Do you think Mrs.Coulter deserved to die?

[brendan_mott]

I am

[onehumaneye]

In the world of the story I think Marisa had to die because her crimes were that great, torture, mutilation of children, murder at will, you name it. That is, I think there is no more story for her except to do one good thing before she died. In her life, it seems impossible for her to know what she really wants—that's just how she is—but in the end she makes a decision, one she could not make in life, and that sort of defines what she finally became. I think the only thing that actually happened to her in the story is that she learned, in her painful and confused way, that she loved Lyra.

[monster8532]

yes

Mod Edit: Please don't post one word answers.

[Lera]

Marisa's death was the best (and the most beautiful) way Pullman could finish the strange love-story of Marisa and Asriel.

[reflective]

Marisa's death was the best (and the most beautiful) way Pullman could finish the strange love-story of Marisa and Asriel.

i agree with lera

she probably thought she was doing the right thing most of the time, most people do including me. however she had coused many deathes and was proud and cruel and loved asriel badly in the end, however i dont think pp could have ended it any other was as in the 1st couple of books marisa was the enemy.

[Aletheia Dolorosa]

she probably thought she was doing the right thing most of the time, most people do including me. however she had coused many deathes and was proud and cruel and loved asriel badly in the end, however i dont think pp could have ended it any other was as in the 1st couple of books marisa was the enemy.

Does this necessarily mean that she had to die? Does it logically follow that if she did bad (admittedly atrocious) things she deserves to be punished for them with death? That's heading off on a dangerous 'eye for an eye' philosophy that is not, I don't think, in keeping with the overall themes of Pullman's books.

I'm still of the opinion that Mrs Coulter died because the plot, and the emotional impact her death caused, required it.

[HDMFAN4LIFE]

i don't think she deserved to die yes she did bad things and no she didn't want Lyra until she was 12 but maybe she was ashamed because Lyra was conceived out of sin and born out of wedlock and if you were that powerful wouldn't you be ashamed to.

and i don't always think things through before i do them maybe that's the case with Marisa she thought she was doing the right thing so she kept doing it.

she did end up loving Lyra a lot because she drugged her to keep her safe and she did love Asriel remember in The Amber Spyglass i think it's the chapter named Midnight she tell him she thinks they should have married so she did love him.

i never thought she should have died but it was for the plot and i loved her as a caricature and but i never cried when she died i found out at school nearly cried and when i accurately read it i never did but now i do.

i used to think let her die and now i have changed my mind so do i think she deserved to die: no

[Lera]

I think this question (if she deserved to die or not) isn't right...
Maybe the author of this theme ment if Marisa deserved to be punished. I think her death wasn't a punishment. It was just the most easy way to lead Marisa's and Asriel's story to the end. Such finishing is tragic, full of scence..
I think Pullman could write more difficult continuation. He could describe Lyra's meeting with her parents, their relationships. And not only that. Asriel's journey helped to destroy Authority. Asriel was in the middle of all future events.. But they just died.
Maybe because of that Pullman wrote "Lyra's Oxford", where he tried to lead the story to continuation. Lyra is on the Asriel's place, she has to pay for his actions. I think the story could be more interesting if in future books were Marisa and Asriel. But at the same time I believe in Pullman's forces. He's great and maybe The Book of Dust will be the best among the other books

[lozzie_kytara]

I don't think that she really deserved to die. In my opinion Lord Asriel deserved more the fate which befell them both. While he took an interest in Lyra's affairs from when she was a young age, I never felt that he truely cared about her, and only cared about her wellbeing because of the Witches Prophecy. Even if I thought that she deserved to die, I don't think I would ever think she deserved to spend all of eternity falling into a bottomless abyss.

Also I may be a teeny bit biased, as I personally think that Mrs Coulter was the best character in the entire trilogy, she was so complex and changed so often.

However, I do agree with what some others have said, in regards to it being the best ending there possibly could have been to Marisa's and Asriel's strange yet wonderful relationship.

And just a side question, was I the only one who cried LOTS at that part of the story?

[Lera]

In fact I don't remember if I cried at this moment, or not... I cried at moments in which Marisa looked after Lyra, where Asriel was talking with Marisa about their daughter. Such moments are amaising. This trilogy is the only which made me be so setimental.

[Angel to follow]

I think she deserved to make the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter, she hadn't given her much else.

[tonytiges]

Yes... I think she did deserve to die.

Throughout the books I noticed she became more maternal. In NL, she spent some time with Lyra... and obviously she was not use to playing the mothering role... but her intentions were to keep her away from the Oblation Board.
In the remaining books, she makes constant attempts to 'save' her daughter from the Church...

In the end she makes the ultimate parental sacrifice, showing where Lyra gets her tenacity from.

Sacrifice for the greater good is a constant theme I see through the books.

[SuperTrainStation H]

Absolutely, but I would have rather her been severed to detonate the bomb that for her to die "an hero" as it were. Mrs. Coulter didn't redeem herself, she just switched sides for her own selfish reasons. Any greater good that came from her actions is a purely coincidental consequence.

If it weren't for the early "thinking machines" built to calculate missile trajectories and crack secret codes during World War II, would computers, jet aircraft, and the internet exist as we know them today? Quite likely not, but that doesn't "redeem" the atrocities that took place during the war.

[MCfan692]

NO! Mrs. Coulter was awesomee! I know she did bad things in the first book but in the amber spyglass she is completely on Lyra's side because of her love for her because lyra is her daughter! She risked her life so many time to save lyra not for selfish reasons but because she truly loved her daughter! She was totally against the church in teh last book she changed sides! She had a change of heart! i don't get why people think she deserved to die. She was changing into the better person that was blooming inside of her. like when her and lord roke were working together to stop the bomb. she usually works by herself but she was starting to trust other people and work together with them. She was my favorite character and i wish she hadn't died because if she had lived she could've completely changed into that better person. In my opinion the perfect ending would be for Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter and Lyra all to live as a happy family but i know that couldn't happen I wish Mrs. Coulter would've had a chance to tell Lyra she loved her before she died because now Lyra will never know I think thats the saddest part.