# Ingrid — Short Fiction character guide

> Ingrid in Short Fiction by Selma Lagerlöf.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** VI Ingrid, Miss Ingrid

**First appearance:** 0001-short-fiction

## Snapshot

An old Mamsell whose quiet charity and cry for freedom transformed the fate of countless despised women, remembered by the dead as a queen.

## Who they are

Ingrid moves through these stories as a figure of moral gravity — the kind of woman whose small daily kindnesses ripple outward until they reshape whole communities. Her defining tension is between humility and the enormous, almost legendary influence she has wielded: she forbids the ghosts to praise her, yet her name has sounded through the new and old world. She matters because she embodies the collection's recurring question of how ordinary lives become extraordinary through love rather than power.

## Relationships

### [Gunnar Hede](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/characters/gunnar_hede)

_romantic_

Gunnar Hede is deeply in love with Ingrid, but their relationship is strained by his mental instability and her fear.

### [Gunnar Hede](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/characters/gunnar_hede)

_romantic_

Gunnar Hede is deeply in love with Ingrid, but their relationship is strained by his mental instability and her fear.

### [Gunnar Hede](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/characters/gunnar_hede)

_romantic_

Gunnar Hede is deeply in love with Ingrid, but their relationship is strained by his mental instability and her fear.

## In the story

### [Short Fiction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/short-fiction)

Appears in multiple stories, often as a central figure in romantic or familial conflicts.

### [His Mother's Portrait](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/his-mother-s-portrait)

The plain daughter of the poorest fisherman, who becomes Mattsson's wife; she secretly loves a young fisherman.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/i)

The serious young girl who leads the blind old man; she scrutinizes Hede and asks him to play a waltz from Freischütz.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/ii)

Hede's fiancée who refuses to wait for him after his financial loss and disapproves of his peasant appearance.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/iii)

The young girl who is buried alive but remains conscious; she is visited by an angel and revived by love.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/iv)

Buried alive, Ingrid awakens in her coffin, terrified and grateful to the Dalar man for saving her. She persuades him to hide her in his pack.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/v)

Flees to Anna Stina's house after feeling unloved and unworthy of life; experiences feverish dreams of her student.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/vi)

Weak and weary from her journey, she is determined to reach Munkhyttan to help Hede, despite her own fragile state.

### [The Peace of God](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/the-peace-of-god)

The girl making birch whisks, who is afraid of Ingmar Ingmarson but is reassured by his gentle response.

### [The Girl from the Marsh Croft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/the-girl-from-the-marsh-croft)

The girl from the marsh croft, central to the chapter's narrative of struggle and resilience.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/i)

The plaintiff, a poor farmer's daughter, who sues for child support and ultimately withdraws her suit to prevent the defendant's perjury.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/characters/ingrid
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/characters