The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest – Characters

SPOILERS!!!

These are the characters in this series for further reference.

Regular characters

• (Carl) Mikael Blomkvist (45) is the main character. He is a journalist in a magazine. Mikael is divorced and has a daughter, and he also has an ongoing affair with Erika, the co-owner of the magazine, Millennium. In this book he gets involved with a officer from the National Security Office, Monica, and he even confesses to Erika that he might be in love with her. At the end of the girl when everything has happened, he and Lisbeth make up after their past fall-out.
• Lisbeth Salander (27) is the other main character in the series. Lisbeth is quite peculiar, which might be caused by her upbringing. Her father was a Russian spy who mistreated her mother terribly. When she was twelve, she tried to kill her father, Zalachenko, setting fire to his car. After that, she was sent to a mental institution where she was kept tied to a bed for almost a year as instructed by her psychiatrist. After that, she was deemed to be mentally impaired. This was just a campaign to protect Zalachenko’s identity and his work. As she grew up, she got into deeper trouble, and she agreed to be cared by a guardian, named by the state. Holger Palmgren was great to her, but he suffered a stroke. The next guardian, Bjurman, was a pig, who raped her, and she took revenge, secretly filming what he had done to her and attacking him. Lisbeth started working for Dragan thanks to Holger, and then when she proved that she was better than anyone else but too rebellious to adapt to a discipline, so she now works freelance. Lisbeth is actually a brilliant hacker, and she cooperated with Mikael in his investigation, and she eventually fell in love with him, but when she saw him with Erika, she took offence and stopped talking to him. In the last book she was hunted by the police because they thought that she had killed Mikael’s colleague, his partner, and Bjurman. In reality, she is innocent, and she discovered that the man who committed the crimes was Niedermann, a man working for her father and who is actually her half-brother. When she went to confront her father, he shot her and even buried her, but Lisbeth managed to scratch her way out of the grave. Blomkvist found her and in this book she gets surgery and survives. Lisbeth has to face charges of attempted murder and grievous body harm, but thanks to Annika, she manages to prove her innocence.
• Erika Berger (45) is Mikael’s yearlong lover and the co-owner of the magazine. Erika is married, and her husband knows about Mikael and accepts that she needs Mikael as well as him. Erika leaves Millennium for a better position in a national newspaper. From the first moment Erika has to face lots of problems, hostile colleagues and a stalker. The stalker even attacks her home, and she has to hire Milton Security. Thanks to Erika, who hacks into Milton’s system and discovers Erika’s problems, the stalker is found out. Erika eventually leaves the new job when Cortez from Millennium discovers that the newspaper CEO is corrupted and is part of a company which uses child labour, Erika confronts him, forces him to resign, and she decides to resign herself and return to Millennium.
• Dragan Armansky (58) is the manager of the security company Lisbeth worked for. He gets involved in her defence and helps Mikael to bring down the Section.
• Holger Palmgren was Lisbeth’s guardian but he had a stroke. Lisbeth discovers that unlike what she thought, Holger is alive and she starts visiting. Holger is getting stronger every day. He was the first person to trust Lisbeth, and that means the world to her. He also helps Annika to prepare Lisbeth’s defence at the trial.
• Dr Peter Teleborian is the psychiatrist who had Lisbeth sectioned. In reality he was cooperating with Sapo to protect Zalachenko. Teleborian’s opinion about Lisbeth was taken at face value by the police despite the contrasting opinions of the people who know Lisbeth. When Lisbeth was twelve and she was in the mental institution, he kept her tied to the bed with a frame, and she was in this way for many months. During Lisbeth’s trial Annika proved that Teleborian had committed terrible crimes against Lisbeth, and he was arrested for collaborating with the Section.
• Crister Malm (35) is the magazine’s art director and co-owner
• Malin Eriksson is the editorial assistant. When Erika accepts the offer to work for a national newspaper, she replaces. However, when Erika leaves the newspaper, Malin begs Erika to return to her old job as she is happy being her assistant.
• Plague is the hacker that belongs to the same network Lisbeth belongs to.
• Greger Beckman is Erika’s husband.
• Annika Blomkvist Giannini is Mikael’s sister. She is a lawyer who specialises in women’s rights. Mikael begs his sister to be Lisbeth’s lawyer even though she has no experience in criminal law. Annika is great and manages to get Lisbeth acquitted.
• Prosecutor Richard Ekstrom (42) runs the investigation of Lisbeth. He lets the Section people manipulate him, and at the end of the book he is to face charges for dereliction.
• Inspector Llan Bublanski (Inspector Bubble) is the criminal inspector leading the investigation.
• Inspector Sonja Modig (39) is one of the detectives in Bublanski’s team. She helps Mikael to discover the men in the Section.
