Marisa Coulter
| Marisa Coulter | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Northern Lights/The Golden Compass |
| Last appearance | The Amber Spyglass |
| Created by | Philip Pullman |
| Portrayed by | Nicole Kidman |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Spouse(s) | Mr Edward Coulter (husband; deceased) Lord Asriel (lover; dies with her in The Amber Spyglass) Lord Boreal (lover; killed by her with poison) |
| Children | Lyra Belacqua (daughter) |
| Age | 35 through the main trilogy |
Marisa Coulter is a fictional character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and one of the main antagonists of Northern Lights. She is the former lover of Lord Asriel and is usually called 'Mrs. Coulter'.
Mrs. Coulter is described as being 35 years old in the third novel, The Amber Spyglass. Physically, she is described as 'beautiful and young' with 'sleek black hair' that 'framed her cheeks' and slim. Such details of a character's physical appearances are uncommon in His Dark Materials. There is a reference in Lyra's Oxford to Mrs. Coulter having written an academic work called 'The Bronze Clocks of Benin'.
In the books she is portrayed as an elegant and cool-minded sophisticate; with social savoir faire, but she is also an extremely determined, calculating and a ruthless power-seeker with wide political connections, who is highly placed and trusted in the Church's hierarchy who give her a large degree of autonomy, which she uses for her own as well as their benefit. She arranges for Iorek Byrnison, the heir to the throne of the Armoured bears to be exiled, and plots to dominate the new king, turning the bears into her subordinates. When Lyra is in danger in Bolvangar, her motherly instincts override her other loyalties and she rescues Lyra, although in the second book of the trilogy she still expresses no qualms about killing her to prevent the Fall. However, by the third book she finds herself torn, ultimately feigning loyalty to betray the Church and finally giving up her life for Lyra's sake. Metatron, the Regent of the Authority describes her character in "the most searching examination Marisa Coulter had ever undergone", stripping away "all shelter and deceit" and describing that he sees:
Despite this, Metatron describes her as lovelier than any wife he had, and he wishes to take her as his consort. This is her final deception as by this point she intends to betray Metatron himself in order to safeguard her daughter. She describes her self-perception to Asriel just prior to their joint sacrifice:
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