Editing Mary Malone

{{Human infobox
|name=
|image=File:MaryMalone-S2.jpg
|age=Around late 30’s
|birthdate=
|deathdate=
|alias=Olive Payne<ref>Chosen in {{ref|book|2|12}} to construct a fake ID from her passport photo and an expired library card belonging to [[Oliver Payne]].</ref>
|title=*Doctor
*Sister (formerly)<ref name="LO-postcard">{{Ref|book|4}}, [[Mary Malone's postcard to Angela Gorman]]</ref>
|gender=Female
|height=
|weight=
|hair=Black<ref name="SK4">{{ref|book|2|4}}</ref>
|eyes=
|skin=
|family=Zoe, sister
|daemon=
|settledform=An {{Wplink|alpine chough}}
|world=[[Will's world]]
|occupation=Astrophysicist/Neuropsychologist
|loyalty=
|caption=|birth=|death=}}'''Dr Mary Malone''' was an astrophysicist and neuropsychologist who was investigating how [[Dust|dark matter]] affects human consciousness. She was told she must play the role of the serpent for the second [[Adam]] and [[Eve]].

==Biography==
===Early life===
When Mary was twelve, she went to a friend's birthday. Here, she met a boy called [[Tim]] and they danced together. Later, he gently placed a piece of [[marzipan]] in her mouth, and the taste would always remind her of this moment when she fell in love for the first time. Soon after, they shared their first kiss.<ref name="AS33">{{Ref|book|3|33}}</ref>

===Life as a nun===
Malone became a nun at some point during her university career. She believed that she could study astrophysics and neuropsychology to the glory of [[God]] and since her convent was not strict, she was allowed to complete her doctorate. She was asked to present her paper at a conference in [[Lisbon]], [[Portugal]] on the [[9 August]] [[1990]]. The [[10 August|next day]], she went out for dinner with fellow academics from the conference, and she met [[Alfredo Montale]]. That night, at 9:30pm, she ate a piece of marzipan which brought back the memories of falling in love, and caused her to question her faith. Malone and Montale went for a walk on the beach together, and she threw her crucifix into the sea, having made up her mind. She also admitted that she kissed Montale at some point. <ref name="AS33" />

===Leaving the church===
Malone chose to leave her life as a nun, which greatly disappointed the Mother Superior, the priests and her parents. Her relationship with Montale did not last.<ref name="AS33" /> After leaving the convent, Malone moved to [[Oxford (Will's world)|Oxford]].<ref name="LO">{{ref|book|4}}</ref> Her next relationship was with a man who enjoyed rock-climbing. They lived together for four years, but eventually separated.<ref name="AS33" /> Mary went on various other expeditions after leaving and she went to [[California]] once.<ref name="TAS20">{{Ref|book|3|20}}</ref>

===Dark Matter Research group===
Malone worked at the [[Oxford University]] as part of the [[Dark Matter Research Unit|Dark Matter Research group]]. With her colleague [[Oliver Payne]], she studied the particles which they called Shadows, also known as [[Dust]].<ref name="SK4" />

One day, [[Lyra Silvertongue]], a girl from [[Lyra's world|another world]], came to her laboratory. Malone was amazed by her ability to communicate with Dust via the [[alethiometer]] and then with the computer developed by the research group, called the [[Cave]]. On Lyra's advice, Mary wrote a programme which allowed her to communicate with Dust by typing questions into the computer. The Dust told Mary she would have to "play the serpent", and that she should destroy the computer and then leave for another world through the window on [[Sunderland Avenue]]. After deceiving the guard by saying she was a member of the [[Department of Physical Sciences]].

===Living with the mulefa===
[[File:Mulefa.jpg|thumb|Mary is taken by the [[mulefa]] to their village.]]
Mary travelled through the [[world of Cittàgazze]] and found a window into the [[mulefa world]]. By communicating with Dust via [[I Ching]], she learnt that she must stay with the mulefa. She learnt their language and compiled a dictionary. She also involved herself in their customs such as net-making and grooming each other. She helped out with village life by mending roofs as the mulefa are unable to climb, and gathering mussel-like creatures for food, as the mulefa did not like to get their wheels wet.

[[File:Amber_Spyglass.png|thumb|left|The [[amber spyglass]]]]
Mary's major breakthrough was the [[amber spyglass]]. She created it from two pieces of lacquer which she covered with a layer of wheel-tree oil. By holding the two sheets a certain distance apart, she was able to see Dust. The mulefa took the pieces and turned them into a spyglass with a piece of bamboo of the appropriate length.

