Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is an orphan living at Jordan College in the Oxford of an alternate universe. In Lyra's world every person is accompanied by a daemon, a physical representation of their soul in animal form. Because Lyra is still young, her daemon, Pantalaimon (voice: Freddie Highmore), can change his shape to appear as any animal he chooses. Adults' daemons settle in to one shape and don't change.
Lyra overhears an interview between the master of Jordan College (Jack Shepherd) and Fra Pavel (Simon McBurney), a representative of the powerful and sinister religious body called the Magisterium. They're discussing an expedition to the far north planned by Lyra's uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig); he wants to study a mysterious substance called Dust that seems to enter Lyra's world from parallel universes. Fra Pavel pressures the master to withhold his support for Lord Asriel's expedition. The master refuses, so Fra Pavel poisons a decanter of wine that's been prepared for Lord Asriel. Lyra emerges from her hiding place to stop Lord Asriel from drinking the poisoned wine, but Lord Asriel sends her back to eavesdrop on the meeting that's about to begin. The master and fellows of Jordan College convene to hear about Lord Asriel's proposed expedition and research on Dust, which they agree to fund.
Even before we meet Lyra, boys and girls have been disappearing, snatched off the streets. The children call the kidnappers Gobblers. Lyra and her friend Roger (Ben Walker) promise one another that if either is caught, the other will come to the rescue. That night, while Lyra is at dinner being introduced to Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), Roger and another friend, Billy Costa (Charlie Rowe), are taken by the Gobblers.
Lyra is taken with her new acquaintance and agrees eagerly when Mrs. Coulter, who is also planning a trip to the far north, proposes that Lyra come along as her assistant. The morning of Lyra's departure, the master gives her a strange golden instrument called an alethiometer. He tells her that it is capable of telling the truth, but he can't tell her much about how it works. He admonishes her to keep the alethiometer to herself.
After some time in Mrs. Coulter's company, Lyra learns that Mrs. Coulter is deeply involved with an arm of the Magisterium called the General Oblation Board (the Gobblers!); that the General Oblation Board is using children to investigate something called intercision; and that Billy Costa and Roger have been taken. Immediately after discovering this, Lyra catches Mrs. Coulter's golden monkey daemon trying to steal the alethiometer. Pan grabs it back and they flee. They're pursued and caught by Gobblers, then rescued by fierce but friendly Gyptians, who have been watching over Lyra at Lord Asriel's request. One of Lyra's rescuers is Ma Costa (Clare Higgins), Billy's mother.
Lyra travels with the Gyptians and becomes acquainted with John Faa (Jim Carter), lord of the Gyptians, and his advisor Farder Coram (Tom Courtenay). She learns how to ask the alethiometer questions and how to interpret its responses. She also meets Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green), queen of the witches, who tells Lyra that she is the subject of a prophecy concerning the fate of the world; that the missing children are being held at Bolvangar in Norroway; and that Lyra will find help in Trollesund, a town on the coast. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter has dispatched a pair of mechanical spy flies to locate Lyra. When the spy flies find the Gyptian ship, Farder Coram captures one and seals it up in a tin, explaining that its sting contains a sleeping potion. The other escapes, though it's not clear that it does Mrs. Coulter any good.
When they arrive in Trollesund, Lyra meets the Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliot), who offers to help her -- but first he wants to get a friend out of a jam. The friend is Iorek Byrnison (voice: Ian McKellen), one of the great Panserbjørne -- armored ice bears -- of Svalbard. Iorek, exiled from his home after losing a fight, is a virtual prisoner in Trollesund; the townspeople got him drunk and stole his armor, which he cherishes the way humans cherish their daemons. Now, alcoholic and despairing, he works as a mechanic and metalsmith in exchange for whiskey. Consulting the alethiometer, Lyra learns that Iorek Byrnison was heir to the throne of Svalbard until he was betrayed and defeated by Ragnar (voice: Habib Nasib Nader), the current king. She also learns where the armor is hidden and tells Iorek, who promises in return to help her find the missing children. Lee Scoresby and the Gyptians dissuade the soldiers who try to stop the re-armored bear, and Lyra and her allies march into the interior toward Bolvangar.
