History Characters / TheUnknownSoldier

* MyGirlBackHome: Passionately in love with his fiancee Sirkka, to whom his thoughts - and speech - constantly return. They reveal attachment that often TastesLikeDiabetes, as he absolutely worships every aspect of her character as if she was a demigoddess.

* AdultFear: Leaves behind his wife and children, who not only have to look after their farm themselves, but during the Soviet assault of -44, they will have to leave and become refugees and find a new home somewhere. He can't do a thing to help them from where he is. His bitterness over this makes him all the less willing to play nice and obedient with the officers.

* AdultFear: His family is either still internal refugees somewhere in Finland, or will become refugees once again when the war comes to its end. In either case, he can't help them in their ordeal.

* AdultFear: Just the idea of dying and leaving your children behind. That it happens during wartime makes it worse.

* AdultFear: She and her children must leave their home for good and become refugees, with no knowing of what the future brings for them, or how they are going to cope.

* AManIsNotAVirgin: The others assume that Riitaoja is a virgin, apparently for no other reason than that he's not traditionally masculine.

* DyingAlone / TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Runs away in terror when Lehto is shot and gets separated from the others. He cowers miserably in fear behind a lonely barn, to gain comfort from this object made by other human being. Doing so he misses the others, who tried to look for him but couldn't find him, and so continue on without him, thinking he has returned to their own troops on his own. Riitaoja would indeed want to do so, but he had dropped the cartridge boxes while running, and doesn't dare to return to Lammio without them. So he, despite his terror, sneaks back into the dark forest, to where they were when the enemy opened fire. He hears Lehto's pained cries and tries to call out to him, but is shot as well. The others lay their bodies side by side and cover them with their greatcoats, and leave them to lie peacefully together in the forest.]]

* NotSoDifferent: The machine gun men later come up with many similarities between him and Lehto, and conclude that Lehto would have been just like this, had he been a Staff Officer.

* MilitaryMaverick: Has no respect for the official chain of command, nor patience with incompetent superiors or understanding for badly thought out or pointless commands. His ever worsening conflict with the higher ups is a subplot of its own. RealityEnsues when his attitude finally gets him to military tribunal. However, the battalion leader decides to forgive him one last time, on the condition that from now on he obeys like the rest.

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler:''"Stop! Where is the man going?" "To Inari, to fuck wolves".'' BANG!]]

* CrazyAwesome: Is everything listed here, and then also a damn badass soldier.

* TheJester: Lives his life as one, sprouting wisdom, random but sharp insights and funny nonsense.

* TheJester: His comedy isn't purposeless, he actually is throwing shade on the insanity of the war, and the emptiness and pretentiousness of war propaganda, and the ideology behind the war.

* {{Adorkable}}: Hietanen gets all shy and clumsy when he meets pretty women.

* [[spoiler:{{Gorn}}: Gets a direct hit from ''a tank''.]]
* [[spoiler:{{Irony}}: Wishes for war. Dies immediately in the first battle.]]

* [[spoiler:HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Is cut in half by a grenade.]]

* [[spoiler:DrivenToSuicide: While it's nothing too apparent, as he keeps it all so well to himself, Koskela is actually heavily depressed for various reasons. In the end he all but [[SuicideMission commits a suicide]]. Or at least Rokka believes he did indeed consciously end his life by putting himself into a hopeless spot from where couldn't have been saved anymore.]]
* [[spoiler:DyingMomentOfAwesome: Dies destroying a tank with a satchel charge. However, it also doubles as SenselessSacrifice, as his last heroic deed fails to stop the Soviet assault and the positions are lost anyway.]]

* [[spoiler: DyingMomentOfAwesome: Spends his last minutes on earth to find his way out of a burning ambulance - blind! - and once out of it, not running for cover despite the enemy fire, but trying to help the others still inside the ambulance to get out of there.]]

* [[spoiler:EyeScream: Hietanen has both of his eyes torn out by a shrapnel and gets blinded.]]

