"It's not safe here..." 

CW: BACKSTORY CONTAINS DOMESTIC ABUSE (EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL) AND MURDER

A Troubled Lineage

Theodore, The God of Shadow, and Eleni, The Midnight Witch, loved each other. Once. A long time ago. But that passed, fell into routine masquerading as love. Fell into disrepair. Fell into chaos when the new groundskeeper caught Eleni's eye.

Lyra is conceived from an affair between Eleni, and groundskeeper, Pine. Everyone knows Theodore isn't her father, but to keep up the routine, nobody says anything.

Theodore takes it upon himself as a point of pride to make this baby HIS even if she's not his child by blood. He's incredibly possessive and controlling because he feels like his wife has been taken from him so he's going to take this man's child as revenge. It's incredibly petty of him but given how things are with his sister, could you expect anything else?

Lyra grows up in the center of this tension, being smothered by Theodore. He wants her to be just like him, so he trains her up as the perfect servant of shadows. Eventually, when she's around 7, Theodore suggests that Pine tutor her. It's an act of mockery. He's asserted his place and is putting Pine far far lower down in Lyra's hierarchy of important people.

However, Lyra begins to take a shine to him instead. She feels better comforted by his more hands off approach. Theodore didn't give her much room to breathe. Though she still keeps a lot of Theodore's teachings with her, she becomes a bit softer and a bit more in touch with nature. When Theodore isn't around, she actually gets to know her mother too. Picks up on all the facades she carries... and all the ghosts in her  past.

Taking Flight

Eleni had her reasons for running, and Lyra is starting to literally see the dead that Eleni still mourns for. 

Lyra asks Eleni why she doesn't run again, since she seems so unhappy  here. Eleni doesn't know how to tell her it would mean abandoning her daughter. She later asks the same question of Pine, but he thinks it's a great idea. Pine decides to run away from the wastelands and take Eleni and Lyra with him. 

It's not as easily done as it is said. Pine is impulsive and wants to leave as soon as possible, ignoring the dangers that the landscape itself poses, not to mention Theodore.

In his haste, Pine gets them caught before they can even leave the castle grounds.  

When Theodore discovers them, he's furious. Pine is trying to take everything from him. He orders Lyra to go back inside. As for Eleni and Pine... 

He kills them both.  

Eleni's last words to Lyra urged her to fly away from this place.

Haunting

Once he faces Lyra again, he immediately rushes into the protective routine. They had no idea what they were doing, how hard it would be out there for a child like you. People from the outside world, they'd see you as a monster, they'd try to kill you. I can always keep you safe.  

As another measure to keep her there, he cuts off her wings, again under the guise of this being what is best for her. He frames it as a medical necessity, due to her condition, she would be safer off without. Theodore doesn't know about Lyra's paranormal sensitivities yet. He  learns, when the dead tissue of her wings continues to hover behind her, connected by nothing but ghostly tendons.

From then on, Theodore is more distant and harsher about Lyra's shortcomings. He needs her to be his perfect child because he got rid of everything else. But Lyra is also seeing more ghosts, becoming more sensitive to the other side. 

Theodore is tentatively accepting of it, he sees how it could  possibly be useful to him. Lyra, however, is becoming more independent  too. She hears other voices from the many spirits trapped in the wastes.  She learns about how she can help them move on, finally awakening to  her capacity to be a psychopomp.  

However, Theodore's magic is sourced from these lost souls, and is  reliant on them staying here.

Theodore warns her, threatens her, but this only teaches Lyra to be discreet.  

She doesn't want to ruin him, but she can't sit idly by and do nothing about it.  

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