When they camp for the night, Lyra puzzles over something the alethiometer is telling her and seeks out Iorek Byrnison. She asks him to take her to a valley nearby, where she finds Billy Costa, feeble and miserable because he's been separated from his daemon. This, Lyra realizes, is what intercision means; it's a fate so horrible she and Pan can hardly bear to think about it.
Iorek Byrnison and Lyra take Billy back to the Gyptians' camp, which is immediately set upon by the ferocious Samoyed people who live in that area. They capture Lyra and carry her to Svalbard as an offering to the armored bears. Recalling that Mrs. Coulter told her King Ragnar longs to have a daemon of his own, Lyra asks Pan to hide and introduces herself to Ragnar as Iorek Byrnison's daemon. As she hoped, Ragnar becomes furiously jealous. Lyra tells him that if he can defeat Iorek in single combat, she will become Ragnar's daemon. Ragnar agrees to fight Iorek Byrnison, and Iorek gallops up on cue, intending to rescue Lyra. When Lyra explains what she's arranged, apologetic and frightened because after running all that way Iorek seems in no shape to fight, Iorek surprises her with his enthusiasm. He wants nothing more from life than a chance to fight Ragnar, and dubs her Lyra Silvertongue for her skillful manipulation of the bear king.
Iorek fights Ragnar and kills him by feigning an injury, then hitting him so hard that his jaw comes off. This victory wins back Iorek Byrnison's rightful place as king of the ice bears, but he leaves his kingdom to complete his obligation to Lyra. He takes her most of the way to the experimental station at Bolvangar where the children are being held, but has to leave her and go for help when the bridge over a crevasse breaks, leaving Iorek on the wrong side.
Inside the experimental station, Lyra asks Roger to get the others ready to escape. He shows her to a room where she can be alone with the alethiometer, but she has to hide under the table almost immediately because the experimental station staff and Mrs. Coulter come in to confer about their work. After Mrs. Coulter leaves, Lyra's foot slips, giving her away. She's captured by the staff and she and Pan are put into the intercision device, the machine used to separate children from their daemons. The separation is almost complete when Mrs. Coulter, looking terrified, runs in and stops the procedure.
Lyra and Pan wake up with their bond intact, and a distraught Mrs. Coulter assures Lyra that she's safe and she'll never be hurt. Lyra, shrinking from Mrs. Coulter, asks why they're separating children from their daemons. Mrs. Coulter explains that Dust (which she seems to equate with original sin) came into the world long ago when people first disobeyed the Authority (God). While children are immune from Dust, it contaminates adults through their daemons. The goal of the intercision research is to prevent people from ever being affected by Dust. (This explanation is a slightly more palatable version of the one given in an earlier scene, in which high officials of the Magisterium, disturbed about Jordan College's rebellious support of Lord Asriel, look forward to a future when intercision will mold a population that never questions the Magisterium's authority.) Mrs. Coulter says that intercision doesn't hurt -- "it's just a little cut."
If intercision is such a good thing, Lyra counters, why did Mrs. Coulter stop the lab staff from doing it to Lyra? Mrs. Coulter admits that the procedure isn't perfect yet. When she mentions taking Lyra home, Lyra says venomously that her home is Jordan College. Mrs. Coulter reveals that she is Lyra's mother -- a relationship Lyra rejects -- and that Lord Asriel is her father. Lyra pretends to cooperate when Mrs. Coulter asks for the alethiometer, but gives her instead the tin holding the spy fly. The fly's sting knocks out Mrs Coulter and her daemon. Lyra escapes and leads the children out into the snow, pausing only to sabotage the intercision device, which explodes in a very satisfactory manner.
Outside the experimental station the children confront the guards, who attack them. Iorek Byrnison intervenes, but is nearly overcome before the arrival, at dramatic intervals, of Lee Scoresby, the witches led by Serafina Pekkala, and the Gyptians. There's a ferocious melee; whenever someone is killed, their daemon disintegrates in a swirl of Dust. Lyra's friends win the battle.
Lyra sets off with Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby to find Lord Asriel, who has been captured by the Samoyed people. Roger insists on coming along. Meanwhile Mrs. Coulter, having learned that Lord Asriel has bribed his captors and set up a laboratory to continue his research on Dust, sets off to stop him. In the final scene, Lyra and Roger curl up with Iorek Byrnison in the back of Mr. Scoresby's flying machine, heading north.
