The Golden Compass

There are many universes and many earths...

parallel to each other.

Worlds like yours...

where people's souls live inside their bodies...

and worlds like mine...

where they walk beside us...

as animal spirits we call daemons.

Are we going to see the child?

I should think so.

So many worlds...

but connecting them all is Dust.

Dust was here before the witches of the air...

the Gyptians of the water...

and the bears of the ice.

In my world, scholars invented an alethiometer...

a golden compass...

and it showed them all that was hidden.

But the ruling power, fearing any truth but their own...

destroyed these devices...

and forbade the very mention of Dust.

One compass remains, however...

and only one who can read it.

You'll never get me!

Let's go get 'em, Lyra.

Come on!

Gonna get you!

I'll get you first!

Billy!

You come back here!

Leave me alone!

Faster, faster!

We're gonna get you!

Run, Roger!

You are now Gobbled!

You've gotta do whatever I say!

Go, Roger! Run!

Come on! Come on! Hurry!

- Leave us alone! - Get him!

Come on. Run!

Hurry up, Roger, or they'll Gobble you!

Faster!

Hurry up!

Stop!

If you value your lives, come no further.

Why?

We Gobbled him fair and square.

This ain't no game, Billy Costa.

Don't you know what this gate is?

It's the back door to your stupid college.

So?

There's a curse on this gate.

You Gyptians ought to know that.

Crossin' this gate...

is worse than touching someone's daemon...

with your bare hands.

Why ain't nothin' happened to you, then?

'Cause we live here.

We got safe passage, see?

And anyway...

my mother's the one who put the curse on this gate in the first place.

What mother?

I heard you was an orphink...

and your uncle only left you here cause nobody wanted you.

Come here and say that.

Don't, Billy.

You should listen to your mate.

The scholars got this special room where they deal with trespassers.

They got this poison gown, right...

and it burns you alive!

Rubbish. Hand him over.

It ain't rubbish. I'll prove it. I'll steal it.

You can have Roger.

As long as you try it on.

All right. Bring it with you tonight.

Or else...

War.

Billy, don't!

See ya later, then.

OK.

Well done, Billy!

You ain't really gonna hand me over to them?

Of course not.

I'll steal any old scholar's gown.

He'll never try it on anyway.

- Lord Asriel? - Morning, Hunt.

Well, the Master will be relieved to hear you've arrived safely.

I'm sure he will.

I wish you'd listen to me once in a while.

Stop being such a coward.

If I weren't such a coward, where would you be?

In the Retiring Room already.

Come on, quick.

Let's find a robe and get out of here.

Don't be silly. I want to look around.

You do know that if you get a smack, I hurt too?

Oh, Lyra.

You're gonna get us caught.

Oh, no! I told you!

Lord Asriel is an eminent fellow of the college.

And as master of Jordan, you must force him...

to abandon his plan.

They're talking about Uncle Asriel.

I speak for the Magisterium.

The Magisterium has no authority within these walls.

My dear fellow...

the Magisterium has authority everywhere...

and Lord Asriel will be silenced...

one way or another.

That may be.

But while he is at Jordan, his proposal will be heard.

I'll not dispense with centuries of tolerance and free inquiry.

And that's my final word on the matter.

Now, if you'll excuse me...

I shall call the Council to order.

I guess we lost that bet.

Hush, Pan.

Lyra, he's leaving. Let's go.

Lyra.

- The professor-a really hard time. - Oh, no.

It's Stelmaria.

The master asked me to decant a bottle of the '99 Tokay for you, Lord Asriel.

He remembered you were partial to it.

Thank you.

- Lyra! - It's poisoned.

- Nonsense. - It ain't nonsense.

I saw that man from the Magisterium...

pour some powder into the wine.

Go back in there.

Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.

Go on.

Ah, Lord Asriel.

This is a rare pleasure.

May I introduce Fra Pavel of the Magisterium?

We've never met, but I've followed your exploits closely, Lord Asriel.

That's what the smell is.

Master, gentlemen, I shall get straight to the point.

Hunt, the lights.

This photogram was taken at the magnetic North Pole...

in Svalbard...

kingdom of the ice bears.

Ice bears, Pan.

Lord Asriel, is that light rising up from the man's body or coming down?

No, that's coming down from the sky, but that's not light.

- It's Dust. - Dust?

- What's Dust? - I don't know.

It can't be the normal sort.

They've got plenty of that here.

Mirabile dictu, gentlemen.

Allow Lord Asriel to explain.

Perhaps you've made a mistake.

It could be an aberration or malfunction of some kind.

No, it is no aberration.

The behavior of these particles is quite unmistakable.

Dust is flowing into this man, through his daemon...

from a city in another world.

A world much like ours in a parallel universe co-existing with our own.

Invisible, intangible, inaccessible!

Until now.

From there, and from a billion other worlds, Dust flows.

Worlds of infinite possibilities.

Some where men have no daemons.

Some where daemons have no men.

People without daemons. That's impossible.

And even some where there is no Magisterium...

and no Authority.

That is heresy.

That...

is the truth.

I wouldn't recommend the Tokay, gentlemen. It's corked.

To discover the source of Dust, I intend to travel to these worlds.

With a sufficient source of energy and-

Well, a sufficient source of funds...

I can effect a crossing.

I humbly beg the College Council to fund such a journey.

It wasn't my fault. She wouldn't listen to me.

I will not have my niece slithering round like an alley cat.

You're not very grateful, are you?

I've just saved your life.

Uncle, why did he try to poison you?

- You wouldn't understand. - Yes, I would.

Well, I don't see why.

Apparently you're impossible to educate.

A miscreant and a liar.

What will the Magisterium do to you now?

The Magisterium's days are numbered.

What does that mean?

Trouble, with a bit of luck.

Did you get the money you needed?

Are you going North again?

The College Council has defied the Magisterium.

I'm leaving immediately.

Can I come with you?

I want to see the ice bears and glaciers...

and learn about Dust and everything.

What do you know about Dust?

- Nothing. - Good.

Keep it that way.

Now be a good girl and do what you're told.

But you don't do what you're told.

You don't let anybody tell you what to do.