History Series / HisDarkMaterials

* GodTest: The Witch's Consul requests Lyra demonstrate that she can read the alethiometer without the use of books by choosing a specific sprig of Cloud Pine from a large unlabelled collection. She gets it after consulting the Aleithiometer for less than a minute.

* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Dæmons initially appear as shapeshifting {{Talking Animal}}s. When a person is "of maturity," the animal choice of a person's dæmon is locked to whatever best reflects that person. Dæmons can speak to their person and others, too, though some like the golden monkey aren't very talkative. Dæmons also cannot be far away from their person, otherwise both of them will be in incredible pain, or they get knocked out.

* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Dæmons initially appear as shapeshifting {{Talking Animal}}s. When a person is "of maturity," the animal choice of a person's dæmon is locked to whatever best reflects that person. Dæmons can speak to their person and others, too, though some like the golden monkey aren't very talkative. Dæmons also cannot be far away from their person, otherwise they will be in incredible pain, or they get knocked out.

** [[spoiler:John Parry is killed by a Magesterium soldier rather than a scorned witch]].

* MutualKill: [[spoiler:After John Parry is fatally shot by a Magesterium soldier, he survives long enough for his dæmon to kill the soldier's dæmon (and thus the soldier himself) while he says goodbye to Will]].

* OneGenderRace: Witches are only female and require human males to have offspring with. If the child is female she becomes a witch, if it's a male he's returned to his father once they reach puberty as was the case with Dr. Lanselius.

* MenInBlack: Boreal and his mercenary masquerade as this during their investigation into the Parrys. Boreal's presence is unsettling enough that he can BavarianFireDrill his way through most scenarios.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: [[spoiler:Mrs. Coulter is hinted to be a survivor of childhood abuse, something which was never mentioned in the books.]]

** Rather than the King of an unspecified African country in Lyra's world, Ogunwe is a Commander from a new world [[CanonForeigner created for the series]] where his army is fighting its own version of the Magisterium called the Temple. Consequently, his cheetah dæmon is AdaptedOut.

* AdaptationalDiversity: The Gyptians are described in the books as being a British-Netherlander ethnic group, with most of its members having Dutch or vaguely European names to match. Here, the actors playing the Gyptians are of eclectic ethnic backgrounds.

** Balthamos [[spoiler:still dissolves with Baruch's name on his lips immediately after killing Father Gomez, but no reason for his death is given. In the book, it was because he was stung by Gomez's beetle dæmon and most angels are frailer than humans. In the TV series, it seems more like he willed himself to [[TogetherInDeath join Baruch in death]] after completing his last task, unless he was bitten by Gomez's dæmon (a spider in this version) while crushing her, but this isn't shown]].

** Ma Costa is described in the books as a feared Gyptian matriarch with MamaBear tendencies, which is also her portrayal in most adaptations. Her TV version, however, is infinitely less assertive and spends much of her early screen-time crying over Billy's disappearance, and doesn't seem to have any special reputation among her peers. Only later does she grow a tougher side, by way of BatmanGrabsAGun.

** When Lyra first meets Dr. Malone in the books, Mary is quite stressed, overtired and flustered, and initially greets Lyra with a degree of exhausted impatience until Lyra begins demonstrating her abilities. In the series, Mary is far calmer and relaxed when Lyra first meets her, and listens to Lyra’s story with an obvious degree of sympathy and concern, genuinely worrying about this child’s mental health.
* AdaptationalSexuality: [[spoiler: Mary Malone’s inner awakening and abandoning of her faith in this series occurred because of a woman, not a man like the books.]]

** Carlo Boreal is played here by the Black British Ariyon Bakare. In the books, while his race is not specifically mentioned, he's implied to be an old-blooded white European (probably Italian due to his given name), as Pullman usually only goes to the racial specifics with canonically non-white characters like King Ogunwe or Ama.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: [[spoiler:Angels]] loyal to [[spoiler:The Authority (that's what they think, but they actually serve Metatron)]] are shown as fiery red spirits, [[spoiler:angels]] rebelling against [[spoiler:The Authority[=/=]Metatron]] and fighting as allies of [[spoiler:Lord Asriel, Lyra's father]] are shown as cool blue spirits.

* Bowdlerise: Unlike in the books, the Holy Church is only ever called "The Magisterium" (to avoid pissing off the religious and hurting the bottom line of [[Creator/TheBBC the Beeb]] or Creator/{{HBO}}) in the series, whereas in the books, the Magisterium is the headquarters and ruling authority of the Holy Church.

* Bowdlerise: Unlike in the books, the Holy Church is only ever called "The Magisterium" (to avoid pissing off the religious and hurting the bottom line of [[Creator/TheBBC the Beeb]] or Creator/HBO) in the series, whereas in the books, the Magisterium is the headquarters and ruling authority of the Holy Church.

