Let the Right One In

Eli is a 200-year-old vampire who moves in next door to Oskar. The narrative begins by describing Eli as a “she.” Eli wears female clothing and looks like a 12-year-old girl. Eli hints at the fact that he isn’t female, once Oskar begins showing feelings for him. Once Oskar accepts Eli’s gender (Eli doesn’t have genitals, though he used to have a penis), the narrative changes to “he” to reflect this. Eli is initially too weak to kill and relies on Håkan for this task. Eli doesn’t take pleasure in killing. He informs Oskar that he kills because he wants to live, just as Oskar would be willing to kill for survival. Not much is known about Eli’s past aside from the few memories he shares with Oskar. He suffers from trauma, is preternaturally smart (great at puzzles), yet still thinks at times like a 12-year-old. Eli becomes protective of Oskar, while Oskar learns to trust Eli. Eli kills two of Oskar’s bullies at the end of the narrative when they threaten to blind Oskar. Eli is a conundrum: He is a monster in the thematic sense, an angel to others, and a true friend to Oskar—as can be seen in his grotesquely angelic decapitation of Oskar’s attackers at the end of the novel.

Håkan is a former school teacher who is a pedophile. He began working for Eli back when he thought he might kill himself for losing his job over pedophilia. Håkan worships Eli and wants sexual favors from him. He kills for the chance to touch Eli, even though he dislikes killing innocent people. Though creepy and a social, moral outcast, Håkan also has a sense of morality, mostly evidenced when he refuses to engage sexually with a sex-trafficked child and instead gives that child a large sum of money, and when he feels genuine remorse for killing. Håkan is a difficult character, and his presence forces readers to question morality and sympathy. When the police catch Håkan and he burns his face with acid, he must have multiple surgeries. He then becomes a zombie-like creature when Eli bites him at his request. Håkan’s transition to this creature symbolizes the Archetypal Monster let loose on the world. He represents an evil that can’t be triumphed over, which could come for anyone at any time.

Staffan is a policeman with religious zeal. He sings in the choir and upholds discipline. He becomes engaged to Tommy’s mother, Yvonne, and wants to discipline Tommy. Staffan believes the youth of today need a moral compass and feels he’s the person to enact this. Usually unshaken, he finds Tommy bludgeoning the zombie-like Håkan one morning in the basement. Staffan’s character in the narrative represents the struggle between the sacred and the profane—he tows the line of order and brightly delineated lines between good and evil, when reality is not quite so cleanly described.

Lacke is a drunkard who lives off of his father’s stamp collection. He sells stamps for money, though he doesn’t tell anyone. His friends—and his lover, Virginia—never know what he does for a living and think he’s just broke and shiftless. Lacke grows tired of Blackeberg and wants to move to the country with Virginia. He plans on selling some stamps to buy cottages for them. When Eli bites Virginia and Virginia transitions into a vampire, Lacke’s world comes undone. When Virginia exposes herself to sunlight in front of him and turns to ash, he determines to kill Eli but dies in the attempt. Though Lacke is shiftless throughout most of the narrative, he shows volition when he seeks to avenge his friends, both Jocke, who died from a vampire bite, and Virginia, who becomes a vampire.

Virginia is an older woman who works a lackluster job at a grocery store. She is in love with Lacke, but Lacke can’t show the commitment she wants. She and Lacke still sleep together, however. Virginia gets upset with Lacke one night and rushes off. Eli bites Virginia, but Lacke saves her. Virginia then transitions into a vampire. She can’t stand the idea of being a vampire, however, and after she almost kills Gösta, she kills herself in the hospital by exposing herself to sunlight.

Gösta is an old, reclusive drunk who lives with a large number of cats. He stinks of cat piss wherever he goes and people generally avoid him. Gösta witnesses Jocke’s murder one night, and though he is too afraid to inform the police, he tells Jocke’s friends about the incident. Gösta is generous with his alcohol and loves his cats—both of which symbolize the power of the gods in ancient folklore. Gösta could therefore be seen as a conduit of a more complex notion of “the good” than Staffan, and the fact that Lacke and Virginia kill many of the cats does not bode well of good’s ability to triumph over evil in this narrative.

Jonny, Micke, and Tomas, along with Jonny’s brother, Jimmy, are bullies who pick on Oskar. They like to call Oskar “Piggy,” and they usually operate in a group. When Jonny taunts Oskar one day on the lake, Oskar hits Jonny so hard that he gets a concussion. This is a turning point for the bullies. Micke initially backs off, though Tomas, who used to be good friends with Oskar when they were younger, doesn’t. Jonny and Tomas pretend that they will throw Oskar in front of a train one day, exacerbating the feud. Jonny’s brother, Jimmy, gets involved after Oskar burns the bullies’ desks and destroys Jonny’s and Jimmy’s fathers photo album in the process. When the brothers try and mutilate Oskar by cutting one of his eyes, Eli swoops in and decapitates them.