Byrnison, Iorek
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Iorek Byrnison is an Armored Bear, also known as a panserbjørne. He is a strong friend of Lyra Belacqua and also of Lee Scoresby. He was originally exiled from Svalbard, his homeland and that of all panserbjørne.
History
Iorek Byrnison was born a prince among the armored bears, heir to the throne of Svalbard. He was a rival to the bear Iofur Raknison, an ambitious, crafty, and powerful creature.
During a battle with another bear over a female bear, Iorek Byrnison broke the rules of combat and killed the other bear in his rage. The reason for this death was a failure on the part of the other bear to give the signal of yielding to Iorek's superiority. This was probably due to Iofur Raknison drugging the bear with a special herb that muddled his mind. Because it was forbidden to kill another panserbjørne, Iorek was exiled from Svalbard and stripped of his armor, the bear equivalent of a human's dæmon.
Iorek met Lee Scoresby during one of his mercenary campaigns in his exile. This was, specifically, the Tunguska Campaign, which is said by Philip Pullman to be described in more detail in Once Upon a Time in the North. While in that campaign, Iorek saved Lee Scoresby's life, and Scoresby did the same for the bear, lifting him away from enemies in his weather balloon. By this time, Iorek Byrnison had remade his armor from Sky Iron, revealing the main difference between dæmons and bear armor; armor can be reconstucted if lost, while dæmons are irreplaceable.
Later into his exile, Iorek Byrnison came to Trollesund, the main port town in Lapland. He began to drown his sorrows in alcohol, and while he slept, the people of Trollesund stole his armor and hid it away from the bear. After waking up, Iorek Byrnison went into a rage and destroyed much of the town and killed some men. Declaring that he had to pay for the damages he caused, the townsfolk essentially blackmailed Iorek Byrnison into indentured labor, refusing to return his armor until he worked off the damages, though it is doubtful they ever would have given the armor back.
Iorek remained in virtual slavery in Trollesund for some time (it is not certain how long), Lyra and the Gyptians came to Trollesund, and came looking to Iorek Byrnison for mercenary work. Iorek told them that if they could return his armor, he would serve them on their campaign until he was dead or they achieved victory. Lyra used her Alethiometer to divine where the armor was being kept. It was stored in the priest's house, where he had been trying to remove a spirit he believed was inside. Iorek rampaged through the priest's house and managed to regain his armor, luckily with no casualties, though he was aided somewhat by Lee Scoresby, who was being employed by the Gyptians as well. Thus began Iorek's journey with Lyra's party.
Iorek Byrnison was key in the protection of the Gyptian caravan to Bolvangar. He continued with Lyra, Roger, Lee Scoresby, Serafina Pekkala, and several other witches on their trip to Svalbard to save Lyra's father, Lord Asriel despite his being exiled. Lee Scoresby's balloon was hit by a storm and cliff-ghasts and Lyra, Roger, and Iorek Byrnison were lost from the balloon. Iorek Byrnison was with Roger and he began traveling toward Iofur Raknison's palace where he was sure Lyra was. Once the Palace was within sight, Iorek had Roger hide in the snow and he continued onward, fully clad in his armor. Upon arriving, he discovered that Lyra had tricked Iofur Raknison into believing that she was Iorek's dæmon and she had persuaded him to face Iorek Byrnison in single combat for rulership of Svalbard. Iorek defeated Iofur and became the undisputed leader of the panserbjørne. He brought Lyra to her father and was one of the first to see the bridge opened by Lord Asriel to the next universe.
Iorek, after ruling Svalbard for some time, eventually ecountered Serafina Pekkala while hunting. After speaking with the witch queen and learning of Lee Scoresby's death, Iorek swam out into the new world that had opened up, where he discovered the preserved body of Lee Scoresby. He ate the aëronaut's body then returned to his world where he prepared a ship and crew along with his bears and they began to journey south to the Himalayas by way of Eurasia's river systems. Because Lord Asriel had opened the portal to Cittàgazze's world, the natural order of Lyra's had been confused, so that Svalbard where the bears lived was warming rapidly. Iorek reasoned that the cold mountains of the Himalayas would be fine for the bears to survive in until the climate stabilized.
While on a river in the north of Eurasia, Iorek Byrnison encountered Will Parry in a town that the bears sought fuel in. Will challenged the bear and using the subtle knife cut his helmet to pieces. Iorek accepted Will's dominance and traveled with him further into the river. Along the way, they disembarked from the ship and traveled inland into the Himalayas, where Will found the girl Ama, who knew of the whereabouts of Lyra. Iorek allowed Will to go alone to find the girl. After some traveling, without his bears, Iorek rediscovered Lyra and Will with a pair of Gallivespian spies, Tialys and Salmakia. Will had broken the subtle knife, and after consulting the alethiometer, Iorek agreed to fix the blade. Iorek then left the party to continue onto the world of the dead, and he went his own way.
Iorek Byrnison returned to see Lyra again when he and his bears assisted in the main battle between the army of the Authority and Lord Asriel's forces. He managed to get Lyra and Will to their dæmons, and also allowed them to escape.
After Will taught the angels how to close the windows between worlds, it can be assumed that the climate in Lyra's world returned to normal, allowing Iorek and the panserbjørne to return North to Svalbard, since the Himalayas in fact could not support the bears.
Personality
Iorek Byrnison, being a bear, cannot have his personality compared to that of humans. He is a hurricane, with a calm eye and a ferocious surrounding. He is charismatic as far as bears go. He is clearly capable of love, since it seems obvious that he loved Lyra, and is completely dedicated to his word, honest to his soul. He is a powerful fighter, and, not being human, cannot be tricked, as is evidenced by Lyra's failure to fence with him. Though he does not earn the trust of many humans, he most certainly has of Will, Lyra, and Serafina Pekkala, as well as the late Lee Scoresby.
