Eric Timeline and Summary

A Long, Long Time Ago

Eirikr is the king of a Scandinavian island. He has lived a very long time because he's fond of drinking from a special flower. He's also had three wives, but no children. Wonder why…
Trouble comes when, for three years straight, crops refuse to grow on the island. Eirikr's people are slowly starving to death.
They try sacrificing animals and even other men on a stone table, but nothing has worked. Bummer.
Eirikr decides that the only thing left to do is to offer himself as a sacrifice. Whoa.
As the moment of death approaches, Eirikr tells his queen that he's not actually going to die—he's going to live seven lifetimes, in fact, and she can tag along if she wants to.

Eirik and his twin sister, Melle, watch as their father returns home from a successful Viking trip.
He's also brought home a stranger, whom they soon find out is actually their uncle.
Or maybe he's their father…. Uncle Tor claims that he was actually the one who fathered Eirik and his sister. The plot thickens.
After Tor is killed in a fight, strange things start happening in the village: Animals wind up dead, then people.
Eirik and Melle are terrified because the person causing all this mayhem is Tor. He wants his children back and he doesn't care who he has to go through to get them.
When the killings show no signs of stopping, Eirik gets up in the middle of the night and goes to find Tor.
The two walk back to his grave and lie there—Tor hugging his son (or his nephew) for all eternity.

A wealthy and beautiful young woman named Erika falls in love with another young woman named Merle. Scandal ensues.
When Merle's father forbids the two women from being together, Erika commits suicide at sea and is buried in a grave on the island.

The ghost of Erika disguises herself as a nanny and tells bedtime stories to two rambunctious twins.
One night, she tells the story of her forbidden love for Merle, but changes up the genders a bit. Erika becomes Erik, a poor fisherman.

Eric Carlsson lives in a church-like house on Blessed Island.
He yells at a young girl who trespasses on his property. Later, the same girl leaves apples at his doorstep, which he takes and eats.
One day, Eric falls in his home and is found by the young girl whose name is Merle.
Merle and her mother visit with Eric and bring him food almost every day.
Eric tells them the story of his life. He grew up in poverty, but became a famous painter; he had a lovely wife and three beautiful daughters, but his wife died during childbirth.
After her death, Eric stopped painting.
But for the last year, he has been painting again. It's a work about legends and sacrifice, which he calls Midwinterblood.
Representatives from the Swedish National Museum come to consider Eric's painting, but they refuse to take it for the museum's collection.
Eric writes to Merle and her mother to tell them the news.
He adds one final touch to his painting—an image of Merle holding an apple—before dying in his own home, broken-hearted after the rejection of his masterpiece.

Erik discovers that an airman with the Royal Navy has crashed on his farm.
He takes the man, named David, back to his home, where he is cared for by Erik's family.
But Erik hates having David around and frequently argues with his family about the airman's presence in the house.
Erik really soured on the war when his daughter was killed by a bomb dropped from a plane a few years ago. David's presence also puts the whole family in danger.
When enemy soldiers start coming over to the island to hunt for David, Erik burns his clothes and equipment.
He fights with David as the airman tries to retrieve a picture from his burning jacket pocket—it's a photo of David's daughter, Merle.
When the family hears word of a naval rescue for David, Erik helps him get to the shore and offers his boat as a way to escape.
Erik runs out into the night and is shot by enemy soldiers so that David can escape in the rowboat undetected.

Sixteen-year-old Eric watches an archeological dig every day in the meadow near his home.
When the head archeologist, Edward, has trouble deciding where to dig, Eric suggests checking on a certain mound.
Eric watches as the team uncovers an old Viking grave with two bodies inside.
Later, he picks up an old WWII bomb and throws it in the ocean, saving the life of one of the digging crew.
When everyone is safe, Eric remarks to Edward that he couldn't have died while getting rid of the bomb, since he's not quite the last.

Eric Seven arrives on Blessed Island. He is a journalist who's there to write a story about how the residents of this island never seem to grow old.
He runs into a woman named Merle whom he instantly falls in love with. He also sees an old man named Tor, whom he instantly dislikes.
Eric investigates the island and tries to look for a weird flower called the dragon orchid, but eventually loses track of his mission when he starts drinking lots of the tea that they brew there. So delicious.
One night, he wakes up with liquid in his mouth and finally remembers what he was supposed to be doing.
He heads for the western half of the island, where he believes the dragon orchid grows.
There, in a church-like house, he sees a huge painting, which depicts a king's sacrifice.
He is seized by Tor and some islander and forced onto a stone table to be killed—just like King Eirikr.
Suddenly, Eric remembers that he has done all this before. He's lived seven lives and been seven different people. This is his final go round.
Merle appears and asks for the knife, but instead of killing Eric, she frees him and they run off toward the shore.
But Eric and Merle are captured once again and dragged back to the stone table.
There, Eric tells Merle to remember the perfect moments they have shared in their lifetimes together.
Eric is killed alongside Merle, but his journey with her keeps on going even past death.