Marisa Coulter

Marisa Coulter
Biographical information
Age	35
Death	Fell into the Abyss
Alias	Marisa van Zee
Physical information
Gender	Female
Hair	Blonde
Eyes	Dark
Family
Edward Coulter (husband) † Lyra Silvertongue (daughter)
Dæmon
settled as	a golden monkey
Affiliation
Occupation	Head of the G.O.B.
Loyalty	Holy Church (defected) Lord Asriel Royal Arctic Institute

Marisa Coulter née van Zee, was the head of the General Oblation Board and a long-time agent of the Holy Church before defecting. Her dæmon was a golden monkey whose name was never revealed. Her daughter was Lyra Silvertongue.

Biography

Early life

Marisa was born in 1962. At some point her dæmon settled as a golden monkey. She studied at St Sophia's College, Oxford, and wrote an academic work named The Bronze Clocks of Benin.

When she was 18, she travelled to Will's world and sat for a portrait at the artist Skipton's studio. It was there she met the art collector, Grinstead. The two were lovers for less than a month. At this time, Marisa was already involved in politics.

Affair with Lord Asriel

Marisa selected her lovers for their influence and power but she never became fond of a single one. She wasn't able to keep her servants either.

Marisa married politician Edward Coulter, but had an affair with Lord Asriel that resulted in a daughter, Lyra. The baby bore no resemblance to Edward, so Marisa hid the affair and claimed the infant had died. She handed responsibility to Asriel, who placed Lyra into the care of the gyptian boatwife, Ma Costa, and the two intended to live at a cottage on one of Asriel's estates in Oxfordshire.

Edward soon learned of the affair and came to the estate, ransacking the cottage and then duelling Asriel with pistols. Asriel shot Edward and he died, leaving Marisa a widow. She then wanted nothing more to do with Asriel or her daughter and Lyra was ordered to be raised at the Priory at Godstow.

It was around this time that Marisa began an academic investigation into the phenomenon of Dust, and had some sort of relationship with Gerard Bonneville, after which he developed an obsession with her. Just before the Great Flood of 1986, Marisa visited Hannah Relf at her home in Jericho and asked about her daughter's whereabouts, in a manner that suggested to Hannah that she had access to an alethiometer. There she also met Malcolm Polstead in passing, who unnerved her by mentioning Bonneville before her departure.

After the Flood, Asriel ensured that Lyra obtained scholastic sanctuary at Jordan College, and Marisa was prevented further access to her.

When Marisa learned that the Church was taking an interest in Dust and children, she became concerned for Lyra's safety. Seeking to protect her own child, Marisa travelled to Jordan College in order to bring Lyra back to London to live with her.

Reunited with Lyra

Marisa's dæmon fights with Pantalaimon

By 1995, Marisa had obtained a role within the Consistorial Court of Discipline, and began chairing her own organisation: The General Oblation Board of London. She was now ruthlessly investigating Dust and with a team of experimental theologians at her disposal was conducting experiments on abducted children. At this time, however, she arrived at Jordan College and met her estranged daughter, inviting her to become her assistant in her work. During her time in London, Lyra was educated in navigation, geography and mathematics as well as general survival training and adhering to societal norms and expectations of women. Amid her tutorship was the glamorous London life, however Lyra became frustrated and felt trapped, running away during a Cocktail Party after learning that Marisa was the leader of the Oblation Board, who Lyra had come to know as an urban myth called 'the Gobblers'. It was whilst under the care of the gyptians of Eastern Anglia that Lyra learned Marisa's true identity as her mother, and Asriel as her father. Marisa relentlessly pursued Lyra - sending spy-flies across England and using her political powers to begin a police search for a young girl of Lyra's description, however the two did not meet again until Lyra reached Mrs Coulter's research station at Bolvangar.

