Notable criminals in the Swedish series. Click here to go back.
Anna Westin
The first villain in the series, Anna is a childhood friend of Linda Wallander who has gotten significantly more depressed as an adult, and definitely insane.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Linda mourns her death when Anna tells Wallander to walk away so that Linda and Anna can finally reunite. Linda is to emotional to say anything, causing Anna to panic and go mad, eventually committing suicide by blowing up herself in her car. After all of this, peaceful music plays.
- Ax-Crazy: She goes absolutely batshit insane when she joins her lost father's cult, fully adopting the theory that the human race is disappointing god, and that they are avenging god himself by committing murders.
- Faux Affably Evil: Despite wanting to be friends with Linda again, she talks in a very strange voice and has a very passive aggressive way of talking.
- Slasher Smile: A creepy one while she's looking herself in the mirror.
- Starter Villain: The first criminal the police have to deal with.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She genuinely seemed to fully believe in that the cult were serving god by doing the crimes they were doing.
Erik Westin
Anna Westin's long lost dad, who turns out to be the leader of a vicious cult.
- Ax-Crazy: As daughter, as father...
- Bad People Abuse Animals: He is introduced killing a bunch of ducks and swans by setting them on fire, which is apparently supposed to symbolize god's wrath...
- Disappeared Dad: He went missing when Anna was just a little girl, and sadly he appears again.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite for the most part using his henchmen as little more than pawns, he DOES genuinely seem to want Anna to get a good relationship with the cult.
- Faux Affably Evil: He speaks in a kind tone, never losing his temper, but he is also viciously psychotic when looking at his actions.
- Knight Templar: Whereas Anna was so messed up that she seemed to genuinely believe in what they were doing, Erik seems to use it as an excuse to kill people, although it is true that he does still think that what they are doing is right in one way or another.
Lennart Frisk and The Janitor
The principal of a troubled school who poses as a kind man who does his best to keep the school in a good shape, when in reality he uses the school as a human trafficking ring where he takes troublesome students and sell them to human traffickers. The Janitor lures the victims by pretending to be a Nice Guy.
- Driven to Suicide: Lennart ends up doing this at the end of the episode when he is discovered by Linda, when he tries making one of his students jump off a roof. It is unclear whether or not this is because he felt remorse or if it was something else.
- Faux Affably Evil: Both use this as a way of obtaining victims, but especially the Janitor.
- Monster of the Week: The Darkness.
- Serial Killers: Although it is never directly shown, it is implied that they were planning on doing it with even more students, and then killing them.
- The Sociopath: Moreso the Janitor, as Lennart seems to feel remorse at the end. Stefan states that the Janitor is "the biggest fucking moron [he's] ever seen".
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: How they lure victims.
Spoiler Character
Farzan Keyhan
A wealthy member of an Intelligence Service who helps the police find the man who killed a seemingly innocent black man.- Dirty Cop: Despite already being wealthy, he willingly took the job to foil a murder investigation.
- Faux Affably Evil: He is always extremely polite and happy.
- Karma Houdini: One of the very few villains in the series who make it out alive, he isn't even arrested! The only thing that happens is that Wallander confronts him and asks him if he wants to be a good cop, he answers yes, and then Wallander says that he'll have to become one, at this point knowing that Farzan is a mole hired to foil his investigation.
- The Mole: He was hired by the wife of a politician to hide the latter's involvement in a past murder.
Lothar Kraftczyk
- Ax-Crazy: The way he tortures and murders people is absolutely terrifying. And he was doing these kind of things even before his daughter committed suicide.
- Badass Bookworm: He is an absolute mastermind (the episode is aptly named Mastermind as well) as well as a skilled killer who nearly succeeds in his goals.
- Badass Longcoat: He wears a black one at the climax of the episode when Wallander and Martinson confront him and try stopping him.
- Batman Gambit: Much of his plan stems from what he expects the police to do.
