Northern Lights
Chapters - Philip Pullman
Part 1: Oxford
Chapter 1: The Decanter of Tokay
Lyra Belacqua sneaks into the Retiring Room of Jordan College with her daemon Pantalaimon, where she witnesses the Master poisoning a decanter of Tokay wine intended for Lord Asriel. When Lord Asriel arrives and is about to drink the poisoned wine, Lyra reveals herself and knocks the glass from his hand, saving his life. Lord Asriel instructs her to hide in the wardrobe and observe the Master's reaction when the Scholars arrive.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Lord Asriel, Thorold, Stelmaria
Chapter 2: The Idea of North
Lord Asriel presents photograms and specimens to the assembled Scholars, revealing images of Dust - mysterious particles visible only with a special emulsion - and a city glimpsed in the Aurora. He also shows the severed head of the explorer Stanislaus Grumman, and the Scholars vote to fund his expedition north. Afterwards, the Master and the Librarian discuss their fears about Lyra's destiny and the growing power of the Oblation Board.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Lord Asriel, Thorold, Stelmaria·Mentioned: Stanislaus Grumman
Chapter 3: Lyra's Jordan
Lyra's carefree life at Jordan College is described - her adventures with Roger Parslow, the kitchen boy, and the endless wars between college children, townies, and gyptians. A mysterious woman lures a boy named Tony Makarios away from the streets of London, and children begin disappearing across the country, giving rise to rumours of the Gobblers. When Ma Costa's son Billy goes missing during the horse fair in Oxford, Lyra fears the Gobblers have come, and discovers that Roger has vanished too.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Roger Parslow, Ma Costa, Mrs Coulter, Tony Makarios, Ozymandias
Chapter 4: The Alethiometer
The Master arranges for Lyra to leave Jordan College in the care of Mrs Coulter, a glamorous explorer who captivates Lyra with tales of the North. Before her departure, the Master secretly gives Lyra an alethiometer - a rare truth-measuring instrument - and warns her to keep it hidden from Mrs Coulter. Lyra travels to London and is dazzled by Mrs Coulter's elegant flat and the promise of adventure ahead.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Mrs Coulter, Ozymandias
Chapter 5: The Cocktail Party
Lyra spends weeks with Mrs Coulter in London, attending society events and learning about the world, but grows uneasy when Mrs Coulter's daemon violently attacks Pantalaimon over a shoulder bag. At a cocktail party, Lyra overhears that Mrs Coulter runs the Oblation Board - the Gobblers - and that Lord Boreal confirms the children are being used as sacrifices connected to Dust. Learning that Lord Asriel is imprisoned on Svalbard, Lyra flees the flat during the party.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Mrs Coulter, Lord Boreal, Ozymandias·Mentioned: Lord Asriel
Chapter 6: The Throwing Nets
Lyra wanders through the dangerous streets of London at night until she is caught by men with throwing nets near a canal basin. She is rescued by Tony Costa and his fellow gyptians, who kill her attackers. Ma Costa takes Lyra aboard their narrowboat, and Tony explains what the gyptians know about the Gobblers - that children are being taken north for unknown experiments. The gyptians are heading to a great muster in the fens to decide what to do.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Ma Costa, Tony Costa·Mentioned: Roger Parslow
Chapter 7: John Faa
At the gyptian Roping in the fens, John Faa announces a plan to send a fighting force north to rescue the stolen children, and declares Lyra under gyptian protection despite the thousand-sovereign reward for her capture. Farder Coram and John Faa reveal to Lyra the truth of her parentage - that Lord Asriel is her father and Mrs Coulter her mother. They examine the alethiometer and recognise its immense value, telling Lyra to keep it safe.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, John Faa, Farder Coram, Ma Costa·Mentioned: Lord Asriel, Mrs Coulter
Chapter 8: Frustration
Lyra adjusts to the revelation about her parents and begins teaching herself to read the alethiometer, finding she can make the needle respond through a calm, focused state of mind. At the second Roping, John Faa organises the expedition, appointing leaders for fighting, stores, spying, and finance, and passionately defends both the mission and Lyra's place among them against those who would hand her over. Lyra demands to join the expedition but John Faa refuses, telling her to stay with Ma Costa.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, John Faa, Farder Coram, Ma Costa
Chapter 9: The Spies
Lyra attaches herself to Farder Coram, helping him study the alethiometer and improving her ability to read it. When the spy Benjamin de Ruyter is killed during a raid on the Ministry of Theology, and the alethiometer confirms his death, John Faa agrees to take Lyra north. During the journey to the coast, spy-flies sent by Mrs Coulter attack Pantalaimon, and Farder Coram captures one in a tin. They board a ship and set sail for Trollesund in the North.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Farder Coram, John Faa·Mentioned: Mrs Coulter
