Characters of His Dark Materials
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of both main and minor characters from Philip Pullman
's His Dark Materials
trilogy.
death and allows him to further his studies on Dust
. She is able to read the Alethiometer (an instrument of divination), and is known to the witches as "Eve, the mother of all", who will eventually "bring about the end of destiny". In the end, Lyra is forced to separate from Will Parry (her beloved and bearer of the Subtle Knife), returning to her own world in order to, in her father's footsteps, build the 'Republic of Heaven'. In The Amber Spyglass Lyra's dæmon, Pantalaimon, settles as a pine marten
. In the unabridged audiobooks, Lyra is voiced by Joanna Wyatt. In the 2008 movie adaption, she is played by Dakota Blue Richards
.
and paranoid schizophrenia. Will does not remember his father, a former Royal Marine
, who has not been heard of since he vanished on an expedition to the Arctic
when Will was an infant, and who we later learn has wandered into another world and is unable to find his way back. Will becomes the companion and ultimately falls in love with Lyra Belacqua, and also becomes the bearer of the Subtle Knife by winning a fight in the Torre Degli Angeli, in which he loses two fingers on his left hand. At the end of the third book, he must leave Lyra Belacqua and live entirely in his own world, where he is taken care of by Mary Malone and his cat dæmon, Kirjava. In the unabridged audiobooks, Will was voiced by Steven Webb
for The Subtle Knife and by Peter England for The Amber Spyglass.
in a parallel universe
dominated by an oppressive organization known as the Magisterium. He is described as being "a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seem to flash and glitter with savage laughter". Possessed of enormous determination and willpower, he is fierce in nature and commands great respect in both the political and academic spheres, being a military leader and a fellow of Jordan College in his world's version of Oxford
. Later, it is discovered in Northern Lights that he is Lyra's father, while her mother is Marisa Coulter. His dæmon is a snow leopard
called Stelmaria. In the unabridged audiobooks, Lord Asriel is voiced by Sean Barrett
, while he is played by Daniel Craig
in the film.
s). Under Mrs Coulter's guidance, the Oblation Board has been secretly kidnapping children from Lyra's world, and then proceeding to use them as subjects of their experiments at their laboratory in Bolvangar. The Oblation Board thinks that by cutting away the child's dæmon, they can prevent the child from knowing sin
. She is also Lyra's mother. Her dæmon is a golden-colored monkey, but the books do not state his name, neither does he ever speak.
She is cruel and merciless at times, stopping at nothing to get what she wants. She is deceptive, full of grace and beauty, and can easily charm anyone to do what she wants. However, she is filled with love for her daughter, Lyra Belacqua
, and goes great lengths to keep her safe, after a certain point in the second novel. In the unabridged audiobooks, Mrs Coulter is voiced by Alison Dowling; in the film she is played by Nicole Kidman
.
and Lee Scoresby.
During the first book of the His Dark Materials
trilogy, Northern Lights
, Iorek Byrnison is found shaping metal for humans in an Arctic
port town. These humans had deceived Iorek by giving him spirits
, then stole his sky-iron armour while he was intoxicated. This left him no choice but to work for the humans. He tells Lyra Belacqua
that if he had his armour, he would kill the humans that stole it, but that without it he would simply be gunned down attempting to get it back. Upon hearing this, Lyra decides to use her alethiometer to find the location of his armour, so that he can break free and join her quest.
Using the Alethiometer, Lyra discovers that the humans have his armour hidden in the cellar of the local priest's house. Almost immediately upon hearing this, Iorek rushes off to find his armour, waiting only to finish his work hours. The humans, suddenly realizing his intent, try to kill him. Iorek is about to crush one of the attackers' heads when Lyra convinces him that it would be better not to hurt the man, as this would lead to more fighting and delay their voyage.
Later in the story, Pullman reveals that by bloodline, Iorek would have become King
of the bears in his homeland, Svalbard
, had it not been for his exile
. This exile was mainly the fault of Iofur Raknison, Iorek's successor as King, who was suspected, but never explicitly proven to have used drugs on another bear in order to make him act unusually. This befuddled bear went up against Iorek Byrnison in a ritual of dominance to win over a female bear. In his drugged state, however, the bear went against normal procedures and would not back down when any bear would normally have done so. This situation ended in Iorek killing the bear, which condemned him to exile. When he returns to Svalbard, Iorek fights and kills Iofur Raknison, reclaiming his rightful place. This ends his role in the first book.
In the third book (The Amber Spyglass
), he is forced to take his bears on a voyage down to the Himalayas
because the climate in his home country of Svalbard
has become inhospitable due to Lord Asriel's unintentional changing of the climate by opening a rift between two worlds.
He later demonstrates his skill as a smith, repairing the Subtle Knife - including its magical properties - with no specialist equipment and only the aid of Lyra and Will.
He and a regiment of his subjects fight on Lord Asriel's side in the battle on the plains. He takes Lyra and Will to find their lost dæmons. At the end of the Amber Spyglass, it is revealed that he returns to Svalbard and reigns as king of the bears.
In the film he is voiced by Ian McKellen
. He has also been portrayed on stage by young actors Sandy Howie and Stuart Leel in the Scottish Premiere of the His Dark Materials stage show by the Scottish Youth Theatre. In the unabridged audiobooks, Iorek is voiced by Sean Barrett.
When the Oblation Board starts kidnapping children, he leads 170 of his men to save them. Though initially against the idea, John Faa eventually decides to take Lyra to Bolvangar, to rescue the missing Gyptian children. He is wounded in an ambush, when they were attacked by Samoyeds where many of his Gyptians are killed, despite the action of Iorek Byrnison, his hired panserbjørn or armored polar bear
. However, he carries out his mission successfully, retrieving the children Lyra helped rescue, and taking them back to England.
Faa appears briefly at the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass when he and other Gyptians are briefly drawn into the world of the mulefa to meet Lyra and bring her home before the worlds separate once again, the gyptians and the mulefa sharing a meal and trading various objects in memory of their singular meeting before they return to their worlds.
. In the book Farder Coram had a large, golden-brown cat dæmon named Sophonax. British actor Tom Courtenay
portrays him in the film The Golden Compass. In the film The Golden Compass his dæmon is a caracal
, a kind of African, lynx
-like wildcat
. He appears first in The Golden Compass and last in The Amber Spyglass
He once travelled to the north, where he witnessed a witch
, Serafina Pekkala, being attacked by another witch's dæmon. Farder Coram shot the rogue dæmon and rescued Serafina, whereafter they eventually became lovers and had a son, who was killed in his youth by a disease from the east forty years prior to the events of the trilogy. After his death, Serafina Pekkala returned to her people as the clan-queen, and Coram stayed with the Gyptians.
He accompanies Lyra
, Lord Faa, Iorek Byrnison, Lee Scoresby and 170 Gyptians to Bolvangar to rescue the captured children there.
Lyra grows to love Coram, as he, more than any other Gyptian, respects her and sees her potential. He guides her in mastering the alethiometer, encouraging her and soon realizing her amazing talent. Lyra accompanies him in Trollesund, a northern town, where he runs such errands as meeting the town's witch consul, so that the Gyptians may ask for Serafina's particular help. We clearly see how much Farder Coram wishes to meet Serafina again, when Lyra is asked, by the Witch Consul, to identify which branch of cloud-pine Serafina once rode. Lyra herself notes how he touches the branch with longing upon his face before they depart further North.
Coram appears briefly at the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass when he and other Gyptians are briefly drawn into the world of the mulefa to meet Lyra and bring her home before the worlds separate once again, the gyptians and the mulefa sharing a meal and trading various objects in memory of their singular meeting before they return to their worlds; Coram even briefly rides on a mulefa when they note his discomfort walking.
queen from a tribe in Inari, Finland
, who first appears in Northern Lights
and last appears in The Amber Spyglass. She rules over certain clans in the Lake Enara district. Serafina appears throughout the fantasy
trilogy
and is closely associated with Lyra Belacqua's and her companions' journey. Serafina Pekkala's dæmon
is Kaisa, a large grey goose
. In The Golden Compass, the movie adaptation of the first book in the trilogy, Northern Lights
(The Golden Compass was the American title of the book), the role Sefrina Pekkala is played by Eva Green
.
She once had a child by the Gyptian Farder Coram, who saved her life when she was attacked by another witch's dæmon. For witches to fall in love with men appears common. There are men within the witch society who serve the witches, or who can be taken for lovers or husbands. Witches are said to be capable of appreciating men for their beauty
, intelligence
, and bravery; but due to the witches' long life-span, the men appear to grow old and die almost at once. This is said to cause the witches great emotion
al pain
. When witches give birth, their female children inherit magical powers and an extensive life-span, while male children do not and are therefore soon sent to live with their fathers.
According to Serafina, witches live for many hundreds of years. Serafina claims to be three hundred years old or more, and states that her clan's "oldest witch mother" is nearly a thousand. Witches own nothing, and so have no means of barter save mutual aid. They have no notions of honor, and therefore insults mean nothing to them. Temperature
extremes appear not to harm witches: although they feel the cold, wrapping up against it would prevent them from experiencing other things that the humans of the text may not feel, such as "the bright tingle of the star
s, or the music of the Aurora". Witches fly on branches of Cloud-Pine and equate flying to living; as Serafina states, "A witch would no sooner give up flying than give up breathing. To fly is to be perfectly ourselves". Witches see themselves as subject to fate
, yet argue that they, and all people, must act as if they possess free will. They believe that when they die Yambe-Akka, the goddess of the dead, comes to collect them.
Pullman claims Serafina's name came from a Finnish
telephone directory; however, in a speech made in Dundee
, he claimed that it came from a list of politicians living in Copenhagen
. (In any case, it is an actual Finnish family name - see Vilho Pekkala
; Miss Finland
reference to Marita Pekkala).
from Texas
. In regards to Scoresby's name, Phillip Pullman says: "Lee Scoresby comes from two sources. One is the actor Lee Van Cleef
, who looks just like the character. And the other is the name of an Arctic explorer, William Scoresby
".
