Pullman rips on LOTR, others

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by davem

Now I'm wondering about Pullman's attitude to relationships - in HDM he has Lyra & Will get together & then immediately splits them up forever, & in an adaptation of one of his Sally Lockhart stories by the BBC over Christmas he has Sally get together with her lover, who immediately afterward gets killed in a fire! Does PP have a problem with his characters being together? Happily ever after doesn't seem to appeal to him...

Could say similar about Tolkien with his profusion of orphans There's quite likely something psychological about why writers choose their characters as they do, but in the case of Lyra and Sally, the loss of a love is simply part of the story. Without saying more about Lyra (spoilers, davem, spoilers! Tch), Sally has to be an unmarried mum as otherwise the plot of the third novel would not work - she is subject to some serious exploitation owing to her vulnerable place in Victorian society. What Pullman doesn't shirk on though is Love - the characters always experience Love, even if it is doomed!