A narrator describes the Subtle Knife's origins and why spectres were unleashed. Scoresby finds Will's father, John Parry, now a shaman known as Jopari, who confirms he is Stanislaus Grumman. Jopari claims he "summoned" Scoresby and needs his help to find the Subtle Knife, named &A Elig;sahættr, and bring it to Lord Asriel. Mary rejects Boreal's offer to fund her and Oliver's research. Lyra and Will ascend the Tower of the Angels in Cittàgazze and encounter Giacomo Paradisi, the elderly knife bearer. A youth named Tullio has just attacked him and stolen the Subtle Knife. Will recovers the Knife, but his right-hand little finger and ring finger are partially severed during the struggle; Paradisi proclaims Will is now the knife bearer and shows how to cut portals between worlds. After Lyra and Will depart with the knife, Paradisi, no longer protected, fatally poisons himself to thwart the spectres. Spectres consume Tullio's soul. Scoresby agrees to help Jopari if Lyra is put under the Subtle Knife's protection. Mary communicates with Dust computer, which are angels, through her computer. Lord Boreal leads Mrs Coulter through Cittàgazze to the alternate Oxford to find Lyra. Serafina Pekkala and Ruta Skadi attack the Magisterium airships guarding the portal, then travel through to search for Lyra.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Fingore: Will loses a couple of fingers while acquiring the knife.
- Infodump: The episode opener. The subtitles claim that it's Mary speaking, but why on Earth would she have all that information, and more importantly, who would she be telling it to? It seems to be a narration to the audience for no clear reason, since multiple characters appear later in the episode who do have reasons to have that information and to deliver it to listening characters.
- Other viewers hypothesize that the voice was the voice of the "angels" from later in the episode.
- It's elsewhere stated that this was Xaphania speaking, who hadn't yet appeared in the show, which might be why the subtitles don't name her. This is a case of Real Life Writes the Plot as an episode intended for this season had to be cut due to the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown shutting down filming, so some information that was intended for that episode had to be spliced in here.
- Take Up My Sword: The old man in the tower hands over the Subtle Knife, tells Will it's his destiny, briefly instructs him in how to use it, and immediately goes to face his death.
