Lyra Belacqua’s dæmon in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials is named Pantalaimon. Lyra usually calls him Pan, and he changes animal form throughout her childhood because dæmons of children have not yet settled into a permanent shape.
In Pullman’s fictional worlds, a dæmon is an external physical manifestation of a person’s inner self. Human dæmons generally take permanent forms when their humans reach adulthood. Pantalaimon’s ability to change form reflects Lyra’s youth, curiosity, and developing identity.
Lyra is the central character of the trilogy, which consists of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. The first novel was published in 1995 in the United Kingdom under the title Northern Lights; it was published in the United States as The Golden Compass. Pantalaimon is sometimes confused with other dæmons in the series, but he remains specifically linked to Lyra throughout the trilogy.