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The Police
Erik Bäckström
- Abusive Parents: Erik and Leif's father was a monster to say the least, and the main reason why Leif is the way he is. Erik left Leif after a while, which may be the reason why he never became like Leif.
- Berserk Button: As the above states, both of the films imply that Erik never tolerates child abuse, which is most likely due to his own experiences.
- Big Brother Instinct: He constantly tries stopping Leif from going to far - which doesn't work. At the end, when Leif has killed Ove, Erik tells him to arrest himself, and he might get a lower prison sentence, the cry and hug each other, ...and then Leif burns down the entire house.
- Big Good: The most motivated cop in the movies.
- Broken Ace: He has issues regarding his relationship with his brother and how the latter tries to ruin the former. See Byronic Hero below.
- Butt-Monkey: Implied to have been one in his Stockholm days, but arguably even more so in the current state, being thrown around and abused by people he wants to care about.
- Byronic Hero: He is a very competent cop with a Dark and Troubled Past with an abusive father, left his brother whom now hates him, returns to a town where nobody particularly likes him that much and has to solve cases where he very often borders on being the Only Sane Employee.
- Cain and Abel: Leif, while killing his own dog is bad, totally becomes this to Erik when he starts raping an innocent woman and killing their mentally challenged brother Ove.
- Cool Car: He has multiple ones.
- Cop/Criminal Family: Is the brother to the Evil Poacher Leif.
- Create Your Own Villain: Even though he regrets leaving Leif alone with their abusive father, Leif has neither forgotten nor forgiven Erik for it and now feels extreme hate for his own brother because of it.
- Dark and Troubled Past: See Abusive Parents.
- Defective Detective: Downplayed. While his life isn't as bad as most others on the trope, Erik is hated by the entire town for "destroying the town" by looking deeper into the illegal hunting going on. In the sequel, Erik almost totally loses this trope, as he is more like a regular family man than anything.
- Et Tu, Brute?: It’s hard for him to process the realization that his brother is a cold-blooded murderer who recently just killed their half-brother.
- The Hero: Of the franchise.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: While he's regarded as a bit of a hero in Stockholm, once he arrives in Norrland and tries stopping the titular hunters, everyone hates him and thinks that he is causing unnecessary drama in an otherwise calm town.
- Idiot Ball: In the sequel, when Erik is in Torsten's basement to prove that he is behind the murders, he takes no pictures of the evidence and instead just leaves the place and tells his colleagues about it. At the time they are back, all of the proof is gone.
- Living with the Villain: In the first movie he has moved in with his brother Leif who is behing the crimes Erik is investigating.
- Nice Guy: Overall.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Se Idiot Ball above:
- One-Man Army: He almost manages to knock down all nine or so of the hunters in a fight.
- Only Sane Employee: Played with, while he does have good colleagues, alot of his associates are still Dirty Cop's who try covering up different crimes.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: When he gets physical towards Leif for slapping Nena and in his final confrontation towards him when Leif just stands there and takes it.
- Sanity Slippage: Near the end of the first film, Erik becomes desperate to arrest the hunters, and starts being cruel to pretty much everyone who doesn't help him.
- Unknown Rival: His own brother Leif in the first movie is behind the poachings.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Karin calls him out of this as she had called Erik many years ago and asked him for his help regarding Peter, Leif’s son, but Erik just wanted to return to Stockholm and leave everything behind him.
Anna Sivertson
A prosecutor who is probably the only one who has the same view as Erik on the illegal hunting case, the secondary protagonist of the first film.
- Only Sane Employee: As mentioned before, everyone in the police seem fairly normal and kindhearted, it's just that Erik and her are the only ones there who seem to care.
Torsten
It's gonna be so fun working with you...
Erik's new colleague in the sequel who helps Erik and the police force into finding the person who is behind a specific murder, suspicions go to the Finnish gangster Jari, who Torsten had previously been involved in arresting. However, Torsten seems to be hiding facts about the murder, and it seems like he wants to cover it up, someone he cares about has done the murder.- Abusive Parents: Being his step-father, Torsten is quite abusive to his foster son Peter.
- Alas, Poor Villain: After a long battle between the family at the bay, Torsten finally understands his wrongdoings, and calms down for a second. He drops his aggressive tone, and the only thing he can say before committing suicide is "take care of the guy...". What makes this especially sad is the fact that he genuinely seems to believe that his so called family genuinely is a good family, and that his abuse is necessary for the family. He starts crying just before his death, and it shows that he may not be as evil as everyone thinks he is.
