The Republic of Heaven

In my best attempt to keep the movie casting out of my mind, and solely based on my interpretation of Pullman's physical descriptions of the characters, I have a pretty good idea of how most of the characters should look. With that said, I think I would be most attracted to Ruta Skadi out of the females.

Ms. Coulter is obviously intoxicatingly attractive and charming, based on how everyone reacts to her from Metatron to Asriel and even to Will. But it's hard for me to separate that from how much I despised her for most of the novels.

Serafina Pekkala is also described as beautiful, both old and young looking, and of course her loving nature and personality contributes to how attractive she is.

Ruta Skadi is powerful and mysterious, and beautiful beyond words, in my mind at least. Her commanding presence is what gets me, I think, in addition to how I picture her in my mind.

Xaphania is probably striking to look at, but not in an attractive way, if that makes sense. Not that she's unattractive; rather I just wouldn't even think to notice if I was attracted or not, since she's an angel.

Mary Malone is intelligent, and also caring like Serafina, which are both attractive qualities. For whatever reason, I always pictured her a little too teacher-ish and unsexy. (I just made both of those words up.) Maybe it's because she's very much like a mother, and while that's admirable, it's not necessarily attractive.

What does everyone else think? Females feel free to comment on the male characters too (or males - whatever floats your boat.)

I mostly agree with you.

The only difference with yours really is that I saw Mary as being rather attractive. One must consider, however, that I am much more attracted to girls that fit the description "cute" rather than "hot." I imagined Malone as a sincere and intelligent woman, and this led me to picture her as a rather cute woman. Granted, she's middle aged and I'm a teenager, but I still think I would've liked her as a teenager.

Dude, I read these when I was 14 and had a crush on Lyra and still call her hot and awesome despite being 19. I wish I was Will so frikkin badly. That's my vote. I don't care if she is the main character and it's cliche, she's gotta have some of her mom's looks, right?

Lady Salmakia always seemed like an interesting character even if she wasn't described very well. I still have a thing for her.

Ruta Skadi is awesome too. If she's Asriel's lover ya know she's good lookin and power.

haha, like you, Moyeongsu, I read the books for the first time at a young age - 12.

I loved Lyra. I actually read the books in a scewed order - TSK, then TAS, then I went back and read TGC.

I wanted to be Will more than anything back then. I liked the way Lyra was portrayed in the film, Richards was fantastic, although my original image of her in my imagination had her looking rather different (I made her cuter by my standards. Richards is much more like the book described her, I just wanted to imagine this character I loved so much as cuter than the book described her).

I read all 3 books at age 27, and therefore never saw Lyra that way. While reading, I did reminisce about my "marzipan", which happened at 14, and certainly related to Will and Lyra because of that; but the old part of my brain prevented me from ever actually being attracted to Lyra. I do certainly understand where you two are coming from though.

the31337ofPurgatory wrote:One must consider, however, that I am much more attracted to girls that fit the description "cute" rather than "hot."

I'm there with you, Purgatory. Big eyes and a pretty smile get me every time more than anything else. I, however, never viewed Mary as "cute" - I viewed her as "motherly", which in my mind, precluded her from me being attracted to her.

just randomly sayin this, all three of us are from Texas. w00t!

I'm there with you, Purgatory. Big eyes and a pretty smile get me every time more than anything else. I, however, never viewed Mary as "cute" - I viewed her as "motherly", which in my mind, precluded her from me being attracted to her.

I see where your coming from, and the "motherly" factor would detract from the character's attractiveness. In my interpretation (both at 12 and now, at 17 years old) I viewed Mary as more of a big-sister type than a motherly type. I viewed characters like Serefina Pekkala and Ma Costa as motherly...Mary just didn't seem to fit the same description for me. I guess it's because she was single and on the younger side in relation to other characters. Plus, her actions, though she was protective of Lyra, seemed more like sisterly guidance (since the archetypal mother doesn't usually encourage the kind of "explore your sensuality" mindset/behavior) than motherly to me.

