Character Relationship Map: Beyond Sleep

Characters

• Alfred (played by Reinout Scholten van Aschat) — protagonist
• Arne (played by Pål Sverre Hagen) — supporting
• Father of Alfred (played by Jakop Ahlbom) — supporting
• Mikkelsen (played by Anders Baasmo Christiansen) — supporting
• Qvigstad (played by Thorbjørn Harr) — supporting

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Alfred → Father of Alfred (Family Son) — Alfred's expedition is symbolically linked to his father through the compass.

  Alfred carries a compass connected to his father, establishing a direct familial connection between them.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Mikkelsen → Qvigstad (Alliance Expedition Colleague) — They are connected through the expedition's collective movement.

  Mikkelsen and Qvigstad are introduced among the expedition members accompanying Alfred and Arne.

• Arne → Qvigstad (Alliance Expedition Colleague) — Their connection comes from shared participation in the expedition.

  Both Arne and Qvigstad are identified as members of the expedition moving through the Norwegian wilderness.

• Arne → Mikkelsen (Alliance Expedition Colleague) — They belong to the same exploratory group before it separates.

  Arne and Mikkelsen are both presented as members of the expedition discussing the landscape and larger questions about existence.

• Alfred → Qvigstad (Alliance Expedition Colleague) — Their relationship is defined by participation in the same expedition.

  Qvigstad is introduced as one of the members of the expedition traveling with Alfred.

• Alfred → Mikkelsen (Alliance Expedition Companion) — They initially share the same scientific journey.

  Mikkelsen is introduced as part of the expedition with Alfred and the other explorers.

• Alfred → Arne (Alliance Expedition Companion) — They function as companions during the expedition's final and most uncertain phase.

  Alfred meets Arne during the expedition, and they later remain together while traveling south and trying to calculate their position.

Story Analysis

A wilderness expedition gradually dissolves into scientific suspicion, philosophical uncertainty, separation, and unresolved disorientation.

Plot Progression

1. Crater Theory In The Wilderness — Alfred arrives in the Norwegian wilderness and joins Arne, Mikkelsen, and Qvigstad. Arne's crater theory and the disappearance of the aerial photographs establish the expedition's scientific uncertain...
2. Measured Steps And Metaphysical Questions — The explorers move through remote terrain by counting steps and calculating distance. Their practical journey expands into debates about death, religion, suffering, monuments, and sacrifice.
3. The Photographs Become Suspicious — Alfred grows increasingly troubled by the missing aerial photographs. Material from an elderly professor leads him to suspect that Mikkelsen may possess them.
4. Warnings And Silent Separation — A warning links the photographs and stones to a supposedly interested Dutchman. The expedition then fractures when some members leave north without saying goodbye.
5. Lost Between Two Compasses — Alfred and Arne travel south, exhausted and disoriented. Their final argument over the compasses ends with Arne's admission but provides no meaningful certainty or closure.