In the novella Once Upon a Time in the North
, which serves as a prequel to His Dark Materials, Lee is twenty-four years old. He meets Iorek Byrnison when the two of them help a Dutch captain, van Breda, escape with his cargo from the Muscovy harbour town of Novy Odense
. From details mentioned in the novella, it can be deduced that Lee is fifty-nine years old at the time of his death.
Lee is an old Arctic
hand, and extremely skilled with his balloons. He is sharp with a gun
, though generally nonviolent. He is intelligent, and a bit of a mercenary
, though he displays consistent ethics. His dream is to sell his balloons and buy a ranch back in Texas. His best friend is the armored bear Iorek Byrnison. They fought together, and he once saved Iorek's life.
Lee and his dæmon
, Hester the Arctic hare pledge their support to John Faa
and the Gyptians on a mission to destroy Bolvangar and save its captive children. He is delighted to learn that Iorek has been hired too. As the Gyptians finish destroying Bolvangar (which Lyra set on fire) and helping the rescued children into sledges, Mrs. Coulter
attacks with some Tartars to capture her daughter, Lyra. Lee rescues Iorek from another part of the battle, and is just in time to save Lyra and Roger Parslow from Mrs Coulter. The four, helped by witches, escape.
On this journey, Lee expresses his concern to Serafina Pekkala, the queen of the witches, about the whole situation. He is worried about the war which he is about to be caught up in, and unsure who he will side with - indeed, of who are the sides. However, he promises loyalty to Lyra. He is disturbed by the witches' idea of destiny.
The party is attacked by cliff-ghasts on the way to Svalbard, whereupon Lyra falls out of the balloon. Iorek and Roger go to rescue her as soon as the balloon can be put down. As Lee floats with the witches, Lord Asriel tears the path into another world open. Buffetted by winds, Lee and the witches are swept far away, but manage to regroup for a witch council. Lee is given the unique privilege of joining it.
Lee informs Serafina and the others that he has heard of an object which can protect the bearer. A mysterious professor
called Grumman knows of its whereabouts. Lee intends to seek out Grumman and then take the object (the Subtle Knife) to Lyra. On his mission, he is forced to kill a servant of the Church. He takes his ring, which can command some power and authority. Lee and Hester find Grumman, and learn that he is really John Parry, from our own world. John has become a shaman and can command magic. He claims that he drew Lee with his mother's ring. The pair set off to find the Bearer of the Subtle Knife, Grumman to inform him of his task and Lee to get Lyra under his protection. They use the Church's ring to regain Lee's confiscated balloons.
As the pair make their escape, they are pursued. The shaman's magic destroy three of the enemy's four zeppelins, but Lee loses his balloon in the process. The forest in which they hide is set to light and they are forced to come out into the open, away from the trees. Escaping from the last one, they are pursued into a narrow gorge.
Lee holds the pass as Grumman escapes, killing all of the enemies and blowing up the zeppelin. He is killed in the process. His death is described in a very moving way, with him saying goodbye to his weeping dæmon
(soul), embracing her tenderly for the last time until she disappears. Moments before dying, he calls for Serafina Pekkala with the flower she gave him, but she arrives far too late to save his life. Instead, she places a protective barrier around his body to protect him from carrion beasts.
Iorek comes across Lee's body several days after his death, perfectly preserved due to the witch's spell. In an act of final respect for his friend and ally, the bear thanks him, then devours his body, giving him strength to pursue and save Lyra, which was Lee's greatest wish.
Lyra and Will Parry find Lee in the world of the dead, and he briefly returns to fight the Spectres before he dissolves, hoping to merge with his mother, his unseen sweethearts, and Hester.
American actor icon Sam Elliott
plays Lee Scoresby in the film version.
John Parry was a famous English explorer and a major in the Royal Marines
in Will's world. At one point, he went on an archaeological exploration of Alaska
. There, he had high hopes of finding a mythological portal to a different realm. He was unsuccessful at first, but he and his companions eventually found and went through the portal by accident during a blizzard and were brought to the world of Cittàgazze. His two companions were killed by the Spectres shortly after.
John then ventured through Cittàgazze and found a portal to the world that became home to Lyra Belacqua. When he arrived, he met his own dæmon
Sayan Kötör the Osprey
. He eventually changed his name to Stanislaus Grumman, likely because he needed a name that seemed natural to the world. Some time after, he attended the Berlin Academy. He became both a famous and slightly notorious explorer, infamous for his strange curiosity towards the world and its elements.
He showed specific interest in Dust and its entities. Most of his studies of the strange substance are unknown. At one point, he even joined the Yenisei tribe and underwent trepanation
of his skull. He became a leader and shaman of the tribe and took the name Jopari, a slight variant of "John Parry".
Mystery enveloped the life of Grumman after that. Many believed he was dead, although there were many other rumours. The members of Jordan College believed he was dead after Lord Asriel showed them a frozen, severed head and tricked them into believing it was Grumman's. Grumman remained away, in the village of the Yenisei tribe as their well-respected shaman.
In The Subtle Knife
, Lee Scoresby is sent to find Grumman. He eventually finds him in the Yenisei tribe (where he discovers that the name "Jopari" is merely the tribemen's poor pronunciation of "John Parry"), although Grumman explains that it was his calling that allowed Lee to find him. Lee takes Grumman to Cittàgazze at his wishing, as he wishes to find the bearer of the Æsahættr.
As they make their way to the bearer, they are chased by soldiers in four zeppelins. Grumman uses his powers to create a storm to destroy one of them. During the night, he destroys the second by making a Spectre attack its pilot. Sayan Kötör commands the birds of the forest to destroy the third. With all his strength sapped, Grumman is unable to destroy the fourth zeppelin. Lee remains behind to fend off the men while Grumman escapes. Grumman promises to protect Lyra for him.
Grumman finds the bearer, Will, on top of a mountain and fights with him after Will attacks him in the pitch darkness. Grumman uses some bloodmoss to heal Will's wound. He tells him of the great destiny that has been bestowed upon him as the bearer of the subtle knife. He tells him that he must defeat the Authority, breaking the oath he made to Lee Scoresby and not even mentioning Lyra. When some light is shaded, he sees Will's face and they both realize who the other is. An arrow shot by Juta Kamainen, a witch he spurned due to his love for Will's mother, pierces Grumman's heart and he dies almost literally the second after he realises Will's true identity.
Finally, in the Amber Spyglass, the third and final book of the trilogy; he and Lee Scoresby were set free by Lyra Belaqua/Silvertongue in the world of the Dead. Instead of following the other deceased people, they remained to fight their final battle with the Authority.
. He appears prominently in the first book, Northern Lights
. In the 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass he is voiced by Ian McShane
. (In the movie the character is renamed Ragnar Sturlusson, to prevent confusion with Iorek Byrnison.)
Iofur Raknison is the king of all the panserbjørns and ruler of Svalbard
, but wishes for more. He wants to be the equal of a human: that is, to have a dæmon
and be baptized a Christian. To this end, he has commanded the bears to build a palace of stone, and began to wear gold
and silver
ornaments, which they had traditionally despised as beneath them.
Iofur conceals the fact that he has killed his father, but Lyra Belacqua divines this with the use of her alethiometer in order to convince Iofur that she is the dæmon of Iorek Byrnison. Her knowledge convinces Iofur that she is a dæmon, and she convinces him that to challenge Iorek in single combat is the only way of making her his own. Although Iofur begins the fight in fresher condition than Iorek - who, prior to combat, ran a great distance to find Lyra and recover her from Iofur's fortress - Iorek manages to defeat him. He does this by exploiting Iofur's desire to be human, rendering him able to be tricked, feigning injury to lure him in for a powerful attack. After Iofur's defeat, Iorek is proclaimed the king, and his first command is that the bears discard their pseudo-human trinkets and tear down Iofur's palace.
. He led other angels and, later, humanity to believe that he was in fact God
the creator of the multiverse
. This false claim legitimized his taking political power
in the Kingdom of Heaven. The angel Xaphania later found out the truth about him, whereupon he banished her from the Kingdom (a reference to the legend of Lucifer
). Xaphania and some other angels later started a rebellion against him.
In Will's World, The Authority would assume several names, including "Yahweh
", the "Lord
", "El
", "Adonai", and "the Almighty". He is the god of the Christian
, Islam
ic, and Jewish
religions and his word and messages to humanity are recorded in the Bible
and the Tanakh
.
He ruled his various churches, organizations, and universes from the Clouded Mountain, a mobile city
believed by many in that universe
to be Heaven
. As the Authority grew older and weaker, the Mountain became more and more obscured by cloud.
In his old age, the Authority appointed the tyrannical
archangel
Metatron, who was once the biblical character Enoch
, to act as regent
of the Kingdom of Heaven
. Eventually Metatron grew more powerful than his master. The two were opposed by Lord Asriel
, who allied with "fallen" angels such as Xaphania in an attempt to overthrow the divine monarchy
and replace it with a Republic of Heaven
. During the final battle, the Authority is carried away from the Clouded Mountain on the orders of Metatron. He is imprisoned in a crystal
box, which keeps him alive but trapped. Lyra Belacqua
and Will Parry free him with the subtle knife, not knowing he is too weak to survive outside his box. He drifts apart and dies in a moment of happiness and peace
, presumably to follow other characters' precedent by merging with the cosmos.
The Authority appears only in The Amber Spyglass.
s in rebellion from the Kingdom of Heaven. They seek to become part of Lord Asriel's army of angels and overthrow Metatron
, the acting Regent of The Authority.
Both angels find Will Parry at the end of The Subtle Knife
; because Will is the bearer of the subtle knife, they hope to bring him to Lord Asriel. However, Will's companion Lyra Belacqua has been kidnapped and Will refuses to go to Asriel until Lyra is found. The angels agree to accompany Will without question until she is found.
This decision proves to be dangerous; both Baruch and Balthamos are aware the Regent is after them, especially now that they are being accompanied by Will. An unfortunate encounter leads to Baruch being fatally wounded. Balthamos and Will are separated from Baruch, who has gone to Lord Asriel in his wounded state. Before dying, Baruch provides Asriel with all the information he and Balthamos have discovered about Will, Lyra, and the Regent.
