Mikael Blomkvist

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mikael Blomkvist
Swedish

Mikael Blomkvist is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. He is a main character of Larsson's award-winning 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

"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

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 computer hacker

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,

SÄPO, the Swedish Secret Service—and Salander's father, former Soviet
spy Alexander Zalachenko, whom The Section had illegally helped to defect. He also learns that Bjurman had raped Salander a few years earlier, and that The Section conspired to have her committed to a mental hospital as a child 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 final novel of the original Millennium trilogy, 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 shows up at Salander's flat that night, and they reconcile as friends.

In the 2015 novel

autistic
son, August, from assassins working for the Spider Society, who had also murdered Balder.

Blomkvist meets Salander's sister, Camilla, and learns from Salander's former guardian, Holger Palmgren, that she is the leader of the Spider Society. When Camilla kills one of his reporters, Andrei Zander, Blomkvist—using information supplied by Salander—writes an article exposing Camilla's complicity with Solifon and the NSA in Balder's murder. The article nets Millennium enough money to buy out Serner, and re-establishes Blomkvist as one of Sweden's most respected journalists. The night the article is published, Blomkvist and Salander meet at his apartment.

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 were 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 Swedish version of

Sverrir Gudnason
.

References

  1. ^ "Lisbeth Salander alias Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren". 20 January 2009. Archived from the original on 9 June 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2010.