The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass Summary | Plot Summary

The Golden Compass follows the ever-expanding adventure of Lyra Bacquela as she travels north in search of a kidnapped friend. The story begins in Jordan College, Oxford, where Lyra is an average eleven-year-old girl who enjoys playing with her friend, Roger. One day, while snooping around Jordan College, Lyra accidentally learns about a mysterious substance known as Dust, which is attracted to adults but not to children. She also learns that the Dust has something to do with the snowy north.

Rumors soon begin about a group known as Gobblers, who kidnap children, take them to the north, and perform experiments on them. The people of Jordan College give little credibility to these rumors, until the Gobblers arrive in Oxford. Several children are kidnapped, and after an extensive search, Lyra returns home to find that Roger is also missing.

Soon thereafter, Lyra is given a strange compass-like device known as an alethiometer, and then is forced to leave Oxford. Her new caretaker, Mrs. Coulter, takes her to London. Mrs. Coulter is an explorer and promises to take Lyra north on her next expedition. However, Mrs. Coulter does not hold true to her promise, and Lyra runs away, finding a family of Gyptians to take care of her.

The Gyptians head north toward the Fen, an area ruled by the Gyptian people, and where a meeting has been called about the mysterious disappearances of children. At the meeting, it is decided that a Gyptian rescue party will be formed to travel north and save the children. Although she is first denied a place in this party, Lyra, who has been practicing with the alethiometer, is later allowed to go because of her ability to read the truth-telling device.

The rescue party of one hundred and seventy Gyptians takes a boat to Trollesund, a city in the North. Here, they speak with a witch consul, who can communicate with witches, who tells them that they should seek out an armored bear. Iorek Byrnison is an armored bear, and happens to be in town. By using the alethiometer, Lyra helps Iorek find his armor, which had been stolen by the townspeople. As payment, Iorek agrees to help the rescue party.

On their journey north, Lyra is captured and taken to Bolvangar, the Gobbler's heavily guarded compound where experiments are performed on children. Here, Lyra is reunited with Roger. After learning the truth about the experiments, Lyra organizes an escape attempt. With the assistance of some witches and Iorek, the children manage to escape the compound before it is destroyed.

Iorek, Roger, Lyra, and a Texan aeronaut named Lee Scoresby travel by balloon to Svalbard, a land in the far north that is ruled by Iofur Rakinson, king of the bears. The balloon is attacked by cliff-ghasts and Lyra is thrown from the balloon and captured by some armored bears.

She is taken to Iofur Rakinson's castle and imprisoned. Lyra cleverly manipulates the bear guards to allow her to speak with the king, whom she tricks into battling Iorek one on one. When Iorek arrives, the two bears battle for the throne. Iorek wins, and orders that the castle be torn down.

Iorek, Lyra, Roger, and some armored bears head north to rescue Lord Asriel, who had been imprisoned. When they reach Asriel's spacious prison, they find he has been researching the Dust. Lyra wakes up the next morning to find Roger has been taken away by Lord Asriel, who is going to use the boy to complete an experiment. Iorek and Lyra chase Lord Asriel, but are too late, and Asriel uses Roger to open a bridge to another dimension. Lord Asriel enters the dimensional gateway, followed by Lyra.