Rikki Stormgren Character Analysis

Stormgren is the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the only liaison between the Overlords and humanity during the first years of the Overlords’ occupation of Earth. He meets weekly with the Overlord Karellen and forms a friendship with him, even though he has never seen his physical appearance except for a brief glimpse of him exiting a room during their last meeting. Even so, Stormgren is convinced that the Overlords are benevolent and a benefit to humanity. He works with Karellen to aid the Overlords’ plans and defends Karellen’s name and reputation when confronted by individuals who resent the Overlords, namely the Freedom League. Stormgren shows that, although the Overlords are alien and somewhat dictatorial, they are also benevolent and work to make humanity prosper. Even so, they are secretive, a fact that eventually frustrates Stormgren when he realizes that Karellen is using him as a pawn. However, after Stormgren concocts a scheme with Duval and catches a brief glimpse of Karellen—which he suspects Karellen has allowed him to see—he understands the Overlords’ reticence to reveal themselves to humanity just yet, since they look like exactly like the mythological picture of the Devil. Stormgren believes that humanity is not yet ready to see this and not be horrified, nor would it be until Stormgren’s generation, the first to live under the Overlords, has died off. Stormgren thus takes what he has seen to his grave.