Mrs. Coulter

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} {{more citations needed|date = June 2009}} {{Infobox character | name = Mrs. Coulter | image = | caption = | first = ''[[Northern Lights (Pullman novel)|Northern Lights]]'' | last = ''[[La Belle Sauvage]]'' | species = | family = Madame Delamare (mother) Marcel Delamare (brother) | spouse = Mr Edward Coulter (husband; deceased) [[Lord Asriel]] (former lover; father of Lyra Belacqua) | children = [[Lyra Belacqua]] (biological daughter) Olivier Bonneville (biological son) | full_name = Marisa Coulter ([[née]] Van Zee) | lbl21 = Age | data21 = 35 through the [[His Dark Materials|main trilogy]] | portrayer = [[Nicole Kidman]] ([[The Golden Compass (film)|film]]) [[Ruth Wilson]] ([[His Dark Materials (TV series)|TV series]]) | voice = [[Erin Mathews]] (video game) | creator = [[Philip Pullman]] }} '''Marisa Coulter''' ([[Given name|née]] '''Van Zee'''),<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Rose Field|last=Pullman|first=Philip}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/PhilipPullman/status/923595910692659201|title=Philip Pullman on Twitter|last=Pullman|first=Philip|date=26 October 2017|website=Twitter|access-date=26 October 2017}}</ref> known simply as '''Mrs. Coulter''', is a [[Character (arts)|character]] in [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' trilogy and one of the main [[antagonists]] of ''[[Northern Lights (Pullman novel)|Northern Lights]]'': the former lover of [[Lord Asriel]] and biological mother of [[Lyra Belacqua]].

==Description== Mrs. Coulter is 35 years old in the third novel, ''[[The Amber Spyglass]]''. She is described as being "beautiful and young" with "sleek black hair" that "framed her cheeks" and slim,<ref>Pullman, 1995, p.66</ref> though later accounts of her describe her as having blonde or "golden" hair.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Collectors|last=Pullman|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Pullman|publisher=David Fickling Books|location=Oxford, England|year=2014|isbn=978-1448197163}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=La Belle Sauvage|last=Pullman|first=Philip|publisher=David Fickling Books|year=2017|isbn=978-0-385-60441-3|location=Oxford, England|pages=270}}</ref><ref name="butler" /> 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 calculating, power-hungry and ruthless. She has political connections, and is highly placed and trusted in the Church's hierarchy, who give her a large degree of autonomy. She arranges for [[List of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust characters#Iorek Byrnison|Iorek Byrnison]], the heir to the throne of the [[Races and creatures in His Dark Materials#Armoured bears (panserbjørne)|armoured bears]], to be exiled, and plots to dominate the [[List of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust characters#Iofur Raknison|new king]], turning the bears into her subordinates. When Lyra is in danger in [[Bolvangar]], her maternal 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.<ref>[[The Subtle Knife]] p. 328: "What will you do to her? What will you do?" "Why, I shall have to destroy her", said Mrs. Coulter, "to prevent another Fall. Why didn't I see this before? It was too large to see".</ref> However, by the third book she finds herself torn, ultimately feigning loyalty to betray the Church and finally giving up her life to save Lyra. [[List of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust characters#Metatron|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:<ref name="metatron">The Amber Spyglass, p.419.</ref> : ''"Corruption and envy and lust for power. Cruelty and coldness. A vicious probing curiosity. Pure, poisonous, toxic malice. You have never from your earliest years shown a shred of compassion or sympathy or kindness without calculating how it would return to your advantage. You have tortured and killed without regret or hesitation; you have betrayed and intrigued and gloried in your treachery. You are a cess-pit of moral filth"''.

Despite this, Metatron describes her as lovelier than any wife he had, and he wishes to take her as his [[Queen consort|consort]].<ref name="metatron" /> This is her final deception as by this point she intends to betray Metatron to safeguard her daughter. She describes her self-perception to Asriel just prior to their joint sacrifice:<ref>The Amber Spyglass, p. 426-7</ref>

: ''"I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness. I wanted him to find no good in me and he didn't. There is none. But I love Lyra. Where did this love come from? I don't know; it came to me like a [[Parable of the Faithful Servant|thief in the night]], and now I love her so much my heart is bursting with it. All I could hope was that my crimes were so monstrous that the love was [[Parable of the Mustard Seed|no bigger than a mustard seed]] in the shadow of them, and I wished I'd committed even greater ones to hide it more deeply still"''.

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. The golden monkey is shown to be capable of going much further from Mrs. Coulter than other dæmons are able to [[Dæmon (His Dark Materials)#Separation|separate from their humans]]. How the golden monkey can go so far from Mrs. Coulter is not explained, Mrs. Coulter has not undergone any of the processes which enable other humans to achieve such separation. Her final act in the trilogy occurs when she is reconciled with Asriel, and they together drag Metatron into an endless [[abyss (religion)|abyss]], the three thus ceasing to exist.

