Tannhaus's clockwork device

A **clockwork device**, built by H.G. Tannhaus between the years 1953 and 1986, had various functions relating to time travel. The machine was powered by the fluid form of the God particle, of which Cesium-137 was a component.

The machine could interface with the passage deep in the Winden Caves, opening and closing a wormhole which could transport individuals thirty-three years into the past or future. Additionally, the machine could transport a traveler through time by some increment of 33 years; a small dome of dark matter would expand from the device, enveloping both the device and the user.

## Function

The function of the time machine is to create a wormhole which opens portals thirty-three years into the past and future from the present time, allowing for time travel between the three points in time. Jonas Kahnwald believed the device could also close the original wormhole created in Winden Caves by the incident in the summer of 1986 at the Winden Nuclear Power Plant.

H.G. Tannhaus postulates that when activated, the device generates a Higgs field, increasing the mass of the Cesium placed in it. An electromagnetic pulse, such as from a smartphone, causes it to implode into a black hole. He suspects that this is similar to what happened in the incident to create the original wormhole in Winden Caves.

## Design

The time machine was designed from blueprints originally produced by the time traveling cult Sic Mundus. The clockwork device is made of copper and brass with several cogs and bolts. Three cylinders with a total of nine small switches in front of them.

## History

The apparatus is a refined version of the bunker chair, and technical drawings for it and a prototype with big copper coils similar to the chair's ones can be found in the headquarters of Sic Mundus.

In 1987, the Unknown in his three forms enters the Sic Mundus headquarters. He steals blueprints for the portable time machine and returns them to Eva, his mother, in the alternate world.

In 2040, Claudia Tiedemann kills her alternate self and assumes her identity. Using the time travel orb from the other world, she travels to Eva's Erit Lux headquarters. Eva gives Claudia the blueprints for the portable time machine to give to the other Claudia (herself), stating that Claudia must deliver the plans to H.G. Tannhaus to ensure that everything happens again.

About twelve years later, elderly Claudia Tiedemann travels to 1953 using the machine itself and brings clockmaker H.G. Tannhaus its blueprints. Tannhaus does not complete it until 1986 but cannot activate it.

Around the same time, Claudia also sends Jonas Kahnwald from the future back to 1986 with their broken version of the device to have Tannhaus repair the machine. Jonas explains that the device can create a wormhole, but that he intends to use it to close the current one inside the caves. Tannhaus discovered that he can activate a part of the device using Ulrich Nielsen's smartphone, which was left in his shop in 1953. Tannhaus does not repair Jonas's machine but rather completes the one he has been working on. Jonas completes the last step to be able to use the machine and places the radioactive isotope Cs-137 in a container in the device. He leaves with the newly completed machine.

Jonas takes the original time machine created by H.G. Tannhaus and activates it in the caves, causing a black hole to open above the town. At the same time, Katharina Nielsen calls Ulrich's phone, the effect of which seems to be fueling this strange occurrence. An apparent mixing of points in time occurs, with a Raider commercial from 1986 showing on the TV in 2019. A wormhole opens in the bunker above the caves, between the young Helge Doppler in 1953 and the young Jonas in 1986. When their hands touch, Helge is transported to 1986 and Jonas to 2052.

## Analysis

The two times we see Claudia use the apparatus in 1987, no cellular phone can be seen to generate an electromagnetic pulse. Elderly Claudia uses the machine in the cave near the yellow barrels, as middle-aged Claudia witnesses, to go to 1954 and bury the machine. Middle-aged Claudia uses the machine she dug up in the cave also near the yellow barrels to go to 2020 to see Regina and use the library. Did elderly Claudia provide her past self a cell phone? If not, how did middle-aged Claudia obtain a cell phone in 1987?

## References

1. ↑ "The portable time machine" on the official *Dark* website.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Dark* Season 1 Episode 10: "Alpha and Omega"
3. ↑ "The Unknown" on the official *Dark* website.
4. ↑ *Dark* Season 3 Episode 1: "Deja-vu"
5. ↑ *Dark* Season 3 Episode 4: "The Origin"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Dark* Season 3 Episode 7: "Between the Time"
7. ↑ *Dark* Season 1 Episode 9: "Everything Is Now"
8. ↑ *Dark* Season 1 Episode 8: "As You Sow, so You Shall Reap"
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Silja" on the official *Dark* website.
10. ↑ *Dark* Season 2 Episode 2: "Dark Matter"
11. ↑ *Dark* Season 2 Episode 3: "Ghosts"