The Millennium Trilogy/YMMV

The Millennium Trilogy as a series contains YMMV examples of:

• Broken Base: Between the fans of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth and those of Rooney Mara's version. Or, if you prefer, English vs. Swedish versions. Yikes stripes.
• Complete Monster
• Designated Hero: Lisbeth Salander may rarely be in the wrong, and may be up against more depraved people than herself, but she's still a deeply scary human being.
• Disability Superpower: Lisbeth's brain is a tangled mess. She is asocial to the point of being considered mentally incompetent well into her twenties. However, she has a photographic memory and a keen eye for detail, making her an exceptional investigator.
• Double Standard: Lisbeth was abused by an older man as a child. The series makes it very clear that's bad. Lisbeth, in her 20s, has sex with a 16-year old. No problem.^[1]
  • Age of consent in the Caribbean nations runs from 15 (Curaçao & Aruba) to 16 (other Caribbean nations). The author knew what he was doing when he chose the character to be exactly 16, no more no less.
  • Not to mention, was the sex with the 16-year-old consensual? Difference between that and abuse.
    • There's still something of a problem in that she'd likely hit the roof if she came across a man having sex with a 16-year-old, regardless of consent.
      • Yes, and that bit of hypocrisy is perfectly in-character for her.
  • A more clear-cut example of Double Standard is how Lisbeth is fiercely protective of her own privacy, but doesn't give a damn about that of others.
• Fridge Brilliance: Niedermann's abnormal strength could be explained by a myostatin deficiency.
• Fridge Horror: Think the Sweden is depicted the way it is in this film is a Crapsack World? Sweden has a notoriously high rape and abuse level among developed nations.
• Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: The three books have obvious messages against violence/mistreatment towards women, government and business corruption, and abuse of power in general.
• Values Dissonance: Sexual mores in Sweden seem to be much more relaxed than in the United States.
  • Not really. Look at the anti-lesbian hysteria in book two, or Erika's fear in book three, when her sex-photos and sex-tape get stolen. At the same time, Mikael isn't really worried of being exposed as a giant manslut.
  • Something that is somewhat dissonant (likely mostly thanks to SoCalization) is touched upon in the Double Standard entry - from the Swedish perspective, a 16-year old is not really a child when it comes to having sex.
• The Woobie: Despite all her attitude problems, there are times throughout the books when so much gets piled on her that you just want to give Lisbeth a big hug. Preferably when she's not holding a Taser.
  • YMMV: people who grew up under oppressive authority figures covered by a mask of slimy benevolence would hug Lisbeth specifically because she held a Taser when needed, against those who piled it up on her.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo contains YMMV examples of:

• Awesome Music: The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the 2011 film qualifies, not to mention the cover of Immigrant Song, performed by Karen O during the opening credits.
• Complete Monster: Martin Vanger, a serial killer with a double-digit body count, who killed his victims to cover up his torturing and raping them. And Nils Bjurman. Appointed to look out for Lisbeth's well-being and fitting in with society, he's actually a closet sadist who holds his control of her finances over her head, then sexually assaults her twice in an attempt to break her down.
  • Not to mention some of the older Vangers, who were Nazis. Godfried may take the cake as he not only had Nazi ideas, but horrifically abused and raped women and in one notable case a boy, and mentored the Boy into being a fellow Complete Monster.
• Ending Fatigue: A fairly common complaint about the American remake.
• Moral Event Horizon: Bjurman - who is Lisbeth's legal guardian and caretaker - crosses this line when he forces her to perform oral sex in exchange for the money she needs to replace her computer. And then longjumps even farther over it when he violently sodomizes, rapes and tortures her.
  • Oh, God - and Lisbeth's *scream* during that scene is something not easily forgotten.
• Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize: Stellan Skarsgard as Martin Vanger in the American remake.
• Squick: Lots of it. Most of all, the biblical serial murders and Harriet's history of being raped repeatedly by her father and brother - once by her brother immediately after she'd murdered their father (while "his body was still floating in the water), to boot!. Lisbeth has a bit as well, when she gets revenge on Bjurman.

Lisbeth: Was this what you used on me last week?

The Girl Who Played With Fire contains YMMV examples of:

• Complete Monster: Alexander Zalachenko, a gangster who specializes in dealing crystal meth and smuggling Russian teenagers into Sweden to use as prostitutes. Teleborian might be worse, as he presents himself as an upstanding doctor, but is a closet pedophile who abused Salander when he had her under his control, and did everything in his power to have her re-committed.
• Moral Event Horizon: Zalachenko crossed it when he beat Lisbeth's mother so badly that she suffered a crippling cerebral hemmorhage.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest contains YMMV examples of:

• Canon Sue: Figuerola could arguably be considered this, since she's smart, beautiful, athletic, and ends up with Blomkvist. YMMV, of course.
• Complete Monster: Dr. Peter Teleborian, a respected and experienced psychiatrist who physically and emotionally abuses children placed in his care, most prominently Lisbeth, in the story. Oh, and is also a closet pedophile. Lisbeth herself describes him as "... the most disgusting sadist she had ever known. He outclassed Bjurman by a mile."
• Moral Event Horizon: Even though he's trying to screw up Lisbeth's life, Fredrik Clinton crosses this when he arranges for Mikael to be murdered and framed for dealing drugs in an effort to destroy his credibility. Wadensjöö even calls him on it, saying that Clinton will end up destroying The Section because of his actions.

1. ↑ The age of consent (15) in Sweden is irrelevant; they were in the Caribbean at the time.