==Relationship with Lyra Belacqua == At the beginning of the book ''[[Northern Lights (Pullman novel)|The Northern Lights]]'' Marisa Coulter seems to have a keen interest in [[Lyra Belacqua|Lyra]]. It is later revealed that Coulter is in fact Lyra's mother by her love affair with Lord Asriel (her title of "Mrs" comes from her marriage to Edward Coulter, who died before the events in the books.) In ''Northern Lights'' [[List of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust characters#John Faa|John Faa]] says that she fell in love with Asriel as soon as they met.

Although throughout most of the series Lyra hates and fears her mother, Mrs. Coulter repeatedly saves Lyra. Early in ''The Northern Lights'', Mrs. Coulter saves Lyra from a group of child-snatchers known as the "Gobblers" by taking her out of Oxford, and nearing the end of ''The Northern Lights'', she again saves Lyra from having her daemon cut away (a process known as intercision). A distraught Mrs. Coulter cries out for Lyra, who passes out. When Lyra suddenly opens her eyes again, she is lying in a soft, comfortable bed. Mrs. Coulter immediately assures Lyra that she is safe and, on her daughter's instruction, explains to her why children have to be intercised at such a young age, commenting on their "unhappy thoughts and feelings". Mrs. Coulter is ultimately forced to make a choice between Lyra and the church when it is revealed that Lyra is the new "[[Eve]]" whose death will be sought by the Church to prevent [[original sin]] re-entering the world. Coulter takes Lyra to a cave and keeps her drugged there at the beginning of ''The Amber Spyglass'' and ultimately saves Lyra at the end of ''[[The Subtle Knife]]''.

==Adaptations== [[File:Marisa Coulter.jpg|thumb|150px|Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter in the film ''[[The Golden Compass (film)|The Golden Compass]]''.]] * [[Emma Fielding]] played Mrs. Coulter in the [[BBC Radio 4]] version of ''His Dark Materials''. * Alison Dowling played her in the Chivers Children's Audio Books version, which author Philip Pullman narrated. * [[Patricia Hodge]] played Marisa Coulter in the first run of the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] [[His Dark Materials (play)|stage adaptation]] in London, and [[Lesley Manville]] played her in the second run.<ref>[http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/srafopedia/index.php/Coulter%2C_Marisa Marisa Coulter at Srafopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405060025/http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/srafopedia/index.php/Coulter,_Marisa |date=5 April 2013 }} ''hisdarkrmaterials.org'' (Accessed 13 November 2007)</ref> * [[Nicole Kidman]] played Mrs. Coulter in the film adaptation, ''[[The Golden Compass (film)|The Golden Compass]]''. Pullman had previously indicated that he would like to see Kidman play the role.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/ His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (2007)] ''[[IMDb]]'' (Accessed 18 July 2006)</ref> Kidman is blonde, though Pullman approved of the hair colour change made from the book's description, saying he regretted not making her blonde in the first place.<ref name="butler">{{Cite news|first=Robert|last=Butler |title=An Interview with Philip Pullman |newspaper=[[The Economist|Intelligent Life]] |date=3 December 2007 |url=http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/697 |access-date=5 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305011900/http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/697 |archive-date=5 March 2008 }}</ref> * [[Ruth Wilson]] plays Mrs. Coulter in the 2019 BBC television adaptation.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/his-dark-materials/news/a859191/his-dark-materials-tv-cast-ruth-wilson/|title=Luther's Ruth Wilson is the latest big name to join BBC's His Dark Materials|last=Mitchell|first=Bea|date=11 June 2018|work=[[Digital Spy]]|access-date=15 June 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> Her dæmon was changed from a [[golden monkey]] to a [[golden snub-nosed monkey]] in order to better reflect the two sides of Coulter's character.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ibc.org/create-and-produce/behind-the-scenes-his-dark-materials/5149.article|title=Behind the scenes: His Dark Materials|last=Pennington|first=Adrian|date=1 November 2019|work=IBC|access-date=7 November 2019|language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also== * [[List of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust characters|List of ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Book of Dust'' characters]] * ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' * [[Races and creatures in His Dark Materials|Races and creatures in ''His Dark Materials'']] * [[Locations in His Dark Materials|Locations in ''His Dark Materials'']]

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulter, Marisa}} [[Category:His Dark Materials characters]] [[Category:Female film villains]] [[Category:Fictional socialites]] [[Category:Female literary villains]] [[Category:Characters in 20th-century British novels]] [[Category:Characters in 21st-century British novels]] [[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1995]]