Characters / The Moomins

The current ensemble for Moominvalley season 3

Listed are the characters of the Moomins series.
Be aware that all spoilers will be unmarked, this includes season 3 of the recent show soon in April 2022.

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Main Characters

Moomintroll

Moomintroll / Moomin (English) | Mumintrollet (Swedish) | Muumipeikko (Finnish) | Mūmin (Japanese) | Muminek (Polish)

Voiced by: Minami Takayama (Japanese, 1990 anime), Susan Sheridan (English, 1990 anime), Sarah Huaser (English, 1992 anime movie), Rabbe Smedlund (Finnish, 1990 anime), Sixten Lundberg (Swedish, 1990 anime) Jacek Kawalec (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 anime movie) | Joonas Nordman (Finnish, 2019 animation), Taron Egerton and Jack Rowan (English, 2019 animation), Junta Terashima (Japanese, 2019 animation), Christoffer Strandberg (Swedish, 2019 animation), Paweł Krucz (Polish, 2019 animation)

"You need to learn to stand up for yourself."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

Nominally the main character of the books (though most of the books are more of an Ensemble Cast thing), and by far the one who changes and develops the most over the series. He starts out as a very young boy who rarely strays from his mother, but over the course of several books grows into an independent and self-assured troll. Sometimes timid and overly-emotional, but generally brave, friendly and polite to everyone he meets.

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• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Downplayed. The 2019 series plays up his more self-absorbed moments and depicts him as something of a moody teen at times, but also depicts this version him with the same slow Character Development as his book counterpart. This is more prominent in the same adaptation's second season where he realizes how his actions affect others.
  • Played more straight in the 1969 anime. Tove even protested over Moomintroll's brasher more scheming characterization.
• Adaptation Name Change: In some versions he's Moomintroll, but in others, like the '90s anime, he's just Moomin.
• Ambiguously Bi: Courtesy of the rather unique circumstances regarding Tove's inspiration for his and Snufkin's relationship. Always in a relationship with Snorkmaiden.
• Bratty Half-Pint: In the 1969 anime, and one of the many reasons why the author HATED that version of it.
• Character Development: As a result of growing up; the Moomintroll of the first book, The Moomins and the Great Flood, is an almost completely different character from the Moomintroll who appears in the eighth book, Moominpappa at Sea.
• Cowardly Lion: He has traces of this; usually when nothing is happening and he's only imagining the dangers, he's timid and scared — but whenever actual danger appears he faces it head-on almost without thinking.
• Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally, especially in the comic strip and in the 2019 animation.
• A Dog Named "Dog": He's a Moomin troll named Moomintroll.
• Driven to Suicide: In the Moomin and Family Life comic, he attempted to drown himself before Moominmamma and Moominpappa found him. That's when they realized they found their 'long lost son'.
  Moomintroll: And so I said to my self: Death is preferable to being alone when everyone but me has fathers and mothers and wives...
• Extreme Doormat: He's introduced as such in the comic strip; the first storyline starts off with everyone taking advantage of him and walking all over him, because he has a real problem ever refusing anyone anything. He gets better at standing up for himself, but there's still the occasional call-back to his initial inability to say no.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Almost completely absent from him in most incarnations, but it's a big part of his characterization in the comic strip; he gets incredibly jealous when Snork Maiden flirts with male characters who aren't him. Which often happens.
• I Am Not My Father: He experiences a Heroic BSoD after the play went haywire (that Little My has caused), stating that he's not his father to Snufkin.
• My God, What Have I Done?: There are instances where he caused the trouble in the plot.
  • In the 70s version, he wrecked Snufkin's guitar out of spite. He realized how Snufkin felt when his friends almost did the same thing to him.
  • Because of his plan in pranking Snorkmaiden in the 2019 version, she captured the ghost and Moomintroll himself got stranded in the middle of the sea.
  • Moomin in the 90s anime experienced a Heroic BSoD when he almost killed Snufkin through his father's musket.
  • Moomintroll sent an anonymous bottled letter to the elder Mymble when he had enough of Little My's attitude. Though Little My is aware of what he's doing, she decided to go on with Moomintroll's plan just to teach him a lesson.
• Long-Lost Relative: His parents finally found their son in the comics after they somehow lost him from unknown causes.
• Nice Guy: Very much so; he's an emotional and sympathetic person who basically wants everyone to be happy and gets upset when they aren't. Little My thinks this is a weakness, telling him not to feel so sorry for everyone, but in Moominpappa at Sea it proves to be his greatest strength, as he's the only one who manages to befriend the icy Groke and thaw her out.
• Out of Focus: Has a minor role in The Exploits of Moominpappa, is absent from five of the nine stories in Tales of Moominvalley, does not appear at all in Moominvalley in November and plays a fairly minor role in the last Moomin story, An Unwanted Guest.
• Parental Abandonment: Though not intentionally in the comics for the first time. The second time however, and in most media, Moominpappa dragged Moominmamma away to live themselves in the outside world, leaving their son behind.
• Verbal Tic: “Well, strike me pink!”
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Very much in the books, definitely in the 1990s anime, and to a varying degree in most adaptations — he wants to see the good in everyone. He's more cynical in the comic strip, but is still basically positive-minded.
• Your Tradition Is Not Mine: The 2019 version of Moomintroll is being cynical to Moominpappa about their hibernating tradition as well as questioning his family's ancestry.

Moominmamma

Moominmamma (English) | Muminmamman (Swedish) | Muumimamma (Finnish) | Mamusia Muminka (Polish)

Voiced by: Ikuko Tani (Japanese, 1990 anime), Pat Starr (English, 1990 anime), Ali Levitch (English, 1992 anime movie), Ulla Tapaninen (Finnish, 1990 anime), Margit Lindeman (Swedish, 1990 anime), Anna Wróblówna (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 anime movie) | Satu Salvo (Finnish, 2019 animation), Rosamund Pike (English, 2019 animation), Kikuko Inoue (Japanese, 2019 animation), Maria Sid (Swedish, 2019 animation), Agnieszka Grankowska (Polish, 2019 animation)

"I won't be able to apologize, because I'm right."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

Moomintroll's mother, and basically the surrogate mother of everyone in the series. Calm, nurturing and seldom cross or upset, she usually likes to let her "children" find their own way in life, but is always ready with a comforting word and a piece of candy or two if anyone should need her.

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• Appeal to Familial Wisdom: She used her grandmother's cookbook as a primary guide in "The Secret Dish". It worked.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The 2019 series has her fantasizing about dumping dust on Mrs. Filyjonk after too many judgemental comments from the latter. The only thing holding her back is that she doesn't want to have to apologize later.
  Moominmamma: I won't be able to apologize because I'm right.
  • In the comic the episode is based on, she actually does it. The Finnish dub of the scene also changes her dialogue to past tense, implying that she actually did it.
• Break the Cutie: She suffers this in the second season of Moominvalley. Starting from leaving her handbag behind, to losing her rose bush, to having to paint a mural and entering it. Word of God stated that it signifies that Moominmamma is starting to lose it.
• Closer to Earth: Much more sensible and practical than Moominpappa, though she has her moments of folly.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: She didn't wear her iconic apron in her first appearances, and it was added later to make her not look exactly like her husband and son.
• Happily Married: While her and Moominpappa's marriage is long past the most passionate stage, there's still a quiet, cuddly fondness between them; they never fight or exchange harsh words, and are often seen just sitting close together and enjoying each other's company.
• Iconic Item: She's never seen without her handbag, and at times it seems almost like a kind of Security Blanket for her, as she's visibly upset and distressed when she doesn't know where it is. When, in Moominpappa at Sea, she leaves the handbag behind without a word, this more than anything is what convinces Moomintroll that everything has changed and nothing is the same anymore.
  • Subverted in Moominvalley season 2 when Moominmamma lost her handbag on their arrival to the lighthouse until she found it again on the twelfth episode.
• Mysterious Past: Unlike Moominpappa, her past is never expanded upon. Her first chronological appearance is at the end of Moominpappa's Memoirs when he saves her from drowning in the ocean. How she ended up there and where she came from is a complete mystery. Unlike Moominpappa, though several of her relatives have been mentioned in the books; most notably her grandmother, who was an expert with home remedies, some of which turn out to be borderline magical.
• Only Sane Woman: One of her most consistent roles in the comic strip; when the rest of the family get carried away with all kinds of absurd ideas, Moominmamma is the one who keeps a sense of perspective.
• The Stoic: Has traces of this. It's especially prominent in the comic strip, where she'll be calmly getting on with whatever needs doing while chaos reigns around her.

Moominpappa

Moominpappa / Number 13 (English) | Muminpappan (Swedish) | Muumipappa (Finnish) | Tatuś Muminka (Polish)

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese, 1990 anime), Peter Whitman and William Roberts (English, 1990 anime), David Bridges (English, 1992 anime movie), Matti Ruohola (Finnish, 1990 anime), (Johan Simberg), Janusz Bukowski (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 anime movie) | Ville Haapasalo (Finnish, 2019 animation), Matt Berry (English, 2019 animation), Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese, 2019 animation), Carl-Kristian Rundman (Swedish, 2019 animation), Piotr Warszawski (Polish, 2019 animation)

"Your inner hero! Yes, that's it! That extra special quality hiding away inside yourself.

I know it's in there."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

The patriarch of the Moomin family. Kind of blustery and self-important at times, and sometimes his restless and adventurous nature get the better of him, but he's a kind and loving father and husband. He's an excellent seaman.

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• Adaptational Dumbass: In the 2019 series he's undergone a bit of Flanderization; his Small Name, Big Ego moments are more frequent and he's become quite The Ditz. It's a characterization that owes a lot to his comic strip incarnation, who also had a penchant for Comically Missing the Point and get carried away with sometimes really stupid ideas, but the 2019 incarnation reaches new heights in how clueless he can be.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: The reason is unknown who or how his abandoned parents left him in the orphanage.
• Appeal to Familial Wisdom: It was shown in the 2019 series that their hibernation is a tradition from their ancestors, Moominpappa follows this.
• Comically Missing the Point: In the second season of Moominvalley, Moominpappa decided to build a lighthouse after Moomintroll complimented the father as a "moomin-shaped lighthouse".
  Moomintroll: That... wasn't what I meant.
• Doorstop Baby: He was found in a newspaper basket outside an orphanage. The identity of his parents is never revealed.
• The Heart: While his wife is this for family and friends, he in his youth was this for his circle of friends - some got jobs, some got married, but they met as his house.
• Happily Married: Though his wanderlust and self-importance sometimes gets the better of him and makes him go out on long solo adventures, there's never any question that he and Moominmamma love one another; they never argue and never try to change one another in any way.
• Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": His self-obsession is played up to eleven in the 2019 series, resulting in him being the hero in his memoirs and the stoires he tells of himself.
• Hollywood Midlife Crisis: Goes through several, some quite realistic, first in the Exploits of Moominpappa, when he realises his friends won't join him on any more adventures, then he tries to cope with it by writing said memoirs, has a brief period when he runs away with Hattifatteners and the last bout is shown in Moominpappa at Sea.
• How Dad Met Mom: He wrote in his memoirs about their meeting with Moominmamma, as well as creating a theatrical play of it.
• It's All About Me: Very self-obsessed in his memoirs, claiming that he was ‘’going to be famous'' among other things.
• Manchild: Most apparent in the comic strip; he's often rather child-like and sometimes even childish.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: He explicitly stated how he was about to attempt murder to Mrs. Fillyjonk... in front of her nieces.
• Parental Abandonment: In his so-called stormy youth, he was an orphan.
• Parents as People: The biggest example of this in the series, and the trope becomes more and more apparent in later books. He's a good father for the most part, but his fatal character flaw is his self-obsession and tendency to get carried away by his own restless nature, which lead him to do inconsiderate things like run away from his family to go exploring for months at a time, or uproot their lives by taking them with him without asking if they actually want to. Its telling that Tove Jansson based him on her own father, especially his restlessness, immaturity and controlling nature.
• Signature Headgear: He would be nigh-unrecognizable without his iconic top hat.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Most notable in The Exploits of Moominpappa, which largely consist of his memoirs and contains a lot of self-glorification and ego stroking.
• Walking the Earth: Did a lot of this in his youth, and occasionally gets the urge to do it again.
• You Are Number 6: The orphanage he grew up in never gave him a proper name; in the comic strip he was "number 39" and in the 1990 anime he was "number 13."

Little My

Little My (English) | Lilla My (Swedish) | Pikku Myy (Finnish) | Mii (Japanese) | Mała Mi (Polish)

Voiced by: Rei Sakuma (Japanese, 1990 anime), Toni Barry (English, 1990 anime), Andrea Kwan (English, 1992 anime movie), Elina Salo (Finnish, 1990 anime), Lilli Sukula-Lindblom (Swedish, 1990 anime), Krystyna Kozanecka (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 movie) | Kiti Kokkonen (Finnish, 2019 animation), Bel Powley (English, 2019 animation), Ikue Otani (Japanese, 2019 animation), Saga Sarkola (Swedish, 2019 animation), Izabela Perez (Polish, 2019 animation)

"You don't have to be big to stand up for yourself, you know.