• Superintendent Torsten Endlinth is the director of the Security Police. Dragan Armansky knows him, so he asks Endlinth to investigate the irregular actions Mikael and he have discovered. He assigns Monica Figuerola, and when she discovers that Armansky’s suspicions are right, Endlinth sets up a unit to investigate.
• Inspector Monica Figuerola works for the Security Police and is the one to check the accusations coming from Armansky. Monica is intelligent and attractive, and when she and Mikael start cooperating, they start an affair. At the end of the book Monica is certain she is in love with Mikael, and Mikael thinks that he coudl be in love as well.
• Alexander Zalachenko (66)was Lisbeth’s father. He used to work for the secret service in Russia, and when he had to flee, he became a spy for the secret service in Sweden. That was a secret, and the man also had illegal businesses at the same time. In the last book he turned out to be the man running the ring of prostitutes that Mikael started investigated. Zalachenko ended up in hospital when Lisbeth hit him with an axe. After some days, Zalachenko is murdered by the former director of the Section.
• Ronald Niederman is the gigantic man who murders Bjuarman, Dag and Mia under Zala’s instructions. He is actually Zala’s son, so he is Lisbeth’s half-brother. Niederman tries to kidnap Lisbeth before the murders, and then he kidnaps Mimmi. In the end Mikael comes across him and using a gun to threaten him, he ties him to a traffic sign, and he will call the police later. The police blunder it when they face him without backup. So he flees, killing a policeman and injuring another. A the end of the book Lisbeth comes face to face with him when she is checking out a property that belonged to her father. Niedermann tries to kill her again, but she manages to outmaneuvred, and she calls some men who had a grudge on him. Niedermann is murdered, and Lisbeth calls the police and his murderers are also arrested.
• Nils Erik Bjurman was the guardian who took over from Holger, and from the first moment he was nasty to Lisbeth. He ended up raping her, but Lisbeth managed to gain the upper hand when she secretly filmed the rape. He was horrified when she showed him the firm, and then he tattooes some short phrases like ‘I’m a pig, I’m a rapist’ in his stomach. Bjurman becoming Lisbeth’s guardian was not pure chance. It was intentional because he and the others protecting Zala needed to control her. When the tables were turned and she was in control, Bjurman talked to Niederman to get rid of her. However, Niederman killed him when he discovered that the link between Bjurman and Zala was about to be discovered.
• Miriam Wu (Mimmi) is Lisbeth’s only friend. They are also casual lovers. Lisbeth offered her to live in her flat after she bought a new property, and Mimmi agreed. Niederman kidnapped her. Thankfully, Paolo, the boxer, rescued her. Mimmi decided to move to Paris, and when Lisbeth is released from jail, she wants to talk to her, but she learns about her moving to France. Lisbeth feels guilty, but she eventually goes to find Mimmi in Paris, and she tells her that there is nothing to forgive her, and they decide to keep being friends.
• Dag Svenson is the journalist whose murder LIsbeth was accused of.
• Mia Johansson was s Dag’s girlfriend. She was also murdered.
• Harriet Vanger is the woman whose disappearance Mikael investigated. Harriet was abused by her father and brother, and she wasn’t murdered as everybody believed. She escaped with the help of her cousin, Anita, to Australia where she lived for thirty years. Now Harriet is the CEO of Vanger Corporation, and she is a partner in Millenium in her own right. Harriet and Mikael also had an affair with her.
• Paolo Roberto is a boxer and a friend of Lisbeth’s. He trained her in boxing since she was 17. Paolo saved Mimmi when she was kidnapped by Niederman.
• Monika Giannini (13) is Mikael’s niece.
• Jenny Giannini (10) is Mikael’s another niece.
• Enrico Giannini is Annika’s husband.
• Monica is Mikael’s ex-wife.
• Pernilla is Mikael’s daughter.
• Sollentuna is Monica’s new husband.
• Arnold Magnusson is Malm’s boyfriend.
• Monika Nilsson is a reporter in Millennium.
• Lottie Karin is a part-timer in Millennium.
• Herny Cortez is a part-timer in Millennium. He discovers that Erika’s new boss is involved in a company which uses child labour. So he writes an article about it, but he and Mikael decide to warn Erika before the article gets published.
• Dr Anders Sivarnandan is Holger’s doctor at the nursing home.
• Cilla Noren is a girl belonging to the gothic girl bad “Evil Fingers”, and Lisbeth hung out with them from time to time. Because of her association with this band, thought to be satanic, Lisbeth was accused of toying with Satanism.
• Henrik Vanger (85) hired Mikael to discover who murdered his niece Harriet. Henrik owned Vanger Corporation. When Millennium goes through difficulties, he invested in it, but now the partnership has finished. He is only mentioned in this book.
• Dirch Frode was Henrik Vargen’s lawyer and man of trust. He is only mentioned in this book.
• William Borg is a journalist who Mikael considers his nemesis.
• Camilla Salander is Lisbeth’s twin sister. There is no love lost between the sisters, and it seems that they were very different. She doesn’t appear in the book, but she is mentioned, and Lisbeth says that she hasn’t seen her sister in ten years.
• Ritva Armansky is Dragan’s wife.

