Egon Tiedemann

* Old
* Adult

Franziska Doppler (great-great-granddaughter/great-great-great-great-granddaughter)
Elisabeth Doppler (great-great-granddaughter/great-great-great-great-granddaughter/granddaughter-in-law/great-great-granddaughter-in-law)
Tronte Nielsen (great-grandson/great-great-great-grandson)
Ulrich Nielsen (great-great-grandson/great-great-great-great-grandson)
Mads Nielsen † (great-great-grandson/great-great-great-great-grandson)
Magnus Nielsen (great-great-great-grandson/great-great-great-great-great-grandson)
Martha Nielsen † (great-great-great-granddaughter/great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter/great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter/great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter)
Michael Kahnwald † (great-great-great-grandson/great-great-great-great-great-grandson)
Jonas Kahnwald (great-great-great-great-grandson/great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson)
The Unknown (great-great-great-great-great-grandson/great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson)

## Behind the Scenes

### **Portrayed by**

Christian Pätzold (old)
Sebastian Hülk (adult)

*This article is about the Egon from Adam's world. For the Egon from Eva's world, see Egon Tiedemann. For the Egon from the original world, see Egon Tiedemann.*

*"You're too good a person. But you always have been. The world doesn't deserve you.... You don't deserve any of this. But sometimes the good ones get hit the hardest."*
―Claudia Tiedemann[src]
**Egon Tiedemann** is the father of Claudia Tiedemann, the husband of Doris Tiedemann, and the Chief Inspector of Winden Police.

## Biography

### Background

Egon was born in 1922 to the Tiedemann family. Little is known about his childhood or early life. At some point, he met Doris, with whom he had a child, Claudia, on August 14, 1942. Egon and Doris would later marry around 1943, when they were both about twenty-one.

Sometime in the early '40s Egon became a police officer, but it is not clear whether his service began at the Winden Police. By 1986, he has been a police officer for "over forty years". The newspaper article that reports on his death in 1987 states that he was "already" an officer by 1949. By 1953, he has been with the Winden Police for several years. His wife describes how the work changed their lives together, and Egon himself, such that Egon is rarely home anymore and is frequently lost in his work.

Egon is a religious man. He is a long-time member of the local church. In the '50s, he keeps a rosary bundled around the rearview mirror of his police vehicle. His religious beliefs can occasionally verge on superstition, as he becomes quite concerned with the issue of Satanism following an encounter with a suspect early in his career.

### 1953

#### November 10

Egon is called out to a scene by chief of police Daniel Kahnwald. It is the construction site for the nuclear power plant planned by Bernd Doppler, and the bodies of two boys are tossed among the dug up earth. Unbeknownst to them all, these are Erik Obendorf and Yasin Friese from the year 2019, having been kidnapped by Helge Doppler out of the year 1986 and cast through time. Their corpses represent failures of the time machine.

The pathologist Udo Meier examines the bodies. They are dressed in strange clothing (from 2019). They both carry a one-pfennig coin from the year 1986 around their necks. And most strikingly, their eyes are seared out in a black band around their heads.

Egon meets with Bernd Doppler at the construction site. Bernd urges Egon question the coal workers. He suspects a conspiracy among that industry because his nuclear power plant would put it out of business.

At the police station, a strange man comes in asking about his son. He claims his son is missing and asks if either of the dead boys is his. He describes his son, but Egon's descriptions do not match. The man asks about a Helge Doppler, and Egon offers that he is the son of Bernd Doppler. The man describes Helge but describes him as old, in his seventies; the young Helge is in fact nine, and the only old Doppler is Bernd. The man takes off in a hurry.

Unknown to them, this strange man is a time-traveling Ulrich Nielsen from 2019, indeed in search of his missing son but also in search of Helge Doppler, as an elderly man, for a certain criminal reason.

Egon returns home after work to meet his new tenants, newcomers Agnes Nielsen and her young son Tronte. She is strikingly beautiful. She claims her grandmother was from Winden but gets interrupted before she can speak more on the woman.

#### November 11

Egon comes into work to learn that the young Helge Doppler has gone missing as of the evening before. Bernd pleads with Egon to find his son, saying he will give anything, including the nuclear power plant, to have it happen.

