Sir Charles promises to return the instrument in return for a powerful knife that he covets, now in Cittàgazze. Lyra realises that dark matter seems to correspond with what she knows as Dust.Īfter accepting a lift from an elderly man introducing himself as Sir Charles Latrom, Lyra realises he has stolen her alethiometer. On the advice of her alethiometer Lyra visits the physicist Dr Mary Malone, who has a computer that can communicate with dark matter. Lyra, who has come with him, wants to learn about Dust-mysterious particles connected to consciousness. Will returns to his world to seek information about his father, who went missing years earlier on an expedition. Meanwhile the aeronaut Lee Scoresby searches for Stanislaus Grumman, previously believed dead, who is rumoured to have knowledge of a powerful object that could protect Lyra. Realising Lyra's importance, Serafina Pekkala sets off in search of her. Before the victim can reveal the details she is killed by the witch Serafina Pekkala. Mrs Coulter, Lyra's mother, tortures a witch for a prophecy said to concern her daughter. After accidentally killing an intruder, Will escapes via a portal into another world and finds himself in the city of Cittàgazze where he meets Lyra and her dæmon Pantalaimon, who have arrived from her world via the opening in the sky created by her father, Lord Asriel (in Northern Lights). Twelve-year-old Will Parry lives in Oxford, where he cares for his mother who has mental health problems. The Subtle Knife of the book's title is a knife called Æsahættr, which can cut windows between worlds. By setting the alethiometer's hands to point to symbols around a dial a skilled practitioner can pose questions, which are answered by the movement round the dial of a further hand. An important plot device is the alethiometer, a truth-telling symbol reader. In Lyra's world, humans' souls naturally exist outside of their bodies in the form of sentient ' dæmons' in animal form which accompany, aid, and comfort their humans. The main setting is a universe dominated by the Magisterium, an international theocracy which actively suppresses heresy. Will Parry is introduced as a companion to Lyra, and together they explore new worlds in the search for Will's father. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua (now known as Lyra Silvertongue) recounted in the first novel, Northern Lights, as she investigates the mysterious phenomenon of Dust. The Subtle Knife is a young-adult fantasy novel published in 1997 and the second book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

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