Lisbeth Salander
Encyclopedia
Lisbeth Salander is a fictional character
created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson
. She is the heroine of Larsson's award-winning "Millennium series", first appearing in the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
(original title in Swedish
: Män som hatar kvinnor, or "Men Who Hate Women"). She is also featured in The Girl Who Played with Fire
(Swedish
: Flickan som lekte med elden) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
(Swedish
: Luftslottet som sprängdes, or "The Air Castle That Exploded"), the second and third installments of the author's bestselling series.
young woman who had hair as short as a fuse, and a pierced nose and eyebrows. She had a wasp tattoo about an inch long on her neck, a tattooed loop around the biceps of her left arm and another around her left ankle. On those occasions when she had been wearing a tank top, a dragon tattoo can be seen on her left shoulder blade."
agent who defected to Sweden in 1976 and was granted asylum and protection by a faction within SÄPO
, the Swedish Security Service. Zalachenko later reveals to Lisbeth that she has seven half-brothers and sisters across Europe - though she would be unaware of this until her 20s.
The young Salander did not get on well with schoolmates, being introverted and estranged from other kids. On one occasion, when being assaulted by a boy far bigger and stronger than herself, on a following day she took revenge by hitting him with a baseball bat - for which she was severely punished. From this and other similar incidents, and learned an important lesson for later life - always analyze the likely results before taking an action, and when taking revenge on someone whom she considers deserving, make sure the action would not be traced to her.
Already at school her mathematical talent manifested itself. Salander comprehended the multiplication table
as soon as it was introduced, and could not understand why the teacher went on about it again and again.
Salander was often absent from school, due to concern about the situation of her mother. Zalachenko subjected Lisbeth's mother to frequent physical and psychological abuse, but because of his SÄPO connections, this abuse was ignored by the authorities. Lisbeth would do what little she could to defend her mother, unlike her sister Camilla, who would suppress the memory and treat her father as if he were loving and gentle; this would lead to an estrangement between the sisters that would never truly heal. Following a particularly savage beating that was to leave her mother with permanent brain damage
, the 12-year-old Lisbeth retaliated against her father by setting him on fire
, leaving him disfigured and in chronic pain. Zalachenko's handlers in SÄPO, fearing this would lead to their exposure and recriminations for harboring a violent, psychopathic Soviet spy, decided it best to silence Lisbeth by having her declared legally insane and sent to a Children's Psychiatric Hospital in Uppsala
. While there, she was placed under the direct surveillance of psychologist Dr. Peter Teleborian, who had earlier conspired with Zalachenko's handlers in SÄPO to have her declared insane. During her stay at the hospital, Teleborian put her in restraints for the most trivial of infractions — mostly to vent his repressed sexual desire for her.
After spending her formative years at St. Stefan's, she was released under the condition that she be considered legally incompetent
and therefore have a legal guardian to supervise her affairs. By the time of her introduction in the first novel, Nils Bjurman has become her new legal guardian, after her previous one, Holger Palmgren, has been incapacitated by a stroke
. Bjurman — who, later novels reveal, has ties to SÄPO — takes control of her finances as a function of his guardianship, allowing her a minuscule personal allowance from her own earnings as a freelance private investigator for Milton Security. He reveals himself to be a sadist
who forces her to perform oral sex
on him in exchange for money from her own accounts. He ultimately rape
s and sodomizes her, unaware that she is taping his actions with a hidden camera. She exacts her revenge on him for the rape a few days later by incapacitating him with a taser
, torturing
him, and forcing him to watch the recording of her rape. She then threatens to make the recording public unless he arranges for her to have permanent control over her money. Finally, she tattoos "I am a sadistic pig, a pervert and a rapist" in large letters on his abdomen. Bjurman complies with her demands, but seeks revenge in the second novel, setting in motion a chain of events that ends with Zalachenko's son (Lisbeth's half-brother) murdering Bjurman and framing Lisbeth for it.
