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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Characters
Meet the Cast
Lisbeth Salander
Lisbeth Salander, known for her "crooked smile," is one of the most intriguing characters to hit bookstores ever. She was born on Walpurgis Night, April 30th. This holiday marks the return of sprin...
Mikael Blomkvist
Blomkvist is the reluctant detective of the piece. He's about 42 years old and, unlike young Salander, he hasn't come to terms with his inner investigator. Blomkvist is managing editor of Millenniu...
Henrik Vanger
Henrik turns 82 years old on the first page of the book. He's a widower and was married to a Jewish woman he helped escape Germany during World War II. This earned him the scorn of his three Nazi b...
Harriet Vanger
Harriet is the mostly unseen star of the chief mystery of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. For most of the novel, the other characters think she's long-dead. Blomkvist is skeptical at first, but wh...
Martin Vanger
Martin is CEO of the Vanger Corporation, and one of the novel's chief villains. For most of the story, he seems like a pretty nice guy. Even Blomkvist is taken in. Plus, he's on the other side of t...
Hans-Erik Wennerström
Wennerström might be a little boring to read about because he never actually appears. None of the other characters meet him. He's a version of a device made famous by Alfred Hitchcock, the Mac...
Erika Berger
Erika owns most of Millennium. She's Blomkvist's boss, and his long-time lover. She's also married to Greger Beckman, an artist who understands the irresistible attraction between Berger and Blomkv...
Advokat Nils Erik Bjurman
Bjurman is a villain of the first order. When Salander's original guardian has a stroke, Bjurman becomes her new guardian. Immediately he starts messing with her. First he takes away her bank accou...
Dragan Armansky
Dragan runs Milton Security and is Salander's boss. He's protective of her, yet can't protect her. They like each other, but he doesn't quite understand Salander. He's attracted to her, but thinks...
Advokat Holger Palmgren
Holger, a lawyer, is Salander's legal guardian until December 2002. He's a nice man who's dedicated his life to helping youngsters with troubles. When Salander's in her late teens, she defends hers...
Salander's Mother
Salander's mother is about 46 and lives in Äppelviken Nursing Home, where Salander visits her. In this novel, we don't learn her name, or even why she's in a nursing home. She dies when Saland...
Camilla
Camilla is Salander's sister. All we know about her in this book is that Salander and her mother haven't seen Camilla for some time. Future books provide more details on Camilla.
Mimmi
Mimmi is one of Salander's lovers. We learn that Salander "prefer[s] guys" (18.2), but has a "problem […] finding a guy who was not a jerk, and who was good in bed" (18.2). Mimmi, she thinks,...
Cilla Norén
Cilla is probably the only friend Salander ever made at school. Cilla introduces Salander to the Evil Fingers, which used to be a teen girl rock band, and now is a group of friends. Salander is a m...
The Evil Fingers
The Evil Fingers used to be a teen girl rock band, and is now a group of friends, which includes Cilla Norén. Mimmi is not a member, but Salander does introduce her to the Evil Fingers. We don...
Plague
Plague is one of Salander's hacker associates. He lives in Stockholm. She doesn't consider him a friend. Plague invents the electronic cuff she uses to take control of Hans Erik Wennerström's...
Trinity
Trinity is a hacker, part of Salander's network. We meet him briefly in London, where he helps Salander and Blomkvist trace Anita Vanger's phone call to Harriet Vanger.
Bob the Dog
Bob the Dog is another hacker in Salander's network. We meet him with Trinity in London, and he helps trace Anita Vanger's phone call to Harriet Vanger in Australia.
Joshua
Joshua is hacker. He leaves information on Cochran Farms (Harriet's farm) for Blomkvist at the Melbourne airport. We don't meet him.
Greger Beckman
Greger is Erika Berger's husband. He's an artist, and something of a scandalous public figure, though we don't get the scandalous details. His marriage with Erika has survived, because he doesn't m...
Pernilla
Pernilla is Blomkvist's daughter, a little older than Harriet was at the time she disappeared. Pernilla seems to love her father, but doesn't see him very often. We think she could definitely follo...
