Norman Nordstrom

Norman Nordstrom is the main antagonist of the 2016 horror film and the anti-heroic main protagonist of its 2021 sequel, . A blind man who seemed to be an easy target at first, he is revealed to be far deadlier than initially expected.
He was portrayed by , who also played Waldo in Into the Badlands and voiced Elias Walker in the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts.
==Biography==
===Don't Breathe===
Norman Nordstrom is a blind Navy veteran who received $300,000 as compensation after his daughter Emma was killed in a car accident by a wealthy young woman named Cindy Roberts. Grief-stricken by her death, Norman kidnapped Cindy and impregnated her by injecting his own semen into her through a ; given she was the one who killed his daughter, he thought of it as fair that she give him one back.
After failing to save up enough money to escape to with her younger sister Diddy, the film's protagonist, Rocky, is informed of Norman's situation and how much money he has by her cohorts, Alex and Money. The three delinquents drug the elderly man's dog and they search around the house for an entrance; upon seeing that all of the entrances were locked, Rocky manages to slide through a small window.
They quietly browse the house for the money, to no avail. Believing that the money had to be behind a locked door, Money shoots the lock, waking the Nordstrom as a result. Despite being blind, he effortlessly subdues Money. Money lies and says he's the only intruder, after which Nordstrom murders him with his own gun. Hiding in a closet, Rocky observes Nordstrom opening a safe to check on his money. Once he left, Alex and Rocky use the opportunity to collect the money. Unfortunately for them, Nordstrom discovers their shoes, realizing that there was more than one intruder in his house. He sealed the exits to make sure they did not escape and began a search throughout the house.
While escaping from the murderous Nordstrom, the remaining delinquents head towards the basement. There, they discover Cindy in a homemade padded cell, bounded and gagged. Reading that she was found not guilty for accidentally killing his daughter in a newspaper, they found out Nordstrom kidnapped her out of anger. They free the woman from her restraints and they attempt to escape the house through his cellar door, only to find the killer waiting on the other side. He attempts to shoot Rocky and Alex with Money's gun; however, he mistakenly kills Cindy instead.
Enraged at her death, he shuts off the lights to make them unable to see. He shoots at the two burglars, but after a struggle, Alex was able to knock him out. Rocky attempts to escape through the ventilation system, while Alex is dragged into the utility room by Nordstrom after he recovers. He then stabs him with a pair of garden shears, seemingly killing him but completely misses when he actually stabbed at money's corpse.
Rocky discovers that the dog is awake and hostile, which pursues her in the air vent. She is eventually captured by Nordstrom. Waking up restrained in the basement, Nordstrom explains that he impregnated Cindy in order to replace the daughter that he had lost to her (although he does not view his actions as actual rape). Because of her death, he now plans to use Rocky as a replacement. After stating that he is not a rapist, he was is to artificially inseminate her with a turkey baster filled with his semen, when Alex knocks him out and handcuffs him.
Nordstrom manages to break himself out and finds the two cohorts as they are about leave, managing to shoot Alex in the shoulder. Alex falls unconscious, much to Rocky's horror. Rocky flees, but Nordstrom sends the dog after her. Rocky eventually manages to trap the dog in her car trunk, but before she could leave, Nordstrom catches up, knocks her out and drags her back to the house, intent on finishing the job. Before he could, however, Rocky is able to disorient Nordstrom by turning on his house's loud alarm system. She then hits him repeatedly with a crowbar and pushes him into the basement. The gun fires into his side as he falls. She then escapes before the police arrive to investigate.
Nordstrom is reported to have been admitted to a hospital and is under stable condition. However, it is shown that, for some reason, he did not report Rocky or the stolen money, implying that he indeed intends to buy her silence. This allows Rocky to succeed at acquiring the money, and she leaves for with Diddy.
===Don't Breathe 2===
Norman later rescued a little girl named Phoenix from a house fire, who has little memory of her past. Eight years later, now living in , he raised her as his adopted daughter, teaching her survival skills as well as her. However, he has refused to have a normal childhood by not allowing her to attend . Former Hernandez, an old friend of Norman who had a previous connection to him, decides to take 11-year-old Phoenix for an errand around town.
Following this, a group of thugs, led by Raylan, begin invading Norman's home in an attempt to kidnap Phoenix. After killing Hernandez, they then kill Norman's pet , Shadow. Jim Bob, one of Raylan's henchmen, begins to corner Phoenix, but is attacked by Norman, who had known about Shadow's death. Norman then tells her to flee to the basement, where she is then able to lock herself. Going to his nearby garage, he tries to recover from one of his injuries when Jared - Jim's brother and another thug of Raylan - tries to kill him.
However, Norman is able to suffocate him using . Unfortunately, he is rescued by Jim Bob, who had known about Norman's actions. While Phoenix hides in a locker inside the basement, Duke, another thug of Raylan, tries drowning her. Norman later corners and fights him, though Duke is able to put electricity in the water in an attempt to electrocute Phoenix. Norman later kills him by throwing the wire to ignite a nearby gas tank that blasts him. As they try to flee, Raylan reveals to Phoenix that Norman is not her biological father, as Raylan and Phoenix both have a .
After Phoenix is abducted by Raylan, and Norman is incapacitated, Raylan attempts to burn down his house, but Norman survives and uses Raylan's abandoned dog to track down the thugs. As Norman begins killing many of Raylan's thugs, Raul, a remorseful member, has a change of heart and flees, but not before revealing to him that Raylan is Phoenix's biological father, but plans to transplant her heart (while she is alive AND awake) to save his paralyzed wife Josephine (due to her requiring the heart of a "compatible donor").
Norman manages to intercept and battle Raylan, who accidentally shoots and kills his wife. After gouging out Raylan's eyes, Norman rescues Phoenix and admits to abducting her, as well as many crimes he committed in the past, including murder and . As she tells Phoenix to flee, Raylan attacks him and prepares to kill him, but Phoenix kills her biological father to save her false father. Phoenix attempts to save Norman, but the latter tells her that she already has and seemingly dies; however, a mid-credits scenes hints at his survival.
==Personality and Traits==
Considering how Nordstrom is completely sightless, he hardly speaks in the film. Rather, he has to rely on his other senses to get a visual idea of his surroundings. As such, he is surprisingly agile and stout. Additionally, he can take a beating pretty well; even when he suffers several blows to the back of the head by a crowbar, he only sustains a few minor injuries. His only weakness is loud sounds.
When Nordstrom does speak, he has a notably gravelly voice. He reveals himself to be a individual who was still greatly suffering from the loss of his daughter, scoffing at the idea of a loving God who would allow a rich woman to escape the legal repercussions for accidental manslaughter. Despite him artificially inseminating women with his semen, Nordstrom does not consider himself a rapist; in his mind, he cannot possibly be one since he does not force himself on the women involved.
==Trivia==
*He only has thirteen lines of dialogue in the first film.
*His role in the sequel is almost a role reversal, going from the main antagonist into the anti-heroic main protagonist. While it is debatable if he's a hero or not, due to his actions being forced pregnancy and attempted murder, it is still stated by Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues that he isn't the real hero of the story.
*Norman's abilities to kill intruders using his senses might have inspired the Death Angels from .
**Fittingly, Don't Breathe 2 and were both released in 2021.
Category:Male
Category:Anti-Heroes
Category:Parents
Category:Tragic
Category:Horror Heroes
Category:Thriller Heroes
Category:Nurturers
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Elderly
Category:Live Action Heroes
Category:Redeemed Villains
Category:Fighters
Category:Military
Category:Honorable
Category:Wealthy
Category:Chaotic Neutral
Category:Grey Zone