The Master and the Librarian are old friends who worked together in an attempt to assassinate Lord Asriel.ĭuring the men’s conversation, the reader learns that the Church is the most powerful organization in Europe and is comprised of many different councils and organizations. He then settles into his room with the Librarian to discuss the meeting with the Scholars. The Master sends Lord Asriel on the exhibition. She has no choice but to follow Lord Asriel’s orders and retire to her bedroom. He also refuses to take Lyra with him on his next expedition north. He refuses her request for more information about Dust, a mysterious substance that has something to do with other worlds. Once the Scholars leave, her uncle wakes her up and tells her to sneak back to her bed. Meanwhile, Lyra falls asleep in the closet. He requests funding for a second expedition and the Scholars vote in favor of this, despite the Master’s resistance. Lord Asriel tells the Scholars that while on an expedition to the North, he found evidence for a controversial theory that other worlds exist alongside their own. Lord Asriel then shoos her back into the closet, instructing her to keep an eye on the Master while he gives his presentation. When Lord Asriel pours himself a glass of the poisoned wine, Lyra conquers her fear of her uncle’s punishments and leaps from the closet to save his life. He sends the Butler for some things he left at the College’s gate.

Lord Asriel arrives unexpectedly while the Butler prepares the room for the Scholars. While hiding, Lyra and Pantalaimon wonder if her uncle’s visit has to do with the rumored political tensions in the North and if a war is coming. Against Pantalaimon’s advice, she decides to remain in hiding after the Master leaves to warn her uncle not to drink the wine. They witness the Master pour poison into a decanter of wine that has been set aside for Lyra’s mysterious and powerful uncle, Lord Asriel, who is soon to arrive for a visit. One day they are sneaking about a forbidden area where the Scholars gather to talk every evening after dinner. Her dæmon, Pantalaimon, provides her with a cautious voice of reason, as well as friendship. Lyra is an adventurous young girl who lives in Jordan College at Oxford University.

As the story opens, political tensions are brewing with the Tartars, a group that resides far to the East, for mysterious reasons that have to do with new scientific discoveries in the Arctic. But when a child goes through puberty and becomes an adult, his or her dæmon settles into a permanent animal form. While humans are children these take changing animal forms. In this world, each human is accompanied by companion spirits called dæmons. It is a parallel universe, similar to our own but with key differences. The Golden Compass takes place in England, but it is not the England we know.

The golden compass northern lights