Panserbjørner (danish/norwegian, directly meaning Panzerbears or Armoured Bears), also known as Armoured Bears, live on the far northern island of Svalbard in Lyra's world. They are different than humans other than the fact that Panserbjørne both have the capacity to reason and speak. They are skilled metalsmiths and are able to work metals using their sharp claws and an opposable thumb. They fashion their strong armour from sky-iron, a type of meteoric iron.

They are governed by a king who is usually determined by bloodline, but can be elected by unarmed combat. They are the protectors of Svalbard, the centre of their civilization. However, in The Amber Spyglass, they voyage down to the Himalayas when Lord Asriel's interdimensional rift causes the climate to become inhospitable. They soon realise that they cannot live in the Himalayas as its ecosystem being unable to support them. Iorek Byrnison is the main Panserbjørn in the trilogy.

A panserbjørn fashions his own armour using 'sky-iron', rare iron collected from meteorites which the bears discover on or buried in the ice. Panserbjørne have a strong spiritual connection with their armour (much as humans do with their dæmons). 'Sky Iron' itself as described in Pullman's works is fictional, but the native peoples of the Arctic do value meteorites (particularly the Cape York meteorite) as an invaluable source of iron for toolmaking (although iron from meteorites is actually weaker than terrestrial iron, not having impurities like carbon which contribute to its strength).

The armoured bears are often in a struggle between keeping their animal customs separate from human interaction. When Iofur Raknison, the king of Svalbard before Iorek, tries to change their society by attempting to make palaces and aquire daemons, he removes the foundations of panserbjørn tradition. In doing so, a wave of doubt and uncertainy overtake the panserbjørne and become even more vulnerable as a society. Iofur unknowingly makes himself victim to Lyra's lies when he craves human possesions. Because of this critical error, Iorek eventually defeats Iofur to bring the bears back to a more primitive state; however, later in the series he begins to feel human feelings such as doubt, and is asked if creating armour was a human action itself. Iorek, however, decides there is a line between bear custom and human behavior.

Early UK editions of the novels had Panserbørne instead of Panserbjørne. This was clearly a mistake as "panserbjørn" translated easily into Norwegian and Danish as "armoured bear" while "panzerbørne" is a grammatically incorrect way of saying "armoured children" in Danish.

Notable Panserbjørne Edit

Some of the important Panserbjørne featuring in the trilogy are:

• Iorek Byrnison

• Søren Eisarson

• Hjalmur Hjalmurson

• Iofur Raknison

TriviaEdit

• Panserbjørn is a Norwegian and Danish word meaning "Armoured Bear".
• Panserbjørner is a plural word, the singular form of Panserbjørner being Panserbjørn.
• Early UK editions of the novels had Panserbørne instead of Panserbjørne.
• In real life, in our own world, some native people of the arctic do value meteorites, particularly the Cape York meteorite, which they use as an invaluable source of iron for toolmaking.

Races and Species
Humans • Dæmons • Witches • Panserbjørne • Angels • Spectres • Gallivespians • Mulefa • Harpies •