Oystein Eikeland's Unsteady Support

Oystein Eikeland remains Harry Hole's irreverent companion through grief, relapse, and farewell, offering imperfect loyalty that keeps Harry connected to an ordinary human life.

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The Friend from Oppsal

The Friend from Oppsal An old companionship Oystein Eikeland has known Harry Hole since their youth in Oppsal. Their friendship grew in a period when neither had many other companions, and their shared memories include skipped school, the wartime bunkers, music, parties, and the long awkward passage into adulthood. Oystein's irreverence can make him seem unserious, but he is one of the few people who can speak to Harry without treating him as a legend or a case. Their familiarity allows jokes to carry affection even when neither man says so directly. A flawed bond Oystein's own life includes heavy drinking and disappointment, and he does not offer a clean model of stability. Yet he remains reachable, willing to drive Harry, listen, or sit beside him without demanding a polished explanation. The friendship's value lies in its persistence rather than perfection. Oystein and Harry share a history that predates police work, fame, and the personal losses that have narrowed Harry's world.

A Ride Home

A Ride Home The familiar driver After returning from Hong Kong, Harry calls Oystein to ask for a ride to the family home in Oppsal. Oystein accepts despite complaining, then fills the journey with stories about old friends and the ways they used to avoid ordinary social life. Their humor briefly restores an earlier rhythm. Harry can be quiet without needing to explain every silence, while Oystein keeps talking around the grief until Harry is ready to say that Olav Hole is seriously ill. News carried between generations Oystein responds with genuine respect for Harry's father and promises to tell his own father. The exchange reveals that Olav's decency reached beyond his immediate family and helped shape how Oystein understands care. The ride does not resolve Harry's shame about visiting Olav, but it gives him a witness to the truth of their shared past. Oystein helps bring Harry home, both physically and emotionally, without claiming to know how to fix him.

The Friend Who Checks

The Friend Who Checks A fear behind the jokes As Harry spirals into heavy drinking and stops answering his phone, Oystein becomes concerned that his friend may have harmed himself. He calls repeatedly and finally reaches Harry, who asks for a ride rather than offering a reassuring explanation. Oystein's blunt humor continues, but the fear is real. He knows Harry's patterns well enough to recognize that disappearance may signal danger rather than a preference for solitude. Showing up imperfectly Oystein drives Harry to meet Kaja Solness even while complaining about being treated like a taxi. The act is modest and practical: he gets Harry where he needs to go, without turning his concern into a lecture. This support does not prevent Harry's relapse, nor can Oystein control what Harry does next. It does, however, keep open a human connection that Harry might otherwise sever while he is ashamed of himself.

A Visit to Olav

A Visit to Olav The visit deferred When Harry suggests that Oystein visit Olav Hole, Oystein initially jokes that hospitals make him ill and that Olav may not know he is there. Harry's reply reveals that the visit matters at least as much to the living visitor as to the unconscious patient. Oystein admits that he received much of his own upbringing from Olav because his father was unreliable. This makes the visit a way to acknowledge a relationship that shaped him even though he is not part of Harry's family. A quiet act of gratitude Oystein says he will go, a small decision that reflects the influence Olav had on the people around him. Later, he visits the hospital with chocolate for Søs Hole rather than pretending it can comfort Olav. His gesture is characteristic of him: irreverent, concrete, and directed toward someone who can receive it. Through Oystein, the novel shows how a person's care can continue to affect others after that person can no longer speak.

Friendship at the Bunkers

Friendship at the Bunkers Returning to an old place After the funeral, Harry meets Oystein at the bunkers above Oslo. The place carries the history of their adolescence, when the two of them and their friend Holzschuh waited for life to begin and found a view that made their small world feel expansive. Oystein's birthday gives the meeting an ordinary occasion, but the conversation turns to regret, their fathers, and the choices they cannot revise. Their joking manner softens the exchange without hiding its sadness. A promise of another try Harry speaks about having failed to respond properly to a loved one's request and hopes that people can learn to behave differently next time. Oystein is skeptical, but he remains beside him through the conversation and shares the silence afterward. The thread ends without a cure for either man's habits. It offers something less certain but more credible: friendship as repeated presence, and the possibility that an imperfect person may still make a better choice in the future.

Before Harry returns from Hong Kong

On Harry's first night back in Oslo

During Harry's relapse after the case turns against him

After Harry's father enters a coma

After Olav Hole's funeral