Lyra Belacqua SILVERTONGUE 11 year old a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Jordan College in Oxford England It quickly becomes clear that Lyras Oxford is not precisely liked our own nor is her world In Lyras world everyone has a personal dmon a lifelong animal familiar This is a world in which science theology and magic are closely intertwined These ideas are of little concern to Lyra who at the outset of the story One day she and Pantalaimon pan an animal formed shape shifti