Once I Change, You’ll Stop Changing. What Do You Think You’ll Be? A Flea, I Hope.

Do you think the form of a dæmon is determined in part by the dæmon’s personality rather than just the persons?

I was going to answer this in the morning, but now I can't stop thinking about it lmao

I had never thought of it this way, but I actually think that might be the case. Even before the new daemon lore (introduced in TBOD) Daemons showed something of their nature and their human's rather than represent something, if that makes any sense (it might not). People in Lyra's world are born perceiving the message a daemon conveys about them and their human: they don't need to translate it into words, they simply see a daemon and their shape and make assumptions, or even get feelings, about what that person might be like. Very rarely these feelings are inaccurate (there's an example of this "mistake" in Serpentine, but Lyra isn't super observant, so she isn't reliable).

My point is, yes, I think a daemon's form is based on both personalities. I don't know if canonically I can 100% back this opinion, but the daemon lore is volatile and loose, so I think this is a decent take on them. Daemons, of course, don't show just personality but much more and it goes much deeper than just superficial emotions. They show spirituality and psyche, as well as their own nuances of all these things, so it's a bundle of force of nature, in my opinion.

Pan would be a decent example but I want to use the monkey, with his golden fur and his vicious behavior. The monkey, when violent, is the opposite of Marisa: she is a creature of appearance and etiquette, hiding her nature behind mask and lipstick and sweet words. The monkey is raw wrath, and he is obsessive and impatient. But, both her qualities and his qualities are present in each other: she is as animalistic as he can be and he can make use of sweet words and playing nice. His form shows who she is, who they are: beautiful and savage.

Now just to add some spice before I go to sleep: if this is really the case and daemons take on both personalities, it would be interesting to see Daemons taking a form that is much closer to the person's personality than their own, because they favour the human (who has the strongest physical presence). Having distinct personalities in this scenario could cause a daemon to resent their human, for having such a powerful influence in their own free will.

I love conflicting daemon/human relationship.

Dæmon fun fact #2

Your dæmon will almost NEVER be your favorite animal. It’s a sad truth almost all of us have to learn to accept unless you sincerely can say you are your favorite person/kind of person. Very few people have that level of self love, and most of those who do… Likely aren’t being too healthy about it.

Bonus: not always but a lot of times our favorite animal tends to reflect the dæmon of our favorite kind of people. Not always, and usually it’s more of a theoretical preference than one gained through experience. When I did reveals for a couple, her favorite animals were dogs and coincidentally his dæmon was a dog too.

Dæmon Asks

Because why not?

Name and how it was found?

Gender and reason for it?

Most stable form?

Top five favorite forms?

Describe their voice.

How much of a companion are they?

Any unusual markings?

Describe their basic personality.

Favorite thing to do together?

What do they advise you on?

Describe how they would interact with a friend’s dæmon, hypothetically.

Draw a picture of you and your dæmon together.

Write a small conversation between you and your dæmon.

(Include a question for the dæmon with this ask.)

‘serpentine’ a new his dark materials novella following teenage lyra and her dæmon returning to the arctic will be released this october.

Denver Zoo and its gay lorikeets said fuck homophobes happy Pride

some t*rf in my inbox: aphrodite told m-

aphrodite herself rising from the sea in a sea shell: shut the fuck up trans rights are human rights

posting this here so it can leave my mind

Okay, this is my daemon's name: Kleytos

○ - hundred thousand hearts - holychild

○ - wraith pinned to the mist and other games - of montreal     

But imagine having a killer whale daemon like in the picture, you've always have to be dangerously near the ice, but your daemon would warn you if the ice was thin and always be there to prevent you from falling in.

Mod Frill: Yeah, there’d be some upsides to having a killer whale daemon, but honestly I’d imagine the downsides would outweigh them. It would kinda suck to always have to be near the ocean lol

Lyra, almost every scene: WE GOTTA FIND ROGER!!

Mrs. Coulter: