Gettlinge is a striking but exposed place on Öland, where an ancient stone formation, a steep edge, and the bleak landscape around it become the setting for Pirjo Abanshamash Dumuzi’s attempt to kill Wanda Phinn. The visit is presented as a chance to see one of Atu Abanshamash Dumuzi’s favorite places. For Pirjo, however, the site’s physical features make it a carefully chosen trap: a deserted edge from which she hopes to send Wanda tumbling down the slope.

Setting and Landscape

Gettlinge is associated with a protected stone landscape whose outline resembles a ship. Wanda also notices an old mill and asks whether the site is a place where Vikings are buried. Pirjo nods, but the scene does not establish that the formation is a burial site. Its stones and shape instead give the visit an unmistakably ancient appearance, which Pirjo draws attention to as she invites Wanda to look around.

The site’s danger lies in its terrain as much as its antiquity. Pirjo considers its cliff steep enough to make it the best available place to push Wanda, although she cannot drive Pirjo’s scooter directly to the edge and force Wanda over from the seat. Gettlinge therefore offers no effortless or concealed method: Pirjo must bring Wanda close to the drop and use the landscape itself to make a fall appear possible.

The surrounding view opens onto contrasting terrain. From the high ground, Pirjo points toward cultivated fields in the lowlands and toward settlements along the shores of the Kalmar Strait. Across the highway lies Stora Alvaret, described in the scene as bleak moorland; the area around Gettlinge is also barren, flat, and deserted. The contrast between cultivated land and exposed ground makes the overlook visually expansive while leaving the immediate site isolated.

A Visit with a Concealed Purpose

Pirjo frames the stop as an excursion tied to Atu. She says that Gettlinge is one of his favorite places and suggests he may be there that day, while making clear that his presence is not certain. Wanda accepts the explanation, appreciates the stop, and responds positively to the scenery. The visit thus begins as an apparently thoughtful gesture rather than an overt confrontation.

Pirjo also turns the view into a lesson about Öland’s past. She points across the highway to Stora Alvaret and tells Wanda that it had been fertile pasture less than a hundred years earlier, but that harsh use and grazing had stripped it. She connects that account to the inhabitants’ inability to cooperate: in her telling, many eventually had to leave to escape starvation. These remarks give Pirjo a reason to keep Wanda looking outward and listening. While Wanda remains calm, Pirjo judges that the empty roadside offers the opportunity she needs.

The Attempt at the Edge

Pirjo draws Wanda toward the edge and turns her to face the landscape across the highway. As she continues speaking, she grabs Wanda’s arm, then pulls vigorously while striking Wanda’s lower back with her hip. The assault is sudden, but its setting has been prepared through the ostensibly pleasant tour: Wanda is at the edge, facing away from Pirjo, and the highway is deserted.

At first, the maneuver works as Pirjo intends. Wanda’s upper body tips backward and her free arm flails; she steps back without finding firm footing. Pirjo expects her to fall down among vegetation, stumps, and large rocks, where the tumble could prove fatal. She has also brought a spade, leaving herself another means to finish the attack if the fall does not kill Wanda.

The outcome reverses the intended arrangement. Wanda does fall, but instinctively catches Pirjo around the waist as she loses her balance. Rather than sending Wanda down alone, Pirjo is pulled with her. The two descend the slope intertwined, their legs striking tree trunks. Gettlinge changes from a chosen vantage point into a shared danger: Pirjo’s attempt to control the terrain and Wanda’s fall collapses into one uncontrolled plunge.

Narrative Significance

Gettlinge’s scenic and historical character gives Pirjo’s deception its cover. She presents the stop as an opportunity to visit a place associated with Atu and to admire an ancient landscape; the same openness that makes the site suitable for sightseeing also leaves Wanda exposed at the edge. Pirjo’s account of past hardship and failed cooperation further directs Wanda’s attention outward while concealing the immediate threat.

The location’s role is ultimately defined by the gap between Pirjo’s plan and what the terrain produces. She chooses a steep, deserted place because she expects a fall to dispose of Wanda without witnesses, and she treats the spade as a backup. But Wanda’s reflexive grip turns a one-sided attack into a fall that endangers both women. The episode leaves the site associated not simply with ancient stones and a wide view, but with the sudden failure of Pirjo’s attempt to make the landscape obey her.