Haven't you learned anything yet?"

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

A tiny, but fiercely independent and often mischievous Mymble; she lives with the Moomins and is sort of their unofficially adopted daughter. She's impossible to frighten or upset and has a cheerfully morbid imagination, but can be a good friend when she wants to be. After first appearing in The Exploits of Moominpappa, she shows up in just about every book since, more or less taking over Sniff's role as Moomintroll's surrogate sibling. She is Mymble's younger sister and Snufkin's older half-sister.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the original books and comics, Little My blatantly doesn't care what people think about her; she might get angry or annoyed but never takes anything personally and it's impossible to hurt her feelings in any way. In the 2019 series, where she's also a bit of an Adaptational Jerkass, it eventually becomes clear that she's mostly acting out because she feels neglected and thinks nobody cares about her.
• Adaptational Wimp: Well, for a given value of "wimp," as she is still pretty badass — but the Little My of the 1990 anime is noticeably less so than the original one. She is far more often in trouble and needs to be rescued, and in a few instances she even runs and hides in fear, something that the Little My of the books and comics would never do.
  • The 1969 anime and its 1972 sequel series took this even further, turning Little My from an ambigously aged headstrong and capable person to an explicitly small and emotional child in her older sister's care.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Little My always had a bit of a mean streak, but she takes it up several notches in the 2019 series. Granted, much of the time she's Cruel to Be Kind (she even name-drops the trope in one episode), but sometimes this seems mostly like an excuse she uses so she can treat others terribly without repercussions... and sometimes she's just cruel with no conceivable kindness connected to it.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the books she doesn’t appear until Moominpappa’s Memoirs, but in most adaptations she’s there from the beginning.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: She's portrayed as a redhead in all the incarnations, except in the 1969 live-action series, where her hair is black.
• Age Lift: In the books, Little My is Older Than She Looks; in fact, she's actually older than Moomintroll and Snufkin (who is her younger half-brother). In the 90's anime (at least the English dub), she is referred to as a young child on several occasions, even by herself.
• Aloof Archer: In the 1969 live-action series, she is always carrying around a bow and arrow — and though she doesn't use it for any more lethal purposes than give people the occasional scare, or shooting apples down from trees, she fits the archetype surprisingly well: Independent, practical-minded, arrogant and not at all inclined to listen to anyone telling her what to do. She even has the small, slender build (though Little My in the live-action series is huge compared to most other incarnations of her; her actress Elina Salo is only slightly shorter than the Moomins).
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Plays this role to Mymble, and often to Moomintroll as well, even though (by book continuity at least) she's actually older than him. Acts like this to Snufkin in the 90s anime on occasion as well.
• Ascended Extra: She doesn't appear in the first three books, and doesn't become a major character until the fifth one. Likewise, she doesn't appear in the comic strip until the seventh storyline, and afterwards the only plays a role in the occasional story. However, she tends to be a major character in the adaptations, even when they adapt books or comics that she wasn't originally in — it's most notable in the 1990 anime and its related spin-offs, but also in projects like Moomins on the Riviera.
• Berserk Button: For the love of peas, don't call her Little in terms of her personality. She was mad enough to bit Moomintroll's finger when they first met in Little My Moves In.
• Blood Knight: Enjoys any opportunity for chaos and violence. In ''Moominsummer Madness', she's excited to hear about Snufkin's plan to enact revenge on a "villain", especially one who is small, because in her words, "they break more easily". Her favourite past-times also include biting people, because she likes to.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Sometimes combined with Annoying Younger Sibling to Moomintroll, even though (going by book continuity at least) she is in fact older than he.
• Brother–Sister Team: To her half-brother, Snufkin.
• Brutal Honesty: Little My did not hold back when she told the news of Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden's capture to Snufkin in the 2019 series like telling a gossip.
• Cain and Abel and Seth: Little My is the Cain to Mymble's Abel and Snufkin's Seth. Though the two sisters' roles can be switched depending on the situation.
• Cruel to Be Kind: In the first episode of Moominvalley, Little My intentionally mistreated Moomintroll so he can learn to stand up for himself when her family stayed in his home and can't decline. It somehow worked.
  Little My: Why didn't you just tell her to go?
  Moomin: That wouldn't be kind.
  Little My: You mean it wouldn't be easy?
  • She also lampshades this in the other episode when Little My is the cause for the first act of play to be in ruins. Because not only Moomintroll hadn't memorized the revised script, but he also glued them on the stage set. When the second act is a success, she said that Moomintroll should be grateful to her. Considering the circumstances she'd done...
  • She does the same thing to Snufkin in the same series, but not as brutal as Moomintroll's. The incident goes when the Woodies had their guardian ran away, so Snufkin (the one who caused it) had to be the substitute. Even making fun of the vagabond's attempts of escape from the Woodies, then telling him about what happened to Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden. For short, she's telling that what happened to the two was all Snufkin's fault and the boy should be ashamed of what he unconsciously did.
  • During the Invisible Child episode, she badmouths Ninny. This is because her attempt to make Ninny visible again is for the latter to stand up to herself.
• Cursed with Awesome: Her tiny size gives her a lot of problems (especially in Moominsummer Madness), but it also gives her a lot of advantages. Sometimes she's annoyed at not being bigger, but usually she accepts it; in one episode of the 1990s anime she even gets a moment's Genre Savvyness when she claims that she's too small for anything serious to happen to her.
• Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: Or rather, "Snufkin, I want to date you". Boy, if only she knew that Snufkin is her younger half-sibling...
• Fiery Red Head: Her most common depiction, except the 1969 live-action series.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She is the foolish kind in contrast to Mymble and Snufkin's responsible type.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric.
• The Gadfly: She's quite fond of scaring or riling people up, just because it's funny. This trait is particularly strong in the 2019 CGI series.
• Handicapped Badass: It's never actually addressed in the stories that she may have any sort of disability, and the books are the only continuity where it can be inferred at all... but Little My has to have been born with some sort of dwarfism or syndrome that makes her age much more slowly than anyone else. She's older than both Snufkin and Moomintroll, but according to the revised edition of Moominpappa's Memoirs she "for some reason" stopped growing at a very young age. Moominsummer Madness is probably the book where her size gives her the most problems (and it's the only book where she expresses clear annoyance at being so little), though it's also an advantage at times. The "Badass" part comes across from the fact that she never lets her size slow her down.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: In the 2019 series, Little My clearly cares a whole lot more than she wants to admit. She hides it behind a lot of snark and a jerkish attitude, but occasionally her mask will slip and she'll show how much she truly cares... before she goes straight back to pretending to be above all that nonsense.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Little My is such a consistent mainstay in the series that it comes as a surprise to many that, going back to the original books, she doesn't appear until the fourth one, The Exploits of Moominpappa, and even there she has a very minor role. It's not until the fifth book, Moominsummer Madness, that she first has a major role. Likewise, in the comic strip, she doesn't appear until the seventh storyline.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Expanded in the 2019 series. Little My does admit, genuine or not, that she "knows" when she's not wanted. Being one of the elder Mymble's children, this could be one of the reasons for her attitude.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She does as she pleases, is always up to some kind of mischief, likes to be extremely morbid, and seldom considers anyone else's feelings on the matter. She is, however, reliable, and will sometimes go out of her way to help those who need it — though she goes about it in her own way.
• Leitmotif: She sings the All Small Beasts Should Have Bows In Their Tails song in the 2019 animation.
• Little Miss Badass: Despite her small size, she's tough. Not to the point of being a Pintsized Powerhouse, but she's completely fearless and will fight (usually by biting) anything and anyone that threatens her — usually she even manages to win, or at least make such a nuisance of herself that her opponent will give up just so she'll leave them alone.
• Little Miss Snarker: Again, most prominently in the comic strip, but it's a central part of her character in every other incarnation as well. In The Dangerous Journey, she appears on one page and has one spoken line in the entire story — and it's a sarcastic remark about the protagonist Susanna.
• Ms. Imagination: In the books, where she'll gleefully lapse into any kind of morbid, disturbing fantasy or story, especially if there's a chance of frightening someone with them.
• The Napoleon: Very short, but bites people and things often and poisons insects among other things.
• Never My Fault: She has a record in the 2019 series and only apologized to Moomintroll once in its second season's fourth episode when she laughed at Moomintroll's poem when he and Snorkmaiden were out for a picnic, and this is because she was never "invited". The rest, however, is where she either pinned the blame on him or had little to no repercussions, even though it's her fault to begin with:
  • Little My had her target towards Moomintroll since the first episode. Two motives include Moomintroll being incapable of saying no to the elder Mymble, and his room. She ended up staying in his house without her mother knowing it.
  • Causing chaos in the first act of Moominpappa's plays, though her reason was because Moomintroll glued the revised script on set. Little My even stated that Moomintroll should be grateful to her, Moominpappa had to forbid her in using the fan after what she did.
  • Ate Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden's supply of food when the three were on an island. She also kidnapped a Hattifattener and used it as a flashlight battery. The Hattifatteners somehow get back at her and rescued the captive.
  • Trolling Moomintroll with an ice cube and spooked the heck out of him about ghosts, just because she thinks Moomintroll was acting brave for Snorkmaiden.
  • Manipulated Moomintroll in dousing Mrs. Fillyonk with water. This causes Mrs. Fillyonk to scold Moominpappa and set the plot. Little My even blamed Moomintroll for drenching Mrs. Fillyonk in the first place, in which she was the one who started it. Only because Moomintroll didn't let her use the fire extinguisher, the former even had a reason not to.
  Little My: Which she'd never had done if you hadn't drenched her.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Especially in the books. She loves everything scary, violent and macabre.
• No Indoor Voice: In many of the adaptations, she's portrayed as being LOUD. She's more deadpan in Moominvalley, though.
• Older Than They Look: If we go by book canon, at least (and if we believe Moominpappa's memoirs). She was born before Moominpappa and Moominmamma even met and is as such older than her brother Snufkin. She still looks and generally acts like a child, though a fiercely independent one.
• Overly Long Scream: Played for Laughs in the 2019 version. After her failed attempt to see the dragon and got herself locked in, she screamed long and loud enough for Moomintroll and Snufkin to pause in confusion.
• Successful Sibling Syndrome: To Mymble.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Bouken Nikki, Little My is more malicious than before. This goes in the 2019 adaptation where she mostly mistreats Moomintroll and gets away with it.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Subverted as she intentionally set the plot into place such as the Moominpappa and Son episode.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Develops this dynamic with Moomintroll in the 2019 series, where their Like Brother and Sister relationhip is clearer than ever. There are traces of it in other incarnations as well, but it's especially clear in that series. They annoy one another immensely and are always arguing sbout something or other (though Little My is usually the instigator), but at the end of the day they're there for each other.
• Womanchild: She’s older than Moomintroll and Snufkin, but still acts as if she were a child.
• Your Size May Vary: How big is Little My? Reading the books, it's impossible to tell, especially in the later books. In her first appearances she's tiny and has to be carried everywhere (or perch on top of Snufkin's hat), but in later books she's grown at least a bit larger. Just how large is difficult to pin down if you go by the text; on one page she's described as so tiny that she doesn't even leave footprints in the snow, on another she's large enough that several mice can sit on her lap. She's small enough to hide in a sewing-basket or teapot, or use the mail slot as an entrance door, but large enough to climb an ordinary staircase with no problems. According to the illustrations, she's slightly less than half Moomintroll's height, but even this seems to fluctuate a little.
  • And in various adaptations she tends to be portrayed as even larger. The various animated series and Moomins on the Riviera tend to keep her at roughly the same size as in the book illustrations (slightly less than half Moomintroll's height), but in the "fuzzy felt" series she reaches up to Moomintroll's shoulders, and in both live-action series she's played by normal-sized women and as such isn't even particularly little.

Sniff

Sniff (English, Swedish and Japanese) | Nipsu (Finnish) | Ryjek (Polish)

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao (Japanese, 1990 anime), Jeff Harding (English, 1990 anime), David McKinney (English, 1992 anime movie), Eero Ahre (Finnish, 1990 anime), Riko Eklundh (Swedish, 1990 anime), Józef Mika (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 anime movie) | Markku Haussila (Finnish, 2019 animation), Warwick Davis (English, 2019 animation), Koji Ochiai (Japanese, 2019 animation), Andreas af Enehielm (Swedish, 2019 animation), Janusz Zadura (Polish, 2019 animation)

"This is the big one. I'm telling you, this will make us a fortune!

As sure as my name's Moomintroll."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

Moomintroll's first friend, who for the first few books lives with the Moomins as a sort of surrogate son/brother. He's an over-emotional, self-interested Lovable Coward, and the only character in the books who desires money and wealth. In the comic strip he's always trying various get-rich-quick schemes, but few of them have any success.

