The Mercies

Absalom works with pleasure on a list. His excitement lasts into the night, when he has sex with Ursa. He says he wants sons from Ursa, but Ursa now understands that she can never like him and doesn’t want to bear his children.

The next morning, Absalom and a group of strange men arrest Frau Olufsdatter for possessing poppets. Toril and Sigfrid will testify that Olufsdatter is a witch. Ursa runs to Maren’s house, where she discovers that Diinna escaped the night before. Maren accuses her mother of knowing about Toril’s accusations and of not caring about Diinna, the mother of her own grandson.

Maren is distressed, so Ursa pulls her outside, intending to take her to her own home. However, as they approach Ursa’s, house, they see a crowd gathered around Kirsten. Absalom’s men arrest Kirsten when Maren’s mother, Sigfrid, and Toril point to her and accuse her of being a witch.

The women of Vardø gather around Kristen; all but Maren and Ursa raise their arms and point at her. Later, Maren and Ursa gently kiss as Ursa comforts Maren in her home. Ursa offers Maren sanctuary with her family in Bergen. They then search Kirsten’s house to dispose of any incriminating objects, such as her runestones.

Returning to Ursa’s home, Ursa and Maren drink beer and hold one another. They are interrupted by Absalom’s men, who have arrived to move Ursa’s belongings into Frau Olufsdatter’s house, the finest house in Vardø. Maren refuses to return to her mother’s home, and they decide to ask Absalom to move Maren into Ursa’s now-empty house.

Maren confronts Pastor Kurtsson about the arrests. He will not testify against the two arrested women but will also not stand up for them, saying he leaves their fate in God’s hands.

Maren moves into Ursa’s former house. She has not spoken to her mother for a month. Frau Olufsdatter confesses to being a witch under torture. Kirsten refuses to confess, so the men plan on ducking her—tying her up, blindfolding her, and throwing her into the sea. If she floats, she will be found guilty.

Though Maren knows it will be traumatic, she attends Kirsten’s ducking to show her support for her friend. Ursa is not permitted to attend. The Lensmann publicly accuses Kirsten of using witchcraft to cause the storm that killed the men of Vardø two years earlier. The men tie up Kirsten and throw her into the water. She bobs to the surface of the sea. People travel from all over Finnmark to watch the trial of the first two Norwegian women found guilty of witchcraft.

Ursa worries that she is pregnant. Absalom has been kinder to her since the successes of his trials, and Ursa feigns affection to keep herself and Maren safe from the inquisition. At Kirsten’s trial, the official accusations include absurd stories of Kirsten visiting and consorting with Satan; Kirsten has “confessed” to these charges, so the lensmann sentences her to death by burning.

Ursa tells Maren the news. Maren wonders about the storm that killed the men of Vardø and how incredible and rare it was; one of the charges that Kirsten confessed to involved causing the storm. Ursa assures Maren that Kirsten only confessed under torture and says that her only testimony at the trial was the word “nobody,” indicating that no other women worked with her in witchcraft.

The next day, Frau Olufsdatter is also sentenced to death by burning.

Ursa and Maren attend the burnings together. Kristen’s is slow, and Ursa is chilled to hear Sigfrid and Toril cry out at Kristen, encouraging her to breathe deeply so the smoke can choke her before the fire burns her. As Kirsten’s body sinks down, the crowd moves towards her, and Maren runs away.

Ursa runs a bath for Maren in Maren’s new house. They kiss, and then Ursa joins her in the bath. Maren touches Ursa to climax—a physical and emotional connection that neither woman imagined but both have always wanted.

Maren wakes first and dresses. Her mother finds her at their old house to tell her that Frau Olufsdatter accused Maren of being a witch before her execution. Her mother cries out that they had all been wrong about witchcraft in Vardø but that now it’s too late. Maren decides to run away with Ursa and hurries back to her, but Absalom stands beside Ursa, waiting for Maren.

After Maren and Ursa left the tub the night before, Absalom returned home but Ursa refused him sex. She followed him to Maren’s house, where he informed Ursa of Maren’s impending arrest and asked Ursa why her yellow dress was on the floor of Maren’s bathroom. That is when Maren walked into the room.

Maren tells him that she has Ursa’s dress because she was going to wash it. Absalom accuses Maren of bewitching his wife and attempts to drown her in the tub. Ursa strikes Absalom over the head with a rolling pin, and he falls headfirst into the tub and drowns, unable to lift himself out of the water because of his injury. Maren instructs Ursa to return to her house. It could take people days to find Absalom’s body, giving Maren time to run away. Without her husband, Ursa is free to return to her family in Bergen. Ursa wants to run away with Maren, but Maren insists it will be easier if she stays behind. Ursa tells Maren she loves her, but Maren refuses to say it back.

Maren takes the rolling pin, Ursa’s yellow dress, and the money she earned helping Ursa in the house. She runs to the headland. Maren throws the pin into the sea and puts on Ursa’s dress. Then she heads for the low mountain.