The Republic of Heaven

i noticed that peoples daemons dont eat, drink, or go to the toilet but people do.

so do you think that if your daemon ate and drank instead of you that you would never have to yourself all your life?

Maybe the daemon's just a smaller part of you than you? Your ghost doesn't do anything like that either. It's possibly like having a talent and also hidden talents.

Occasionally Pan does eat something in the books - he searches for crumbs as a goldfinch and munches on a couple of insects as a swallow. But it doesn't seem like daemons actually need to eat.

so do you think that if your dæmon ate and drank instead of you that you would never have to yourself all your life?

No, I don't think this is possible. It's the body that needs sustenance, not the daemon. That's my view anyway.

I agree with Jez, i don't think it would be possible.
dæmons might be a part of you, but it's more of a spiritual connection than a physical.

I think that they probably could eat if they want to, but they don't need o and people do. And I expec if they did eat hen they would have to go to the bathroom.

It could also be very messy if daemons had to eat. What happens if they eat something they don't agree with? Would you have a sick soul? And if you did have a sick daemon, would that be something like having your soul vomit? I don't image that feeling very good.

Perhaps it's like angels eating. Balthamos ate a Mint cookie or something and told Will that he enjoys food from time to time but doesn't need it. And there is another thread here somewhere discussing the similarities between angels and daemons.

I wonder how you'd feed a daemon that was a fish or something. I mean, you could only feed them crumbs and fishfood, it seems. I can't say I've ever thought about daemons eating...is it mentioned anywhere in the books?

Yeah, Pan occasionally eats something but it doesn't look like he actually needs to.

I suppose daemons would only eat if it tickled their fancy. I suppose you could compare it to a human playing ping-pong on a Sunday afternoon. They do not have to, but they want to.

When does pan eat anything? I don't doubt it happend i just don't remember the part. But i think it's like the angels not having to eat but they can if they want. or, sorry to compare it to another book, but if anyone has read twilight by stephenie mayer, its like edward not having to eat but it doesnt hurt him if he does.

Pan starts "pecking at invisible crumbs" on the table in Ci'gazze the morning after meeting Will, while Lyra and Will are talking. Pan doesn't just do this at random, though. To someone from Lyra's world, this is a gesture that clearly says "wei're a bit more comfortable around you now." His form and behavior are the right metaphor for Lyra's situation with respect to Will: not afraid to come closer, but still ready to take flight if she decides he's dangerous.

At one point I think he's also found "snapping at moths" (or maybe flies), but I don't remember enough context to know what that meant, and my copies of the books are far, far away right now. (In fact, quite possibly farther than they've ever been... heh.)

daemons are not domestic animals, though mrs.Coulter told Lyra that they could be. =) daemons in fact are not animals at all, they only look like animals. daemon is a soul, non-material being, and food for soul, you know, is not a material food. =)

A deaamon is part of your soul and is directly linked to your body, so I presume that they don't need food, if their owner dies of starvation then they do, they can't eat to replace lost substance.

A deaamon is part of your soul and is directly linked to your body, so I presume that they don't need food, if there owner dies of starvation then they do, they can't eat to replace lost substance.

I agree, and a daemon is the soul of the human, not the other way around, i don't think it would do much difference if the daemon ate anything.

Steering clear of definitions, I still am pondering what happens if your daemon becomes nauseated. Would the human become nauseated? Do daemons become sick when the human is sick? I don't recall if that was only for injuries or if that includes illness too?

Steering clear of definitions, I still am pondering what happens if your dæmon becomes nauseated. Would the human become nauseated? Do dæmons become sick when the human is sick? I don't recall if that was only for injuries or if that includes illness too?

I don't know if a daemon would become nauseated but I imagine that if it did, the human wouldn't feel too good either. I think in regards to sickness, the daemon is more likely to display signs of illness if the illness is more of a mental problem rather than physical. Farder Coram isn't in good physical condition, but his daemon is healthy. Also, Lyra gets seasick but at the same time Pan is having fun flying over the waves, which apparently helps to distract her.

Then again, I think that if one feels pain, so does the other. At least, that's how it seems in the books.

I don't think daemons can actually get sick. I think their image relies totally on their human, because as far as I can see apart from the technicality that they are solid they are just images. So no, I don't think a human would get nauseated because their daemon did, only because their daemon could never get nauseated or sick in the first place.
And even then, as Jez said, daemons portray more emotional sickness than physical since they are an image of the human's soul/spirit.

Basically, my view of the matter is that it's the body that needs to eat, it's the body that needs to be supported by nutritions and such but the daemon (soul) doesn't, because, as said before, it shares a spiritual connection more than a physical one. Therefore, the daemon can eat but doing so won't help support the body in any way as its connection to the body is spiritual.

Also, on the nauseous thing, I get the impression, not sure why though, that if the human is ill the daemon is ill as well. I think it's in Lyra's Oxford where Lyra and Pantalaimon are suspicious of the bird daemon because it says that its human is very ill, yet he's not ill or somethin similar to that. But that seems to contradict Lyra feeling seasick but Pantalaimon (seemingly) feeling fine...