Bomb

From Srafopedia

Bombs are devices that carry an explosive charge that is designed to make as big a hole in its target as possible. They can range from weapons dropped from military aircraft to a lit rag in a bottle of petrol, but in every case, they are made to kill rather than injure their aim. Bombs often have timers or some time-delay system to allow the bomber to travel far enough away from the bombee without being annhilated themselves.

Relevance to His Dark Materials

The bomb is particularly relevant to His Dark Materials, as the Magisterium's second assassination attempt on Lyra utilises a bomb that makes use of the Barnard-Stokes Heresy. A lock of hair is taken from Lyra to target the bomb (it uses the symmetrical properties of particles to direct itself, but requires one set of particles to find the other). Mrs Coulter, who steals the hair, turns out to be the person to be severed in order to power the bomb, but is saved by the Chevalier Tialys. Meanwhile, Will and Lyra are made wary of the existance of the bomb by John Parry, who warns them to rid her of the shortened hair that is the only remainder of the lock taken from her, before the bomb is detonated and she is killed. Will quickly puts the remaining hairs into another world, and just as the window is closed, the bomb is detonated, causing a rockslide that almost causes Lyra to fall into the Abyss and to certain death by falling.