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• Age Lift: In the original books, he is fairly young (implied to be younger than Moomintroll), childish and dependent on others, only living with Moomins until he's reunited with his biological parents. In the comic strips and the 1990 anime, he's considerably bigger, more independent and lives at his own place.
• Big Eater: If he's not hungry, something is probably seriously wrong. One of his lines in his first appearance in the 1990 anime "only nightmares about having no food!" when Little My asks if he ever dreams.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Is referred to as "little creature" in the first novel, before later becoming Sniff, and has the most selfish and childish personality of the characters. Justified, as he's also the described in the books as the youngest and still immature.
• Break the Cutie: The Girl With Birds. He gets dumped. Hard.
• The Bus Came Back: Although he's been Put on a Bus after The Exploits of Moominpappa, he returns in the story The Dangerous Journey, where the protagonist Susanna (along with a Hemulen, Sorry-Oo, Thingumy and Bob) encounters him in the strange surreal landscape and he joins them in their search for Moominvalley.
• Butt-Monkey: In the books and the anime; if something bad happens it happens to him.
• Cartoon Creature: Looks like a mix between a rat, kangaroo, and aardvark.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Not usually, but the 2019 series turns him into one. His "Get-rich-quick" schemes are usually bizarre and based on some Insane Troll Logic or other, and he has quite a few weird ideas and habits.
• Comically Missing the Point: He threw away Ninny (who is still invisible) while thinking that there are haunted clothes in Moomintroll's house.
  • During season 2's episode, The Strange Case of Mrs Fillyjonk, he commented how Moomintroll's arrested parents weren't clowns after the police said "no funny business".
  • In the same season, he discarded the coal from the coal bucket that the Moomin family needed for a porridge just so he can use it to hide from the volcano. He also had no idea it was a volcano until Moominpappa mentioned it, thinking there were people throwing rocks at him.
• Era-Specific Personality: Underwent some drastic Flanderization for the comic strip, where his desire for wealth pretty much became his defining trait; the result being that the Sniff of the comic strip is an almost entirely different character. The Sniff of the 90s anime is in many ways a Composite Character, being mostly based on Sniff from the book but having several traits from comic strip-Sniff — and the Sniff from the 2019 Moominvalley series is mostly based on comic strip-Sniff with some traits from book-Sniff, plus with an added Cloudcuckoolander streak.
• The Chew Toy: In the 1990 anime, he tends to get put through the wringer and it's played for laughs.
• Deadpan Snarker: Particularly in the comics and the animated series, but even in the books he gets in a few bits of snark from time to time.
• Demoted to Extra: He's a major character in the first three books and a minor recurring character on the fourth, The Exploits of Moominpappa, which end with him being reunited with his long-lost parents. After this, he only makes sporadic appearances and is often left out of the books altogether.
• Depending on the Artist: What color is Sniff? Well, in both the animes and the CGI series he's brown, but in the "fuzzy felt" series and the 2010 movie The Moomins and the Comet Chase, he's gray... and in paintings made by Tove Jansson herself (like in the book The Dangerous Journey), he's white.
  • This seems to have been noticed in the 2014 animated film "Moomins on the Riviera", when he makes a non speaking cameo at the beginning of the film, he is white in one scene then is brown in the next.
• The Drag-Along: When out on adventures he tends to spend much of the time worrying about dangers, complaining about the current situation, or refusing to go along. Ironically, whenever things are calm and uneventful he often starts wishing for adventure — Moomintroll even Lampshades this on occasion, though Sniff actually has a reason: "I'm not a lion. I like small adventures!"
  • He can be a borderline Load on adventures, but occasionally his skills do come in use. This is especially noticeable in Comet in Moominland, where Sniff tends to hinder the group more than he helps them, with his whining, cowardice and greed... but he is the one who finds the cave that everyone hides from the comet in during the finale, and he turns out to be the only one in the group to actually get some useful information at the observatory because he knows how to talk to the professors (basically he flatters them until they tell him what they wants to know).
• Flanderization: In the comic strip, his desire for wealth and riches is pretty much his defining character trait — at times he even borders on Token Evil Teammate. (In one storyline he decides to become "good," becoming overly altruistic and annoyingly self-righteous, leading to the traditional We Want Our Jerk Back! reaction from the others.)
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic.
• Hidden Depths: Despite being pretty immature and annoying at times, he was the only one to know how to successfully get one of the professors' attention in Comet in Moominland (which was by praising his scientific work), and he's also the one to suggest the Hemulen botany as the new hobby.
• Honest John's Dealership: Tries a number of these in the comic strip.
• Innocently Insensitive: He had his moments when he doesn't think of others' feelings such as biting Moomintroll's thumb because he was scared, throwing Ninny away like a ragdoll, and even commented that Snufkin might have died in front of the worried Moomintroll.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Primarily motivated by self-interest and not always very good at thinking of other people, but ultimately not a bad person. Even the Flanderized, money-grubbing Sniff from the comic strip is always ready to lend a helping hand if his friend Moomintroll needs it... even if he doesn't always go on about it in the most helpful way.
  • When a Mymble wins his favorite toy dog with gems for eyes, and then she replaces it with buttons... he loves it anyway.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In the 2019 series, when Sniff took the King's Ruby, he accidentally broke it right in front of the Hobgoblin. The two argued until the Hobgoblin casted a spell on Sniff.
• The Load: Sometimes played straight, sometimes subverted. He tends to be more a hindrance than a help on big adventures, but occasionally his skills do come in handy. He plays the trope straightest in The Dangerous Journey, where his role is essentially to be the Butt-Monkey and to complain loudly about it without ever contributing anything positive. He even almost causes a disaster when he brings too many jewels on board Too-ticky's balloon, meaning the balloon is too heavy and almost crashes into the sea. Even then he wildly protests throwing them over board to make the balloon lighter.
• Lovable Coward: In the books and the '90s anime; not so much in the comic strip.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Greed and Gluttony
• Nervous Wreck
• Plucky Comic Relief: He has traits of this in most incarnations, but definitely in the 2019 series.
• Running Gag: In The Dangerous Journey, his tail keeps getting accidentally burned whenever he's near fire. Upon which he'll immediately blame whoever he's next to at the moment.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the fifth episode, it revealed that he was the one who broke in Mrs. Fillyjonk's home. Thus, sparking the episode's plot in the first place.

Snufkin

Snufkin (English and Japanese) | Snusmumriken (Swedish) | Nuuskamuikkunen (Finnish) | Włóczykij (Polish)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese, 1990 anime), John Chancer (English, 1990 anime), Michael Pizzutto (English, 1992 anime movie), Timo Torikka (Finnish, 1990 anime), Michel Budsko (Swedish, 1990 anime), Artur Kaczmarski (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 anime movie) | Olavi Uusivirta (Finnish, 2019 animation), Edvin Endre (English, 2019 animation), Issey Takahashi (Japanese, 2019 animation), Paavo Kerosuo (Swedish, 2019 animation), Bartosz Wesołowski (Polish, 2019 animation)

"The main thing in life is to know your own mind."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

Moomintroll's best friend, and Mymble and Little My's younger half-brother. He's a philosophical and solitary vagabond and musician who lives a nomadic lifestyle, smokes a pipe and values freedom above all else. He keeps as few worldy possessions as possible; the only two things he owns and loves are his old green hat and his harmonica.

---

• Adaptational Nice Guy: The Snufkin of the books, while sympathetic and helpful on the whole, could at times be a rather gruff and antisocial Jerk with a Heart of Gold who didn't always care if he hurt other people's feelings. The 1990s anime very notably smooths out most of his rough edges and turns him into an out-and-out Nice Guy.
  • Most noticeable in Moominvalley (2019)'s version of Snufkin, who's shown on a few occassions feeling guilty for hurting someone, and is always ready to lend a hand. Compare with the book version who frequently downplays his own feelings towards others.
• Affectionate Nickname: He sometimes gets called “Snuff” by other characters.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: He wasn't bothered about who his parents were and why they left him in a box until Moominpappa told him about Joxter.
• Ambiguously Gay: Some of Snufkin's interactions with Moomintroll in the books arguably go beyond platonic affection. In Moominsummer Madness, he wistfully reflects on wanting to go on moonlight swims with him again, and berates himself for thinking of Moomintroll too much in The Spring Tune. Jansson herself was openly in two different relationships with women over the course of writing these books, and much of her life's influences have been pointed out in her work.
• The Artful Dodger: He prefers to live in the wilderness while only carrying what is essential to him.
• Badass Pacifist: He doesn't fight, but that doesn't mean he's helpless.
• Badass in Distress: He was held captive by the witch when the former peeked in to her home.
• Berserk Button: Don't ever put up regulation signs or tell him that something's forbidden. He'll either explode in anger and tear down the signs, or he'll go and do the forbidden thing anyway just because he's been told not to.
• Big Brother Mentor: Plays this role most obviously to Moomintroll and (to a lesser extent) to Sniff; it seems like a lot of other citizens of Moominvalley views him in a similar way, but he's nowhere near as close to them. Also acts this way toward Toffle/Toft in 2019's Moominvalley.
• Brother–Sister Team: To Little My in Moominsummer Madness, when she happily aids him in taking revenge on the Park Keeper.
• Cain and Abel and Seth: Snufkin is the Seth to Mymble's Abel and Little My's Cain.
• Curtains Match the Window: In some adaptations, he has both brown eyes and hair.
• Era-Specific Personality: Is introduced in Comet in Moominland as an excitable young self-described poet who rarely stops talking, and is happy to meet new friends, even flagging down Moomintroll and Sniff and asking them if they'll stay the night. This personality continues through to The Exploits of Moominpappa, and takes a sudden shift in ''Moominsummer Madness', where he's solidified as The Stoic, introverted, thoughtful, and slightly selfish character he's better recognised as today.
• Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: From his half-sister, Little My. Whether or not they know about their true relationship, Snufkin's reaction is obvious.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Snufkin shares with Mymble as the responsible siblings, while Little My is the foolish sibling.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
• Friend to All Living Things: Or at least they seem think so. Various adaptations show little creeps and animals are instantly taken with Snufkin and admire him greatly. His reactions to them, depending on the adaptation, range from grudging acceptance to annoyance.
• Heroic Neutral: Exemplified in the animated series. Snufkin is the dependable loner. Leave it to Moomintroll to encourage him to join the frolics anyway, yet the vagabond will bail him out if he and his friends get into trouble.
• Hidden Depths: The 2019 series conveys him as more conflicted over balancing his time travelling with his friendship with Moomintroll, even worrying that he will be forgotten the more time he spends out of Moominvalley.
• Iconic Item: His hat and his harmonica are his two most precious possessions, which means a lot since as a nomadic spirit, he doesn't keep a lot of things on him. You might also count his pipe, but that's been left out of modern adaptations.
• It Runs in the Family: Joxter's rebellious attitude is adapted by Snufkin when it comes to authorities.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: More prominent in the books, where his introverted personality can make him seem quite gruff.
• Leave Me Alone!: Expect this response if Moomintroll pushes him too hard to journey with him south. Snufkin knows the young Moomin is his very best friend. Even so, come winter, he desires to be alone - in his own words he's a "free spirit" who cherishes his independence. Moomintroll can't take a hint. Snufkin resigns himself to this, and confesses in Spring, he misses him and Moomin Valley a lot, and thus, always returns.
• Leitmotif:
  • His theme song from the 60s and 70s version is called Osabishiyama no Uta, meaning "The Song of the Lonely Mountain".
  • Meanwhile in the 90s version, the album that is named after him along with the music is entitled Snufkin no Tabidachi, or "Snufkin's Departure".
  • In the 2019 version, it's his iconic Spring Tune.
    • Snufkin's Nightmare Sequence music is called Back to the Cave.
• Long-Lost Relative: Revealed to be Joxter and the elder Mymble's son. He is also Mymble and Little My's younger half-sibling.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Moominpappa tells the story about Joxter. Then it's revealed that Snufkin is Joxter's son.
• Meaningful Name: Snufkin's name comes from snuff tobacco. His Swedish name, Snusmumriken, comes from snus, a type of Swedish snuff. Other languages also give him tobacco-related names, such as Renaclerican (from "renâcler", meaning "to snort" and used in reference to snuff) or Pipo (in the 90's adaptation) in French, and Tabacco in Italian. While the trait he's named after tends to be Bowdlerized out of adaptations, Snufkin is a tobacco addict in the original books, with his pipe being one of his Iconic Items.
• Never Bareheaded: Downplayed. He’s sometimes seen without his hat.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • This is somehow subverted in the first season when he was selfishly "liberating" the park from the park keeper. Consequently, not only he had to babysit the Woodies but he also indirectly framed Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden.
  • In season 2, Moomintroll was a little ticked at Snufkin when he decided to bring the Fire Spirit back to the volcano out of kindness when it's going to erupt near the former's home.
• No Mouth: The original illustrations show him like this when he isn’t talking.
• Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: While he looks like a human, he is technically a hybrid born from a Mumrik and a Mymble.
• Odd Friendship:
  • Snufkin's relaxed, free spirit nature is at complete odds with Moomin's timidness and satisfaction living in Moominvalley. In fact, without the stress of waiting out the winter to see each, they might even be happier without each other. Yet their bond to each other is so tight, they're both still willing to compromise in order to maintain their friendship.
  • Snufkin and Sniff don't seem to have anything in common. Where Snufkin is poetic, stoic and quiet, Sniff is prosaic, emotional and talkative. Where Snufkin doesn't see the point in owning things, Sniff is materialistic and wants to own everything. And yet, apart from Moomintroll, Sniff is the person whose company Snufkin seems to most genuinely enjoy. They disagree on a lot of things, but they almost always get along.
• Only Sane Man: Quite possibly the character with the most common sense, certainly the most down-to-Earth.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: While he is usually a calm and collected dude, he gets absolutely furious in Moominvalley in November, when Hemulen tries to put up a sign.
  • In Comet in Moominvalley, he remains levelheaded through various disasters and helps to maintain group morale, until they reach the sea and find that it has completely disappeared— at which point Snufkin sits down, buries his face in his hands, and sobs "as if his heart would break".
• Parental Abandonment: The books stated that he was found in a box when he was a baby, but it is unknown how Snufkin became an orphan in the first place. However, his confirmed parents were the elder Mymble and Joxter.
• Parents for a Day: Happens in Moominsummer Madness when he liberates the twenty-four orphaned woodies from the Park Keeper, who instantly imprint on him. Snufkin's part of the story concerns him realising fatherhood is exhausting, though he does become fond of the children.
• The Quiet One: In Moominvalley in November, the Hemulen even Lampshades it, pointing out that one of the main reasons why Snufkin is so admired and respected as he is, is that he doesn't talk much unless when he has something to say.
• Redhead In Green: He has auburn/ginger hair and wears green clothing.
• Rōnin: The way he acts and wanders is similar to this, especially in the 70s anime.
• The Smart Guy: He's very knowledgeable, very intelligent, and has a number of really good and useful ideas. It's especially evident in the comic strip: Everyone else's plans tend to fail in the execution, but if Snufkin comes up with a plan, it works.
• Secret Legacy: Both Joxter and Snufkin have their little war against the park keeper, they even tore down the signs as retaliation.
• Shirtless Scene: Weird as it may seem in his case, he gets one in episode 47 of 1990 anime where he bathes in a hot spring.
• Signature Headgear: Snufkin's green hat is one of his Iconic Items and most prized possessions.
• Smoking Is Cool: Snufkin is often depicted quietly smoking a pipe in his spare time, and being admired by the citizens of Moominvalley, which has extended to fan perception.
• The Stoic: Usually he's quite calm and level-headed, no matter what happens — if you see him get really angry or really upset, either something is seriously wrong, or someone has managed to push his Berserk Button. However, there are times in the books when stress gets to him and he reveals himself to be Not So Stoic after all.
  • One example when he really drops his stoicism is when the Moominpappa tells stories that involve his parents. He's delighted to learn how similar his father, the Joxter, was to him.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To Joxter. Moominpappa lampshades it too in his storytelling.
• Übermensch: The heroic variant. Has no problem committing crimes for good, or at least what he thinks is good.
• Vague Age: Most of the time, Snufkin seems to be around Moomintroll's age, but that could be anywhere from a pre-teen to an older teenager. At other times, he acts like an adult, as he can travel and live on his own for months at a time, and also casually smokes a pipe.
• Walking the Earth: He's a traveler by nature and is happiest when he can roam around and visit new places.
• Younger Than They Look: He was born years after Little My's birth even though he looks older in the previous versions. This changes in the 2019 version where he looks younger as well as his tone of voice.

