Mikael Blomkvist

Mikael Blomkvist is a fictional character created by writer Stieg Larsson who appears as the main character of the Millennium series along with Lisbeth Salander.

Profile

Name

Larsson stated in interviews that he based many characters, including that of Lisbeth Salander, on characters from Astrid Lindgren novels.^[1] Blomkvist is frequently referred to by his colleagues in the news media as "Kalle Blomkvist," a reference to a boy detective who appears in several of Lindgren's novels, because his first notable investigation is uncovering the hideout of a gang of bank robbers. Lisbeth Salander sarcastically refers to him by this nickname throughout the series.

Overview

According to the author, "Mikael Blomkvist is a graduate of the School of Journalism and had much of his professional life dedicated to revealing and report suspicious transactions, specifically in the field of banking and business," writes Larsson in the first volume of the trilogy. "It will give the typical image of guardian of the moral, incorruptible, facing the business world. And as such quite frequently invite you to comment on various issues in television."

Character biography

Blomkvist is an investigative journalist and co-owner of the monthly magazine Millennium based out of Stockholm, Sweden. At the start of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, he loses a libel case involving damaging allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström, and is sentenced to three months in prison. Facing jail time and professional disgrace, Blomkvist steps down from his position on the magazine's board of directors. At the same time, he is offered a freelance assignment by Henrik Vanger, the former CEO of Vanger Enterprises and patriarch of the wealthy Vanger family, to help him solve the cold case of his great-niece, Harriet Vanger, who has been missing for 36 years and presumed dead. Blomkvist reluctantly accepts the case in exchange for valuable information Vanger claims to have that would help him in his case against Wennerström.

During this time, Blomkvist meets and begins to work with Salander, who Vanger had hired prior to investigate Blomkvist while considering him for the job. The two form an important relationship, in which each of their skill-sets prove invaluable in solving the Vanger case; they also become lovers. At the end of the first novel, Salander saves Blomkvist from Vanger's great-nephew (and Harriet's brother) Martin, a serial killer who had been preying on women throughout Sweden for decades. Using her phone tapping contacts in London, she and Blomkvist discover that Harriet Vanger is alive and living in Australia. When Vanger's information about Wennerström proves to be useless, Salander uses her computer hacking skills to get sensitive information about Wennerström that is much more incriminating than what Blomkvist had in the past. With the information uncovered by Salander, Blomkvist publishes an exposé article and book that ruins Wennerström, clears his own name, and propels his magazine to one of the most respected and profitable in Sweden. Salander abruptly ends their relationship at the end of the novel, however, after seeing him with his lover and business partner, Erika Berger.

In the following novel, The Girl Who Played with Fire, two of Blomkvist's colleagues are murdered and Salander is identified as the prime suspect. Blomkvist becomes her only supporter and strives to clear her name, even as she wants nothing to do with him and refuses to help him in any way. He eventually discovers that the murders are part of an elaborate conspiracy between a faction of SÄPO, the Swedish Secret Service, and Salander's father, former Soviet spy Alexander Zalachenko, whom the agency had illegally helped to defect; he also learns of the abuse Salander suffered as a child in a psychiatric hospital in which SÄPO had her committed in order to protect Zalachenko. He follows Salander to Zalachenko's farm, where he finds her near death after a confrontation with her father. He calls an ambulance, saving her life.

In the third and final novel of the series, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, Blomkvist risks his life researching the full extent of SÄPO's crimes, and persuades his sister Annika, a lawyer, to represent Salander, who has been cleared of the original murder suspicions, but is now charged with attempted murder and two cases of grievous bodily harm, as well as several other offences including possession of illegal weapons. With help from government prosecutors and Salander's fellow hackers, Blomkvist finds proof of the conspiracy and publishes an exposé article on the case, which results in several SÄPO agents being arrested. Using this information, Annika clears Salander's name. Blomkvist and Salander reconcile.

Relationships

Blomkvist is divorced with one daughter – Pernilla – and throughout the trilogy has several lovers, including a brief affair with Lisbeth Salander. However, his primary partner throughout his adult life is Erika Berger, also his business partner. They enjoy an on-off sexual relationship which began years earlier before each married. Berger is still married and her husband knows about and accepts their open relationship. Towards the end of the first novel, Salander, after realising that she has fallen in love with him, and believing it to be one-sided, abruptly cuts off all contact with him. Blomkvist also has sexual relationships with three other characters in the series: Cecilia Vanger, Harriet Vanger and Monica Figuerola.

In film

In the 2009 film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its two sequels, Blomkvist is played by Michael Nyqvist.

Daniel Craig portrayed Blomkvist in David Fincher's 2011 adaptation of the book.

References