The world's changing.

We've all sensed it.

The prophecy is clear.

Our duty is to protect the girl and boy wherever they are.

Something happening in this world.

People are going to be looking for us.

And I'm looking for a girl named Lyra.

Welcome to the Authority, Slate's His Dark Materials Podcast, at season 2, episode 5, The Scholar. We're Slate's resident Scholars of Experimental Theology.

I'm Dan Coise, I'm a writer at Slate, and my demon

is a prairie vole named Gilda. I'm Laura Miller, I'm books and culture columnist for Slate, and my demon

is a seiotter named Saki.

In this episode, Lyra and Will steal the Aleithometer back from Lord Boreal.

Cardinal McPhail begins the Great Magisterium Purge.

Mary Malone goes on a trip, and Mrs. Coulter considers blue jeans. A lot of exciting

things happen in this episode. We're going to go in depth today into the scholar

of the title or really the scholars because this episode makes the argument that you can't talk about Mary Malone

without talking about Mrs. Coulter.

As always on the authority, we're talking about the worlds of his Dark Materials without spoiling the story of His Dark Materials.

We'll fill in some blanks, talk about the way the book treats these scenes,

and investigate characters, but we won't discuss what's in store.

So unless you're allergic to knowing anything outside the bounds of the TV show, you should

find our podcast, spoiler free. And we're here to answer your questions if you

...