Story Map of The Golden Compass

Jordan College and Mrs. Coulter

Jordan College and Mrs. Coulter

The first parts of this book are set in Jordan and London. Jordan was her home from the beginning of the book. Here we learn about Lyra's personality, and the plot starts with mentions of Gobblers, later revealed to be the General Oblation Board. We are also teased about Dust and the Aurora, which become very important later in the story. We learn that Roger, Lyra's best friend, went missing amidst these rumors of Gobblers. However, before being able to do anything about Roger's dissapearance, Lyra leaves for London with Mrs. Coulter. However, before she leaves, she is gifted a truth reading device called an alethiometer by the Master of Jordan. Mrs. Coulter turns out to be part of the General Oblation Board, and Lyra runs away. Her wandering through London brought her unwanted attention. She was saved by some Gyptians, and she soon found herself on her way to see Lord Faa.

The Journey North

Lyra finds herself on her way to a large Gyptian settlement, where she finds out her dissapearance has caused quite a commotion. She meets Lord Faa and Farder Coram, who lead the Gyptians. The Gyptians, who had been hit particularly hard by the Gobblers, proposed to journey to the North and free the captured children. Lyra talked with both Farder Coram and Lord Faa, and her skill with the alethiometer, gifted to Lyra by the Master of Jordan, convinced them to bring Lyra along. A total of 170 Gyptian men, as well as Lyra, Farder Coram, and Lord Faa, boarded a boat and journeyed North. They had a breif interaction with Serafina Pekkala's daemon, and recruited Iorek Byrnisson, an armoured bear, and Lee Scoresby, an aeronaut. As they go through the frigid Arctic, two major things happen. First of all, we finally find out what the Gobblers were doing, which was cutting daemons from their humans. Then, the Gyptians are ambushed, and

Lyra is captured.

The Station

The Gyptians were ambushed, and Lyra was

captured. She was brought to a place called "The Station." It was the main camp of the General Oblation Board. There, Lyra found many other captured children, including Roger, Lyra's friend from Jordan. Here we learn that the General Oblation Board is studying Dust, and conducting experiments on children. Lyra meets her friend Roger, as well as many other children. Lyra was almost cut from her dæmon Pantalaimon, but Mrs. Coulter stopped it, presumably because of her love for Lyra. Lyra then starts a sort of "jailbreak," setting fire to the Station, and in the ensuing chaos, breaks the children free of the Station. The children are found and saved by the Gyptians and witches led by Serafina Pekkalo. Lyra parted from the Gyptians, and went northward in Lee Scoresby hot air balloon. Her goal was to free her father, Lord Asriel, from his prison in Svalbard.

The Station

Svalbard and Lord Asriel

The balloon that was attacked by cliff ghasts, and

Lyra fell out of the balloon alone. She was captured by armoured bears, and brought to the castle of Iofur Raknison, the king of the panserbjørne. Iofur was a bear, and he wanted desperately to have a dæmon. This allowed Lyra to hatch a plan. Lyra convinced Iofur that she was not a human, but a dæmon. Not only that, she convinced him that she was Iorek's dæmon, and that the only way for Iorek to get a dæmon would be to fight Iorek, Lyra's friend, to the death. Because of this, Iorek was able to make it to the castle, kill Iofur, and become the new king of the panserbjørne. Lyra then went to free Lord Asriel, and they had a very long conversation, telling Lyra a lot about Dust and dæmons. It also tells us, the readers, a lot about how the world works. Lord Asriel separates Roger from his dæmon, and using the vast amount of energy released to open a bridge to another world through the Aurora. Lyra and Lord Asriel both go

through the bridge. This marks the end of

the first book of this trilogy.

The Characters

• Lyra Belacqua is the protagonist of this book. She is quite young but very curious and brave. Her dæmon is Pantalaimon.
• Roger is Lyra's best friend. He is not seen for much of the book, but is still quite important.
• Farder Coram and John Faa are the leaders of the Gyptians. They take Lyra in after she runs away from Mrs. Coulter.
• Mrs. Coulter is the head of the General Oblation Board. She is also Lyra's mother, as revealed later in the book.
• Lord Asriel is a person of noble blood concered with high politics. He is Lyra's father, which is also revealed later in the book.
• Iorek Byrnisson is a powerful panserbjørne who was in exile. He helped Lyra and the Gyptians. He killed Iofur and took the throne.

Characters

• Iofur Raknison was the king of the armoured bears. His desire for a dæmon was his downfall.

The Setting

This book is set somewhere in the 19th or 20th

century. Hot air balloons and zeppelins are the main way of travel, after boats. There are many things that are similar to our world, such as some of the locations and technologies. However, this is a fantasy world, with dæmons and ghosts.

The story starts in Lyra's home, Jordan College. This is an area full of scholars and books.

Lyra goes to live with Mrs. Coulter for some time, which is in London.

Lyra goes to the Gyptian marshes, which are in Holland.

Lyra then begins her journey north, to Svalbard.

The story ends with Lyra going through a portal to another dimension.

Setting