Man muss sich für eine Seite entscheiden.

“Man muss sich für eine Seite entscheiden” is a recurring expression about loyalty under pressure. First spoken by Jussi Kolkka to explain why a person may remain loyal even while feeling used, it returns in Harry Hole’s response to the possibility that he chose Kaja Solness over Kolkka when Kolkka might still have been saved.

Kolkka’s Explanation of Loyalty

Kolkka’s statement follows an account of unreturned attraction and fear. He says he found a woman beautiful and thought she might like him; after he placed a hand on her breast, she did not resist, which he understands as a sign that she was afraid. He then turns to loyalty: a person, he says, is loyal to the one who pulled him out of trouble, even when he feels exploited. Choosing a side, in this account, is less an uncomplicated declaration of trust than an obligation shaped by dependence.

Harry’s Choice

The expression acquires a harsher meaning when the circumstances of Kolkka’s death are raised with Harry. The wounds on Kolkka’s neck and palms are described as consistent with ski-pole injuries, and the bleeding from his neck suggests that his heart was still beating when he was wounded. The speaker confronting Harry argues that it should have been possible to dig out someone still alive, but that Harry made Kaja his priority.

The Phrase Returned

Harry does not contest the accusation in the exchange. Instead, he says he thinks Kolkka was right, repeats that a person must choose a side, and pours the rest of his coffee into the snow. What had been Kolkka’s explanation of loyalty becomes, in Harry’s mouth, an acknowledgment of a choice with potentially fatal consequences. The repetition links allegiance to action: choosing one person also means leaving another without the same claim on one’s attention.