Trivia

Witnessed a rape when he was 15, and was helpless to stop it. This event haunted him for the rest of his life. The girl being raped was named Lisbeth, which he later used as the name of the heroine on his Millenium trilogy. Sexual violence against women is also a recurring theme in his work.

Finished his so-called Millennium Trilogy shortly before his death in 2004. All three novels were published posthumously. He had finished three-quarters of a fourth book before his death and had notes for two more and had planned a series of ten.

Once remarked to a colleague that he would like to see stories about famous children's literature characters when they had grown up. His novels appear to have put this into practice. His hero, Mikael Blomkvist, is named for Kalle Blomkvist (AKA Bill Bergson in English translations), a child detective appearing in novels by Astrid Lindgren. The heroine, Lisbeth Salander, sounds as if she was named, at least in part, after Blomkvist's companion Eva-Lotta Lisander. She was also named for a real-life rape victim Larsson knew. She is modeled in most other respects after another Lindgren character, Pippi Longstocking. Both girls are natural redheads who frequently outsmart authority figures who underestimate them. Salander also puts the name "V. Kulla" on her second apartment, a reference to Longstocking's home Villa Villekulla.

In May 2008, it was announced that a 1977 will, found soon after Larsson's death, declared his wish to leave his assets to the Umeå branch of the Communist Workers League. As the will was unwitnessed, it was not valid under Swedish law, with the result that all of Larsson's estate, including future royalties from book sales, went to his father and brother.

Spent part of 1977 in Eritrea, training a squad of female Eritrean People's Liberation Front guerrillas in the use of grenade launchers.