Baruch's death is immediately felt by Balthamos as a result of the strong bond of love they shared. Stricken with grief, Balthamos promises to aid Will in every way possible to honour Baruch's sacrifice. When Balthamos is unable to do so, he runs away, grieving over Baruch's death and feeling guilty about abandoning Will. The angel does not appear again until the end of the book, when Balthamos confronts Father Gomez, an assassin hoping to kill Lyra by tracking Dr Mary Malone. However, by the end of his confrontation with Father Gomez, Balthamos neither has the strength or the will to continue existing, and the particles that make up his being separate.
Of the two angels, Balthamos is the more passive of the pair. He admits that Baruch is the courageous one and whenever Balthamos fails at something important, Baruch is the one to help him fix things. Balthamos has a sarcastic personality, and his relations with Will are conducted with an air of ironic contempt.
As angels of low rank, Balthamos and Baruch's abilities are limited. They appear as luminous humanlike forms, which are barely visible to human eyes even at night. The angels also possess the power to transform, which Balthamos uses to masquerade as Will's dæmon when traveling in Lyra's world. They are capable of flight though their wings do not have a corporeal form.
, the acting Regent of The Authority.
He is the brother of Enoch
, who has become the Regent, an angel known as Metatron
. They seek to bring the bearer of the Subtle Knife, Will Parry, to Asriel and accompany Will without question when Will agrees to go to Asriel only after finding Lyra Belacqua. Baruch's courageous and dedicated nature leads to a fight with the Regent. Fatally wounded and separated from Balthamos and Will, Baruch brings himself to Lord Asriel. After providing Asriel with critically important information, he dies. The last word he utters is "Balthamos!", the name of his angelic lover.
Baruch appears in The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
, known also as Dust, and is told she must play the part of the Serpent
for the second Adam and Eve
. She is a former nun
, having become an atheist after an encounter with a man from Italy
and the taste of marzipan
reminded her of her first romantic encounter.
Lyra Belacqua, upon arriving in Will's world, meets Mary when she tries to find an "experimental theologian" (physicist) in hopes of discovering more about Dust. Mary is amazed by Lyra's knowledge of dark matter, especially after Lyra demonstrates her ability to speak of the unknown by use of the alethiometer.
Mary, inspired by Lyra's abilities, utilizes the supercomputer she and her colleague, Dr. Oliver Payne, designed to communicate with Dust by using software that was programmed based on the I Ching
(much like Terence McKenna's
Timewave Zero software). The Dust consequently tells Mary to travel from her own world, through the window that Will found at the beginning of The Subtle Knife
. The Dust tells her through words on the computer screen that she is supposed to "play the Serpent". The Dust also tells her about the journey she is about to embark on and warns her to destroy the computer before she leaves. Mary travels through Cittàgazze to yet another world, where she will eventually become the Serpent. She spends most of The Amber Spyglass with creatures known as the Mulefa, trying to see the Dust, which the Mulefa can do naturally. This leads to the creation of her "Amber Spyglass", which is used to achieve this purpose.
At the end of the third novel, the witch Serafina Pekkala reveals to Mary both how to see her dæmon and also its form - that of an Alpine chough
. She offers to help Will upon their return to their own world.
Mary Malone does not appear in Nicholas Wright's stage adaptation of the novels, due to her importance in the mulefa subplot and the mulefa being too difficult to portray onstage. The role of the tempter was given to Serafina Pekkala, who was also the bearer of the spyglass, which had been created by Jopari as a device to view Dust.
. He is a Gallivespian, a race of spies described as being as tall as the length of a human hand. He serves as a spy to Lord Asriel and, along with his partner the Lady Salmakia, a loyal, if originally reluctant aid to Will Parry and Lyra Belacqua
. He has dark hair, and is described as looking 'strong, capable, ruthless and proud'. He wears capri-length silver trousers and no shoes on his spurred feet.
Tialys first encounters the children when, along with Lord Asriel's forces, he arrives with Lady Salmakia to Mrs Coulter's cave, under orders to take the children to Lord Asriel. Lyra first realises that the Gallivespians are a force to be reckoned with when Lady Salmakia attacks Pantalaimon and holds her spur to his leg, in retaliation of Lyra's disrespect towards her. Unfortunately the spies are forced to back down when Will grabs hold of Tialys, and threatens to dash his head against a rock. It is not a good start, and the two parties heavily resent the other one. Tialys, however continues to flare up at being told what to do, but he has very little choice but to obey the children throughout. Tialys is an expert with a lodestone resonator, and uses it to secretly communicate to his superiors, despite being forbidden to do so by Will. Will is furious at the Chevalier's actions, and Tialys is forced to apologise, knowing he is in the wrong.
Later on in the novel, Tialys and Salmakia accompany the children to the world of the dead. Tialys and Lyra have a heated confrontation in the suburbs. Tialys tries to make Lyra do as he tells her to do as he says but Lyra launches into a tirade about how Tialys knows nothing about her and how she feels. After this is over Tialys is, once again, forced to back down. Tialys never grows to really like the girl, but begins to admire her courage, and she his. While entering the world of the dead, Tialys tries to kill No-Name the harpy, to defend Lyra. Later, he bargains with the harpies, and Lyra marvels at his nerve; the harpies could kill him with one slash of their claws and yet Tialys remains proud and fearless.
Tialys dies when attacking a cliff-ghast, having dug his spurs deep into her neck. Will in particular is stricken with grief, and openly cries heavily. Tialys was buried in a small grave alongside the Lady Salmakia.
, but she is determined instead to obey them. She is described as 'strong, capable, ruthless, and proud'. She is also a much more calm and diplomatic individual than her partner, the Chevalier Tialys. When Lyra looks at her properly for the first time, quite a while after meeting her, she strikes Lyra as possessing a distinct maternal quality. The Lady Salmakia is not beautiful, but her face is exactly one that a suffering person would be happy to see, and her voice has a current of laughter that is also ideal, Lyra thinks, for reading to a child. Salmakia wears a similar costume to Tialys, spurred feet and a green blouse but with a silver skirt.
The lady first meets the children at the same time as the Chevalier, and seemingly takes a dislike to them (as with the Chevalier, Lyra in particular). She attacks Pantalaimon after Lyra laughs at her tiny size, and holds her spur against his leg. Lyra sees this as a violation. The Lady later goes on to defuse the situation between Tialys and Iorek Byrnison, when it revealed that the spies have been double-crossing the children.
Later on, when on the boat crossing into the world of the dead, Salmakia wonders if Gallivespians have dæmons too, since the journey causes her and her partner terrible pains in their hearts. When entering the world of the dead, she also sneaks up on No-Name the harpy, spurring her in the foot, but this has no real effect. She bargains with No-Name later, agreeing that the ghosts should tell No-Name and her sisters true stories about the real world. Even later the situation becomes even more reversed when No-Name saves Lyra's life; Salmakia begins to thank No-Name again and again. Salmakia, true to her kindly face and almost motherly demeanour, is the voice of encouragement to cross the Abyss.
Lady Salmakia dies very shortly after Tialys, when the last of her energy has run out. She, like the Chevalier, has made a lasting impression on the children. She was buried in a grave next to Tialys.
as he is known as in Will Parry's world, serves as a minor character in Northern Lights, but is a main antagonist in The Subtle Knife
. He is an old Englishman, appearing to be in his sixties. He normally wears pale suits and is described as smelling sweetly.
Lord Boreal is first seen in Lyra Belacqua's world at the cocktail party of Mrs. Coulter
. He interacts shortly with Lyra. He is also mentioned just before Lord Asriel crosses the bridge to Cittàgazze in Northern Lights as being a lover of Mrs. Coulter
's.
Nothing is heard of Lord Boreal until The Subtle Knife. While Lyra is exploring a museum in Will's world and looking at trepanned skulls, he watches her quietly. He then approaches her and appears to be a kindly old man who converses with her about the skulls. Lyra recognizes him, but is unsure of his identity.
Later, when Lyra is being chased by the men who are after John Parry's notes, Latrom is in a limousine with a personal driver and offers her a lift, taking her to Summertown. He hands her back her rucksack, from which, Lyra later discovers, the alethiometer is missing, stolen by Boreal. They go to his home, where Will accidentally reveals Lyra's real name, notices a serpent on Boreal's body, and guesses correctly that it is his dæmon
. Lord Boreal tells them that they must get the Subtle Knife for him from Cittàgazze and he will return to them the Alethiometer.
After retrieving the knife Lyra and Will attempt to steal the Alethiometer back. Will, using the subtle knife, breaks into Boreal's house, while Lyra remains outside where she sees Mrs. Coulter arriving at the house. Will listens to a conversation between Coulter and Boreal, and then steals the Alethiometer. Lyra and Will escape as Boreal tries to shoot the intruders, unaware of who they really are.
Boreal next appears in the office of Mary Malone. He tells her, and her colleague Dr. Oliver Payne, that he will fund their studies further and prevent their shutting down if they specifically continue experimenting under his approval. Malone, however, sees the deceit in his promises.
Later, Boreal is in a tent in the mountains of Cittàgazze and is talking to Mrs. Coulter, who drugs his drink and makes him tell her of the subtle knife. He dies shortly after from the poisoned drink. This is all seen by a witch, Lena Feldt, who then is discovered by Mrs. Coulter and tortured into telling her Lyra's true name: Eve, mother of all.