Bolvangar

Lyra learned the true horror of Mrs Coulter's work at Bolvangar, where she found severed dæmons and was nearly a victim of the intercision process under the Silver Guillotine. Mrs Coulter saved her life and the two discussed Dust before Lyra, repulsed by what her mother had been doing, released a trapped spy-fly and ran away once more. Marisa followed her onto the wastes around Bolvangar, whence Lyra escaped in the balloon of Lee Scoresby and travelled to Svalbard, where Asriel was exiled. At the opening into the new world on Svalbard, Asriel and Marisa were reunited, however she chose to walk away as Asriel and Lyra went into the new world.

Physical appearance

Marisa Coulter was described as very beautiful and alluring, with long blonde hair and dark eyes. She wore expensive, fashionable clothes and spoke with a soft, musical voice.

Personality

Marisa Coulter was a very beautiful, superficially charming woman. She was also very well-educated, especially for a woman in her world, and loved to associate with various people of status and influence. Yet behind the pretty mask hid a woman of iron, who allowed nothing to go against her or get in her way. Her anger is described more than once as having a metallic scent to it. She was notably manipulative, managing to use various church organisations and powerful individuals in her quest for power. Her ambition was a very important part of her; the main motivation for her marriage to Edward Coulter and her creation of the General Oblation Board was accumulation of political power.

Despite keeping composed and cool in most situations, her composure crumbled when she saw her own daughter in danger. She was also daring, ruthlessly pursuing her goals with no regard to morality, but she seemed somewhat wary to go against what she saw as the dominant power (the Church), and to give up her connections.

However, she did prove to have great love for her daughter in the end, saving her on several occasions, despite frequently receiving nothing but loathing in return. This kernel of goodness gradually began to overwhelm the sum of her negative traits as the war with the Authority grew closer.

Dæmon

Marisa Coulter's dæmon had the form of a male golden monkey. With both his golden fur and Marisa's looks, the pair were able to flatter, entice and threaten adults and children alike which made them great when working for the General Oblation Board or convincing people to do as they asked.

Personality

Like his human, Marisa Coulter's dæmon was often cruel. He reflected Coulter's personality as beautiful but on the surface but malevolent of intention. He rarely spoke and had a particular affinity for destruction, seen when he tore the wings off cave bats out of sheer boredom.

Behind the scenes

• In the film The Golden Compass, Marisa Coulter is played by Nicole Kidman, who was initially reluctant to play a villain.
• Although Northern Lights originally described Mrs Coulter as having "sleek black hair", after Nicole Kidman's performance, Philip Pullman has said in an interview that he "was clearly wrong" about her hair colour. All works published after The Golden Compass have described her as blonde and more recent editions of Northern Lights have been amended to describe her as having "sleek fair hair".
• In the BBC radio adaptation, she was portrayed by Emma Fielding.
• In the audiobook read by Philip Pullman, the role of Marisa Coulter was taken by Alison Dowling.
• Mrs Coulter was named the third biggest villain in the Big Bad Read poll after Lord Voldemort and Sauron.
• Mrs Coulter's dæmon was never named in the books, but took the name Ozymandias in the radio dramatisation. This change was not authorised by Pullman, who questioned why the scriptwriter made the choice. Malcolm Polstead notes that 'if that monkey had a name, it might be "Malice"'. Ozymandias is also the name the monkey was given in Northern Lights - The Graphic Novel.
• Her dæmon was always referred to as a golden monkey in the books, but the DVD boxset describes him as a golden lion tamarin. Philip Pullman's chapter illustration for Northern Lights Chapter 5, 'The Cocktail Party' shows the golden monkey as closely resembling a Green Monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus). The chapter illustration for La Belle Sauvage Chapter 14, 'Lady with Monkey' shows the golden monkey as resembling something like a large golden lion tamarin. Real-world golden monkeys include the Golden Monkey (Cercopithecus kandti) and the Golden snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana).

Appearances

• Northern Lights
• The Golden Compass (film)
• The Golden Compass (video game)
• The Subtle Knife
• The Amber Spyglass
• La Belle Sauvage