The Ultimate The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Quiz | Authors

Answer: A pressed flower

On his birthday, Henrik Vanger received a pressed flower framed and wrapped in paper. The book opens with the fortieth flower he received.

Mikael Blomkvist, a chief editor for "Millennium" magazine, just lost his trial. Working as a journalist and geared towards exposing corruption, he was sued for libel and lost.

Lisbeth Salander, a young woman making her earning as a personal investigator for Milton Security in Stockholm, was asked to amass information about Mr. Blomkvist by her boss, Dragan Armansky. To Armansky's surprise, Salander's own personal views emerged during her investigation, prompting him to allow her to further investigate as per the wishes of the client, Mr. Frode. This would grant her the opportunity to (possibly) prove Mikael's innocence in his case against Wennerstrom.

Answer: An oil tanker crashed

His credibility shot, Mikael decided to leave "Millennium" to calm himself down and let the heat die after his judgment. Regardless, he would need to pay his debts and head to the gaol for ninety days. His resignation would be published in the paper and, when he was ready to return, he would.

Mr. Frode, who hired Lisbeth, asked Mikael to head to Hedestad on behalf of a man named Henrik Vanger. This three hour trip culminated in a visit to Vanger's estate and, while Mikael was impatient and ready to depart during a story about the Vanger's sordid past, the end result was surprising, even to Blomkvist.

Vanger discussed his hatred for the rest of the family and stated that he wanted Miakel to write a scandalous biography of the Vanger clan. The goal, however, would be to uncover the truth behind the murder of Harriet Vanger, the closest he'd ever had to a daughter; she disappeared on the day of a party at the estate, the same day an oil tanker crashed on the nearby bridge. He also asked Mikael to find out who was sending him the pressed flowers, slowly driving him insane.

Mikael was offered 200,000 kronor every month for a year and double if he ever solved the mystery. He would also have information to put Wennerstrom's head on a platter, success or not.

Answer: In a guest house

Mikael departed from the 'Millennium' offices, much to the disdain of his partners, though they understood why he needed to leave for the year-- besides, the money was good and would help get the floundering magazine back on its feet. Meanwhile, Frode and Armansky called Lisbeth off the Blomkvist case, though it wasn't like her to leave a case unfinished.

Upon his arrival, Mikael got to know the town of Hedestad and discovered that Vanger had accumulated thirty-six years-worth of material in binders and boxes. He'd set up in a humble guest house before he started reading the first binder.

Lisbeth, during a break in her casework, met with her new guardian; her previous guardian, a man named Palmgren, had been hospitalized by a hemorrhage and was not expected to recover. Her new guardian, Bjurman, decided to restrict her finances as he was the one responsible for her. Thus, she would be forced to play by his rules. She opted not to discuss her job with him to protect herself.

Answer: Vanger became a full-fledged financial partner

Mikael organized the family into a comprehensive tree to better understand their lives, and discovered that each of them held countless secrets. When he taped the family tree together, he found that he had several dozen suspects in the case, all of whom were present on the day of the accident. After meeting several members of the family, Mikael departed from Hedestad for a day to meed Detective Superintendent Morell and get his thoughts on the case; Morell assumed Harriet was murdered but, of course, there was no way to prove it.

Erika Berger visited and, during a conversation, Vanger offered his partnership to save "Millennium" provided Mikael would take over as publisher again. This act would be the strongest message they could make against Wennerstrom, and possibly protect them from losing any more advertisers.

During his investigation, Mikael discovered a list of five names and numbers in the back of a datebook written by Harriet. These, however, were of no use to him until he found their meaning.

Lisbeth, seeking the cash for a new computer, visited Bjurman at his office but, to her shock, was sexually attacked. Following this traumatic event she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Answer: Two months

Mikael has success with the book and Cecilia Vanger, but not the case involving Harriet's disappearance. When he's sent to prison he stays there for two months and continues writing. The media is informed that he will inevitably be returning to his post at the "Millennium" offices by the end of the year.

In Stockholm, Lisbeth is invited to Bjurman's apartment and is sexually attacked despite her plan to fight back. She ultimately returns with a vengeance, getting her independence through other means and blackmailing Bjurman into giving her financial independence. With no work, she chooses to follow up on the Blomkvist case, especially considering his unorthodox return to the forefront of the news.

Mikael leaves prison and the 'Millennium' becomes more successful with Vanger enjoying every bit. Upon his return, Mikael investigates a photo album left behind in his cottage and Gottfried's cabin on the Vanger property. Here, he finds several books including Harriet's Bible.

Answer: Bible verses

Mikael comes across a photo of Harriet taken during the Children's Day Parade in 1966 and it depicts her as frightened, looking at a specific spot out of the frame. He uses the resources at the Hedestad Courier offices to scan negatives from the event into his computer. It is because of this he discovers that Cecilia Vanger was responsible for opening Harriet's window way back on the day she vanished, making her a possible suspect in her disappearance. Cecilia, meanwhile, heads out on vacation for a month.

Mikael shows Henrik the parade photos and, to the man's shock, it's a lead he'd never investigated after all of these years. That evening, Mikael's daughter, Pernilla, stops by for a visit and talks about her upcoming trip to Bible Camp. She alerts him to the fact that the numbers from Harriet's datebook are actually from Leviticus.

That evening, Henrik heads to the hospital after a heart attack and subsequent infection. Mikael isn't deterred; he speaks to Frode, and they both think it's best to continue on with the investigation. Mikael insists on a car to do some research as well as an assistant. When Frode suggests Lisbeth Salander, he's forced to come clean about the report she was originally hired for (about Blomkvist). He heads to Stockholm and convinces her to sign up for the challenge and upon his return he notices that someone has been in his guest house.