* [[spoiler:AteHisGun: He's wounded fatally, paralyzed and left behind by his own into the dark, far away from any proper medical aid. For him there's only one question left: where's my rifle? Unfortunately for him, it's all two meters away from him, and he has to drag his tormented, paralyzed body to it with his hands. The pain of doing so is so great he passes out a number of times before he finally reaches the rifle. Once it's in his mouth, he ends his life without any regrets nor fear.]]

* [[spoiler:DarknessEqualsDeath: Is sent by Lammio deep into the darkness of the forest to look for a rifle platoon that was *supposed* to be there. He and his squad find nobody, only silent darkness full of threat. Sweat runs down his sides from the fear of it all, but his pride doesn't let him turn around and return to Lammio without any news. So he keeps walking further and further... only to walk straight into the enemy line and be shot.]]

* [[spoiler:DyingAlone / TogetherInDeath: The loneliness of his death is noted with horror by the other characters. However, unbeknown to him, Riitaoja had been very close, and they die at the same time. The others lay their bodies side by side and cover them with their greatcoats, and leave them to lie peacefully together in the forest.]]
* [[spoiler:{{Foreshadowing}}: Kaarna asks him, is he really willing to walk the whole road and live outside the herd, making himself an outlaw without the protection of law. Lehto answers that as long as they kill him without torture, he doesn't care. He is left behind by his comrades and dies in torturing pain, finding release only through his own hand.]]

* [[spoiler:DyingAlone / TogetherInDeath: Runs away in terror when Lehto is shot and gets separated from the others. He cowers miserably in fear behind a lonely barn, to gain comfort from this object made by other human being. Doing so he misses the others, who tried to look for him but couldn't find him, and so continue on without him, thinking he has returned to their own troops on his own. Riitaoja would indeed want to do so, but he had dropped the cartridge boxes while running, and doesn't dare to return to Lammio without them. So he, despite his terror, sneaks back into the dark forest, to where they were when the enemy opened fire. He hears Lehto's pained cries and tries to call out to him, but is shot as well. The others lay their bodies side by side and cover them with their greatcoats, and leave them to lie peacefully together in the forest.]]

* [[spoiler:BoomHeadshot: Justified, as he was otherwise in cover, and rose his head a bit too much to be able to aim better.]]
* [[spoiler:ForgottenFallenFriend: While the others had known him for over a year, after seeing his dead body and being terrified by it, the others never mention him again. The narrator however does bring his death up once later, in relation to the NewMeat joining the platoon. When Hauhia imagines to himself all the adventures the squad's machine gun has already seen, the narrator recalls back to the actual "adventures" it has been to, including Kaukonen's face hitting it as he dropped dead, to emphasize how naive and misguided Hauhia is.]]
* [[spoiler:SacrificialLamb: Narrator follows him and his thoughts during the first two battle scenes, more so than many of the characters that are going to survive the sequence. He is shown being part of the team and well familiar to the others . It's all to create a shock effect when he abruptly dies, and to illustrate that AnyoneCanDie.]]
* [[spoiler:WhatCouldHaveBeen: The other characters who survive the opening battle and get to have more scenes all prove to have very colourful, memorable personalities. It implies that perhaps all the people who die without getting to tell their stories would have been just as interesting to know.]]

* [[spoiler:SacrificialLamb: The story has seemingly calmed down as the war has slowed down into relatively quiet trench warfare of frozen fronts. Hauhia reminds of the severity of the situation, which only seems peaceful.]]
* [[spoiler:YounGun or TheGunfighterWannabe: We never find out which one he would have become, as he dies before he can really prove or disprove himself. He would really have wanted to grow into a heroic soldier, but his first mistake was his last.]]

* [[spoiler:PeacefulInDeath: He's said to be one of the most beautiful corpses the men have seen. Unlike most corpses, who are terrifying or nauseating, he looks like he was still alive, young and fair, with just [[DiesWideOpen a look of slight surprise on his face]], as if he was still wondering the revelation that he too is mortal.]]

