Lord Asriel
Lord Asriel is a male literary character who features in His Dark Materials.
Contents |
Biography
Lord Asriel
In Asriel's adulthood he was a sitting member of the Brytish Parliament, where he defeated the Watercourse Bill. He also saved a man named Sam Broekman from a person of Turkish descent. In 1953. there were floods in the Fens with Asriel saving the life of two gyptian children named Ruud and Nellie Koopman by diving into the water. Lord Asriel came to be a highly respected member of the Brytish aristocracy. He was an explorer and did work in experimental theology, through which he acquired much power, land, and money. This all changed when he had an affair with Marisa Coulter which resulted in a child in 1985. Asriel hid the child in one of his own estates, trusting her to Ma Costa and Marisa pretended the baby had died. However, Marisa's husband, Edward Coulter, came after Asriel. He upturned the cottage looking for the baby before starting towards the main estate. Just as he was about to open the closet where Ma Costa was hiding with Lyra, Asriel challenged Edward to a duel. Edward had a gun which he shot, missing, Asriel took it off him before turning it on Edward, shooting and killing him. However, as a consequence, Asriel was taken to court and subsequently lost most of his money and property and, along with it, his power for killing a man as, even in self defence, Edward was revenging his wife. With these events, she was abandoned by her mother and her father wasn't allowed to go within 50 miles of her and so Lyra was eventually sent to a convent by the court, however, since Asriel despised the Holy Church, he would take Lyra to Jordan College with him instead in 1986. Malcolm Polstead, who worked at The Trout Inn, opposite to the priory in which Lyra was being kept, took Lyra in his canoe to Lord Asriel who was in London during the floods. At Jordan, she was raised by Lord Asriel as his niece.
Asriel, pretending to go and visit the King of Lapland, went on an expedition to the North in which he took photograms of Dust and of Cittàgazze, a city in another world, seen through the Aurora. It would be here where he would also meet the explorer known as Stanislaus Grumman. When he returned to his alma mater to present his findings to his fellow scholars at Jordan in the Retiring Room, Dr Carne, the Master of Jordan College, attempted to kill him by poisoning a bottle of Tokay when no one was around. Lyra, who ended up hiding in the wardrobe in the room to avoid getting caught while exploring, saved Asriel's life by warning him not to drink it. Asriel ordered Lyra to go back into the wardrobe, presented his findings to the scholars, including showing them what they took as Stanislaus's skull. He asked the scholars for money and, after being shocked by his photograms of Dust and of the Aurora, they granted him the funds. Having acquired the necessary funds for his expedition, Asriel departed immediately. He travelled to Svalbard but was imprisoned by Iofur Raknison and the panserbjørne on the orders of the General Oblation Board, mainly Marisa. Despite being imprisoned, Asriel was able to obtain everything he required in order to create a window to another world by bribing the king bear with money. Asriel was about to choose where he wanted his imprisonment house to be, and how he wanted it designed. He was given coal-spirit by the bears and, claiming he was entitled to it, could have visitors come and visit him to bring him gifts and was even allowed to keep his servant, Thorold. He was able to trick the bear. However, to complete his experiment and open the gateway into the world in the Aurora he would need a child. If he performed intercision, a huge, powerful burst of anbaricity would be produced when the human and dæmon split which he intended to harness and to rip open the barrier between the worlds with.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Lord Asriel was a tall and powerfully built male with black hair and black eyes. His movements reflecting his intimidating presence with Lyra considering his voice to be harsh.
Lord Asriel's dæmon took the shape of a female snow leopard named Stelmaria. Stelmaria was quiet, strong, and highly intelligent. She had piercing green eyes. Her dominance of Roger Parslow's dæmon, Salcilia, was crucial to Asriel's success in breaking through the aurora to Cittàgazze, and her strength was further demonstrated in the final battle with Metatron where both she and her human, along with Marisa Coulter and her dæmon, met their ends in the Abyss.
Powers and abilities
Asriel had a way of dominating a situation of place, with his immense power and knowledge. He was able to trick and persuade Iofur Raknison showing he could influence and was very clever, being able to trick a bear.
Lord Asriel, being able to calculate the power it would take to open the gateway between the worlds, showed he was extremely intelligent.
Similar to many people on his world, he had a Dæmon that was the manifestation of his soul. In his case, this took the form of Stelmaria who was in the shape of a snow leopard.
Notes
- Lord Asriel was created by Philip Pullman where he featured in the setting of His Dark Materials universe.
In other media
Television
Films
Appearances
- His Dark Materials:
External Links
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