The Golden Compass

by

Philip Pullman

Lord Asriel Character Analysis

Lyra initially believes that Lord Asriel is her uncle—in reality, he's her father. A tall, imposing, and wild-looking man, Lord Asriel was once a very powerful and well-connected person in politics. He lost everything, however, after Lyra's birth, when he was convicted for wrongfully killing Mrs. Coulter's husband, who was upset to discover that Mrs. Coulter had given birth to Lord Asriel's illegitimate daughter. Despite losing his assets, Lord Asriel continued to hold sway in political and theological circles, and he often leads expeditions to the North to study the Aurora and Dust. For the most part, he takes little interest in Lyra except to make sure that she's healthy. Lyra both admires and fears Lord Asriel. When she learns that Lord Asriel is being held prisoner by the panserbjørne (armored bears) on Svalbard, Lyra vows to rescue Lord Asriel and take him the alethiometer, which she believes he needs. This interpretation, however, turns out to be incorrect. When Lyra finally reaches Lord Asriel, she discovers just how cruel and unfeeling he is. He sees no issue with never telling Lyra that he's her father and dismisses her anger and sense of betrayal. He does, however, explain his research to her: there are parallel universes accessible through the Aurora and one of them contains the source of Dust, which he wants to destroy. His cruelty comes to the forefront when he kills Roger in pursuit of this research.

Lord Asriel Quotes in The Golden Compass

The The Golden Compass quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Asriel or refer to Lord Asriel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Childhood, Innocence, and Maturation Theme Icon
).
Chapter One Quotes

"I didn't have anything in mind, and well you know it," she snapped quietly. "But now I've seen what the Master did, I haven't got any choice. You're supposed to know about conscience, aren't you? How can I just go and sit in the library or somewhere and twiddle my thumbs, knowing what's going to happen? I don't intend to do that, I promise you."

Related Characters: Lyra (speaker), Pan, Lord Asriel, The Master
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Two Quotes

"Yes. Lyra has a part to play in all this, and a major one. The irony is that she must do it all without realizing what she's doing. She can be helped, though, and if my plan with the Tokay had succeeded, she would have been safe for a little longer."

Related Characters: The Master (speaker), Lord Asriel, The Librarian
Related Symbols: The Alethiometer
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixteen Quotes

"I think he's got an entirely different idea of the nature of Dust. That's the point. It's profoundly heretical, you see, and the Consistorial Court of Discipline can't allow any other interpretation than the authorized one. And besides, he wants to experiment—"

"To experiment? With Dust?"

Related Characters: The Gobblers (speaker), Lyra, Lord Asriel
Related Symbols: Dust
Page Number: 274
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-One Quotes

"She guessed that the two things that happen in adolescence might be connected: the change in one's dæmon and the fact that Dust began to settle. Perhaps if the dæmon were separated from the body, we might never be subject to Dust—to original sin."

Related Characters: Lord Asriel (speaker), Lyra, Mrs. Coulter
Related Symbols: Dust
Page Number: 375
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Three Quotes

"We've heard them all talk about Dust, and they're so afraid of it, and you know what? We believed them, even though we could see that what they were doing was wicked and evil and wrong...We thought Dust must be bad too, because they were grown up and they said so. But what if it isn't? What if it's—"

She said breathlessly, "Yeah! What if it's really good..."

Related Characters: Lyra (speaker), Pan (speaker), Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, The Gobblers
Related Symbols: Dust
Page Number: 398
Explanation and Analysis:
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Lord Asriel Quotes in The Golden Compass

The The Golden Compass quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Asriel or refer to Lord Asriel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Childhood, Innocence, and Maturation Theme Icon
).
Chapter One Quotes

"I didn't have anything in mind, and well you know it," she snapped quietly. "But now I've seen what the Master did, I haven't got any choice. You're supposed to know about conscience, aren't you? How can I just go and sit in the library or somewhere and twiddle my thumbs, knowing what's going to happen? I don't intend to do that, I promise you."

Related Characters: Lyra (speaker), Pan, Lord Asriel, The Master
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Two Quotes

"Yes. Lyra has a part to play in all this, and a major one. The irony is that she must do it all without realizing what she's doing. She can be helped, though, and if my plan with the Tokay had succeeded, she would have been safe for a little longer."

Related Characters: The Master (speaker), Lord Asriel, The Librarian
Related Symbols: The Alethiometer
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixteen Quotes

"I think he's got an entirely different idea of the nature of Dust. That's the point. It's profoundly heretical, you see, and the Consistorial Court of Discipline can't allow any other interpretation than the authorized one. And besides, he wants to experiment—"

"To experiment? With Dust?"

Related Characters: The Gobblers (speaker), Lyra, Lord Asriel
Related Symbols: Dust
Page Number: 274
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-One Quotes

"She guessed that the two things that happen in adolescence might be connected: the change in one's dæmon and the fact that Dust began to settle. Perhaps if the dæmon were separated from the body, we might never be subject to Dust—to original sin."

Related Characters: Lord Asriel (speaker), Lyra, Mrs. Coulter
Related Symbols: Dust
Page Number: 375
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Three Quotes

"We've heard them all talk about Dust, and they're so afraid of it, and you know what? We believed them, even though we could see that what they were doing was wicked and evil and wrong...We thought Dust must be bad too, because they were grown up and they said so. But what if it isn't? What if it's—"

She said breathlessly, "Yeah! What if it's really good..."

Related Characters: Lyra (speaker), Pan (speaker), Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, The Gobblers
Related Symbols: Dust
Page Number: 398
Explanation and Analysis: