Warning: contains spoilers for the His Dark Materials book trilogy.

“Witches hear the immortal whispers of those who pass between worlds. They speak of a child who is destined to bring the end of destiny. If told what she must do, she will fail. But she won’t walk alone. There is a boy whose fate is bound with hers. Together, they will change everything.”

So speaks Kaisa, the daemon of witch Serafina Pekkala in episode five of the BBC/HBO His Dark Materials TV series, ‘The Lost Boy.’ The words are inspired by two speeches in Philip Pullman’s The Northern Lights (published as The Golden Compass in the US), one by Serafina and one by Dr Lanselius. In the first book of Pullman’s trilogy Serafina tells aeronaut Lee Scoresby:

“There is a curious prophecy about this child: she is destined to bring about the end of destiny.