Boreal's body is later discovered in the tent by Will in The Amber Spyglass. His pseudonym
, Latrom, is "mortal" spelled backwards. Whether or not if this has a significance to the story is unknown.
n witch queen, and a lover of Lord Asriel. Her dæmon is a bluethroat
named Sergi. She is 416 years old (The Subtle Knife), and makes appearances in The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
She accompanies Serafina Pekkala and her companions on part of their journey. She leaves, first to see the angels up above her, and she wants to help them because Lord Asriel is with them. She brings news of a mysterious weapon which turns out to be the Subtle Knife after overhearing tell of it from cliff ghasts. She is described as being very passionate, powerful, pitiless and beautiful, and has black hair
and large black eyes. She wears a crown made of the teeth of tigers she killed when a tribe that worshiped them offended her. She has been a lover of Lord Asriel; when it is revealed to the witches that Lyra, Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter's daughter, is to become the second Eve, Ruta laments that as Asriel's lover, she did not become Lyra's mother, reflecting on what Lyra would have been like as a witch. In the play adaptation, however, she commits suicide
after killing John Parry, her lover, in place of a more minor character (Juta Kamainen) who does not appear in the adaptation. The second part of her name, "Skadi" is a reference to a Nordic winter goddess.
Xaphania first appears in the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass
, at a council of Asriel's commanders. Like all Pullman's angels, she appears naked, winged, and luminous; due to her high rank and great age, she is clearly visible to corporeal beings. As is the norm with members of the angelic orders in the novels, there is a certain ambiguity surrounding Xaphania's exact appearance. She appears both ancient and young, compassionate and austere. Her simultaneous age and youth are remarked on by the witch Serafina Pekkala, who herself appears that way to shorter-lived people.
The angel Balthamos is the first character to refer explicitly to Xaphania. As he explains to Will Parry, she discovered that the Authority had lied to the other angels regarding his status as God
the original Creator
and so was banished from the Clouded Mountain. This was the start of the first struggle against the Kingdom, Xaphania being the leader of the rebel angels who intervened in human evolution
to give mankind its present consciousness some thirty thousand years ago.
Towards the end of trilogy, and after the defeat of the Authority's forces, it is Xaphania who explains to Will and Lyra Belacqua that all the windows between the worlds must be sealed to prevent Dust from leaking away into the abyss, and that the Æsahættr (the Subtle Knife) must be destroyed.
His dæmon
takes the form of a frog
.
, named Salcilia, often appears as a terrier.
Roger was kidnapped by the General Oblation Board ("the Gobblers") and taken to their experimental center in Bolvangar. When Lyra arrived there he assisted her in helping the children escape, once more proving his loyalty, and going on with her to see Lord Asriel in Svalbard. However this is his downfall, for which Lyra
later blamed herself, because Asriel uses Roger to create a hole between worlds by separating him from Salcillia, killing him in the process of channeling the energy from that separation to create the hole.
Roger's character was totally absent in The Subtle Knife
, but in The Amber Spyglass
, he makes a surprising reappearance when Lyra encounters him lost and scared, trapped in the Land of the Dead, but eventually she manages to set him free to merge with the Dust in the living worlds. She arranged for this to be a release for all the dead willing to obey the necessary guidelines; but Roger was the first to leave the World of the Dead.
The Housemaid Mrs. Lonsdale is related to him. There is a boy named “Simon Parslow”, but it is not known whether Simon is related to Roger.
, and seeks to supplant the Authority, destroy Lord Asriel and his army, and kill the heroine Lyra Belacqua. His personal power is immense, and he is shown as descending from the sky at one point to demolish an unknown amount of land (before Lyra and Will escape through a portal.) He is betrayed and killed by Mrs. Coulter, who unknowingly imitates Lyra by promising him herself as a prize for his victory over Lord Asriel, but conspires with Asriel to destroy him, the two sacrificing their existences to drag Metatron into an abyss between the universes to ensure that he can never threaten Lyra again. He is stated to have been the Biblical character Enoch
, who is in the line between Adam and Noah. He appears only in The Amber Spyglass.
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
's His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
trilogy.
Main characters
The information about each character on the following list does not identify the literary characters from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Paradise Lost that these characters symbolize in the allegories hidden in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. For information on who the characters listed below symbolize, see the "Characters" heading of the main Wikipedia article on His Dark Materials.Lyra Belacqua/Silvertongue
Lyra Belacqua who adopts the surname Silvertongue given to her by Iorek Byrnison, is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own. She is the daughter of Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter. Brought up in the cloistered world of Jordan College, Oxford, she finds herself embroiled in a cosmic war between angels and a pseudodeity called The Authority when she prevents Lord Asriel'sLord Asriel
Lord Asriel is a major character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series and one of the main protagonists of Northern Lights.Asriel is a member of the English aristocracy in a parallel universe dominated by the Church...
death and allows him to further his studies on Dust
Dust (His Dark Materials)
Dust in Philip Pullman's trilogy of novels His Dark Materials is a mysterious cosmic particle that is integral to the plot. In Northern Lights, Lord Asriel reveals the origins of the term "Dust" to be from a passage from the slightly alternate version of the Bible in Lyra's World: "In the sweat of...
. She is able to read the Alethiometer (an instrument of divination), and is known to the witches as "Eve, the mother of all", who will eventually "bring about the end of destiny". In the end, Lyra is forced to separate from Will Parry (her beloved and bearer of the Subtle Knife), returning to her own world in order to, in her father's footsteps, build the 'Republic of Heaven'. In The Amber Spyglass Lyra's dæmon, Pantalaimon, settles as a pine marten
Pine Marten
The European Pine Marten , known most commonly as the pine marten in Anglophone Europe, and less commonly also known as Pineten, baum marten, or sweet marten, is an animal native to Northern Europe belonging to the mustelid family, which also includes mink, otter, badger, wolverine and weasel. It...
. In the unabridged audiobooks, Lyra is voiced by Joanna Wyatt. In the 2008 movie adaption, she is played by Dakota Blue Richards
Dakota Blue Richards
Dakota Blue Richards is an English actress. Her debut was in the film The Golden Compass, as the lead character Lyra Belacqua....
.
Will Parry
Will Parry is son of John Parry, an explorer, and of Elaine Parry, a woman who suffers from apparent mental problems including obsessive-compulsive disorderObsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
and paranoid schizophrenia. Will does not remember his father, a former Royal Marine
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
, who has not been heard of since he vanished on an expedition to the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
when Will was an infant, and who we later learn has wandered into another world and is unable to find his way back. Will becomes the companion and ultimately falls in love with Lyra Belacqua, and also becomes the bearer of the Subtle Knife by winning a fight in the Torre Degli Angeli, in which he loses two fingers on his left hand. At the end of the third book, he must leave Lyra Belacqua and live entirely in his own world, where he is taken care of by Mary Malone and his cat dæmon, Kirjava. In the unabridged audiobooks, Will was voiced by Steven Webb
Steven Webb
Steven Webb is an English actor who has been performing in theatre, television and film from the age of eight. Webb was born in Wirral, near Liverpool in the UK.-Career:...
for The Subtle Knife and by Peter England for The Amber Spyglass.
Lord Asriel
Lord Asriel is a member of the English aristocracyAristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
in a parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
dominated by an oppressive organization known as the Magisterium. He is described as being "a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seem to flash and glitter with savage laughter". Possessed of enormous determination and willpower, he is fierce in nature and commands great respect in both the political and academic spheres, being a military leader and a fellow of Jordan College in his world's version of Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. Later, it is discovered in Northern Lights that he is Lyra's father, while her mother is Marisa Coulter. His dæmon is a snow leopard
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...
called Stelmaria. In the unabridged audiobooks, Lord Asriel is voiced by Sean Barrett
Sean Barrett (actor)
Seán Barrett is a British actor and voice actor.He began acting as a child appearing on BBC children's television and in films such as Bang! You're Dead, War and Peace, The Genie and Four Sided Triangle.Years later he made many appearances in television and films including ITV Television...
, while he is played by Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
in the film.
Mrs. Coulter
Marisa Coulter is the head of a particular faction of the Church known as the General Oblation Board (also known as the "Gobblers" among Gyptians and street urchinStreet children
A street child is a child who lives on the streets of a city, deprived of family care and protection. Most children on the streets are between the ages of about 5 and 17 years old.Street children live in junk boxes, parks or on the street itself...
s). Under Mrs Coulter's guidance, the Oblation Board has been secretly kidnapping children from Lyra's world, and then proceeding to use them as subjects of their experiments at their laboratory in Bolvangar. The Oblation Board thinks that by cutting away the child's dæmon, they can prevent the child from knowing sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
. She is also Lyra's mother. Her dæmon is a golden-colored monkey, but the books do not state his name, neither does he ever speak.
She is cruel and merciless at times, stopping at nothing to get what she wants. She is deceptive, full of grace and beauty, and can easily charm anyone to do what she wants. However, she is filled with love for her daughter, Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
, and goes great lengths to keep her safe, after a certain point in the second novel. In the unabridged audiobooks, Mrs Coulter is voiced by Alison Dowling; in the film she is played by Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
.
Iorek Byrnison
King Iorek Byrnison is a male armored bear (panserbjørne in Norwegian). Like all Panserbjørne, Iorek follows a very strict code of conduct, and will not, in any situation, betray a promise he has made. He possesses incredible strength, and like many of his kind is an expert smith. He is a great friend and comrade to both Lyra BelacquaLyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
and Lee Scoresby.
During the first book of the His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
trilogy, Northern Lights
Northern Lights (novel)
Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America, is the first novel in English novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy...
, Iorek Byrnison is found shaping metal for humans in an Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
port town. These humans had deceived Iorek by giving him spirits
Distilled beverage
A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...
, then stole his sky-iron armour while he was intoxicated. This left him no choice but to work for the humans. He tells Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
that if he had his armour, he would kill the humans that stole it, but that without it he would simply be gunned down attempting to get it back. Upon hearing this, Lyra decides to use her alethiometer to find the location of his armour, so that he can break free and join her quest.
Using the Alethiometer, Lyra discovers that the humans have his armour hidden in the cellar of the local priest's house. Almost immediately upon hearing this, Iorek rushes off to find his armour, waiting only to finish his work hours. The humans, suddenly realizing his intent, try to kill him. Iorek is about to crush one of the attackers' heads when Lyra convinces him that it would be better not to hurt the man, as this would lead to more fighting and delay their voyage.
