Rheingold

The **Rheingold** was the first of four one-of-a-kind safes created by famous safe designer Hans Wagner. It was the first safe targeted by the protagonists in *Army of Thieves*.

## History

> "Ironically enough, it concerns the corrupting influence of money and power. The dwarf, Alberich, stole gold from the depths of the Rhine and crafted it into a ring so powerful, all the gods under the sun wanted it for themselves. Sort of like a more Norse *Lord of the Rings*. As Alberich tricked the Rhine maidens for their gold, I too shall plunge your depths, my love. These three locks, I think they represent the Rhine maidens."
>
> Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert, *Army of Thieves*

At some point the Rheingold was designed by Hans Wagner. It's the first of his masterpiece safes, named after the first opera of the *Der Ring des Nibelungen* by Richard Wagner: *Das Rheingold*. It was owned by Bly Tanaka and used in the Premiere Credit des Batignolles credit union in Paris.

### Rheingold heist

Gwendoline's heist crew eventually set theirs sights on the Hans Wagner Ring Cycle safes, and the Rheingold was the simplest, and so first on their list. Cracking the Rheingold started with setting up a security deposit box and scoping out the security for some time before the day of attack. When the day came, Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert was the first to enter the building under the guise of using their bathroom. Gwendoline Starr entered shortly after, pickpocketing security guard Joe's keys on her way in. She asked to see the dummy deposit box, while Korina Dominguez entered with a fabricated problem that would tie up the tellers. With the tellers distracted, Gwen picked up Sebastian from the bathroom so they could head to the Rheingold vault, and Sebastian began working on the safe.

It proved no match for Sebastian's skill, and the pair loaded up as much money as they could. Brad Cage entered to provide a second distraction, allowing Sebastian to slip back into the bathroom, then leave the building, and for Gwen to sneak back into the deposit box vault. Sebastian took his load of cash back to the getaway van and Gwen soon followed. As Rolph drove away, Joe searched his pockets for his keys, noticing their absence. This led to the credit union realizing they'd been robbed and alerting Interpol, who began the hunt for the heist group.

Shortly after Premiere Credit des Batignolles was robbed, its safe cracked, the Rheingold was presumably decommissioned in Geneva, as was Bly Tanaka's plan for it.

## Trivia

* The safe is named for *Das Rheingold*, the first piece in Richard Wagner's opera, *Der Ring des Nibelungen*.
	+ The English name for *Das Rheingold* is *The Rhinegold*.
* There are 413,763,345 possible lock combinations on the Rheingold.
* The simplest of the Ring Cycle safes, the Rheingold is only estimated to hold $10 million.
* The Rheingold was added to Madame Tussaud's wax figure gallery alongside Ludwig Dieter in Berlin.

## References

Shay Hatten (writer) & Matthias Schweighöfer (director) (October 29, 2021). *Army of Thieves*.
2. ↑ Battle of the Heists: Army of Thieves Vs. Money Heist | Netflix In this video released by Netflix, it's stated that an estimated $150 million rests in the Ring Cycle safes. The Götterdämmerung alone already has more than this number, but it's also not part of the scope of the video, since it's not cracked in the movie discussed, so it's safe to assume $150 million is the amount in the other three. The Valkyrie has $40 million, the Siegfried $100 million, leaving $10 million left for the Rheingold.