Mr
#2: Mar 6th 2021 at 12:49:25 PM
Yes but...
It's Metatron
Total posts: 2
His Dark Materials mostly focuses on its human protagonists, so we miss what really happens during the rebellion in Heaven. Here's how it goes from a different point of view:
Xaphania has a problem. She wants to rule the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Authority and his powerful regent Metatron are in the way. Fortunately for her, she has a Plan and plenty of time. Thousands of years ago, her rebels gave humans sentience, and their Xanatos Gambit is about to pay off. The Authority's agents created the Church, bringing humanity to his side, but its tyranny has pushed one man to do exactly what Xaphania wants.
Lord Asriel has lofty ambitions: he wants to end sin and kill death. At first he thinks Dust is responsible, but after meeting Xaphania, he changes his plan. Now he's going to take on the Authority. Xaphania knows what Asriel doesn't: the Authority is a fraud. He may be a tyrant, but in metaphysical terms he's barely even The Man Behind the Curtain.
Having Asriel on her side gives Xaphania several advantages. He has a human army, whose superior physical strength could come in handy. He has connections, which will pay off later on. Most importantly, making Asriel The Face gives her cover for her true intentions.
What Xaphania needs now is the knife. She can't wield it herself, so she sends two lesser angels to find the knife-bearer. Baruch and Balthamos are supposed to bring Will to Asriel. Will is reluctant, but Xaphania is betting on Asriel's Papa Bear tendencies towards Lyra to win Will over to his side.
She is Right for the Wrong Reasons. Lyra and Will travel to the world of the dead, and are separated from their daemons. Asriel can't allow Metatron to capture them, so he leads a charge on the Kingdom to keep their forces occupied. Metatron orders the Authority carried to safety, but leaves him under-guarded, hoping a small party will escape unnoticed. He's not counting on the cliff-ghasts. They attack and the guards flee, leaving the Authority unprotected.
Lyra and Will, back from the underworld, come across the abandoned litter while looking for their daemons. Not knowing who "the poor thing" inside is, they free the Authority, who dissolves peacefully in the breeze. Meanwhile, Asriel and Mrs. Coulter find Metatron and wrestle him into the Abyss. Three for the price of one! Even Xaphania didn't expect it to go this well.
With her rivals to power gone, Xaphania just has to deal with Those Meddling Kids. Lyra and Will don't understand the significance of what's happened, so Xaphania can spin it any way she wants. It doesn't matter if her explanation seems contrived. The kids will trust anyone who seems like a Reasonable Authority Figure, and they aren't thinking critically anyway because Love Makes You Dumb.
Their trust is a big deal. All this time we've been led to believe this is about free will. It's a Red Herring. Lyra and Will didn't liberate humanity by making out in the forest. People have had free will all along. The Authority seized power through deceit, not metaphysics. It's the same thing we've watched Lyra do time and again, and she's about to fall for her own trick.
When Xaphania tells Lyra and Will about Dust, they have only her word to go by. Dust creates, and is created by, consciousness. Well, OK, that makes as much sense as anything. Dust is lost through the windows between worlds, but if everyone is really good, they can compensate for the Dust lost through one. As other tropers have asked, did she really measure? Oh, and the knife creates Specters.note Never mind that Xaphania admits the angels could have handled them this whole time.
Xaphania offers our heroes a Sadistic Choice: they can leave one window for the dead, or for themselves. Their attempts at Loophole Abuse are too little, too late. They were trapped as soon as Will taught Xaphania how to close the windows. And they lose their last chance to Take a Third Option when Will destroys the knife. Good Is Dumb because it never learned to question its sources.
So here we are. Xaphania's rivals are dead and defeated. The knife that could destroy her has itself been destroyed. Those Meddling Kids are back in their own separate worlds, distracted the rest of their lives trying to build heaven on earth. Meanwhile in the real Heaven, Xaphania is the new Authority.
edited 13th Aug '17 10:14:05 AM by PsychoBassist