His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife And Its Bearer

In The Subtle Knife, we are introduced to Will Parry, a young boy Lyra's age from our own world. The His Dark Materials series takes place across a multiverse of worlds. As we learned at the end of The Golden Compass/Northern Lights, we learn that Lord Asriel was trying to find a way to punch a hole between worlds and explore new worlds and find new ways to study Dust. Unfortunately for Lyra, in order to create enough energy to open up the gateway, a sacrifice had to be made.

When Lyra finally found her friend Roger, he was at a Magisterium-run facility that was developed to find a way to sever the link between humans and their daemons. Scholars learned that daemons and Dust are connected, and they believe that Dust is connected with original sin (I know it sounds very complicated, and it is and I know I am in no way doing it justice, so if you haven't read the books, I'm sorry for the spoilers, but go read them anyway). Children's daemons can change form at will, but once children start to mature, their daemon settles on one form, and it begins to attract Dust. The Magisterium believes that removing the daemon while it can still change form will save the child from the stain of original sin. Meanwhile, Asriel discovered that the severing process releases enough energy to punch a hole between universes, assuming the energy is properly harnessed. To create the portal, he uses none other than Roger, which leads to his death. Enraged that Mrs. Coulter, who turns out to be her mother, would be behind daemon severing for "righteous" reasons, and Lord Asriel, who is really her father, would sacrifice her best friend, Lyra goes through Asriel's portal in an attempt to find a way to preserve Dust, which her mother and the church is trying to destroy.

So going back to Will, he lives with his mother, since his father disappeared when he was a young boy. As he grew up, Will began to realize that his mother suffered from mental illness and paranoid delusions. Or at least he thought they were delusions; she is crazy, but as I said in the last post, a group of men has been snooping around attempting to find documents about Will's missing father. After placing his mother in the care of an old acquaintance and accidentally killing one of the men, Will runs away towards Oxford University. While there, he discovers a strange window between worlds (a window much different than the one created by Roger's death), and finds a universe with a city called Cittagazze. It is here he meets Lyra, and eventually where he finds the subtle knife.

Unlike Lyra, Will is much quieter and much less conspicuous. Will knows that he must blend in with his surroundings in order to avoid the people who are after his family secrets. He can also fend for himself. In a comical sequence, he cooks omelettes for the two of them and requests that Lyra clean up since he cooked. Lyra scoffs at this, claiming that cleaning and cooking is for servants to do. When Will lets her know how annoyed he is about that, she attempts to make an omelette herself, which she is very proud of, despite it turning out borderline inedible. Where Lyra would choose to jump into a situation with no plan but to make up a lie on the spot, Will would choose to hang back and figure out a plan of action that requires no contact with anyone else.

This brings us to the subtle knife. When a creepy stranger Lyra meets in a museum in Will's (our) world takes the alethiometer from her, he reveals to the pair that he is from Lyra's world and he will exchange the alethiometer for an object known as the subtle knife. He tells them that it can be found in Cittagazze. Will and Lyra expect an easy quest, since the only inhabitants of the city are children. The world Cittagazze is located in is plagued by creatures called spectres, which eat Dust. Since children with their shape-shifting daemons have small amounts of Dust, the spectres only prey on adults. However, upon finding the knife, it is in the possession of an elderly man, the only adult in Cittagazze. The knife is one of the only things that can repel spectres, since the blade can cut through anything. Forged centuries ago, one side of the blade is fine enough to cut through any material as if it were butter, while the other edge is so fine that it can cut through the fabric of the universe and create windows between worlds.

The knife is the perfect tool for Will, since it allows him to hide from his pursuers more completely than ever before. However, there is also a dark side to this power. The knife is dangerous both to the enemies of its bearer and the bearer itself. Will was destined to become a bearer of the knife, and all bearers are marked by the knife; all bearers lose their left ring and pinkie fingers through the fault of the knife upon acquiring it. But once the bearer has received the knife, it becomes a trump card for nearly any fight. Will was able to scare Iorek Byrnison out of a fight after slicing up a piece of the bear's armor with ease. But even worse, the knife is responsible for spectres. Slicing a hole through the fabric of the universe has a devastating effects and leads to the creation of a spectre every time a new window is cut.

The knife was created for good, but had unintended side effects. Will is a good person, but has done some unintentional bad things himself, most notably accidentally killing the man. Deep down, he is a caring person, but being constantly on the run and forced to keep his guard up has left him angry and impatient, and snapped at Lyra a lot when they first met. But like any weapon, the knife's dangerousness is dependent upon its user, just as Will learns to control his emotions as he matures.

Up next: creating the amber spyglass...