In Northern Lights, as she leaves Jordan in the company of her mother, Mrs Coulter, the Master of the college gives her an alethiometer, which allows her to find answers on any subject.
[1] Searching for a kidnapped friend of hers, she ends up travelling to the far north of her world, and then across the multiverse, where she plays a part in a cosmic war between forces led by an angel named The Authority and her father, Lord Asriel.
Lyra is prophesied by the witches to play the part of Eve, bringing about a second fall; this is accomplished when she reaches maturity and starts attracting Dust, halting its loss from the multiverse.
Asriel is described as being "a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seem to flash and glitter with savage laughter".
[1] Possessed of enormous determination and willpower, he is fierce in nature and commands great respect in both the political and academic spheres, being a military leader and a fellow of Jordan College.
However, when she finds her daughter in peril at Bolvangar, she experiences a sudden realisation of intense maternal love and a wish to care for Lyra which outweighs her previous loyalty to the Church, and thereafter she goes to great lengths to shield her from the events around her.
Lyra finds him in a destitute condition in Northern Lights working in a scrap yard, being kept docile with a ready supply of spirits and proceeds to use her alethiometer to help him retrieve his armour.
[1] After the opening of a gate to Cittàgazze changes the climate of Svalbard, Iorek is forced to take his fellow armoured bears on a voyage down to the Himalayas, where he meets Will Parry.
He and a regiment of his subjects fight on Lord Asriel's side in the battle on the plains; as part of this he takes Lyra and Will to find their lost dæmons.
In the film The Golden Compass, Serafina Pekkala is played by Eva Green while Hellena Taylor voices her in the video game adaptation.
In Northern Lights, Lee is hired by John Faa and the Gyptians to aid in their mission to save the kidnapped children; following the rescue, he helps transport Lyra to Svalbard.
[2] American actor Sam Elliott plays Lee Scoresby in the 2007 film The Golden Compass while James Horan voices him in the video game adaptation.
[1] After usurping Iorek Byrnison as king of the armoured bears, he commands his subjects to build a palace of stone and wear ornamentation of gold and silver, which had been traditionally despised.
Lord Carlo Boreal, or Sir Charles Latrom, CBE as he is known as in Will Parry's world, serves as a minor character in Northern Lights, but is a main antagonist in The Subtle Knife.
In The Subtle Knife, Boreal watches Lyra exploring a museum in Will's world and approaches her, appearing to be a kindly old man whose only interest in her is to discuss the skulls.
Later, when Lyra is being chased by the men who are after John Parry's notes, Latrom is in a chauffeured limousine and offers her a lift, at which time he steals her alethiometer.
[2] In the 2007 final cut of The Golden Compass, Edward de Souza played the non-speaking role in a scene opposite Derek Jacobi and Christopher Lee, where is credited only as the Second High Councillor of the Magisterium.
Will becomes the companion of, and ultimately falls in love with, Lyra Belacqua, and also becomes the bearer of the Subtle Knife by winning a fight, in which he loses two fingers on his left hand.
At the end of the third book, he must leave Lyra Belacqua and live entirely in his own world, where he is taken care of by Mary Malone and his cat dæmon, Kirjava (which means 'mottled' in Finnish).
Dr Mary Malone is a physicist from Will's world investigating dark matter, which is equated with Dust, and is a point of view protagonist in The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
In The Subtle Knife, Lyra meets her and tells her about her world's research into Dust, which Mary equates with dark matter and refers to as Shadows.
[2] Fearon went on to portray the role of Will Parry's school boxing coach and mentor, Mr Hanway — created specifically for the adaptation — in the 2019→2022 television series, with Balthamos and Baruch being played by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Simon Harrison.
This was the start of the first struggle against the Kingdom, Xaphania being the leader of the rebel angels who intervened in human evolution to give mankind its present consciousness some thirty thousand years ago.
Towards the end of the trilogy, and after the defeat of the Authority's forces, it is Xaphania who instructs Will how to seal all the windows between the worlds, to prevent Dust from leaking away into the abyss, and informs him that the Æsahættr (the Subtle Knife) must be destroyed.
Her role is expanded in the TV series, where she gives the audience information about the Subtle Knife and also speaks to Dr Mary Malone through a machine called The Cave.
He attends school locally, and the Magisterium is seen influencing the young children by inviting them into a special club intended to intimidate and inform on people and events viewed unfavourably by the Church; Malcolm manages to avoid participating.
[6] When Malcolm accidentally stumbles upon Oakley Street operatives, he begins to become involved in some spying due to wanting to protect the infant Lyra whom the Church appears to be after.
The text implies that Bonneville has paedophilic inclinations: Oakley Street agents discuss using Malcolm as bait to blackmail him, and he makes advances towards a fifteen-year-old Alice.
Malcolm inherits Bonneville's research notes, and an alethiometer which he gives to the Master of Jordan College, when Lord Asriel seeks academic sanctuary for the infant Lyra.
In The Secret Commonwealth, Alice is revealed to be the same person as Mrs Lonsdale, the housekeeper of Jordan College who is a minor character in Northern Lights, by which time she has been married and widowed, Ben has settled as a terrier.