Later in the story, Pullman reveals that by bloodline, Iorek would have become King
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
of the bears in his homeland, Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, had it not been for his exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
. This exile was mainly the fault of Iofur Raknison, Iorek's successor as King, who was suspected, but never explicitly proven to have used drugs on another bear in order to make him act unusually. This befuddled bear went up against Iorek Byrnison in a ritual of dominance to win over a female bear. In his drugged state, however, the bear went against normal procedures and would not back down when any bear would normally have done so. This situation ended in Iorek killing the bear, which condemned him to exile. When he returns to Svalbard, Iorek fights and kills Iofur Raknison, reclaiming his rightful place. This ends his role in the first book.
In the third book (The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass is the third and final novel in the His Dark Materials series, written by English author Philip Pullman, and published in 2000....
), he is forced to take his bears on a voyage down to the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
because the climate in his home country of Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
has become inhospitable due to Lord Asriel's unintentional changing of the climate by opening a rift between two worlds.
He later demonstrates his skill as a smith, repairing the Subtle Knife - including its magical properties - with no specialist equipment and only the aid of Lyra and Will.
He and a regiment of his subjects fight on Lord Asriel's side in the battle on the plains. He takes Lyra and Will to find their lost dæmons. At the end of the Amber Spyglass, it is revealed that he returns to Svalbard and reigns as king of the bears.
In the film he is voiced by Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
. He has also been portrayed on stage by young actors Sandy Howie and Stuart Leel in the Scottish Premiere of the His Dark Materials stage show by the Scottish Youth Theatre. In the unabridged audiobooks, Iorek is voiced by Sean Barrett.
John Faa
John Faa, sometimes known as Lord Faa, is the Lord of the western Gyptians who appears first in Northern Lights and last in The Amber Spyglass. Despite his advancing age, he is a brave warrior, respected by all his followers, open to advice, and considerate of all. He is a good friend of the elderly Farder Coram. His dæmon is a black crow. In the film he is played by Jim Carter.When the Oblation Board starts kidnapping children, he leads 170 of his men to save them. Though initially against the idea, John Faa eventually decides to take Lyra to Bolvangar, to rescue the missing Gyptian children. He is wounded in an ambush, when they were attacked by Samoyeds where many of his Gyptians are killed, despite the action of Iorek Byrnison, his hired panserbjørn or armored polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
. However, he carries out his mission successfully, retrieving the children Lyra helped rescue, and taking them back to England.
Faa appears briefly at the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass when he and other Gyptians are briefly drawn into the world of the mulefa to meet Lyra and bring her home before the worlds separate once again, the gyptians and the mulefa sharing a meal and trading various objects in memory of their singular meeting before they return to their worlds.
Farder Coram
Farder Coram is an important member of the Gyptians. He seems to take the role of second-in-command or adviser for the Gyptian King John FaaJohn Faa
John Faa, the King of the Gypsies, was a historical character from Scotland, a contemporary of King James IV. Although historical sources place him in Dunbar, in the east of Scotland, much folklore associates him with the Galloway/Ayrshire border. He appears as a character in at least two novels,...
. In the book Farder Coram had a large, golden-brown cat dæmon named Sophonax. British actor Tom Courtenay
Tom Courtenay
Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner , Billy Liar , and Dr. Zhivago . Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre...
portrays him in the film The Golden Compass. In the film The Golden Compass his dæmon is a caracal
Caracal
The caracal is a fiercely territorial medium-sized cat ranging over Western Asia, South Asia and Africa.The word caracal comes from the Turkish word "karakulak", meaning "black ear". In North India and Pakistan, the caracal is locally known as syahgosh or shyahgosh, which is a Persian term...
, a kind of African, lynx
Lynx
A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
-like wildcat
Wildcat
Wildcat is a small felid native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa.-Animals:Wildcat may also refer to members of the genus Lynx:...
. He appears first in The Golden Compass and last in The Amber Spyglass
He once travelled to the north, where he witnessed a witch
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
, Serafina Pekkala, being attacked by another witch's dæmon. Farder Coram shot the rogue dæmon and rescued Serafina, whereafter they eventually became lovers and had a son, who was killed in his youth by a disease from the east forty years prior to the events of the trilogy. After his death, Serafina Pekkala returned to her people as the clan-queen, and Coram stayed with the Gyptians.
He accompanies Lyra
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
, Lord Faa, Iorek Byrnison, Lee Scoresby and 170 Gyptians to Bolvangar to rescue the captured children there.
Lyra grows to love Coram, as he, more than any other Gyptian, respects her and sees her potential. He guides her in mastering the alethiometer, encouraging her and soon realizing her amazing talent. Lyra accompanies him in Trollesund, a northern town, where he runs such errands as meeting the town's witch consul, so that the Gyptians may ask for Serafina's particular help. We clearly see how much Farder Coram wishes to meet Serafina again, when Lyra is asked, by the Witch Consul, to identify which branch of cloud-pine Serafina once rode. Lyra herself notes how he touches the branch with longing upon his face before they depart further North.
Coram appears briefly at the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass when he and other Gyptians are briefly drawn into the world of the mulefa to meet Lyra and bring her home before the worlds separate once again, the gyptians and the mulefa sharing a meal and trading various objects in memory of their singular meeting before they return to their worlds; Coram even briefly rides on a mulefa when they note his discomfort walking.
Serafina Pekkala
Serafina Pekkala is a witchWitchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
queen from a tribe in Inari, Finland
Inari, Finland
Inari is Finland's largest, sparsely populated municipality with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are lumber industry and nature maintenance. With the museum Siida in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sami culture...
, who first appears in Northern Lights
Northern Lights (novel)
Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America, is the first novel in English novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy...
and last appears in The Amber Spyglass. She rules over certain clans in the Lake Enara district. Serafina appears throughout the fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
and is closely associated with Lyra Belacqua's and her companions' journey. Serafina Pekkala's dæmon
Dæmon (His Dark Materials)
A dæmon is a manifestation of a person's soul in the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Humans in every universe are said to have dæmons, although in some universes they are visible as entities physically separate from their humans, and take the form of animals, while in other universes...
is Kaisa, a large grey goose
Goose
The word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
. In The Golden Compass, the movie adaptation of the first book in the trilogy, Northern Lights
Northern Lights (novel)
Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America, is the first novel in English novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy...
(The Golden Compass was the American title of the book), the role Sefrina Pekkala is played by Eva Green
Eva Green
Eva Gaëlle Green is a French actress and model.Green performed in theatre before making her film debut in The Dreamers , which generated controversy over her numerous nude scenes. She achieved greater fame for her parts in Kingdom of Heaven , and in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, for...
.
She once had a child by the Gyptian Farder Coram, who saved her life when she was attacked by another witch's dæmon. For witches to fall in love with men appears common. There are men within the witch society who serve the witches, or who can be taken for lovers or husbands. Witches are said to be capable of appreciating men for their beauty
Beauty
Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture...
, intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
, and bravery; but due to the witches' long life-span, the men appear to grow old and die almost at once. This is said to cause the witches great emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
al pain
Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...
. When witches give birth, their female children inherit magical powers and an extensive life-span, while male children do not and are therefore soon sent to live with their fathers.
According to Serafina, witches live for many hundreds of years. Serafina claims to be three hundred years old or more, and states that her clan's "oldest witch mother" is nearly a thousand. Witches own nothing, and so have no means of barter save mutual aid. They have no notions of honor, and therefore insults mean nothing to them. Temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
extremes appear not to harm witches: although they feel the cold, wrapping up against it would prevent them from experiencing other things that the humans of the text may not feel, such as "the bright tingle of the star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s, or the music of the Aurora". Witches fly on branches of Cloud-Pine and equate flying to living; as Serafina states, "A witch would no sooner give up flying than give up breathing. To fly is to be perfectly ourselves". Witches see themselves as subject to fate
Destiny
Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...
, yet argue that they, and all people, must act as if they possess free will. They believe that when they die Yambe-Akka, the goddess of the dead, comes to collect them.
Pullman claims Serafina's name came from a Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
telephone directory; however, in a speech made in Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, he claimed that it came from a list of politicians living in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. (In any case, it is an actual Finnish family name - see Vilho Pekkala
Vilho Pekkala
Vilho Pekkala was a Finnish wrestler and Olympic medalist.He received a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.-References:...
; Miss Finland
Miss Finland
-External links:*...
reference to Marita Pekkala).
Lee Scoresby
Lee Scoresby is a skilled "aeronaut" balloonistBalloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. In regards to Scoresby's name, Phillip Pullman says: "Lee Scoresby comes from two sources. One is the actor Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...
, who looks just like the character. And the other is the name of an Arctic explorer, William Scoresby
William Scoresby
William Scoresby , was an English Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman.-Early years:Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering 26 miles south of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William Scoresby , made a fortune in the Arctic whale fishery...
".
In the novella Once Upon a Time in the North
Once Upon a Time in the North
Once Upon a Time in the North, a fantasy novella by Philip Pullman functions as a prequel to Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy...
, which serves as a prequel to His Dark Materials, Lee is twenty-four years old. He meets Iorek Byrnison when the two of them help a Dutch captain, van Breda, escape with his cargo from the Muscovy harbour town of Novy Odense
Odense
The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...
. From details mentioned in the novella, it can be deduced that Lee is fifty-nine years old at the time of his death.
Lee is an old Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
hand, and extremely skilled with his balloons. He is sharp with a gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
, though generally nonviolent. He is intelligent, and a bit of a mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
, though he displays consistent ethics. His dream is to sell his balloons and buy a ranch back in Texas. His best friend is the armored bear Iorek Byrnison. They fought together, and he once saved Iorek's life.
Lee and his dæmon
Dæmon (His Dark Materials)
A dæmon is a manifestation of a person's soul in the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Humans in every universe are said to have dæmons, although in some universes they are visible as entities physically separate from their humans, and take the form of animals, while in other universes...
