Johan Drossel Dr Johan Drossel was a partially cyberconverted human who was the proprietor of Dr Drossel ' s Grand Theatre of Puppetry at the Vienna Exposition in Vienna , Austria in September 1873 . He was also responsible for the so - called eyeless murders on the Ringstrasse . Character . Drossel was cruel , ruthless , dominating and smart . He had no compunction ordering people to be murdered or abducted , or stealing eyes from graveyards . When Mary Shelley tried to pretend to be Count ess Wittenmeier , he easily saw through this , despite never meeting the Countess himself . When Alfred Stahlbaum refused to resume their collaboration , he came up with a clever scheme to use Stahlbaum ' s obsession with Sisi , the Empress of Austria , to try and persuade him . The Doctor commented on the pompousness of his speech saying that he “ likes the sound of his own voice so much ” . His character was affected by Cyber - ethics implanted into him by Cybermen . As a result , he became obsessed with the idea of building a new world populated by obedient puppets instead of people . Physical Traits . The Cyber - ethics caused Drossel to replace his own vital organs with cyber inlays , enabling him , in particular , to take two bullets to the chest without any apparent harm and even without bleeding . Relationship to Cybermen . He bought two strange humanoid creatures from a forester who found them . Unknown to Drossel , these were two Cybermen from Mondas whose spacecraft has crashed to Earth . The Doctor believed that Drossel had cut off their legs to prevent them from escaping . When Drossel ' s collaborator , Alfred Stahlbaum , stole one of the creatures intending him to perform under the name of the Silver Turk , Drossel used the other one , who had three arms and whom he treated as his dog , to make puppets for his puppet theatre and to murder people . He showed his “ dog ” graveyards where eyes for the puppets could be dug out . Drossel was not aware that Cybermen possessed superior technology . He did not even know that his “ dog ” could speak . Drossel went to great lengths and committed many atrocities to retrieve the Silver Turk from and have his revenge on Stahlbaum . Despite his efforts , he has never seen the Silver Turk again . When his “ dog ” revealed his ability to speak , his name , Gramm , and , more importantly , demonstrated that all the puppets obey him rather than Drossel , the latter switched roles with his former pet and for a time was eager to assist him in building a superlight transmitter . However , subordination not being his strong suit , at the first sign of weakness , he attacked Gramm causing him fatal injuries . Relationship to the Doctor and his companion . The only reason Drossel came into contact with the Doctor was that they both were after the Silver Turk , although with completely opposing goals : Drossel considered the Turk his stolen property and wanted him back to help him with the puppets , while the Doctor was planning to destroy the Turk . This common goal brought both parties to Alfred Stahlbaum , the current owner of the Turk , and to Count Wittenmeier , one of his patrons . The situation became more complicated when Drossel ' s puppets kidnapped the Doctor ' s companion , Mary Shelley , mistaking her for the Count ' s wife . This resulted in Drossel making a puppet of Mary and intending to gouge out her eyes for their unusual colour . In addition , when the Doctor got a chance to examine a broken off thumb of one of Drossel ' s puppets , he realised that they are built using Cyber - Technology far ahead of what existed on 19th century Earth , meaning that the puppets too had to be destroyed to avoid a temporal paradox . Once again , the Doctor ' s and Drossel ' s interests aligned tactically but not strategically : the Doctor wanted to find Drossel to deal with his puppets and hoping to locate the runaway Cybermen , while Drossel invited the Doctor with Mary in order to finish Mary ' s puppet . However , Mary guessed his plan and ran away leaving the Doctor to be incarcerated by Drossel . This resulted in a new puppet being made , this time of the Doctor . Following his general practice of murdering people and turning them into puppets , Drossel ordered his puppets to kill all his prisoners : the Doctor , Countess Wittenmeier and Stahlbaum . This threat was averted by the sudden arrival of Gramm who overtook control of the puppets . Drossel then assisted him in procuring the Doctor ' s Sonic screwdriver intended to power the transmitter , but Mary managed to snatch the screwdriver from him and smash it to pieces . After the final showdown between Drossel and Gramm , which was fatal for both , the Doctor disposed of all parts containing Cyber - Technology , including cyber inlays in Drossel ' s body . Role as a Master of Puppets . Drossel ' s “ dog ” created many puppets for him , including puppets capable of creating new puppets . Some of these puppets , such as Columbinetta , Brighella and Pierrot , were intended for performances at the Marionettenburg at the Vienna Exposition . Drossel opened his theatre only on 11 September 1873 , not from the start of the Exposition . To attract spectators , he distributed free tickets inscribed : “ The denizens of Marionettenburg perform for your delectation . ” The main attraction was the absence of strings on the puppets . However , Drossel moved his Marionettenburg away from the Exposition and into Count Wittemeier ' s house already the next day . Drossel also had two horse puppets that could draw a cab without any driver . Apart from these crude puppets , Drossel was also keen on creating puppet facsimiles of various people to be used to his advantage , ranging from the puppet of a cab driver to that of the Empress of Austria . Unlike the other puppets , these could speak copying the voice of their prototypes but typically possessed a severely limited vocabulary . Visually , however , they could be easily mistaken for their prototypes , enabling them to run errands for Drossel without causing alarm . These puppets were intended to fulfil Drossel ' s dream of a new race . While Drossel believed to have command over all puppets , their real master was Gramm . Their obedience to Drossel continued only as long as Gramm did not issue alternative commands . Involvement in the Ringstrasse Murders . Unable to find the Silver Turk or , at first , even Stahlbaum ' s residence , Drossel resorted to murdering his former partner ' s patrons . In the newspapers , these murders were dabbed “ the eyeless murders on the Ringstrasse ” due to the fact that Gramm , who did the killing , typically gouged out the eyes to be used later for puppets . Unlike the murders of Dieter Wallmann and Leopold Krauss , the plan to murder Count Wittenmeier was temporarily frustrated by the police . Before the Count was finally murdered in a hospital , Drossel instructed Gramm to assault him even in a police station , where one of Count ' s eyes was gouged out . Death . Having too many cyber inlays , which stopped functioning with the death of Gramm , Johan Drossel , in effect , unwittingly killed himself along with Gramm on 12 September 1873 in Count Wittemeier ' s house . After the inlays were removed and destroyed by the Doctor , Drossel ' s mutilated cadaver was left for the police to find . ( AUDIO : " The Silver Turk " )