The most precious period of our lives is those good old days of childhood, the memories of which we cling to for the rest of our lives. Being able to tell the stories of sweet childhood memories is an incredible feeling that maybe not all people have the privilege of. Some are so terribly traumatized in their childhood that they have no room for positive feelings other than hatred in their hearts. Coming face to face with the fact that one’s birth is the result of painful torture rather than love can destroy one’s emotional stability. Just like it did with Halina Krol’s psyche in the Netflix Polish thriller Detective Forst. This six-part Netflix series revolves around a series of gruesome murders taking place in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. All of these murders had a deep connection with the protagonist of the story, Wiktor Forst, who eventually uncovered the motive of the killer. Halina Krol, who is one of the major antagonists of the story, played a crucial role in this first season of the show.
Halina Krol was the director of an orphanage based in a mountain region of Poland. Despite having a tormented birth history and a childhood marred by the negligence of her father, Halina chose to run an orphanage where helpless kids could have shelter. Halina, however, was not at all a positive person. Her approach to raising a child focused on strict rules and regulations and physical punishment, but her intentions toward the children were not purely evil. Given her past, she only learned hatred against hatred, which motivated her to take the path of revenge, but she had no idea that her own plan could backfire one day.
Spoilers Ahead
What Was Halina Krol’s Real Identity?
During the time of WWII, the ethnic group named the Gorals in the region of Poland was subjected to torture and oppression by some of the affluent Nazi collaborators. These evil people destroyed their settlements, stole their valuable things, sexually abused the women in the community, and killed a great many people. They didn’t even hesitate to flaunt those heinous activities by taking a picture of the hanging deceased whom they had killed. When Forst and Olga came to the secret location of a historical foundation that archives all records of the Gorals, they found that one particular photo contained a horrific image of a couple hanging from a tree, and some of the murderous Nazi collaborators were standing near the tree like proud hunters. Among those people that a group of Nazi collaborators had assaulted and killed, one of the women became pregnant. The woman had been sexually assaulted by the leader of the group, Leon Lowotarski, who, as expected, didn’t take any responsibility for the child. The poor woman had an agonizing labor on the steps of the church and gave birth to her child, who was later named Halina Krol. Halina grew up with a burning fire inside her heart, and when she eventually learned her father’s identity, she sought revenge against him.
During the time when she was supervising the orphanage, she was harsh to children, especially to Iwo and Forst when they were both little kids. Iwo and Forst grew to become best friends, and one day, out of curiosity, they sneaked into Halina’s room and stole an Aureus coin necklace from her drawer. This could have been easily forgiven by Halina, but she intended to punish the two boys. Iwo took the blame, saving Forst from the punishment, but as he got beaten up badly, Iwo wasn’t able to forgive Forst so easily. After Forst was adopted by a family, Iwo’s rage escalated to the point that he almost became a psychopathic maniac. Taking advantage of Iwo’s rage, Halina tried to utilize Iwo in her own mission to kill all those Nazi collaborators’ families. Instead of guiding Iwo to be a gentleman or a kindhearted person, she pushed him into an abyss of hatred and darkness that ruined Iwo’s mental positivity. Halina made sure that almost all of the descendants of the Nazi collaborators would die a dog’s death, but she never realized that she was also one of them, which could someday backfire on her.
How Did Halina Die?
Halina was one of the most respected and significant figures in the area, which helped her form a friendly relationship with the authorities. When Forst began to look into the murders taking place, Halina contacted Chief Osica, asking him to remove Forst from the case. Her request could have raised suspicion in Osica’s mind, but it also suggested that Halina was a powerful individual who had a little bit of control over authority. Or, maybe, she had a great bond with Osica, who was aware of the sufferings Halina had been through, which led him to fulfill Halina’s request by going against his morality.
Halina knew Forst would soon unravel the mystery and confront her in her orphanage, so she was already prepared for the meeting. As Forst faced her, demanding answers for her murderous rampage, she simply opened the door, allowing Iwo to come in. However, she didn’t know that by trusting a maniac like Iwo, she was actually digging her own grave. Iwo not only felt vengeful toward Forst, but he had rage against his mother figure, Halina, who was also a product of the Nazi collaborators. Iwo knew that despite the fact that Halina hated them, she wasn’t any different from them, as she was also someone who was thirsty for blood. Therefore, to her shock, Iwo pulled the trigger and killed Halina first. Halina’s journey ended in Detective Forst season 1 when a bullet was put inside her head. There’s no way we can anticipate her return in the upcoming season. However, the real antagonist of the series, Iwo Elijah, who was still alive, may make his comeback in the upcoming season, along with his seemingly new accomplice, Olga, who’d probably change the entire course of the story, introducing a new one that will explain why Olga chose to run away from Nina’s place, taking the murderer with her.
