LogFAQs > #885485330

his dark materials(book series, book 1 was turned into a movie named "the golden compass")

demons(written as daemons) are actually personifications of people's souls, taking on an animal form reflecting the "master's" personality.
a daemon can't live without it's master and humans can't live without their daemon.

and in this book series "god" is indeed a bad guy.
angels are created by human creativity leaking out and gaining self awareness, and the first angel to awaken declared himself the creator of all(despite being accidentally created by those he considers his own creation)

the series starts out like a children's book, but becomes quite dark near the end of book 1 and it only gets darker from there.
they didn't get that far in the movie though, it ends shortly after experiments to sever humans from their daemons come to light.