Lord Asriel

Template:LBS Spoiler

Lord Asriel
Biographical information
Death	Fell into the Abyss
Title(s)	Lord
Physical information
Gender	Male
Hair	Black
Eyes	Black
Family
Lyra Silvertongue (daughter) Count Belacqua (brother) †
Dæmon
Name	Stelmaria
settled as	a snow leopard
Affiliation
World	Lyra's world
Occupation	Explorer Leader of the rebellion against the Authority
Loyalty	Royal Arctic Institute Jordan College

Lord Asriel was Lyra Silvertongue's father, and a powerful man who wished to destroy the kingdom of the Authority and replace it with the Republic of Heaven. His dæmon, Stelmaria, had the form of a snow leopard.

Biography

Floods

In 1953 there were floods in the Fens. Asriel saved the life of two gyptian children: Ruud and Nellie Koopman.

Affair with Marisa Coulter

Lord Asriel was a highly respected member of the British 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. Marisa's husband, Edward Coulter, came after him. Asriel challenged Edward to a duel, resulting in Edward's death. However, as a consequence, Asriel was taken to court and subsequently lost most of his money and property and along with it, his power. With these events and abandoned by her mother, Lyra was eventually sent to a convent, however, since Asriel despised the Holy Church, he would take Lyra to Jordan College with him instead. Here, she was raised by Lord Asriel as his niece.

First expedition to the North

Asriel went on an expedition to the North in which he took photograms of Dust and of Cittàgazze as seen through the Aurora Borealis. 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, 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 of the Retiring Room after nearly getting caught while exploring, saved Asriel's life by warning him not to drink it.

Second expedition to the North

Having acquired the necessary funds for his expedition, Asriel departed immedietly. He travelled to Svalbard but was imprisoned by Iofur Raknison and the panserbjørne on the orders of the General Oblation Board. Despite being imprisoned, Asriel was able to obtain everything he required in order to create a window to another world. By performing intercision on Roger Parslow, he tore a hole in the sky and entered the world of Cittàgazze.

Republic of Heaven

Allying himself with Xaphania and the rebel angels, Asriel constructed a basalt fortress in another world and began to gather an army from many worlds. He was the lover of Ruta Skadi, queen of the Lake Lubana clan of witches, who rallied many witch clans to his cause.

Later, he had his friend King Ogunwe and Lord Roke of the Gallivespians attempt to find Lyra, the second Eve. They captured Marisa Coulter, who had been keeping the girl hostage, but Lyra escaped with Will Parry and two of Lord Roke's agents. Lord Asriel then attended to Marisa and tried to influence Lyra and Will, as they held the key to renewing the Dust flow. Lord Asriel allowed Marisa to escape in an intention craft and had Lord Roke follow her to gain information from the Consistorial Court of Discipline. They found that the Church had made a bomb to kill Lyra. Lord Asriel rescued Mrs Coulter just in time, as well as destroying Saint-Jean-les-Eaux a moment too late with his intention craft.

Lyra survived, and Lord Asriel had his army search for her and Will's dæmons so that the Authority's armies couldn't control them. Lord Asriel found that the bomb blew a hole under all the worlds into the Abyss and came up with a plan to take down the Authority's powerful Regent, Metatron. As his army fought the armies of the Authority and the Church, Mrs Coulter tricked Metatron into trying to kill Lord Asriel and take Lyra's dæmon as he was on the edge of the Abyss. Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter sacrificed themselves by taking Metatron down with them, falling in the Abyss as ghosts for eternity.

Dæmon

Lord Asriel's dæmon took the shape of a female snow leopard named Stelmaria.

Personality

Stelmaria was beautiful, strong, and highly intelligent, and 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.

Behind the scenes

• Asriel has been portrayed by a number of classical British actors, including Timothy Dalton at the National Theatre, Terence Stamp for the BBC Radio dramatization, and Daniel Craig in the Golden Compass, where he was joined alongside Kristin Scott Thomas who played Stelmaria.
• Though Craig portrayed a blonde Asriel, in La Belle Sauvage, Asriel's hair is described as black.
• Stelmaria is a name etymologically linked to Stella Maris, an Italian given name meaning 'Star of the Sea'.

Appearances

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