Lord Asriel In 'Northern Lights'

"Humans can't see something without wanting to destroy it. That is original sin. I am going to find the source of Dust and destroy it. Death is going to die." In the novel Northern Lights Lord Asriel is the father of Lyra and a man obsessed with creating the perfect world. Lord Asriel is portrayed as a fierce-natured, cold-hearted and seemingly unapproachable person, who will do anything to achieve his goals. I respect and admire Lord Asriel for he will hesitate at nothing to accomplish what he believes is right (even if it means taking innocent lives or even his own). In this piece of writing I will show you Lord Asriel’s characteristics and his story From the start Lord Asriel was a
man who secretly hated the church. and did a lot of work in experimental theology, and was a greatly respected member of the english aristocracy giving him wealth and land. Later Lord Asriel met Mrs Coulter another scientist, after a while they fell in love and had an affair behind Mrs Coulter’s husband’s (Mr Coulter’s) back. During the affair Mrs Coulter became pregnant, and gave birth to Lyra. When Mr Coulter learnt of who the real father was, he died at the hands of Lord Asriel during their conflict in public. The court stripped Lord Asriel of his wealth and fame and took away custody of his daughter Lyra, Lord Asriel gave Lyra to Jordan College (The story’s version of Oxford) to be raised and cared for by the Master thinking Asriel was her uncle. After a period of time, Asriel returned to Jordan College where he is almost poisoned by the Master who read the alethiometer and it said that Asriel’s actions would be dangerous.
Asriel is saved by his daughter Lyra who had secretly seen the Master put the poison in his cup. Then Asriel raised money for a expedition into the north using photograms of Dust and a city in the sky, as well as the extra shock value of a decapitated head that he said was the explorer Stanislaus Grumman’s. But when he arrives at Svalbard he is imprisoned by the bear warriors called the panserbjorne led by Iofur Raknison by orders of the Gobblers (General Oblation Board), one of Asriel’s enemies and which is led by his ex-lover Mrs Coulter. Asriel waited in hospitable conditions for a child to perform intercision on, to open a window into the northern lights with the help of witches. After some time a child did arrive: Roger Parslow who was brought by Lyra ,who didn’t know what Asriel wanted. Taking Roger Parslow Asriel performed intercision and entered the Aurora. Lord Asriel’s daemon is a black spotted Snow Leopard called Stelmaria, his daemon reflects his personality. Asriel is a man who will achieve his goals no matter at what cost even if it means he will perish. Asriel’s goals are not greedy or self-centered but rather to make the world become what he thinks is the perfect place for humanity (part of this is by destroying human’s original sin). Asriel
has always had a hate for the Church, and he had tried to destroy the Church but, afterwards the Church was not worth it so he wanted to challenge the great one himself: The Authority (Like A God). In terms of appearances Lord Asriel is a forty year old man, with broad shoulders, a clean cut beard and is said to have lively eyes, glittering with savage laughter, , indicating that beneath his cold and harsh appearance he is really a man with powerful emotions. Asriel is mostly seen wearing formal suits with ties or a dress-shirt with a vest, this gives the impression of a rich and powerful man to the readers. I think Lord Asriel plays a very big role in the Northern Lights and its sequels, as he is the one who will literally change worlds and shall challenge forces that we call make-believe.