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After watching two seasons of His Dark Materials, it has only now occurred to me that Marisa’s daemon never speaks. We hear at least a few words from almost everyone else’s.
Marisa has so abused her daemon/herself, that her soul has lost its voice, and that is incredibly sad to me.
His Dark Materials sorting
This sorting refers to the book chracters not the ones from the BBC series. While I don't think there are a world of differences between them, but just in case.
Also, SPOILERS!!!
Lyra Belacqua has one of the most delightful Snake secondaries I have ever seen. Lyra adores using it and Pullman loves writing it. She tells stories, acts the part of the dumb little girl and lies, lies, lies till she gets what she wants. Textbook Snake secondary. Her primary is harder to sort but I think it is clear she is an internal primary: the world around her rarely influences her beliefs, and she has one of the most iron-willed personalities in the series, which is usually the sign of either a Lion or Snake primary.
My personal take is that she has a very chill Lion primary, like Toph Beifong. It is most glaring at the end of book 1 when she decides Dust must be good if Marisa and Asriel, two very bad people, want to destroy it. So she makes it her mission to protect the Dust and leaves her world without once looking back, a very Lion quest for doing what's right. She is also way too comfortable alone for a Snake. Before the events of the book she wasn't deeply attached to anyone aside Pan, but this is a standard daemon-human relationship, so it doesn't count. She had friends and she was leader (another Lion trait), she liked the Master, but leaves with Marisa without a hint of regret. She also feels bad for not feeling too bad when Roger is kidnapped. Which is not a very Snake reaction, imo.
Will Parry is the actual Snake primary out of the two of them. Before the events of the books he only has his mother in his inner circle and he does suffer from the loneliness that comes with protecting her secret. Yet, he always comes back to her. Even when he has to leave his world behind, unlike Lyra, he does it to protect someone he loves and himself. The Subtle Knife is actually a perfect representation of Will's Snake primary. The Knife can cut through anything except Will's love for his mother and Lyra. In fact, his love for those two is so great that it shatters the Knife. Twice! By the end of the books, I think Mary and Kirjava are also slowly but surely entering Snake Will's Inner Circle. Being separated from Lyra would have been a lot worse if Will didn't have the rest of His People in his world or if Lyra didn't have her quest to learn to read the alethiometer. It is a painful separation, of course, but these things keep their primaries from burning.
His secondary was much harder to pinpoint, but I say Badger. Will is a caretaker first and foremost. Yes, he was forced into this role, but he is genuinely good at it. The first time he meets Lyra he cooks for her and makes sure she is clean and properly dressed. He also calls in favours when he is in trouble, a classic Badger response. When he needs a safe place for his mother he goes to his piano teacher who told him that would help him. When he needs to find Lyra, he does it by first befriending Iorek and then Ama.
Marisa Coulter shares her daughter's dazzling Snake secondary. The word "charming" is used so many times to describe her, it is basically her superpower. And at the climax of the third book, Marisa has to finally use this superpower for good and "lies with her entire being". Just like Lyra, Marisa takes great delight in her secondary and tripping everyone over with it.
Her primary is pretty hard to name at first, as Marisa lies to everyone, and even more to herself. I think she built herself a Bird primary model to make her years working with the Magisterium more pleasent. She truly wants to believe she is devoted to the Church and its ideals, that she could kill Lyra when it is found out she is Eve reborn, all in the name of humanity's salvation. But she can't. Because Marisa is not a Bird, she is actually a Snake primary. A very unhealthy one, who tried to burn after her affair with Asriel is revealed. As an unhealthy Snake she only cares about power and what power means for her and as such has no problem being in charge of the Magisterium's most vile project.But no matter how much Marisa tries to burn, Lyra and Asriel are still very much hers. We see it in Book 3, she betrays the Church and all it stands for, all Marisa stood for, to help save Lyra, to be with Asriel again, to live once more as the carefree young Snake she was when she first met Asriel.
Asriel Belacqua rages against God and makes it his Cause to destroy him, no matter the cost. He is pretty much the poster picture of an exploaded Lion primary. There are a lot of scenes in the books that show Asriel's Lion nature, but most of all we have to remember his willigness to sacrifice even Lyra for the Cause at the end of book one. The ultimate cold-blooded Lion choice that Snake Marisa could not make earlier in the same book.
His secondary is much less clear, but I would say Lion again. He has the inspirational leadership chip, just like Lyra, and he does make rather impulsive decisions. His manservant says that when "Lord Asriel wants something, the world bends backwards to make it happen" which is pretty much what an improvisional secondary looks from the outside. Also, Asriel's daemon is a freaking snow leopard and if this doesn't scream Lion secondary, I don't know what does.
Mary Malone is the first External Primary we see. Unlike the four other characters from above, Mary takes her morality from the world outside. Her morality changes rather fast and abrupt from a devote Catholic nun to an atheist scientist, without Mary herself to suffer a brutal transformation in the process, which makes me think she is a Bird primary. Secondary-wise it would be easy to say that she is also a Bird, but I don't think so. The most emotionally rewarding think Mary does in her journey is to befriend the mulefas. When working to make nets, Mary decides to sacrifice productivity for community by using only one hand so a mulefa can work with her. This is, imo, a Badger secondary call.