Snorkmaiden

Snorkmaiden (English) | Snorkfröken (Swedish) | Niiskuneiti (Finnish) | Nonnon / Floren (Japanese) | Panna Migotka (Polish)

Voiced by: Mika Kanai (Japanese, 1990 anime), Toni Barry (English, 1990 anime), Kate Baldwin (English, 1992 anime movie), Aila Svedberg (Finnish, 1990 anime), Ragni Grönblom (Swedish, 1990 anime), Małgorzata Boratyńska (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 anime movie) | Alina Tomnikov (Finnish, 2019 animation), Akiya Henry (English, 2019 animation), Minami Tsuda (Japanese, 2019 animation), Edith Holmström (Swedish, 2019 animation), Gracja Niedźwiedź (Polish, 2019 animation)

"It's a time of hope. And did you know?

That's what snowdrops down for, they herald the return of loved ones.

So I'm thinking, the more we pick, the more love we get."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

Moomintroll's friend, and occasional on-again-off-again-on-again love interest.

She's not a Moomin herself, but a Snork, a being that's almost completely identical to a Moomin except with the ability to change colors according to her mood, as well as a fringe. Her defining traits are her vanity and somewhat silly personality, but with surprising Hidden Depths.

---

• Big Damn Heroes: Surprisingly, she has her moments such as rescuing Moomintroll from a giant octopus in Comet in Moominland. In the '90s anime, Snorkmaiden has temporary premonition power that led her to save Snufkin from certain death.
• Brainless Beauty: Multiple characters remark on her beauty, and she often has her distracted moments, such as obliviously pointing out a stick in conversation in Comet in Moominland when her brother sent everyone out to look for material for stilts.
• Character Exaggeration: In the comic strip, her vanity and silliness are taken up to eleven, and she's often crushing on handsome men (to Moomin's dismay).
• Damsel in Distress: She's introduced as one in the books, being in danger from a plant-monster. In the comic strip she often becomes a parody of the trope, going so far as to seeking out situations where she can be in danger or bad guys who can kidnap her because it's so romantic to be in danger, and even more romantic to be saved from danger.
• Dub Name Change: She's called "Non-non" in the '69 anime, and "Floren" in the '90s anime.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Leukine
• Girly Girl: Quite possibly the girliest girl in the franchise.
• Hidden Depths: At first glance, she can come across as a borderline useless Load; but every so often she'll have a flash of brilliance, a moment of surprising insight or even a genuinely badass moment.
• Inconsistent Spelling: What she's called is inconsistent between different adaptations. Sometimes, Snorkmaiden, written as one word, is treated as her actual name. Other times (like in the original novels), she's referred to as "the Snork Maiden", implying that it's just a descriptor and that she has No Name Given.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: Like all Snorks, her fur changes color according to her mood, but this is downplayed in the later books and left out of most adaptations altogether.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Instead of the Hemulen taking the barometer, it was Snorkmaiden herself who stole it in the 2019 version. All because she thought it was a mirror, it resulted to the iconic scene of getting her hair burned.
• Out of Focus: She's very briefly mentioned, but does not actually appear, in Moominpappa at Sea. Moomintroll does not seem particularly perturbed to leave his girlfriend behind.
• Traumatic Haircut: In Finn Family Moomintroll, when the electrified Hattifatteners burn off her fringe, which leaves her very distressed.

Recurring Characters

Snork

Snork (English and Japanese) | Snorken (Swedish) | Niisku (Finnish) | Migotek (Polish)

Voiced by: Yasuyuki Hirata (Japanese, 1990 anime), David Graham (English, 1990 anime), David Bridges (English, 1992 anime movie), Samuli Edelmann and Ilkka Merivaara (Finnish, 1990 anime), (Dick Idman, 1990 anime), Krzysztof Ibisz (Polish, 1990 anime and 1992 anime movie) | Deogracias Masomi (Finnish, 2019 animation), Chance Perdomo (English, 2019 animation), Tom Rejstörm (Swedish, 2019 animation)

"You pathetic plant! You're a failure of a geranium! You stink!"

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90's anime version}

^{Book Version}

Snorkmaiden's older brother. He's a thinker and organizer who likes to boss other people around and tell others what to do. The '90s anime turns him into a Bungling Inventor, who is building an airship.

---

• Adapted Out: Several incarnations don't feature him at all, even the ones where his sister plays a prominent role.
• Bungling Inventor: In the '90s anime, where he succeeds in creating things such as the airship, but with a lot of mistakes and failed inventions along the way. The 2019 series drops the "bungling" part and turns him into a bonafide Gadgeteer Genius.
• Character Tic: In the 2019 series he has a habit of adjusting his glasses every now and then.
• Control Freak: His main character trait in the books; he always wants to organize and arrange everyone and everything.
• Costume Evolution: He and Moomintroll aren't visually distinguished in the books, so different adaptations give him different accessories to distinguish them. In the '90s anime he wears glasses and has bangs, in the 60s/70s anime he has long hair (probably based on the illustration in Finn Family Moomintroll where he's dressed as a judge), and in the fuzzy felt animations he wears a hat and a scarf. The 2019 series reuses the 90's anime design, but gives im a blue fringe.
• A Dog Named "Dog": "Snork" is both his name and species.
• Doppelgänger: For Moomin in the book illustrations. In other media, most notably the '90s anime, he's given a fringe similar to his sister to separate them.
• Dub Personality Change: In the 90's anime he much more ruder and short-tempered in the Finnish dub than in the original Japanese dub.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: Like his sister, his fur can change color according to his mood, though he seldom displays this ability.
• Innocently Insensitive: A part of his character to various degrees in various continuities. In the 2019 series especially he's often blunt and rude without intending any offense — especially when he's forced out of his comfort zone.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Occasionally he is. But he loves his sister.
• Long-Lost Relative: Is this to Snorkmaiden in both the comic strip continuity and the 2019 series. At the end of season 2, Snorkmaiden is seen riding away from the valley the end of season 2 to find "her long-lost—" before cutting herself off. At the beginning of season 3, it's confirmed that she was indeed talking about her brother, as this season introduces him to the series in full.
• Obsessively Organized: As part of his Control Freak nature in the books. It's an even stronger trait in the 2019 series where he's particularly meticulous about everything being in its proper place whether it's in physical or mental space. He has problems with anything that's chaotic or unpredictable — for instance, he doesn't like balloons because you know they're going to burst at some point but you never know when... which is why he goes around popping all the balloons he sees just so he doesn't have to deal with that randomness.
• Parental Abandonment: Their parents are never mentioned. As Moominvalley contains a high number of separated kids, it's reasonable to believe they are orphans, too.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: In the '90s anime and on 2019 series, probably to make him visually distinct from Moomintroll.

Mymble (Younger)

Mymble / Mymble's Daughter (English) | Mymlan / Mymlans dotter (Swedish) | Mymmeli / Mymmelin tytär (Finnish) | Mimura (Japanese) | Mimbla (Polish)

Voiced by: Yuko Kobayashi (Japanese, 1990 anime), Toni Barry, Stacey Gregg and Joanne McQuinn (English, 1990 anime), Aila Svedberg (Finnish, 1990 anime), Vivi-Ann Sjögren (Finnish, 1990 anime), Małgorzata Duda-Kozera (Polish, 1990 anime)

90s Anime Version

^{Book Version}

Little My's older sister as well as Snufkin's older half-sister. Originally she was called "the Mymble's Daughter," the Mymble being her fat, jolly mother — but from Moominland Midwinter and on she became known as "the Mymble" or simply "Mymble." She has the same positive outlook on life as her little sister, but is on the whole much calmer.

---

• Cain and Abel and Seth: She is the Abel, while My is the Cain and Snufkin is the Seth. However, Mymble can be the Cain if circumstances calls it. Especially when she tried to subdue Little My after the latter made Moomintroll to injure his leg in the 90s anime.
• Deadpan Snarker: In the books, not so much in other media.
• Era-Specific Personality: No character in the franchise varies more than Mymble when it comes to personality. In the books it's probably a result of Character Development; she has major roles in three books and in each one she has a different personality; in Moominpappa's Memoirs she appears as a Genki Girl who tells tall tales, while in Moominsummer Madness she's the much-harrowed Parental Substitute to Little My who still tells tall tales, but now they're used to scare her sister into behaving. Then, in Moominvalley in November she's a cheerful Stoic and the only one of the character never to angst or fall into melancholy. In the '90s anime, she's mainly played as a contrast to the abrasive Little My, and in the comic strip she's a hopeless romantic, even worse than Snorkmaiden.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Both she and half-brother Snufkin are the responsible to Little My's foolish type.
• In Love with Love: As mentioned above, she's always falling head-over-heels in love with someone, usually someone who barely notices her. Some of her romances must have some success though, because her in-universe reputation is that of someone who Really Gets Around.
• Interspecies Romance: In the '90s anime, she's shown to be in a relationship with the Police Inspector, who is a hemulen.
• Parental Substitute: To Little My. In Moominsummer Madness, she's just been given responsibility for My and gets very enthusiastic about "teaching her to behave" — basically spending a lot of time yelling and threatening her with the Groke and various morbid catastrophes. Little My, of course, just thinks that's fun.
• Promoted to Parent: She takes responsibility for her sister Little My. (The Mymble is a rather hands-off parent, due to having so many children.)