Part 2: Bolvangar
Chapter 10: The Consul and the Bear
In Trollesund, Farder Coram and Lyra visit the witch consul Dr Lanselius, who tells them about the Oblation Board's station and directs them to Iorek Byrnison, an outcast armoured bear working at the sledge depot. Lyra demonstrates her ability to read the alethiometer for the consul, who is deeply impressed and hints at a prophecy about her. Lanselius mentions that John Faa has already engaged Lee Scoresby, a Texan aeronaut with a balloon, to help the expedition. The party then visits Iorek Byrnison, who agrees to join them if they recover his stolen armour.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Farder Coram, John Faa, Iorek Byrnison, Dr Lanselius·Mentioned: Lee Scoresby, Serafina Pekkala
Chapter 11: Armour
Lyra uses the alethiometer to discover that Iorek Byrnison's armour is hidden in the cellar of the priest's house. Acting on a tip from Lee Scoresby's daemon, she goes directly to Iorek and tells him, and the bear tears through the town to reclaim his armour. Lyra talks him down from killing a sentry, and Lee Scoresby guards the armour at gunpoint until the bear can oil it with seal blubber. Serafina Pekkala's daemon Kaisa arrives and reveals the location of Bolvangar, the Oblation Board's station, and speaks of Lord Asriel's plan to build a bridge between worlds.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Iorek Byrnison, Lee Scoresby, Farder Coram, John Faa, Serafina Pekkala·Mentioned: Lord Asriel
Chapter 12: The Lost Boy
As the expedition travels north by sledge, Lyra persuades John Faa to let her ride Iorek Byrnison to a nearby village, where the alethiometer has indicated something important. She discovers a severed child - Tony Makarios, whose daemon has been cut away by the Oblation Board. Lyra brings the trembling, ghost-like boy back to the gyptians, but he dies during the night, still clutching a dried fish in place of his lost daemon.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Iorek Byrnison, John Faa, Lee Scoresby, Farder Coram, Tony Makarios
Chapter 13: Fencing
Lyra places a gold coin engraved with his daemon's name in Tony Makarios's mouth before his cremation, honouring him as a Jordan Scholar. She has Iorek Byrnison craft two tin containers - one to disguise the spy-fly as the alethiometer, the other as a decoy. Iorek demonstrates that bears cannot be tricked by having Lyra fence with him, explaining that this skill is analogous to her ability to read the alethiometer. Lee Scoresby tells Lyra that Grumman may have undergone Tartar trepanning willingly and that his death may not be what it seemed.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Iorek Byrnison, Lee Scoresby, Farder Coram, Tony Makarios, John Faa
Chapter 14: Bolvangar Lights
During a rest stop, Samoyeds attack the gyptian expedition with arrows, wounding John Faa and capturing Lyra. The hunters sell her to the Oblation Board's station at Bolvangar, where she gives her name as Lizzie Brooks to hide her identity. She is examined by doctors, given sleeping pills, and placed in a dormitory with other captured children, who tell her that Mrs Coulter is expected to arrive the day after tomorrow.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon·Mentioned: John Faa, Mrs Coulter
Chapter 15: The Daemon Cages
Lyra finds Roger and Billy Costa at Bolvangar and begins planning an escape, using ceiling spaces as hidden passageways. During a fire drill, she, Roger, and Billy slip away and discover the daemon cages - glass cases holding the severed daemons of children who have undergone intercision. Kaisa, Serafina Pekkala's daemon, helps Lyra free the captive daemons, and she tells the children to be ready to escape when the fire bell sounds. Mrs Coulter arrives by zeppelin.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Roger Parslow, Mrs Coulter, Serafina Pekkala, Billy Costa, Ozymandias
Chapter 16: The Silver Guillotine
Lyra hides her furs and the alethiometer in the ceiling and explores the station through the crawl spaces, overhearing the doctors discuss their new silver guillotine for severing children from their daemons. She is caught and the doctors decide to perform the intercision on her immediately, but Mrs Coulter arrives just as the blade is about to fall, recognises Lyra, and stops the procedure. Mrs Coulter carries the traumatised Lyra to her own room.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Mrs Coulter, Ozymandias·Mentioned: Lord Asriel
Chapter 17: The Witches
Mrs Coulter tries to persuade Lyra to hand over the alethiometer, but Lyra has substituted the spy-fly tin for it. When Mrs Coulter opens the decoy, the spy-fly attacks her golden monkey, and Lyra escapes, pulling fire alarms and setting the kitchen ablaze. She leads the children out of Bolvangar into the snow, where Iorek Byrnison, the gyptians, and Serafina Pekkala's witch clan arrive to fight the Tartar guards. Mrs Coulter nearly recaptures Lyra, but witches lift her and Roger into Lee Scoresby's balloon, and they escape into the sky.
POV: Lyra Belacqua·On page: Pantalaimon, Mrs Coulter, Roger Parslow, Iorek Byrnison, Lee Scoresby, Serafina Pekkala, John Faa, Farder Coram, Ozymandias