- Marisa Coulter
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Marisa Coulter First appearance Northern Lights/The Golden Compass Last appearance The Amber Spyglass Created by Phillip Pullman Portrayed by Nicole Kidman Information Species Human Spouse(s) Mr Edward Coulter (husband; deceased)
Lord Asriel (lover; deceased)
Lord Boreal (lover; deceased)Children Lyra Belacqua (daughter) Age 33 to 35 through the main trilogy Date of death 1997 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 (as she is usually called) undergoes several transformations during the series.
Contents
Relationships with other Characters
Lyra
In the beginning of the book The Northern Lights Marisa Coulter seems to have a keen interest in Lyra. It is then revealed that Coulter is in fact Lyra's mother by her love affair with Lord Asriel (her title of "Mrs." comes from her widowed marriage to Edward Coulter, who died before the events in the book.) Although throughout most of the series Lyra hates and fears her mother, Phillip Pullman has stated that in fact every time Coulter appears she saves Lyra.
For example at the beginning of The Northern Lights Mrs. Coulter saved Lyra from the Gobblers by taking her out of Oxford, and nearing the end of The Northern Lights, Mrs. Coulter yet again saves Lyra from having her daemon cut away (a process known as intercision.) A distraught Mrs. Coulter cries out for Lyra - and Lyra passes out. When Lyra suddenly opens her eyes again, she is lying in a soft, comfortable bed with a recovering Pan at her side. Mrs. Coulter immediately reassures Lyra she's safe and, on her daughter's instruction, explains to her gently why children have to be intercised at such a young age, commenting on their "unhappy thoughts and feelings". When Lyra asks why Mrs. Coulter herself saved her, Mrs. Coulter eventually reveals that she is, in fact Lyra's mother.
Mrs. Coulter also struggles with her identity of being Lyra's mother due to her attachment to the church. She is then forced to make choice between Lyra and the church when it is revealed that Lyra is the new "Eve" and if she gives in to temptation it will cause the death of everything. Coulter then chooses to save Lyra from the Magisterium at the end of The Subtle Knife, taking her to a cave and keeping her drugged there at the beginning of The Amber Spyglass.
Lord Asriel
As mentioned above, Mrs. Coulter gave birth to Lyra because of an affair with Lord Asriel. In the book Northern Lights it is stated by John Faa that she fell in love with him as soon as they met.
Description
Mrs. Coulter is described as being 35 years old in The Amber Spyglass.
She is described as being 'beautiful and young' with 'sleek black hair' that 'framed her cheeks' and slim.[1] Given that the details of characters' physical appearances are not often given in His Dark Materials (for example, it is a long time before it is mentioned that the protagonist, Lyra, is blonde), this is an unusual attention to physical detail. However, Philip Pullman did not disapprove of the physical change made in the film adaptation of Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, claiming to regret not making Mrs. Coulter blonde in the first place.
There is a reference in Lyra's Oxford to Mrs. Coulter having written an academic work called 'The Bronze Clocks of Benin'
Mrs. Coulter's dæmon takes the form of a golden monkey with long fur, who is not named in the books, but was given the name "Ozymandias" in the radio adaptation. A few times throughout the books, the golden monkey is shown to be capable of going much further from Mrs. Coulter than other people's dæmons, for instance, the golden monkey was snooping around in Lyra's room to look for the alethiometer, when Lyra goes to live with Mrs. Coulter in London. The reason for the golden monkey being able to go far from Mrs. Coulter is never explained within the books; Mrs. Coulter has not undergone intercision (as evidenced when she struggles against members of the Church attempting to intercise her and her dæmon,) and she never mentions visiting the Land of the Dead, where Lyra, Will and John Parry, and all witches are separated from their dæmon without severing the link between them. Later, she jumps into an abyss with Asriel to destroy Metatron, thus ceasing to exist.
Adaptations
Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter in the film The Golden Compass.
- Emma Fielding played Mrs Coulter in the BBC version of His Dark Materials.
- Alison Dowling plays her in the Chivers Children's Audio Books version. Author Philip Pullman narrates the latter with a full cast.
- Patricia Hodge played Marisa Coulter in the first run of the National Theatre play, and Lesley Manville played her in the second run.[2]
- Nicole Kidman plays Mrs. Coulter in the film adaptation, The Golden Compass, with Daniel Craig joining her as Lord Asriel. Pullman had previously indicated that he would like to see Kidman play the role, although he had no role in the casting procedure.[3]
References and notes
- ^ Pullman, 1995, p.66
- ^ Marisa Coulter at Srafopedia hisdarkrmaterials.org (Accessed 13 November 2007)
- ^ His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (2007) IMDb (Accessed 18 July 2006)
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and related works Locations · Races · Terminology The Trilogy Companion books Characters Adaptations Other Categories:- His Dark Materials characters
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