Whether Pullman meant to or not, he made more connections to the Bible than just the story of Adam and Eve. The two connections I picked up on are from Revelation, a book written by the disciple John about visions he recieved from God.

The first relation comes from Revelation 9:2-8. This portion of chapter 9 explains of an Abyss. It says that from the Abyss a swarm of “locusts” with the faces of humans and hair like a woman’s. In The Amber Spyglass the harpies fit this description. Revelation 9: 4-6 says, “4And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a man. 6And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” Basically this relates because the harpies can’ t harm those who have stories, only the ones who don’t, and then those who have stories continue on to become part of the universes. Those who don’t have stories can’t be killed because they are already dead, but they wish to be killed again and sent somewhere other than the land of the dead.

The next connection between Pullman’s book and Revelation is in Revelation 12:7-9 and 17a. Rev. 12:7-9 says, “7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” This relates to the battles between the Authority’s troops and Lord Asriel’s troops. And just like Michael wins in the scripture above, Lord Asriel wins in the books. The next verse, Rev. 12:17a, says, “17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring…” The relationship here is that the Authority made war upon Ms. Coulter’s offspring, Lyra.

There could be other connections that I haven’t picked up yet, but for now this is all I am going to write.

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