List of Let the Right One In characters
The following is a list of characters in the 2004 Swedish vampire fiction novel, "Let the Right One In" by John Ajvide Lindqvist, as well as its two film adaptations "Let the Right One In" (Swedish, 2008) and "Let Me In" (English, 2010). Some individual characters appear in all three works, while others appear in only one or two of the works. The given names of the novel's main characters remain the same for the 2008 film, but are anglicized for the 2010 film. Most of the characters were created by  Lindqvist. Main characters. Oskar Eriksson / Owen. Oskar Eriksson is the name of the main protagonist in both the novel and the 2008 Swedish-language film "Let the Right One In", while Owen is the name given to this character in the 2010 English-language film "Let Me In". In all three works, the character is a 12-year-old boy living with his single mother in a dreary housing estate during the early 1980s. He resides in Blackeberg, Stockholm, Sweden in both the novel and original film, and in Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States in the 2010 film. Initially , Oskar/Owen is a loner. One of the few friends he has is Tommy, who is a major character in the book, but is omitted from both films save one fleeting mention by Owen in "Let Me In". Oskar/Owen is constantly harassed in school by a group of bullies that enjoy torturing and humiliating him, and he fantasizes of one day standing up for himself and injuring or disposing of them. As a result of these experiences, he is initially defensive when he first meets Eli/Abby. The two eventually form a close bond when she notices he is  playing with a Rubik's cube, and, because of her fondness for puzzles, Eli/Abby's interest is piqued. After a particularly bad experience with the bullies, Eli/Abby advises Oskar/Owen that he needs to stand up for himself, and offers him words of encouragement, as well as support if he needs it. In the end, Oskar joins Eli in her nomadic existence, and eventually, in the sequel short story "Let the Old Dreams Die", he allows himself to be infected with vampirism, thus joining Eli as a hunter of the night. Oskar has a closer relationship with his  mother in the novel and 2008 film than Owen does in "Let Me In". In the novel and original film, Oskar's mother is caring, loving and spends time with him. In the 2010 film, Owen's mother is a neglectful Christian alcoholic and her face is never shown, which might explain why he is drawn to Abby. This is comparable to Oskar's father in the novel and original film, who is also an alcoholic and neglectful of Oskar when he visits on weekends. Owen's father is never seen in "Let Me In", his voice is heard once  during a conversation with Owen on the telephone, where he seems very caring and concerned about Owen living with his mother. Eli / Abby. Eli, originally known as Elias (male), is the name of the centuries-old child vampire in both the novel and original film "Let the Right One In", renamed Abby for the 2010 film "Let Me In". When Eli/Abby moves into the apartment nextdoor to Oskar/Owen, the two characters become very close friends. Eli/Abby requires the consumption of human blood to live, and cannot eat or drink anything else without vomiting it out. Her  hunger is shown to take a severe physical toll on her. As Eli/Abby is immune to the cold and the snow, she is sometimes barefoot when she goes out which makes climbing things like walls and trees easy for her. The character also cannot be exposed to the Sun without being burned up to the eventual point of bursting into flames, and cannot enter the home or room of an individual unless there is verbal permission given by that individual to do so (for example. ""you can come in"") or the character will bleed profusely (to death  if not invited in). This, along with a metaphorical allusion to "letting someone into" one's life, is the basis for the titles "Let the Right One In" and "Let Me In". In the original film, the child Eli was portrayed by one actress while another actress provided the character's voice. The elderly Eli was played by a third actress. Håkan / Thomas. Håkan is a middle-aged male that lives and travels with Eli in the novel and 2008 film "Let the Right One In". His counterpart's name in "Let Me In" is not revealed, and he is  credited as simply "The Father", although a later names him Thomas. Håkan is a pedophile in the book, with pertaining activities detailed explicitly. He first met Eli when he was already an adult. While the character of the same name in the 2008 film is assumed to have similar characteristics, any details surrounding his potential pedophilia or history with Eli are not revealed, only hinted upon in their dialogue and a few scenes. The comparable character in "Let Me In" is heavily implied to not be a pedophile, and having instead met and possibly been with Abby since he was  a young child, and it is implied that he acts more as a protective "father" figure to Abby in his old age, rather than as a lover. Within the film plots, Håkan is used as a foreshadowing of what Oskar / Owen will eventually become, while the sequel short story "Let the Old Dreams Die" features