Queen Serafina Pekkala was the queen of the Lake Enara clan of witches. Her dæmon, Kaisa, had the form of a snow goose.[3]
Biography
Serafina was born around the end of the 17th century to the Lake Enara clan queen.[4]
Relationship with Farder Coram
In the 1950s, Serafina Pekkala fell into a swamp and was about to drown after being attacked by a large red bird. Farder Coram pulled Serafina into his boat and shot the bird, which he then realised was another witch's dæmon. Serafina told him that any time he needed help, he could call on her.[5]
Serafina and Farder Coram fell in love and the couple had a son. Serafina acknowledged that she would have gladly given up her witch ways to be a proper gyptian wife to Coram, but she was a witch and it just wasn't possible. Their young son fell victim to an epidemic and died.[4]
Reign as Queen
Not long after the death of her son, Serafina's mother died and she became Queen of the Lake Enara clan. When Farder Coram was hit by a Skraeling's envenomed arrow, Serafina sent herbs and spells to help him recover but did not feel able to face him in person. Her duty as queen, with the threat of witch-wars and instability to her clan, kept her from regaining contact with him.[4]
Bolvangar
After Lyra Belacqua fulfilled the prophecy by picking out the right cloud-pine at Martin Lanselius's house in Trollesund, Kaisa visited her on the gyptians' ship at night and talked to Lyra, Coram van Texel and John Faa where they discussed Bolvangar. Kaisa continued to follow the gyptians' progress further into the North.[3]
When Lyra was taken by Samoyed hunters, Kaisa followed her to Bolvangar. When the fire bell drill went off and all the children went outside, Kaisa took his chance and flew down to where Lyra was. Lyra had taken the opportunity to explore the site and had gone to an outhouse where they stored severed dæmons. Kaisa helped to break the lock on the door and also on the cages inside and escorted the dæmons out, helping them fly and look for their humans.[6]
As Lyra escaped Bolvangar, witches came down from the skies to assist the children, fighting off the Tartars who guarded the site. Serafina was one of the witches but soon went to assist Lee Scoresby by helping pull his balloon.[2]
Svalbard
As they flew to Svalbard, Serafina talked first to Lee about how Lyra was the child in the witches' prophecy and they were on her side of the war, and then to Lyra briefly about what they must do next.[2]
As they got nearer Svalbard, some cliff-ghasts attacked the witches who were pulling the balloon, which they managed to get away from, but when another witch clan attacked, the witches lost hold of the balloon and it went tumbling away.
The balloon, which Lyra, Roger Parslow and Iorek Byrnison had fallen out of, was borne to Nova Zembla with Lee still in it. Some of the witches had managed to stay with the balloon and were assisting him.[1]
Fog
After Lord Asriel had opened the window between Lyra's world and the world of Cittàgazze, a great fog filled the North. Serafina was desperately trying to find Lyra somewhere but got engulfed in the fog. She and Kaisa managed to find another witch's dæmon who was in a frenzy because his witch had been captured.
Serafina flew down to the land where a boat was mooring and found her way on board by making herself unnoticed. On the ship, she discovered Marisa Coulter and some officials from the Magisterium. They had moved from a conference room to a room where a witch was lying, with broken legs. Serafina could barely watch as Marisa snapped two of her fingers and forced the witch to tell her about Lyra.
Serafina, unable to watch any longer, answered the witch's pleas for Yambe-Akka, the witch goddess that would visit a witch when she was about to die. Serafina came forward, smiling, bending down to kiss the witch whilst planting a knife into her chest. The witch's suffering had ended.
Serafina soon fought her way out, killing Cardinal Sturrock, before flying away to Svalbard again with Kaisa. Here they found Thorold, Asriel's servant, who talked to Serafina about what he thought Asriel way doing. Thorold told her he thought Asriel was waging a higher war than one against the Magisterium, he was going to kill the Authority.[1]
Cittàgazze
After going back to her homeland, her clan staged a meeting about what they should do next. Lee and Ruta Skadi, a Queen from a neighbouring clan, attended the meeting where they decided to send a party to Cittàgazze, the city in the Aurora, where they would search for Lyra.[1]
Appearance
Serafina had long blonde hair and green eyes,[2] and was described by Farder Coram as "thinner than some, prettier than most." She wore a crown of red flowers when acting as queen to her tribe.[1]
Dæmon
Kaisa
Serafina's dæmon took the form of a large male white snow goose named Kaisa.[7]
Background
Like all witches and their dæmons, Kaisa and Serafina underwent a ritual process that allowed them to separate over long distances.
Personality and Appearance
Kaisa often acted as a scout and envoy for Serafina, for example travelling to meet the gyptians at their arrival at Trollesund. Lyra was at first horrified and perplexed by his appearance as he was without his human. He showed himself to be wise and kind, much like his human, in aiding the gyptians on their quest and later using magic to help Lyra break in to the dæmon-cage and release the severed dæmons. He showed unwavering compassion as he guided the severed dæmons away from Bolvangar.
Kaisa was large and grey, with a crown of white feathers at the top of his head, and sky-blue eyes ringed with gold.
Behind the scenes
- In the film The Golden Compass, Serafina Pekkala is played by Eva Green. Kaisa was not in the final cut, though some promotional material did feature concept art depicting him.
- Serafina Pekkala will be played by Ruta Gedmintas for the BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials.[8]
Appearances
- Northern Lights
- Northern Lights - The Graphic Novel
- The Golden Compass (film)
- The Subtle Knife
- The Amber Spyglass
- His Dark Materials (TV series), series 1
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Subtle Knife, Chapter 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Northern Lights, Chapter 17
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Northern Lights, Chapter 11 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "NL11" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Northern Lights, Chapter 18
- ↑ Northern Lights, Chapter 10
- ↑ Northern Lights, Chapter 15
- ↑ The Subtle Knife, Chapter 11
- ↑ https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-08-24/his-dark-materials-serafina-pekkala-cast-ruta-gedmintas-bbc/
| Witches | |
|---|---|
| Witch clans | Lake Enara clan • Keitele clan • Lake Ladoga clan • Lake Lubana clan • Micokojärvi clan • Nania clan • Onega clan • Taymyr clan • Tikshozero clan • Lake Umolese clan • Lake Visha clan |
| Clan queens | Ieva Kasku • Julia Ojaland • Juta Kamainen • Katya Sirkka • Paula Pyhäjärow • Reina Miti • Ruta Skadi • Sara Leiro • Serafina Pekkala • Tanja Lentana • Tilda Vasara |
| Other witches | Lena Feldt • Medea • Serafina Pekkala's mother • Yelena Pazhets • Tortured witch • Unidentified witch |
| Consuls | Martin Lanselius |
| Important | Yambe-Akka • Cloud-pine • Holding spell |