Discussion Topic: Daemonic Designs

[dianaprince]

Aren't the daemons cute??? Mine is Laefe, a monarch butterfly. The daemon said that I was modest and shy. I'm actually not, though... Hmmm.

[Nadine]

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dianaprince wrote:
Aren't the daemons cute??? Mine is Laefe, a monarch butterfly. The daemon said that I was modest and shy. I'm actually not, though... Hmmm.

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That is a good one. I had forgotten that mine was a chimp called Erasmos.

[ConnieAnnKirk]

In THE SUBTLE KNIFE, Lyra mentions that Will's daemon is on the inside. Do you think the people in his world have daemons?

~ConnieK

Message Edited by ConnieK on 10-15-2007 08:58 AM

[Nadine]

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ConnieK wrote:
In THE SUBTLE KNIFE, Lyra mentions that Will's daemon is on the inside. Do you think the people in his world have daemons?

~ConnieK

Message Edited by ConnieK on 10-15-2007 08:58 AM

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Yes I think so and maybe it is an important point in the books. Lyra mentioned it a couple of times. But I think the most significant is that after Will's father John Perry (Grumman) has spent some time in Lyra's world, he acquires an external daemon, Sayan Kotor. (pg 213 SK)

[Nadine]

I have been noticing some basic differences in Mrs. Coulter's daemons from the others.

First, he doesn't have a name, something we discussed earler and Dave explained in his book.

Second, I've started to notice that he doesn't talk. Everyone seems to converse with their daemons and even other people's daemons, but I don't think we have heard a word from the Golden Monkey. At least I don't remember anything. Mrs. Coulter and her daemon do communicate but just not verbally.

Finally, the Golden Monkey seems to be his own person and consistently evil, whereas Mrs. Coulter herself is a bit (to say the least!) ambiguous. At times I even feel the monkey disapproves of Mrs. Coulter's behavior. Like at the end of the first chapter of the Amber Spyglass. "Her daemon was discontented. he didn't like what she was doing here in the cave, and when he tried to express his own concern, she brushed him away."

I always viewed daemons and their humans as just parts of the same being and together they made the whole person. Mrs. Coulter is power hungry and ambitious, she will do many things to succeed no matter who it may hurt, she can show cruelty, and be ruthless, with little or no conscious about what she does. But she does periodically show concern for Lyra and has been protective of her. (I am thinking of the time she saved her back in Bolvanger in the Golden Compass.) But the monkey is a very nasty creature and cruel for the sake of being cruel. He has no ambition or power motives, he just seems to enjoy being cruel and evil. He also disagrees periodically with Mrs. Coulter's actions. So they do sometimes seem at odds with one another. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[BnBookworm]

daemons and people represent the "sacred marrige" of the mature masculine and feminine.

[FionaBR3]

I took the test several times and am forced to admit that my daemon is a mouse.But having tried the test so many times I had a variety of names to chose from so I chose Apollonious. If any one would like to comment on my first test, here is the web link:

http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/?976267

Even if I don't know you as I am new to B&N book clubs, I'd still really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Fiona

[FionaBR3]

Hey I was wrong. When I looked at the description of my mouse daemon it was way off and I knew it. So I took the test again as honestly as I could while being somewhat quick at the same time, and I found a description that matched me, which turned out to correspond to a snow leopard named klikus. cool!

[MissEllen]

I always thought the idea of daemons were a little sinister due to their similarity to witch's 'familiars' ('demonic' animal companions of those accused of witchcraft in the 16th/17th centuries e.g. mouse, cat, pig, dog etc). I couldn't really get over those untrustworthy associations...

[Mother_Earth]

This link has already been posted, but I'm gonna post it again 'cause I'm stubborn like that. If you are really interested in daemons, check out:

http://daemonpage.com

You'll be glad you did, trust me. Oh, and Lee Scoresby's daemon is a hare, not a rabbit, for future reference.