Thor's Mighty Hammer: Christianity, Justice and Norse Mythology in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy

Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy--The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest1 --has become a massive popular culture phenomenon. They are the best-selling books in Swedish history and spent over 133 weeks on or at the top of the New York Times best seller list (New York Times Best Sellers). The trilogy has been adapted into three feature length films in Sweden that have earned in excess of 10 million dollars in Europe alone (Yellowbird). Predictably, Hollywood bought the rights to produce American versions, the first of which was released in December 2011.The books explore murder and intrigue, international politics, government corruption, human trafficking, deception, revenge, sex, violence, and even real human connection. But the one thing that catapults these novels into the upper stratosphere of popularity is the character of Lisbeth Salander--the "girl with the dragon tattoo."