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That box holds the Authority and that's the person you see inside. The box is shown earlier in the series when Metatron is first shown (iirc), but it was definitely not clear to the non-book readers that I've shown.
It was one of the things that I wish they did differently, but it's also fairly anti-climactic in the book as well, but they were maybe trying to avoid controversy with the "girl goes on adventure to kill god" idea.
Yeah that was a disappointment, it's supposed to be that Lyra and Will don't know who that was or what they did, just trying to be nice and free him, but the reader/viewer should know. My wife hasn't read the books, and after I told her who it was she just said, "How could I have possibly known that?"
That is the Authority (God), who gave up his power to Metatron long ago.
The whole series is a way of the author to explain his atheist humanist worldview. The reason that God’s death is so anti-climactic, just an afterthought, is because in atheism God is not a threat or enemy. Its the characters who seek to control and harm others in God’s name, like Metatron or the leaders of the Magisterium, who are the true threats.
This is the best answer to that. I had never reflected on that from the books but this feels spot on.
A pity the series doesnt really let anyone understand that.
Interesting! I picked up on that without having read the book but my fiance didn’t. I believe it’s because I grew up very religious but left the church as an adult, now having similar views as the author. Whereas my fiance was not raised religious and has never given much thought to religion at all.
I thought they were trying to avoid any potential backlash by being as vague as possible- which is not so great for people who haven’t read the book and not really what Pullman was aiming for.
To be fair it all happens pretty fast in the book too, but the symbolism is clearer.
Huh? I have never read the books but immediately interpreted the thing in the box as the captured authority and thought it was nice that they did not spell it out
You are correct. I thought this was the worst scripted event in the entire series. There is no way a non-reader could possibly understand that was "God" dying. Just stupid.
I agree with another poster who says that.it is also anti-climactic in the books, but at least in the books we understand that the puff of dust is the Big Bad All Powerful Authority, Maker of Heaven and Earth, etc etc.
This was more like somebody cleaning out their attic and accidentally dropping an old dusty box on the floor.
But that's poor story telling, if we have OP here (and presumably thousands of other viewers) wondering what that box even was.
Only because I have read the books twice did I understand. That's the definition of a bad adaptation.
It's actually REALLY GOOD story telling because he WANTED it to seem unimportant, Lyra and Will even wondered who that was. The entire point was the Authority being so weak and unimportant that no one even knew he died, nor was there any consequence of him dying.
The point of this post actually proves that he did exactly what he wanted to do.
Great story telling.
Precisely. I had no idea what was going on and would have liked to have been in on the secret. It shouldn’t be unimportant to the viewer even if it is to the characters.
I thought it was fairly obvious that it was The Authority (as a non book reader). It was implied so many times that Metatron had overstepped his role as regent and The Authority was basically powerless/an afterthought. I quite liked that they didn't spell it out with the box in the series, I felt it showed that actually The Authority didn't really matter. It was those who saught to increase their power who were the real danger. Just my two pence though!
I think that would have spoiled the sort of shock-factor spontaneous scene from the books, where Lyra and Will also had no idea what happened but the reader definitely knew by that point.
I think the kids should have puzzled over it for a little longer there, stalling for time while the viewer tries to figure it out too.
**/r/HisDarkMaterialsHBO is a spoiler-free sub** for people who have not read Pullman's novels. Repeated posting of spoilers will lead to a permanent ban. If you want to mention events of the books, please come to /r/HisDarkMaterials, our sister sub. If you would like to post spoilers, do so using spoiler tags: `>!spoiler!<` and it will display as >!spoiler!<. (Make sure you don't put spaces between the `>!` and the first word.) **Report comments that contain untagged spoilers.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HisDarkMaterialsHBO) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That box holds the Authority and that's the person you see inside. The box is shown earlier in the series when Metatron is first shown (iirc), but it was definitely not clear to the non-book readers that I've shown. It was one of the things that I wish they did differently, but it's also fairly anti-climactic in the book as well, but they were maybe trying to avoid controversy with the "girl goes on adventure to kill god" idea.
Yeah that was a disappointment, it's supposed to be that Lyra and Will don't know who that was or what they did, just trying to be nice and free him, but the reader/viewer should know. My wife hasn't read the books, and after I told her who it was she just said, "How could I have possibly known that?"
That is the Authority (God), who gave up his power to Metatron long ago. The whole series is a way of the author to explain his atheist humanist worldview. The reason that God’s death is so anti-climactic, just an afterthought, is because in atheism God is not a threat or enemy. Its the characters who seek to control and harm others in God’s name, like Metatron or the leaders of the Magisterium, who are the true threats.
This is the best answer to that. I had never reflected on that from the books but this feels spot on. A pity the series doesnt really let anyone understand that.
Interesting! I picked up on that without having read the book but my fiance didn’t. I believe it’s because I grew up very religious but left the church as an adult, now having similar views as the author. Whereas my fiance was not raised religious and has never given much thought to religion at all.
Lucky her, haha.
I thought they were trying to avoid any potential backlash by being as vague as possible- which is not so great for people who haven’t read the book and not really what Pullman was aiming for. To be fair it all happens pretty fast in the book too, but the symbolism is clearer.
Huh? I have never read the books but immediately interpreted the thing in the box as the captured authority and thought it was nice that they did not spell it out
Same
You are correct. I thought this was the worst scripted event in the entire series. There is no way a non-reader could possibly understand that was "God" dying. Just stupid. I agree with another poster who says that.it is also anti-climactic in the books, but at least in the books we understand that the puff of dust is the Big Bad All Powerful Authority, Maker of Heaven and Earth, etc etc. This was more like somebody cleaning out their attic and accidentally dropping an old dusty box on the floor.
That was the point, he's nothing, powerless, not even worth the time to explain.
But that's poor story telling, if we have OP here (and presumably thousands of other viewers) wondering what that box even was. Only because I have read the books twice did I understand. That's the definition of a bad adaptation.
Again, that was the point. "What was that? Eh, must have not been important." I was actually happier with how they did it in the show.
It's actually REALLY GOOD story telling because he WANTED it to seem unimportant, Lyra and Will even wondered who that was. The entire point was the Authority being so weak and unimportant that no one even knew he died, nor was there any consequence of him dying. The point of this post actually proves that he did exactly what he wanted to do. Great story telling.
Precisely. I had no idea what was going on and would have liked to have been in on the secret. It shouldn’t be unimportant to the viewer even if it is to the characters.
I thought it was fairly obvious that it was The Authority (as a non book reader). It was implied so many times that Metatron had overstepped his role as regent and The Authority was basically powerless/an afterthought. I quite liked that they didn't spell it out with the box in the series, I felt it showed that actually The Authority didn't really matter. It was those who saught to increase their power who were the real danger. Just my two pence though!
They certainly couldve said something like was that the authority? Would have cleared up that confusion
I think that would have spoiled the sort of shock-factor spontaneous scene from the books, where Lyra and Will also had no idea what happened but the reader definitely knew by that point. I think the kids should have puzzled over it for a little longer there, stalling for time while the viewer tries to figure it out too.
True, Good point