Get in the HIS DARK MATERIALS Mood Before the Premiere with SERPENTINE
In less than a week, fans will be able to watch the first episode of Season 2 of His Dark Materials on HBO. Well, Philip Pullman, the author of the book series the show is based on, recently released a new short story, and it looks like a great way for fans to get even more hyped. Titled Serpentine, the story takes place after the events of The Amber Spyglass (what is sure to be the third season of the show) as Lyra’s a teenager.
In Serpentine, a teenage Lyra returns to the town of Trollesund, the setting of her first encounter with Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby in The Golden Compass. Lyra and Pan are older and a little wiser, and in search of an answer to a shocking, secret condition—their ability to separate—from the witch consul, Dr. Lanselius. What unfolds is a tender, revelatory scene that foreshadows Lyra’s future struggles and provides insight into Pullman’s own early exploration of a previously unthinkable plot development that would emerge in his The Book of Dustsequence: the idea that a human’s bond with their dæmon can be irreparably broken.
Serpentine was originally written back in 2004 for a charity event and is now published for the general public to consume and enjoy. Pullman explained the release of the story 16 years later saying:
Why are we publishing this story now? Because with the development of The Book of Dust, especially after the events described in The Secret Commonwealth, we can see a change in the way Lyra understands herself, and her relationship with Pantalaimon, which is prefigured in this little Arctic episode. When I wrote Serpentine, I had no idea that I was going on to write another trilogy, showing Lyra as an adult, but she and her world wouldn’t leave me alone. When it comes to human affairs, a billion invisible filaments connect us to our own pasts, as well as to the most remote things we can imagine; and I hope that, above all, these books are about being alive and being human.
Fans can read Serpentine now with copies available through your favorite book retailers. The book features illustrations by Tom Duxbury and the audiobook is narrated by Olivia Colman (The Crown).