people... people think that lyra and will had sex?!?!?!?!?!?!?! when i tell you my jaw is literally hanging... in what universe was it implied they did that....... i'm genuinely shaken to my core....... they are CHILDREN..... WHO is saying these things...... in the ten years since i originally read the book to now i have NEVER ONCE thought that............ i'm in SHOCK?!
Up until I joined the fandom on Tumblr, I’ve never seen it before either, but apparently it was a recurring question in the fandom up until the release of TSC. Personally, I don’t think it’s open to interpretation in TAS, to me it was always very clear that nothing happened; I personally never would consider the possibility of 13 year olds having sex, and although the message behind that whole chapter is the “loss of innocence” and the sexual awakening, I don’t think that left much room to think that they did it. But that’s me, I read it as an adult, I can’t speak for everyone’s experience. If Philman had confirmed that, it would’ve definitely broken the book experience for me.
Something that horrified me though is someone mentioned once they saw a fic where Lyra got pregnant at that day, and honestly, I think this is the sort of thing I consider problematic. And TSC already confirmed it didn’t happen, so technically that question was resolved and I personally haven’t seen it in the past months, so it’s kind of a relief.