Monica Abrahamson
Monica is Blomkvist's ex-wife, "ex" because Blomkvist simply couldn't stay away from Erika Berger, even though he tried, and Monica didn't like it. They're on decent terms now. He goes to her place...
Christer Malm
Christer is Millennium's art director and designer, "an exhibitionist gay celebrity" (3.55). He takes over for Blomkvist when Blomkvist exits the magazine after the Wennerström scandal. We don...
Janne Dahlman
Janne is managing editor at Millennium, and something of a bad guy. He's been giving out secret information to Monopoly, a magazine owned by Hans-Erik Wennerström. Apparently he played a major...
Henry Cortez
Henry is a journalist at Millennium. He's a minor character and seems like a nice guy. He provides the initial proof to Blomkvist that Janne Dahlman is up to no good.
Lotta Karim
Lotta is another journalist at Millennium. She's a minor character in this novel, and is shown positively.
Sonny Magnusson
Sonny is Millennium's advertising executive. He's a minor character in this novel, and is shown positively.
Monika Nillson
Monika is a journalist at Millennium, another minor character shown positively.
Malin Eriksson
Malin is hired by Erika Berger to replace Janne Dahlman at Millennium.
Ingela Oskarsson
Ingela is a part-time Millennium employee.
Annika Giannini
Annika is Blomkvist's sister, an attorney, married with two children. She and Blomkvist are close.
Robert Lindberg
Robert is Blomkvist's high school friend. He's the guy who gets Blomkvist interested in Wennerström to begin with.
Kurt and Anita Blomkvist
Kurt and Anita are Blomkvist's parents, now deceased.
William Borg
Borg and Blomkvist have been enemies for about fifteen years, since they worked together at a newspaper. Blomkvist outs Borg as a corrupt, irresponsible financial journalist in his book The Knights...
Advokat Bertil Camnermarker
Bertil is Blomkvist's lawyer. We don't meet her in the story.
Cecilia Vanger
Cecilia, like Harriet, is Henrik's grandniece. She's 57 now and lives alone on Hedeby Island. Her father is Harald Vanger, Henrik's only living brother, the Nazi who "ruined [her] life when [she] w...
Anita Vanger
Anita is Cecilia's younger sister, who looks and dresses just like her. She is Harriet's closest female friend – before and after Harriet disappears. But for most of the novel, Blomkvist is b...
Gottfried Vanger
Gottfried is Harriet and Martin's father and one of the story's chief villains, though he dies almost forty years before the novel begins. As Blomkvist and Salander discover, he murdered women from...
Isabella Vanger
Isabella is Martin and Harriet's mother, and one nasty character. She knew her husband was raping their children but didn't care, if we can believe Harriet. Harriet says, "My father could have rape...
Edith Vanger
Edith is Henrik's wife, now deceased.
Birger Vanger
Birger is Cecilia and Anita's older brother. He seems like a nasty guy, and he resents Blomkvist snooping on the family.
Dirch Frode
Dirch is Henrik's go-to guy. He handles the investigation and hiring of Blomkvist, and urges Blomkvist to hire Salander to help him solve the mystery of Harriet's disappearance.
Detective Superintendant Morell
Detective Morrell is the same age as Henrik Vanger and shares his birthday. He's also the detective in charge of Harriet's case when she first disappears. Through the years, he works with Henrik, h...
Pastor Otto Falk
Otto Falk is a pastor, and the last person known to have seen Harriet on the day she disappears. When Blomkvist visits him, he's in the throes of Alzheimer's. When Blomkvist asks him about Harriet,...
Harald Vanger
Harald is Henrik's only living brother, and the father of Cecilia, Anita, and Birger. He's a Nazi who abused his children. He's over ninety years old in the novel, a hermit who does who-knows-what...
Ingrid Vanger
Ingrid is married to Harald, and is the mother of Cecilia, Anita, and Birger. She's deceased, survived by her children and her husband.
Richard and Margareta Vanger
Richard and Margareta, now deceased, are Gottfried's parents. Richard is Henrik's oldest brother. He was a Nazi, and he abused his only son, Gottfried.
Greger and Gerda Vanger
Greger is already deceased. He's survived by his wife Gerda and son Alexander, both of whom live on Hedeby Island. Greger is Henrik's brother, a Nazi like Richard and Harald.