[[File:Mary_in_mulefa_world.jpg|thumb|Mary in a wheel tree grove.]]
Once Mary was able to understand the language of the mulefa and to see Dust, an elder [[zalif]] named [[Sattamax]] asked her to investigate why the wheel trees were dying. She made a harness and climbed to the top of a wheel-tree and Malone discovered that Dust was moving away from the world at an alarming rate, but did not know how to stop it.

When [[William Parry|Will Parry]] and Lyra Silvertongue arrived in the mulefa world, the time for Mary to play the serpent arrived. She told them about her experiences of falling in love, which planted the seed in their minds. When Will and Lyra kissed, Mary noticed that the Dust had stopped rushing away from the world, and was instead floating downwards, pollinating the wheel trees.

[[Serafina Pekkala]] came to Mary and told her that the [[gyptian]]s would arrive in two days. Mary told Serafina what she knew about Dust and let the [[witch]] use the Amber Spyglass to see it. Serafina told Mary that her [[dæmon]] was an Alpine Chough.<ref name="AS36">{{ref|book|3|36}}</ref> Ahead of Mary's departure, Serafina taught her to see her dæmon by simultaneously holding the state of mind she used to speak to the Shadows with the Cave and seeing ordinarily. With practice at holding her concentration, it became easier for her.<ref name="AS38" />

===Return to Oxford===
Before Mary returned to her own world, Atal gave her a bag of wheel-tree seeds and a phial of wheel-tree oil.<ref name="AS38">{{ref|book|3|38}}</ref> She gave three of the seeds to a scientist at the [[Botanic Garden (Will's world)|Botanic Garden]]. They grew well, but she always refused to say where they came from.<ref name="AS-LS5">{{Ref|book|3}}, Lantern Slide 5</ref>

Mary agreed to help Will get his mother treatment for her illness and offered him a place to stay so he would not be put into care.<ref name="AS38" />

==Physical description==
Mary had short black hair and red cheeks. Lyra guessed that she was in her late thirties as she seemed a little older than Mrs Coulter.<ref name="SK4"/> She tended to dress simply and practically. 
She was stocky in build but physically fit and capable of surviving outdoors having taken camping trips taken in Scotland and the Alps.<ref name="AS32">{{ref|book|3|32}}</ref><ref name="SK12">{{ref|book|2|12}}</ref> Mary had experience in both rock-climbing and climbing trees that came in handy when in the mulefa world.<ref name="AS20">{{ref|book|3|20}}</ref>

== '''Gallery''' ==
<gallery>
File:Mary Malone.png
File:Malice-2.jpg
File:Mary and the Cave.png
File:MaryMalone-S2.jpg
</gallery>

==Behind the scenes==
*In [[Series 2]] of the [[His Dark Materials (TV series)|TV series]], Mary is played by {{Wplink|Simone Kirby}}.<ref name="Simone Kirkby">[https://twitter.com/darkmaterials/status/1286331196566380545 Twitter]</ref> She is portrayed as having a sister, Zoe, as well as a niece and nephew. In this version of the story, Mary falls in love with a woman in Lisbon, instead of Alfredo Montale. She has an Irish accent in this adaptation.
*It is revealed in the series that Mary is a research scientist at {{Wplink|St Peter's College, Oxford|St Peter's College, University of Oxford}} (which did not exist in Lyra's world). 
*According to the map delivered in the companion book, [[Lyra's Oxford|''Lyra's Oxford'']], Mary Malone seems to live in the house at the corner of Crick Road and Fyfield Road (presumably [https://goo.gl/maps/Wc9kLEYJYnNxBv8m7 13 Fyfield Rd, Oxford OX2 6QE, United Kingdom]).

==Appearances==
{{imcat|Images of Mary Malone}}
*''[[The Subtle Knife]]''
*''[[The Amber Spyglass]]''
*''[[His Dark Materials (TV series)]]'', [[Series 2]]
*''[[The Secret Commonwealth]]'' {{Mention}}

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}
[[it:Mary Malone]]
[[pt-br:Mary Malone]]
[[fr:Mary Malone]]
[[ru:Мэри Малоун]]
[[Category:Females]]
[[Category:Humans]]
[[Category:Scholars]]
[[Category:English individuals]]
[[Category:Nuns]]