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@johnparry / johnparry.tumblr.com

for the hdm blogging hours . mostly on @mossyshadows otherwise
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johnparry
wykart
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wykart

I love the way they introduced Will’s side of the story early in His Dark Materials, though since his adventure doesn’t really begin until book 2, we end up getting the funniest cuts. Lyra’s riding into battle on the back of a giant talking polar bear, there’s witches flying around stabbing dudes and huge airships dropping missiles and then we cut to Will and he’s just like. Riding the bus.

#catching the bus IS a difficult treacherous affair
johnparry
dximonions
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johnparry

will parry and farder coram both have cat daemons who are described particularly in canon as being beautiful AND they both fall in love with witches (if the daemon separation makes u a witch then lyra is, right?) and THEN have to spend the rest of their life away from them because it’s the Right thing to do 

so in conclusion?? if there’s a new character in the secret commonwealth who has a lovely cat daemon, i am NOT allowed to get attached… pullman will HURT me

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johnparry

prev tags yeah i hate this theory now lmaoooo 🥲 .. malcolm polstead cool uncle cool older brother character.. what could have been.. anyway i hope this cycle continues now in the sense that malcolm spends the rest of his life staying the fuck away from lyra because that is the right thing to do .

#tsc#hate the way pullman wrote malcolm into this role . For What
johnparry
mossyshadows
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torrefaction-of-sliver

Locating the Basalt Fortress

And on the very rim of the world, where the light was increasing moment by moment, a great mountain range reared its peaks—jagged spears of black rock, mighty broken slabs, and sawtooth ridges piled in confusion like the wreckage of a universal catastrophe. But on the highest point, which as she looked was touched by the first rays of the morning sun and outlined in brilliance, stood a regular structure: a huge fortress whose battlements were formed of single slabs of basalt half a hill in height, and whose extent was to be measured in flying time. (The Subtle Knife ch 6, “Lighted Flyers”)

    “Take your time, sir,” Lord Asriel said gently. “Do you know where my daughter is?”     “Himalaya… in her own world,” whispered Baruch. “Great mountains. A cave near a valley full of rainbows…”     “A long way from here in both worlds. You flew quickly.” (The Amber Spyglass, ch 5 “The Adamant Tower”)

This observation of Lord Asriel’s suggests that the geography of the world of the Republic is more or less analogous to that of his own world, which means it’s also similar to ours.  “I want No. 2 Squadron of gyropters armed and fueled, and a tanker zeppelin to take off at once and head southwest.” (The Amber Spyglass, ch 5 “The Adamant Tower”)

“It was only a light sting,“ said Tialys. “A full dose would have killed her, yes, but a small scratch will make her weak and drowsy for half a day or so.” And full of maddening pain, he knew, but he didn’t tell her that. (The Amber Spyglass, ch 13 “Tialys and Salmakia”)

She looked haggard and pale; the last of the Gallivespian venom still remained in her body, causing agonizing pains in her joints, but she was not going to show him that.  (The Amber Spyglass, ch 16 “The Intention Craft”)

Mrs. Coulter is stung by Tialys shortly before her capture by King Ogunwe, and is still suffering from the effects of the poison when she’s brought before Lord Asriel, so we know the trip from the cave in the Himalayas to the basalt fortress took no more than twelve hours by gyropter. Assuming that a gyropter moves at roughly the same speed as a helicopter in our own world (~200mph), the fortress can be no more than approximately 2000 miles from the cave, in a northeasterly direction.

The location of the fortress therefore corresponds approximately to the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. Perhaps, given the fortress’s composition, it’s in the southernmost part of the Siberian Traps. This is a region, incidentally, to which snow leopards are native, which ties into a point I made in a recent ask about Stelmaria: when we see this exotic dæmon in stodgy Oxford we know immediately that Lord Asriel’s heart and his destiny lie elsewhere, and indeed, after a great journey, he makes his last stand in a place where his dæmon must finally feel at home.

#lord asriel
johnparry
mossyshadows
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mossyshadows

what if in another timeline the knife didn’t shatter the second time because it’s a knife with an agenda of its own and the first time it did shatter in the cave was because its plan wouldn’t have worked out if they’d left so it trapped them there, knowing iorek would be there to fix it for them, like there was still conflict ! but not for the reason will thought! The knife didn’t want to leave! there are so many signs the knife Knows and Influences events what with conveniently choosing certain worlds to cut into (Mary!) and indeed choosing the knife bearer at a certain moment, so this extra Purpose to its actions wouldn’t be out of character

And so the second time in the garden, the knife doesn’t shatter no matter how hard he wants it to. It wants there to be a possibility for either will to succumb and try again (in which case like with John parry not finding that window ever again, it won’t let will find the world he wants. So that he will keep trying or wondering if he should try which u know. self hatred loathing conflict hours. ) or indeed to find its next bearer one day (which would be interesting if we consider it an instrument of fate whose Final True purpose was in the third book. And also which was its real purpose but yes what does it do now? And the parallels with lyra. ‘To live past the end of your myth is a perilous thing’ etc). But yes timeline in which the knife doesn’t break and all that entails

#ok transferred all relevant postings. see u all later when trailer drops