'Dark' Season 3: Tronte may have had an affair with Claudia but is he really Regina Tiedemann's father?
Spoilers for Netflix's 'Dark' season 3
After the most brilliantly made two seasons we have arrived at the conclusion of Netflix's first German series 'Dark'. And what a conclusion it is. Time stands still and genres are fused to give you this masterpiece of television. Although the final episode 'Paradies' answers pretty much all the questions audiences have ever had about the show, however, there is still one doubt lingering in our minds: Who is Regina Tiedemann's father?
In the season finale of the series, only a handful of people are seen dining. Peter Doppler (Stephan Kampwirth) is accompanied by his trans partner Benni (Anton Rubtsov), Katharina (Jördis Triebel), Regina Tiedemann (Deborah Kaufmann) and Wöller (Leopold Hornung) who is with a very pregnant Hannah (Maja Schöne). Old Claudia Tiedemann (Lisa Kreuzer) had said that once their two worlds are destroyed — since the origin point was never in their world, it was outside their two worlds — everyone born out of the "cancer", an "ulcer" will perish, but Regina will live. She repeatedly says that in another world, Regina will live.
In the final episode of the series, Claudia (who now looks closer to Older Claudia than middle-aged Claudia) tells Tronte Nielson (Walter Kreye) the same thing. Claudia replies all this while she hoped that he was her father. And then says, "It's better this way; she isn't tied to the knot". We then realize that it is Claudia herself who sends him to kill Regina shortly after the apocalypse so she could be relieved of the pain of living with cancer.
Following this conversation, it now looks like Tronte is not Regina's father, as audiences had long believed. Even Tronte was of the belief that she is his daughter. This would have made her Ulrich's (Oliver Masucci) half-sister. So who is Regina Tiedemann's real father?
Claudia has always lived in Winden, she never ventured out for studies or work. So we can rule out the possibility of it being someone from outside this small town. Tronte, who was believed to have an affair with her, might have indeed had that affair but a child was not born out of that illegitimate union. If the entire Nielson family was born out of the incestuous family tree, it makes sense that they be excluded in the finale scene because they are all tied to knot — except those around that dining table.
In the final scene, a photograph is shown hanging on the wall with Claudia, Regina and Bernd Doppler together as a family. If Regina's father is Bernd in the Origin World, he has fathered her in two worlds sprouted from this one. And we agree this is some serious pedophile scene considering how they have a 33-year-old-difference. And this could be why the identity was never revealed. This could also be why all of Winden thought it was Tronte.
All seasons of 'Dark' are currently streaming on Netflix.