- The Chessmaster: Orchestrates the entire plot that Wallander and Martinsson is subjected to, and has considered alot of details to play them into witnessing the deaths of their daughters (which is prevented, thank God).
- Cold-Blooded Torture: He spends pretty much the entire episode torturing everyone in the police, as no one is safe from his manipulation and he kidnaps Wallander and Martinson's daughters fairly early on, leading into them being tortured the entire episode.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His motivation is to get revenge on Wallander and Martinsson because they couldn’t make him meet his daughter while he was being in jail, which caused her to commit suicide.
- Evil Genius: He is a brilliant planner and starts a plot that would’ve taken years to plan out. He is also a great impersonator.
- Mad Doctor: He doesn't fit the archetype necessarily, but one of his many disguises is a doctor.
- The Mole: Was working as a cleaner for the police over a year to analyse their work and to stay one step ahead of them.
- Monster of the Week: Of Mastermind.
- The Sociopath: Of this particular episode.
- Villain Has a Point: He does have a good motivation in that the police were lazy, and that they just kind of let his daughter die instead of helping him.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: While he was evil before his daughter committed suicide, having already been arrested for murder, she was his Morality Pet and it lead into him becoming a stone-cold, manipulative psychopath.
Roger Riis
Roger and a group of fellow criminals robbed a bank, with Roger killing multiple people during it, but when Roger never got his part of the money due to being arrested, he grew increasingly psychotic due to the isolation of the prison and a need for money, so he escaped, and is now a proud serial killer.
- Ax-Crazy: After being imprisoned for months, he has become psychotic as hell.
- Freudian Excuse: While it doesn't justify his actions, it is true that he was screwed over by his associates, no matter how evil he may be. If they wouldn't had gotten him arrested, he probably would have never became a murderer.
- Monster of the Week: Of "The Black Knight".
- Serial Killer: Not a very intelligent one as he outright tells his victims that they are next by painting on them the number of people he has killed.
Oskar Ung
An old friend of Linda Wallander during her teenage years when she was a drug dealer, but Oskar got her out of it. However, he is now part of the robbery that Roger Riis was part of, and it becomes difficult for Linda.
- Affably Evil: By far the nicest of the thieves, and probably the nicest criminal in the entire series.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Roger Riis comes from behind, and is preparing to kill Linda. However, before he can do so, Oskar comes and shoots him, making Linda believe that Oskar was trying to shoot her, making Linda shoot Oskar. Everyone is saddened by his death, even Wallander himself!
- It's Personal: His group and Roger aren't on the best terms.
Roffe Liljeberg
A retired commissioner who has been using his position as one to catch other pedophiles, in order to be a pedophile himself.
- Archenemy: Could be seen as one to Stefan, as Stefan was one of Rolf's victims as a child. What Rolf did is so traumatizing for Stefan that he commits suicide when he is reminded by the picture Rolf took of him.
- Ax-Crazy: Without a doubt. When he kills one of his friends, he says this:DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!
- Faux Affably Evil: He is incredibly good at answering questions during interrogations due to his past as a commissioner, but it's all a front of an extremely sadistic pedophile.
- Hero Killer: He manages to get Stefan to commit suicide after he is reminded of how horrible the abuse was, making him indirectly responsible for his death.
- It's Personal: Rolf is Stefan's personal nightmare.
- Monster of the Week: Of "The Secret".
- Serial Killer: He has been kidnapping and killing children for years, and he is extremely cold while doing it.
- Strike Me Down: When Stefan visits him in his house, Stefan instantly prepares to kill him, pulling a revolver out of his pocket and pointing it on Rolf out of disgust. Rolf laughs and smugly sits in his chair, and wants Stefan to kill him, stating that he would never get away with it.
Spoiler Character
Anders Lindström
The Big Bad of the film adaptation The Revenge, Lindström's son tragically died, and has ever since sought to avenge him by committing terrorist attacks.- Affably Evil: For a mass-murdering corrupt soldier, he is surprisingly nice and kind, showing lots of respect for how skilled Wallander is.
