Ruta Skadi is the Latvian witch queen, and a lover of Lord Asriel. She accompanies Serafina Pekkala and her companions on part of their journey. She leaves, first to see Asriel's empire he is building, then to rally witches to help him. She brings news of a mysterious weapon which turns out to be the Subtle Knife after overhearing tell of it from cliff ghasts. She is described as being very passionate, powerful, pitiless and beautiful, and has black hair and large black eyes. She has been a lover of Lord Asriel. She is not mentioned for most of the final volume in the trilogy, the Amber Spyglass, but apparently survives. In the play adaptation, however, she commits suicide after killing John Parry, her estranged lover, in place of a more minor character who does not appear in the adaptation. Her daemon is a bluethroat named Sergi.