* [[spoiler:WeHardlyKnewYe: Has no time to get characterization.]]

* [[spoiler:DyingMomentOfAwesome: Not so because he would have done something particularly awesome, simply because of how damn awesome he looked while dying. He's standing upright when an enemy machine gun shoots him through with eleven bullet - as many as a man can be hit with before he drops dead to the ground. It's said it's one of the most handsome deaths the men see.]]

* [[spoiler:AteHisGun: After being shot through the lung, far away from any field hospital or proper care, he suffers for many hours until finally ends his own life with Sihvonen's rifle.]]

* [[spoiler:BodyHorror: His lungs are punctured by bullets and he slowly drowns in his own blood.]]
* [[spoiler:ADeathInTheLimelight: He's a side character mentioned here and there during the story, but gets a long, memorable death sequence.]]

* [[spoiler:LastRequest: The dying Ukkola begs the others that once he's finished, they should try to [[DueToTheDead give him some kind of burial]] instead of just [[BodyHorror leaving his body to lie and rot under the open sky]]. Then upon a second thought, he reasons that it won't really matter. [[TearJerker They bury him anyway.]] ]]

* [[spoiler:OneLastSmoke: As he's being carried on a stretcher, slowly dying, he tells his friends who are carrying him that if he makes it, then they must all get drunk together one more time.]]

* [[spoiler:FamousLastWords: ''"Stop! Where is the man going?" "To Inari, to fuck wolves".'' BANG!]]

* [[spoiler:MakeAnExampleOfThem: When the battalion has collapsed into chaotic flight, Karjula first tries to command the men to StandYourGround. As it fails and everyone ignores him, Karjula shoots Viirilä dead as a "traitor" and threatens to do the same to everyone who doesn't obey.]]

* [[spoiler:WidowWoman: What she'll become.]]

* [[spoiler:YouShallNotPass: Stays behind to hold off the Soviet charge while the other Finns flee. When he runs out of ammo, he still tries to take the heavy machine gun and carry it so that it won't fall into the hands of the Soviets. This slows him down too much and he's shot.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: Only in his mind. He can't forget how he failed in fear during the first battle, and in every battle since then tries to prove himself again and again, as if to buy himself free from the memory of his shame. However, nobody else recalls back to that, and instead all consider him one of the bravest men in the battalion.

* TheLastStand: When the whole battalion is in mortal danger, its temporary new leader Kariluoto first leaves his old platoon, the 4th, into reserve. The men know it's because of their closer friendship to him. When all fails, Kariluoto finally calls the 4th into a final last attempt to assault the enemy and cut a way back to their own troops. [[spoiler:It fails, and Kariluoto dies together with the last remnants of the old guard.]]

* GenreSavvy: Always understands how to correctly react in each situation, whether it's an attack that gets nowhere, or the men seemingly being close to a mutiny. According to the narrator his intelligence isn't particularly swift or lively, but as he calmly considers everything, he without a fail comes to the correct conclusion. Plus he has learned everything in life firsthand through practice.

* BattleCry: Kariluoto once told that the Catcholic BattleCry in the 30 Years War was "Jesus Maria". Viirilä turns it into a "Jeesus Perkele", Perkele being one of the Finnish pagan gods whose name got adopted as one of the names for Satan after the Christianization.

* HandsomeLech: Handsome and always horny. Usually gets the girl, even if not always. Narrator believes his success is based on being pretty handsome, having curly hair, good singing voice and ability to endlessly sprout out sweet-nothings (though he's also shrewd enough to go for the ones that have no competition.)

* LackOfEmpathy: Death or suffering of others don't particularly interest Rahikainen. At best they open opportunities for him to profit. Even when everyone else is moved by the murder of the Soviet prisoner, Rahikainen simply makes absentminded jest about it. And while Hietanen brings food to the suffering civilians, Rahikainen abuses their misfortune by pimping them to the other soldiers in exchange for bread.

