Pippi Longstocking / Characters

Characters from the Pippi Longstocking Franchise.

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Pippi Longstocking

Portrayed by: Viveca Serlachius (1949 film), Inger Nilsson (1969 series), Tami Erin (1988 film), Melissa Altro (1997 film and series)

The main protagonist of the series. A feisty Book Dumb girl with Girlish Pigtails and the gift of Super-Strength (inherited from her father, but easily surpassing him).

Beware the Nice Ones: Pippi is very sweet and nice, if a little strange, but if her Berserk Button is pressed, she makes GOOD use of her Super-Strength.
Blithe Spirit: Pippi is this to the people of the town in general, but particularly Tommy and Annika.
Book Dumb: Pippi can't spell and thinks math is a waste of time, but she's smart enough to know how to cook her own meals and frequently outsmarts adults who should know better. She also has a good grasp of geography, having sailed the seven seas with her father and visited several countries.
Bully Hunter: Any bully — child or adult — running afoul of Pippi will be subject to her phenomenal strength, usually with a heavy dose of humiliation added to the mix.
Childish Bangs: Often has these in film adaptations, even though she does not in the original cover art.
Cuckoosnarker: She is eccentric, but has her snarky moments:
"Is this the girl who has moved into Villa Villekulla?" asked one of the policemen.
"Quite the contrary," said Pippi. "This is a tiny little auntie who lives on the third floor at the other end of the town."
Cute Bruiser: Pippi has not only defeated bullies, police officers, robbers, and dangerous animals, but in one of the movies she took down an entire gang of fully armed pirates!
Deadpan Snarker: Very much so. She combines snarkiness with being a Genki Girl and Cloudcuckoolander.
Extreme Omnivore: She often eats iron nails in the 1969 TV series.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Pippi's long stocking never match.
Fearless Fool: Pippi isn't afraid of anything and will cheerfully charge in where angels fear to tread without a second thought. Of course, with her Super-Strength and Nigh-Invulnerability there aren't many dangers she can't easily handle.
Fish out of Water: Due to her growing up sailing the seven seas with her father, she doesn't quite fit in with the villagers near Villa Villekulla, at least initially.
The Gadfly: Occasionally she'll annoy random people for seemingly no other reason than that it's funny. For the most part, though, her worst insults and most annoying behavior are directed towards overly-strict or pompous authority figures, bullies and villains.
Genki Girl: A perky, free-spirited girl who likes to have fun and is very excitable.
Girlish Pigtails: She ties her red hair into two pigtails. Though she's not very conventionally feminine.
Growing Up Sucks: Like Peter Pan, she does not want to grow up and wants to be a free-spirited girl.
The Hedonist: Pippi shows traces of this — however, she's not portrayed as a strawman, she's just a standard kid who naturally does whatever makes her and her friends happy.
Improbable Hair Style: People trying to cosplay as Pippi inevitably have trouble with her gravity-defying red braids. The actress in the original Pippi TV adaptation had wire braided into her hair to keep it in place. Now that's an Improbable Hair Style.
Little Miss Badass: Nine years old like Pippi has been described as "the strongest girl in the world".
Little Miss Snarker: She combines snarkiness with being a Genki Girl and Cloudcuckoolander. Her snarky moments are most frequent in the original books, but she has her moments in most of the adaptations as well.
Minor Living Alone: Pippi lives alone with a horse and a monkey. At times, the adults in the town want to help or assist her, but she prefers to take care of herself most of the time.
Missing Mom: Her mother passed away when she was only a baby.
Motor Mouth: Pippi routinely lapses into longwinded, nonsensical speech, especially when she's telling lies or dealing with a stuffy adult.
The Münchausen: Most if not all of her stories are so farfetched they can't possibly be true. Some characters will call her out, and she'll admit she made everything up. The few exceptions are her claims about her father becoming king of an island in the south Pacific.
Muscles Are Meaningless: Adolf, a very large and muscular circus strongman, has no trouble bending iron bars in half but he can't beat Pippi in a wrestling match.
Nice Girl: For all her eccentric behavior, she's a sweet girl who makes friends easily and doesn't put up with bullies.
Overly Long Name: Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking^note
Perpetual Smiler: Pippi is rarely seen without a big smile on her face.
Super-Strength: She inherited her father's strength. She's able to pick up heavy objects, including her horse, and wipe the floor with pirates and delinquents in seconds.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's a mischievous, tough, and adventurous Tomboy while Annika is a well-behaved and well-dressed Girly Girl.
Tomboy Princess: After her father is made the king of Kurrekurredutt Island, Pippi becomes a princess by default. Doubles as Modest Royalty since she discourages her subjects from bowing to her and prefers to be treated as one of them.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She is strong enough to carry a horse, will climb trees and houses like nobody's business and fight bad guys and pirates alike, but she also bakes gingerbread at home, arranges coffee parties with her friends and lovingly cares for anyone she likes including her horse and her monkey.
You Must Be This Tall to Ride: In the cartoon episode "Pippi Enters the Big Race", the registrar tries to prevent Pippi from entering the race by pointing out she doesn't meet the minimum height requirement. Pippi's pigtails go up on their own when she gets measured, allowing her to meet the requirement.
Youthful Freckles: And proud of them, thank you very much!