** In general, certain characters are given scenes that expand on their point of view, or entirely new subplots, as child-labor laws prevent Dafne Keene from carrying every scene. Lord Boreal especially is given a much larger role, as the twist of him also being Sir Charles in Will's world does not work in a visual medium.

* TheyCallMeMISTERTibbs!: Mrs Coulter consistently and intentionally calls MacPhail "Hugh" when she wants to mock him, both when they are alone and in front of others, despite his increasingly angry demands that she address him as "Father President MacPhail". Eventually he has her gagged by his guards to make her stop saying it.

* ShoutOut: Will and Lyra watch ''Film/{{Paddington}}'' while trying to work out their next move.

** References to [[spoiler:the Great Flood]] and [[spoiler:Scholastic Sanctuary]] are nowhere to be found in ''Northern Lights,'' [[note]] John Faa does mention ''a'' flood of 1953 (The same year as the North Sea flood IRL), during which Lord Asriel rescued two Gyptian children, but it is unclear if this was the flood that was depicted in "La Belle Sauvage"[[/note]] and are taken instead from ''Literature/TheBookOfDust''. The [[Recap/HisDarkMaterialsS1E1LyrasJordan first episode's]] opening scene, depicting [[spoiler:Lord Asriel delivering Lyra to Jordan during the flood]], is based on the ending to ''La Belle Sauvage''.

** Ama is white rather than East Asian, as her home has been changed from the Himalayas to an island in the German Ocean.

** References to [[spoiler:the Great Flood]] and [[spoiler:Scholastic Sanctuary]] are nowhere to be found in ''Northern Lights,'' [[note]] John Faa does mention ''a'' flood of 1953, during which Lord Asriel rescued two Gyptian children, but it is unclear if this was the flood that was depicted in "La Belle Sauvage"[[/note]] and are taken instead from ''Literature/TheBookOfDust''. The [[Recap/HisDarkMaterialsS1E1LyrasJordan first episode's]] opening scene, depicting [[spoiler:Lord Asriel delivering Lyra to Jordan during the flood]], is based on the ending to ''La Belle Sauvage''.

** The [[Recap/HisDarkMaterialsS1E1LyrasJordan first episode]] establishes dæmons tend to be shy around new people, saving the crew from having to give one to every single background extra; initially they did try to shoot with multiple dæmons in the background of shots, but they quickly realised it was far too busy and distracted the viewer from the story. Many characters' dæmons are also changed from larger animals to ones with smaller profiles that are presumably more cost-effective. Pan can still shapeshift, and will often change, but his go-to form is a Pine Martin, which allows the animators to not need a separate character model for all of his scenes.

* TakeThat: When Mary calls the Alethiometer a compass, she is immediately corrected by Mrs. Coulter - an subtle but sharp jab at the first book’s North American title. (Nowhere in the books is the alethiometer ever directly called a “golden compass.”)

** It's not made explicit that Ruta Skadi and Asriel are former lovers (or not-so-former, given that ''The Subtle Knife'' implies they had sex soon after meeting again the Republic), though Mrs Coulter does mention in the second season that Asriel once boasted to her of having had a witch lover, and in the third season says to Ruta that she was always too easily impressed by him.

** Juta Kamainen, the witch whose love John Parry scorned because he was faithful to his wife Elaine (and who kills him in the books), is adapted out.
** Two of the Gallivespians, the Chevalier Tialys and Madame Oxentiel, were omitted from the third season. And while Salmakia still exists, her accompanying Lyra and Will throughout their adventure in the world of the dead is adapted out.

** The fact that some of the witch clans side with the Magisterium against the clans who support Asriel is adapted out.

** The ghosts of Lee Scoresby and John Parry fighting Spectres to protect Lyra and Will during the final battle before they go on to their rest is adapted out. Instead, they dissolve immediately after leaving the world of the dead.
** Various minor creatures from various worlds in both the Republic and Kingdom of Heaven's armies don't make an appearance, such as the hair-covered horseriders who fight for the Authority in the final battle, or the witches Ruta mentions having met in Asriel's camp who come from a world where witches can be either gender and don't live longer than humans, but still fly.

* ButtonMashing: Lyra does this to destroy the intercision machine, even admitting [[AchievementsInIgnorance not even she knows what's might happen.]]

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Iofur Raknison is much more inclined to argue with and not blindly trust Mrs Coulter in this version, whereas in the book he was completely taken with her.
* AdaptationSpeciesChange:
** In the books, Serafina Pekkala's dæmon Kaisa is a snow goose; in the series, he's a gyrfalcon (a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot; when trying the goose they found it was difficult to animate it speaking in any way that didn't look silly).
** In addition, Fra Pavel's dæmon has been changed from a frog to a rat, and Cardinal Sturrock's is no longer a macaw, but an insect.