The Materialists close out our The Subtle Knife journey with the final 3 chapters and we are all sobbing. Please listen, like, review and subscribe! Email us at feedback@theamberspycast.com. The next episodes will be all about His Dark Materials the SHOW!
In the world of Ci’gazze, Lyra, Will, and the witches travel north toward the rift in the sky. Serafina notices that the spell she used to heal the wound on Will’s hand is not working. As they stop to rest and eat, some witches report that they saw a balloon with two men in it flying over the sea. Shortly after, Ruta Skadi returns and gives an effusive report; she says that Lord Asriel has built a magnificent fortress in another world and that creatures from every world have joined him in his war against God. She also overheard cliff ghasts say that there is only one thing that could destroy God: something called
Æsahættr. The children fall asleep, and while Ruta and Serafina are upstream discussing their plans, a strange light radiates from their camp. They return to discover that angels have come on a pilgrimage to see Lyra.
Meanwhile, Lee Scoresby and John Parry are sailing above the sea in Ci’gazze, with forces from the Church in hot pursuit. Although Parry uses magic to conjure a storm that brings down one of the zeppelins, Lee has to make a crash landing and abandon the balloon. That night, in the dreamscape, John Parry brings down two more of the zeppelins that are pursuing them. The last group sets fire to the forest and Lee agrees to keep the soldiers in the fourth zeppelin at bay while Parry escapes to find the knife bearer. Lee holds the soldiers off with the help of his daemon, Hester, and Parry escapes, but Lee and Hester are killed. Before they die, they call out to Serafina Pekkala for help. Serafina leaves Will and Lyra in the care of her witches and goes to find Lee.
One of the witches, Lena Feldt, sees people in the distance and goes to investigate. She arrives at a camp to find Mrs. Coulter and Lord Boreal. Mrs. Coulter has learned how to control the specters and uses one to capture the witch’s daemon and torture Lena. Mrs. Coulter forces her to tell her what she knows about Lyra, then kills Lena and Lord Boreal, and summons the specters. Up the mountain, Will can’t sleep, so he goes for a walk. In the darkness, he runs into a man (who is actually John Parry) and they fight. The man realizes that Will is the knife bearer and he cures Will’s wound. He says that Will has to bring the knife to Lord Asriel so he can use it in his fight against God. Will tries to give the knife to Parry, but he refuses it. John Parry lights a lamp so he can see Will, and just as Will realizes that he is looking at his father, a witch who had been in love with Parry kills him and then herself. Devastated, Will takes his father’s cloak and leaves to find Lyra. Along the way, he meets two angels who urge him to go with them to Lord Asriel. When he returns to the camp, Will sees that the witches have been attacked by specters and Lyra is gone. The angels try to get Will to come with them but Will simply stares at Lyra’s knapsack, which contains the alethiometer, unable to decide what to do.