I can’t imagine life without my Daemon (though I’ve heard rumors of worlds without them) but no one seems to know where they come from when a person’s born. Do they come out of the womb, immediately coalesce out of Dust or what? (Please don’t report me to the Magisterium, I’m just curious.)
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In other universes, such as Will’s, the daemon is held in the body. We know this because when he and Lyra travel to the land of the dead his daemon is left behind, and afterwards is a regular daemon.
From that I think we can conclude that the daemon is part of the body, the question then is whether they leave the body some time during gestation. I think that birthing a second organism of varying size and shape like daemon would be hard and bad. I would guess that the daemon exits from the baby some time shortly after childbirth.
It seems as though it’s part of the soul, so there must be some sort of process where it takes form. If it didn’t specify in the books, which I don’t 100% recall, I would imagine that it happens shortly after giving birth since it would be hard to carry a daemon to term.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s said that demons often appear with a newborn baby after the first time it is left alone, leaving where daemons come from a mystery.
The daemon coalesces out of ambient Dust a few days after a baby is born. Nobody is giving birth to animals if that’s what concerns you.
Young daemons can shapeshift into any animal, so it’s concievable that in the womb they could just be some tiny creature you’d barely even notice. We don’t know when daemons are formed, though.
Socrates
“Daimonion (Ancient Greek: δαιμόνιον, daimónion; Latin genius) is the name given in ancient literature to an inner voice which, according to tradition, gave philosopher Socrates warning signs to prevent him from making wrong decisions. Socrates considered the originator of these signs to be a deity whom he did not specify. He followed the beckoning voice, which was always given without explanation and which, according to him, always proved to be useful and helpful. If the daimonion remained silent, he interpreted this as approval of his behavior. As he talked about his experiences with the inner advisor, his relationship with the mysterious entity was widely known in his hometown Athens. Opponents accused him of introducing a religious innovation. This accusation contributed to him being sentenced to death and executed in 399 BC.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimonion_%28Socrates%29?wprov=sfla1