The Republic of Heaven

So I think that the size of your dæmon is limited by your size (whether physical or metaphorical I'm not sure).

And having a settled dæmon of that size would surely be impractical?

So I think that the size of your dæmon is limited by your size (whether physical or metaphorical I'm not sure).

Yes, I can't remember where this discussion came up before, but I think we ended up deciding that your dæmon is influenced by your size and your needs, like Lyra needs an animal that can hide, but also by your social position and your native surroundings (like Ogunwe has a cheetah and the sailor has a dolphin). So it might be that if you were a rather arrogant Indian Maharajah, you could have an elephant.

I expect that if you were an adventurous wrangler, born and bred on a cattle farm or in the Old West, you could have a horse dæmon.

I often thought about this too. I think for plot purposes, daemons just never turn into anything useful. Whether they can and we just never see it I don't know, but I can't see why they shouldn't be able to turn into something like a horse or an elephant. An elephant would be the best, you could have awesome water fights.

But what did come up was...a raccoon.

Now, I'm not really a big raccoon fan. But something inside me said that a raccoon would be my dæmon, and that's all there was to it. Too bad, so sad. Nothing practical or particularly admirable. Just a musky, fuzzy bandit who compulsively washes his food, and is pretty good at solving problems.

I just wanted to point out that the eyes of the daemons are actually significant because they match the eyes of their humans. Look at the Asriel/Stelmaria photo, and you can notice the stark resemblence with Daniel Craig's cold, icy blue eyes.

I often thought about this too. I think for plot purposes, daemons just never turn into anything useful. Whether they can and we just never see it I don't know, but I can't see why they shouldn't be able to turn into something like a horse or an elephant. An elephant would be the best, you could have awesome water fights.

I thought about this before and it made me laugh.

By my luck, I probably would be stuck with something like an elephant. As much as I love them, and how amazing it would be to have a royal dæmon steed, it would just be entirely inconvenient. Imagine, you wouldn't be able to go to any social places, ride any transportation, visit any house, LIVE in a house if you had an elephant dæmon.
Perhaps someone who is just asking for social rejection and isolation would end up in such a situation.

On that note, I think a great blue whale dæmon would set the record for 'Most Inconvienient dæmon."

You almost can't help wondering what your own dæmon would be, once you've read these books. (Yeah, yeah. They're just books. But a new world is always fun to visit in your mind.) And I think that Philip Pullman was using the daemons as an allegory for something that's real in every person: the Jungian inner self. Anima for a man; animus for a woman.

I found the odd thing: as much as I tried, I couldn't give myself the dæmon I really wanted, which was a hare. It just didn't work. But what did come up was...a raccoon.

Now, I'm not really a big raccoon fan. But something inside me said that a raccoon would be my dæmon, and that's all there was to it. Too bad, so sad. Nothing practical or particularly admirable. Just a musky, fuzzy bandit who compulsively washes his food, and is pretty good at solving problems.

Doing the same for my husband, it came to me that his would be a Great Blue Heron. I never thought of him that way, but that's what came when I drowsily imagined it. And it works completely for his personality.

That's what I found works best for imagining daemons: open and empty your mind to find them, and concentrate on what the person is like. Your dæmon isn't going to be something you want it to be, nor anything practical.

The dæmon is who you are.