His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of Northern Lights (1995; published as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). This is a list of the fictional races and creatures in the novels.
Armoured bears (panserbjørne) The panserbjørne are large polar bear-like creatures that have opposable thumbs on their front paws. Despite their large digits and immense strength they have remarkable dexterity. This, together with an innate gift for metallurgy, makes them exceptional metalsmiths, and they are capable of creating and repairing metal items far beyond the capabilities of human smiths. While they mainly speak English, they are shown to be able to speak other languages. Bears are very difficult to deceive. One exception is Iofur Raknison; the bear-king emulates humans by drinking spirits, wearing expensive clothes, and wanting a dæmon. His gullibility is attributed to his failing to act like a bear. Polar bears' livers are poisonous — a trait shared in real life with other polar mammals — due to a very high concentration of retinol (Vitamin A) to enable them to cope with the hostile Arctic environment. The word "panserbjørne" means "armour-bears" in Danish. The Danish pronunciation of the word "panserbjørn" (singular) is [ˌpʰænˀsɐˈpjɶɐ̯n], but the pronunciation used in the radio plays and the audio book readings of the trilogy (by Pullman himself) is . In the 2007 film The Golden Compass, they are also known as "ice bears".
Society Panserbjørne are generally solitary creatures, but have a loose society centred on Svalbard. They are governed by a king; Iofur Raknison and Iorek Byrnison are the two kings who appear in the books. Some bears occasionally hire themselves out to humans as mercenaries or labourers, but only in the Arctic regions, and it is implied that bears who do this may be shamed in some way. Lands further to the south have little contact with the bears, though their existence is widely known. Becoming an outcast is the worst shame to a bear. The outcast is forced to leave his home and if he approaches Svalbard again, he will be shot down from afar with fire hurlers. Bears consider death by fire hurler to be dishonourable. The outcast may not participate in a legal duel, and any other bear may kill him without punishment or censure. Duels are ceremonial occasions to bears, and they do not usually end in death. When a bear knows he will be defeated, he is obliged to signal his submission to the victor. On rare occasions, however, an issue may be so important that there is no other option than to kill one's rival. One such case is the duel between Iorek Byrnison and Iofur Raknison, which ends with Iofur's death and Iorek reclaiming the throne. Normally, an outcast like Iorek would not have been allowed to participate in a duel, but the then-king Iofur is tricked into making an exception. Ordinarily, a bear who kills another in a duel is made an outcast. In the books the bears struggle to maintain their own culture and traditions against the intrusive effects of human society. This is most visible during the reign of Iofur Raknison, the usurper king of Svalbard for most of Northern Lights. Iofur tries to force the bears to become more human-like, to build palaces and universities, decorate their armour, and even acquire dæmons. Even the marble used to build the palace is offensive to the bears' way of life. Decorating armour is an even worse affront, because they think sky-iron (which seems to only be available at Svalbard) is the only thing armour should be made of. Iorek Byrnison defeats Iofur towards the end of the first book and returns the bears to their traditions. Later in the series, however, he begins to feel human feelings such as doubt, especially in connection to the Subtle Knife.
Armour and weapons Armour is extremely important to the panserbjørne; they consider it the equivalent of a dæmon or soul, albeit one that they consciously make for themselves. A bear fashions his own armour using 'sky-iron', a rare metal collected from meteorites which the bears discover on, or buried in, the ice. Although the magical metal described in Pullman's works is fictional, the native peoples of the Arctic do value meteorites (particularly the Cape York meteorite) as a source of iron for toolmaking. Sky-iron is described as being very durable, and has only been seen to be damaged by the Subtle Knife, which cuts through it with ease. A bear's primary weapons are his immense strength, savage jaws, and razor-sharp claws. He uses these in close combat or when fighting duels with other bears. However, bears use fire hurlers, which are a combination of flame throwers and catapults, against human enemies and outcasts.
Witches In Lyra's world, witches are exclusively female and live in the far north. They worship their own gods and goddesses of nature and the earth; they also understand the Judeo-Christian concept of "Mother Eve". Every witch who appears is described as very beautiful, as they stay young for their entire lives, but attain a look of wisdom. Some witches live to be over 1,000 years old. They dress in ragged black silk and are always barefoot. Witch queens usually wear a crown that they have created for themselves. Serafina Pekkala wears a band of everlasting, red Arctic flowers and Ruta Skadi wears a tiara of Siberian tiger teeth. Their crowns (like their dæmons which are always birds) reflect the witch queen's personality. Witches are renowned for their excellent marksmanship, and carry bows with them wherever they go. They lower their bows to the ground as a symbol of friendship when necessary. Witches occasionally choose human men who are in some way exceptional to be their lovers. All of a witch's sons will be human and all of her daughters will be witches. To a witch, the lives of sons or lovers are mere instants. Although some regret losing those they love, they accept that they cannot change who they are. They are however wholly unable to forgive anyone whom they love, who does not reciprocate those feelings.
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