While out on patrol, Egon encounters the time-traveling Ulrich, covered in blood and looking exceedingly guilty. When he stops his car, Ulrich comes to a halt and they consider each other's next moves. Ulrich decides to bolt into the nearby forest and runs for the caves. He is on his way to the caves, where Egon tackles him and stops him just in time. Ulrich admits to killing Helge, claiming his intention was to change the course of time, sounding surprised to hear that the children at the site are still dead. He was expecting the deaths of the children to be prevented by stopping the young Helge from growing up. Egon promptly arrests him.

#### November 12

They book Ulrich at the station the following day. He utters some sort of demonic citation (actually Kreator, which young Ulrich used/will use to annoy him) upon hearing Egon's name. When Egon asks if he is a Satanist, Ulrich laughs and says no, he is a police officer. They take his photograph. He maintains his strange intentions behind doing something with Helge. As they drag him into his cell, he demands to know if Egon is already drinking, or if he will only start after his wife leaves him. Egon, shocked, watches Ulrich be led away by police officers.

### 1954

#### June 23

At the police station, Egon and his chief Daniel Kahnwald are surprised to hear Helge is still alive. They wonder why, after seven months, they still have no clue as to the identity of the suspect (Ulrich) and why no one has come looking for him. Egon then asks the chief whether he and his wife are still intimate. He laughs and says once a couple has kids, the wife is preoccupied with them, and the husband should look elsewhere.

Egon goes to question Helge. His mother Greta informs him that since returning he has not spoken. She allows Egon to question him but Helge remains silent. She yells at Helge to talk to the inspector.

Egon goes to visit the adult Ulrich, who is in a straitjacket, heavily medicated. His identity remains unknown. He tells him Helge has returned home and asks where Ulrich took him or if he has an accomplice. He goes back to the police station, where he is visited by an old woman. He observes she has heterochromia (a condition in which the coloured part of the eye (iris) is multicoloured) like his daughter. She tells him he is too good a person, that the world doesn't deserve him. She asks for his forgiveness, saying he never deserved any of what happened. He will understand someday. He is unsettled by her remarks and orders her out.

He goes home with flowers for Doris but she is not home. He tells his daughter Claudia that he believes he met a witch. She tells him he is too good a person, and the world does not deserve him. Egon is shocked to hear these words for the second time coming from a person with different colored eyes. He tells her he is having déjà vu.

Later he observes Agnes and Doris sharing a moment.

#### June 26

Egon and his coworkers inspect the corpse of an elderly woman in the station's morgue. She was found with a gunshot wound to the chest in the woods, near the future Doppler cabin. She is shown to have unusually high levels of radiation. Egon immediately recognizes her, saying that she came into the police station before, apologizing profusely but making little sense otherwise, on the same day that the missing Helge returned. Daniel Kahnwald suggests that Egon show a photo of the woman to Helge, to see if he can shed some light on the mysterious dead woman.

In reality, this corpse is that of Egon's own daughter Claudia. After a life of time traveling, she returned to 1954 to bury her portable time machine for her younger self to find and then confront her death at the hands of Noah.

At the Doppler mansion, Helge says that while he doesn't know her, he has heard about her, calling her "the White Devil", and while he doesn't reveal his source for this information, he claims that she "wants to kill us all". Egon then points out that Claudia is dead, so she can't hurt anyone any longer, to which the boy responds, "But she hasn't even started yet."

A woman is waiting for Egon in his office. It is a woman claiming she is looking for her husband who might be the man accused of murdering the children. She says her name is Katharina Nielsen. (In actuality, this is Hannah Kahnwald, having traveled there from the year 2020. She is adopting the name of an enemy of that time.) Egon, slightly suspicious at the sudden appearance of a relative, takes her to visit Ulrich at the psychiatric institution, asking her to try to get a confession from him. However, after seeing him, she tells Egon that despite a slight resemblance, Ulrich is not her husband.

Back at Egon's office, he asks her if she will be traveling back soon. She says she might stay in town for a while. He offers her a cigarette, gives her a light, and smokes one with her. They smile at each from across the desk.

