Will Parry (His Dark Materials) facts for kids

Will Parry is one of the two main characters in Philip Pullman's book series His Dark Materials. He stars alongside Lyra Belacqua. Will first appears in the second book, The Subtle Knife. He is also a big part of the final book, The Amber Spyglass.

When we first meet Will, he is 12 years old. He meets Lyra in a strange city called Cittàgazze. Together, they try to solve the mysteries of something called Dust. They also search for Will's father, who disappeared many years ago. Will later gets a special weapon called the Subtle Knife. He uses it to help Lord Asriel fight against a powerful group known as the Authority.

Who is Will Parry?

Will is the only son of John Parry, who was an explorer. His mother, Elaine Parry, sometimes gets very worried and needs his help. Will has taken care of her since he was young.

Will cannot remember his father. His dad used to be a soldier. He disappeared during a trip to the Arctic when Will was a baby. Later, we learn that his father went into another world. He could not find his way back home. Will lives in Winchester with his mother and their cat, Moxie.

Will has straight black eyebrows and dark hair. He has a strong jaw. He is quite strong for his age. He has dark, intense eyes that most people avoid looking at directly.

Unlike Lyra, Will is a quiet and serious person. He is very polite. He always knows what is right and wrong. For example, he paid for food and clothes he took from the empty city of Cittàgazze. He is also very good at standing up for himself and his friends. He does not let others talk down to him. Will shows great bravery many times in the books. Even though he does not like fighting, other characters often find him fierce. Will is very good at looking after himself, especially for a kid his age.

Will's Dæmon: Kirjava

In The Amber Spyglass, Will goes to the Land of the Dead. To enter, he has to separate from a part of his soul. This part is his dæmon. Before this, his dæmon lived unseen inside him. Since Will was still a child, his dæmon could change its shape.

Later in the book, Lyra touches Will's dæmon. This is a very special and usually not allowed action. After this, his dæmon settles into one form. She becomes a large cat with shiny, subtly colored fur. A witch named Serafina Pekkala names her Kirjava. This name means mottled in Finnish.

Kirjava has a special ability. She can move much farther away from Will than other dæmons can from their humans. This power allows her and Pantalaimon (Lyra's dæmon) to run away from Will and Lyra. They do this to show they are upset. The children had left them behind when they went into the Land of the Dead. While they are gone, Kirjava and Pantalaimon travel through many worlds. They eventually return and make up with Will and Lyra. But they agree to keep what they saw a secret. They will only tell their humans when the time is right.

Will's Adventures

The Subtle Knife

At the start of The Subtle Knife, Will is trying to find out what happened to his father. He looks for a box of his mother's letters. He hopes they will have a clue. But a group of government agents break into his house. They are also looking for the letters. Will finds the letters and runs away. He accidentally kills one of the men while escaping.

He goes to Oxford to talk to his father's lawyer. While looking for a place to sleep, he finds a window. This window leads to another world called Cittàgazze. He explores this strange city. It is empty of people, except for a girl his age named Lyra. At first, Lyra seems a bit selfish. Will talks to Lyra and soon realizes she is from another world too. Lyra learns that Will's world also has an Oxford. She decides to go there to ask scientists about Dust.

Will goes back to Oxford with her. He does not learn much about his father from his lawyer or the library. But when he reads his mother's letters, he finds a clue. His father disappeared when Will was one year old. He was exploring a strange place in Alaska. This place turns out to be a window to Cittàgazze, just like the one Will found.

Soon after, Lyra's alethiometer (her truth-telling device) is stolen. A man named Sir Charles Latrom takes it in Oxford. Will goes back and confronts Sir Charles. Sir Charles says he will only return the alethiometer if Will brings him the Subtle Knife. The knife is in a tower in Cittàgazze called the Torre degli Angeli. Sir Charles cannot get the knife himself. This is because of scary creatures called Spectres. Spectres attack the minds of adults in Cittàgazze.

Will and Lyra search the tower. Another man from Cittàgazze attacks them. He wants the knife for himself. Will and Lyra work together to defeat him and get the knife. But Will is badly hurt. The little and ring fingers of his left hand are cut off. The knife's first owner tells them that Will's injuries are the 'mark' of the Subtle Knife. This means the knife must now belong to Will. The owner then spends time teaching Will how to use the knife.

The Subtle Knife can cut through to other worlds. It can also cut through any material or object. With the knife, Will and Lyra go back to Sir Charles’ house. They steal back the alethiometer. They barely escape Sir Charles and his guest, Marisa Coulter. But the next morning, children from Cittàgazze attack them. These children are angry that Will stole the knife. They are led by the younger brother and sister of the man Will fought. Will and Lyra run away. A group of witches from Lyra's world rescues them. These witches are led by Serafina Pekkala.

