Role
In the first novel of His Dark Materials, Northern Lights (known in the United States of America as The Golden Compass), Serafina Pekkala tells of the prophecy of a girl who is "destined to bring about the end of destiny" at the expense of a great betrayal. The witches' prophecy states that this girl will be able pick the "correct" cloud-pine branch out of several, as indeed Lyra does. It transpires that Lyra's destiny is to be the second Eve and fall into the temptation of the serpent, represented by Mary Malone. Will Parry and the Dust in the abyss are corrected, and the universes start to work in harmony. However, in order to ensure the stability of the universes and protect people from the creation of Spectres, Will and Lyra must close all of the inter-dimensional windows with the help of angels and keep them closed forever - and since their dæmons cannot live outside of their own birth worlds, they must part forever. Despite this, however, they decide to sit on the same bench, next to each other, in the Botanic Gardens at Oxford each year for an hour at noon on Midsummer's Day, so that they might find themselves in each other's presence.
She fulfills her destiny to "bring an end to death" by leading the ghosts out of the world of the dead. Lyra's inevitable betrayal can be interpreted as two separate occasions and either occurs when Lyra leads her friend Roger to Lord Asriel on Svalbard at the end of the first book, in the chapter titled "Betrayal", or when Lyra leaves her dæmon on the shore of the lake in the Land of the Dead.
In the most recent edition of The Amber Spyglass released in the UK, the post-script 'Lantern Slides' section shows Lyra studying the alethiometer with Pantalaimon at age 18. She is excited to start picking up on a pattern in the readings, and Pullman tells us that this discovery of a pattern is the "second thing she said to Will next day in the Botanic Garden", implying that the next day was Midsummer's Day, when she and Will would be sitting on the same bench in their separate worlds, and that there was something else, presumably that she loved him, that Lyra said to Will (and perhaps would say every year) before telling him of her reading.
Letters written by Lyra included in the companion book Once Upon a Time in the North reveal that Lyra is researching her dissertation for a M. Phil in Economic History, indicating her to be continuing to study during her twenties. The title of her dissertation is 'Developments of patterns of trade in the European Arctic region with particular reference to independent balloon carriage (1950–1970)'. In the first letter, Lyra also mentions that she is continuing to study the alethiometer. Once she finishes her studies, she will be able to read the alethiometer not with grace, as she used to, but with certainty and knowledge.
Read more about this topic: Lyra Belacqua
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