A girl raised among the scholars of Jordan College, Oxford, in a world where every human soul takes the form of an external animal companion called a daemon. Reckless, gifted at deception, and possessed of an instinctive ability to read the alethiometer, she embarks on a journey north to rescue missing children that becomes something far larger - a journey that places her at the centre of a war for the nature of consciousness across all worlds.

A boy from our world who has spent years caring for his mentally fragile mother while searching for his missing father. His discovery of a window into the abandoned city of Cittagazze brings him into Lyra's world and eventually makes him the bearer of the subtle knife - a blade capable of cutting windows between any two worlds. Quiet, self-contained, and accustomed to carrying adult burdens, he forms a partnership with Lyra that becomes the emotional centre of the trilogy.

A guide, interpreter, and former professor of mathematics at the University of Alexandria (real name Rashid Xenakis). He guides Lyra from Seleukeia through Aleppo and beyond, with deep knowledge of Dust and the Rusakov field.

A teenage kitchen girl at the inn near Oxford who is drawn into Malcolm's journey during the flood in La Belle Sauvage. Prickly and initially hostile, she proves courageous and resourceful under pressure.

Malcolm Polstead's daemon, who can still change shape as Malcolm is a child. A loyal and perceptive companion who helps Malcolm navigate dangerous situations.

A botanist who previously visited the red building and returns to the ruined Tashbulak station from the desert. His daemon is a lemur named Cariad.

A stocky military officer with a Franz Joseph beard who serves Delamare by destroying the openings between worlds using tonnerre double explosives.

A good-looking young Oxford man with gyptian heritage who works at the Royal Mail depot. He is a loyal friend to Lyra and helps her escape Oxford when she loses Pan. His daemon is a vixen called Bindi.

A former cleaner at the Tashbulak research station who teaches herself science from surviving equipment. Her daemon is a small desert fox named Samal.

Elder statesman and advisor to the Gyptian people, and former lover of Serafina Pekkala. Old and physically frail but sharp in mind, he guides Lyra and counsels John Faa throughout the northern journey.

A physicist and former colleague of Lord Asriel whose obsessive pursuit of the infant Lyra drives the threat narrative of La Belle Sauvage. Disturbed, brilliant, and dangerous.

Dick Orchard's gyptian grandfather, a large tough boatman who captains the narrowboat Maid of Portugal. He takes Lyra to the Fens and tells her stories of the secret commonwealth.

The Director of Oakley Street, a secret service department opposed to the Magisterium. A capable woman in her fifties whose daemon was paralysed by a tropical fever, she coordinates the fight against the Magisterium's growing power.

A small gryphon living under a curse that has kept her cat-sized for far longer than any gryphon expects to remain so. She befriends Pantalaimon during his travels and serves as intermediary between humans and the gryphon nation.

An Oxford academic and alethiometrist who works as an agent of Oakley Street. She serves as a mentor to Malcolm and a crucial link between academic Oxford and the resistance against the Magisterium.

A Texan aeronaut who pilots a hot-air balloon and takes on dangerous commissions for pay. Laconic, practical, and deeply loyal to those he chooses to trust, he becomes one of Lyra's most important protectors.

A former particle physicist from Alexandria and Ionides's former lover. She infiltrated the men from the mountains to stay close to Dust research. Her daemon is a sand-coloured snake named Darab.

A nobleman, explorer, and experimental theologian whose obsessive research into Dust and the nature of parallel worlds places him in direct conflict with the Magisterium. Cold, imperious, and capable of extraordinary ruthlessness, he nonetheless drives the central philosophical argument of the trilogy - that experience, consciousness, and the freedom to know are worth any cost.

An eleven-year-old boy who works at his parents' inn near Oxford in La Belle Sauvage, whose care for the infant Lyra during a catastrophic flood shapes the rest of his life. Curious, observant, and morally serious, he grows into a scholar and agent of Oakley Street by the time of The Secret Commonwealth.

The Secretary General of La Maison Juste in Geneva, a powerful and calculating man who orchestrates a conspiracy against Lyra and seeks to control the Karamakan rose oil. His daemon is a snowy owl.