Coulter, Marisa

From Srafopedia

Coulter, Marisa
Full Name: Marisa Coulter World: Lyra's World Dæmon: Golden monkey Species: Human Gender: Female

Lyra's mother and head of the Church's General Oblation Board. Her dæmon is a golden monkey whose name is never mentioned in the books. In the BBC Radio 4 dramatisation her dæmon is called Ozymandias. She dies with Lord Asriel, her ex-lover, by killing Metatron.

Contents 1 Appearance and Personality 2 Personal Relations 3 Role in Trilogy 4 Dæmon 5 Movie Adaptions 6 Stage Adaptions 7 Theories

Appearance and Personality

Mrs. Coulter is described as being extremely beautiful. She has long dark hair that comes to her waist, fair skin and dark eyes. She is very intelligent and clever, but usually works for her own ends. She is manipulative and a very convincing liar. Every act of kindness or consideration is for her benefit only. She has no sense of compassion, will do almost anything to reach her goals. She is not sympathetic or sentimental, and doesn't particularly care how her actions affect other people. She has tortured, killed and torn children in half all for the sake of raising herself higher.

From a young age she craved power, first attempting to obtain it through marrying a wealthy politician, Edward Coulter. When her husband was killed by her lover Lord Asriel she was left with almost nothing and decided to try to get power through the Church. She decided to experiment with Dust, a new kind of elementary particle that the Church knew about, but would not experiment with because it was feared subject. Mrs Coulter realized that daring to do what others won't, is an extremely useful tool for gaining power. After conducting several successful experiments in the North that severed children from their dæmons and stopped Dust from gathering around them, she became one of the Church's most powerful agents.

Mrs Coulter captures the children by manipulating them. She gives them food, tells her exciting stories of adventures, and generally gives warm hospitality. The children feel comfortable with her, and so they are shipped to Bolvangar before they realize what has happened. The children describe her as 'angelic.'

Personal Relations

Marisa Coulter has one daughter. Lyra, the protagonist of the trilogy is the product of an affair between Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel while Mrs Coulter was still married to Edward Coulter. When Mr Coulter found out his wife was having an affair he chased the baby Lyra and her nurse into a cottage where Lord Asriel came in and killed him. In the months that followed, when Lyra's future life was being worked out Mrs Coulter turned her back. She wanted to distance herself as far away from her daughter and the affair as she could because it would disgrace her and ruin her chances at becoming high in society. It is assumed that she has had many lovers since then, including Lord Boreal.

Role in Trilogy

When she starts experimenting with Dust and children she realizes that she wants Lyra after all and gets her from Jordan College where she has been raised. However, currents run stronger in Lyra than Mrs Coulter can change and when she realizes what Mrs Coulter does to children she runs away. She organizes massive searches for Lyra all along the fens and in gyptian boats, eventually getting impatiant and sending her a Spy-fly. Near the end of the book at Bolvangar she discovers some of the scientists there about to cut Lyra away from her dæmon just in time to save her. She comforts Lyra, though her real intention is to get the Alethiometer from her. Lyra once again escapes.

At the very end of the first book, she follows Lyra up to the top of Svalbard only to find Lord Asriel there making a bridge through to other worlds. They kiss passionately and he asks her to come with him and destroy Dust. She declines but clearly for the first time her heart is open.

In The Subtle Knife Mrs Coulter is first seen torturing a witch who knows the prophecy about Lyra. Serafina Pekkala kills the witch before she can say anything. Next she is seen Will's world, at the house of Lord Boreal. Lord Boreal has stolen the Alethiometer from Lyra, and unbeknownst to Lord Boreal and Mrs. Coulter, Lyra and Will are there at that moment stealing it back. The golden monkey sees Lyra but she escapes just in time with the Aletheometer.

Following Lyra into Cittàgazze, she is unharmed by Specters because she has promised them that she can give them much more than what they will get if they kill her. She manipulates Lord Boreal into telling her about what the knife can do, then puts poison into his wine. He dies, and she also kills Lena Feldt, the witch spy, with a Specter. She catches up to Lyra and kidnaps her.

In The Amber Spyglass she kidnaps Lyra and keeps her in a drugged sleep. She knows that Lyra is in danger and wants to protect her but she also knows that Lyra would never willingly be in her presence. Therefore, she decides to drug her into sleep. She believes this is a way of showing love but this is usually interpreted as just another display of Mrs Coulter’s cruel and selfish personality. She can't make Lyra be with her, so she forces her through drugs. Her exact motivation is open to interpretation, but it seems true that she was trying to protect Lyra, keep her with her, and mother her, and not primarily to use her as a pawn. On the other hand, her actions show her selfish disregard for Lyra's freedom and wishes.

She lives in a cave and acts very nice to the villagers, especially a young girl named Ama. When Will comes to rescue Lyra, she manipulates him and causes him to break the subtle knife. Will finally rescues Lyra from Mrs. Coulter's clutches.

When Lyra is rescued Mrs Coulter is captured and taken to Lord Asriel, she steals the Intention Craft and flies it to Geneva, where she turns herself in to the Magisterium. While there, the Magisterium steals a lock of Lyra's hair from her locket to use in the bomb. Mrs. Coulter accompanies Father MacPhail to Saint-Jean-les-Eaux, where with the help of Lord Roke she almost succeeds in retreiving the hairs. After the explosion, she is taken back to the Basalt Fortress. She goes to the Clouded Mountain during the Battle on the Plain, where she tricks Metatron, the regent of the Kingdom of Heaven who wants to kill Lyra, into thinking she will betray Lord Asriel and Lyra to him. Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel kiss, declare their love for one another and sacrifice themselves so their daughter has time to live out her life they drag Metatron down into the Abyss where they will continue to fall forever.

Dæmon

Mrs Coulter's dæmon is a golden monkey, named as Ozymandias by BBC radio. He appears to be the nasty side of Mrs Coulter's personality, sneakier and more violent: for example, in The Amber Spyglass he appears to take pleasure in removing the wings from live bats. Lyra and fellow children fear him and his unpredictability more than Mrs Coulter herself.

Movie Adaptions

Nicole Kidman played Mrs Coulter in the film adaption[1] Phillip Pullman always pictured her as Nicole Kidman. He thought she was the perfect cast for Mrs Coulter's character. He even said that the description of her having dark hair was actually a typo, and that Mrs Coulter having blonde hair in the film created a larger connection with Lyra.

Stage Adaptions

Patricia Hodge played Mrs Coulter in the first run of the National Theatre play and Lesley Manville played her in the second run

Theories

It has been suggested that her last name comes from American political pundit Ann Coulter.