Northern Lights (novel) - Characters

Characters

• Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon: The principal characters. Lyra is described as having blue eyes and blond hair, along with being short for her age and quite thin but is still quite attractive. Though young and attractive she is brave, curious, and crafty. Her dæmon is Pantalaimon, nicknamed Pan. Because she is still a child, Pan is capable of changing into any shape he wishes, through he frequently appears as a brown moth, a wildcat, a white ermine, and a mouse. Lyra has been prophesied by the witches to help the balance of life, but must do so without being aware of her destiny.

• Roger Parslow: One of Lyra's friends, a boy whose family works at Jordan College. When he is kidnapped and taken north, Lyra pursues him in hopes of rescuing him. He is killed at the end of Northern Lights by Lord Asriel.

• Lord Asriel: Lyra's uncle, though, it is later revealed that he is actually her father. His dæmon is Stelmaria, a Moroccan snow leopard.

• Marisa Coulter: An agent of the Magisterium, who does not hesitate to manipulate the Church to obtain funds for her projects. She is intelligent and beautiful, but extremely ruthless and callous. She is revealed to be Lyra's mother; as a result, she is unexpectedly kind to Lyra. Her dæmon is a golden monkey who, unusually, is not named throughout the trilogy.

• Iorek Byrnison: A panserbjørn (a race of armored white bears living in the far North with opposable thumbs and capable of human speech), first encountered in servitude having been tricked out of his armor, which Lyra helps him recover. He becomes very protective of Lyra and joins the expedition to find the children seized by Gobblers. After Lyra successfully tricks usurper Iofur Raknison into submitting to Iorek, Iorek gives her the name "Lyra the Silvertongue."

• Iofur Raknison: A panserbjørn who wants a dæmon and has usurped Iorek's authority as king. Lyra tricks him into fighting the exiled Iorek Byrnison by pretending to be Iorek's dæmon, and promising that when Iofur wins the fight, she will become his.

• Serafina Pekkala: A witch who closely follows Lyra on her travels. She is aware of Lyra's destiny. Serafina's dæmon is Kaisa, a snow goose, who is capable of physically moving separately from Serafina over long distances, a quality that only witches' dæmons appear to possess, although in the third book in the trilogy, The Amber spyglass, Lyra gets this capability. It is said she and Farder Coram had a son together.

• Lee Scoresby: A Texan aeronaut who transports Lyra in his balloon. He and Iorek Byrnison are good friends and Lee comes to see Lyra as a surrogate daughter. His dæmon is Hester, an arctic snow hare.

• Ma Costa: A Gyptian woman closely involved in the Syrian government. Her son Billy Costa is abducted by the evil "Gobblers". She rescues Lyra from Mrs Coulter and takes her to John Faa, a large man with sturdy hands.