“A bespoke stainless steel sculpture by Julian Warren depicting the dæmons from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. Located behind Lyra and Will's bench at the Oxford Botanic Garden.”
Unveiled in 2019 by Sir Philip Pullman, this stainless steel installation sits in the Lower Garden of the Oxford Botanic Garden. It is deliberately positioned behind the famous bench where the principal characters of the His Dark Materials trilogy, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, promise to meet each year.
The sculpture brings Pullman's concept of "dæmons"—the external, animal manifestation of a person's soul—into the physical world. Rather than a traditional monument, the artwork is integrated directly into the landscape, featuring a stylised tree structure that supports four distinct dæmons:
Pantalaimon (The Pine Marten): Lyra’s dæmon, captured mid-climb in his final, settled form.
Kirjava (The Cat): Will’s dæmon, exploring the lower branches.
The Raven: Watching over the scene from the highest post, representing the author, Philip Pullman, himself.
The Moth: Resting quietly on an apple, this detail honorus Pantalaimon's very first shape-shifting appearance in the books, while also serving as a welcoming symbol for all unsettled dæmons.
Crafted entirely by hand, the sculpture uses contrasting metalworking techniques. The heavy, bead-welded textures of the pine marten and cat mimic dense fur, while the smooth, layered plates of the raven create sleek flight feathers. As Pullman noted at the unveiling, the thousands of hours of hard graft and hammer blows give the metal its distinct soul.
