Special Sub-Topic: "The Subtle Knife" Part One Click Here To Play: "The Subtle Knife" Part One

What sort of instrument did Mrs. Cooper teach Will Parry?

Piano. Will Parry is twelve years old. He leaves his mother, who often has fantasies, and needs looking after, with Mrs. Cooper. Men are after something that Mrs. Parry has hidden. Will wakes up, at his home, to find that there are two men searching the house. Will pushes the man and Will's cat, Moxie, gets in the way of his legs. It is Will's fault that he falls down the stairs.

What sort of trees show Will the entrance into another world?

Hornbeam. Will's father was an explorer, but had disappeared many years before. After running away, Will finds an entrance into another world. He meets Lyra in the other world. Later, Lyra asks the alethiometer about Will. It says that Will is a murderer.

What nationality was the witch Ruta Skadi?

Latvian. Serafina Pekkala witnesses Mrs. Coulter and other clerics discussing Lyra and the alethiometer. They have got one, and the only other is with Lyra. The rest of them have been destroyed. They have captured a witch to get information about Lyra. Later in the day, there is a witches' council.

What colour flower does Serafina Pekkala give to Lee Scoresby, if he ever needs to contact her?

Red. Lee Scoresby, the balloonist, attends the witch's council too. He met a Doctor Grumman on his travels, and although Lord Asriel told the Jordan scholars that Grumman was dead, Lee doesn't think so. He thinks Grumman knew something, and plans to find him.

What does Lyra call electric light?

Anbaric. Will and Lyra have different words for things. Lyra says electrum in her world is like a precious stone just like amber in Will's world. Children in the other world tell Lyra and Will that they are in Cittágazze. There are Spectres there; this is the reason why there are not many adults around.

What happens to Lyra when she enters Will's Oxford?

Gets knocked down by a car. Lyra wants to go and find some scholars, so she can find out about Dust. Lyra and Will go through the hole into Will's Oxford and begin looking for a scholar that can help Lyra out.

What do you call the process of putting holes into skulls?

Trepanning. Lyra enters a museum and sees many things that she recognises through her journey to the North with the gyptians. While she is in the museum, a stranger speaks to her; he seems very interested in Lyra. Lyra calls herself Lizzie, as she did in Bolvanger.

Who does Lyra meet in the Dark Matter Research Unit?

Doctor Mary Malone. Lyra finds her scholar. Doctor Malone says the research unit is about to be closed down. She used to be a nun, but then became a scholar instead. She finds it hard to believe Lyra. Lyra shows Doctor Malone how the alethiometer and Dust (which is called 'Shadows' in Doctor Malone's world) works on a computer. Doctor Malone asks Lyra to come back the next day.

What is Lyra most fascinated with in Will's Oxford?

The cinema. In Will's Oxford, Lyra tells Will everything that had happened to her from the beginning. Will attempts to see the lawyer who handles his father's money and affairs, but he is too suspicious and asks too many questions.

What is Will's mother's name?

Elaine. Will tells off children in Cittágazze for throwing stones at a cat. Lyra and Will see a young man with curly hair in a tower. Will reads the letters that his father had written to his mother. These letters are what the men were trying to find. Will's father found a window into another world too, and then disappeared. Will wants to find him.