Lord Boreal: What 'His Dark Materials' Fans Need to Know
Have you been watching the HBO/BBC production of "His Dark Materials"? The television adaptation of the Philip Pullman classic trilogy is already a smash hit in the United Kingdom. If you've read the books you know changes have already been made. If you have not read the books then perhaps, even with regular viewing, you are still a little bit confused about the importance of certain players, or how certain places connect to one another. Well, we are here to clear up any questions and make sure you're ready and excited for the week's episode.
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Ariyon Bakare's Expanded Role
Lord Boreal on the show is played by, Ariyon Bakare. Ariyon Bakare may be familiar to scifi/fantasy viewers as he recently worked on the Amazon mini-series, "Good Omens". Book fans may have been surprised at how prominent Ariyon Bakare has been on the show so far. In the books (the first one being "The Golden Compass," on which season one is based) Lord Boreal is only prominent in a single scene, where he speaks with Daphne Keen's, Lyra, at a cocktail party.
Season One Discusses Book Two
Season one of "His Dark Materials," is based on the first book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, known in the United States as, "The Golden Compass." Yet, thee HBO series has already dipped its toes into the second book in the series, "The Subtle Knife". Most of the book two references surround Ariyon Bakare's, Lord Boreal. His skipping between different worlds isn't actually revealed until book two, though on television we've already seen him slip back and forth multiple times.
Only For Television
Lord Boreal's intimate work with the government entity, The Magisterium, is show canon only. We never see him in the hallowed halls of that secret and powerful entity in the books. His close companionship with one of the main antagonists of season one, Mrs. Coulter in all for the viewing audience. It gives both characters someone to talk to about their plans, which is necessary when you can't simply write an internal monologue like authors can on the page.
What's Next
Lord Boreal always played a much larger role in book two, and HBO is certainly setting him for his bigger moments in the future season. It makes perfect sense to expand on the character beforehand, to wrap him more closely to the events that are yet to come. In adapting the series, and working the action from page to screen, Boreal was a good choice to expand on to make the story flow visually, as well as keep the plot moving in the direction that all book fans are waiting to see.