* RedOniBlueOni: The blue oni to both Hietanen and Kariluoto, who are emotional, passionate and extroverted.

* RedOniBlueOni: Red oni to Koskela.

* TheAce: Uncommonly good at his job, knows it and enjoys it. His superiority is so complete that the others don't even feel jealous - he's past that in another tier.

* TheWoobie: He's written to tug your heart strings, and it's what he does.

* ArousedByTheirVoice: Part of his sexyness is his beautiful singing voice. In fact, his voice is so appealing that even the other men like to listen to it. No one else is allowed to sing, as the tired, frustrated men are just looking for a reason to start an argument, but Rahikainen's singing is not only tolerated but enjoyed. He does get a few short singing scenes, and the songs he chooses are surprisingly beautiful and touching for someone like him.

* DirtyCoward: Mostly played straight, to the frustration of Hietanen who's tired of him not doing his job. When in a particularly dangerous situation Rahikainen is wasting bullets by shooting without aiming from behind a rock, almost straight to the clouds, Hietanen loses his temper badly enough that he almost stands up and goes to hit Rahikainen, before he remembers the battle around them. However, Rahikainen too can be brave if he's suitably motivated.

* LackOfEmpathy: Death and suffering of others doesn't particularly interest Rahikainen. Even when everyone else is moved by the murder of the Soviet prisoner, Rahikainen simply makes absentminded jest about it. At best they open opportunities for him to profit.

* OpportunisticBastard: Rahikainen lives in a world of constant new opportunities for making money or getting laid. It's not even only about the money and the sex itself. It's just that always having some new cunning plan in motion is his way to live.

* TheSlacker: Has turned the skill to get away with as little work as possible into art.

* SixthRanger: By the end of the novel the reader is forgiven for forgetting that Rokka wasn't always the centre-forward of the story. He arrives after the setting, the main characters, plot, mood and themes of the novel are already well established, and a number of memorable scenes have passed by. Once he steps into the half-platoon tent and the tale, he immediatelly takes the role of the mental leader of the group and firmly holds it from then on.
* SlasherSmile: When Lampinen sees the smiling, bloodied Rokka in the moon light of the killing fields, it seems to him that it's a demon laughing, not a human. The whole sequence - where Rokka kills all alone 50 Soviets - is unsettling, as if in an ugly dream. Rokka kills dozens of desperate crying people in cold blood, calmly calculating, with [[PsychoticSmirk a slight smile on his face]].
* TeamDad: Has a slightly patronizing and rough but also protective and guiding attitude towards the younger soldiers. After all, he ''is'' a father, and much older than the kids around him. He even says to [[NewMeat Hauhia]] "C'moon, your dad's gonna teach you how to war."
* WeaponOfChoice: [[CoolGun The Suomi submachine gun]]. Hilariously, Rokka gets it by literally yanking it out of Kariluoto's hands and commanding him to give it to him. Kariluoto is so confused by the bossy personality of this self-certain Corporal who appeared out of nowhere that he allows it to happen and even lets Rokka to order him around during the assault.

* HumblePie: Starts on the wrong leg with Rokka, put is forced to realize Rokka was right and he was wrong... does so humbly and wins Rokka's acceptance.

* OfficerAndAGentleman: Becomes like a combination of all the best qualities of the past officers in the story.

* TeamDad: Has a slightly patronizing and rough but also protective and guiding attitude towards the younger soldiers. After all, he ''is'' a father, and much older than the kids around him.
* WeaponOfChoice: [[CoolGun The Suomi submachine gun]]. Hilariously, Rokka gets it by literally taking it out of Kariluoto's hands and commanding him to give it to him. Kariluoto is so confused by the bossy personality of this self-certain Corporal who appeared out of nowhere that he allows it to happen and even lets Rokka to order him around during the assault.

