Lyra, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, and Will (Dominic Cooper) come at last to the edge of the river which they must cross to get to the land of the dead.
John Carlisle plays the ghostly and intimidating figure of
the Boatman who emerges from the darkness to ferry them across, as he has ferried so many millions before. For Lyra it is a terrible moment. To pursue her mission into the land of the dead, she must part, probably forever, with her beloved daemon, Pantalaimon. Will pleads her case with the Boatman, but he is implacable. He has heard every excuse before, there is to be no exception. Lyra must give up her daemon, and he makes it clear that Will too, though he has no visible daemon, will have to make a similar sacrifice.
The scene ends with Lyra and Will rising into the darkness in the boat, while Pan collapses sobbing on the river bank. The last thing we hear as they vanish is Lyra’s despairing cry of “Pan!”