Mymble (Elder)

Mymble (English) | Mymlan (Swedish) | Mymmeli (Finnish) | Mimura no Okasan (Japanese)

Voiced by: Toni Barry (English, 1990 anime), Leena Uotila (Finnish, 1990 anime) | Lotta Lindroos (Finnish, 2019 animation), Jennifer Saunders (English, 2019 animation), Yuriko Ishigane (Japanese, 2019 animation), Hellen Willberg (Swedish, 2019 animation)

"Didn't you get it or didn't I sent it? I'm so forgetful.

Still, what does it matter? Here we are."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book version}

The mother of the younger Mymble, Little My and Snufkin. She is first introduced along with Little My and her numerous siblings in The Exploits of Moominpappa, where her relation to Snufkin is also revealed.

She has also made appearances in the comic strip, 1990 anime, and 2019 series.

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• Big Beautiful Woman: Illustrated as one of the tallest and curviest of the Moomin characters, and also considered very attractive. When described by one of her daughters, she states "everything is round about her". Snufkin's father The Joxter's first reaction is to call her "a remarkable lady".
• Big Fun: In addition to the above, she loves the thrill of adventure, parties, and has a childlike sense of humour and enthusasiasm for life.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: She is constantly cheerful and very forgetful, and easily tricked in the 2019 series by the Moomins' prank to get her and her children to leave their home by pretending that it's suddenly Summer, by accepting that she simply lost track of time for several months.
• A Dog Named "Dog": "Mymble" seems to be both her name and her species.
• Explosive Breeder: Mymble's army of children are always drawn about the same age, which suggests she pops them out in litters.
• Really Gets Around: Her Swedish name Mymla is a cheeky reference to slang Tove Jansson used in her social circle to mean either "promiscuous woman", or the act a promiscuous woman might do. Not to mention her numerous children.

Stinky

Stinky (English, Swedish, and Japanese) | Haisuli (Finnish) | Bobek (Polish)

Voiced by: Hiroko Maruyama (Japanese, 1990 anime), Garrick Hagon (English, 1990 anime), Matti Ruohola (Finnish, 1990 anime), Peik Stenberg (Swesih, 1990 anime), Ryszard Olesiński (Polish, 1990 anime) | Santeri Kinnunen (Finnish, 2019 animation, Mike Wilmot (English, 2019 animation), Elmer Bäck (Swedish, 2019 animation)

"The Wise One says 'empty the jails'! And I ain't got no beef with that!"

Moominvalley 2019 model

^{90s anime version}

^{Comic Version}

The self-declared "villain" of Moominvalley; he's a troublemaker and rascal who's always up to dodgy and probably illegal things. He was introduced in the comic strip and doesn't appear in any of the novels — only in the last short story, An Unwanted Guest, does he appear, as a "secret friend" of Moominpappa.

---

• Adaptational Nice Guy: The 2019 to some extent, like feeling genuinely sad that Moomin is sad about not being criminal material. He also fesses up and saves him from jail, albeit only semi-genuinely since Moominmamma is heavily implied to have threatened him.
• Canon Immigrant: Though created by Tove Jansson for the comic strip, and a fairly prominent minor antagonist in other adaptations, it took ages before he appeared in a book.
• Everyone Has Standards: In the 1990 anime, one spring when Snufkin seemed to be late Moomin insisted on going to look for him in spite of having a terrible cold. Stinky at first refused to tell Moomin what direction Snufkin left from so he wouldn't leave his bed, and when Moomin wouldn't be stopped, Stinky accompanied him in case something happened.
• Evil Smells Bad: His name is Stinky for a reason. In An Unwanted Guest, he leaves behind a smell that Little My describes as being like sulfur and rotten eggs.
• Extreme Omnivore: He can and does eat everything, up to and including the Moomins' furniture.
• Greed: In the 1990 anime, he outright states several times that he wants to rob banks or steal diamonds.
• Jerkass: He's probably the only recurring character in the franchise without any real redeeming qualities.
• Not Me This Time: During the afore-mentioned "late Snufkin" incident, everyone blamed Stinky for Moomin and Snork Maiden going out to look for Snufkin when he wasn't really responsible.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Many of his schemes are just harmless pranks, but he sometimes has downright murderous plots to harm the Moomins and their friends, such as the time he trapped Ninny alone in a cave and sealed the entrance with boulders so she wouldn't be found.
• Odd Friendship: With Moominpappa in An Unwanted Guest.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Moomin, while sick, wants to search for Snufkin, Stinky goes with Moomin to look after him. Nobody else believes that Stinky's being selfless though.
• Pet the Dog: In the 1990 anime, one night when Moominpappa was complaining about being bored, Stinky spent a night making a set of mysterious footprints to pique his interest with no apparent ulterior motive..
• Pirate: When he's introduced in An Unwanted Guest, Moominpappa describes him as a pirate and adventurer with whom he's been sneaking off on nautical adventures.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: He's usually just comedic, but occasionally shocks the reader by doing life-threateningly evil things, like releasing ferocious zoo animals in the hope that they'll eat the Moomins.

The Groke

The Groke (English) | Mårran (Swedish) | Mörkö (Finnish) | Moran (Japanese) | Buka (Polish)

Voiced by: Tomie Kataoka (Japanese, 1990 anime), Jeff Harding (English, 1990 anime), Tapio Hämäläinen (Finnish, 1990 anime), Hellen Willberg (Swedish, 1990 anime) | Susie Brann (English, Swedish, Finnish, and Japanese, 2019 animation), Andrzej Bogusz (Polish, 2019 animation)

"The Groke is a mysterious silent grey shadow.

Who haunts the wilds, bringing icy cold wherever she goes.

Her very presence could freeze your heart solid..."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

The biggest threat and scariest creature in Moominvalley; she's cold and unfeeling and creepy, and everything she touches freezes. If she stays in one spot for more than one hour, the ground dies and nothing can ever grow there again. She starts out portrayed as just evil and terrifying, but later books, particularly Moominpappa at Sea shows her as a pitiful, lonely person who longs for warmth, light and companionship but is unable to get them because her very nature kills all these things.

---

• Dark Is Not Evil: She is a dark, icy figure, but she's usually not intentionally malicious. In fact its debatable whereas she is even aware of morality at all.
• Depending on the Artist: Is Groke gray, black or purple? In orginal coloured pictures she is gray.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Literally. In Moominpappa at Sea she slowly develops a sort-of friendship with Moomintroll, and at the end of the novel, when both of them acknowledge that they are friends, she no longer freezes the ground when she walks on it.
• Demoted to Extra: In the comic strip she only appears in the very first story, and only very briefly at that.
• The Dreaded: One of the most feared villains in the Moomins canon.
• Eldritch Abomination: Her very nature kills warmth and light. She freezes everything she touches and if she stays in one spot for more than an hour, the ground below her dies and nothing can ever grow there again. Her appearance is terrifying and otherworldly. She certainly qualifies.
• Horrifying the Horror: The Lady of the Cold terrifies her.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: An odd version of the trope, as the Groke doesn't consciously crave friendship per se — what she craves is warmth and light, which her own icy nature hinders her from getting. It turns out that friendship, having positive feelings for another person, is the key to thaw her out and allow her to experience the warmth she's craved for so long.
• An Ice Person: Seems to be brought on by her own inner coldness and depression. She's alone, cut off from everyone and everything, she cares about nobody and nobody cares about her. This manifests as a literal iciness; wherever she goes everything freezes.
• Knight of Cerebus: She's the first legitimately frightening villain to turn up in the prose books, and even after she becomes more sympathetic she's a much darker concept than most of the rest of the series.
  • Played with in 1990 anime: She's introduced early, but whenever she appears, you can expect an exceptionally tense and frightening episode.
  • Similarly her first appearance in the 2019 show is an exceptionally frightening for the series.
• Leitmotif: When ever in 1990 anime she appears, a tense and creepy music starts to play.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Perhaps not with a heart of gold, since she doesn't actually care about anyone, but she's not the malicious evil people think she is.
• The Quiet One: She speaks only once in the books. In the 90s anime, she mostly just growls (or howls, depending on the dub), but she speaks once at end of her debut episode ("I'll be back! I'll be back!"). In Moominvalley, she has a rather sad moaning tone.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Both in English and the original Swedish (although it stands out less there, as she shares it with several other characters, and the equivalent of 'the' in Swedish is to add one or two letters to the end of a word).
• Tragic Ice Character: Scary and strange as she may be, her curse of freezing anything she touches results in her being portrayed with an amount of pathos; she craves warmth and light, but cannot obtain them because of the uncontrollable ice spreading around her.
• Tragic Monster: The Groke is an utterly terrifying Eldritch Abomination who kills practically everything with her presence, but she is also a deeply sad and pitiful creature whose very existence prevents her from finding happiness.
• Walking Wasteland: It's her curse; she can't touch anything without freezing it, and if she sits on one place for more than one hour she leaves a permanently dead spot of ground on which nothing can ever grow again.

The Muskrat

Muskrat (English) | Bisamråttan (Swedish) | Piisamirotta (Finnish) | Piżmowiec (Polish)

Voiced by: Masato Yamanouchi (Japanese, 1992 anime movie), Victor Lee (English, 1992 anime movie), Markku Huhtamo (Finnish, 1992 anime movie), Marcin Troński (Polish, 1992 anime movie) | Heikki Harma (Finnish, 2019 animation), Will Self (English, 2019 animation), Nobuaki Kanemitsu (Japanese, 2019 animation), Max Bremer and Sixten Lundberg (Swedish, 2019 animation), Jarosław Boberek (Polish, 2019 animation)

"If certain doom is coming, which is nothing new in any case,

we've may as well just STAY PUT and wait for it to arrive."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

A houseguest of the Moomins, a would be philosopher with a rather nihilistic look on things... or at least that's what he tries to be.

---

• Ascended Extra: In the 2019 series, combined with Composite Character. He only appears in two books, and doesn't play a particularly large role in either, so most adaptations leave him out. In the 2019 series, though, he sticks around even for episodes based on nooks where he didn't appear, most notably he takes on Grandpa Grumble's role in the adaptation of Moominvalley in November.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: What he calls "philosophy" is generally just this trope. If you annoy him, he'll make a big deal out of how he, as a philosopher, totally doesn't mind how stupid, rude and insensitive you are.
• The Stoic: He thinks he is one. He really isn't.
• Straw Nihilist: Of a rather unusual sort. The Muskrat views philosophy as the greatest occupation for a mind, and nihilism as the greatest form of philosophy. Hence, he's always talking about how pointless and unnecessary everything and everyone is... but it's pretty clear that he's really just putting on airs and is actually far less of a nihilist than he likes to tell himself.

Hemulens

Hemulens (English) | Hemul (Swedish) | Hemuli (Finnish)

Voiced by: Minoru Yada (Japanese, 1990 anime), Garrick Hagon (English, 1990 anime), David Bridges (English, 1992 anime movie), Tapio Hämäläinen (Finnish, 1990 anime), Peik Stenberg (Swedish, 1990 anime) | Taisto Oksanen (Finnish, 2019 animation), Joe Wilkinson (English, 2019 animation), Tetsuharu Ōta (Japanese, 2019 animation), Pekka Strang (Swedish, 2019 animation)

Moominvalley 2019 Model (The Hemulen)

^{90s Anime Version (Mr. Hemulen)}

^{Comic Version}

Hemulens feature in most of the books and are tall, grayish cousins of the Moomins. They tend to have obsessive personalities and base their entire lives around one hobby or interest, which they fanatically pursue, be it stamp-collecting, organizing of others, winter sports or etiquette. They have very poor imaginations and are bad at relating to others, which means a lot of people find them overbearing, abrasive and annoying. However, they are well-intentioned and usually have other redeeming qualities. The most central Hemulen is probably the plant-collecting one who appears in two books (Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll) and usually makes it into the adaptations.

---

• Big Damn Heroes: Happens occasionally, and usually unintentionally, in the books; the characters are in some dire peril and end up being rescued by a Hemulen who happens to be in the area. The Hemulen is always completely oblivious to the danger, and never realizes that he's rescued the others from certain death.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: A minor example. The "-en" modifier in most scandinavian languages actually means it's a singular instance of something, akin to "the" only at the end of a word instead of before it. "Hemulen" actually means "The Hemul."
• Control Freak: Almost all Hemulens are this to some degree, though you do occasionally meet one who isn't. The retired one who loved peace and quiet is far less of one, and the Character Development of a Hemulen in Moominland in November actually leads him to being more of a Control Freak and far happier for it.
• Deadpan Snarker: Typically an unHemulen trait, but the plant collector one gets so exasperated with magic antics in the Magician's Hat, he manages to get one or two quips, to Snufkin's delight.
• A Dog Named "Dog": One Hemulen is referred to as "Mr. Hemulen."
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Most authority figures in the franchise tend to be Hemulens, and while the occasional Hemulen judge, head of orphanage or police chief can get too strict or annoyingly uptight, they are all honest and genuinely want what's best for everyone. They can usually be reasoned with once they've finished blustering.
• Spell My Name with a "The": A double case - the "-en" at the end is the definite article in Swedish, so "the hemulen" basically means "the the hemul".
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Male Hemulens tend to wear frilly dresses rather than trousers. Nobody really knows why; it's just one of their quirks.