- Ax-Crazy: Behind the rather sophisticated facade that he has, is a complete maniac who only cares about himself and thinks that violence is the answer to everything.
- Beard of Evil: A circle beard which which makes him more intimidating and adds to him being Obviously Evil.
- Big Bad: After framing and killing Jari for a murder he did himself, abusing his wife, emotionally manipulating, abusing, and making his own son turn against Erik, it is fair to say that he is the opposite to Erik.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Played with. He's actually quite similar to Leif from the previous film, but there is one thing that is different between them: Leif kills himself by killing himself, but also burning down the family legacy house that every member of the family has lived in, thus dying in disgrace. Torsten, on the other hand, committs suicide after he realizes that what he has been doing has been wrong all along, and thus dying in honor.
- The Corrupter: He tries making Peter turn against Erik, who Peter has obtained a pretty good relationship with. However, he genuinely seems to believe that what he is doing is right, different from most examples.
- Detective Mole: He is part of the investigation about the murder that he committed. He tries to get away by planting a bunch of Red Herring clues that points at the wrong suspect.
- Dirty Cop: He uses his status as one in order to abuse Peter. Him being the true killer is just a bonus.
- Domestic Abuse: What he does towards his family, which is why he can never live a normal life with them.
- Driven to Suicide: He kills himself at the climax when he realizes that there is no going back for him.
- Evil Counterpart: To Erik. Both are police-emloyees (Erik is an investigator and Torsten a commissioner). But Erik is the good kind while Torsten is heavily corrupt. Erik finds out Torsten is behind the murder, but lacks evidence and Torsten, who is more sneaky, plants false evidences that contradict Erik’s claims, and he almost got away with it.
- Fatal Flaw: His Pride, Wrath and abusive tendencies. Which is why he can never live a normal life with his family, and it eventually causes his downfall.
- Frame-Up: He frames Jari for killing Elin, when in reality he is the murderer himself.
- Killer Cop: Not just dirty, but homicidal.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: How he deals with Elin and Jari.
- Obviously Evil: If you didn't guess that he was the murderer within a minute of screentime, either you haven't watched many Peter Stormare films, or you're simply stupid.
- Pet the Dog Despite abusing his family, he has a literal scene where he is with his dog, and he talks with the dog as if it is a human, and, of course, pets it.
- Walking Spoiler: The only thing worth talking about when it comes to his character is when he is revealed as the murderer.
Åke Zetterlund
Erik's boss in the first film, and one of the few truly neutral characters in the films.
- Anti-Hero: He may not be the fastest at catching criminals, so much so that he is borderline-corrupt, but it is not intentional, and it is moreso because of Erik's sudden decisions and methods of catching criminals, which are quite unheart of in a small town without rules.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It is never really explained why he doesn't appear in the sequel.
Bengtsson
The most corrupt member of the police, he is one of the biggest reasons why the hunters haven't been caught yet, as he knows them and protects them.
- Affably Evil: He never changes his cheerful personality even when he's discovered.
- Corrupt Cop: Who helps the hunters.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He genuinely cares for his family.
- Expy: His actor has played around three characters who are similar to Bengtsson, one is worse than the other.
- Karma Houdini: He gets expelled for his involvement, but he is never directly punished for protecting murderers and rapists.
The Hunters
In General
- All Men Are Perverts: Oh boy. Rape and sexual assault are definitely not off the table for them.
- Antagonist Title: In the first film.
- Egomaniac Hunter: They sure like to brag about ther huntings and crimes alike.
- Establishing Character Moment: They are introduced cruelly killing a bunch of deers.
- Evil Is Petty: They completely vandalizes Erik’s car for being the main investigator in their poaching business.
- Evil Poacher: They unlawfully hunt and mutilates animals probably for selling each part of their bodies.
- For the Evulz: Their actions are pretty much all for fun.
- Get Out!: After killing Ove, the local bartender makes it very, very clear to them they are no longer welcome in his establishment.
- Greed: Aside from being murderers and rapists, they are also illegal hunters who get lots of money from killing innocent animals.
- Hated by All: After sadistically murdering Ove, they go from merely disliked to outright pariahs in the local community.
