learning all the while the depth and surprising truths of the alethiometer. All around them, the world is aflame – made terrifying by fear, power and greed.

As they move East, towards the red building that will reunite them and give them answers – on Dust, on the special roses, on imagination – so too does the Magisterium, at war against all that Lyra holds dear.

Marking thirty years since the world was first introduced to Pullman’s remarkable heroine Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights, The Rose Field is the culmination of the cultural phenomenon of The Book of Dust and His Dark Materials.

The Book of Dust Volume Three: The Rose Field is out 23rd October 2025. Pre-order now: https://linktr.ee/PP.BOD3

[unchangingwindoww]

— The Amber Spyglass, Chapter 11