- Alas, Poor Villain: He spends his final moments talking with Wallander in his car about everything that has happened, and they show quite alot of respect for each other, even telling Wallander that there is a bomb in the car they are sitting in, and telling Wallander to step out of the car, as he wants him alive.
- Manipulative Bastard: He intentionally commits his murders and terror acts in such a way that it looks like they were committed by Islamic terrorists, which the police and eventually the entire country starts to believe.
- Obviously Evil: Downplayed. He looks like a completely normal military-dude in his first appearance, but his mug shot looks absolutely terrifying.
- Oh, Crap!: When he sits in Wallander's car and suddenly sees another car behind driving really fast towards him.
- Serial Killer: He has one of the highest body counts in the series, committing terrorist attacks, as well as having a killing spree of his own, killing corrupt officials who he thinks are responsible for his son's death.
- Sociopathic Soldier: He's a high-ranking military soldier, and a chaotic serial killer.
- Tragic Villain: His motive is that his son died at a hospital for wrong treatment, and Anders has cancer and intends to express his anger before he dies.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: While he goes too far with his actions, his motivation is quite compelling and he genuinely believes that he is doing the right thing by avenging his son.
Spoiler Character
Sven
From the episode "The Leak", Sven is an old friend of Wallander and former cop, who has apparently "found a new job" and became a millionaire, who now lives in a beautiful house. Wallander meets him at a party, and it is revealed at the climax that Sven is the titular leak.- Affably Evil: He is still, even when it's reveled that he's the leak, kind enough to tell the truth to Wallander that he is the leak. However, he is still fine with mass murder of innocent people in return for money.
- Alas, Poor Villain: It can be quite sad seeing his dream get broken, and being betrayed by the person who was going to make him a billionare, who kills his wife as well as a cherry on the top.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His wife Mette.
- Monster of the Week: Although Leonard Belker is behind the terrorist attacks, Sven is the reason he is able to do so without the police interrupting him, making him the primary focus of the episode.
- Redemption Rejection: Wallander gives him the chance to become a police officer as a punishment for being the leak, he accepts it, only to later use the police car to drive away and in a final ditch effort tries taking the boat and flee the country, which doesn't end well.
Leonard Belker
A notorious robber who unleashes terrorist attacks in order to distract the police, and when the chaos and fear is at its most, he and his henchmen rob as much money as possible. Despite being one of the villains with the bigger body counts, Leonard actually does not speak a single line in the entire episode.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Sven, who is expected to get multiple millions for his work as the leak, only gets half the money. And for some reason, his wife Mette is killed by Leonard as well.
- For the Evulz: None of his actions seem to make much sense, since he already has enough wealth, and the final murder he does at the end is unnecessary and done for no reason.
- Greed: He has no qualms about attempted mass murder just so that he can become even wealthier. The weird thing is that, at the time of the episode, Leonard is already wealthy as hell.
- Karma Houdini: He gets away with everything and manages to escape the country. However, the rest is history, and it could be presumed he did everything again.
- Smug Snake: When he is on the boat and is escaping the country, he has an almost duck-like face.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: During the final attack, he looks at his henchmen as they all die, and he doesn't necessarily look provoked about it. In fact, he is smiling.
Hector Ussi
A young boy who lost his dad years ago, and is vengeful for him, as he snipes every person who is involved in the murder of his father.
- Affably Evil: He speaks like a completely normal teenager, and yet he is behind over twenty-seven entire murders, making him the villain with the highest body count in the series.
- Heel–Face Turn: Trainee Pontus is taken hostage by him, but when Hector comes back after killing a bunch of gangsters during a party, Pontus realizes that he was shot in the process by one of the mooks, which causes Hector to nearly die, but Pontus manages to call an ambulance right in time, and from there on Hector decided to try living a normal life.
