Opening narration: time is a circle, not a line
Over an Einstein epigraph, a voice sets out the series' thesis: past, present and future are one connected, never-ending circle.
The Stranger
Every Dark moment featuring The Stranger, in story order. Played by Andreas Pietschmann.
32 moments · 51 min
A stranger checks into the Forest Hotel
A hooded man asks for a room at the near-empty hotel; a grieving grandfather is told the whole town will find the boy and answers with quiet doubt.
Cold open: black holes and the endless cycle of time
The episode opens on a meditation about black holes, whether time loops back on itself, and whether the past is shaped by the future.
The Stranger visits Tannhaus to talk about time
The Stranger walks into the old clockmaker's shop with one request: to talk about time.
Tannhaus explains wormholes, the triquetra and 'Sic mundus'
The old clockmaker lectures his visitor on the Einstein-Rosen bridge and argues a wormhole links three times: past, present and future.
The Stranger quizzes Tannhaus on his book and the number 33
The Stranger produces a rare copy of Tannhaus's time travel book; Tannhaus lists the places the number 33 keeps appearing.
Tannhaus on whether we can change the course of events
Asked if fate can be altered, Tannhaus cites causal determinism, then admits he no longer dreams of time travel and lives only in the now.
The Stranger explains why he is obsessed with time
Asked why time fascinates him, the Stranger wonders who decides our purpose and whether we are free or slaves of space and time.
The Stranger reveals he is from the future and shows his device
The Stranger tells Tannhaus his theory is real, hands him a broken machine bearing his initials, and asks for help destroying the wormhole.
The Stranger hands Tannhaus the plans for a time machine
After closing time a visitor tells the clockmaker he has something of interest: a device to set the course of time straight.
1986: Tannhaus shows the Stranger two copies of the same machine
Tannhaus sets his device beside its future self: the future shaped the past, and cesium plus a Higgs field can make a black hole.
Tannhaus on why he chose to help: one piece of a puzzle
Asked why he helped, Tannhaus muses on cause versus feeling and suspects his whole life leads to this moment; the Stranger hopes tomorrow will be different.
1986: the Stranger is bringing someone back from the dead
On November 12, 1986 the Stranger explains he is here to bring someone back from the dead, by finding them younger, and is called crazy.
In the bunker, the Stranger reveals he is Jonas
Locked in a bunker that is a crude time machine, Jonas learns the Stranger is his older self, who cannot free him without undoing who he became.
The Stranger tells Hannah he is her son Jonas
Hannah finds the Stranger in her house; he wins her over with childhood memories of the yellow bike and the rainy day she found him.
The Stranger tells Hannah where her Jonas is
He explains he exists across every second of his life, that her Jonas is trapped in the future, and that he came to end it all.
Hannah brings in help and they name Noah a traveler
Hannah confronts the older Jonas about his gun and passport, then shares his secret; the priest in his photo is named as Sic Mundus.
The older Jonas tells Katharina he is her grandson
Charlotte leads Katharina to the others and explains a tear in time; the stranger reveals who he really is to her.
Katharina refuses to believe Mikkel is alive in 1986
Told her husband is stuck in the 1950s and her son in the 1980s, Katharina calls it all nonsense and storms off.
The older Jonas explains Adam and the loophole
The stranger says Adam leads Sic Mundus, wants the last cycle to begin in three days, and that he came to stop it.
Charlotte interrogates the Stranger about Noah
The Stranger tells Charlotte that Noah is a traveler who killed the boys, and that Claudia used her grandfather.
Noah reveals to Charlotte that he is her father
Noah tells Charlotte about her premature birth and a photo her mother took, intercut with Claudia's plan to stop Adam.
The Stranger reveals himself to Hannah
The Stranger asks Hannah if she ever loved his father; she realises it is Jonas and he tells her she needs no one.
The Stranger refuses to let Martha go
The Stranger turns up at Martha's home warning that everything will explode in hours, and takes her by force because he saw her die once.
The Stranger admits to Martha who he really is
Locking Martha in the bunker, the only safe place, the Stranger lets her realise he is Jonas and begs her not to leave whatever happens.
1888: a Martha who should be dead appears to the travelers
In 1888, Magnus is stunned to see his dead sister alive; the Stranger says she is not their Martha, and she admits she comes from another world.
1888: the travelers interrogate the other-world Martha
Magnus, Franziska and Bartosz refuse to believe in a parallel world where they are already dead, while the Stranger demands to know how she traveled.
1888: the blind man promises the Stranger paradise
Martha hears how the group arrived in 1888, then the blind workshop owner reminds the Stranger they will build a perfect world.
Martha: we cannot escape our destiny, and her world ends in three days
Martha tells the Stranger that a world without him would not be better, since both worlds face the same apocalypse.
1888: Bartosz explodes at the Stranger and names him Adam
Stranded with an empty device in 1888, Bartosz accuses the Stranger of lying all along and tells the others who Adam really is.
1888: Martha explains Sic Mundus and offers the Stranger her last way home
Martha recounts how Tannhaus's father tried to raise his dead wife, then gives the Stranger her final device to prove he can trust her.
Claudia sets the Stranger on the path of the last cycle
Claudia readies the Stranger: the matter can be stabilized, his younger self must follow the same path, and the passage must be destroyed.