Gado identifies the Birdman character as "Bergman's ironic inversion" of "The Magic Flute", with Johan stating the Birdman is likely related to the "Magic Flute" character Papageno. According to Gado, the Birdman represents "corruptive self-knowledge and a 'natural' evil seated in childhood sexuality". Thomas identifies the character Lindhorst as Johan's Birdman. Other writers have found parallels to E. T. A. Hoffmann's "The Golden Pot". These include the character names Lindhorst, Heerbrand and Veronica. Gado argues the film's Veronica is more analogous to Hoffmann's character Serpentina than to the literary Veronica, but that the book recognizes Veronica and Serpentina as both being part of "a double image of Woman". Gado adds that, like the book's Veronica and Serpentina, in the film, "Veronica is Alma inverted".