Characters in this book

• Dr Anders Jonasson is the doctor who saves Lisbeth’s life. Then when she stays in hospital, Dr Jonasson helps her by sneaking a hand-held device to her so that she and Mikael can be in contact and they can build her defence.
• Jonas Sandberg is one of the Section.
• Evert Gullberg (78) is a former boss of the Section. When things get complicated after Zalazencho is found, he returns for a plan of action. He shoots Zalachencho dead, and then he shoots himself. He doesn’t die instantly, but he is kept alive for three months. The shot didn’t kill him but the cancer he had.
• Birger Wadensjoo is the current director of the Section. He was the first one to be arrested, and he eventually confesses everything.
• Georg Nystrom also works for the Section and is eventually arrested too.
• Fredrich Clinton (68) worked for the Section but he was retired and struggling with his health. Gullberg asks him to lead the new case, and he is ruthless. He is the one who knew about Gullberg’s intention to kill Zalachenko and who orders Burman’s murder.
• Albert Chencke is the Chief Secretariat of the Security Police, and he also works for the Section.
• Falun is a petty criminal that the Section hires to get into Mikael’s flat.
• Goran Martenson is also part of the Section, and he was assigned to follow Mikael.
• Friedrich Fredrichson is the assistant editor at the newspaper which Erika worked for. He was the one who started stalking her and send all those hate mails. When Lisbeth finds out it is him, the security officer, Susanne, who Erika hired, tells him to resign and leave the city at once. +
• Magnus Borgsjo is the CEO of the newspaper Erika starts working for. Erika has to confront him when she learns that he is involved in a company using child labour. Magnus eventually resigns.
• Susanne Linder works for Milton Security, and she is the officer who stays with Erika when her house is attacked. Then when Lisbeth finds out who the stalker is, Linder crosses the line of legality when she forces Fredrichson in her car and makes him drive to his flat, where she finds everything that he took from Erika. When Susanne tells Dragan what she did, he is not happy about it, but he tells her that she is too good for him to let her go.
• Trinity is another hacker who helps Lisbeth. He is English, and he also helped her and Mikael in the Harriet Vanger’s case.
• Hans Faste (47) was the officer who is assigned to investigate Lisbeth.
• Fasto is mysonistic, and he is intent in proving that Lisbeth is deranged.
• Idris Ghidi is the Kurdish refugee who works in the hospital where Lisbeth is recovering. Mikael asks him to change the batteries of a mobile he hides in the air vent so that Lisbeth can have access to the Internet.
• Carl-Magnus (Magge) Lundin was part of the illegal sex trafficking that Zala runs. When Lisbeth confronted him, she managed to reduce him and the police arrest him.
• Sonny Nieminen was Magge’s partner, and he was also arrested in the end.
• Gunmar Bjork is the corrupt police officer . He was a friend of Teleborian, and he knew too much, so the Section decides to kill him.
• Inspector Paulsson is the policeman who is the first to arrive at the scene of the crime when Lisbeth is almost killed by her father and half-brother. Paulsson proves to be quite foolish when he sends his men to get Niedermann without backup and when he even handcuffs Mikael.
• Jerker Holmberg is a police officer who works with Sonja Modig to help clear Lisbeth’s name.
• Tomi and Miro Nikolich are the two killers that the Section hires to kill Mikael.