“His Dark Materials” Season 2 ended with the world about to enter the beginning phase of the Great War. Asriel is recruiting more and more people for his Republic of Heaven to wage war against the Authority. Coulter is taking Lyra with her to an unknown location. Will has just lost his father, who, before dying, tells him that his weapon can change the fate of the world. Meanwhile, Cardinal MacPhail has declared war on Asriel’s forces and will leave no stone unturned to find Lyra, who is Eve, The Mother of All, whose fall will bring about an end to the Authority’s rule. “His Dark Materials” Season 3, the final season, will show the Great War and how Lyra and Will play their parts in it alongside Asriel. There are powerful forces at play, and the fate of the world is at stake. Season 3, Episode 1, is the beginning of the end.
Spoilers Ahead
The Authority And The Great War
The Authority is the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven. However, he isn’t the Creator he addresses himself as. He is just an Angel assisted by another dark Angel. Together these two rule the worlds using organizations like The Magisterium, the Temple and more. When the good Angels took a stand against them, they were cast out of Heaven. Since then, the fallen Angels have been living among the worlds waiting for the perfect time to take their revenge. But the time for the Creator’s fall is near. A human is recruiting allies- Lord Asriel. A new Eve has emerged—Lyra Silvertongue. A serpent has been summoned—Dr. Mary Malone. The Great War against the Authority is coming.
Asriel’s Army
Asriel and his daemon snow leopard, Stelmaria, are heading to a prison where Commander Ogunwe is being held captive. He breaches the prison, takes down the prison guards, and frees Ogunwe and his men. Ogunwe tells him that his actions now make him an enemy of the Temple (the Magisterium of Ogunwe’s world). Asriel replies that he is not from this world. He wants Ogunwe to join in the revolt against the Kingdom of Heaven and be a part of the ultimate victory. Ogunwe brings Asriel to his camp, where Asriel finds that Ogunwe has two daughters, Machi and Aria. He isn’t convinced of Asriel’s objective, as humankind cannot take a stand against his Creator. Asriel enlightens him that the Creator isn’t the Creator at all but an angel. Xaphania, an angel who now sits on Asriel’s council, found out about the Authority’s secret millennia ago. As taken aback as Ogunwe is, he mentions that he cannot help Asriel. He then takes him to Aria, who seems to be one of the living dead. According to Ogunwe, the Temple is taking children and training them in whichever way they find necessary. Aria cannot recognize her father or anyone else anymore. This is why he has to protect the other children from the Temple’s operations. Asriel looks at Aria and realizes that she has been severed from her daemon (that was within her). In other words, the connection between her and her soul is no longer there. Her humanity is gone. This allows the Temple to control them easily. That’s when Ogunwe hears a buzzing sound outside. It’s coming from drones. Ogunwe ordered others to take cover and let the drones pass. After they pass, Asriel tells Ogunwe that there is no end to the fight he is taking part in. The Temple is just one of the countless arms that the Authority has, and the only way to defeat it is to join him. Asriel agrees and offers to take Ogunwe to his Republic of Heaven.
Will’s Search
Will has been searching for Lyra across the world when he realizes that he is being followed. Soon, two beings reveal themselves: Balthamos and Baruch. They are angels made of dust and are attracted to anything connected to dust, including Will’s knife. They reveal that Will is Aesahettr, a weapon that the Cliffhangers were talking about in Episode 7 of “His Dark Materials” Season 2, which will help Asriel win the war. He has to come with them to meet Lord Asriel, but Will has a condition: they will have to help him find his friend Lyra, Asriel’s daughter. He shows them Lyra’s alethiometer, which, owing to its dust-based nature, can help them trace her, just like Will’s knife. Using the alethiometer, Baruch is able to track Lyra down. He tells Will that she is in the world of daemons with a woman who has a daemon monkey. Will realizes that she is with her mother, Coulter. Although Lyra is safe and asleep, according to Baruch, Will has no time to waste and has to get to her as soon as possible. Balthamos joins Will on the journey to Lyra’s location. Meanwhile, Baruch heads back to Lord Asriel to tell him about Will and Aesahettr. As soon as Will finds Lyra, Balthamos shall take them back to the Asriel’s Republic of Heaven. Will and Balthamos soon land on a seaport where they meet Iorek Byrnison who agrees to help Will in his search for Lyra after Will helps him free one of his bear friends who has been captured by the locals.
Lyra’s Mystery
Coulter is in a chapel in the middle of nowhere, where she is holding Lyra and Pan under some kind of spell. A young mute girl brings her some flowers, and she, in turn, brings the girl to Lyra. Not intending to scare her, Coulter explains to the girl that Lyra, her daughter, is under a spell by an enchanter, and that’s why she is asleep. Coulter needs the girl’s help to keep people away. The girl agrees to help Coulter and hugs her. Coulter tells her that all that they spoke about needs to be a secret between just the two of them. The mute girl then leaves. Coulter then gives Lyra some medicine. She is the only one who can keep Lyra safe, or so she tells Pan. Later, as Coulter sleeps, Pan wakes Lyra up, telling her that it is their chance to escape. They are only able to reach a small distance before being discovered by Coulter’s daemon monkey. Coulter then uses some kind of drug to put Lyra back to sleep. This whole event is seen by the mute girl from behind a rock. Later that night, Coulter waits by a window, waiting for someone.
MacPhail’s Cardinalship
Cardinal MacPhail arrives at the Geneva division of the Magisterium, which is its headquarters. He meets Father Gomez and finds him persuasive and in strong agreement with the Magisterium’s ways. He tells Gomez about Fra Pavel’s alethiometer, a prophecy that can bring about the downfall of Magisterium, and Eve. McPhail assigns him the responsibility of talking to Fra Pavel to speed up his work with the alethiometer and find out Eve’s location. Once the location is found, Gomez shall lead the troops to retrieve her. Gomez meets Fra Pavel in his room and warns him of the consequential “re-education” that awaits him if he doesn’t find out the location of Eve soon. Sometime later, Gomez returns to MacPhail with the news that the girl is with her mother. MacPhail is distraught at hearing this and tells Gomez to find the mother and the daughter by any means necessary and bring them back to him. Gomez returns to his room and releases a spy fly (“His Dark Materials” Season 1).
‘His Dark Materials’ Season 3 Episode 1: Ending Explained – Does Asriel Take Ogunwe To The Republic? Who Will Reach Lyra First, Will Or Gomez?
Coulter waits for someone’s arrival at the chapel. Is it Will she is waiting for? We do not know. However, Will is already on his way to Lyra. Meanwhile, Father Gomez has one of his spy flies searching for Lyra, and from the looks of it, he isn’t willing to accept defeat and is bent upon proving himself to the Cardinal, who has told him that his dedication to the Authority wouldn’t go unappreciated. Asriel opens a doorway to his Republic of Heaven. An utterly dumbstruck Ogunwe stares at the magical doorway, something he never expected to see. Episode 1 ends with the “His Dark Materials” characters’ first view of Lord Asriel’s Republic of Heaven. So, Commander Ogunwe will probably join forces with Asriel. The question is: will Gomez get his hands on Lyra and Coulter, or will he find them first? It seems that there is a face-off coming between the Magisterium and the Angels, or rather, Gomez and Will.