Answer: Cat

The investigation continues on and Mikael decides to follow his lead with the photograph, heading to small country towns to figure out what Harriet witnessed in Hedestad on the day she disappeared. He finally tracks down the person with the matching photos, but can't figure out a connection. Lisbeth, meanwhile, finds connections between the names in Harriet's datebook and the Bible verses from Leviticus, discovering grisly murders of Swedish women and their links to each.

They go over these respective cases and discover that Harriet must have seen a connection to the Vanger family. In addition, all of the women in the proposed list have Biblical (Jewish) names. This is key since the family history has a Nazi past. Mikael decides to find a way to hire Lisbeth on longer to solve the mystery with him.

Lisbeth and Mikael spend the night together and, upon waking up, Lisbeth has to head into town for supplies. When she leaves out the front door they find a cat, the cat which Mikael had taken care of during his stay, flayed and cut into pieces outside.

Answer: Martin

Lisbeth takes it upon herself to set up fire alarms and cameras for protection while Mikael visits the church in Hedestad for more info. He learns that Harriet read the "Apocrypha" and wondered if she wasn't really a Christian. Instead, she may have been attempting to solve the case herself.

While walking on Hedeby Island, Mikael is shot at several times by an unknown assailant and later, when he confronts Cecilia, she denies ever being in Harriet's room on the day she disappeared. Mikael and Lisbeth continue a search of the island, finding signs of the cat having been butchered in a Vanger family crypt. Mikael stumbles upon a lead when he looks at Henrik's old photo albums and discovers Cecilia and Anita Vanger together. After all this time assuming Cecilia was in every picture, it turned out that she and Anita looked too similar to tell.

Lisbeth goes to the Vanger Corporation Archives to dig up a lead but, upon investigating the photos, Mikael realizes that Martin lied about his alibi and the day in Hedestad; he was at the parade. When he visits Martin, he is promptly held captive and taken to a torture cell constructed in the basement of Martin's house.

As it turns out, Gottfried Vanger was responsible for the murders throughout Sweden from 1949 to 1965; Martin became the murderer from 1966 onwards, following Gottfried's drowning. Lisbeth discovers the connection just in time and finds them both in the basement before making her attack. When Martin flees he drives into Hedestad only to die in a fatal car accident. Mikael is saved from almost certain death by Lisbeth, but the Harriet mystery is still unresolved; Martin claimed not to know what happened to her.

Answer: Australia

Salander lays out the plans for Frode and notes that Martin has been murdering women in his basement for decades. She leaves it up to him to decide how to approach the issue.

Mikael and Lisbeth, despite the recent events, get to work immediately in order to finish the Harriet mystery, especially since they know how close they are. They know that Harriet, like Martin, was abused, but who abused her remains a mystery.

The two fly to London to meet with Anita Vanger and, after getting rebuffed, they tap her phone. While Lisbeth returns to Stockholm to prepare for her mother's funeral, Mikael follows a lead to Alice Springs, Australia based on a phone call made by Anita. Stopping at Cochran Farm, a sheep farm in the outback, Mikael finally finds Harriet, alive and well under the name Anita Cochran.

Harriet reveals that she made the decision to confide in Anita during the summer they spent together. She was attacked by both her father and brother in the abandoned cabin, but she managed to kill her father, drowning him in self-defense. Martin saw this occur and she knew she could never escape unless she fled. On the fateful day of her disappearance she fled the country and lived in an Italian convent under Anita's name.

Harriet was the one responsible for sending her uncle flowers (through Anita, who, as a flight attendant, sent them from around the world) to let him know she was alright. She never imagined they would torment him.

When Mikael returns to Hedestad he tells Henrik and Frode the truth before bringing Harriet in to reunite with her uncle. This news spreads through Hedestad almost instantly.

Frode tells Mikael that the deal has come to a close but Henrik doesn't want the history of Gottfried and Martin published (though Lisbeth sets the tone for that agreement) and the information about Wennerstrom turns out to be a wash. It can't be used to bring him down at all. Lisbeth, however, has the truth about Wennerstrom.

Answer: Wennerstrom is killed

With changes coming, Mikael allows for a hack of the computer responsible for the leak at "Millennium" and sets a plan in motion to allegedly shut down the magazine. Instead, the plan is to use the leak and make Wennerstrom believe they're closing up shop. Shortly after this, Mikael heads to Sandhamn with Lisbeth in tow. Here, on a so-called 'vacation', he writes out a lengthy report against Wennerstrom to bring him down. The plan starts to succeed; not only is a report created, but he has enough material for a book.

Harriet Vanger, in the wake of her uncle's health issues, becomes the new member of the board at "Millennium" instead of Henrik. She begins a professional relationship with Erika and Mikael to ensure their financial security.

Almost on a whim, Lisbeth asks Mikael for 120,000 kronor and uses it to fly to Zurich, taking money from Wennerstrom's accounts under several guises and shifting it from bank to bank, spreading and accumulating wealth along the way in dummy corporations.

After Mikael's story and subsequent book (published as the first book under "Millennium's" new press), Mikael appears on TV and in the news. Wennerstrom flees the country fearing revolt, changes his name, and lives in Spain before an anonymous tip-off (sent by Lisbeth) gets him shot and killed in the following weeks.

With success within their grasp, Lisbeth and Mikael spend Christmas at the cottage in Sandhamn and Lisbeth comes to discover that she is falling in love with Mikael. By the time New Years strikes, however, and she decides to commit her feelings to him, she witnesses him walking into his apartment with Erika and decides to part ways without a goodbye.