Lyra overhears an interview between the master of Jordan College (Jack Shepherd) and Fra Pavel (Simon McBurney), a representative of the powerful and sinister religious body called the Magisterium. They're discussing an expedition to the far north planned by Lyra's uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig); he wants to study a mysterious substance called Dust that seems to enter Lyra's world from parallel universes. Fra Pavel pressures the master to withhold his support for Lord Asriel's expedition. The master refuses, so Fra Pavel poisons a decanter of wine that's been prepared for Lord Asriel. Lyra emerges from her hiding place to stop Lord Asriel from drinking the poisoned wine, but Lord Asriel sends her back to eavesdrop on the meeting that's about to begin. The master and fellows of Jordan College convene to hear about Lord Asriel's proposed expedition and research on Dust, which they agree to fund.
Even before we meet Lyra, boys and girls have been disappearing, snatched off the streets. The children call the kidnappers Gobblers. Lyra and her friend Roger (Ben Walker) promise one another that if either is caught, the other will come to the rescue. That night, while Lyra is at dinner being introduced to Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), Roger and another friend, Billy Costa (Charlie Rowe), are taken by the Gobblers.
Lyra is taken with her new acquaintance and agrees eagerly when Mrs. Coulter, who is also planning a trip to the far north, proposes that Lyra come along as her assistant. The morning of Lyra's departure, the master gives her a strange golden instrument called an alethiometer. He tells her that it is capable of telling the truth, but he can't tell her much about how it works. He admonishes her to keep the alethiometer to herself.
After some time in Mrs. Coulter's company, Lyra learns that Mrs. Coulter is deeply involved with an arm of the Magisterium called the General Oblation Board (the Gobblers!); that the General Oblation Board is using children to investigate something called intercision; and that Billy Costa and Roger have been taken. Immediately after discovering this, Lyra catches Mrs. Coulter's golden monkey daemon trying to steal the alethiometer. Pan grabs it back and they flee. They're pursued and caught by Gobblers, then rescued by fierce but friendly Gyptians, who have been watching over Lyra at Lord Asriel's request. One of Lyra's rescuers is Ma Costa (Clare Higgins), Billy's mother.
Lyra travels with the Gyptians and becomes acquainted with John Faa (Jim Carter), lord of the Gyptians, and his advisor Farder Coram (Tom Courtenay). She learns how to ask the alethiometer questions and how to interpret its responses. She also meets Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green), queen of the witches, who tells Lyra that she is the subject of a prophecy concerning the fate of the world; that the missing children are being held at Bolvangar in Norroway; and that Lyra will find help in Trollesund, a town on the coast. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter has dispatched a pair of mechanical spy flies to locate Lyra. When the spy flies find the Gyptian ship, Farder Coram captures one and seals it up in a tin, explaining that its sting contains a sleeping potion. The other escapes, though it's not clear that it does Mrs. Coulter any good.
When they arrive in Trollesund, Lyra meets the Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliot), who offers to help her -- but first he wants to get a friend out of a jam. The friend is Iorek Byrnison (voice: Ian McKellen), one of the great Panserbjørne -- armored ice bears -- of Svalbard. Iorek, exiled from his home after losing a fight, is a virtual prisoner in Trollesund; the townspeople got him drunk and stole his armor, which he cherishes the way humans cherish their daemons. Now, alcoholic and despairing, he works as a mechanic and metalsmith in exchange for whiskey. Consulting the alethiometer, Lyra learns that Iorek Byrnison was heir to the throne of Svalbard until he was betrayed and defeated by Ragnar (voice: Habib Nasib Nader), the current king. She also learns where the armor is hidden and tells Iorek, who promises in return to help her find the missing children. Lee Scoresby and the Gyptians dissuade the soldiers who try to stop the re-armored bear, and Lyra and her allies march into the interior toward Bolvangar.
When they camp for the night, Lyra puzzles over something the alethiometer is telling her and seeks out Iorek Byrnison. She asks him to take her to a valley nearby, where she finds Billy Costa, feeble and miserable because he's been separated from his daemon. This, Lyra realizes, is what intercision means; it's a fate so horrible she and Pan can hardly bear to think about it.
