MBTI Type: ENFJ

Marisa uses Fe to disarm people and make them like her, by finding pleasant but authoritative ways to get her point across; she tells Lyra that the trick is to tell people what to do “kindly” so that they are more inclined to do it. She keeps up a farce of niceness, but also insists on things like manners and appropriateness—she doesn’t like Lyra to wear her shoulder purse in the house, because she’s now at “home” and it’s not appropriate to wear going out things in a comfortable setting. She is charming and can talk to anyone, finding ways to appeal to them in conversation and flattering both Lyra (telling her how smart she is, and how she needs an adventurer to go with her into the north) and the college deans. Marisa convinces Lyra in pleasant ways to put aside her concern for her best friend and come with her in haste. She uses pretense and subterfuge to get what she wants, and believes that everyone should be ‘controlled’ in specific ways, to make them more malleable – but she also makes an exception for Lyra, her daughter. She has a grand vision that she is carrying out, the separation of children from their daemons to reduce the influence of Dust on their mind, so they will not be disobedient to the Magisterium, but is also distrustful of outside ideas—she doesn’t believe at first that Lyra is the girl foretold in the ancient prophecies. She is often suspicious of what Lyra is up to, and keeps a watchful eye on her, out of a sense that she knows something is “up” with her. She can misjudge situations with her tert-Se, such as when she pries open a sealed container only to release a stinger fly instead of finding the golden compass. She also conducted an illicit affair that led to the birth of her illegitimate daughter (and was forced out of Fe reasons to conceal this from others). Marisa can become aggressive and even impulsive when she’s stressed—abusing Lyra to make her behave and even slapping her own daemon and then feeling remorseful and apologetic. She never questions her own motives or if what she is doing is right, and can be a bit callous in her decision to eliminate others “for the greater good.”

Enneagram: 3w2 so/sx

Marisa is deceitful and able to convince others that she is trustworthy, when the opposite is true, because she plays whatever role she thinks will appeal to them the most. Around Lyra, at first, she is an energetic explorer who thinks Lyra would be a useful and delightful companion in the north, but around other people, she can be forceful, domineering, and scary. Pan says of her that she “likes to show off her new toy” (meaning Lyra in public). Marisa isn’t above cutting corners to reach her goals, including separating children from their daemons to keep them under her control, and making ruthless decisions to stop her ex-lover from reaching other worlds and discovering what they know about Dust. She occasionally snaps and becomes visibly violent, but then becomes instantly apologetic and returns to her façade of being a compassionate, good-hearted person. Her 2 wing is seductive and flattering, prides itself on looking after Lyra, and insists she is doing what is best for all of them.