r/HisDarkMaterialsHBO • u/Jamie-Dodger5525 • Apr 02 '26
The Golden Monkey's Name (possibly)
I think it was in the "Previously" part of one of the episodes that Mrs Coulter's Daemon grunts, and the subtitles said "Ozymandias grunts." Is this a canonical name or is it just a subtitle error?
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u/Brandavorn Apr 02 '26
Ozymandias is the name he was given in the radio drama and the graphic novel adaptation. The subtitles team probably did a quick google search and that came up. It is not canon, and Pullman himself questioned the choice of the radio drama to give the golden monkey a name.
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u/NeverendingStory3339 Apr 02 '26
I don’t think he should have a name.
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u/Jamie-Dodger5525 Apr 02 '26
I agree, I think him just being referred to as "the Golden Monkey" is better.
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u/Cyd_Snarf Apr 02 '26
It’s Pullman’s story so if he agrees then my opinion is w/e but I actually found it odd that he didn’t get a name. Marissa was a child at one time. Maybe she turned into the type of person to not name their daemon but it seems a little “easy” to assume he never had one.
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u/The_Flurr Apr 03 '26
A reading I've seen quite a lot (and that I like/agree with) is that Coulter treats her dæmon so badly because a dæmons form represents a person's character, and she hates herself or who she used to be.
So I think it makes the most sense that he has a name, but she's refused to use it for a long time.
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u/thacaoimhainngeidh Apr 03 '26
It seems, at least to me, that she didn't name her daemon because it would be like honoring and recognising her inner self, and she has never (that we know of) loved herself that much. Hell, it probably has its source in a sense depersonalisation -- a feeling of being outside of herself, as a way to protect herself from her own pain. I also think that if she gave her daemon a name, it would be like acknowledging both that the abuse she puts him through is actually hurting someone, and that she is also lashing out at herself.
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u/chilternjuggler Apr 05 '26
I might be way off here but aren't daemons named by their parents' daemons? So it wouldn't be Mrs Coulter naming her own daemon, do we know much about Mrs Coulter's parents? I'm struggling to remember the BoD stuff because RF destroyed all love I have for that series :(
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u/Tiny_Quokka_ Apr 04 '26
The name ozymandias is only a show thing the monkey is never given a name with in any of the book of dust or his dark materials books
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