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May 12th, 2009: In which Lyra gets a new outfit, two newcomers arrive, and the fugitives strike again.

 

 

"WonderCon," he said patiently.

 

"Wasn't that in February?" I asked, not even stopping to wonder why witches would be at a sci-fi convention.

 

"No, WONDERCon--Witches Of Norroway, Denmark, and the Enara Region."

 

"Not all of Finland?"

 

Kaisa looked at me as if I were stupid. "WONDFuhCon?"

 

"... I see your point."

 

 

Featuring Notes Icons See also

 

 

Featuring

 

• Lyra Silvertongue (and Pan)
• Serafina Pekkala (and Kaisa)
• Legolas
• Purple Arwen
• Galadriel
• Tonner Edward

 

 

Notes

 

• People get truly weirded out by the concept of dolls being sold "nude," but I'm telling you, it's a common practice and not meant to sound perverted or anything. What happens is, a lot of times hobbyists want to repaint the dolls' faces (there are some really talented doll artists out there) or dress them in other outfits. At the same time, there are some outfits you can only buy on the doll--there are two Tonner Lyras, one dressed in the winter outfit and one dressed in the school outfit. I got the one in the winter outfit for Christmas (this is Lyra as you know her in our story); if I had bought the school outfit doll from Tonner, I could have then sold the "extra" doll "nude" (a commonly used term, because, let's face it, it's still less weird than "nekkid"). On the other hand, if someone bought Oxford Lyra just to have a blonde doll to repaint and didn't actually want the school uniform, they could then resell that on eBay. Which is probably what happened with the auction I won.

 

• "We need to comb your hair": In both the movie and the book, there's a scene early on where Lyra fights getting her hair brushed out before she goes to dinner.

 

• Kaisa--Serafina Pekkala's snow goose daemon--does not appear in the Golden Compass movie (that I know of, although he does appear on a desktop wallpaper from the movie's official site). The process of becoming a witch--it involves a forced separation, in terms of physical distance, from one's daemon--means that witches and their daemons don't have to stay in close proximity the way "normal" humans in Lyra's world do. So I guess it was simpler, or cheaper, just to have Kaisa not appear in the movie? I don't know. Thus, Tonner's Serafina doesn't come with a daemon accessory.

 

• Reader MaggieCat made our Kaisa, as well as The Littlest Edward's cowboy hat in Portrait of a Sparklepire II.

 

• I really wasn't trying to be all mysterious with the first shot of Legolas; I really thought the picture would turn out better than that. Stupid lighting.

 

• The "exclusive" part is that the super-special Legolas comes with an elven cloak and "brooch," the latter of which turned out to be kind of ghetto, but what're you gonna do.

 

• "Have you killed anyone?": Somehow this ended up being a running joke, but it originates from the part in The Subtle Knife where Lyra thinks to herself that Will is trustworthy because he's "murdered" someone (it was actually self-defense). I couldn't figure out why for the longest time--it's not at all explained, and yet totally a Lyra thing to say--until it finally occurred to me that someone willing to kill is therefore not a coward, and would stand by you when the chips are down. (As opposed to the way most of us would think of murderers, I guess--someone who might [literally] stab you in the back.) So "Have you killed anyone?" becomes Doll!Lyra's way of sizing up newcomers. Also, I write her as being kind of gleefully bloodthirsty anyway.

 

• "How's the cloak holding up?": Both Legolas's elven cloak and new pimped-out bow come from Galadriel when the Fellowship stops in Lothlorien. 

 

• Lembas is a shortbread-like "waybread" that the elves travel with. I mean, it's been described a lot of ways, but I think shortbread is what they used in the movies. Hence the Nilla wafers, which was the closest my pantry could get.

 

• Ruta Skadi is another witch queen who shows up in--The Subtle Knife, I think? She's also had a few dalliances with Lord Asriel, an important figure in Lyra's life (cough).

 

• The Post-It Notes of Doom are colored in with small, short strokes, rather than a long circling motion, because that's the way someone with doll-sized hands would have to do it, I figured.

 

• "Longing for the sea" is a problem Tolkien elves tend to have. As for why Legolas suddenly starts longing after he runs into Elizabeth and Anna, Orlando Bloom played both Legolas and Will Turner (Pirates of the Caribbean). As a bonus, Anna Valerious SUPER RANDOMLY mentions having always wanted to see the sea in Van Helsing. Off the top of my head, I think my comment on this in Van Helsing in Fifteen Minutes (2004) was, "Whatever, Legolas."

 

• I  think my two favorite Legolas lines in the LOTR movies have to be "THEY'RE TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD!!" (The Two Towers) and the Captain Obvious delivery of "A diversion!" (Return of the King). Hence the title of this installment, which is a break in the All Sparklepires, All the Time storyline leading up to The Littlest Bella.

 

 

Icons

 

 

 

See also

 

• Dolls

• The Secret Life of Dolls