The Joys and Perils of Dæmon Ownership

by Deb Caletti

The concept of dæmons has been called Philip Pullman's most masterful idea—"a coup," according to Michael Chabon. Pullman snitched the notion from Socrates, and then made it his own. Socrates's "daimon" was his own sense of a divine presence within—an early warning detection system, something like your own inner smoke alarm, except you never have to get on a chair and change the batteries. Pullman's dæmons on the other hand, aren't wispy inside entities, but take a real, physical shape—your dæmon is your creature companion that represents who you most are; your walking, talking soul in animal form. (And for all you who've already decided that the guy next to you has a donkey for a daemon, knock that off). Mrs. Coulter in The Golden Compass is cool and calculating, sleek and crafty, and her dæmon is a golden monkey. The commanding Lord Asriel's dæmon is a snow leopard. Servants generally have dogs; warriors have wolves. A person's dæmon becomes fixed at puberty (a better prize, it seems, than a first bra or a squeaky, breaking voice), so our child heroine, Lyra, who is sometimes bratty and spoiled, plucky and brave, adventurous and restless, has a dæmon, Pantalaimon, who shifts from moth to mouse to ermine to wildcat.

But Pullman's concept is more than simply great invention—the idea of a dæmon, a daemon of your own, is enticing, the kind of enticing that requires your mind to roll this proposal around and around like a hard butterscotch candy in your mouth. What dæmon would I have? If you can read The Golden Compass and not ask the question.... Well, you can't read The Golden Compass and not ask the question. It's irresistible. The same way that those quizzes in magazines are irresistible: What Does Your Favorite Color Say about You? What's Your Love Style? Who Are You—Chocolate Brownie, Strawberry Cheesecake, or Apple Pie? The same way that quickie zodiac signs are irresistible: Capricorns are even-tempered and have an eye for beauty.... You're a flirt, Gemini, and are the last to leave a party! Here is where the idea veers from whimsy to genius—the dæmon-thought flicks at the deepest, darkest, hungriest places of our humanity: Our desire to know ourselves. Our sometimes/often fear of being alone. The need to see ourselves as unique and separate, coupled with the contrary need to unite with and take comfort in "other." Pullman pokes at those vulnerabilities of ours, then lures us with a tempting, comfy solution that our weakest parts feel good swimming around in for awhile. Permanent self-knowledge. An ever constant companion. A dæmon.

Would you really want it?

Let's review the rules. In addition to reflecting your true spirit, your dæmon is usually of the opposite sex. Pullman felt that this would give a wholeness to the pair, a sort of yin/yang completion. A perfect life companion—minus the in-laws, having to share your closet, and that annoying something's-stuck-in-the-garbage-disposal sound he makes when he brushes his teeth. Just you and mini-you, in perfect harmony. It goes everywhere you go, which means that if it needs water to live, you must be near the water always. In fact, your dæmon cannot be separated from you without great physical pain. When you die, it dissolves; if it is harmed, you will be too.

Oh, and one small but important detail: You don't get to choose. You are who you are (darn it), just like in real life. So while it's fun to figure out if you'd want your dæmon to be something cheery and helpful like a ladybug, or elegant and fast like a gazelle, or cozy and friendly like a Labrador (in spite of the lowered social status of servant), this isn't about how you'd like to be. This isn't about how you'd like to have others see you. This is about who you are at your ugliest or most ravishing core.

Kind of wipes out the puppies and kitties, doesn't it, then, if we're being honest? Opens the doors to crows and snakes and ostriches that spit. I know a few people who'd have shark dæmons and other animals that eat their young, and a handful of others who'd possess something plodding but well-intentioned, like a draught horse, maybe. Definitely there are peacocks. Alpha male gorillas and prima donna birds playing songstress on a tree branch. So, what's your dæmon? Are you, at your soul, a chimpanzee? An ant that will carry a bread crumb twenty times its own size on its back for the good of others? A smart, playful, communicative dolphin (which, in a completely irrelevant side note, or maybe not, is one of the few other creatures besides humans to[ServletException in:/ConsumerDirectStorefrontAssetStore/include/titleContent/titleContentBody.jsp] null'