Iorek Byrnison and Lyra take Billy back to the Gyptians' camp, which is immediately set upon by the ferocious Samoyed people who live in that area. They capture Lyra and carry her to Svalbard as an offering to the armored bears. Recalling that Mrs. Coulter told her King Ragnar longs to have a daemon of his own, Lyra asks Pan to hide and introduces herself to Ragnar as Iorek Byrnison's daemon. As she hoped, Ragnar becomes furiously jealous. Lyra tells him that if he can defeat Iorek in single combat, she will become Ragnar's daemon. Ragnar agrees to fight Iorek Byrnison, and Iorek gallops up on cue, intending to rescue Lyra. When Lyra explains what she's arranged, apologetic and frightened because after running all that way Iorek seems in no shape to fight, Iorek surprises her with his enthusiasm. He wants nothing more from life than a chance to fight Ragnar, and dubs her Lyra Silvertongue for her skillful manipulation of the bear king.
Iorek fights Ragnar and kills him by feigning an injury, then hitting him so hard that his jaw comes off. This victory wins back Iorek Byrnison's rightful place as king of the ice bears, but he leaves his kingdom to complete his obligation to Lyra. He takes her most of the way to the experimental station at Bolvangar where the children are being held, but has to leave her and go for help when the bridge over a crevasse breaks, leaving Iorek on the wrong side.
Inside the experimental station, Lyra asks Roger to get the others ready to escape. He shows her to a room where she can be alone with the alethiometer, but she has to hide under the table almost immediately because the experimental station staff and Mrs. Coulter come in to confer about their work. After Mrs. Coulter leaves, Lyra's foot slips, giving her away. She's captured by the staff and she and Pan are put into the intercision device, the machine used to separate children from their daemons. The separation is almost complete when Mrs. Coulter, looking terrified, runs in and stops the procedure.
Lyra and Pan wake up with their bond intact, and a distraught Mrs. Coulter assures Lyra that she's safe and she'll never be hurt. Lyra, shrinking from Mrs. Coulter, asks why they're separating children from their daemons. Mrs. Coulter explains that Dust (which she seems to equate with original sin) came into the world long ago when people first disobeyed the Authority (God). While children are immune from Dust, it contaminates adults through their daemons. The goal of the intercision research is to prevent people from ever being affected by Dust. (This explanation is a slightly more palatable version of the one given in an earlier scene, in which high officials of the Magisterium, disturbed about Jordan College's rebellious support of Lord Asriel, look forward to a future when intercision will mold a population that never questions the Magisterium's authority.) Mrs. Coulter says that intercision doesn't hurt -- "it's just a little cut."
If intercision is such a good thing, Lyra counters, why did Mrs. Coulter stop the lab staff from doing it to Lyra? Mrs. Coulter admits that the procedure isn't perfect yet. When she mentions taking Lyra home, Lyra says venomously that her home is Jordan College. Mrs. Coulter reveals that she is Lyra's mother -- a relationship Lyra rejects -- and that Lord Asriel is her father. Lyra pretends to cooperate when Mrs. Coulter asks for the alethiometer, but gives her instead the tin holding the spy fly. The fly's sting knocks out Mrs Coulter and her daemon. Lyra escapes and leads the children out into the snow, pausing only to sabotage the intercision device, which explodes in a very satisfactory manner.
Outside the experimental station the children confront the guards, who attack them. Iorek Byrnison intervenes, but is nearly overcome before the arrival, at dramatic intervals, of Lee Scoresby, the witches led by Serafina Pekkala, and the Gyptians. There's a ferocious melee; whenever someone is killed, their daemon disintegrates in a swirl of Dust. Lyra's friends win the battle.
Lyra sets off with Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby to find Lord Asriel, who has been captured by the Samoyed people. Roger insists on coming along. Meanwhile Mrs. Coulter, having learned that Lord Asriel has bribed his captors and set up a laboratory to continue his research on Dust, sets off to stop him. In the final scene, Lyra and Roger curl up with Iorek Byrnison in the back of Mr. Scoresby's flying machine, heading north.
