Imitation and Confusion

Change is never so smooth. Study of history proves that transition, involving clashes of different ideas, is difficult and painful. After Iorek Byrnison is dethroned and exiled from his place with his fellow bears, Iofur Raknison becomes the new king and introduces new customs—quite different from the traditional ones. The other bears are confused and Iorek seems to be the only real bear, at least according to the traditions. Iofur loses to Iorek in the fight because he rejected from being what he was and wanted to be something else—a man.

Iorek was banished from his home because he had killed a fellow bear in a fight when he should have just wounded him. Although he had killed the other bear because he had let anger get hold of him, the crime was not completely his fault. Iorek’s opponent was drugged and did not recognize his defeat. Since the cause was not just, he was probably able to obtain his former place after he killed Iofur.

He was able to kill him because he was able to trick him. Serafina Pekkala states to Lyra, “When bears act like people, perhaps they can be tricked” (Pullman 278). Although Iorek told and proved to Lyra that bears cannot be tricked, he was able to trick Iofur because he did not want to be a bear. When Lyra encounters Iofur, she sees that “his face was much more mobile, and expressive, with a kind of humanness in it which she had never seen in Iorek’s” (Pullman 294). Not only that, but he was holding a doll—“he was pretending he had a daemon” (Pullman 295). Therefore, Lyra knew that she would be all right. She could trick him because he was obviously pretending to be something he was not.

Lyra tricks Iofur into a one on one battle with Iorek. If she hadn’t done that, the bears would have attacked him with firearms without giving him a chance to have a real fight. It was a violation to the tradition to fight an outcast. Iorek was exiled a while before, and he is not supposed to come back. Even if he does, he doesn’t deserve a righteous combat. The Professor explains, “He’s not a bear, you see. He’s an outcast. …Degraded…” (Pullman 290). Although Iofur exclaims, “Single combat? …Me? I must fight Iorek Byrnison? Impossible! He is outcast! How can that be? How can I fight him?”, he had already brought in new traditions so it wasn’t too difficult for him to violate an old one (Pullman 298). In other words, he was that obsessed with the concept of becoming a man.

The bears’ confusions between the traditions and the necessity to follow the king’s order are quite apparent as well. Lyra compares them with Iorek:
Their armor was polished and gleaming, and they all wore plumes in their helmets. …Iorek Byrnison…was more powerful, more graceful, and his armor was real armor, rust-colored, bloodstained, dented with combat, not elegant, enameled and decorative like most of what she saw around her now. (Pullman 286)
She even saw bears without armors—“a dozen or more bears, …none in armor but each with some kind of decoration: a golden necklace, a headdress of purple feathers, a crimson sash” (Pullman 294). They didn’t know how to behave because the new king was introducing so many new things (Pullman 294). They were stuck between Iofur’s want of becoming somewhat man-like and Iorek’s pride in being a bear: “They weren’t sure what they were. They weren’t like Iorek Byrnison, pure and certain and absolute; there was a constant pall of uncertainty hanging over them, as they watched one another and watched Iofur” (Pullman 303). Therefore, like Iorek who was exiled, they too are in a liminal state.

Lyra took the advantage of Iofur’s obsession and the other bear’s confusion to construct the ritual: “Fights between bears were common, and the subject of much ritual. …But occasionally there came circumstances in which the only way of settling a dispute was a fight to the death. And for that, a whole ceremonial was prescribed” (Pullman 302). The battle was two different ideas clashing. The two bears were not just a bear king and a exiled bear:
…Iorek and Iofur were more than just two bears. There were two kinds of beardom opposed here, two futures, two destinies. Iofur had begun to take them in one direction, and Iorek would take them in another, and in the same moment, one future would close forever as the other began to unfold. (Pullman 307)
Also, Iorek wasn’t the only liminal one. Iofur was, if not the same, more liminal than him. Not only did he bring in new and different concepts into his kingdom, he had committed a crime unknown to the fellow bears. He had killed a bear—“but it was worse than simple murder, for Iofur learned later that the other bear was his own father” (Pullman 299). He had committed a greater crime than Iorek. However, since no one knows this, he cannot be punished. Without being righteously punished, he is left in a dangling position of instability. Therefore, although Iorek was an outcast, the ritual succeeded, because Iofur was a liminal character as well.

Iorek saw that Lyra had tricked Iofur and realized that he could be tricked: “You could not trick a bear, but, as Lyra had shown him, Iofur did not want to be a bear, he wanted to be a man; and Iorek was tricking him” (Pullman 309). It is important for one to know what he/she is and what he/she is capable of. It is inevitable for one to be content with oneself—“Iofur was not content with his armor; he wanted another soul as well. He was restless while Iorek was still” (Pullman 307). Therefore, Iofur is vulnerable and Iorek is able to defeat him despite the tiredness he has which far exceeded Iofur’s.

As he states in the beginning of the ritual, he brings stability back to the bears. He cleanses his kingdom: “My first order to you all will be to tear down that palace, that perfumed house of mockery and tinsel, and hurl the gold and marble into the sea. Iron is bear-metal. Gold is not. Iofur Raknison has polluted Svalbard. I have come to cleanse it” (Pullman 306). Once he kills Iofur and finishes the ritual: “Every single badge and sash and coronet was thrown off at once and trampled contemptuously underfoot, to be forgotten in a moment. They were Iorek’s bears now, and true bears, not uncertain semi-humans conscious only of a torturing inferiority” (Pullman 311). He was able to do that because he was an outcast. He wasn’t polluted with Iofur’s new ideas and was a true bear. Although he was physically liminal, he was a bear and he was certain about that unlike the other bears. It is not wrong to want to become something more than one is. It is important, however, to understand the limits and work within. It is impossible to live a happy life without first being content with what one is.



Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass. New York: Ballantine Books. 1995.