[Child of the 7th Age]

I am enjoying reading this thread.

Just a side comment....

It's intriguing to me that Pullman had one of his chief nasties live in Limefield House in Headington: Sir Charles Latrom (mortal spelled backwards) also known as Lord Carlo Boreal. He's the one whose daemon is a serpent with a pointed tongue. Of course, Tolkien lived at 76 Sandfield Road in Headington Hill when he was writing LotR. Lewis also had a house there at one time.

This could just be coincidence--Pullman lives in Oxford and certainly knows the area. But I've also read somewhere that the description the author gives of the house in The Subtle Knife is very close to the house that Tolkien actually lived in. Even the people on the Pullman website indicate that the Headington the author mentions is undoubtedly Headington Hill. They also note that elsewhere in the book Pullman gives very specific Oxford addresses, but in this case he has chosen to be vague.... Somehow I doubt the use of this location for the villain's house is purely coincidence.

I enjoy HDM but sometimes Pullman comes over as petty and combative in his interviews when he is not even being attacked. I think he could use a dose of hobbit politeness.