Too-Ticky

Too-Ticky (English) | Too-ticki (Swedish) | Tuu-tikki (Finnish)

Voiced by: Mika Doi (Japanese, 1990 anime), Stacey Gregg and Emily Stride (English, 1990 anime), Marja Packalén (Finnish, 1990 anime), Gumbi Zilliacus (Swedish, 1990 anime), Monika Jóźwik (Polish, 1990 anime) | Elina Knihtilä (Finnish, 2019 animation), Katie Leung (English, 2019 animation), Nina Palmgren (Swedish, 2019 animation), Maksymilian Michasiów (Polish, 2019 animation)

"There are other lost souls out there that need to be heard..."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

A friend of the Moomin family and sort of a Distaff Counterpart to Snufkin; she shares his calm, patient and philosophical nature, as well as his view that it's not good to have too many worldly possessions, but she's less solitary and not as restless.

---

• Big Damn Heroes: In The Dangerous Journey, just as the protagonists are in dire peril, Too-Ticky shows up in a hot air balloon and flies them all to safety.
• Deadpan Snarker: On occasion, very deadpan.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Snufkin. The two seldom appear together, but fulfill similar roles as the wiser friend with a calm and philosophical outlook on life. Also, in the comic strip, she is a clear one to Moominpappa's childhood friend Hodgkins, as she takes on his role in the storyline inspired by The Exploits of Moominpappa.
• Only Sane Woman: She's much more down-to-Earth and sensible than most of the cast.
• The Stoic: Nothing is shown to ever faze Too-ticky in her stories.
• Tuckerization: She’s named after Tuulikki Pietilä, Tove Jansson’s partner.
• Wrench Wench: Not in the books, but in some of the adaptations, including the comic strip.
• Write Who You Know: She's based on and directly named after Tove Jansson's later partner, Tuulikki Pietilä.

Mrs Fillyjonk

Fillyjonk (English) | Filifjonkan (Swedish) | Vilijonkka (Finnish) | Filiyonka-san (Japanese) | Filifionka (Polish)

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese, 1990 anime), Stacey Gregg and Joanna Ruiz (English, 1990 anime), Leena Uotila (Finnish, 1990 anime), Cris af Enehielm (Swedish, 1990 anime), Teresa Lipowska (Polish, 1990 anime) | Kristiina Halttu (Finnish, 2019 animation), Kate Winslet and Teresa Gallagher (English, 2019 animation), Shiho Hisajima (Japanese, 2019 animation), Nina Hukkinen (Swedish, 2019 animation), Elżbieta Jędrzejewska (Polish, 2019 animation)

"A neat and tidy home makes a neat and tidy mind!"

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Comic Version}

The Moomins' neighbor, a "proper lady" who finds the Moomins' bohemian lifestyle distasteful. She is an obsessive Neat Freak who has three children and is always conscious of what happens in "finer families."

---

• Adaptational Jerkass: In the 90's anime at least. She is more strict and she is not too shy to say something nasty about Moomins or their friends.
• Canon Foreigner: She debuted in the comic strip and makes it to most adaptations. In the books there are three (possibly four) characters who are named "the Fillyjonk," who share certain character traits with her but don't seem to be the same character.
• Heroic BSoD: The Fillyjonks in the books tend to be prone to these. Most notably in Moominvalley in November, where the Fillyjonk has a near-fatal accident while cleaning house and suffers a complete nervous breakdown which she spends the rest of the book recovering from.
  • At least 3 Fillyjonks have some kind of Character Development: the one in Midsummer becomes less of a Proper Lady when Snorkmaiden convinces her not to invite her ghastly family, the one fearing disasters when a real disaster really comes, and the one in November; and it's a long story...
• Hidden Depths: When Snufkin leaves his harmonica, the Fillyjonk picks it up, and turns out she is quite good at it. It helps her cope with the loneliness and phobia of bugs.
• My Beloved Smother: She is highly protective of her three children to the point where she won't let them have any fun, even if she is trying to prevent them from learning bad habits.
• Neat Freak: In the comic strip and the 90s anime in particular.
• Nosy Neighbor: Characterized as such in the 1969 live-action TV series; she's always peeking in through windows or hiding behind hedges and shaking her head at the antics of the Moomin family.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: In the Moominvalley series her three children are instead turned into her nieces.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The most developed Fillyjonk is deathly afraid of bugs and diseases.

Alicia

Alicia (English) | Alisa (Swedish) | Aliisa (Finnish) | Arisa (Japanese) | Alicja (Polish)

Voiced by: Sakiko Tamagawa (Japanese), Stacey Gregg and Joanne McQuinn (English), Marja Packalén (Finnish), Annika Miiros (Swedish), Barbara Bursztynowicz (Polish)

"I do something myself if I could, but this is really the sort of job

that needs the powers of a witch."

90s Anime Version

A young witch-in-training who lives with her grandmother in the forest and — to said grandmother's displeasure — becomes a good friend of the Moomin family. Exclusive to the 1990 animated series.

---

• The Apprentice: Not a full witch yet; she's still studying the craft under her grandmother and has a long way to go before she's considered a real witch. Over the course of the series her magical abilities steadily improve.
• Canon Foreigner: Appears only in the 1990 animated series.
• Cute Witch: She certainly does not have her grandmother's looks! Moomin even points out that she doesn't look like your stereotypical ugly witch, but she just says it's because she's not a real witch yet.
• Comically Missing the Point: She's a little oblivious at times, often to great humorous effect; in her debut episode when her grandmother has Snufkin tied up in her house, Alicia completely misses this fact and just thinks he's a guest, who stopped by.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Her main conflict in her earliest episodes. As a witch, she's not supposed to have friends, certainly not among non-witches, but she really does want to be friends with the inhabitants of Moominvalley and will go off to visit them against her grandmother's wishes.
• Nice Girl: Alicia is friendly, polite and helpful to a fault, even though this isn't considered "proper" witch behavior.

The Witch

The Witch (English) | Häxan (Swedish) | Noita (Finnish) | Clarissa (Japanese) | Czarownica (Polish)

Voiced by: Hisako Kyoda (Japanese), Stacey Gregg and Joanna Ruiz (English), Leena Uotila (Finnish), Sue Lemström (Swedish), Maria Homerska (Polish)

"This always happens. People always treat witches as if they weren't

ordinary, respectable, responsible citizens."

90s Anime Version

Alicia's grandmother, a more traditional "Wicked Witch" who tries to raise her granddaughter into becoming a proper witch. Antagonistic at first, but does eventually become more friendly. Along with Alicia, she's exclusive to the 1990s animated series.

---

• Always a Bigger Fish: A fully-fledged witch and magic user, possibly the strongest permanent resident of Moomin Valley, she's absolutely dwarfed in power by The Hobgoblin, who even she is terrified of.
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Pretty much her standard attitude.
• Canon Foreigner: Like Alicia, she only appears in the animated series.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Whether she has a name or not is never reveals; she is just called "the Witch" by everyone except Alicia, who calls he "Grandma."
• Flying Broomstick: Gets around on one, which really upsets the Snork — what's the point in him trying to develop a flying ship if a witch can just take a broomstick and fly that easily?
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She takes pride in being an antisocial Wicked Witch, but she isn't actually evil. She does love her granddaughter and only wants what's best for her.
• Super-Intelligence: In one episode, she claims to have three diplomas.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Over the course of the anime series. She starts out as antagonistic towards the Moomins because she doesn't like the influence they have on her granddaughter, but she eventually comes around to them.
• Troll: In episode 47, when Moomin, Snufkin and Alicia ask her for help in driving the people looking for hot springs out of the valley, she initially pretends to be fine with the situation for no other reason than just teasing her granddaughter a little bit.
• Wicked Witch: Tries her best to be this, but really isn't that bad.

Sorry-Oo Le Miserable/Pimple

Sorry-Oo/Pimple (English) | Ynk (Swedish) | Surku (Finnish)

Voiced by: TARAKO (Japanese, 1990 anime), Liza Ross (English, 1990 anime), Leena Uotila (Finnish, 1990 anime)

90s Anime Version

^{Book Version}

A small, shy and melancholic dog who dreams big and impossible dreams. He appears in books, comics and spin-off materials, almost always in a different role, with different relations, and different impossible dreams, and sometimes with a different name, but his basic timid and melancholic personality always stays the same.

---

• Broken Pedestal: In Moominland Midwinter, Sorry-oo idolizes wolves, howling to get their attention and dreaming of joining their pack so they can teach him to be strong and wild. Then one night, his howls do get the wolves' attention, but he quickly realizes that they'd rather eat him than accept a talking domestic dog into their ranks. Realizing that he's probably about to die (though the winter-loving Hemulen ends up saving him), Sorry-oo is left wondering why he ever thought that he could survive among the wolves.
• Dark Secret: Parodied in the comic strip, where he is miserable because he has a deep, dark and terrible secret. The secret turns out to be... that he likes cats. This also shows up in Moomins on the Riviera.
• Dogs Are Dumb: Not in the regular, stereotypical "dumb dog" way, but he tends to berate himself for being an idiot when he realizes how impossible his dream was all along.
• Dub Name Change: Well. Almost all Moomin characters have different names in the English translations, but their English names are consistent across the different media. Sorry-Oo, however, has two English names; his original Swedish name is "Ynk," which means "whimper," but in the English translations of the books and the anime he's Sorry-Oo, while in the comic strip and Moomins on the Riviera his English name is "Pimple." A rule of thumb here is that if he's depicted with his cloak and hat he's Sorry-Oo, but if he walks around naked he's Pimple.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: His so-called Dark Secret in the comic strip and Moomins on the Riviera: he loves cats and really wishes he could be friends with one, but of course dogs aren't supposed to like cats.
• Lovable Coward: He's not brave at all, and is very aware of this. A minor Running Gag in the 1969 series is that he'll run and hide whenever something spooks him, and has to be convinced to come out... only to get spooked again almost immediately.
• Savage Wolves: A near-victim of this trope in Moominland Midwinter, his major appearance in the books. He spends the entire book howling, longing and dreaming about joining his "brothers," the free and wild wolves, but when he finally does meet a pack of wolves he discovers that they're not friendly and not interested in him as anything except a quick and easy meal. Luckily the Hemulen shows up for an oblivious last-minute rescue.

Misabel

Misabel (English) | Misan (Swedish) | Miska (Finnish)

Voiced by: Miiko Toiviainen (Finnish, 2019 animation), Rebecca Root (English, 2019 animation), Kozue Harashima (Japanese, 2019 animation), Kaj Korkea-Aho (Swedish, 2019 animation)

"I'm not sure, ma'am. Somewhere I can make a mess and not worry, I suppose."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{Book Version}

A very depressed and rather paranoid character who thinks everyone is either making fun of her or laughing at her behind her back. In the comic strip (and several other incarnations), she is depicted as the Moomins' housekeeper, and occasionally the owner of Sorry-Oo. In her sole appearance in the novels, in Moominsummer Madness, she is basically just a random forest creature swept along on the adventure, who eventually becomes a star actress.

---

• Adapted Out: She doesn't appear in the '90s anime adaptation of the Moominsummer Madness stories.
• Character Exaggeration: In the 1969 live-action series, where her paranoia and self-pity are exaggerated so much it becomes ridiculous.
• Drama Queen: To varying degree, depending on the incarnation: in the comic strip she's more deadpan, while in the books she's a lot more inclined to play martyr and scream out how awful everyone is to her at the slightest provocation. The 1969 live-action TV series takes this trait up to eleven; she pretends to faint (and "momentarily wakes up" in order to declare herself totally innocent in a related matter before "fainting" again), she announces her resignation and storms out several times, and about 75% of her dialogue consists of loud self-pity.
• The Eeyore: The biggest example in the franchise; her basic mood is depression and paranoia.
• The Klutz: In 2019's Moominvalley, she's a walking disaster who messes up every chore she tries. Other incarnations are generally competent at their jobs, but in this version she's a genuinely bad housekeeper who is always tripping over her own feet and accidentally breaking things.
• Maid: Her role in almost all the incarnations except the novels — though she does appear to be the Moomins' housekeeper in the final Moomin story, An Unwanted Guest.
• Meaningful Name: Doubling as a Punny Name, her name sounds like pretty close to the word "miserable", which she is much of the time.
• Stalker with a Crush: Kinda comes across as one towards the King in the 1969 series.

