Lyra Belacqua
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lyra Belacqua is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a parallel universe to our own. Brought up in the cloistered world of Jordan College, Oxford, she finds herself embroiled in a cosmic war between angels and a false deity called The Authority.
Lyra's dæmon, Pantalaimon, is her dearest companion, and the embodiment of her soul. In common with all dæmons of children, he can take any animal form he pleases; he first appears in the story in the shape of a moth. His name is that of a saint in the orthodox churches, St. Panteleimon, and in Greek means "all-forgiving".
Lyra is the result of an illegitimate union between Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter. She was brought up at Jordan College, with the Scholars, the Professors, and the Servants all acting as a sort of collective family. Lyra is an unruly child and often exasperates those who try to care for her, such as the Jordan housekeeper and her tutors. Though she receives little formal education she is quick-witted and canny, becoming a natural leader to the college children and the "townies" of Oxford in their intermittent conflicts with the gyptians and the children of the nearby claybeds. One of her closest friends is the kitchen boy Roger Parslow, and it is her bond with him that motivates most of the action in Northern Lights.
Lyra earns the name Lyra Silvertongue when she fools Iofur Raknison, the King of the Bears, by telling him that she is the dæmon of Iorek Byrnison and that she is willing to change sides for the "strongest bear". Iofur, who is obsessed with the idea of being human, especially owning his own daemon, follows Lyra's orders. Lyra meets up with Iorek and confesses to what she has done, thinking Iorek would reprimand her or punish her. To her surprise, Iorek, impressed and grateful, calls her "Lyra Silvertongue." She adopts Silvertongue as her new surname, both out of pride that Iorek has gifted her with such a name and because she is estranged from her father after his murder of Roger Parslow.
It transpires that Lyra's destiny is to be literally the second Eve, and fall into the temptation of the serpent, or Mary Malone. When Lyra does this, by falling in love with the other main protagonist of the series, Will Parry, the catastrophic destruction of Dust in the abyss is corrected and the universes start to work in harmony again. She is also destined to "bring an end to death", and she does this by leading the ghosts out of the world of the dead. However, to carry out this destiny, she must make a great betrayal. If Lyra were to know of this betrayal before she had to make it, then she would never act upon her destiny. Thus it is essential that she remain ignorant as she performs her quest.
Basic description of Lyra is as follows:
- dark blonde
- blue eyes
- English
- thin of stature
- short for her age
- 12 years old
As Lyra comes to wisdom at the end of the trilogy, her beloved Pantalaimon settles upon the form of a pine marten.
In the film adaptation of Northern Lights, the first in the His Dark Materials trilogy, twelve-year-old London schoolgirl Dakota Blue Richards won the role of Lyra.
| Part of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series |
|---|
| Books |
| Northern Lights/The Golden Compass - The Subtle Knife - The Amber Spyglass Lyra's Oxford - The Book of Dust |
| Films |
| His Dark Materials: Northern Lights |
| Characters |
| Lyra Belacqua - Will Parry - Lord Asriel - Marisa Coulter - Iorek Byrnison - John Faa - Farder Coram - Serafina Pekkala - Lee Scoresby - Iofur Raknison - The Authority - Balthamos - Baruch - Mary Malone - Xaphania - Roger Parslow |
