Inspired by a soul I saw on Reddit who wants to write their master’s thesis on “queerness and heteronormativity” on His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman… and to get the ball rolling, they say “I headcanon Iofur Raknison as trans”
Iofur Raknison, to be clear. The nonhuman character (bear) who desperately wants to be human. He wants this so desperately but the text makes it clear this wish is impossible. Bears are not humans, bears forge their souls from sky-iron, but Raknison is not hAPPY with his soul.
Not only is the wish impossible, but the pursuit leads straight to ruination, because Marisa Coulter is able to use that desire to manipulate him around her little finger. Do you think Mrs. Coulter was ever going to ACTUALLY get Iofur Raknison baptized at the Geneva Vatican or whatever? No, Mrs. Coulter’s plans probably had an endpoint of strip-mining Svalbard for oil and minerals and Iofur Raknison as a rug.
His wish, that makes Iofur Raknison open to manipulation and deceit because he himself is manipulative and deceitful (like a human) (oooh because he’s deceiving HIMSELF) and in the end he gets his jaw ripped off and dies and everyone cheers.