# For readers of \[I\]His Dark Materials\[/I\]: what is your daemon?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 8, 2002, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331 "2002-10-08T10:42:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sebhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sebhal)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/1 "2002-10-08T10:42:36Z")
For all those who have read Philip Pullman’s _His Dark Materials_ trilogy, _Northern Lights_, _The Subtle Knife_ and _The Amber Spyglass_ I have some questions:
1. What would you like your daemon to be?
2. What do you think it actually ‘is’?
3. What did you think of the books?
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### Author:  [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/2 "2002-10-08T12:33:20Z")
Can’t answer 1/2 (though I’m thinking about them).
As to 3, I think they’re probably the best of their genre I’ve read in years. I’ve read a couple of reviews which compare him very favourably to Tolkien. On the basis of this trilogy, I prefer him.
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### Author:  [@ralphthemuppet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralphthemuppet)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/3 "2002-10-08T12:51:37Z")
1. probably some sort of feline - maybe a cheshire cat 😃
2. still thinking
3. read all three in about a week. My SO recommended them but I kept putting it off as ‘books for kids’ (maybe fearing I was getting into something a little Harry Potterish). Good for light reading and wouldn’t be surprised if someone thinks of making a film.
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### Author:  [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/4 "2002-10-08T13:29:02Z")
1. Definitely a snake, a Cobra or maybe a Coachwhip. A snake daemon could coil around a limb to be out of the way, or hide beneath my clothes, but rear up and threaten when necessary. Plus, snakes can swim.
2. Since I was working scut jobs in my adolescence, that probably counts as “servant”; therefore, a dog. A Border Collie if I’m lucky.
3. The trilogy was stunning. The hardback covers (U.S.) are the best, especially on The Amber Spyglass.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/5 "2002-10-08T14:47:31Z")
1. a red squirrel
2. your soul
3. I think they pretty much suck and are bizarrely overrated. I got about half-way through the second book before I realized that the series wasn’t going to get any better.
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### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/6 "2002-10-08T14:57:45Z")
1. an alligator
2. animal spirits who existed before as just regular critters, but have passed through the first stage, and are now in the second, where they learn the human brain and soul, and get to be humans in the third stage. Some, like the armored bears, are stuck in the second stage.
3. halfway through the first book and enjoying it.
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### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/7 "2002-10-08T15:03:09Z")
1. an alligator
2. animal spirits who existed before as just regular critters, but have passed through the first stage, and are now in the second, where they learn the human brain and soul, and get to be humans in the third stage. Some, like the armored bears, are stuck in the second stage.
3. halfway through the first book and enjoying it.
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### Author:  [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/8 "2002-10-08T15:45:23Z")
1. I’m a servant, what can I say?–maybe a German shepherd.
2. An extremely powerful sentient German shepherd.
3. First book and one-half were pretty good, but it really went downhill at the end–Pullman’s ham-handed bashing of religion gets in the way of his ability to finish what started as a good story.
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### Author:  [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/9 "2002-10-08T15:47:57Z")
1. A grizzly bear
2. A mouse (or do you mean, “what’s a daemon”? I think daemons are something akin to what Jung would call your Shadow.)
3. I thought they were neat, but I didn’t like the last half or so of the third book.
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### Author:  [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/10 "2002-10-08T16:39:43Z")
1. dog
2. dunno
3. Liked the first book, but felt the series went sharply downhill afterwards, with the final book being somewhat of a mess.
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### Author:  [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-readers-of-i-his-dark-materials-i-what-is-your-daemon/131331/11 "2002-10-08T17:34:24Z")
1. a kitty cat
2. have no idea
3. Loved them, although not really the last 1/2 or so of the last one. Although i did like the image of the dead people coming out of the ground into the starlight and disappearing…