Salander has numerous tattoos, which one? If you mean the ankle cuff in the first book, after the rape, it tells you did it as a reminder of the assault.

Posted by Gorgon1001 in Denver ,

basically each tattoo seems to be about someone that hurt her in the past…

Posted by Viktor in Anapolis, Brazil ,

It was to observe in detail once again just exactly how it is done so the process would be fresh in her mind when she tattooed the AdvoKat.

Posted by Captain Kirk in Macao ,

Where can I get a picture of the huge dragon tattoo on Lisbeth’s back from the movie?

Posted by Olan Knight in Dallas, TX ,

The tattoos seem to be “reminders” of past events to force focus. Most probably refer to harns requiring retribution. The wasp gave her an attitude for the boxing ring. The dragon, the only one refered to as beutiful and a work of art, I interpret as a reminder that Dragan Armansky gave her an opportunity that was rare for her, and that she could not give him less than her best.

Posted by Bob S. in Brazil, In ,

I beleive the dragon was a symbol most likely refering to her father or something like her version of the pheonix but it would have been addressed in later books. She had the dragon before she worked at milton and I dont think she regarded armansky with such a high regard as to devote an entire back piece to him. She was annoyed by her friendships in the second book

Posted by A.S in Bay area Ca ,

I’m also trying to find a print of the Dragon tattoo that Noomi Rapace had on her back in the trilogy. The best I’ve been able to get is by watching TGWPWF-at about 1 hour 28 minutes into the film, there is a close up…but I’m looking for a downloadable or purchaseable image.

Posted by Kevin Cole in Memphis, Tn ,

The thought that the dragon tattoo references the “good” guardian hadn’t occurred to me… I think the text says somewhere that her tattoos were reminders of negative experiences…

Posted by David in Providence, RI ,

The dragon tattoo is a reminder of her father but also her protector from her father. To get past the dragon you must answer her riddle. You can only get to heart through the dragon.

I love Lisbeth’s tattoos to serve as a reminder. I have two tattoos, one to symbolize that I should be strong no matter what and my other one is to remind me to be loving and joyful in my life.

Posted by Raven Salander in London ,

I do agree to that the dragon tattoo is complex as a reminder. To get around the obvious we have to consider the characters as ones of a “roman a clèf” where the attributes refer to a real person.

The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the “key” is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction.

Most common one fictitious person denotes a real person, but here its more complex where the key points to several persons.

Lisbet does refer to her father which implies kinship, not necessarily blood lines, for instance a stepfather could also be denoted as a father so the key “dragon” will lead us in the right direction.

The biological father served as an officer in a regiment of Sweden formed in 17th century and called The German or Green Dragons. So in this context it refers to her father. But also her grandfather served in the same regiment, thus there is a strong relation to this regiment due to the fact the Lisbeths grandfather was of the Wittelsbach family which provided a royal line to Sweden and especially King Karl X whose wife honored the regiment with her name In Swedish “ Riksänkedrottningens livregemente till häst.”

And now comes one of the tricky part Being of royal line why is she exposed to such evil. It is easily understood that Lisbeth was born out of wedlock and thus the scandal it brought, in that time and those circle, where unacceptable so it was kept a secret. Since her conception was a result of a brief encounter her mother did have with the the young officer she kept her secret as well since they were powerful people. Her father thus did not knew he had two daughters.

Lisbeths grandfather went along with this uptil Lisbeths great maternal grandfather died in 1967 and around the time confined her to St. Stephen’s Child Psychiatric Clinic to get rid of the problem. There she and her sister were they was abused and raped. That is the evil part attributed to Lisbeths grandfather. Stefan is her real biological fathers cover name registered in the Social Register in Sweden.

On her mother’s side the dragon “key” also points to kinship, namely her descent from the Romanov family. The last Tsar, then Tsetsarvic Nicholas, Lisbeths maternal great grandfather, had a the dragon tattooed on his left arm when he visited Japan 1891.

From Wikipedia

Nicholas showed interest in the Japanese traditional crafts, got a dragon tattoo on his right arm.

The whole Tsar family was rescued by their most loyal general Carl Gustaf Mannerheim who by means of his military skill, the Tsar wealth and the political means of the then swedish foreign minister Knut Wallenberg could get to Finland and the later the west coast of Sweden where they lived. The industrial dynasty Vanger is thus the Wallenberg dynasty. Carl Gustaf Mannerheim married the Tsars oldest daughter Olga who lived with him under her cover identity Gertrud Arco-Walley.

What about the russian evil agents? Yes, they existed, and are still around posing a threat to the real persons, but they are not blood lines fathers. They have infiltrated religious organizations to get close to the tsar family for the purpose of further their evil ends and thus becomes a kind of spiritual evil fathers similar to the mad monk Rasputin.

Posted by The Dragon in Salanderville ,