, Hester the Arctic hare pledge their support to John Faa
John Faa
John Faa, the King of the Gypsies, was a historical character from Scotland, a contemporary of King James IV. Although historical sources place him in Dunbar, in the east of Scotland, much folklore associates him with the Galloway/Ayrshire border. He appears as a character in at least two novels,...
and the Gyptians on a mission to destroy Bolvangar and save its captive children. He is delighted to learn that Iorek has been hired too. As the Gyptians finish destroying Bolvangar (which Lyra set on fire) and helping the rescued children into sledges, Mrs. Coulter
Marisa Coulter
Marisa Coulter is a fictional character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and one of the main antagonists of Northern Lights. As with her lover, Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter undergoes several transformations during the series.-Lyra:In the beginning of the book The Northern Lights Marisa...
attacks with some Tartars to capture her daughter, Lyra. Lee rescues Iorek from another part of the battle, and is just in time to save Lyra and Roger Parslow from Mrs Coulter. The four, helped by witches, escape.
On this journey, Lee expresses his concern to Serafina Pekkala, the queen of the witches, about the whole situation. He is worried about the war which he is about to be caught up in, and unsure who he will side with - indeed, of who are the sides. However, he promises loyalty to Lyra. He is disturbed by the witches' idea of destiny.
The party is attacked by cliff-ghasts on the way to Svalbard, whereupon Lyra falls out of the balloon. Iorek and Roger go to rescue her as soon as the balloon can be put down. As Lee floats with the witches, Lord Asriel tears the path into another world open. Buffetted by winds, Lee and the witches are swept far away, but manage to regroup for a witch council. Lee is given the unique privilege of joining it.
Lee informs Serafina and the others that he has heard of an object which can protect the bearer. A mysterious professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
called Grumman knows of its whereabouts. Lee intends to seek out Grumman and then take the object (the Subtle Knife) to Lyra. On his mission, he is forced to kill a servant of the Church. He takes his ring, which can command some power and authority. Lee and Hester find Grumman, and learn that he is really John Parry, from our own world. John has become a shaman and can command magic. He claims that he drew Lee with his mother's ring. The pair set off to find the Bearer of the Subtle Knife, Grumman to inform him of his task and Lee to get Lyra under his protection. They use the Church's ring to regain Lee's confiscated balloons.
As the pair make their escape, they are pursued. The shaman's magic destroy three of the enemy's four zeppelins, but Lee loses his balloon in the process. The forest in which they hide is set to light and they are forced to come out into the open, away from the trees. Escaping from the last one, they are pursued into a narrow gorge.
Lee holds the pass as Grumman escapes, killing all of the enemies and blowing up the zeppelin. He is killed in the process. His death is described in a very moving way, with him saying goodbye to his weeping dæmon
Dæmon (His Dark Materials)
A dæmon is a manifestation of a person's soul in the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Humans in every universe are said to have dæmons, although in some universes they are visible as entities physically separate from their humans, and take the form of animals, while in other universes...
(soul), embracing her tenderly for the last time until she disappears. Moments before dying, he calls for Serafina Pekkala with the flower she gave him, but she arrives far too late to save his life. Instead, she places a protective barrier around his body to protect him from carrion beasts.
Iorek comes across Lee's body several days after his death, perfectly preserved due to the witch's spell. In an act of final respect for his friend and ally, the bear thanks him, then devours his body, giving him strength to pursue and save Lyra, which was Lee's greatest wish.
Lyra and Will Parry find Lee in the world of the dead, and he briefly returns to fight the Spectres before he dissolves, hoping to merge with his mother, his unseen sweethearts, and Hester.
American actor icon Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott
Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, and deep, resonant voice match the iconic image of a cowboy or rancher, and he has often been cast in such roles.-Early life:Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training...
plays Lee Scoresby in the film version.
John Parry
Colonel John Parry, aka Dr. Stanislaus Grumman, or Jopari, is the father of Will Parry and the husband of Elaine Parry.John Parry was a famous English explorer and a major in the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
in Will's world. At one point, he went on an archaeological exploration of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. There, he had high hopes of finding a mythological portal to a different realm. He was unsuccessful at first, but he and his companions eventually found and went through the portal by accident during a blizzard and were brought to the world of Cittàgazze. His two companions were killed by the Spectres shortly after.
John then ventured through Cittàgazze and found a portal to the world that became home to Lyra Belacqua. When he arrived, he met his own dæmon
Dæmon (His Dark Materials)
A dæmon is a manifestation of a person's soul in the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Humans in every universe are said to have dæmons, although in some universes they are visible as entities physically separate from their humans, and take the form of animals, while in other universes...
Sayan Kötör the Osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
. He eventually changed his name to Stanislaus Grumman, likely because he needed a name that seemed natural to the world. Some time after, he attended the Berlin Academy. He became both a famous and slightly notorious explorer, infamous for his strange curiosity towards the world and its elements.
He showed specific interest in Dust and its entities. Most of his studies of the strange substance are unknown. At one point, he even joined the Yenisei tribe and underwent trepanation
Trepanation
Trepanning, also known as trephination, trephining or making a burr hole, is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases. It may also refer to any "burr" hole created...
of his skull. He became a leader and shaman of the tribe and took the name Jopari, a slight variant of "John Parry".
Mystery enveloped the life of Grumman after that. Many believed he was dead, although there were many other rumours. The members of Jordan College believed he was dead after Lord Asriel showed them a frozen, severed head and tricked them into believing it was Grumman's. Grumman remained away, in the village of the Yenisei tribe as their well-respected shaman.
In The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife, the second novel in the book His Dark Materials series, was written by English novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1997. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she investigates the mysterious Dust phenomenon and searches for her father...
, Lee Scoresby is sent to find Grumman. He eventually finds him in the Yenisei tribe (where he discovers that the name "Jopari" is merely the tribemen's poor pronunciation of "John Parry"), although Grumman explains that it was his calling that allowed Lee to find him. Lee takes Grumman to Cittàgazze at his wishing, as he wishes to find the bearer of the Æsahættr.
As they make their way to the bearer, they are chased by soldiers in four zeppelins. Grumman uses his powers to create a storm to destroy one of them. During the night, he destroys the second by making a Spectre attack its pilot. Sayan Kötör commands the birds of the forest to destroy the third. With all his strength sapped, Grumman is unable to destroy the fourth zeppelin. Lee remains behind to fend off the men while Grumman escapes. Grumman promises to protect Lyra for him.
Grumman finds the bearer, Will, on top of a mountain and fights with him after Will attacks him in the pitch darkness. Grumman uses some bloodmoss to heal Will's wound. He tells him of the great destiny that has been bestowed upon him as the bearer of the subtle knife. He tells him that he must defeat the Authority, breaking the oath he made to Lee Scoresby and not even mentioning Lyra. When some light is shaded, he sees Will's face and they both realize who the other is. An arrow shot by Juta Kamainen, a witch he spurned due to his love for Will's mother, pierces Grumman's heart and he dies almost literally the second after he realises Will's true identity.
Finally, in the Amber Spyglass, the third and final book of the trilogy; he and Lee Scoresby were set free by Lyra Belaqua/Silvertongue in the world of the Dead. Instead of following the other deceased people, they remained to fight their final battle with the Authority.
Iofur Raknison
Iofur Raknison is a Panserbjørn - an armor-wearing, intelligent polar bearPolar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
. He appears prominently in the first book, Northern Lights
Northern Lights (novel)
Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America, is the first novel in English novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy...
. In the 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass he is voiced by Ian McShane
Ian McShane
Ian David McShane is an English actor, director, producer, voice artist, and comedian.Despite appearing in numerous films, McShane is best known for his television roles, particularly the BBC's Lovejoy and HBO's Western drama Deadwood...
. (In the movie the character is renamed Ragnar Sturlusson, to prevent confusion with Iorek Byrnison.)
Iofur Raknison is the king of all the panserbjørns and ruler of Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, but wishes for more. He wants to be the equal of a human: that is, to have a dæmon
Dæmon (His Dark Materials)
A dæmon is a manifestation of a person's soul in the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Humans in every universe are said to have dæmons, although in some universes they are visible as entities physically separate from their humans, and take the form of animals, while in other universes...
and be baptized a Christian. To this end, he has commanded the bears to build a palace of stone, and began to wear gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
ornaments, which they had traditionally despised as beneath them.
Iofur conceals the fact that he has killed his father, but Lyra Belacqua divines this with the use of her alethiometer in order to convince Iofur that she is the dæmon of Iorek Byrnison. Her knowledge convinces Iofur that she is a dæmon, and she convinces him that to challenge Iorek in single combat is the only way of making her his own. Although Iofur begins the fight in fresher condition than Iorek - who, prior to combat, ran a great distance to find Lyra and recover her from Iofur's fortress - Iorek manages to defeat him. He does this by exploiting Iofur's desire to be human, rendering him able to be tricked, feigning injury to lure him in for a powerful attack. After Iofur's defeat, Iorek is proclaimed the king, and his first command is that the bears discard their pseudo-human trinkets and tear down Iofur's palace.
The Authority
The Authority was the first angel to come into existence; as did the subsequent angels, he formed and condensed from the substance known as DustDust (His Dark Materials)
Dust in Philip Pullman's trilogy of novels His Dark Materials is a mysterious cosmic particle that is integral to the plot. In Northern Lights, Lord Asriel reveals the origins of the term "Dust" to be from a passage from the slightly alternate version of the Bible in Lyra's World: "In the sweat of...
. He led other angels and, later, humanity to believe that he was in fact God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
the creator of the multiverse
Multiverse (science)
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise everything that exists and can exist: the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical laws and constants that describe them...
. This false claim legitimized his taking political power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
in the Kingdom of Heaven. The angel Xaphania later found out the truth about him, whereupon he banished her from the Kingdom (a reference to the legend of Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
). Xaphania and some other angels later started a rebellion against him.
In Will's World, The Authority would assume several names, including "Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
", the "Lord
Lord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
", "El
El (god)
is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "deity", cognate to Akkadian and then to Hebrew : Eli and Arabic )....
", "Adonai", and "the Almighty". He is the god of the Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic, and Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
religions and his word and messages to humanity are recorded in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and the Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
.
He ruled his various churches, organizations, and universes from the Clouded Mountain, a mobile city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
believed by many in that universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
to be Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. As the Authority grew older and weaker, the Mountain became more and more obscured by cloud.
In his old age, the Authority appointed the tyrannical
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...
archangel
Archangel
An archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...