Tommy & Annika Settergren

Tommy is portrayed by: Tord Garnmark (1949 film), Pär Sundberg (1969 series), David Seaman, Jr. (1988 film), Noah Reid (1997 film and series)

Annika is portrayed by: Berit Essler (1949 film), Maria Persson (1969 series), Cory Crow (1988 film), Olivia Garratt (1997 film and series)

Pippi's closest friends and next-door neighbors; completely ordinary children who join in on Pippi's extraordinary adventures.

Tropes that apply to Both

Adaptation Dye-Job: In book illustrations, Annika is usually depicted as blonde and Tommy with dark hair, and while Tommy's hair color is never mentioned in the text, Annika is explicitly blonde. Both the 1969 TV series and the 1988 film swapped it around so that Annika is the one with dark hair and Tommy is blonde.
Brother–Sister Team: Two siblings who are almost always seen together.
Character Exaggeration: While they often come across as The Dividual in the original books, the 1969 TV series and its related films (particularly the last film, Pippi on the Run) play up their individual traits a lot more — Tommy as the cheerful, easygoing older brother, Annika as the emotional, sensible younger sister.
The Dividual: While they do have their individual character traits (most notably in the TV series), the books often treat them as one character, sharing many actions and even spoken lines.
First-Person Peripheral Narrator: In the 1969 TV series, they serve as voice-over narrators, chiming in with extra exposition when it's needed, and occasionally even their on-camera personas break the fourth wall to directly address the audience.
Foil: Both of them to Pippi, though the more anxious, prissy and careful Annika fits the role better than the more upbeat, laid-back and cheerful Tommy does.
Fourth-Wall Observer: In the 1969 TV series, as part of their "Narrator" shtick, they seem aware that they have an audience.
Nice Guy: And Girl. They're a pair of kind-hearted and polite kids who hardly have a mean streak.
Straight Man: They both have a tendency to become this to Pippi, though not always in the same way. A good rule of thumb is that Tommy is the one who argues against Insane Troll Logic and (always unsuccessfully) tries to point out logical flaws when Pippi gets nonsensical, while Annika is the one who balks and tries to talk "reason" in the face of mischief or non-conformist behavior.

Tropes that apply to Tommy

Deadpan Snarker: Tommy, on occasion. Though he can't keep up with Pippi and frequently ends up playing Straight Man to her more bizarre flights of fancy.

Tropes that apply to Annika

Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Annika is a very sweet girl, and is usually portrayed with blonde hair.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Annika is the well-behaved and well-dressed Girly Girl to Pippi's mischievous, tough, and adventurous Tomboy.

Ephraim Longstocking

Portrayed by: Benkt-Åke Benktsson (1949 film), Beppe Wolgers (1969 series), John Schuck (1988 film), Gordon Pinsent (1997 film), Benedict Campbell (1997 series)

Pippi's father; a sea captain who was swept overboard in a storm and was presumed dead by everyone but Pippi, who insisted he'd floated ashore on an island and become king of a native tribe. Which turns out to be exactly what happened. Almost, but not quite, as impossibly strong as his daughter.

Big Fun: Particularly with Beppe Wolgers' portrayal of him in the 1969 TV series and its spin-off movies.
Casting Gag: Portrayed by Gordon Pinsent in the 1997 film. Pinsent appeared on The Red Green Show as Hap Shaugnessy, who is just as much of The Münchausen as Pippi.
Disappeared Dad: Pippi talks about her pirate father constantly throughout the original book, always confident that he'll return to her despite having been lost at sea. No one believes he exists ...until he turns up at the last minute with proof of his various adventures.
Stout Strength: He may be fat, but he's strong enough to bend steel and pull trees out of the ground with his bare hands. Only Pippi can beat him in an arm-wrestling match.
Mighty Whitey: This is one aspect where the books really show their age, and one that Astrid Lindgren later expressed regret at: "A white guy who arrives in the south seas, puts on a bamboo skirt and is immediately crowned king?!" Later adaptations have tried to soften the trope a little; the Animated Adaptation in particular instead has the friendly natives make him an admiral of their kingdom.
Reasonable Authority Figure: What sets him apart from most other adults in the series is that he's not only accepting but encourraging of Pippi's non-conformist ways, probably because he shares much of her free-spirited philosophy. From what we see of him with the ship's crew and the Kurrekurredutts, he's beloved as a captain and as a king for his jovial and accepting nature.

Bloom & Thunder-Karlsson

Bloom is portrayed by: Carl Reinholdz (1949 film), Paul Esser (1969 series), Wayne Robson (1997 film and series)

Thunder-Karlsson is portrayed by: Sigge Fürst (1949 film), Hans Clarin (1969 series), Dave Thomas (1997 film), Len Carlson (1997 series)

A couple of vagabonds and small-time crooks who live in Pippi's hometown. They go in and out of jail for constant petty crimes, but they never come close to achieving their main goal, which is stealing all of Pippi's money.