- Monster of the Week: Of "The Sniper".
- Tragic Villain: All in all he is this. All of his victims are Asshole Victims who totally deserved it and the reason he does it is because they were involved in his father's death.
Cali Manchetta
An Arms Dealer who sells to teenagers. He sold his sniper to a person who later sold the sniper to Hector Ussi, making him somewhat behind the murders Hector does.
- Asshole Victim: He doesn't even deserve to die at the hands of Hector, he's simply just such a smug little shit. It's especially justified seeing as Cali is directly behind the murder of Goran Ussi, Hector's father.
- Big Bad Wannabe: He's nothing but a slightly cocky idiot who is only wealthy because he used people as pawns, but other than his fancy house and clothing, is nothing but some ordinary street thug who thinks he's Vito Corleone.
- Faux Affably Evil: His polite personality he has with his "Urban Gangsters" colleagues is nothing but a facade to hide what a monster he is.
- Hate Sink: What idiot sells weapons to teenagers?
- Kick the Dog: He used one of his gang members to kill the honorable restaurant owner Goran Ussi only because he didn't want to do illegal business, despite begging for them not to kill him.
- Smug Snake: Yeah.
Sune Holst
An aggressive, extremely ill-tempered Arms Dealer and gangster who openly hates cops.
- Affably Evil: He jokes with Wallander and actually laughs with him at some jokes. Granted, he probably doesn't have this attitude when he's smuggling weapons to borderline-terrorists.
- Deadpan Snarker: Arrogant and smug.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He fits the description of a 'bad man' perfectly and, according to him, he spent an entire day with his mother.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: In the first scene he is in, he talks back to Wallander and Pontus when they try interrogating him, and when Pontus tells him to stay where he is (his house) until the police come so that they can have a proper interrogation, his entire face becomes red like a tomato and he gets into a fight with him. 70% of his screentime consists of him being an extremely nasty Jerkass, and 30% consists of him picking fist fights with people.
- Karma Houdini: While he's placed in interrogation, he is never actually arrested for his weapon dealing, which is surprising seeing as he's apparently quite notorious.
Patrick
Trainee Isabelle's ex-boyfriend who has gone obsessed with her since they broke up, and it's later revealed that before she became a police officer, Isabelle was in fact named Rebecca and was a troublesome gangster and arms dealer, and Patrick apparently misses those days.
- Alas, Poor Villain: His sendoff is treated as tragic. Jesper, also Isabelle's ex, is so sure that Patrick is the one who killed the girl who the episode is about, that he kills Patrick. He was actually going to visit Isabelle before he was shot, and his expression is just pure sadness.
- Cain and Abel: He is noticeable more manipulative and seems to be the one manipulating his brother Leo into doing criminal things. Subverted as in the end it's revealed that Leo is a mentally sick sadist who has tried convincing Patrick to rape Isabelle multiple times.
- Cute and Psycho: He is Isabelle's obsessed ex-boyfriend who wants her back, but it's not hard to admit that he is quite handsome. He's not that bright, however.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He seems to the main antagonist, until he gets killed by Jesper who was certain Patrick was the killer. Leo reveals himself as a true sick bastard after this.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He disapproves of Leo wanting him to rape Isabelle.
- Faux Affably Evil: He has an almost creepily polite personality all the time, and he is never seen directly angry.
- Freudian Excuse: Not necessarily a tragic backstory or anything, but his love for Isabelle has consumed him and he is so obsessed with her that he simply cannot do anything else but to stalk her.
- Monster of the Week: The Debt Collector. Until he dies at the end and is replaced by Leo.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: There is no doubt about that he is a creepy stalker and what he does is horrible, but he genuinely cares for Isabelle, and only wants to reunite with her.
Leo
The brother of Patrick, Leo is noticeably calmer and nicer, although he has a huge rapsheet, being arrested since he was twelve years old. He's actually a chilling sadist who loves torture and rape.