I've got the whole Lyra thing going on too myself, having read the books at a young age - about 11, 12 ish myself - and yes, once again I wished I was Will... but at that age reading those books I don't know many people who wouldn't. (Or perhaps thats just me and my friends, we used to play at HDM as kids, all being different kinds of "Wills" on a quest to fight spectres and get our respective Lyra's heehee... and if you must know, for a long time I got mine!)

Nowadays while its hard to shake the former memories and beliefs I once had I find I'm more attracted to Pekkala, I think that kind of feirce witchy loyalty, the never-aging beauty, the mystery, the strength and wisdom are all the kinds of things I look for in a woman now... GIRL POWER!

I was about 12 when I first read them... so was in love with Lyra by the end of TAS.. =P

Lord Asriel always seemed very attractive to me, and I'd agree about Ruta Skadi. Oh, and I always imagined Tullio as pretty attractive in a sweaty, pseudo-Mediterranean kind of way.

Lena Feldt is very attractive.
Even in death, she's more attractive than most. Just standing there and not like those death you see on TV with all the suffering and stuff.

Or maybe I'm just sick.
Dang.

Ivan Parslovich wrote:Lena Feldt is very attractive.
Even in death, she's more attractive than most. Just standing there and not like those death you see on TV with all the suffering and stuff.

Or maybe I'm just sick.
Dang.

I don't remember the books describing Lena Feldt's appearance.

You're right, the book does not mention her appearance.
but that adds to the mystery/attractiveness don't you agree?
I hope she made it to the land of the dead and then got changed to atoms, otherwise, the pain is too much to bear.

I always pictured Lee Scoresby as Lyle Lovett when I read the books and I hoped desperately that he would be cast in the role. The two men I found most attractive in the books were Lee and Tony Costa (guess I got a cowboy and gypsy thing - probably better off than having a thing for bikers or musicians, I'd guess...)

Oh, and a PSA for anyone else out there that shares an interest in Cowboys - Check out the blog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman - specifically the threads called "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" and the entry entitled "Chaps". You're welcome


As for the ladies, I probably found Serafina to be the most attractive in my head. I made Ruta to be slightly stronger featured due to the way she spoke about going to Asriel. I didn't see Asriel as attractive, not because he wasn't described as such, but due to his coldness toward Lyra. I related too much to Mary Malone, so I actually had a fairly blank picture of her in my head. The classic type of beauty I ascribed to Mrs. Coulter left me, well, cold, and there weren't too many other women that had much page time and did not fill the role of housekeeper or mother-figure for me to get an interest in them.

It's more the character's personality and the reactions of others that lead me to a physical image than a clear-cut description by the author. For instance, I knew Mrs. Coulter was beautiful not only because PP said so, but because of how men were putty in her hands and how everyone seemed willing to submit to her will (except Lyra).
I imagine that Will would be pretty good-looking, at least by my standards, mostly because he's so mature and caring and strong. Yes, I'm aware those things have nothing to do with how he looks, but I tend to associate attractive personality traits with appearance.

To me Lyra is the hottest HDM character because of my age and her personality and how she is described.

I have to agree with the Kestrel. I always loved Lyra. Possibly because i wanted to be Will, but who knows, not me.

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oops i forgot to mention something.

I wouldn't describe Lyra as "Hot" but as Loveable, Attractive, someone that you would be friends with for a while then discover a hidden passion for her. Not a head turning, mouth agape girl.

Mod Edit: Please don't double post. If you have something to add you can use the "edit" button.

Yeah I always had the hots for Mary Malone...I mean come on, she used to be a NUN! anyone...................

that is straying very close to the vicinity of obscenity, if you pardon the horrible pun

However I cannot help but agree with you... talk about forbidden fruit!

Owatts, I also very much wanted to be Will, unlike some others I don't find him a dull character at all...

In my mind's eye Rudi Skadi has always been a bit of a '16 valver' as they say.

Ok, a cursory skip through Google didn't help. What does "16 Valver" mean in the context you are using it?