'The Men' who chase Will

[Dante]

Okay, I can't remember if this is explained in the book, but who actually are the men that chase Will and hassle his mum? At first I thought they were Lord Boreal/ Charles Latrom's men, but it doesn't appear so as he doesn't know Will when they meet. Any ideas?

[Starshade]

Ya know, that theory doesn't seem far-fetched.

Yet, there really wasn't any proper indication as to who the men were.

But I do agree with the assumption that they could have been hired by LB.

[Enitharmon]

Okay, I can't remember if this is explained in the book, but who actually are the men that chase Will and hassle his mum? At first I thought they were Lord Boreal/ Charles Latrom's men, but it doesn't appear so as he doesn't know Will when they meet. Any ideas?

Latrom is working for the security services - we know that. He inveigled himself in there, though he says he didn't tell hgis masters everything he knew and he's using them to find out what our world knows about Dust on behalf of the Magisterium in his own world. Mary Malone's unit is the leading research institution in the field. The goon is a distinctive man - classic literary feature so that hou remember him and make a connection - engaged to track down what John Parry knows about windows to other universes and what his clandestine researches in the Arctic were about. There's also Nelson the physicist with the weather balloons who is funded by the MoD and has been rumbled by Parry - he's part of that setup too.

[Melancholy Man]

Mary Malone's unit is the leading research distinctive man

I'm sorry, Rosie, I don't understand that.

[Will]

That's because she copied it exactly from what she said last time.. I assume it's refering to the big blonde man who pursued Will; but in garbled syntax.

[Melancholy Man]

That's because she copied it exactly from what she said last time.. I assume it's refering to the big blonde man who pursued Will; but in garbled syntax.

I remember him as a Tartar.

[Crazy Bear Mc.Gubbins]

That's because she copied it exactly from what she said last time.. I assume it's refering to the big blonde man who pursued Will; but in garbled syntax.

I remember him as a Tartar.

The number of times I've heard that old chestnut...

[Jamie]

sorry i don't know if this has been asked before I couldn't see it while scanning the topics but what is a tartar???? what would we define it as? it has always confused me!

[Will]

Region of central Russia / Mongolia.* Ethnic grouping. Big and blonde, with blue eyes; have em' in our world too, but they appear to have their own state in Lyra's.

* waits for Alec to come and correct

[jessia]

when i was doing research for my annotations site... they're not necessarily blond-haired, blue-eyed are they? i was thinking that they were just... mongolian-looking.

[Dante]

blonde, with blue eyes; have em' in our world too

You mean Tartars are Aryan? I thought they were just Mongolian.

[jessia]

aryans are actually persian-looking... because they're persian and all.


but yea, i was thinking that the tartars were mongolian-looking.

[Will]

No, they're not actually ethnically Mongolian, despite the name.

Well, the term is rather vague anyway, so I don't think they can be pinned down to any particular colour. But if our pale man was a Tartar, he's obviously from the Caucasus.

[jessia]

No, they're not actually ethnically Mongolian, despite the name.

minority group in china... my mom said tartars were nomadic too.


i don't think the big blond man whose accomplice tripped over the cat in the parry home was ever mentionned as a tartar.

[Melancholy Man]

Will wrote:

Well, the term is rather vague anyway, so I don't think they can be pinned down to any particular colour. But if our pale man was a Tartar, he's obviously from the Caucasus.

That would make him Georgian or Chechynan or Azerbajani, but not Tartar. the name's not specific anyway, deriving from a general term for those mad people come screaming out of the Central Asian desserts (the arid Sherbet Dip, and forlorn Carrot in Goat's Milk) in the Middle Ages. Although they would originally have been dark haired, when I originally said the man sounded Tartar I meant the hybrid visible across much of Russia (or Moscovy). High Asiatic cheekbones, penetrating looks, possibly disconcertingly blond hair from European heritage.

Jess wrote:

i don't think the big blond man whose accomplice tripped over the cat in the parry home was ever mentionned as a tartar

You're right. It was the *impression* I got.