Thingumy and Bob

Thingumy and Bob (English) | Tofslan & Vifslan (Swedish and Japanese) | Tiuhti ja Viuhti (Finnish) | Topik i Topcia (Polish)

Voiced by: Isamu Tanonaka and You Inoue (Japanese, 1990 anime), Stacey Gregg, Joanne McQuinn and Joanna Ruiz (English, 1990 anime), Marja Packalén and Leena Uotila (Finnish, 1990 anime), Sue Lemström and Hellen Willberg (Swedish, 1990 anime), Krzysztof Strużycki and Izabella Dziarska (Polish, 1990 anime) | Anna Puu and Paula Vesala (Finnish, 2019 animation), Jon Monie and Susie Brann (English, 2019 animation), Kōsuke Echigoya and Mitsuhiro Inose (Japanese, 2019 animation), Iida Kuningas and Sara Soulié (Swedish, 2019 animation)

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

Two small, inseparable creatures who speak their own strange language (in the original Swedish, they add the suffix "-sla" to most of their words, while in the English translation they speak mainly in Spoonerisms) and who stay with the Moomins for a time. Thingumy is the one wearing a hat.

---

• Ambiguous Gender: Their gender is never really mentioned, though some adaptations and translations do give them genders.
• Author Avatar: Thingumy is a stand in for Tove Jansson herself, while Bob is this for her then lover Vivica Bandler. Their Swedish names, Tofslan and Vifslan, are actually the pet names that Jansson and Bandler would refer to each other by.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Like small children, they have their own (and rather self-centered) view of right and wrong, and don't seem to understand that the rest of the world doesn't share this view. They do, for example, see nothing wrong with stealing whatever they want. Interestingly, they're also dressed in blue and orange.
• The Dividual: Completely inseparable, to such a degree that when the Hobgoblin grants wishes to the entire Moomin family, Thingumy and Bob share one wish instead of having one wish each. They treat this as perfectly natural.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Between their Ambiguous Gender, their inseparability, their nervous disposition, the secret they're hiding, and their Swedish names being Tove and Vivica's nicknames for each other from when they were dating, it's generally accepted that these two represent a homosexual couple hiding their love from a world which won't accept them (homosexuality was not legalized in Finland until after the final Moomins book was published).
• Punny Name: A "Thingamabob" is basically any object or contraption you don't have any meaningful understanding of.
• Spoonerism: In the English translation, they swap consonants around in their sentences.
  Bob: Foke means smood. [Smoke means food]
• She's a Man in Japan: In the '90s anime, Thingumy is male and married with Bob. This didn't carry on the foreign dubs.
  Thingumy: I'm Tofslan and this is my wife Vifslan.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Rather than give the Hobgoblin the King's Ruby, they simply wish for an exact copy, which they give to him.
• The Unintelligible: Treated like this in-universe in the beginning, as only the Hemulen understands what they're saying and has to translate for the others (and even he misunderstands them frequently). The audience can usually make out what they're saying with no problem, though. Parodied in 2019's Moominvalley, where Moominpapa declares their spoonerisms to be utterly untranslatable, until Moominmama realises the key and very carefully explains it, while Little My rolls her eyes at how long everyone is taking to work this out.

Ninny

Ninny (English) | Ninni (Swedish, Finnish, and Japanese)

Voiced by: Mina Tominaga (Japanese, 1990 anime), Stacey Gregg (English, 1990 anime), Leena Uotila (Finnish 1990 anime), Berit Neumann-Lund (Swedish, 1990 anime), Iwona Rulewicz (Polish, 1990 anime) | Yasmine Yamajako (Finnish, 2019 animation), Mayumi Kawai (English and Japanese, 2019 animation), Jenna Hukkinen (Swedish, 2019 animation), Agata Skórska (Polish, 2019 animation)

"There! That'll teach you for making me jump!"

Moominvalley 2019 Model (Visible)

^{90s Anime Version (Visible)}

^{Book Version (Invisible)}

A small, timid girl who was frightened so often and so thoroughly by her mean aunt that she turned completlely invisible. She is brought to the Moomin family by Too-Ticky, in the hope that they can make her regain her confidence and become visible again.

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• Berserk Button: You wouldn't think someone like her would even have one, but it turns out she does: she is very protective of Moominmamma, and even just joking about doing something bad to her will set her off in a spectacular fashion. Moominpappa found this out when he was about to push his wife into the water, causing Ninny to explode with anger and even bite him on the tail, in a way that's completely unlike the shy, quiet girl she'd been before (and turning her fully visible in the process).
• Character Development: Uniquely, her development has a visible indicator: The more confidence and development she gains, and the more she manages to free herself from her Shrinking Violet persona, the more of her becomes visible. The development is almost a complete turn-around: she starts out as a Shrinking Violet and ends up a Fiery Redhead.
• Domestic Abuse: It's how children become invisible in the Moomin world. Before coming to Moominhouse, Ninny lived with a cruel aunt who constantly teased and emotionally abused her, until she eventually faded away.
• Fiery Redhead: What she becomes when she turns visible, which surprises pretty much everyone, her similarity to Little My is noted with astonishment.
• Iconic Item: She wears a tinkling bell around her neck so that people will know where she is. This bell is more or less her trademark, and she wears it even when her clothes become visible.
• Invisibility: Presented here as something that happens to people when they feel unnoticed.
• Parental Abandonment: On top of being abused by her mean aunt, when Ninny became completely invisible, said aunt dumped her with Too-Ticky. Though that was probably for the best.
• Shrinking Violet: Introduced as one. When she first appears, she is too shy and timid to even talk, which - combined with her invisibility - makes it a little hard for anyone to know if she's even there or not. She is instead given a little bell to wear around her neck to tinkle as communciation.

Susanna

The protagonist of the story The Dangerous Journey and the sole actual, normal human character to appear in the franchise. She is a bespectacled little girl who wakes up one morning, bored and annoyed with the world at large, who is swept away on a strange and dangerous adventure when her spectacles are mysteriously swapped out for a pair of magical ones. When she puts them on, the world around her transforms into a nighmarish but wondrous place, in which she ends up going on a journey along with Sniff, the Hemulen, Sorry-Oo, Thingumy and Bob, in search of Moominvalley.

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• Be Careful What You Wish For: Declaring her hatred for and frustration with how boring everything is, she wishes everything was different and she could experience something dangerous. She gets both those wishes granted, and it's scary.
• Break the Haughty: Starts out bad-tempered and angry at everything — and then when she puts on the magic spectacles her aggressions take on a life of their own and twist the world around, turning her cat into a horrible beast and the world into a nightmare, and her own reflection (as seen in a pond) into a slimy, creepy monster. When her anger vanishes she starts encountering friendlier creatures in the new strange world, and she even apologizes for having turned the world into such a gruesome place.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: The entire plot of A Dangerous Journey happens because Susanna unwittingly puts on a pair of magical spectacles instead of her regular ones, which warps the world around her (or possibly just her view of it) to turn it into a dangerous and scary place.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: She has a pet cat, and though in the beginning of the story she's annoyed with it like she's annoyed with everything else, she does love it very much and is overjoyed to be reunited with it at the end of the story.
• Unfazed Everyman: Beyond the initial terror, and a few moments of confusion, she doesn't react too strongly to all the weird things happening to her — though it does seem that her adventure is largely shaped by her own subconscious, and the dangers and terrors she faces represent her own darker side.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Like Indiana Jones, she hates snakes.

Toft

Toft (English and Swedish) | Tuhto (Finnish)

Voiced by: Kazue Ikura (Japanese, 1990 anime), Liza Ross (English, 1990 anime) | Iina Kuustonen (Finnish and English, 2019 animation), Sachiko Honma (Japanese, 2019 animation), Nina Palmgren (Swedish, 2019 animation)

"I live a long way from here, in a bottom of a boat by a bay. Except, no one knows I'm there.

But at night, I like to lie in the prow under the tarpaulin, and imagine the happy family

until I fall asleep."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

^{Book Version}

The primary protagonist of Moominvalley in November, an orphan (in the original Swedish referred to as a Whomper, but in the English translation simply called a "boy") who tells himself stories of the Moomins every evening and finally goes off to Moominvalley to meet them, only to find the house empty and the Moomins gone.

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• Adaptational Gender Identity: Some episodes of Moominvalley season 3 reffer to Toffle in gender neutral pronouns, most notably "Snufkin and the Fairground". This isn't consistent however (season 2 uses masculine pronouns).
• Adaptation Name Change: In 2019's Moominvalley he's given the name Toffle, which is also the name of the main character in the book ,Who Will Comfort Toffle?, making him a possible Composite Character. The two have very similar designs to begin with, and he seems to have inherited some of Toffle's timid nature. Averted in most of the dubs, which rename him back to Toft (though some dubs, like the Norwegian one, stick with calling him by Toffle's name).
• Author Avatar: Gender and age aside, Toft pretty much is Tove Jansson, trying to find back to that happy Moominvalley but not managing. His particular longing for Moominmamma makes sense in-universe (he's an orphan who wants a mother), but makes even more sense when you learn that Tove Jansson's own mother, the real-life inspiration for Moominmamma, had recently died when the book was written.
• Berserk Button: For most of the book, anyway — don't ever imply that you know the Moomins better than he does, or that Moominmamma is less than perfect. Part of Toft's Character Development is to come to terms with how the family he's constructed in his head aren't necessarily how they are in real life; particularly he has to face that the persona he's invented for Moominmamma isn't a real person, and so he loses this particular Berserk Button towards the end of the book.
• Composite Character:
  • As mentioned above, in the 2019 series Toft has taken on the name of Toffle from Who Will Comfort Toffle? and appearance-wise resembles Toffle from that book more than Toft from Moomingvalley in November (though the two do greatly resemble one another even in the book illustrations).
  • In the episode "Toffle's Tall Tales," they also seem to have taken on some traits from the next-to-youngest Whomper from the short story A Tale of Horror — in the book, Toft was a storyteller but only told stories to himself and let his imagination run wild with them until they almost became real. The Toffle of the show, much like the next-to-youngest Whomper, tells tall tales and invents dangerous monsters that they intentionally try to scare the others with. Though unlike the next-to-youngest Whomper, who was mostly a Mr. Imagination, Toffle tell stories mostly because they're afraid of being alone and is trying to keep Moomintroll and Sniff around for as long as possible.
• Parental Substitute: The Fillyjonk and Hemulen (and to lesser extent Mymble and Snufkin) try to become this to him. It doesn't take.
• The Storyteller: Granted, he tells the stories mainly to himself, but they have a tendency to grow and become a lot more real than he'd intended them to. The story he wants to come to life, though, the one of the Moomins returning to the valley, remains out of his grasp.
• The Quiet One: He's small, unassuming and doesn't speak much; he tends to be ignored a lot but doesn't have any problems with this.

Shadow

Exclusive to the comic strip, Shadow is a small, unassuming creature who in the strip's early years can often be seen following Moomintroll around. Usually just there to provide the odd Funny Background Event, unnoticed by the other characters and unmentioned by the narrative, he occasionally gets to step into the foreground and play a part in the story. In actuality, "Shadow" is two separate characters, White Shadow and Black Shadow; Black Shadow basically being White Shadow's stand-in.

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• Ascended Extra: Happens twice:
  • Within the comic strip itself; Shadow follows Moomin around for months and is never acknowledged by the narrative, until Moomin in one strip suddenly turns to him and asks who he is and why he keeps following him around. Shadow is astonished that someone actually noticed he was there, and after this plays notable roles in a few storylines and even gets to play the hero on occasion.
  • In Moomins on the Riviera, Shadow gets a lot more attention and screen-time, and interacts with the other characters a lot more. The "White Shadow gets married and calls Black Shadow to take his place in the story" plotline, which was pretty much a one-time joke in the strip, is turned into a sub-plot of its own.
• Funny Background Event: The majority of a Shadow's appearances consist of these, unless he's just standing around, or it's one of the rare instances where he gets to play a role in the plot.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Black Shadow for White Shadow. They look and act exactly alike, except for the fact that White Shadow has a white belly while Black Shadow is black all over. Black Shadow is literally called in, mid-story as White Shadow's substitute; White Shadow is getting married, so he calls up his cousin Black Shadow to take his place in the story. From thereon, the two will appear interchangeably, but almost never together.

The Hobgoblin

The Hobgoblin (English) | Trollkarlen (Swedish) | Taikuri (Finnish) | Hikō Oni (Japanese)

Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura (Japanese, 1990 anime), Jeff Harding and Robert Chase (English, 1990 anime) Timo Torikka (Finnish, 1990 anime), Samuel Huber (Swedish, 1990 anime) | Jorma Uotinen (Finnish, 2019 animation), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (English, 2019 animation), Hidenari Ugaki (Japanese, 2019 animation), Nicke Lignell (Swedish, 2019 animation)

"At the end of the world, there lies a mountain so high it makes you dizzy to even think about it.

And high up on the peak, stands the house of...

the Hobgoblin."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

A sorcerer and one of the most powerful magical beings in the Moomin world, he is the original owner of the magical hat that caused no end of trouble for the Moomins, and has sought the jewel once owned by the Groke for many of his ageless years.