Lisbeth is a "cracker
" — a computer hacker
who breaks into computer networks without authorization. Under the name "Wasp", she becomes a prominent figure in the international hacker community, known as the "Hacker Republic". She uses her computer skills as a means to earn a living, doing investigative work for Milton Security. She has an eidetic memory
, and is skillful at concealing her identity, possessing passports in different names and physical disguises that she uses to travel undetected around Sweden and worldwide.
Due to her traumatic
childhood, Lisbeth is highly introverted, anti-social
, and has difficulty connecting to people and making friends. She is particularly hostile to men who abuse women, and takes special pleasure in exposing and punishing them. This is both representative of Larsson's personal views and a major theme throughout the entire trilogy. Salander is also bisexual and is involved with a French
student, Miriam Wu.
She has a complicated relationship with investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist
, who began to work with her when they both were assigned to solve a cold case in the first novel. At the end of the first novel, Salander would save Blomkvist's life. Salander later uses her hacking skills to get sensitive information about Blomkvist's arch-rival, corrupt media magnate Hans-Erik Wennerström, that was much more incriminating than what Blomkvist had found in the past. With the information uncovered by Salander, Blomkvist publishes an exposé article
and book that ruins Wennerström, clears his own name, and tranforms his magazine, Millennium, into one of the most respected and profitable in Sweden. Forever in debt to Salander, Blomkvist becomes her most loyal advocate, fighting to prove her innocence — mostly against her wishes — when she is later accused of murder. Their relationship becomes sexual during the first novel, and at the end of the book Lisbeth acknowledges to herself that she had fallen in love with him. On her way to tell him so, she sees him with his longtime lover, Millennium editor Erika Berger, and decides that he couldn't possibly return her love and that she should have nothing more to do with him. She abruptly cuts off all contact with him, although they have limited contact via computer in the second novel and ultimately reconcile at the end of the third novel.
. However, she displays casual indifference to inflicting extreme degrees of premeditated physical torture right before her own eyes, which fits far better with certain (but far from all) types of psychopath, whereas autistic people generally tend to have greater than average affective empathy. The author himself states that he thinks that she might be looked upon as an unusual kind of sociopath
, due to her traumatic life experiences and inability to conform to social norms.
would have been like as an adult. In the trilogy, Salander has the name "V.Kulla" displayed on the door of her apartment on the Svartensgatan in Stockholm
, Sweden
. "V. Kulla" is an abbreviation of "Villa Villekulla", the name of Pippi Longstocking's house.
and as a child by Tehilla Blad
. In the American film of the first book
, she is played by Rooney Mara.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson
Stieg Larsson
Karl Stig-Erland Larsson , who wrote professionally as Stieg Larsson, was a Swedish journalist and writer, born in Skelleftehamn outside Skellefteå. He is best known for writing the "Millennium series" of crime novels, which were published posthumously...
. She is the heroine of Larsson's award-winning "Millennium series", first appearing in the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an award-winning crime novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book in the trilogy known as the "Millennium series"....
(original title in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
: Män som hatar kvinnor, or "Men Who Hate Women"). She is also featured in The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire is the second novel in the best-selling "Millennium series" by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009....
(Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
: Flickan som lekte med elden) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is the third and final novel in the best-selling "Millennium series"by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson.The novel is the sequel to The Girl Who Played with Fire....
(Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
: Luftslottet som sprängdes, or "The Air Castle That Exploded"), the second and third installments of the author's bestselling series.
Character
Lisbeth Salander has red hair, which she dyes black. Upon her first appearance in the series, she is described as "a pale, anorexicAnorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
young woman who had hair as short as a fuse, and a pierced nose and eyebrows. She had a wasp tattoo about an inch long on her neck, a tattooed loop around the biceps of her left arm and another around her left ankle. On those occasions when she had been wearing a tank top, a dragon tattoo can be seen on her left shoulder blade."
Profile
Salander and her twin sister, Camilla, were born April 30, 1978, to Agneta Sofia Salander (née Sjölander). Their father, Alexander Zalachenko, was a Soviet GRUGRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
agent who defected to Sweden in 1976 and was granted asylum and protection by a faction within SÄPO
SAPO
SAPO , Servidor de Apontadores Portugueses, is a brand and subsidiary company of the Portugal Telecom Group...
