Ludwig Dieter

> "It's a doorway to another realm, my friends, and providence has brought you to me. We go through it together."
>
> Ludwig Dieter, *Army of the Dead*

**Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert**, later known as **Ludwig Dieter**, was just a boring, German bank teller with a passion for safecracking until the day he was brought into a crew of Interpol's most wanted criminals. He put his safecracking skills to the test to help the international thieves steal from Hans Wagner's legendary Ring Cycle safes, then continued his path westward to face the zombie apocalypse in search of the Götterdämmerung. Dieter was portrayed by Matthias Schweighöfer in *Army of the Dead*, *Army of Thieves*, and also appeared as the character in the promotional crossover, *Criminal Support Group*. Leonard Treyde portrayed young Sebastian in *Army of Thieves*.

## Biography

***An extended biography for Sebastian/Ludwig Dieter can be found here.***

Sebastian led a lonely childhood with interests that differed from the other children. His main interest, the mechanisms of locks, continued into adulthood, in which he continued practicing safecracking in his spare time. He made videos on the subject, which were eventually found by Gwendoline Starr, who was looking for someone with Sebastian's particular skillset for a series of three international heists.

Convinced to join Gwendoline's heist crew, Sebastian acted as their safecracker to steal from the Rheingold and then the Valkyrie safes in Paris and Prague, respectively. As they were escaping from the second heist, Brad Cage abandoned Sebastian in the street as the rest of the group made their getaway. Managing to elude the Police of the Czech Republic, Sebastian headed home to return to his boring life as a bank teller. Gwen and Korina Dominguez had broken from the rest of the heist crew, and Sebastian arrived home to find them waiting for him. They convinced him to continue with the third heist, just the three of them this time.

The final heist, that of the Siegfried, was as successful as the other two, but Brad and Rolph returned to get in their way, resulting in Interpol catching up to the crew. Brad, Rolph, Korina, and Gwen were all arrested, while Gwen convinced Vincent Delacroix of Interpol to let Sebastian go in exchange for giving herself up. Sebastian reluctantly fled the scene, taking up the new identity given to him by Gwen, becoming Ludwig Dieter. He moved to the United States of America, where he opened a lock shop to wait for Gwen's eventual release from prison.

Six years after his adventures with Gwendoline, the President of the United States called for a nuclear strike on Las Vegas that would blow away the Götterdämmerung - the last of the four legendary Hans Wagner safes. A few days before the strike, Scott Ward and Maria Cruz arrived at Dieter's lock shop in need of someone to crack the very safe Dieter sought. He agreed to join them and entered the zombie-infested city with their crew. Things went awry shortly after Dieter successfully opened the safe, when the casino that held it was attacked by the Las Vegas horde of alphas. The crew scattered and fought the zombies, Dieter and Vanderohe staying behind in the Götterdämmerung chamber with the money. Vanderohe took on the zombie king, Zeus, and Dieter stepped into save Van at the last moment by shoving him into the safe, locking him away. Dieter was last seen in the hands of the angry king.

## Abilities

* **Safecracking**: Dieter was an expert safecracker - probably the best in the world. By the end of his safecracking career, he had successfully opened all four of Hans Wagner's famous safes, which were some of the most difficult to crack in the world.
	+ **Exceptional hearing**: While other safecrackers require tools to help them hear the barely audible clicks of the safe dials, Dieter was so gifted in this area that he cracked some of the most challenging safes in the world with his naked ear.
* **Multilingualism**: Dieter fluently spoke his native German in addition to English. He often reverted to his native language when excited or stressed.
* **Pilotry**: Dieter was capable of operating motorboats.
* **Marksmanship**: Dieter had a small degree of skill with firearms. Although he was not as experienced with battle as the other members of his team, he picked up the skill quickly and was able to use a pistol to shoot the bride zombie in the head. He went on to kill several alphas as well.
* **Artistry**: Dieter displayed a small level of artistic talent in his youth, writing and drawing his own comic book based on the character of Ludwig Dieter.
* **Business acuity**: Dieter successfully started and ran his own locksmith business for a number of years.
* **Zombie experience**: While not as experienced as many of his companions, attending the Götterdämmerung heist put Dieter face to face with hundreds of zombies, some of which he engaged in combat, including directly encountering Zeus, the zombie king.