Metatron, who was once the biblical character Enoch
Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...
, to act as regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of the Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
. Eventually Metatron grew more powerful than his master. The two were opposed by Lord Asriel
Lord Asriel
Lord Asriel is a major character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series and one of the main protagonists of Northern Lights.Asriel is a member of the English aristocracy in a parallel universe dominated by the Church...
, who allied with "fallen" angels such as Xaphania in an attempt to overthrow the divine monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
and replace it with a Republic of Heaven
The Republic of Heaven
The Republic of Heaven, in Philip Pullman's philosophical fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials from 2000, refers to the idea that humans must build their happiness in the here and now, and that the official Church's emphasis on the afterlife is no more than a diversion by the powerful to repress the...
. During the final battle, the Authority is carried away from the Clouded Mountain on the orders of Metatron. He is imprisoned in a crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
box, which keeps him alive but trapped. Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
and Will Parry free him with the subtle knife, not knowing he is too weak to survive outside his box. He drifts apart and dies in a moment of happiness and peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
, presumably to follow other characters' precedent by merging with the cosmos.
The Authority appears only in The Amber Spyglass.
Balthamos
Balthamos and his lover, Baruch, are both angelAngel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s in rebellion from the Kingdom of Heaven. They seek to become part of Lord Asriel's army of angels and overthrow Metatron
Metatron
Metatron or Mattatron is the name of an angel in Judaism and some branches of Christian mythology. There are no references to him in the Jewish Tanakh or Christian Scriptures...
, the acting Regent of The Authority.
Both angels find Will Parry at the end of The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife, the second novel in the book His Dark Materials series, was written by English novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1997. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she investigates the mysterious Dust phenomenon and searches for her father...
; because Will is the bearer of the subtle knife, they hope to bring him to Lord Asriel. However, Will's companion Lyra Belacqua has been kidnapped and Will refuses to go to Asriel until Lyra is found. The angels agree to accompany Will without question until she is found.
This decision proves to be dangerous; both Baruch and Balthamos are aware the Regent is after them, especially now that they are being accompanied by Will. An unfortunate encounter leads to Baruch being fatally wounded. Balthamos and Will are separated from Baruch, who has gone to Lord Asriel in his wounded state. Before dying, Baruch provides Asriel with all the information he and Balthamos have discovered about Will, Lyra, and the Regent.
Baruch's death is immediately felt by Balthamos as a result of the strong bond of love they shared. Stricken with grief, Balthamos promises to aid Will in every way possible to honour Baruch's sacrifice. When Balthamos is unable to do so, he runs away, grieving over Baruch's death and feeling guilty about abandoning Will. The angel does not appear again until the end of the book, when Balthamos confronts Father Gomez, an assassin hoping to kill Lyra by tracking Dr Mary Malone. However, by the end of his confrontation with Father Gomez, Balthamos neither has the strength or the will to continue existing, and the particles that make up his being separate.
Of the two angels, Balthamos is the more passive of the pair. He admits that Baruch is the courageous one and whenever Balthamos fails at something important, Baruch is the one to help him fix things. Balthamos has a sarcastic personality, and his relations with Will are conducted with an air of ironic contempt.
As angels of low rank, Balthamos and Baruch's abilities are limited. They appear as luminous humanlike forms, which are barely visible to human eyes even at night. The angels also possess the power to transform, which Balthamos uses to masquerade as Will's dæmon when traveling in Lyra's world. They are capable of flight though their wings do not have a corporeal form.
Baruch
Baruch and his lover, Balthamos, are both angels in rebellion from the Kingdom of Heaven. They seek to become part of Lord Asriel's army of angels and overthrow MetatronMetatron
Metatron or Mattatron is the name of an angel in Judaism and some branches of Christian mythology. There are no references to him in the Jewish Tanakh or Christian Scriptures...
, the acting Regent of The Authority.
He is the brother of Enoch
Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...
, who has become the Regent, an angel known as Metatron
Metatron
Metatron or Mattatron is the name of an angel in Judaism and some branches of Christian mythology. There are no references to him in the Jewish Tanakh or Christian Scriptures...
. They seek to bring the bearer of the Subtle Knife, Will Parry, to Asriel and accompany Will without question when Will agrees to go to Asriel only after finding Lyra Belacqua. Baruch's courageous and dedicated nature leads to a fight with the Regent. Fatally wounded and separated from Balthamos and Will, Baruch brings himself to Lord Asriel. After providing Asriel with critically important information, he dies. The last word he utters is "Balthamos!", the name of his angelic lover.
Baruch appears in The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
Dr. Mary Malone
Dr. Mary Malone is a physicist from Will's world (which is supposed to be the world in which the reader and author live), who is investigating dark matterDark matter
In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is matter that neither emits nor scatters light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly detected via optical or radio astronomy...
, known also as Dust, and is told she must play the part of the Serpent
Serpent (Bible)
Serpent is the term used to translate a variety of words in the Hebrew bible, the most common being , , the generic word for "snake"....
for the second Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
. She is a former nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
, having become an atheist after an encounter with a man from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and the taste of marzipan
Marzipan
Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal. Persipan is a similar, yet less expensive product, in which the almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels...
reminded her of her first romantic encounter.
Lyra Belacqua, upon arriving in Will's world, meets Mary when she tries to find an "experimental theologian" (physicist) in hopes of discovering more about Dust. Mary is amazed by Lyra's knowledge of dark matter, especially after Lyra demonstrates her ability to speak of the unknown by use of the alethiometer.
Mary, inspired by Lyra's abilities, utilizes the supercomputer she and her colleague, Dr. Oliver Payne, designed to communicate with Dust by using software that was programmed based on the I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
(much like Terence McKenna's
Terence McKenna
Terence Kemp McKenna was an Irish-American philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.-Early...
Timewave Zero software). The Dust consequently tells Mary to travel from her own world, through the window that Will found at the beginning of The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife, the second novel in the book His Dark Materials series, was written by English novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1997. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she investigates the mysterious Dust phenomenon and searches for her father...
. The Dust tells her through words on the computer screen that she is supposed to "play the Serpent". The Dust also tells her about the journey she is about to embark on and warns her to destroy the computer before she leaves. Mary travels through Cittàgazze to yet another world, where she will eventually become the Serpent. She spends most of The Amber Spyglass with creatures known as the Mulefa, trying to see the Dust, which the Mulefa can do naturally. This leads to the creation of her "Amber Spyglass", which is used to achieve this purpose.
At the end of the third novel, the witch Serafina Pekkala reveals to Mary both how to see her dæmon and also its form - that of an Alpine chough
Alpine Chough
The Alpine Chough , or Yellow-billed Chough, is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain east through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia, India and China, and it may nest at a higher altitude...
. She offers to help Will upon their return to their own world.
Mary Malone does not appear in Nicholas Wright's stage adaptation of the novels, due to her importance in the mulefa subplot and the mulefa being too difficult to portray onstage. The role of the tempter was given to Serafina Pekkala, who was also the bearer of the spyglass, which had been created by Jopari as a device to view Dust.
Chevalier Tialys
The Chevalier Tialys is a protagonist in The Amber SpyglassThe Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass is the third and final novel in the His Dark Materials series, written by English author Philip Pullman, and published in 2000....
. He is a Gallivespian, a race of spies described as being as tall as the length of a human hand. He serves as a spy to Lord Asriel and, along with his partner the Lady Salmakia, a loyal, if originally reluctant aid to Will Parry and Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
. He has dark hair, and is described as looking 'strong, capable, ruthless and proud'. He wears capri-length silver trousers and no shoes on his spurred feet.
Tialys first encounters the children when, along with Lord Asriel's forces, he arrives with Lady Salmakia to Mrs Coulter's cave, under orders to take the children to Lord Asriel. Lyra first realises that the Gallivespians are a force to be reckoned with when Lady Salmakia attacks Pantalaimon and holds her spur to his leg, in retaliation of Lyra's disrespect towards her. Unfortunately the spies are forced to back down when Will grabs hold of Tialys, and threatens to dash his head against a rock. It is not a good start, and the two parties heavily resent the other one. Tialys, however continues to flare up at being told what to do, but he has very little choice but to obey the children throughout. Tialys is an expert with a lodestone resonator, and uses it to secretly communicate to his superiors, despite being forbidden to do so by Will. Will is furious at the Chevalier's actions, and Tialys is forced to apologise, knowing he is in the wrong.
Later on in the novel, Tialys and Salmakia accompany the children to the world of the dead. Tialys and Lyra have a heated confrontation in the suburbs. Tialys tries to make Lyra do as he tells her to do as he says but Lyra launches into a tirade about how Tialys knows nothing about her and how she feels. After this is over Tialys is, once again, forced to back down. Tialys never grows to really like the girl, but begins to admire her courage, and she his. While entering the world of the dead, Tialys tries to kill No-Name the harpy, to defend Lyra. Later, he bargains with the harpies, and Lyra marvels at his nerve; the harpies could kill him with one slash of their claws and yet Tialys remains proud and fearless.
Tialys dies when attacking a cliff-ghast, having dug his spurs deep into her neck. Will in particular is stricken with grief, and openly cries heavily. Tialys was buried in a small grave alongside the Lady Salmakia.
Lady Salmakia
The Lady Salmakia is a protagonist and Gallivespian spy in The Amber Spyglass. She, like her partner the Chevalier Tialys, is sent to guide Will Parry and Lyra BelacquaLyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
, but she is determined instead to obey them. She is described as 'strong, capable, ruthless, and proud'. She is also a much more calm and diplomatic individual than her partner, the Chevalier Tialys. When Lyra looks at her properly for the first time, quite a while after meeting her, she strikes Lyra as possessing a distinct maternal quality. The Lady Salmakia is not beautiful, but her face is exactly one that a suffering person would be happy to see, and her voice has a current of laughter that is also ideal, Lyra thinks, for reading to a child. Salmakia wears a similar costume to Tialys, spurred feet and a green blouse but with a silver skirt.
