Edited by Scott Westerfeld - Teen Libris

Pullman’s armored bears are both magnificent and terrifying, oversized animal
counterweights to Lyra’s slight physical presence. But Iorek Byrnison is not all brute
strength: he lives by a code more strict and honorable than most of the human characters
in the series. Gerber compares the code of the armored bear to those of warriors
past, and looks closely at what all of us stand to gain (and lose) when we let
ourselves be constrained by honor.
BushidO Bear
The Constraint of Honor
LINDA GERBER
Iorek Byrnison: panserbjørn, exiled king, larger-than-life character.
He’s the embodiment of machismo, a real he-man (or in this case,
he-bear). Tough. Strong. Huge. And double cool points for being a
renegade.
From our first glimpse of Iorek Byrnison behind Einarsson’s Bar, we
know he’s something special. He’s mysterious. He’s dangerous. He’s powerful.
Even better, as Lyra notes, his power is controlled by intelligence.
He’s the perfect hero-in-the-making.
But alas, poor Iorek! This hero comes with a tragic flaw: he’s hobbled
by more than his weakness for raw spirits or his temporary loss of
armor-Iorek Byrnison is afflicted by honor.
Yes, you read that right-afflicted. Rhymes with convicted. Iorek’s
idealism cages him as surely as if he were behind bars.
But wait, isn’t honor a good thing? Sure, if you want fair maidens to
swoon at your feet and poets to write epics about your virtue. But in
reality? Maybe not so much.
In Iorek Byrnison’s case, a little flexibility with the whole honor thing
could have saved him a world of trouble. Like when he got exiled from
Svalbard for unwittingly killing the judgment-impaired bear. Sure, the
panserbjørne code mandates exile for any bear who kills in such a way,
but couldn’t Iorek Byrnison have argued that his actions were justified?
After all, he was provoked, and his opponent should have backed down
before the fight got out of control. That has to count for something.
Not to Iorek, though. He’s such an honor fanatic that he condemns
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