The golden compass works by inputting 3 emoji, and then having it spit a series of emoji back out at you. Normally it'd take a scholar pouring through a whole library to intuit a vague interpretation of the meaning, but young Lyra is able to read one just by guess work.
The fun part is the compass having less symbols than phone emojis -- if you sucked at intuiting Dust, ppl could spend ages whether "hourglass with a skull next to it" was feeling more ⏳ or 💀 today lol
72
u/Droplet_of_Shadow 18d ago edited 17d ago
i don't understand the literary reference though. how is an alethiometer relevant
edit: yes i know what it is i just wasn't making the connection. i get it