Coulter arrives at the house after Will has already cut a window into the home, but Boreal is holding the alethiometer on his person. They aren’t even detected until the end of the heist. Coulter and Lyra, no fight between Will and Boreal. The theft of the alethiometer is far more covert in the book.This is a major scene and I wish we could have seen it play out. The letters are his and his mother’s attachment to his missing father. Remember, protecting these letters was once his first priority. Not only is she just holding it for him, but he allows her to read them.

This is a huge step of trust for Will and actually signals to his strengthening bond with Lyra.

Also early in Chapter 9 “Theft,” Will actually gives Lyra his father’s letters to keep in her bag.

His father balms the unfixable wound in a way that only a father can. The final meeting with his father therefore also symbolizes a form of closure for his adolescence and that loss.

He’s spent so much of his life ostensibly alone - acting as his mother’s caregiver - and the loss of his fingers could be interpreted as the physical representation of this. While blood moss has fantastic healing properties, there is also a symbolism in Will finding this relief after meeting his father again. It isn’t until he reunites with his father that his blood moss ointment heals the wound and alleviates the pain. He wakes up with the bed soaked in blood, he bleeds through bandages, the witches can’t even heal his hand with magic. In fact, the pain in his hand is one of his key hindrances in the final act of the novel. Will has just lost two of his fingers and although he is suffering from the pain in the show, it’s not comparable to the pain that Will feels in TSK.The show has been following the timeline of the series pretty closely, with the main deviation in this episode being the actual heist that Will and Lyra conduct to get back the alethiometer. Proceed with caution! In this His Dark Materials book comparison, we’re primarily looking at The Subtle Knife ( TSK) Chapter 9 “Theft” and Chapter 12, “Screen Language”. Spoiler Alert! The following article discusses the His Dark Materials television series up to Season 2 Episode 5 “The Scholar” and it spoils all the events of The Subtle Knife as well as events in The Amber Spyglass. After weeks of adding this comparison to the bottom of my recaps, I’ve finally decided to separate them.

The subtle knife review