His Dark Materials
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His Dark Materials
StelmariaHoldingSalcilia

Dust being pulled from a dæmon

Dust was an elementary particle. It had different names in the different worlds of the multiverse: Dust or Rusakov Particles in Lyra's world, Shadows, Shadow-particles or dark matter in Will's world, and sraf in the mulefa world.

Description[]

Golden_Compass_Author_on_the_Nature_and_Meaning_of_Dust

Golden Compass Author on the Nature and Meaning of Dust

Philip Pullman discusses Dust.

Dust was an elementary particle responsible for consciousness, and was, in fact, itself conscious. Dust gravitated strongly to sentient species, like humans and mulefa, and attracted to adults in particular.

Dust was produced by sentient beings by creative, interesting and introspective acts. Objects made by sentient species also attracted Dust. Dust could also be lost forever if it fell outside of the worlds, most particularly through the small gaps into the void made by windows.

Mulefa were able to see Dust with the naked eye, and as such they were able to identify other sentient and intelligent creatures. Humans were unable to see Dust with their own eyes, but could use technology such as the amber spyglass or a special emulsion used to develop photograms to view it. Humans developed ways of communicating with Dust, such as the alethiometer, the Cave and the I Ching.

Angels were beings entirely composed of Dust. The Authority was the first angel to condense this way, and claimed to those that followed that he created them. Spectres consumed the consciousness of a living person, destroying their Dust and the capacity to produce it.

The witch Serafina Pekkala would float on her cloud-pine at night and listen to the whispering that was made up of silence, and later realised she was listening to the Dust.[1]

History[]

Research by the Dark Matter Research Unit at the Oxford University in Will's world estimated that Dust first came into contact with humans around 33,000 years ago.[2] In Lyra's world, the particles were first discovered by the Muscovite experimental theologian Boris Rusakov and they were named after him.[3]

With the invention of Æsahættr, in the world of Cittàgazze in the 17th century, Dust began to leak out of the windows which were cut. It was also around this time that the alethiometer was invented in Lyra's world. The Church began to study Dust and, due to its strong attraction to adults, believed it to be the manifestation of Original sin.

The flow of Dust was worsened when the Magisterium's bomb created a massive window into the Abyss, and was slowed when Lyra Silvertongue and Will Parry kissed. After the teenagers returned to their own worlds, angels closed the windows between worlds to stem the flow of Dust, but left the single window into the World of the Dead open, allowing ghosts to rejoin the universe.

Etymology[]

"for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return"
Lyra Silvertongue reads from the Bible[src]

The name Dust was chosen in Lyra's world based on an interpretation of the end of the third chapter of Genesis in the Bible, where God curses Adam and Eve for eating the fruit of the tree.

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. Northern Lights, Lantern Slide 9
  2. The Subtle Knife, Chapter 4
  3. Northern Lights, Chapter 5
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