* [[spoiler:PeacefulInDeath: He's said to be one of the most beautiful corpses the men have seen. Unlike most corpses, who are terrifying or nauseating, he looks like he was still alive, young and fair, with just [[DiesWideOpen a look of slight surprise on his face]], as he was still wondering about the revelation that he too is mortal.]]

Young teacher and a passionate communist from Petrozadovsk. Apparently an ethnic Karelian instead of ethnic Russian.

* DefrostingIceQueen
* DirtyCommunist: Averted

* TheIdealist

Young Russian children from Petrozadovsk. Aleksey and Tanya were orphaned when their father, a Russian soldier, died during the early phase of the Finnish assault into Soviet Union.

[[folder: Private Asumaniemi]]

19 years old private from Helsinki. Joins the platoon late in the war as fresh reinforcement.

* FearlessFool: He's bravery is at least partially due to his inability to understand that this game is deadly.
* FutureBadass: When he arrives to the platoon, full of enthusiasm, the others don't yet take him seriously.
* HotBlooded: ''"Where here are Russkies so I can kill them?"''
* {{Keet}}: Young and full of cheerful vigor.
* NewMeat: Joins the party late in the war.

[[folder: Private Hauhia]]

19 years old private who joins the platoon at the same time as Honkajoki.

* NaiveNewcomer: Has many naive false beliefs about war and soldiers, such as that war makes men brave.
* NewMeat: Joins the platoon at the same time as the much older, already experienced Honkajoki. The original platoon members consider him a child, even though they themselves are just a few olders than him.
* [[spoiler:SacrificialLamb: The story has seemingly calmed down as the war has slowed down into relatively quiet trench warfare of frozen fronts. Hauhia reminds of the severity of the situation, which only seems peaceful.]]
* [[spoiler:YounGun or TheGunfighterWannabe: We never find out which one he would have become, as he dies before he can really prove or disprove himself. He would really have wanted to grow into a heroic soldier, but his first mistake was his last.]]

Young officer from a right wing civil servant family background. At the beginning of the story he's a 20 years old student and a member of the Academic Karelia Society - an elitist, nationalist, quasi-fascist activist organization founded by the academics and students of the Helsinki University, that had great influence in the intellectual and military life of the day. Originally aspired to become a lawyer, but changes it to career in the army. Starts the war as a 2nd lieutenant, ranks up to captain. Is first the leader of the 4th platoon of the 3rd rifle company, later on gets promoted to the leader of the company. Fills in temporarily as the battalion leader [[spoiler:after Sarastie's death]].

Highest officer met during the story. Veteran of the Winter War. During the chaotic retreat phase in the summer of 1944, he is set to lead the new army group, army group Karjula, into which the main character's regiment is attached.

Middle-aged, experienced Jaeger officer and a veteran of the Aunus Expedition and the Winter War. The first leader of the machine gun company.

Young officer from Helsinki. In the beginning of the war he immediately, after the first battle, gets promoted from platoon leader to being the new company leader. Ranks up from Lieutenant to Major during the course of the story.

The runner first to Kaarna and then to Lammio. Young man from either Northern or Southern Savonia.

[[folder: Corporal Mäkilä]]

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: It's no hyperbole, the men utterly love Koskela. They take it to the point where they want him to have everything a little bit better than what they themselves get. Koskela in turn constantly tries to be just like any other member of the platoon and do the same and get the same as the others. When they build their dugout, Koskela would want to sleep in the bunk bed like the rest, but they demand that he must have a single bed of his own. Koskela is more successful in his demand that he too must take turns to wake up at nights to watch over the fire in the stove.
* AllThereInTheManual / HeroOfAnotherStory: His character opens up in quite a new way when one reads to ''Under the North Star'' trilogy. Also Linna's notes on the character explain him more, such as revealing that he suffers from unconscious inferiority complex - not because he wouldn't have faith in his own skills, but because he constantly fears he's not socially acceptable.

