Marisa Coulter
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Marisa Coulter is a fictional character, the mother of Lyra Belacqua in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. In the series, she is usually referred to as Mrs. Coulter, which has confused readers about her name. Despite seeming infinitely charming and wonderful, we quickly learn that she has a darker more sinister side, and her image as a more deceptive, evil woman prevails for most of the trilogy. Her dæmon is a golden monkey with a cruel streak, who is never named and rarely (if at all) speaks.
In the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, Mrs Coulter is the head member of a particular faction of the Church known as the General Oblation Board (also known as "The Gobblers" among gyptians and street urchins). Under Mrs Coulter's guidance, The Oblation Board has been secretly kidnapping children from Lyra's world, and then proceeding to use them as "lab rats" for their experiments at their laboratory in Bolvangar. The Oblation Board thinks that by cutting away the child's dæmon, they can prevent the child from knowing sin.
Coulter is a widow who works for the Oxford colleges and the Church, but she had an affair with Lord Asriel while she was with her husband. The protagonist of the series, Lyra Belacqua, is in fact Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel's daughter.
Near the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass, Mrs Coulter redeems herself when she and Lord Asriel give their lives to kill the Regent Metatron and save their daughter Lyra so that she may safely fulfill the prophecy said of her and free the multiverse from the oppression of The Authority.
Film adaptation
On 14 July 2006 it was reported that actress Nicole Kidman is set to play the role of Mrs. Coulter in the forthcoming film adaptation, , with Paul Bettany joining her as Lord Asriel. Kidman has not yet officially agreed, however.[Nicole and Paul's dark materials] Daily Mail 14 July 2006 (Accessed 18 July 2006). Author Philip Pullman had previously indicated that he would like to see Kidman play the role, although he has no role in the casting procedure.[His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (2007)] IMDb (Accessed 18 July 2006)References and notes
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