On Svalbard, Lord Asriel informs Lyra about his research into Dust and the Multiverse; explaining that the Magisterium is frightened by his research since they regard Dust as the source of human sin. Back in the other world, Lord Boreal has the Pale-Faced Man continue his search for Will where he has him listed as missing for the police. Later, Asriel takes Roger to a point near the Aurora Borealis, intending to separate him from his daemon in order to create a bridge into the Multiverse. Lyra and Pan learn Roger is in danger and pursue him with King Iorek and the armoured bears. Mrs Coulter and the Magisterium military catch up in a fleet of airships, resulting in a battle with Iorek’s bears. Before Lyra can reach the hilltop, Lord Asriel separates Roger from his daemon, killing him but causing an explosion that creates the bridge to the Multiverse. Lord Asriel has a reunion with Mrs Coulter but is unable to persuade her to accompany him and challenge the Authority. After spending time with the late Roger, Lyra enters the Multiverse bridge. Meanwhile, a fugitive Will discovers an entrance into the Multiverse.
This episode provides examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Averted. Slicing through the bond between Roger and Salcillia proves to be no easy task. Lord Asriel has to put his full weight behind the blade to physically drag it downwards.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Asriel laughs out loud when Lyra snarks that his choice in women is almost as bad as his choice in bears.
- Alice Allusion: Will follows an animal through a doorway to another world.
- All for Nothing: Lyra crossed an ocean to rescue Roger from being cut apart from Salcillia. Her efforts to do so end up putting him in the vicinity of Lord Asriel, who murders boy and daemon in this exact way.
- Animal Stereotypes: Invoked by Roger. He describes the look Asriel gave him as being like a wolf.
- Armour Is Useless: Subverted. The bears' armour can take a beating from the Zeppelin mounted artillery, but they still have to deal with the inertia of the impact. At least one bear is killed when the force of impact knocks him off the mountain.
- Armour Piercing Response:
Lyra: You call yourself a father.
Lord Asriel: That's rather the point. I've never called myself a father.
- A Truce While We Gawk: The Magisterium and bears cease fighting to gape at the pillar of light Asriel creates.
- Bathtub Bonding: Played with. Lyra is in the bath, but Roger stays out of the tub. Nonetheless the trope is in play when Lyra allows him to enter the room with her so long as he faces away from her. The scene still serves to reinforce the strength of their friendship, and set up the gut punch when Roger is murdered later.
- Big Damn Kiss: Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter share one during their reunion.
- Booby Trap: Mrs. Coulter claims that Asriel has set traps in and around his laboratory, and warns Father MacPhail not to touch anything. She's lying, and just trying to prevent him from destroying the research.
- Boring, but Practical: Played horrifyingly straight. Lord Asriel's intercision machine is much smaller than Bolvangar's, and manually operated.
- Broken Pedestal: Lyra realizes for the first time that the real Asriel, as opposed to the front he presented to her in the past, is not nearly the man to respect and admire that she thought he was.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Lyra rails into Lord Asriel for lack of gratitude for all she has gone through to reach him. Thorald later gives Asriel a subtler one.
- Call-Back: Dr. Cooper had previously mentioned that multiple children died from the intercision process, and part of their work was trying to reduce this number. Roger is killed instantly by Lord Asriel's version.
- Can't Stop the Signal: Lord Asriel cites the doorway he has created is too big for the Magisterium to hide from the masses.
- Cliffhanger: Lyra and Will both pass through doorways into another world. Lord Asriel does the same to begin a war on The Authority. Doubles as a Sequel Hook.
- Contrived Coincidence: Will, by complete happenstance, finds the same doorway Lord Boreal has been using to traverse worlds, and goes through it himself. Note that this is a deviation from the books, where he finds a completely different doorway.
- Cryptic Conversation: Lord Boreal has a brief conversation with his daemon regarding Fra Pavel's reading. They clearly have a better understanding of it than the viewers.
- Cool vs. Awesome: A garrison of armoured bears vs. Magisterium zeppelins and and a contingent of paratroopers.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Mrs. Coulter at one point is seen scratching the Golden Monkey behind the head and breathing hard. She's mildly annoyed when Father MacPhail interrupts them.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Lord Asriel reveals that the alethiometer is powered by Dust, meaning the Magisterium despises something they use to help maintain their power.
- Lord Asriel goes to much pains to blast open a portal between the worlds so he can cross, and the Magisterium tries desperately to stop him. Lord Boreal and Stannislaus Grumman both separately discovered a means to cross far less dramatically years previously.
- This also has the effect of massively undercutting the potential drama and amazement of the climax. A hole between worlds should be mindblowing, but from the viewer's perspective they're practically commonplace as we've seen them being used all the time with no excitement, so the dramatic musical swells for Lyra moving towards the light fall flat.
