For those who are familiar with His Dark Materials...

[awanderingbard]

It's been ages since I read The Golden Compass, and I didn't read the other books in the trilogy, so I don't know if this is ever established, but how does human/daemon communication work? I know humans and their own daemons talk to each other, and daemons can talk to one another, but can other humans hear/understand what your daemon is saying? Or does it just come out like random animal noises, or is it more telepathic or like a Shakespearian aside?

Apologies for the randomness of this question.

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

You can talk to another person's daemon, but it's considered bad form. Exactly how an author chooses to express this is up to them.

This might help you see what other daemon!AU fanfic authors have done: http://crack-van.livejournal.com/5954411.html

and on Pullman's daemons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A6mon_%28His_Dark_Materials%29

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

I'd seen the second link, but the first is very useful. Thank you!

Except, damn, I forgot that only magic users have bird daemons. I'm either going to have to ignore that or rethink a lot of what I've already established...

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I have definitely seen non witches with bird daemons in more than one fanfic.

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Because you know how long it takes to find a daemon. I would seriously hate to have to try and find another.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I *completely* understand. :)

That's the nice thing about daemons, since most AUs with them aren't actual crossovers it leaves many aspects of the worldbuilding up to the fanfic writer.

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was thinking about that in terms of Sherlock. There is no magic, so it doesn't matter what daemons witches have.