The lady first meets the children at the same time as the Chevalier, and seemingly takes a dislike to them (as with the Chevalier, Lyra in particular). She attacks Pantalaimon after Lyra laughs at her tiny size, and holds her spur against his leg. Lyra sees this as a violation. The Lady later goes on to defuse the situation between Tialys and Iorek Byrnison, when it revealed that the spies have been double-crossing the children.
Later on, when on the boat crossing into the world of the dead, Salmakia wonders if Gallivespians have dæmons too, since the journey causes her and her partner terrible pains in their hearts. When entering the world of the dead, she also sneaks up on No-Name the harpy, spurring her in the foot, but this has no real effect. She bargains with No-Name later, agreeing that the ghosts should tell No-Name and her sisters true stories about the real world. Even later the situation becomes even more reversed when No-Name saves Lyra's life; Salmakia begins to thank No-Name again and again. Salmakia, true to her kindly face and almost motherly demeanour, is the voice of encouragement to cross the Abyss.
Lady Salmakia dies very shortly after Tialys, when the last of her energy has run out. She, like the Chevalier, has made a lasting impression on the children. She was buried in a grave next to Tialys.
Lord Boreal
Lord Carlo Boreal, or Sir Charles Latrom, CBECBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
as he is known as in Will Parry's world, serves as a minor character in Northern Lights, but is a main antagonist in The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife, the second novel in the book His Dark Materials series, was written by English novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1997. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she investigates the mysterious Dust phenomenon and searches for her father...
. He is an old Englishman, appearing to be in his sixties. He normally wears pale suits and is described as smelling sweetly.
Lord Boreal is first seen in Lyra Belacqua's world at the cocktail party of Mrs. Coulter
Marisa Coulter
Marisa Coulter is a fictional character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and one of the main antagonists of Northern Lights. As with her lover, Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter undergoes several transformations during the series.-Lyra:In the beginning of the book The Northern Lights Marisa...
. He interacts shortly with Lyra. He is also mentioned just before Lord Asriel crosses the bridge to Cittàgazze in Northern Lights as being a lover of Mrs. Coulter
Marisa Coulter
Marisa Coulter is a fictional character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and one of the main antagonists of Northern Lights. As with her lover, Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter undergoes several transformations during the series.-Lyra:In the beginning of the book The Northern Lights Marisa...
's.
Nothing is heard of Lord Boreal until The Subtle Knife. While Lyra is exploring a museum in Will's world and looking at trepanned skulls, he watches her quietly. He then approaches her and appears to be a kindly old man who converses with her about the skulls. Lyra recognizes him, but is unsure of his identity.
Later, when Lyra is being chased by the men who are after John Parry's notes, Latrom is in a limousine with a personal driver and offers her a lift, taking her to Summertown. He hands her back her rucksack, from which, Lyra later discovers, the alethiometer is missing, stolen by Boreal. They go to his home, where Will accidentally reveals Lyra's real name, notices a serpent on Boreal's body, and guesses correctly that it is his dæmon
Dæmon (His Dark Materials)
A dæmon is a manifestation of a person's soul in the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Humans in every universe are said to have dæmons, although in some universes they are visible as entities physically separate from their humans, and take the form of animals, while in other universes...
. Lord Boreal tells them that they must get the Subtle Knife for him from Cittàgazze and he will return to them the Alethiometer.
After retrieving the knife Lyra and Will attempt to steal the Alethiometer back. Will, using the subtle knife, breaks into Boreal's house, while Lyra remains outside where she sees Mrs. Coulter arriving at the house. Will listens to a conversation between Coulter and Boreal, and then steals the Alethiometer. Lyra and Will escape as Boreal tries to shoot the intruders, unaware of who they really are.
Boreal next appears in the office of Mary Malone. He tells her, and her colleague Dr. Oliver Payne, that he will fund their studies further and prevent their shutting down if they specifically continue experimenting under his approval. Malone, however, sees the deceit in his promises.
Later, Boreal is in a tent in the mountains of Cittàgazze and is talking to Mrs. Coulter, who drugs his drink and makes him tell her of the subtle knife. He dies shortly after from the poisoned drink. This is all seen by a witch, Lena Feldt, who then is discovered by Mrs. Coulter and tortured into telling her Lyra's true name: Eve, mother of all.
Boreal's body is later discovered in the tent by Will in The Amber Spyglass. His pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, Latrom, is "mortal" spelled backwards. Whether or not if this has a significance to the story is unknown.
Ruta Skadi
Ruta Skadi is the LatviaLatvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n witch queen, and a lover of Lord Asriel. Her dæmon is a bluethroat
Bluethroat
The Bluethroat is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae...
named Sergi. She is 416 years old (The Subtle Knife), and makes appearances in The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
She accompanies Serafina Pekkala and her companions on part of their journey. She leaves, first to see the angels up above her, and she wants to help them because Lord Asriel is with them. She brings news of a mysterious weapon which turns out to be the Subtle Knife after overhearing tell of it from cliff ghasts. She is described as being very passionate, powerful, pitiless and beautiful, and has black hair
Black hair
Black hair is the darkest and most common of all human hair colors globally. It is a dominant genetic trait, and it is found in people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. It has large amounts of eumelanin and is less dense than other hair colors. Black hair is known to be the shiniest of all hair...
and large black eyes. She wears a crown made of the teeth of tigers she killed when a tribe that worshiped them offended her. She has been a lover of Lord Asriel; when it is revealed to the witches that Lyra, Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter's daughter, is to become the second Eve, Ruta laments that as Asriel's lover, she did not become Lyra's mother, reflecting on what Lyra would have been like as a witch. In the play adaptation, however, she commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
after killing John Parry, her lover, in place of a more minor character (Juta Kamainen) who does not appear in the adaptation. The second part of her name, "Skadi" is a reference to a Nordic winter goddess.
Xaphania
Xaphania is the leader of the rebel angels allied with Lord Asriel in the war against The Authority.Xaphania first appears in the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass is the third and final novel in the His Dark Materials series, written by English author Philip Pullman, and published in 2000....
, at a council of Asriel's commanders. Like all Pullman's angels, she appears naked, winged, and luminous; due to her high rank and great age, she is clearly visible to corporeal beings. As is the norm with members of the angelic orders in the novels, there is a certain ambiguity surrounding Xaphania's exact appearance. She appears both ancient and young, compassionate and austere. Her simultaneous age and youth are remarked on by the witch Serafina Pekkala, who herself appears that way to shorter-lived people.
The angel Balthamos is the first character to refer explicitly to Xaphania. As he explains to Will Parry, she discovered that the Authority had lied to the other angels regarding his status as God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
the original Creator
Creator deity
A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world . In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities...
and so was banished from the Clouded Mountain. This was the start of the first struggle against the Kingdom, Xaphania being the leader of the rebel angels who intervened in human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
to give mankind its present consciousness some thirty thousand years ago.
Towards the end of trilogy, and after the defeat of the Authority's forces, it is Xaphania who explains to Will and Lyra Belacqua that all the windows between the worlds must be sealed to prevent Dust from leaking away into the abyss, and that the Æsahættr (the Subtle Knife) must be destroyed.
Fra Pavel
Fra Pavel Rašek is a representative and alethiometrist of the Consistorial Court of Discipline. He is said to be a thorough but sluggish reader of the truth measure, requiring weeks or months to take an accurate reading. He was, however, successful in obtaining information useful to the Consistorial Court in a relatively short period of time, according to Marisa Coulter. He appears to be uncomfortable when voicing potentially heretical discoveries.His dæmon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
takes the form of a frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
.
Roger Parslow
Roger Parslow, a young kitchen boy and youngest of the Parslow family that had long been employed as masons for Jordan College, was the best friend of Lyra Belacqua during her early life in Jordan College. Like Lyra, Roger possessed a strong sense of adventure, though he was often the cautioning voice when Lyra got too ambitious, and he and Lyra had explored all over Jordan, from the roofs, over the grounds, to the cellars and crypts. Roger's dæmonDæmon (His Dark Materials)
A dæmon is a manifestation of a person's soul in the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Humans in every universe are said to have dæmons, although in some universes they are visible as entities physically separate from their humans, and take the form of animals, while in other universes...
, named Salcilia, often appears as a terrier.
Roger was kidnapped by the General Oblation Board ("the Gobblers") and taken to their experimental center in Bolvangar. When Lyra arrived there he assisted her in helping the children escape, once more proving his loyalty, and going on with her to see Lord Asriel in Svalbard. However this is his downfall, for which Lyra
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
later blamed herself, because Asriel uses Roger to create a hole between worlds by separating him from Salcillia, killing him in the process of channeling the energy from that separation to create the hole.
Roger's character was totally absent in The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife, the second novel in the book His Dark Materials series, was written by English novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1997. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she investigates the mysterious Dust phenomenon and searches for her father...
, but in The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass is the third and final novel in the His Dark Materials series, written by English author Philip Pullman, and published in 2000....
, he makes a surprising reappearance when Lyra encounters him lost and scared, trapped in the Land of the Dead, but eventually she manages to set him free to merge with the Dust in the living worlds. She arranged for this to be a release for all the dead willing to obey the necessary guidelines; but Roger was the first to leave the World of the Dead.
The Housemaid Mrs. Lonsdale is related to him. There is a boy named “Simon Parslow”, but it is not known whether Simon is related to Roger.
Metatron
Metatron is the Regent of Heaven and the true antagonist of His Dark MaterialsHis Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
, and seeks to supplant the Authority, destroy Lord Asriel and his army, and kill the heroine Lyra Belacqua. His personal power is immense, and he is shown as descending from the sky at one point to demolish an unknown amount of land (before Lyra and Will escape through a portal.) He is betrayed and killed by Mrs. Coulter, who unknowingly imitates Lyra by promising him herself as a prize for his victory over Lord Asriel, but conspires with Asriel to destroy him, the two sacrificing their existences to drag Metatron into an abyss between the universes to ensure that he can never threaten Lyra again. He is stated to have been the Biblical character Enoch
Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...
, who is in the line between Adam and Noah. He appears only in The Amber Spyglass.