- Hate Sink: All of them are extremely unsympathetic, all they do is poach, kill, rape and are very cheerful about it.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: They have Bengtsson, an officer who helps them get off the hook several times. However, it eventually gets so bad that even he can't help them much longer.
- Villainous Friendship: All they do is commit horrific crimes together.
Leif Bäckström
Relax, there's not a cop around for ten miles.
Erik's own brother, who may at first come across as a Nice Guy, but isn't exactly that.- Abusive Parents: Much like Erik, he was abused by their monstrous dad, which is most likely why Leif is so hateful.
- The Alcoholic: There are several scenes where Leif is being drunk.
- Ax-Crazy: Behind that facade of a hilarious guy who would perfectly fit the bill as a family man, is an evil, evil man who terrorizes people for little to no reason.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Kills them actually, even his own dog.
- Big Bad: Of the first film, as he's the leader of the hunters.
- Big Bad Friend: Being Erik’s brother and a seemingly nice guy at first, he is this to Erik initially.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He appears like a nice and funny fellow at firat, especially towards Erik. But easily drops the facade whenever he is opposed.
- Blatant Lies: After killing Ove, he tells the police that it was an accident during hunting.
- He also tries to convince Bengtsson that he and the gang might be poachers, but NOT murderers. It is hard to hold back the laugh when he says that.
- Cain and Abel: His relationship with Erik. Erik’s disappearence from Leif when they were young, leaving Leif alone with their abusive father is what has grown out the immense hate Leif has for Erik, which plays a role in his rivalry his own brother when he returns to investigate the poachings. It even goes to the point that he is willing to hurt those around Erik just to piss him off further.
- Consummate Liar: He lies over and over again hoping that it can make him evade justice. It doesn’t last long.
- Cop/Criminal Family: Is the brother to Erik who is a cop. Erik has it hard to believe that Leif could be a murderous criminal and it only adds further to their family-drama that started as soon as Erik left Leif behind with their abuser of a father which Leif never forgave him for.
- Dirty Coward: Not as bad as Håkan, but Leif mostly only attacks people that are completely defenceless towards him, especially when he has a gang that got his back.
- Like when he goes on a long xenophobic rant towards Nena and knocks her down, but can’t defend himself when Erik gets physical towards him.
- It is also one of the reasons for why he kills himself in the end rather than go to prison.
- Driven to Suicide: He’d rather kill himself than go to prison, so he blows himself and the family legacy house up.
- Even Evil Has Standards: When Tomme harrasses Nena at the bar, Leif seems annoyed and tells him to just let her go. Though this was most likely just Pragmatic Villainy since Erik was there, and it also becomes horribly subverted when we see that Leif is not an anti-pervert at all. In fact, he himself is a goddamn rapist.
- He deliberately invokes this when talking to Bengtsson to make Bengtsson help him get off the hook by saying that he and the hunters may be poachers, but are certainty ''not'' murderers
- Evil Poacher: Well, it’s in the film’s title... sort of. He starts of as nothing more than a poacher, like the rest of his gang, but poaching is only one of his many crimes. Him and his gang hunts out-of-season mostly out of Greed, but also for the fun of it. When Tomme, one of his gangs members, accidently shoots an innocent man dead, all Leif cares about is to cover it up and kills a bystander who happened to witness the incident. Things only gets worse from there.
- Evil Is Petty: He has several Kick the Dog moments that also fall under this (see below), some include:
- When he shoots his dog dead for not following orders.
- And especially when he goes on a long and harsh racist rant against Nena when he finds her dating Erik in their house.
- Faux Affably Evil: He does have a pretty good sense of humor, and he seems to genuinely have fun talking with Erik, which is just a big front so that he can later get away with everything. He also puts on a friendly facade when he brings Ove out for a hunting trip only to have him shot by the hunters.
- For the Evulz: While killing the witness and Ove is done to cover up his and the gang’s crimes, raping Nena didn’t serve him anything other than as an act of revenge against his brother.
- Freudian Excuse: His actions are without a doubt taken from that of his father's, and it is fully possible that him shooting his own dog for not obeying is taken from his dad abusing him for the same reason. It does give an interesting look at his character, but...
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: It becomes more and more questionable after each of his Moral Event Horizons just how much of an ”excuse” his bad upbringing really is, and how much it justifies his more horrendous actions such as the homicides and rape that he commits without even showing the slightest remorse of.