- Driven by Envy: Mrs. Coulter accuses Father MacPhail of being driven by his jealousy of her and Asriel's conviction and belief in themselves. He doubts himself and hates it.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Father MacPhail makes it clear he disapproves of Mrs. Coulter not taking responsibility for Lyra.
- Foreshadowing: About half way through the episode, Lord Asriel tells Lyra about the immense amount of energy released when a human and daemon are separated. He uses the energy from such a separation at the end of the episode.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The other side of the window Will goes through (the same one Lord Boreal has been using) doesn't resemble the decaying conservatory that Boreal had navigated. The destination has changed.
- Fugitive Arc: Will begins one, after he accidentally kills Thomas and is labelled a missing person (he thinks he's being hunted as a murderer).
- Impersonating an Officer: The Pale-Faced Man impersonates a policemen, D.I. Walters, in order to put out a bulletin on Will as a missing person.
- It's All My Fault: Lyra blames herself for Roger's death.
- Hope Spot: Lyra and Roger bond in the bath, then make a blanket fort, while Pan and Salcillia play together. All seems like it's going well. Then Asriel kidnaps Roger and murders him before Lyra can save him.
- Jerkass: Asriel's imprisonment on Svalbard has not improved his outlook. At one point he tells Lyra to stop crying because it is "unnecessary", and because she is "stronger than that".
- Just Think of the Potential!: Asriel lights up when explaining his plan to cross into another world and explore.
- Killed Off for Real: Roger and Salcilia, being manually sliced apart by Lord Asriel.
- Mad Scientist: Asriel's laboratory certainly makes him look like one.
- Mathematician's Answer: Fra Pavel has gotten an answer to Lord Boreal's question regarding what Grumman discovered.
Fra Pavel: It said there's a knife, in a tower, surrounded by Angels. That's what he discovered. (And) his son will lead you to it.
- Never My Fault: Lord Asriel point blank denies responsibility for Roger's coming death, as he prepares to murder the boy, citing him to be a casualty of war.
- Oh, Crap!: Lyra, when she realizes Asriel has kidnapped Roger.
- Pet the Dog:
- Lord Asriel takes a moment before he takes Roger to explain the concept of Dust to Lyra.
- Mrs. Coulter allows Thorold to escape the Magisterium, when Father MacPhail probably would have had him imprisoned or executed.
- Pillar of Light: The climax of Lord Asriel's efforts is a beam of light into the sky that contains an opening between worlds.
- Pistol-Whipping: Thorold knocks out Father MacPhail with the but us his shotgun.
- Plot Parallel: Lyra and Will both cross through a doorway into a mysterious other universe.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: Lord Asriel's process to blast apart an opening between the worlds is powered by a child being separated from their daemon. Specifically by the murder of Roger and Salcillia.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: In the books the people harassing the Parrys were in fact government agents, and when one of them dies Will is reported as a murderer with police looking for him. Here, as the stalkers have no actual authority, they cover up Thomas's death, and the Pale-Faced Man impersonates a police officer to put out a missing person's bulletin on Will.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lord Boreal gives the Pale-Faced Man a blistering one after he sees how epically he and Thomas have messed up.
- The Reveal: Lord Asriel reveals to Lyra what Dust is: He doesn't know. The Magisterium believes it to be the physical manifestation of Original Sin itself. It rains down from the sky and attaches to humans. They recently discovered that it effects adults and children differently, only settling during puberty. They came to believe it was sin because its effects were similar to way the Biblical Eve changed after eating the apple in Eden. Dust is also how the alethiometer works.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted. Lyra takes a moment to say goodbye to Iorek. Her delay contributes to her failing to save Roger.
- Take a Third Option: Lyra chooses to follow Lord Asriel through the doorway and leave her world behind.
- This Is as Far as I Go: Iorek cannot cross all the way to the peak of the mountain, as the bridge to get there is too small to support him. He ends up having to leave Lyra to go it alone.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Mrs. Coulter assumes command of the Magisterium troops after Thorold knocks out Father MacPhail.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Lord Asriel claims his efforts to free humanity from the Magisterium are worth his sacrifice of Roger.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Asriel has found a larger enemy to fight than the Magisterium. The Authority.
- We Can Rule Together: Lord Asriel tries to convince Mrs. Coulter to come with him to take on the power of the Authority. She refuses, more concerned with protecting Lyra.
- We Used to Be Friends: Father MacPhail implies that he used to hold Mrs. Coulter in some esteem, impressed by her ambition and abilities. He lost his respect after seeing her fall apart during her affair with Lord Asriel.
- Would Hurt a Child: Lyra learns the hard way that Lord Asriel is more similar to Mrs. Coulter than she originally believed.
