La Belle Sauvage: A Review

Did you ever have an imaginary friend or an extreme feeling of loneliness that made you talk aloud, hoping somewhere someone cared?

What if that someone could be could be concrete, you could touch and see? Now imagine a world where this was a reality, where you had a replica of yourself, but your other form was animal-like. Imagine your other form took the shape of an animal your personality best represents.

We are rushed into this world in Phillip Pullman's ‘The Book of Dust.’ In this world, humans have an extra called daemons. These daemons are inseparable from their owners to the point of causing excruciating pain when a few feet apart. And the world of daemons is very different from the familiars we know from folklores that assist witches. These daemons are really one and the same as their owners. It is synonymous with having a relationship with yourself, only that you take another form of expression. These daemons follow the maturity stages of their human double. At a certain point during puberty or close to adulthood, they settle, which means they predominantly take the shape of one animal. This world is so believable that I anticipated Alice's conversation with Malcolm when she was worrying when Ben, her wolf-like daemon, would finally settle instead of playfully turning into varying animal forms as her mood swings. Would you like a daemon in your next life?

These are 5 reasons why you should come back with a daemon buddy

Loneliness will become a word for hades

Being alone is one thing but being lonely is something totally boring and uneventful in most cases. But imagine if you had a pal by the side to keep you company. A real life size assurance that you are not alone. Imagine when you were soliloquising you were talking to another you, someone you could hold and taking the shape of an animal. I know I had love that a lot. Although there is a tidbit of horror in this daemon business if you don’t love yourself. Because it won’t be that dialogue that remains suppressed in your mind. This time everyone will be able to tell easier based on how your treat your daemon. And isn’t that just sad, being able to witness someone Hate themselves.

It would be easy to read someone

Animals wear their subconscious on their sleeves. They are very easy to predict. If you lived in the days of The Book of Dust you could easier tell the disposition of a person by looking at their deamon. If the person had a wolflike daemon you could tell the person was fierce, reactive and deeply connected with their surrounding and themselves, like Alice.

Increased forms of expression

Expression is is one of the essence of living. But how do you express all of you in one lifetime all by yourself? Having a daemon will deepen expression, diversify it, make it more transparent.

Intimate relationship with self

For better or worse the relationship we build with ourselves translates to our relationship with the world around us. It’s hard to understand the relationship we have with ourselves if we are not consciously participating in the dialogue that goes on in our heads. So imagine if this dialogue didn’t have to remain in our head but could be fleshed out through your daemon pal. That would make intimacy an everyday conversation with yourself and for better or worse if you love yourself, not only will you know it, the world around you will see it too, by the way you interact with your daemon!

A memory box

Your daemon can recover something that is hidden in the crevices of your mind. This will be a great recipe for ageing! And maybe Alzheimer’s. And what a relieve it will be during exams.

I hope there is an alternate universe that is filled with daemons.