, the Swedish Security Service. Zalachenko later reveals to Lisbeth that she has seven half-brothers and sisters across Europe - though she would be unaware of this until her 20s.
The young Salander did not get on well with schoolmates, being introverted and estranged from other kids. On one occasion, when being assaulted by a boy far bigger and stronger than herself, on a following day she took revenge by hitting him with a baseball bat - for which she was severely punished. From this and other similar incidents, and learned an important lesson for later life - always analyze the likely results before taking an action, and when taking revenge on someone whom she considers deserving, make sure the action would not be traced to her.
Already at school her mathematical talent manifested itself. Salander comprehended the multiplication table
Multiplication table
In mathematics, a multiplication table is a mathematical table used to define a multiplication operation for an algebraic system....
as soon as it was introduced, and could not understand why the teacher went on about it again and again.
Salander was often absent from school, due to concern about the situation of her mother. Zalachenko subjected Lisbeth's mother to frequent physical and psychological abuse, but because of his SÄPO connections, this abuse was ignored by the authorities. Lisbeth would do what little she could to defend her mother, unlike her sister Camilla, who would suppress the memory and treat her father as if he were loving and gentle; this would lead to an estrangement between the sisters that would never truly heal. Following a particularly savage beating that was to leave her mother with permanent brain damage
Brain damage
"Brain damage" or "brain injury" is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors...
, the 12-year-old Lisbeth retaliated against her father by setting him on fire
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
, leaving him disfigured and in chronic pain. Zalachenko's handlers in SÄPO, fearing this would lead to their exposure and recriminations for harboring a violent, psychopathic Soviet spy, decided it best to silence Lisbeth by having her declared legally insane and sent to a Children's Psychiatric Hospital in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
. While there, she was placed under the direct surveillance of psychologist Dr. Peter Teleborian, who had earlier conspired with Zalachenko's handlers in SÄPO to have her declared insane. During her stay at the hospital, Teleborian put her in restraints for the most trivial of infractions — mostly to vent his repressed sexual desire for her.
After spending her formative years at St. Stefan's, she was released under the condition that she be considered legally incompetent
Four stages of competence
In psychology, the four stages of competence, or the "conscious competence" learning model, relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill.-History:...
and therefore have a legal guardian to supervise her affairs. By the time of her introduction in the first novel, Nils Bjurman has become her new legal guardian, after her previous one, Holger Palmgren, has been incapacitated by a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. Bjurman — who, later novels reveal, has ties to SÄPO — takes control of her finances as a function of his guardianship, allowing her a minuscule personal allowance from her own earnings as a freelance private investigator for Milton Security. He reveals himself to be a sadist
Sadistic personality disorder
Sadistic personality disorder is a diagnosis which appeared only in an appendix of the revised third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . The current version of the DSM does not include it, so it is no longer considered a valid...
who forces her to perform oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
on him in exchange for money from her own accounts. He ultimately rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s and sodomizes her, unaware that she is taping his actions with a hidden camera. She exacts her revenge on him for the rape a few days later by incapacitating him with a taser
Taser
A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects "neuromuscular incapacitation" and the devices' mechanism "Electro-Muscular Disruption technology"...
, torturing
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
him, and forcing him to watch the recording of her rape. She then threatens to make the recording public unless he arranges for her to have permanent control over her money. Finally, she tattoos "I am a sadistic pig, a pervert and a rapist" in large letters on his abdomen. Bjurman complies with her demands, but seeks revenge in the second novel, setting in motion a chain of events that ends with Zalachenko's son (Lisbeth's half-brother) murdering Bjurman and framing Lisbeth for it.
Lisbeth is a "cracker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
" — a computer hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
who breaks into computer networks without authorization. Under the name "Wasp", she becomes a prominent figure in the international hacker community, known as the "Hacker Republic". She uses her computer skills as a means to earn a living, doing investigative work for Milton Security. She has an eidetic memory
Eidetic memory
Eidetic , commonly referred to as photographic memory, is a medical term, popularly defined as the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume. The word eidetic, referring to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall not limited to, but...
