What do they look like? A guide to characters found in His Dark Materials and my fics.
| Adult Lyra | A mixture of Zoe Wanamaker and Juliet Stevenson? Or possibly Jane Horrocks? She’s physically right. Definitely a jolie-laide type. Don't forget the glasses. |
| Teenage Will | Liam Gallagher? Ralf Little? |
| Adult Will | Oliver Reed? Bob Hoskins? |
| Elizabeth Boreal | She resembles her mother Marisa Coulter, except for the colour of her hair. I've said that Lizzie's hair is a similar colour to Lyra's (honey-blonde). Mrs C. had dark hair. |
| Peter Joyce | Fair-haired, blue eyes, medium build. Teenage Peter's face is very nearly chubby; he'll be better-looking as he grows up. Peter had a happy childhood and he's a natural optimist. Not a brainbox, but not stupid either and (of course) good with practical things. When James and James eventually becomes James and Joyce he’ll do very well, despite his injuries... |
| Jane Joyce (née Phipps) | Medium build, bobbed chestnut hair (keeps it out of the sewing machines!) She's devoted to Peter, but he has a tendency to take her for granted. |
| Master James | Kindly, middle-aged, balding. Didn’t I say he wore demi-lunes? Only for work, perhaps. |
| Arthur Shire | I have the only known surviving photo of the original Arthur and it's not a very good one. His description is based on what can be made out from this picture. He's short, lightly built, appears a little weedy (but this is deceptive). His body language and posture are defensive, closed-in, unless he's among friends. His eyes resemble a new-born baby's – a very intense and striking blue/violet. |
| Maggie Doyle | Short blond hair (possibly bleached?). A "hard" face, horribly over-made-up when she's on business. Arthur only falls for her when he sees her in civvies. |
| Harry Owen | Chunky. He'd have been a good rugby player if he'd stayed on at Ercall College. |
| Judy Parry (née Beckley) | She’s not so very dissimilar from Mary Malone – a little slimmer, a little prettier, perhaps. Will subconsciously associates her physical type with security, continuity. Lyra/Lizzie types let him down too often. |
| John Parry | Like teenage Will, minus the angst. |
| Miss Elspeth Morley | She’s every perfectly-groomed, immaculately-coifed business-suited ballbreaker that ever scared the living daylights out of a roomful of men... By the time of The Clockmaker's Boy she's greying. This only goes to make her even more terrifying! |
| Mister Greaves | A well-dressed thug, elegant and brutal. Could be Michael Caine in Get Carter. |
| Giancarlo Bellini | Very good-looking Latin, but thoughtful with it. You'd see it in his eyes. Named after the racing driver Giancarlo Fisichella |
| Guilietta Reigali (neé Bellini) | Very pretty, with dark curly hair and brown eyes. Named after an Alfa Romeo car! Early on I was going to make her a retarded (or traumatised) teenager, but I decided that would be too yucky. |
| Elias Cholmondley | Uriah Heap or Steerpike. Dark hair slicked back, a narrow face and hunched posture. |
| Henry Latrom | Thin features, white hair neatly combed and brushed. |
| Geoffrey Jones, Bishop of Caester | He seems to drink rather too much for a man of the cloth… |
| Sonya "Sunny" Moon | A tall, slender, pretty, smiling girl with long dark wavy hair and hazel eyes. Mischief is never far away from them. Her daemon Alfie is mink-formed. Sunny's family is very well off. She's spoilt, wilful, vain, very bright, socially ambitious and not too bothered about what other people think of her. Like many rich and attractive people she's a little too used to getting her own way... |