Lee Scoresby dies a heroic Lion death and considering his chosen profession involves flying around in an air balloon, I think he is a Lion secondary. But he dies like a hero not because of a higher calling, but because he wants to help Lyra. For Lee, Hester, Lyra and Iorek seem to be the priority. He is another Snake primary.
Iorek Byrnison is also pretty hard to sort as well, bears do seem different than humans. I would say Badger secondary, judging by his work as a smith which requires patience and hard work and just the entire badger culture. Maybe Lion primary? He does seem like an internal primary and the bears look more like idealists for me, not loyalists.
Tl;dr:
Lyra Belacqua - Lion/Snake
Will Parry - Snake/Badger
Marisa Coulter - Snake/Snake, Bird primary model she drops by the third book
Asriel Belacqua - Lion/Lion
Mary Malone - Bird/Badger
Lee Scoresby - Snake/Lion
Iorek Byrnison - Lion/Badger
top 5 female characters?
Like, top 5 ever? I am so bad at this, bc I always end uo chaging the hierarchy:
1. Caroline Forbes (The Vampire Diaries) - Love of my life, favourite of all favourites. I imprinted on her HARD and I am still delighted every time I think about her journey. The fact that I am rewatching TVD rn also doesn't help xDD
2. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - I never thought I will end up head over heels for this woman and yet, here we are.
3. Lyra Silvertongue (His Dark Materials) - Bestest child protagonist evah
4. Nikita Mears (CW's Nikita) - Just finished the show and now I mourn the lack of Nikitas across TV. She's a treasure that I will always cherish.
5. Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl) - I watched this show when I was waaaay too young for it and it shows. Blair is pretty much the blueprint for all my beloved female characters.
Favourite mother-daughter dynamics?
This was tough, ngl.
1. Lyra Silvertongue and Marisa Coulter (HDM) - I love that both of them are major player and their relationship is so important to the plot.
2. Daisy Johnson amd Jiaying (AOS) - Still one of the most emeotional arcs EVAH.
3. Caroline Forbes and Lizzie and Josie Saltzman (TVD/TO/Legacies) - I find their realtionship fascinating and well, Caroline is my #1 character. I only wish Legacies would come back on the right track so I can enjoy were the Caroline mentions.
4. Gwendolyn Shephard and Lucy Montrose (The Gem Trilogy) - They have very little screentime (actually, paigetime xDD), but for some reason young!me looooved Lucy hard and I found this relationship wrecking.
5. Ernestine and Rosalee (Underground) - The fact that these two never got to be reunited with each other is A Tragedy!
Honorable mentions: Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (I watched the Gilmore Girls pilot last night because my friends are all enablers and I have no self-control), Anna and Pearl Zhu (They needed more screentime, damnit!), the Halliwell sisters and their mother, and of course my own OCs Pandora Adelardi and her daughters, two relationships that are heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time and bare some resemblance to all of my top 5, LMAO. (With Lyra and Marisa, the resemblance is more Doylist than Watsonian).
Asriel or Marisa?
Marisa, 1000% Marisa. I like Asriel (sorta), but Marisa fascinates me. Her dynamic (and parallels) with Lyra, her easy charm, her complicated mentality. Plus, she is just a better parent, ok?! The bar is looow, but hey, Marisa doesn't actually tries to cut Lyra and Pan, unlike a certain somebody, so kudos to her xDD.
🔥His dark materials? Your turn.
Warning: Spoilers for book 3.
I think it is unpopular to think that there was nothing sexual about Will/Lyra at the end of TAS. While I think Pullman's language veered a bit to much into pseudo-erotic teritory, I very much doubt even a kiss happened between them. Did they realize they were in love with each other, that their love was the most intense and powerful thing any of them ever felt? Yes. Did these 12 years old kiddo ever felt any kind of sexual attraction/instinct towards each other? Not as far as I am concerned.
Sidenote, but romantic love is not always sexual so I hate when fandom insists that it is.
Lyra & Will and Asriel & Marisa for the honest opinion meme?
Lyra/Will
I mean...I think everyone knows how I feel about them by now. One thing I think I never said before: just how much the end of TAS amplified my shipping. Before then I had a few qualms because of their age and things like that, but TAS offered the perfect ending. (And one of the best possible endgames as far as any ship has, imo). I love that possibility is there, nothing is set in stone, yet one thing the books left me is hope for the future (which makes me really nervous about the sequel trilogy, tbh).
Marisa/Asriel
The more time it passes, the more I appreaciate this ship. I love how much power they have, despite their rather scarce scenes. I am very appreciative that they are a messy, complicated relationship in a children's book which sometimes doesn't even happen in books for adults, lol. I am really curious about them in season 2 of the TV show because I feel like the actors (while playing slightly different versions that are not 100% true to their book contemparts) brpught them to life.
After watching the premiere of HDM season 2, the books live in my mind rent-free (again) and I had A Realization:
My feeling for both Lyra Belacqua (book version) and Buffy Summers from BTVS can be summed up as:
"Protect her at all costs" + "I am in awe of you and everything you represent".