, and is skillful at concealing her identity, possessing passports in different names and physical disguises that she uses to travel undetected around Sweden and worldwide.
Due to her traumatic
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
childhood, Lisbeth is highly introverted, anti-social
Anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that lacks consideration for others and that may cause damage to society, whether intentionally or through negligence, as opposed to pro-social behaviour, behaviour that helps or benefits society...
, and has difficulty connecting to people and making friends. She is particularly hostile to men who abuse women, and takes special pleasure in exposing and punishing them. This is both representative of Larsson's personal views and a major theme throughout the entire trilogy. Salander is also bisexual and is involved with a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
student, Miriam Wu.
She has a complicated relationship with investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist
Mikael Blomkvist
Mikael Blomkvist is a fictional character created by writer Stieg Larsson who appears as a main character in the Millennium series along with Lisbeth Salander.-Name:...
, who began to work with her when they both were assigned to solve a cold case in the first novel. At the end of the first novel, Salander would save Blomkvist's life. Salander later uses her hacking skills to get sensitive information about Blomkvist's arch-rival, corrupt media magnate Hans-Erik Wennerström, that was much more incriminating than what Blomkvist had found in the past. With the information uncovered by Salander, Blomkvist publishes an exposé article
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
and book that ruins Wennerström, clears his own name, and tranforms his magazine, Millennium, into one of the most respected and profitable in Sweden. Forever in debt to Salander, Blomkvist becomes her most loyal advocate, fighting to prove her innocence — mostly against her wishes — when she is later accused of murder. Their relationship becomes sexual during the first novel, and at the end of the book Lisbeth acknowledges to herself that she had fallen in love with him. On her way to tell him so, she sees him with his longtime lover, Millennium editor Erika Berger, and decides that he couldn't possibly return her love and that she should have nothing more to do with him. She abruptly cuts off all contact with him, although they have limited contact via computer in the second novel and ultimately reconcile at the end of the third novel.
Mental state
Blomkvist speculates that Salander might have Asperger's syndromeAsperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
. However, she displays casual indifference to inflicting extreme degrees of premeditated physical torture right before her own eyes, which fits far better with certain (but far from all) types of psychopath, whereas autistic people generally tend to have greater than average affective empathy. The author himself states that he thinks that she might be looked upon as an unusual kind of sociopath
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
, due to her traumatic life experiences and inability to conform to social norms.
Development
Larsson stated in interviews that he based the character of Lisbeth Salander on what he imagined Pippi LongstockingPippi Longstocking
Pippi Longstocking is a fictional character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and adapted into multiple films and television series...
would have been like as an adult. In the trilogy, Salander has the name "V.Kulla" displayed on the door of her apartment on the Svartensgatan in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. "V. Kulla" is an abbreviation of "Villa Villekulla", the name of Pippi Longstocking's house.
In film
In the Swedish film trilogy, she is played by Noomi RapaceNoomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace is a Swedish actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish/Danish film adaptations of the "Millennium series": The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest...
and as a child by Tehilla Blad
Tehilla Blad
Tehilla Blad is a Swedish actress best known for playing the young Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish Millennium films.-Biography:...
. In the American film of the first book
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an upcoming English-language drama thriller film that is the second film based on the Swedish novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. The first film was the 2009 Swedish-language adaptation. The upcoming film is written by Steven Zaillian and directed by David...
, she is played by Rooney Mara.
See also
- The Girl with the Dragon TattooThe Girl with the Dragon TattooThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an award-winning crime novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book in the trilogy known as the "Millennium series"....
- The Girl Who Played with FireThe Girl Who Played with FireThe Girl Who Played with Fire is the second novel in the best-selling "Millennium series" by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009....
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' NestThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' NestThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is the third and final novel in the best-selling "Millennium series"by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson.The novel is the sequel to The Girl Who Played with Fire....
External links
- www.larssontrilogy.com from Quercus, publishers of Stieg Larsson
- The official Millennium site of Nordstedt Publishing
- The Girl Who Played with Fire