Lyra and Will, now with the witches, keep looking for Will's father. But Mrs. Coulter and Spectres are secretly following them. One night, Will cannot sleep. He walks to the top of a mountain. There, he meets a mysterious man. The man realizes Will has the Subtle Knife. He tells Will to take it to Lord Asriel. Just as Will realizes the man is his father, a witch kills him. She is angry because he once rejected her. Will catches the witch and scolds her. But she dies by her own hand. Will returns to the camp. He finds that Spectres attacked the witches. Lyra has been captured. Two angels, Baruch and Balthamos, appear to Will. They had been following Will's father. They tell Will to follow them to Lord Asriel.

The Amber Spyglass

Lyra is missing, so Will refuses to take the Subtle Knife to Lord Asriel. He wants to find Lyra first. Baruch and Balthamos agree to help him. Will tracks Lyra to a cave in the Himalayas, back in her own world. On the way, he meets Lyra's old friend Iorek Byrnison. Iorek is moving south because the Arctic ice is melting. Together, they find Lyra's cave. Mrs. Coulter is keeping her there.

Will uses the knife to get into the cave. But as he gets ready to pull Lyra out, he thinks of his sick mother. His focus slips, and the Subtle Knife breaks. He gathers the pieces. They manage to escape when Mrs. Coulter is attacked. Two of Lord Asriel's Gallivespian spies attack her. The four of them safely reach a window Will had opened earlier. They move into another world. Lyra then tells Will about a dream she had. She talked to her old friend Roger. She had accidentally led him to his death in Northern Lights. Roger's soul is now trapped in the World of the Dead. Will agrees to go there with her to try and save him. First, he needs Iorek to fix the knife.

Will finds Iorek the next day. Iorek agrees to help him fix the knife. With the knife repaired, Will and Lyra cut their way into the World of the Dead. But as they get close to the island where souls are held, they realize something. They must leave their dæmons behind to enter. Will's dæmon, who lives inside him, is pulled away. This causes him terrible pain. Lyra finds Roger's ghost and says sorry. Then Will cuts a window back out to the world. This lets billions of souls be set free.

From his father's ghost, Will learns something important. His and Lyra’s dæmons are now in the world where Lord Asriel is fighting the Authority. They cut back to that world. They escape with their dæmons to another world. They barely avoid the Spectres, who can now harm them. But when they wake up the next morning, their dæmons have run away.

A group of smart animals called Mulefa approach them. They carry Will and Lyra back to their village. Lyra's friend Mary Malone, a scientist from Will's world, is waiting there. Will and Lyra tell her about their adventures. In return, Mary tells them about the first time she fell in love. She also tells them how she stopped believing in God. (She used to be a nun.)

Will goes out the next morning with Lyra to find their dæmons. When they stop to eat, Lyra gives him a piece of fruit from Mary. This is a reference to the Fall. They realize they have fallen in love with each other. Their love causes Dust, which is linked to human thought and free will, to stop escaping. Instead, it falls upon the world once more.

However, the very next day their dæmons return. They tell Will and Lyra what they learned. To keep Dust safe, all the windows between worlds must be closed. Also, dæmons can only live for a short time outside their own worlds. This means Will and Lyra must each go back to their own world. Will is also told that using the Subtle Knife created the Spectres. So, it must be destroyed. He can no longer use it to travel between worlds. Will realizes that he and Lyra must separate forever.

Will, Lyra, and Mary return to Cittàgazze. Will cuts a window back into the Oxford of his world. Before they part, Lyra takes him to the University's Botanic Garden. She finds a certain bench there. A similar bench exists in her world in the same spot. They promise to return there every year for the rest of their lives. They will meet at noon on midsummer's day. This way, they can feel close to each other again. Lyra steps back into Cittàgazze. Will seals the window behind her.

Finally, Will has to break the knife. He remembers how it broke the first time when he thought of his mother. This time, he thinks of Lyra. The knife shatters. It cannot cut through his love for her. He collects the pieces and leaves with Mary. They talk about how to explain their absence and help his mother.

After the Books

In a special section of the 2013 UK edition of The Amber Spyglass, we learn more about Will. He later becomes a medical student. Eventually, he becomes a doctor in his world. Because he carried the Subtle Knife, he has a special gift. He can tell what is wrong with patients. He tries to hide this gift early in his studies. Others might think it is supernatural.

Adaptations

Will's story has been told in different ways:

• In the full audiobooks, Steven Webb reads Will's part in The Subtle Knife. Peter England reads it in The Amber Spyglass.
• In the BBC radio play, Daniel Anthony played Will.
• In the National Theatre's play of His Dark Materials in 2003, Dominic Cooper played Will.
• In the BBC TV show His Dark Materials, Amir Wilson plays Will.