Fridge / The Golden Compass

Fridge Brilliance

• In an early chapter, Tony Costa describes beings called Windsuckers: "They drift about in the air. You come across clumps of 'em floated together sometimes, or caught snagged on a bramble. As soon as they touch you, all the strength goes out of you. You can't see 'em except as a kind of shimmer in the air." Those are spectres he's describing, and he doesn't even know it.
• Some who have read the book believe it parallels The Fool's Journey almost exactly.
• If you ignore Word of God, the ending can be interpreted as a great deal more than a straight-up "Religion is evil!" message. Instead, it can be "people twisting belief to suppress dissent is evil." Because, will you look at that, this is a story that features a benevolent, inspirational cosmic force...