#### September 24

After Egon and Hannah finish having sex, she does her hair and pauses when Egon tells her he loves her. She smiles at him, and Egon gives her a necklace, which he puts on her. Hannah looks down at it and tells her she likes it before telling him she does not feel good. When she asks Egon if he will be returning, he mentions he does not know, as it might be best for him to stay at home that night. Hannah, still using Katharina's name, looks down disappointed, but Egon tells her he is glad she stayed in Winden, and tells her she is beautiful before he leaves.

At the police station, Egon arrives only to find Doris. She asks where he has been because she thought he left early to write reports. Egon hastily mentions that something came up. Doris shows him a piece of cloth she found among Agnes's things which has the letters HT on it, which she thought could help. Doris mentions that Agnes had said her husband was a priest, and thought it strange that a priest named Hanno Tauber disappeared at the same time she did. Egon believes Agnes's husband was dead, but Doris is worried because three months have passed and she has left her son Tronte. When Egon tells her to go home, Doris loses her temper, but Egon simply states that women cannot be understood. Doris leaves after that comment.

At his office, Egon is visited by Greta Doppler. Egon tells her that there is not any news regarding Helge, but also comments that the situation could change if Helge chose to reveal his whereabouts and who he was with. However, Greta says that she does not mean news about Helge, but news about the missing minister instead, commenting that if nobody looks after the church, it leaves the door open to the devil. Egon gets suspicious when Greta mentions she knew the man. Egon asks if she had ever seen him with a woman, which offends Greta. She gets up and tells him to find the man.

At the police station, Hannah visits Egon, who asks why she is there. Hannah does not answer any of Egon's questions and simply tells him she is pregnant. Egon wonders why that is, as she had been taking precautions. Hannah is astounded when he asks if it is his, wondering if he thinks all she does is sleep around with everyone. She realizes Egon is the same as Ulrich and has an outburst, so Egon offers her a ride home.

Egon asks Hannah what they are going to do, but Hannah mentions she will not keep it. She wonders why life is unjust, and tells him she had spent time holding on to things she did not need. She tells Egon she does not need him or other men, and asks him to leave. He writes down a phone number for Mrs. Obendorf and mentions she does abortions properly, and leaves her money before ultimately apologizing and leaving.

Egon gets home while Doris waits for him on the stairs. He asks her if she is okay, but she does not respond. Egon sits next to her and apologizes for what he had said to her in the morning, and tells her he was not sure he had been himself, blaming his job. Doris says she knows what he had been doing with the girl, and tells him she wants a divorce. Doris says they should have done it sooner because they have too many secrets. Egon is surprised, but Doris mentions that the ways of the heart cannot be explained, and walks upstairs.

Egon is angry, and seated with a bottle, when Claudia and Tronte walk in. Claudia greets her father, and asks where her mother is, and Egon repeats what Doris had said to her about the ways of the heart. Claudia and Tronte look at each other before the latter tells her to leave him be and they both leave.

### 1986

The soon-to-retire Egon is investigating the mysterious disappearance of Mads Nielsen. He suspects Mads’ older brother Ulrich (unknown to him that he's the very same murder suspect he arrested many years back) is somehow involved and maintains a strong prejudice against him.

#### November 5

In the morning, Egon gets an alarming call. He arrives on the scene to find that thirty-three of Hermann Albers's sheep have suddenly and mysteriously died. Egon suggests a wolf did it, but there are no bite marks. Hermann tells Egon about the new pastor in town, a good man according to the literal shepherd.

When a lost boy comes into the police station later in the morning claiming to be in search of his father Ulrich Nielsen, Egon suspects Ulrich has beat up the boy and forced him to play a prank. He calls someone for the boy and then assures him that Ulrich will not hurt him again as he leaves. Unbeknownst to Egon, this is in fact Ulrich's son, Mikkel, who traveled there from 2019.

Egon goes to the Nielsen home. There is music blaring from inside. When his door bell rings are ignored and no one answers his call, he tries to knock. He finds the door is already open. He enters. Searching the seemingly empty home, he goes upstairs and finds the young Ulrich playing videogames and listening to music. He questions him about his music choice and then interrogates him about the sheep at the pasture. Ulrich has no idea what he is talking about and accuses him of excessive drinking. When Jana eventually arrives, and Egon has no developments to report in the Mads case, he leaves the house, but not before noticing an animal hoof in Ulrich’s bedroom.