Alexander Vanger
Alexander is son of Greger and Gerda, and seems like a nice guy. When Blomkvist finds out that Greger took pictures of Hedeby Island the day Harriet disappears, Alexander gives him Greger's father'...
Fredrik and Ulrika Vanger
Fredrik and Ulrika Vanger are the parents of Henrik and his brothers.
Johan Vanger
Johan is Fredrik's brother. He doesn't marry or have children.
Gottfried and Birger Vanger
Gottfried (yes, another Gottfried) and Birger Vanger are brothers. This Gottfried didn't marry or have children. Birger is father to Johan and Fredrik.
Pastor Margareta Strandh
Current pastor at Hedeby, replacing Otto Falk.
Tjorven the Cat
Tjorven is Hedeby's resident stray feline. She makes friends with Blomkvist on his first night in town. Sadly, Tjorven becomes Martin's victim when the nutso man burns and mutilates her, presumably...
Jeff Cochran
Jeff is Harriet's oldest son. He's highly educated, and will run Cochran Farm when Harriet becomes CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Harriet has another son and a daughter as well, though we don't mee...
Spencer Cochran
Spencer is Harriet's husband. He died in 1994. They seemed to have had a loving relationship.
Eva Hassel
Eva is Martin's longtime girlfriend, a beautiful dentist. As far as we can tell, she knew nothing of Martin's secret life. The novel doesn't discuss whether she'll be told about it. Her presence in...
Kurt Nylund
Kurt is the photographer for the newspaper The Courier. He's on duty the day Harriet disappears and takes pictures of Hedeby Island and the tanker accident, and the Children's Day Parade in Hedesta...
Conny Torsson
Conny writes a rude article about Blomkvist for The Hedestad Courier.
Gunnar Karlman
Gunnar is editor of the Hedestad Courier and is on Hedeby Island the day Harriet disappears.
Anna Nygren
Ana is Henrik Vanger's personal assistant/attendant/secretary at his home on Hedeby Island.
Bodil Lindgren
Bodil supervises the Vanger family archives, where Salander does research on the night Martin imprisons Blomkvist.
Magnus Nillson
Magnus was superintendent of many Vanger properties when he was alive. He's present the day Harriet disappeared.
Gunnar Nilsson
Gunnar is Magnus's son, about the same age as Harriet. He might have had a romance with Harriet.
Helena Nilsson
Helena is Gunnar's wife.
Sixten Norland
Sixten is a sawmill worker present on Hedeby the day Harriet disappeared.
Gustav Arronson
Gustav is driving the tanker that wrecks on the bridge to Hedeby Island the day of Harriet's disappearance.
Jerker Arronson
Jerker is Gustav's son. He was sixteen and on Hedeby Island the day Harriet disappears.
Astrid
Astrid is the Vanger family cook in 1966.
Eugene Norman
Eugene is an eccentric painter who lives on Hedeby Island.
Suzanne
Suzanne is owner of Suzanne's Bridge Café, where Blomkvist eats, on the other side of the bridge from Hedeby Island.
Rebecka Jacobsson
Rebecka is Gottfried's first-known victim, murdered in 1949, when Gottfried would have been about twenty-one. This is the year after Martin is born.
Mari Holmberg
Mari is from Kalmar and is murdered by Gottfried in 1954.
Rakel Lunde
Rakel is murdered by Gottfried in 1957 in Landskrona.
(Magda) Lovisa Sjöberg
Magda is murdered by Gottfried in 1960 in Karlstad.
Liv Gustavsson
Liv is murdered by Gottfried in 1960, in Stockholm.
Lea Persson
Lea is murdered by Gottfried in 1964, in Uddevalla. Martin, fourteen at the time, is with his father and watches him rape and murder Lea.
Sarah Witt
Sarah is murder by Gottfried and Martin in 1964, in Ronneby. This seems to be Martin's first victim.
Lena Andersson
Lena is murdered by Martin in 1966, in Uppsala. She seems to be the first woman he kills on his own (since dad is dead now) and the last woman he kills using his dad's weird biblical MO.