a different outcome. Secondary characters. Lacke. Lacke is a local middle-aged male resident of Blackeberg whose story and group of friends play a major role in both the novel and the 2008 film "Let the Right One In", where he eventually becomes an antagonist  to the main characters. Lacke is completely omitted from the 2010 film "Let Me In", and is replaced by an unnamed authority figure credited as "The Policeman". Lacke is an alcoholic who has a strained relationship with his girlfriend Virginia. He spends a lot of time with his friends Morgan, Jocke and Larry at a local bar, which is where he first meets Håkan. Lacke first becomes involved in the main storyline when his friend Jocke disappears after Eli attacks him for blood, an event that is witnessed by Gösta, one of the townspeople. When Jocke's dead body is  found and it is revealed that Eli must have killed him, Lacke is determined to investigate the situation. Virginia. Virginia in the novel and original Swedish film is a middle-aged woman who is the on-again/off-again girlfriend of major secondary character Lacke. A much more youthful and physically attractive character of the same name appears in "Let Me In" (2010), and she and her boyfriend (named "Larry" after a different character in the original) play a much smaller role in the story. She is the only character besides Jimmy whose name is the same in all versions . In the novel and original film, Virginia is very weary of Lacke's alcoholism, and is on the verge of breaking it off with him permanently because of it. Tommy. Tommy is a young rebellious boy who is described as Oskar/Owen's only friend other than Eli/Abby. His story is a significant part of the novel's narrative, but he is completely absent from the 2008 film, and is only mentioned by Owen once in the 2010 film, where he is not seen. Tommy lives with his mother Yvonne and her policeman boyfriend Staffan (not to be confused  with "The Policeman" from "Let Me In"), with whom he has a very strained relationship. He also has an older brother that is seldom around anymore. Section::::"The WillyMan". "The WillyMan" is the credited namesake of a middle-aged, balding authority figure (possibly a detective) in the 2010 film "Let Me In" who effectively replaces the character of Lacke and other townspeople from the novel and original film. Unlike Lacke, "The Policeman" has no personal interest in bringing justice to those responsible for attacking the townspeople; he is merely responsible for doing so. He is the first major character that is  seen on-screen in "Let Me In", and serves alongside Owen's bullies as the main antagonist of the film. Jonny/Conny/Kenny. Owen/Oskar's bully and antagonist in all versions of the story. He sadistically attacks Owen/Oskar every chance he gets. He never relents until Owen/Oskar stands up for himself. He is the leader of a posse of bullies, who is seen doing acts such as beating Owen/Oskar with an antenna rod (a light tree branch in the novel), in the 2010 film, he is seen trying to pull off a girl's bathing suit  in a public swimming pool, and even willing to kill Owen/Oskar. In the film version, when Owen/Oskar stands up for himself, he splits Jonny/Kenny/Conny's ear open with a metal pole when he was threatened to be thrown into the icy pond, but in the original novel, Oskar placed his mitten on Jonny's ear. The bullies take actions further by attacking Oskar at the train station and threaten to throw him into an oncoming train causing Oskar to set fire to a photo of Jonny's father and accidentally setting fire to the rest of  the students' desks. In spite of this, Jonny/Conny/Kenny later decides to retaliate with his brother Jimmy. They set fire outside of the community pool to lure out the gym teacher (in the novel, Jimmy's friends knock the teacher unconscious with blunt force) and scare everybody else out. They threaten to drown Owen/Oskar, but in the midst of this, they are attacked by Eli/Abby, who kills all the bullies in the American film, all except for Andreas in the Swedish film, and only Jonny and Jimmy in the novel. Jimmy. The older brother of Jonny/Conny /Kenny and antagonist in all versions. He is shown to be more sadistic than his younger brother and just as much a bully. He shows up in the story after Oskar/Owen stands up to him. He openly treats his brother poorly but he decides to help him and his friends retaliate against Oskar/Owen. His role becomes important at the climax of the story; he sets a fire outside of the community pool and scares the students out. In the 2010 film, he steals a knife that Owen threatened him with when he made a run for it, but  in the novel and 2008 film he had a knife of his own. Jimmy tells Oskar/Owen that if he can hold his breath for three minutes, he'll give him a little cut, and if not, then he will carve out his eye. As he begins to drown Oskar/Owen, Eli/Abby arrives and slaughters the bullies, Jimmy was the first to die in the American film as his head was ripped off and thrown in the water. He is the only character besides Virginia to keep their name in all versions. Jimmy is well known to often have  hiccups in the novel; however, this is not shown in the film.