A veterinarian, Dr. Schaller, is examining one of the dead sheep. Egon asks if one of them is missing a hoof, but the veterinarian says all of them were as nature intended. He says that they all died from cardiac arrest. It is not uncommon for many sheep to die at once, because one can frighten another, and then the rest, and then they are all dead. He then mentions that, strangely, the sheep all have burst eardrums.

That night, Egon goes to investigate the pasture where the sheep died. He finds nothing amiss, but suddenly birds begin falling from the sky. He hurries back to his car and watches the spectacle from inside as birds fall down all around him.

#### November 7

The young Hannah Krüger comes to the police station and accuses Ulrich of raping Katharina Albers. Thanking her for her bravery and then wasting no time, he has Ulrich arrested as his parents watch on.

#### November 9

While Egon is attempting to draw a connection between Ulrich and the missing Mads, he is told by the chief Martin Döhring to question Helge Doppler. When Egon brings up his work, Martin criticizes him for operating in a 1950s framework and says they require evidence today.

Egon goes to see Helge at the nuclear power plant to question him, since he was working on the night of Mads's disappearance. Helge begs off the interview for two days and then, when Egon wonders why Helge would have taken the state highway home that night instead of the more direct forest road, Helge states he had to pick something up for his father. Egon makes a note of this oddity in his daily planner.

#### November 11

Helge never shows for his interview with Egon in the morning. When Egon goes to Helge's hut in search of him, he finds his car outside, but no one appears to be home. In truth, Helge is inside, but evades the confrontation because he really was involved in Mads' disappearance.

#### November 12

Egon is at the scene of Helge's car accident at the intersection. Helge is alive though severely injured. He was struck at a high speed by another car, driven by an old man, who died in the crash. Unbeknownst to them all, this is an older Helge from 2019 who returned to the past in an effort to stop his younger self, who was involved in the kidnapping of the children for the time-machine experiments.

### 1987

#### February

Egon retires from the police force. He lives alone in his apartment but often spends time with his granddaughter Regina, taking her to school when her mother is too busy (which is a lot).

#### June 22

Egon visits Claudia at her home. She says she is too busy to do anything with him, as she must meet with a French delegation at work. Gretchen the dog comes in and Egon remarks about the similarity, which Claudia dismisses. He tells her there is something he needs to talk to her about but sensing she is too busy, then says it's nothing and leaves to take Regina to school.

Egon receives a call telling him his cancer has spread, and he will need to start treatment that week. He sees a newspaper headline pointing out that the disappearance of Mads Nielsen one year ago was never solved. Pulling out his old notebook, he sees his note asking why Helge did not take the forest road home.

He decides to pay Helge a visit, who is making his stick figures in a hospital, recovering from his car accident. He asks him why he took the long way home instead of the forest road? Helge replies cryptically that the man with the stone (Ulrich) had told him he could change the future and the past, but no one, not even the White Devil could change anything. Egon asks him what that has to do with Mads?

Egon calls the police station and asks whatever happened to the man arrested in 1953 for the attempted murder of Helge and two boys. He is informed that he is in a mental institution, where he has been for 34 years.

Egon goes to visit him. He is known as "the inspector." Egon introduces himself, unsure whether he would remember him. Ulrich assures him he remembers him and quotes him the same lines he had said previously: "My only aim is to take many lives; the more, the better I feel." Egon asks what they mean. Ulrich tells him they mean he is still an idiot. He tells him he doesn't have much time until he is dead, which was in the papers, which Egon cannot follow. Ulrich tells him his fate is to always be clueless. He will get what he deserves.

#### June 23

Egon looks at Kreator's *Pleasure to Kill* album. He opens it up and sees the lyrics "My only aim is to take many lives, the more, the better I feel."

He takes the record and goes to the closed psychiatric ward, showing it to the elderly Ulrich. He asks him how he was able to say the lyrics in 1953 when the record was not released until many years later. And how he knew he was dying of cancer. He asks him who he is and he tells him Ulrich Nielsen and he comes from the future.

