Iorek Byrnison

Iorek Byrnison is the deuteragonist of the book trilogy His Dark Materials. He is a panserbjørn (species of giant polar bear) and the rightful king of Svalbard as well as a great comrade to both Lyra Silvertongue and Lee Scoresby.
In the 2007 film adaptation, he was voiced by , who also played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Zebedee in The Magic Roundabout, Cogsworth in the 2017 adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and Older Magneto in the X-Men movies.
In the 2019 TV Series His Dark Materials, he was portrayed and voiced by Joe Tandberg via motion capture.
==Biography==
Iorek Byrnison was an armoured bear (also known as panserbjørn), a race of giant anthropomorphic polar bears with human-level intelligence and opposable thumbs. Before the events of His Dark Materials, he meets and befriends Lee Scoresby. Iorek was originally king of the armoured bears in Svalbard, but became an outcast after he was exiled when he killed another bear in a fight. Normally, when a bear realises that they are outmatched, they will surrender, but Iorek's opponent had been drugged by Iofur Raknison, second in line for the throne, to prevent this. Following his exile, the humans of an Arctic port town deceived him by giving him spirits and stealing his armour while he was intoxicated. Lyra later finds him working in a scrap yard for food and board and proceeds to use her alethiometer to help him retrieve his armour. Following this, he helps Lyra, naming her Silvertongue. When Lyra ends up imprisoned by Iofur Raknison, she arranges a fight between Iorek and Iofur for the throne, which Iorek wins. After the opening of a gate to Cittàgazze changes the climate of Svalbard, Iorek is forced to take his fellow armoured bears on a voyage down to the Himalayas, where he meets Will Parry. When Will breaks the Subtle Knife, Iorek is able to repair it without the aid of specialist equipment. He and a regiment of his subjects fight on Lord Asriel's side in the battle on the plains; as part of this he takes Lyra and Will to find their lost dæmons. Afterwards, it is revealed that he returns to Svalbard and reigns as king of the armoured bears.
==Personality==
Like his kind, Iorek followed a very strict code of conduct, and would in no situation betray a promise he had made. He was extremely honorable, proud and formidably selfless, but could be strongly sentimental and piteous at times.
==Powers & Abilities==
===Powers===
*Enhanced Strength: Iorek was incredibly strong, even for a Panserbjørn, as he was strong enough to lift heavy objects despite his huge size, successfully overpower his rivals and even managed to go head-on against Iofur, eventually overpowering and killing him at the end of their battle over the throne of Svalbard.
*Enhanced Speed and Stamina: Iorek possessed terrific speed and courage, as he could sprint at a high speed for hours without getting tired or exhausted even when he was fighting Iofur.
*Enhanced Durability: Iorek was far more durable than other Panserbjørne, for example, he fought Iofur and survived multiple bites and several slashes and he even survived attacks from humans and other Panserbjørne. When wearing his sky-iron armour, it protected him from almost anything, being extremely hard to break or destroy with the exception of the subtle knife.
*Enhanced Endurance: Iorek's endurance was incredibly developed, he was able to take attacks from Iofur and still fight back.
*Enhanced Dexterity: Like many of his kind, Iorek had opposable thumbs on each of his paws, allowing him to grasp, grab and grip objects firmly.
*Enhanced Bite: Iorek had a particularly strong and powerful bite, either because of his sharp canine teeth, jaw-muscles, unusual jaw-structure or some other reason. Exactly what he could bite depended on the jaw-strength, resilience of his teeth/bite-surface and his shape.
*Enhanced Intelligence: Iorek possessed great intelligence; as his intelligent and cunning traits helped him to support people such as Lyra and Lee whilst even becoming the King of Svalbard. Although the townspeople of Trollesund managed to trick him by giving him alcohol and getting him drunk, Iorek was still intelligent as he couldn't be tricked by a human whilst he is sober. He even managed to defeat opponents who were much larger and stronger than him. He once helped Will mend the subtle knife but also gave him serious words of warning about it and what it could do, he even managed to trick Iofur (another bear) during their battle over the throne of Svalbard.
===Abilities===
*Enhanced Combatant: Due to Iorek's size, strength, durability and speed, he was an excellent combatant as he was able to battle against foes like humans or other Panserbjørne.
*Expert Blacksmith and Craftsman: Like many of his kind, Iorek was an expert blacksmith and craftsman as he was skilled at metalwork by making and repairing things in iron by hand as well as being skilled at crafting, fashioning and forging armour for battles.
==Trivia==
*Nonso Anozie was considered for the role of Iorek Byrnison before Ian McKellen was cast.
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