- Hate Sink: When he rapes Nena and kills Ove, he has officially gone too far.
- It's All About Me: He accuses Erik for ”wanting to arrest his own brother” when Erik explains his suspicion towards Leif’s involvement in the poachings and murders.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He isn’t wrong when he tells Erik that it was wrong for him to just leave Leif alone with their abusive father as young and has been absent ever since, which explains their sibling-rivalry in the first place.
- Kick the Dog: Pretty much what his character consists of.
- He fatally shoots his own dog Zorro simply because it didn't follow his orders once.
- It was definitely an accident when Tomme killed the berry picker, but when the berry picker's wife sees the murder, Leif chases her and sadistically kills her. Now, that is NOT an accident.
- He rapes a Philippine immigrant for fun, which causes her to disappear from the country purely out of fear.
- And finally, what truly makes him the biggest Hate Sink of the films, he takes the kind, mentally challenged Ove, asks him if he wants to hunt with them for real, he answers yes, he gets the rifle, he goes to a mountain to hunt, and then when he looks back, the gang is gone. He looks back a second time, and they are all standing there armed, ready to kill him. He grabs his rifle, tries shooting, only to discover that the ammo was fake, and that they were planning on killing him all along. Leif sadistically shoots and kills him, and nearly gets away with it.
- Large Ham: What only Lennart Jähkel can do. Leif has many moments of hamminess mostly due to sometimes speaking loud with a thicc northern-swedish accent.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In the ending, he finally gets confronted by an impatient Erik. Big time.
- The Leader: Not officially, but he acts like this for the hunters gang, as he is the most ruthless one which even frightens the rest of the gang at first, but he quickly convinces them that whatever he does is in their interests as well so they happily follow him.
- Lonely Funeral: A variant. At his funeral which is along with Ove, Ove's coffin has many roses laid on it while Leif's doesn't get a single one, except from his brother.
- Loophole Abuse: After he and his gang kills Ove, he tells the police that it was an accident and that they cannot arrest them all... they first need to prove whose bullet actually killed him, which is impossible.
- Manipulative Bastard: After the incident with the berry picker, he convinces his gang into not talking to the police and that whatever he did to the bystander who witnessed the murder, was for the good of the gang. Afterwards, the gang has become almost as monstrous as Leif and happily follows whatever he tells them to. He appears polite towards Ove only to lure him out into the woods to shoot him dead. He also manages to avoid arrest for Ove’s murder, by saying it was an accident by making a Loophole Abuse argument.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: His solution to silencing the witness to their Accidental Murder, and later what he does to Ove after Ove tells Erik about witnessing that murder.
- Notorious Parent: Posthumously. He was unaware that he had a son, Peter, who appears in the sequel and is nothing like his biological father. This is important to the plot in the sequel as Erik wants to avoid making the same mistake he did with his brother - by leaving him with an abusive father (in Peter’s case a step-father) - so he can prevent Peter from going down a similar path as Leif.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: His xenophobic rant on the Phillipine immigrant Nena, calling her a baboon and everything, tells it all.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He and his gang kidnap Nena, an innocent immigrant and he orders his mooks to rape her.
- Redemption Rejection: Instead of accepting arrest he puts himself and his house on fire.
- Sadist: It should be obvious by now that he takes pride and pleasure in the killings and all the harm he causes others. Especially when he kills Ove and rapes Nena.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He seems to think that because his brother is a cop, he can get away with his crimes and if Erik accuses him he calls him out for being a bad brother.
- When Erik tells Leif that he has evidence suggesting that he is involved in the murdering of the berry pickers, Leif goes to Bengtsson, a Dirty Cop and the hunters free pass, to give him a sob-story and convince him that they are not involved in the murders at all. Bengtsson reveals to Leif that it was Ove who told Erik that he saw Leif killing the woman, and you can guess what happens next.
- Start of Darkness: His upbringing with his abusive father. But it certainly does not justify his more brutal crimes.
- Smug Snake: Leif constantly thinks that he can get away from his and the gang’s crimes partially because his brother is the police and wouldn’t want to arrest his own brother and because he thinks he is so smart. But his uncareness and lack of pragmatism causes him to loose in the end where the only way to avoid the consequences of his actions is to end his life.