Egon returns home and picks up the file of Michael Kahnwald. He finds a transcript of an interview in which the boy claimed his father was Ulrich Nielsen.

He goes to visit Ines Kahnwald. He asks whether the boy has mentioned anything about his family or the name Ulrich or a white devil. She claims he wants to forget the past and has a new life now. He notices a box of sleeping pills on the counter. He asks for a photo of the boy.

He returns to visit Ulrich again at the psychiatric ward, telling him about the strange boy who turned up in Winden. He shows Ulrich the photo of Mikkel that Ines gave him; Ulrich is shocked, demanding to know where he is. He grabs him by the throat and has to be removed by hospital staff.

#### June 25

Ines phones Egon to inform him that she cannot find Michael, expressing concern that it might have something to do with the madman who escaped from the psychiatric ward that morning (Ulrich). Egon, knowing now how the two are connected, says he might know where they are headed and calls his contacts to stop Ulrich from taking Michael.

Winden Police surround the caves just as Ulrich and Michael are arriving there. Ulrich tries to tell them Michael is his son. As the police eventually take Michael back and apprehend Ulrich, the latter threatens Egon that everything was his fault, and he will kill Egon this time.

#### June 26

Claudia continues to push Egon to move in with her, being aware of Ulrich's threat to kill him, and he shows increasing reluctance to leave his comfortable apartment. Claudia, disheartened, then asks if she can come with him to his first chemotherapy appointment that day, to which Egon responds with heartfelt joy.

Egon begins to tell Claudia that he knows time travel really exists. When he starts to put the facts together and realizes that Ulrich kept returning to the caves, Claudia grows increasingly hostile and defensive. He tells Claudia she knows about time travel too and it is connected to the power plant. He starts phoning the police to search the caves. Claudia stops him and says this is too important to be jeopardized. He tells Claudia she has no heart. They struggle over the phone and Egon falls backwards, cracking his head open on the table. Claudia calls an ambulance (which could have saved his life) but hangs up, remembering what her older self said about sacrifices and everything happening as it always has so Regina will live. Egon speaks his last words to his daughter: "You are the White Devil."

### 1987

#### September 24

Hannah Kahnwald later stays in 1987 after dropping out of 1954, having decided to keep Egon's son. Egon was never aware of it as Silja, his daughter was born a few months later in 1988.

 Appearances

### Season 1

* Episode 3 "Past and Present" (1986)
* Episode 5 "Truths" (1986)
* Episode 7 "Crossroads" (1986)
* Episode 8 "As You Sow, so You Shall Reap" (1953)
* Episode 9 "Everything Is Now" (1953, 1986)
* Episode 10 "Alpha and Omega" (1953, 1986)

### Season 2

* Episode 2 "Dark Matter" (1987)
* Episode 3 "Ghosts" (1954, 1987)
* Episode 5 "Lost and Found" (1987)
* Episode 7 "The White Devil" (1954, 1987)

### Season 3

* Episode 4 "The Origin" (1954)
* Episode 6 "Light and Shadow" (1987, 2053 alternate)
* Episode 7 "Between the Time" (1954, 1987)

## Notes and references

1. ↑ https://dark.netflix.io/en/event-timeline/egon-tiedemann
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *Dark* Season 2 Episode 7: "The White Devil"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Dark* Season 3 Episode 2: "The Survivors"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *Dark* Season 1 Episode 8: "As You Sow, so You Shall Reap"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 See: Claudia Tiedemann. Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name ":4" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name ":4" defined multiple times with different content
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 *Dark* Season 1 Episode 9: "Everything Is Now"
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Dark* Season 2 Episode 4: "The Travelers"
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 *Dark* Season 1 Episode 3: "Past and Present"
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Dark* Season 1 Episode 10: "Alpha and Omega"
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 *Dark* Season 2 Episode 3: "Ghosts"
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 *Dark* Season 2 Episode 2: "Dark Matter"
12. ↑ *Dark* Season 3 Episode 4: "The Origin"
13. ↑ *Dark* Season 1 Episode 5: "Truths"
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 *Dark* Season 1 Episode 7: "Crossroads"
15. ↑ *Dark* Season 2 Episode 5: "Lost and Found"