#his dark materials season 3 spoilers

[moontheoretist]

*dancing around celebrating GAY Mary and saying “fuck you” to toxic ideas that faith tries to impose on people to stop them from living their lives fully* TAKE THAT, CHURCH! GAYNESS WINS!

[aquitainequeen]

And what of the depiction of the angels? As described in Pullman's book, the angels seemed like they'd be impossible to depict well onscreen but the show makes the smart choice of making them take "human" form most of the time, ie bald men and women in robes with eerily pale eyes. It's just uncanny enough an appearance that it works, though the familiar translucent shimmery form shows up on several key occasions. The design of the miniature Gallivespians is also inspired — with Sian Clifford and Jonathan Aris' characters Salmakia and Roke sporting insect-like black eyes and sleek futuristic outfits. And of course, there's the mulefa, the wise and friend-shaped creatures that Mary Malone (Simone Kirby) befriends, in a storyline that manages to streamline one of the weirder aspects of the book. That streamlining sometimes comes at a cost —the industrial wasteland-esque design of the Land of the Dead is striking, but somewhat samey — but it's clear that HBO has spared no expense on making this final season look as grand and dazzling as possible.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Review: The War On Heaven Reaches Its Conclusion In A Confident And Epic Final Season

[lostberryqueen]

His Dark Materials Season 3

I think I cried more during this season than any other. If the mark of a good show is that it moves you emotionally, then HDM s3 was a definite success. 

I had a lot of problems with the dialogue—it drove me crazy. I found myself laughing at how bad and awkward some of of it was one minute, and then crying over an emotional part the next. 

That moment between Lyra and the golden monkey in episode 7 was pure genius. 

RIP Masriel. This was maybe the weakest part of the season, but I think the reason Masriel didn’t work out in s3 was because of how much they changed the characters’ personalities from those of the books. I think the most significant change between book Asriel and book Marisa and their tv show counterparts is that in the book, neither of them really feel guilt. In the TV show they are plagued by it, and so it makes sense that they’re not exactly making out with dust falling around them. 

In the books, Marisa and Asriel come off as simpleminded narcissists who are really self-satisfied with what they do. Book Marisa has to ignore her daemon in order to care for Lyra, because her true soul desire is to be wealthy and powerful. TV show Marisa walks away from her soul to get away from the pain of Lyra’s death—or rather her soul walks away from her. 

Marisa’s self-harm plotline was (if I remember correctly) never in the books, and its origin lies with a Golden Compass scene where Marisa slaps her daemon in the face. The His Dark Materials adaptation was built off of both the books and the Golden Compass adaptation. I think it was overall a quite beautiful and moving piece. 

I think the strongest part was probably episode 8. Maybe I’m biased because I loved what they did with Mary Malone’s character arc—but I felt that episode 8 of season 3 was one of the episodes that stayed most true to the book. 

I want to eventually make a fanvid or two of His Dark Materials but I’m having trouble with inspiration at the moment. The one song that I always planned on using after season 3 came out—still works, but I would say it doesn’t work quite as well because we didn’t get the Masriel kiss with the dust. The entire tone of Marisa and Asriel’s death is much different in the TV show than in the books. I felt really devastated by Marisa’s death in the show, because it really felt like she almost but not quite achieved what she wanted to. In her last moments, she tried to reach Lyra and failed. Whereas the book ending for Marisa and Asriel feels a bit more mystical. There was more triumph there as well, because the two of them kissed before death. The saddest part was just that Lyra didn’t know that her parents died for her, and that she might think they just abandoned her. I also loved how Philip Pullman left it open as to whether or not they were really dead. I think they decided to have their daemons disappear for the sole purpose of that last scene between Lyra and the monkey. It was a powerful scene, so I can’t entirely blame the showrunners for making that choice.

I do feel that maybe one reason why Philip Pullman chose to have Lyra remain ignorant of her parents passing away was because she’s supposed to have this really happy moment with Will before they part. In the show, it feels just a tad bit morbid the way Lyra is seemingly able to get over her parents’ deaths so quickly. 

I think the biggest issue I had with the TV show adaptation was that they changed Lyra’s character so that she was not a liar. In the land of the dead, they removed the moment where Lyra learns not to lie, probably because she hasn’t consistently been lying throughout the show. Book Lyra’s ability to make an unbelievable story seem plausible is inherited from her creator Philip Pullman, who can make crazy things from souls that are talking animals to bombs directed by hair to elephants with wheels seem completely possible. 

At the end of the show, when Lyra stands alone in Oxford, she looks so much like Marisa Coulter. It almost feels like the show writers were trying to say this is how Marisa got that way, or something to that effect. By giving Marisa the plotline with her daemon where they have issues with each other, it makes her much more similar to Lyra. 

If you got this far, thank you for reading what may possibly be my last post on HDM. Probably my last stream of consciousness type one. Season 3 left me with a lot of emotions to process, and I hope everyone else is finding ways to process the emotions that it left them with. Maybe we should all do something like go sit on a bench once a year to remember how His Dark Materials changed our lives. 

[nooowestayandgetcaught]

lyrawill + sleeping outside together

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

HIS DARK MATERIALS S03E08 'THE BOTANIC GARDEN'

[biscottiarts]

🐆🐒

[whitefluffyyeti]

His dark materials “The botanic garden”

[rosefyrefyre]

Will: I must find Lyra

Father MacPhail: We must kill Lyra

The Witches: We have a prophecy about Lyra

Lee Scoresby: I died to protect Lyra

Mrs. Coulter: I will protect Lyra. Or keep her asleep. Or both. I am ambiguously evil but also not. But Lyra.

Roger: Lyra, come find me!

Father Gomez: I have preemptively done penance so I can kill Lyra

Mary: I’m off on this weirdass adventure after Lyra got my computer to put me in touch with angels and I’m kind of hoping I see her

Iorek: Where is Lyra? What have they done with her?

Xaphania: Lyra is central

Asriel: Why the fuck does anyone care about Lyra? She’s a kid. Seriously. Who here cares about Lyra?

Everyone else: *raises their hands*

Asriel: ...

[oceanssapart]

HIS DARK MATERIALS 3.02 / 2.01

[corrabell]

iorek byrnison - king of the svalbard bears

[moontheoretist]

In a sense, Mary works as foil to Asriel. She is a scientist who doesn’t dismiss anything as impossible, because she is the GOOD scientist, who knows that wisdom and understanding comes from accepting that you never truly know or understand anything and that one single information can just blow your whole mind out. And she pursued her scientific discovery in the same way. She allowed herself to doubt what she knows, and discard what turned out to be untrue. With no pride whatsoever stopping her from gaining true enlightenment.

[kirjavas]

There were once three brothers travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too treacherous to pass, but being learned in the magical arts, the three brothers simply waved their wands and made a bridge. Before they could cross, however, they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. And Death spoke to them.

[leehallfae]

his dark materials (2019–2022) s03 e05 “no way out” // “come home with me (reprise),” hadestown - anaïs mitchell // “way down hadestown ii,” hadestown nytw // “a gathering storm,” hadestown // “if it’s true,” hadestown // “wait for me (reprise),” hadestown // “our lady of the underground,” hadestown // s03 e06 “the abyss”

[hufflepotato-18]

I AM LIVING FOR THE ASRIEL SLANDER

[nooowestayandgetcaught]

will & lyra | touch (s3 episode 8b)

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

Am I ready?

I hope so. I need you to be.