Pirjo’s Rise and Collapse
The Hanging GirlThis thread traces Pirjo’s rise from an abandoned child to the academy’s powerful administrator, and the jealousy that ultimately destroys her.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
Bearing strength in each eventdecreasingA Childhood of Resentment
Rejected at Home
Unequal Treatment
Pirjo grows up in a struggling family kiosk, believing her parents favor her younger sisters and deny her ordinary care.
Flight
After abuse and humiliation, she leaves home, carrying an enduring fear of being replaceable and a desire to control her own future.
Meeting Frank
A Different Path
Spiritual Experiment
In Copenhagen, Pirjo meets Frank, who offers an alternative to the drugs and instability surrounding her.
Celibate Partnership
She helps him explore spiritual systems, hoping their intimacy will eventually become mutual desire.
Building Atu’s World
The Vestal’s Work
A Shared Enterprise
Pirjo helps Frank develop the persona of Atu, organize courses, and establish the academy’s routines and hierarchy.
Deferred Desire
Her growing influence brings responsibility and status, but not the reciprocal romantic life she continues to want.
Pregnancy and Possession
A Longed-For Heir
Pregnancy Revealed
After finally sleeping with Atu, Pirjo becomes pregnant and interprets the child as confirmation of her place in his future.
Rivalries Intensify
Her desire to protect the pregnancy and secure her position turns her treatment of other women into increasingly dangerous control.
A Fatal Misunderstanding
The End of Control
Attacking the Investigators
Pirjo imprisons and electrocutes Carl and Assad, convinced she is protecting Atu and the academy.
Death and Recognition
After learning that Atu denies killing Alberte, she realizes her certainty may have been false; she dies after severe bleeding and pregnancy loss.
Pirjo’s youth in Finland
Early adulthood
After Frank adopts his new identity
December 2013–May 2014
May 16, 2014
