Aatami Korpi

In late 1944, during the Lapland War, prospector **Aatami Korpi** lived alone with only his horse and his faithful dog in the remote wilderness of Lapland. Aatami spent his days panning and mining in search of gold. After uncovering a rich deposit, he collected a hefty amount of gold nuggets and mounted his horse, heading for the nearest town with his dog in tow.

Along the way, Aatami encountered a 30-man German platoon led by ruthless SS Obersturmführer Bruno Helldorf and his subordinate Wolf, who were destroying settlements in their retreat and had taken several women captive. Bruno took little interest in Aatami, letting him pass. Aatami was soon accosted by a second group of soldiers who discovered his saddlebags full of gold and prepared to execute him and his dog, but he swiftly killed them all. Alerted by the gunfire, Bruno investigated and discovered the carnage. He found one of Aatami’s gold nuggets, taken by one of the dying soldiers.

Bruno and his tank pursued Aatami to the edge of a minefield, where Aatami's horse was obliterated by a mine. Gathering up his gold, Aatami intentionally detonated another mine to make his escape. The soldiers sent after him were quickly claimed by the minefield. Two of the captive women were ordered ahead to ensure a clear path. One of the captives, Aino, volunteered to take one of the other woman's place and lead the way.

Retrieving Aatami's dog tag, Bruno learned that he was once a Finnish commando who lost his family and home fighting against the Russians during the Winter War. Left with nothing, the vengeful Aatami became a legendary "one-man death squad" nicknamed Koschei, meaning "The Immortal". Bruno ignored the warning, defying orders to turn around and cease following Aatami.

Wounded and exhausted, Aatami was awakened by the platoon's approach. With the soldiers' dogs on his trail, he hung underneath one of the German vehicles and punctured the fuel tank, dousing himself in gasoline to hide his scent. When the platoon halted to inspect the leak, Aatami fled, holding the dogs at bay by lighting himself on fire before diving into a nearby lake. Waiting for him to surface, Bruno sent soldiers into the lake, but Aatami slit their throats underwater and breathed in the escaping air from their necks. Aatami reached the other side of the lake, but Bruno found his dog.

Aatami discovered the town had been left in burning ruins by the Germans, and took shelter in a petrol station. Bruno sent Aatami's dog to find his master, with a lit grenade attached to his collar. Aatami saved the dog but was subdued by the explosion. Bruno, Wolf, and tank driver Schütze hanged Aatami from the petrol station's sign, taking the gold and leaving him for dead, but Aatami hooked his wounds onto protruding rebar, saving him from the noose. A pair of German pilots landed in search of fuel. Aatami killed one and knocked the other unconscious.

Unwilling to face the consequences of Germany's impending defeat, Bruno intended to use the gold to escape with Wolf and Schütze, arranging for a pilot to fly them to safety while the rest of the platoon made their way to Norway. Meanwhile, Aatami forced the surviving pilot to fly him towards the platoon. Soon, the soldiers discovered the airplane crashed in their path, with the pilot hanged by the same noose Wolf used on Aatami. As the convoy continued, Aatami climbed on and armed the captured women. He and Aino commandeered one of the trucks, allowing him to leap onto Bruno's tank while the women gunned down the rest of the soldiers.

Pulling Wolf out of the tank, Aatami left him at the mercy of the women and followed Bruno, who callously killed Schütze before taking off with the pilot. Aatami fired on the plane, mortally wounding the pilot, and used his pickaxe to hack his way onboard in midair. After engaging in hand-to-hand combat with each other, Bruno brutally beat Aatami with a static line, subduing him. As Bruno was about to wield another set of blows, Aatami swiftly hooked the static line to a bomb, dropping Bruno to his death. With the pilot also dead, Aatami strapped himself in as the plane crashed into a large swamp. Led by Aino, the women delivered Wolf and the Nazi tank to a speechless and incredulous Finnish army.

Still alive, Aatami escaped the swamp, reunited with his dog, and made his way to war-ravaged Helsinki. Bloody and battered, Aatami entered a bank where he dumped his gold nuggets on the counter. He finally speaks, asking the teller for large bills, explaining they won’t be as heavy to carry as the nuggets.