## Equipment

* **Beretta 92FS**: This Beretta is the handgun given to Dieter to learn to shoot prior to the Götterdämmerung heist, which he later used to kill the bride zombie.
* **Nail bat**: During the planning of the Götterdämmerung heist, Dieter was envisioned with a baseball bat that had nails pounded through it. He was never seen with such a weapon during the real course of events.
* **Bicycle**: After the Valkyrie heist, Sebastian stole a bicycle to help him get away from the Police of the Czech Republic, which served him well.
* **Wristwatch**: Dieter used his Casio wristwatch to tell time and time himself during his safecracking.
* **Safecracking trophy**: Sebastian was awarded a trophy after winning the safecracking tournament.

## Relationships

### Allies

* Gwendoline's heist crew
	+ Gwendoline Starr - love interest
	+ Korina Dominguez
* Las Vengeance
	+ Vanderohe
	+ Scott Ward
	+ Maria Cruz
	+ Marianne Peters
	+ Mikey Guzman
	+ Chambers
	+ Lilly
	+ Kate Ward
	+ Martin
	+ Burt Cummings
* Bly Tanaka
* Inge

### Enemies

* Gwendoline's heist crew - allies turned enemies
	+ Brad Cage
	+ Rolph
* Interpol
	+ Vincent Delacroix
* Las Vegas horde
	+ Zeus
* Safecracking tournament rivals
	+ Neo
	+ Fireball
	+ Valiant

## Appearance chronology

*Army of Thieves*
childhood*Army of Thieves**Criminal Support Group**Army of the Dead*

## Gallery

Concept art by Alan Villanueva for *Army of the Dead*Dead Drop #7Concept art by Leif Heanzo for *Army of Thieves*Test photo of Sebastian for *Army of Thieves*Wax figure from Madame Tussaud's Berlin gallery based on *Army of Thieves*
## Trivia

* Sebastian was orphaned as an adult.
* Dieter's YouTube channel is called Sebastian Super Safecracker. He uploaded several videos, mostly in German, but only received two views and one comment.
* Dieter is allergic to cats.
* Dieter is referred to as "Mr. Nervous Guy," "Mr. Scrawny," "Mr. Invincible," "Mr. I Don't Want To Make Out," and "Mr. Warming Up My Instruments." After hearing these, he starts to refer to others by similar names, including "Mr. Brad," "Mr. Big Hand," "Mr. Vanderohe," and "Mr. Sausagefinger."
* According to Zack Snyder, there is a chance that Dieter survived the events of the first film and would actually be looking to reunite with Gwendoline.
	+ He later added that there are three possibilities when it comes to Dieter's fate, all of which probably happened in different timelines. The possibilities are:
		- Zeus killed him outright (though Snyder spoke unfavorably about this option).
		- Zeus bit Dieter, converting him into an alpha or even a king zombie.
		- Dieter convinced Zeus to let him live.
* A wax figure was created based on Matthias Schweighöfer/Sebastian's likeness from *Army of Thieves* for Madame Tussaud's gallery in Berlin. It's pictured in the gallery above.

## References

Shay Hatten (writer) & Matthias Schweighöfer (director) (October 29, 2021). *Army of Thieves*.
Shay Hatten, Zack Snyder, Joby Harold (writers) & Zack Snyder (director) (May 14, 2021). *Army of the Dead*.
3. ↑ "'PLANET OF THE DEAD': ZACK SNYDER REVEALS PLANS FOR A ZOMBIE SEQUEL" - *Inverse* interviews Zack Snyder