His Dark Materials Part 2: The Subtle Knife (Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation) characters

Appears from the start

A twelve-year-old boy who has spent years protecting his troubled mother and concealing her condition from outsiders. When men break into their Oxford home, he accidentally kills one while escaping and searches for his long-absent father. Watchful, practical, and fiercely responsible, he discovers a window into another world while on the run.

Appears from the start

Will's mother, whose periods of fear and confusion make ordinary life difficult. Will loves her and has learned to care for her, but the strangers searching their home force him to leave her with a trusted former teacher for safety.

Also known as Lyra Silvertongue

Appears from the start

A bold girl from a world where every human soul appears externally as a daemon. After crossing the bridge opened above Svalbard, she has reached the apparently deserted city of Cittagazze. She is suspicious of Will at first but soon recognizes that each of them needs an ally.

Also known as Pan

Appears from the start

Lyra's daemon and constant companion, able to change animal form because she is still a child. More cautious than Lyra, he often questions her impulses and shares both her thoughts and physical vulnerability.

First appears in chapter 2

The witch queen of the Lake Enara clan and an ally Lyra made during the journey north. Investigating the strange atmospheric disturbance over Svalbard, she learns that the witches' old prophecies place Lyra at the center of an approaching conflict.

First appears in chapter 2

A Texan aeronaut who helped Lyra in the north and now searches for the missing explorer Stanislaus Grumman. Loyal and resourceful, he hopes Grumman can explain the upheaval among the worlds and help him protect Lyra.

First appears in chapter 2

A formidable Latvian witch queen and ally of Serafina Pekkala. She has heard Lord Asriel's call to arms and intends to learn more about the immense war he is preparing beyond the known world.

First appears in chapter 4

A physicist in Will's Oxford who studies dark matter with a colleague using a detector called the Cave. Lyra seeks her out after the alethiometer identifies her as someone who can help, and Mary listens seriously to Lyra's claim that the particles she studies are conscious.

First appears in chapter 3

A self-possessed girl living with her younger brother among the children left in Cittagazze. She explains that invisible Spectres prey on adults, which is why the city's grown inhabitants have fled, and helps Will and Lyra understand the dangers of the place.

Also known as Lord Boreal

First appears in chapter 4

A wealthy, cultivated man whom Lyra meets in Will's Oxford. He knows far more about her world and the alethiometer than an ordinary Englishman should, and his interest in her possessions makes him dangerous despite his polished manner.

First appears in chapter 6

Lyra's mother, a brilliant and ruthless agent of the Magisterium. Still hunting Lyra after the events in the north, she seeks information about the witches' prophecy and discovers how to command the Spectres that haunt Cittagazze.

First appears in chapter 8

The aged guardian of the subtle knife, living inside Cittagazze's Torre degli Angeli. After Will reaches him, he recognizes the signs that Will is the knife's new bearer and teaches him how its two edges cut matter and open passages between worlds.

Also known as Stanislaus Grumman

First appears in chapter 10

A renowned shaman whom Lee Scoresby finds in Lyra's world. Known to scholars as the explorer Stanislaus Grumman, he possesses unusual knowledge of the worlds and asks Lee to carry him toward the bearer of a powerful knife.

First appears in chapter 15

An angel who approaches Will after the disaster in the mountains. He and his companion Baruch have rebelled against the Authority and want Will to bring the subtle knife to Lord Asriel's forces.

First appears in chapter 15

Balthamos's angelic companion, steadier and more diplomatic than his partner. He joins the appeal for Will to carry the knife to Lord Asriel in the war against the Authority.