- The Sociopath: He's an unrepentant murderer and rapist to boot, carries a nice and friendly facade, and doesn't show any remorse for his crimes. Notice how he reacts after killing Ove. He's totally emotionless.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Judging by his appearence, appart from his sometimes hillbilly-like clothing, he seems rather normal with nothing to suggest that he would be a malevolent criminal.
- Unknown Rival: Erik doesn’t know at first that his own brother is involved in the ongoing poachings and the murders that Erik is investigating. Erik eventually figures it out, but it isn’t exactly an easy or fun realization for him.
- Villain Ball:
- Even though he should lay low after the incident with the berrypicker, his rape of Nena serves him nothing other than just pissing of his brother.
- When he kills Ove. Since Ove had already testified to Erik that he saw Leif murdering an innocent woman, killing Ove for revenge would only draw even more suspicion.
- Villain Has a Point: Invoked. Even though his claim that Ove’s murder was an accident is obvious bullshit, he manages to find a legal loophole in that the police can’t sue them all because they first need to find out whose bullet it was that first penetrated Ove, which is impossible. But hey, that's the law! Even Anna admits that he is right on this.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Erik confronts him in the final scene, Leif is drunk and doesn’t bother to fight back when Erik beats him and tries to make him confess. He agrees to do it, but the burned bridges between them instead makes him kill himself.
- Villainous Friendship: With his hunting pals, who commit various crimes together.
Tomme Harela
The secondary antagonist of the film, he is a hateable member of the gang.
- Accidental Murder: A major plot point is the scene when the hunters are recklessly driving around and shoot animals, and Tomme aims at a deer but accidently hits a berry picker. The gang tries to cover it up.
- All Men Are Perverts: In one of his first scenes he sexually assaults Nena at a bar.
- The Dragon: From what is seen, he can probably be called the right-hand of Leif.
- Dirty Coward: He quickly rats out Leif once Erik gains the upper hand in a fight.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a rapist, murderer, and overall hateable guy, he still does care for his wife and children, and starts crying when he realizes that their family might be split apart if it's revealed that he is a murderer.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While he was a poacher, he never intended to kill a man, having him suffer a Villainous BSoD. But this trope becomes subverted as he becomes more confident and even helps Leif commit rape and yet another murder.
- Gaining the Will to Kill: He becomes shocked when he accidentally kills a man. But as time comes, he gets over it and has no qualms with killing a handicapped man.
- Hate Sink: Probably the biggest one of the group, due to Leif at the very least being
Evil Is Cool to some people. - Smug Snake: He has an almost permanent smug smile on him, even when he's being insulted. Which isn't a good thing, just makes him even more hateable.
- Villainous BSoD: After he accidentally shoots a man dead, he becomes totally shocked and unable to process it. Leif tries to convince him it was an accident and makes him get over it.
Håkan
The most cowardly member of the gang.
- Affably Evil: Him being cowardly actually contributes to this, as it makes him have more standards. With other words, he's easily the most sympathetic of the members.
- Dirty Coward: He's always at the back of the gang, and becomes desperate whenever something that might affect him happens.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He seems to show regret after they gang-raped Nena.
Others
Ove
The mentally challenged brother of Erik and Leif, who loves animals.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He becomes a witness to the woman’s murder, which he later tells Erik.
- Kill on Sight: What he falls victim to by Leif and the hunters. Leif lures him into the woods, has the hunters surround him and fatally shoot him.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: He can barely speak, has a hobby in building wooden guns and playing with it like a toy, and loves animals. When Leif gets ready to kill him, if you don't get close to crying, you must be emotionless.
- The Mentally Ill: Mentally challenged who can barely speak. But he manages to give Erik some important information on the woman’s murder, which Leif later kills him for while Ove is being completely defenceless.
- Nice Guy: Read above.
- The Quiet One: Being mentally challenged, he rarely speaks. But he can say just enough to tell Erik that Leif is a killer.
Erik and Leif’s father
The abusive father of Erik and Leif, whose funeral is at the beginning of the movie.
- Abusive Parents: The words ”abusive father” are mentioned all over the page for a reason.
- Evil Is Petty: Abused his son Leif for many petty reasons, but one of them was that Leif liked to sing.
- The Ghost: Is a quite pivotal figure who is merely mentioned but never seen.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He is the reason for Leif’s Freudian Excuse and his abuse is what formed him.