Ascended Extra: Both only had one minor appearance in the first book but received far larger role in subsequent media adaptations, often to the point of them being the main antagonists of the adaptations (they're still pretty harmless, though).
Big Guy, Little Guy: Particularly in the animated adaptation, where Thunder-Karlsson's big guy to Bloom's little guy.
Bumbling Henchmen Duo: They are a pair of incompetent criminals who always get foiled by Pippi.
Friendly Enemy: With Pippi, to various degrees depending on the incarnation. While they are always trying to rob her, there's no real antagonism there, and Pippi tends to view them rather fondly. In their sole appearance in the original books, they give up on trying to steal from her after discovering that she's impossible to overpower, and they part on fairly amicable terms. The antagonism is a little stronger in the 1969 series, where they've been upgraded to recurring villains, but even here there isn't much bad blood between them and Pippi. In the Nelvana animations they're so harmless that Pippi outright views them as friends.
Harmless Villain: They are positively no match for Pippi, and their schemes tend to fail spectacularly. Especially in the original book, where they are vagabonds who only appear in one chapter.
Stupid Crooks: They are a pair of criminals who are not very bright.

Kling & Klang

Kling is portrayed by: Ulf G. Johnsson (1969 series), Rick Jones (1997 film and series)

Klang is portrayed by: Göthe Grefbo (1969 series), Philip Williams (1997 film and series)

Two policemen who work in Pippi's town. Unnamed in the original books, but given names and larger roles in the adaptations, where they tend to be portrayed as the only policemen in the entire town.

Adaptational Dumbass: In the original book, and in the 1969 TV series, they were totally ineffectual in dealing with Pippi, but otherwise seemed to be dutiful and generally competent policemen. The animated adaptation turns them into incompetent, gullible idiots who are ridiculously easy to fool, and who are more interested in fishing than in policework.
Ascended Extra: Like Blom and Dunder-Karlsson, they only appeared in one chapter in the first book, but they were upgraded to recurring supporting characters in the 1969 TV series, and have played semi-large parts in all adaptations since then.
Co-Dragons: To Mrs. Prysselius in several adaptations. Or at least, she tries to rely on their help.
The Dividual: To an even bigger degree than Tommy and Annika; they are never seen apart and seem to share a personality.
Named by the Adaptation: They didn't get names in their original book appearance, just being named as "the first policeman" and "the second policeman." With their Ascended Extra status in the 1969 TV series, they were given the names "Kling" and "Klang."
Police Are Useless: Especially in the animated adaptation, where they are Adaptational Dumbasses, but they're not terribly useful in the books or other adaptations either.
Those Two Guys: They are always seen together.

Mrs. Prysselius

Portrayed by: Margot Trooger (1969 series), Catherine O'Hara (1997 film), Jill Frappier (1997 series)

Local busybody, Proper Lady and "concerned citizen" of Pippi's town, who takes it upon herself to get Pippi into an orphanage. Some adaptations have her as a social worker, but it's a little vague what her job really is. She didn't appear in the original books.

Adaptational Villainy: In the 1997 animated film, she serves as the Big Bad and plays this role straight until Captain Longstocking shows up.
Big Bad: Of the 1997 animated film. Although, given the nature of the work, she is more a big Well-Intentioned Extremist than a traditional big bad, seeking to only put Pippi in a "proper" children's home, not realizing until the end that her father is alive.
Canon Immigrant: She wasn't in the original books, but she was introduced in the 1969 TV series and has since been in every adaptation, except for the 1988 film that is, which has an Expy named Miss Bannister instead.
Composite Character: She is essentially an amalgamation of all the "concerned women" who worried about Pippi and wanted her to be sent to an orphanage in the first book, given a name and a much bigger presence.
Control Freak: In the Nelvana adaptation, she conspires to put Pippi in a children’s home, and in the animated series, she goes to great lengths to keep the order of the town, and Pippi by extension, under full “normal” control.
Department of Child Disservices: In most iterations her work as a social worker makes her an antagonist.
Moral Guardians: An in-universe example. She is implied to be a social worker, as her main goal in life is seeing Pippi put under the proper care of a children’s home. The animated series by Nelvana has her as the local busybody and in some episodes regarding local events, she is a perfectionist to boot. All the same, she wants what she believes is best for Pippi.
Named by the Adaptation: In the 1997 animated film, her given name is Helga.
Proper Lady: The main driving force that makes her a Foil to Pippi.
Sadistic Choice: In the 1997 animated film, she gives King and Klang an ultimatum: either they put Pippi in the children’s home, or she gets their jobs.
The Starscream: In the Nelvana adaptation, she enlists Blom and Dunder-Karlsson to help her catch Pippi at the circus, but early on the ensuing chase scene, she turncoats the criminal duo...by telling King and Klang that “there are criminals on the loose”.
Surrounded by Idiots: In the Nelvana adaptations, she belittles King and Klang for their ineptitude at handling their jobs.

Characters / Pippi Longstocking