Metatron and Mrs. Coulter

ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: Baddies in books: Mrs Coulter, the mother of all evil. On the surface she’s all glamour and respectability - but the villain from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials is malice in a furlined hood (Imogen Russell Williams, The Guardian). Just a reminder that Metatron was an important character in that very successful trilogy.

When it comes to the mother of all evil, Mrs Coulter, chief antagonist of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, is a serious contender for the title. A charismatic fusion of archetypes - stepmother, fairy godmother, wicked witch - she distils pure terror into the shape of “a beautiful young lady whose dark hair falls shining delicately under the shadow of her furlined hood”. On the outside, she’s just the sort of groomed, sophisticated parent a motherless pre-teen might wish for, but Metatron, the Regent of Heaven, has her measure in The Amber Spyglass ...