- Ax-Crazy: An absolute abomination of a man who may just be the most disturbing, terrifying and generally insane character in the series, not even caring when his own brother dies.
- Cain and Abel: He is the real monster of the two.
- Enfante Terrible: He has been arrested ever since he was twelve, and his rapsheet has ever since been absolutely collossal.
- Faux Affably Evil: His reveal as a sadistic monster is quite shocking as for the majority of the episode he is the Nice Guy who seems to be manipulated by Patrick.
- Monster of the Week: After Patrick dies.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He has apparently tried convincing Patrick multiple times to brutally rape Isabelle. Even Patrick, who is a manipulative psychopath, does not approve of this.
Spoiler character
Victor Nilson
At first appearing as a kind man who owns a grocery store, Victor turns out to use his grocery store and his massive amounts of wealth which he gets from it in order to kidnap women and the rape them, he collects their bodies in his basement.- Driven to Suicide: He commits suicide instead of accepting arrest.
- Serial Killer: When Wallander is in his basement, it is shown that he has well over twenty victims to his name.
- The Sociopath: Holy shit if he isn't this. He is a chilling example who uses his charm to rape and kill innocent women, and it is confirmed that he has been doing this for years due to the amount of bodies in his basement.
- Would Hurt a Child: He kidnaps and rapes the girl who the episode is about.
Tommy
An arsonist who has came out of prison, but isn't accepted by his home town.
- Affably Evil: It is clear he wants to fit in despite being a vicious criminal in a small town.
- Driven to Suicide: He understands that he'll never fit in anyways, so he burns himself down.
- Monster of the Week: The Arsonist, so titular.
- Tragic Villain: The main reason he became an arsonist in the first place was due to how boring his life was, he was severely bullied and became a drug addict in addition to that. Once he was finally out of prison, no one accepts him and thinks that he's going to do yet another arson.
Spoiler character
Mattson
During season 3, Mattson is the boss of Wallander, and appears to be a kind, ambitious man, if slightly stoic but still respectful. It's revealed in the final episode that he has been orchestrating events, and is in fact a drug lord as well who has built his career as one through blackmailing and murdering.- Big Bad: The closest thing the series will ever get to one, due to orchestrating events since the beginning of season 3, and being a recurring character turned villain.
- Dirty Cop: If the Ystad police force is hell, then Mattson is without a doubt the Devil, and everyone else are his demons.
- Expy: Could be seen as this to Liam Dudley Smith from L.A. Confidential, due to being corrupt high-ranking police bosses, being drug lords, and having the entire police force on their sides. Mattson might just be even worse however, as he seems to have connections from the police over the entire country.
- Faux Affably Evil: He switches between this and Affably Evil, but when it comes down to it, he is probably more faux seeing as he becomes less polite during the final battle.
- Final Boss: He is the last threat Wallander has to battle against before retiring, and the gunfire is quite scary as it is a battle of life and death, Wallander could very well have gotten shot and died.
- Non-Action Big Bad: As previously stated, he's a puppeteer who doesn't do the action himself, but either uses other cops to do it, or assassins.
- Redemption Rejection: Wallander requests that they forget about everything and that they can both come out alive, which he doesn't care about, and he continues shooting.
- Too Dumb to Live: Downplayed. Mattson is a mastermind, his facade was amazing throughout the entire season, but the fact that he turns down Wallander's offer at the end to stop the gunfire and instead come out unharmed is absolutely idiotic. Obviously, at that point, Mattson's career as a kingpin might just have been too big to just cancel out, but when he's given an offer to just escape, why would he choose to continue anyway? If he was threatened by other criminals, he could just get a new identity.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Jenny Blom, a gangster in a police officer suit, decides to take action after hearing about the chaos Mattson has caused. At the end, Mattson uses her as a hostage. Played with, as it's only implied that she had previously worked for him.
