A group of people in Lyra's world that are modeled off of real-world Roma people. They're transient people who live on narrowboats, and the general populace thinks of them as thieves and liars. While they have the right to free movement in England, they have poor legal standing in most other cases.
Gyptian Quotes in The Golden Compass
The The Golden Compass quotes below are all either spoken by Gyptian or refer to Gyptian. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter Three
Quotes
Lyra was frightened. No one worried about a child gone missing for a few hours, certainly not a gyptian: in the tight-knit gyptian boat world, all children were precious and extravagantly loved, and a mother knew that if a child was out of sight, it wouldn't be far from someone else's who would protect it instinctively.
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Chapter Seven
Quotes
Indeed, Tony heard from gossip in pubs along the way that the police were making raids on houses and farms and building yards and factories without any explanation, though there was a rumor that they were searching for a missing girl. And that in itself was odd, considering all the kids that had gone missing without being looked for.
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"And the Church in recent times, Lyra, it's been getting more commanding. There's councils for this and councils for that; there's talk of reviving the Office of Inquisition, God forbid. And the Master has to tread warily between all these powers. He has to keep Jordan College on the right side of the Church, or it won't survive."
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Get the entire The Golden Compass LitChart as a printable PDF.
Gyptian Term Timeline in The Golden Compass
The timeline below shows where the term Gyptian appears in The Golden Compass. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Three
...the "townies," and then banding with the townies to fight the brickburners' children or the gyptian children, whose families arrive with their boats in the spring and fall.
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The last time a particular gyptian family came to Oxford, Lyra and Roger stole one of their narrowboats, rode down the...
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...friends Hugh and Simon (Roger is busy with chores), she hears Ma Costa, a grand gyptian woman, yelling at a horse trader. Lyra is nervous—Ma Costa is kind, but has hit...
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Chapter Six
...to the kidnapped kids because they caught a Gobbler. He says that the Gobblers target gyptian kids more than others, so the gyptians are planning a rescue mission. Tony says that...
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Chapter Seven
The Costas' boat and a thousand other gyptian boats head for an ancient meeting hall, the Zaal, in the middle of the fens....
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...wooden chairs. Tony whispers that the standing one is John Faa. John Faa welcomes the gyptians, states the purpose of the meeting, and says that anyone who wants to give Lyra...
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...afraid of her husband's reaction, so she sent Lyra to Oxfordshire to live with a gyptian wet nurse. When her husband found out, he went intending to kill the nurse and...
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...The men give the alethiometer back to Lyra, who feels suddenly shy. She asks which gyptian women nursed her, and John Faa says that it was Ma Costa. They send her...
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Chapter Eight
...her mother. She doesn't worry long, however, as she throws herself into riling up the gyptian children and awing them with stories about Lord Asriel's unjust captivity. Outside of the fens,...
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On the third evening, the gyptians return to the Zaal. John Faa accepts gold and pledges of men from each of...
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Chapter Nine
...empty town to the docks. There they find Tony Costa, who quietly says that a gyptian man was killed. The ship to go north is huge. They climb up the gangway...
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Chapter Ten
...name of Farder Coram's witch friend, Serafina Pekkala, and listens to Farder Coram state the gyptians' business. Farder Coram asks if Dr. Lanselius knows about the Gobblers. Lyra watches as the...
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Iorek comes close to the gate and says that he knows the gyptians are looking for the children and the "child cutters." Because Iorek doesn't like the child...
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Chapter Eleven
...Kaisa. Kaisa looks at Lyra, says he knows who she is, and asks if the gyptians are here to fight. Farder Coram says they're here to rescue children and need the...
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Lyra wakes up after noon and finds the rest of the gyptians mostly ready to go. She joins Tony Costa and his friends in a cafe and...
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...the harbor. There, Iorek pulls off his armor and slips into the water as the gyptians watch. Lyra tells Tony Costa what happened as a crowd begins to gather. She turns...
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Chapter Thirteen
When they catch up with the gyptians, the men fall back in horror at the sight of Tony Makarios. Lyra explains that...
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Chapter Fourteen
...he doesn't know who she is, Lyra says her name is Lizzie and that the gyptians she was with are traders. She wonders if John Faa will be able to rescue...
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Chapter Fifteen
Lyra, being practical and rather unimaginative, doesn't worry too much about the gyptians, and instead believes that they and Iorek will save her. At breakfast, she finds Roger....
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At lunchtime, Lyra turns around to find Billy Costa. She tells him that the gyptians are coming and to call her Lizzie. He sits with her, Roger nearby, and tells...
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...written on it. Roger squeals in surprise as Kaisa swoops down and explains that the gyptians are fine and on their way. Lyra sends Billy and Roger to keep watch and...
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Chapter Sixteen
...afraid of Mrs. Coulter more than anything else. She focuses on the fact that the gyptians and Iorek are coming to save her. In the cafeteria, Lyra discovers that the other...
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Chapter Seventeen
...it's something she knows how to do well. She accounts for her weeks with the gyptians, invents a stint as a maid at the bar in Trollesund, and hysterically asks why...
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Mrs. Coulter sets a group of Tartars on the gyptians and Lyra watches her wrestle with Roger. Suddenly, Iorek leaps into the fray and Lyra...
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Chapter Eighteen
...things happening at Bolvanger are evil, so they've aligned themselves with Lyra and with the gyptians because of Farder Coram. Because of this, they're also connected to Lord Asriel. She promises...
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