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Other officers initially mistake his somewhat clumsy and passive appearances for ineffectiveness. He turns out to be one of the best officers in the battalion.

* TheConfidant: Rokka's confidant of choice. Rokka speaks to him out of his concerns about the war's potential bad ending, and about what happened during the discussion between him, Sarastie and Lammio (despite the fact that Sarastie forbade him from telling absolutely anyone.)

Koskela's second-in-command, the vice-leader of the platoon, and the leader of the 1st half-platoon. Later on acts as the platoon leader when Koskela is away. Starts as Corporal ("Under-sergeant"). From the province of Finland Proper, near the city of Turku. Comes from a smallholding home.

The original leader of the 1st squad. From the city of Tampere. Used to work as an assisting hand on a truck.

* [[spoiler:DyingAlone / TogetherInDeath: Runs away in terror when Lehto is shot and gets separated from the others. He cowers miserably in fear behind a lonely barn, to gain comfort from this object made by other human being. Doing so he misses the others, who tried to look for him but couldn't find him, and so continue on without him, thinking he has returned to their own troops on his own. Riitaoja would indeed want to do so, but he had dropped the cartridge while running, and doesn't dare to return to Lammio without it. So he, despite his terror, sneaks back into the dark forest, to where they were when the enemy opened fire. He hears Lehto's pained cries and tries to call out to him, but is shot as well. The others lay their bodies side by side and cover them with their greatcoats, and leave them to lie peacefully together in the forest.]]

Originally shooter's assistant, later on the shooter of the 1st squad. First private, then corporal. Probably from Pirkanmaa or Tavastia Proper, based on his tavastian dialect.

Originally private, later on corporal. First the shooter, then the leader of the 2nd squad. From the northern Kainuu province.

* [[spoiler: KilledOffMidSentence: ]]

A Winter War veteran called from reserve to supplement the platoon after the first battles. Is first placed in the 2nd squad, but is given the leadership of the 1st squad after [[spoiler:Lehto's death]]. Rokka is originally from the Isthmus of Karelia, but lost his home farm and had to become an internal refugee with his family due to Karelia being lost to the Soviet Union in the Winter War. At least over 30 years old.

Veteran of the Winter War, who is called from reserve to supplement the platoon together with his childhood friend and neighbor Rokka. Originally from the Karelian Isthmus, where he was a farmer with wife and children. First joins the 2nd squad, is then moved to the 1st squad so that he could stay together with Rokka, who is made its leader.

* [[spoiler:ForgottenFallenFriend: While the others had known him for over a year, after seeing his dead body and being terrified by it, the others never mention him again. The narrator however does bring his death up twice later, in both cases in relation to the NewMeat joining the platoon. When Hauhia imagines to himself all the adventures the squad's machine gun has already seen, the narrator recalls back to the actual "adventures" it has been to, including Kaukonen's face hitting it as he dropped dead, to emphasize how naive and misguided Hauhia is. When Hauhia himself then dies and his NewMeat friends see his body, the narrator compares the emotions they go through to the experience the older soldiers had when they saw Kaukonen's body.]]

About 30 years old private from the town of Huittinen in the Satakunta province. Served first in another regiment, but after being wounded and spending time in military hospital, joins the 3rd platoon as supplement during the midsection of the war.

19 years old private from Helsinki. Joins the platoon late in the war as fresh supplement.

* AnyoneCanDie: Hah, there's zero plot armor for the heroes here.
* BadassCrew: Most of them are indeed {{Badass}}. Linna acknowledged that there's an unusual amount of unusually badass people in this platoon, but he said that if he has bent the reality a bit by collecting so many extraordinary soldiers into one small group, the thousands of men who died in the war deserve this kind of bending.

* SelfMadeMan: Officers typically came from higher social class than him. But despite his poor communist family background, and his low education, he manages to rise from the rank and file to officerdom thanks to his own personal merits.