The Amber Spyglass is the final book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, featuring a fictional object that allows one to see the mysterious dust. The book is controversial, focusing on war and sexual intimacy between children-protagonists. Mary Malone discovers the mulefa, a sentient race who can see the Dust and help her create an amber telescope. Unlike the alethiometer and Aesahaettr, the amber scope does not require a particular state of mind to use.
The Amber Spyglass is both the name of the third and final book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials fantasy series, and the name of a fictional object in those books. The object allows a person to see the mysterious dust, without experiencing any special conditions such as the northern lights.
The Amber Spyglass is by far the most controversial of the three books in the series. The book ends with the final defeat of the Authority, as well as with what appears to be a veiled reference to sexual intimacy between the children-protagonists of the books. The book focuses on the war between Lord Asriel’s army and the Kingdom of Heaven, as well as scientist Mary Malone and her travels in an alien universe and discoveries about the nature of the Dust.
In The Amber Spyglass Mary Malone finds her way into a universe very different from ours or Lyra’s universe. This universe is inhabited by a sentient race called the mulefa, who are very different in appearance and society from humans. They have no spines and are diamond shaped. They have a long trunk which they use to manipulate objects and also to communicate. They appear to live in a pre-tribal, low-tech environment with close-knit communities. They also have a very well-preserved history, however, which appears to be passed down orally. It appears to date back some 33,000 years, to the time the dust began interacting with races throughout the universes, giving rise to modern consciousness.
They seem to have a very positive interaction with the Dust, with no Magisterium or similar body subject to the appearance of the Authority within their society. They have their own version of the Adam and Eve story, but instead of seeing it negatively as an expression of the First Sin, they see it positively. Perhaps for this relationship with the Dust, or perhaps for another reason, they are able to see the Dust with the naked eye, and can tell Maria about it.
Originally, Mary had no intention of building the amber telescope. First she tried to build something that would help catch the dust and save the giant trees that the mule had noticed were dying. She made a sheet of lacquer from tree sap and by chance she noticed that when two of these sheets were held apart and covered with oil from the trees, she could see the Dust through them. The oil itself seems to have some sort of relationship to the Dust, as the mulefa use it as part of their relationship to the giant tree seed pods, which appear to be their equivalent of demons or souls.
Once Mary discovers this use for her lacquer sheets, the mulefa helps her make a bamboo tube to fit two sheets, resulting in the amber telescope itself. Amber refers to the color of lacquered sap and not literal amber. Mary continues to use the amber scope to study the Dust and determine that she is leaving the world.
Both the alethiometer and Aesahaettr, the golden compass and thin knife that give the first two books their names, require a particular frame of mind to use them correctly. The mind must be allowed to wander slightly while concentration is maintained, in what is called a negative capacity. The amber scope, however, does not require any special state of mind. Just look through the amber scope to see the dust. However, if the negative ability is used, the user’s consciousness leaves the body and enters the Dust itself, allowing the user to actually experience the Dust more viscerally.
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