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• Benevolent Genie: At the end of Finn Family Moomintroll, the Hobgoblin grants wishes to the people of Moominvalley. It's shown that the wishes mostly come true in a way that leaves the wisher satisfied, with the only exception being Snorkmaiden (who wished for her eyes to look like those on the figurehead that Moomintroll had become obsessed with); even then, that's more because she didn't think her wish through and there was no way to grant it in a way that would actually make her happy. He even asked her if she was sure that she wanted that wish before going through with it.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: His name was badly translated from the original Swedish. "Trollkarlen" does roughly translate to "Hobgoblin" in very literal terms (the exact translation would be Troll Man), but the actual meaning of his name is "The Warlock", which is clearly the correct term.
• Creepy Good: By far one of the most feared entities in the Moomin world. Even The Witch is terrified of him. But like The Groke, he isn't actually evil. In fact, he's a very pleasant individual who is willing to give up on his life's pursuit of the King's Ruby after finding out that Thingumy and Bob treasure it more than he does, and grants peoples' wishes in a mostly benevolent way.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After decades of searching for the King's Ruby, he finds out that it's in the possession of Bob and Thingumy. When they're unwilling to sell it for any prize, and despite being able to simply take it because no one could possibly stop him... the Hobgoblin relents, because he sees that they value it even more than he does. In return, when the Hobgoblin is granting wishes to the people attending the Moomin's party, Bob and Thingumy wishes for an exact copy of the ruby to give to the Hobgoblin, because while his magic prevents him from granting his own desires, it does not keep other people from making wishes on his behalf, finally giving him what he had sought for so long.
• Make a Wish: The Hobgoblin is able to grant peoples' wishes, as shown at the end of Finn Family Moomintroll. He does have limitations, though: he can only give one wish per person, he can't grant his own wishes, and he can't grant wishes for things that are too complex to understand (like Snork's wish for a machine that tells him whether something is right or wrong).
• No Self-Buffs: He can't fulfill his own wishes, only those of others. However, people can make wishes for his sake.
• Panthera Awesome: Travels the skies by riding a flying panther, presumably his familiar.
• The Stoic: He hardly ever express any emotions, though this is averted in Moominvalley series where he is quite jolly guy afterall.

The Hattifatteners

Hattifatteners (English) | Hattifnattar (Swedish) | Hattivatit (Finnish) | Nyoronyoro (Japanese)

"Where did you get those?"

"Those just arrived. After a trip to a craggy old island full of those 'spooky little white tubes'."

"Hattifatteners."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

Mysterious creatures who wander around Moominvalley. Previously living on a lone island, Moomin and the group encounters the Hattifatteners when the barometer is taken from them. Their seedlings sprout at midsummer evening. The Hattifatteners' electricity is stronger either when they're newborn or being recharged through lightning.

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• Cargo Cult: The Hattifatteners gathering on Lonely Island seemingly worships a barometer, implied to be because they can somehow sense that it can predict changes in the weather.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: They have visible legs in the illustrations in Moomins and the Great Flood.
• Plant Person: They are actually plants, or a kind of animated mushroom, that grow from spores. Despite having large, cartoonish eyes, they are mostly blind, and "see" through sensing vibrations in the ground. They also have the ability to store static electricity, which makes them incredibly dangerous during thunderstorms, when they congegrate in large groups and become supercharged.
• Shock and Awe: The Hattifatteners can absorb and store static electricity in their bodies, and share it among the group. Under normal circumstances, this is harmless, and even a large group will only carry enough of a charge to sting a little, described by Snufkin as the burning sensation you get from touching nettle leaves. However, during thunderstorms, this ability makes them extremely dangerous, as they not only gather in much larger groups than usual, but they also absorb lightningbolts. Anyone coming in contact with them in this state risks certain death, something just narrowly avoided by Hemulen and Snorkmaiden (in the novels).
• The Speechless: They don't speak at all. In the anime, they do make some sounds but it doesn't sound like talking. They can talk in some of the comics, though.
• The Stoic: In The Secret of the Hattifatteners, Moominpappa comes to a realisation about the Hattifatteners: they are only able to feel anything when they are charged with electricity during thunderstorms. Without that, they are practically blank slates - feeling no emotions, having no desires, holding no opinions. Learning this, he finds that his admiration for them turns to pity:
  "Poor Hattifatteners. And I was sitting on my verandah believing they were so remarkable and free, just because they never spoke a word and were always on the move. They hadn’t a single word to say and nowhere to go…”
• Suddenly Voiced: They can inexplicably talk in some of the comic strips, even though they're said to be silent in the books.
• Weaksauce Weakness: They're very sensitive to vibrations, and Hemulen is able to fend off a horde of Hattifatteners by wiggling the pole he's hanging from back and forth, creating a rythmic vibration in the ground that the Hattifatteners don't like, causing them to leave.

Hodgkins

Hodgkins (English) | Fredrikson (Swedish, Finnish, and Japanese)

Voiced by: Rokuro Naya (Japanese, 1990 anime), Robert Chase (English, 1990 anime), Ilkka Merivaara (Finnish, 1990 anime), Joachim Wigelius (Swedish, 1990 anime)

90s Anime Version

Moominpappa's first friend, and a spirited inventor. He is the uncle of the Muddler, and great-uncle of Sniff. It is his invention, the Oshun Oxtra (named for his late brother's collection of poems), that they go adventuring in during the events of Exploits.

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• Deadpan Snarker: The most down-to-earth of the crew, and the first to respond to a situation with a calm remark. For example, he reassures his friends that although Edward the Booble has a habit of stepping on people, it's alright, "because he always pays for the funeral".
• The Stoic: He reacts to most things with the same low-key, practical-minded cheer, seldom getting worked up about abything — and even when he does get worked up about them, it's usually in an understated and quiet way. The one time he gets angry, he simply makes a That Makes Me Feel Angry statement and then more or less gets over it. Moominpappa notes in the narration that Hodgkins never cared much for big words or exaggerations.
• Straight Man: In addition to the above, to contrast with Moominpappa's ego, The Joxter's contrariness, and his nephew's hysteria.

The Muddler

Muddler (English) | Rådd-djuret (Swedish) | Hosuli (Finnish) | Rodeyul (Japanese)

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao (Japanese, 1990 anime), Jeff Harding (English, 1990 anime), Eero Ahre (Finnish, 1990 anime), Riko Eklundh (Swedish, 1990 anime)

90s Anime Version

Another one of Moominpappa's old friends, Hodgkins' nephew, and Sniff's father.
The Muddler is a rat-like creature who lives in a giant tin full of junk, which he collects. He's a very sensitive and kind-hearted fellow who, much like his son Sniff, isn't very interested in big adventures and would much rather focus on his ever-growing collection of odds and ends.

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• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: He's a total scatterbrain and can never focus on anything for long.
• Composite Character: In the 1969 series he's much younger and has pretty much taken on Sniff's role as Moomintroll's surrogate brother (probably because the far more humanoid Muddler was easier to portray in costume than the more animal-looking Sniff). He's still more Muddler than Sniff in personality though.
• Happily Adopted: By his uncle Hogkins, after his parents disappeared in a spring cleaning, in the books, and by the Moomins in the 1969 live-action series.
• Love at First Sight: Immediately falls head over heels for The Fuzzy and gets married within days of the meeting.
• Lovable Coward: He isn't the bravest member of the Oshun Oxtra crew, and is the one most terrified of the Island Ghost, but his Woobie personality makes that endearing.
• Prone to Tears: Poor Muddler cries at the drop of a hat. After painting the ship, he asks his uncle to quickly tell him if there's anything wrong with it, "or he shall start crying again".
• Strong Family Resemblance: To his second son, the Fuddler, from the comic strip. The Fuddler is an exact copy of his father in both looks and mannerisms, which Moominpappa comments on.

The Joxter

Joxter (English) | Joxaren (Swedish) | Juksu (Finnish) | Yoksar (Japanese)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese, 1990 anime), John Chancer (English, 1990 anime), Timo Torikka (Finnish, 1990 anime), Michel Budsko (Swedish, 1990 anime)

90s Anime Version

^{Book Version}

Another friend of Moominpappa's from the Oshun Oxtra crew, and the father of Snufkin.

A lazy, contrary beast who loves nothing more than to lie around sleeping and let other people do the work for him. Like Snufkin, he has a dislike of authority, especially Park Keepers, but is a lot more relaxed about life.

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• Brilliant, but Lazy: The Joxter sleeps for the majority of his presence in the book, until he's needed to fix an engine, then proceeds to largely sleep again for the remainder of the story.
• Cats Are Lazy: While never directly referred to as a cat, author Tove Jansson does take the time to refer to him as "cat-like" in a couple of instances, and makes his idleness a defining trait.
• Forbidden Fruit: In an oddly casual way, this is his biggest vice. He dislikes being told he can't do anything, and will do anything forbidden on sheer principle... at least if it doesn't take too much time and energy. It's not like this is a Berserk Button for him, the way it is for his son Snufkin; he seldom gets angry about it and just goes about breaking rules in a cheerful, low-key and matter-of-fact way.
• Hidden Depths: He demonstrates very little ability aside from napping, but understands engineering to a degree, and is familiar with words such as "otolaryngologist".
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Of the softer variety, in that while he's never mean, he also never bothers to lift a finger to help anyone and has a history of tangling with Park Keepers. However, he's very kindly towards the Muddler and Mymble's Daughter whenever they start to cry.
• Lazy Bum: So lazy, in fact, he gets three whole examples. He seldom puts in any effort in anything, unless it involves doing things he's been forbidden to do. And even then he might decide it's too much of a bother.
• The Pig-Pen: The revised version of Moominpappa's Memoirs adds the detail that his hat is decorated with a wilted flower crown, and that "one got the impression that he hadn't bathed in a while".
• Strong Family Resemblance: Looks very similar to his son Snufkin, which is noted by Moominpappa.

Mr. Brisk

Mr. Brisk (English) | Herr Brisk (Swedish) | Herra Virkkunen / Reippailija-Hemuli (Finnish) |

Voiced by: Riku Nieminen (Finnish, 2019 animation), Julian Barratt (English, 2019 animation), Kristofer Gummerus (Swedish, 2019 animation)

Sportsman who loves winter and winter sports.

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• Adaptational Species Change: Is a hemulen in the 90s anime.
• Bested at Bowling: After Mymble defeats him in a ski jumping contest, he is utterly depressed.
• Canon Foreigner: Introduced in the comic strip, although he makes it into the Moominvalley animated series.
• Composite Character: The 90's anime combines Mr Brisk from the comic strip with the sports-loving Hemulen from the book Moominland Midwinter. This gives him an Adaptational Species Change and turns him into an Adaptational Nice Guy: the Hemulen is Innocently Insensitive but never mean, doesn't have the constant drive to be the best at everything, and even has a Heel Realization towards the end; Mr. Brisk in the comic (and in Moominvalley) is far more of a Jerkass and feels the need to rub his superiority in people's faces.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: He's incredibly cocky, self-confident and arrogant... but the moment he loses at something, or even comes in second place, he loses all confidence and lapses into depression.

Lady Of The Cold

Lady of the Cold (English) | Isfrun (Swedish) | Jäärouva (Finnish)

"The Lady of the Cold will be out soon.

She's a beautiful winter spirit.

But if you'll listen to her song, she'll freeze you stiff as a basket."

Moominvalley 2019 Model

^{90s Anime Version}

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• Adaptational Villainy: She's not stated to intentionally freeze anyone in Moominland Midwinter, but clearly freezes Little My intentionally in the 90s anime.
• Adaptational Wimp: Slightly, as it's possible to survive her touch in the 90's series as long as someone thaws you up again, but in the book, it's instant death.
• An Ice Person: A personification of the frozen death of winter, capable of freezing anyone who looks into her eyes.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: She sings as she travels across the frozen wasteland in what is described as an almost supernaturally beautiful way, with implications that it might even be a Compelling Voice. This is the version used in the anime.
• Deadly Gaze: Her stare will freeze you solid, which is treated as fatal in most versions.
• Faux Affably Evil: In Moominvalley, she acts incredibly friendly to Moomintroll, blowing him around playfully and giving him a "blanket" and "pillow" of snow... but it's extremely obvious this is to keep him from noticing she's freezing him to death.
• Harmless Freezing: In the '90s anime, Little My gets frozen by her, but quickly recovers by being placed next to a stove. This makes the Lady of the Cold an Adaptational Wimp, as her freezing is normally treated as much more lethal.
• Humanoid Abomination: Even by the loose standards of Moominvalley, the Lady doesn't look quite right. Putting it as simply as possible, the Groke is scared of her.
• Informed Attractiveness: Is described as a beautiful spirit, but this doesn't translate much to any of the adaptations, especially not the 90's one.
• One-Hit Kill: Do not touch the Lady, and absolutely do not look her in the eye. You will instantly freeze to death if you make either mistake.
• You Don't Look Like You: Since there's no illustrations of her in the original book, she looks different in every adaptation. She has spikes and star-shaped limbs in the 90s anime, looks humanoid with long wispy hair in the fuzzy felt movie Moomins and the Winter Wonderland and is a giant floating head in Moominvalley.

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