The Golden Compass: Chapter Nineteen Summary & Analysis

The bears lead Lyra up the cliffs. At the top, they instruct her to look up at a massive stone building. They point to the carvings that show bears and Iofur Raknison winning wars, but Lyra only sees birds perched in the recesses and their droppings, which obscure the carvings. As they get deeper into the palace, Lyra smells the stench of refuse and rotting meat. They stop outside a door. A bear opens it, swats Lyra inside, and closes her in. Pan becomes a firefly so that Lyra can see. She sits and pulls the alethiometer out. It tells her that Iorek and Roger are a day away and that Iorek plans to break in and rescue her. Lyra begins to discuss this with Pan but stops when she hears a voice in the dark.

Pan flies up and illuminates a man. He introduces himself as Jotham Santelia of the University of Gloucester. When he hears that Lyra is from Oxford, he asks if the Palmerian Professor is still there and accuses him of plagiary. Lyra lies and says that the Palmerian Professor was writing about Dust. Santelia shouts insults about the Palmerian Professor. Lyra sits down and flatters Santelia into telling her about the bears. The bears apparently locked him up because he was writing about them. He says that Iofur Raknison initially invited him to set up a university, but the Palmerian Professor and others betrayed him.

Lyra suggests that Iorek will believe Santelia and free him when he arrives, but Santelia says that Iorek can't come back. To the other bears, Iorek is no better than a seal, and they'll kill him before he can challenge Iofur to a fight. Scared and disappointed, Lyra asks where the other prisoners and Lord Asriel are. At this, Santelia cringes and shrinks back, saying that Iofur doesn't allow people to mention Asriel. He explains that Iofur is entirely besotted with Mrs. Coulter, which means that he's happy to imprison Lord Asriel for her and the Oblation Board. But, Iofur is also afraid of Lord Asriel, so he allows Asriel to have all the equipment he wants. Iofur won't be able to keep up the game for long.

Lyra sits back and Santelia goes back to sleep. She remembers that the Palmerian Professor said that more than anything, Iofur wants a dæmon and to be human. Lyra begins to plot. She's nearly asleep when a bear opens the door to throw in seal meat. She races to the bear and says that she needs to see Iofur to tell him something important about Iorek. She refuses to let the guard pass on her message and points out that it's a rule that the king has to know things first. The guard pauses and then leads Lyra out. They consult another guard and Lyra insists again that in the interest of politeness, she needs to speak to Iofur herself. When they agree, it confirms her suspicion that Iofur has introduced so many new rules that his underlings are confused as to how they should act.

A bear pushes Lyra into the lavishly decorated but still filthy throne room. Inside, bears wear jewelry instead of armor. Birds swoop above and Iofur sits on a throne. He's huger than Iorek and looks somehow human. Lyra feels afraid until she sees that Iofur has a stuffed doll on his knee, where a human's dæmon might sit. It's dressed like Mrs. Coulter. Lyra steps close and gives him greetings from her and from Iorek. She whispers that she has something about dæmons to tell him, which makes him send the other bears away. She tells him that she is Iorek's dæmon—and says that at Bolvanger, they're experimenting with creating artificial dæmons. She says that Iorek was the first bear to get a dæmon. Iofur is shocked.

Lyra tells Iofur that Iorek is on his way to steal her back, but she wants to be Iofur's dæmon instead. She says that Bolvanger was horrified when they saw how powerful Iorek was with a dæmon and decided to stop the experiments. She says that Iorek is coming to take over Svalbard. Iofur roars in anger. Lyra says that Iofur is the rightful ruler and there's a way for her to become his dæmon: he must defeat Iorek in single combat. Iofur paces and then tells Lyra to prove that she's a dæmon. She asks Iofur to ask her any question that only he knows the answer to, but says that she has to come up with the answer in private until she becomes his dæmon. He asks her to tell him the first creature he killed, and then sends her to an anteroom.

The alethiometer tells Lyra that Iorek is four hours away and that she must trust him. It then says that Iofur killed his father, a grave crime that Iofur then concealed. Pan, as a tiny mouse, tells Lyra to flatter Iofur when she tells him. In the throne room, she declares that he's a god since he killed his father. He's impressed, but then asks her to tell him what Mrs. Coulter promised him last. Lyra returns from the anteroom and says that Mrs. Coulter promised to get Iofur baptized as a Christian in Geneva. Lyra says that she thinks that Mrs. Coulter lied; the Church won't agree to that unless Iofur has a dæmon, so he has to fight to win her. Iofur agrees, allows to let Lyra pretend that she still belongs to Iorek, and decides to follow Lyra's suggestion to tell the bears that he called Iorek here himself.