Inspector Walters

Inspector Walters is the secondary main antagonist in The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman.

Origins
It is strongly implied he comes from Lyra's universe, and he must have a daemon which is small, like Lord Boreal's, so he can easily hide it, thus saving suspicion. Inspector Walters can pass himself off superbly well as a police officer in our world, and thus his ultimate goal is to save the Church by obtaining the Subtle Knife, the source of all the interdimensional doorways he has been finding on his mission.

In the novel
He is the source of Eileen Parry's trauma, as he and a colleague come to the Parry house and make threats, while Walters' friend examines the upstairs rooms. Both fail to value the son, Will, as any real threat, and they laugh at him repeatedly, but this is their downfall as Walters' companion is accidentally murdered by Will when Will knocks into him; his neck breaks and he dies when he trips over Will's pet cat.

Walters rushes out and sees the murder, but fails to apprehend Will, who escapes to Oxford, then escapes into a parallel universe named Cittagazze.

Later, Inspector Walters is seen getting into a journalist's office - the same journalist that Will was about to visit. Will trembles, knowing nowhere is safe in his world with Walters around.

By now, Will knows Walters was the man who came to his house, who saw his murder, and Walters is described as being a big blond man, so blond he seems to have no eyebrows.

Much later, Lyra is accosted by "police" on her visit to Dr Mary Malone. The "police" introduce themselves as a sergeant, accompanied by an Inspector Walters. They both start asking Lyra questions like normal cops, until Walters mentions Will to be with Lyra. To her horror, Lyra actually betrays Will, admitting he is there. Walters leaps to his feet, attempting to block her, yet Dr Malone saves Lyra by tripping the cops. Then Lyra bolts, and gets onto the outside street. Yet Walters sprints rapidly after her, intent on possibly murdering her, and a scared Lyra rushes through half of Oxford before finally evading the murderous Walters in a park. However, a potentially worse danger follows where she is met by Lord Boreal.

After the novel
It is unknown what happened to Walters in the final battle between the Authority and Lord Asriel; or if Walters returned to his own universe to take part in the fight. However, if he didn't, its unknown if he still poses a threat to Will when Will returns to our world. Its most likely he doesn't, though, as the Church has fallen so presumably Walters holds no credibility. Yet the truth is the longer you leave your universe you sicken and die, so this is most likely Walters' ultimate fate if he chose to stay in our world.

Personality
Walters was a cruel, malicious man, intent on scaring innocent people half to death. He chased Lyra, a twelve year old girl, down a bustling metropolis all on the intent of murdering her, uncaring of how many witnesses were there. Walters struck fear into the hearts of all who encountered him, and he was so pale he looked ghostly. Lyra didn't know who he was, just that he was "the big blond man, so fast, so strong."