Dark Season 2 Ending Explained [Netflix]

DARK Season 2 ending explained. Yes, this is all about explaining the ending of Dark Season 2 on Netflix. It’s definitely a family affair! If you haven’t watched season 2 of Dark yet, then stop reading and go watch it on Netflix first. Read our Season 2 review of Dark here >

Do you want the Dark Season 2 ending explained? Well, you’re not alone. There was a lot to take in and you’ve come to the right place for a further explanation. We’ll go over the ending of Dark season 2 along with a few other details necessary to explain the ending of Dark which has two seasons out on Netflix now!

And yes, season 3 of Dark is in production, so it’s not over yet. The German Netflix series Dark is officially a trilogy which fits perfectly with the overall story.

Warning: Since this article is all about explaining the ending of Dark Season 2, it is full of spoilers for both season 1 and 2.

If you haven’t watched season 2 of Dark on Netflix it yet, then you should probably read our Season 2 review of Dark instead.

Dark Season 2 – It’s a family affair

One thing you should already be familiar with is the fact that Dark features a lot of people being related in weird ways. With season 2 of Dark, this took a step into an even weirder direction.

The rest of this post will be full of Dark Season 2 spoilers since the purpose is to explain the ending. So, let’s get into the most asked questions…

Who is Adam?

At the end of season 1 of Dark, we came to know that the time-travelling adult stranger (known as “The Stranger”) was, in fact, the adult version of Jonas. 

In season 2 of Dark, Jonas gets the scar around his neck that the adult Jonas/The Stranger was already sporting in season 1. 

Jonas gets the scar when an adult Elisabeth Doppler (much more on her later), tries to hang Jonas in the post-apocalyptic future.

This very same scar will give us the answer to who Adam is. We heard of Adam in season 1, but here in season 2, he is a much bigger part of the story. In fact, he seems to be in charge of pretty much everything happening as some sort of cult leader.

And, of course, Adam reveals himself to be Jonas when he shows his scar to Jonas.

At the ending of season 2, Jonas is considering himself to be in war with Adam (yes, the old version of himself). To succeed, he needs to avoid becoming the version of himself that will ultimately turn into Adam.

Instead, he starts working with Claudia Tiedemann. We don’t know everything about their relationship (it will probably be part of season 3), but we do know that Jonas trusts Claudia.

Did Jonas kill his own father?

Well, that’s a bit harsh, but it’s also not entirely inaccurate. Especially when you consider the fact that Adam is Jonas. 

Jonas time travels to the night when his father (Michael) will commit suicide. He can do this because Adam has managed to master the God particle time-travel device so efficiently that he doesn’t have to travel within the 33-years-skips that were otherwise possible.

However, Jonas arrives to find a very confused Michael, who has no intention of taking his own life. Jonas shows his dad the suicide note he left behind. He does this to convince his father that he can be honest.

Only too late does Jonas realize that by trying to avoid his father’s suicide, he is actually the one causing it. Michael can only write that particular suicide note because Jonas has shown it to him.

Claudia Tiedemann arrives to help Jonas understand. It was Adam (who is the old version of Jonas), who convinced Jonas to travel back in time and stop the suicide. Of course, Adam knew this wasn’t possible, but he also knew that he needed to send Jonas back in order for it to happen.

Adam essentially tricked Jonas and that is why Jonas ends up working with Claudia against Adam.

Yeah, I know… it’s very weird and seems impossible. But again, we don’t know how it all fits together just yet.

Is Claudia Tiedemann good or bad?

As of the ending of Dark Season 2, it’s still difficult to say who is good and who is bad. Claudia and Adam believe they work as each other’s polar opposites. They work with light and dark.

But, of course, we also know that Jonas works with Claudia in order to defeat Adam and yet Jonas will grow older and become Adam.

This seems to be unavoidable because…

In Dark, you cannot change what has already happened

With all the time travelling, time is in no way chronological. But still, you cannot change what has already happened.

Towards the ending of Dark season 2, Katharina Nielsen threatens the adult Jonas by saying she will kill the young Jonas. Basically, because she feels he’s to blame for a lot.

Jonas remains very calm and tells her that she can’t. Since he is standing in front of her as an adult, she cannot kill the younger version of him. Also, he knows the older version of himself exists (as Adam), so he is essentially safe.

Adam behaves in a similar way when Noah threatens to kill him. He knows for a fact that there are other plans for both himself and Noah, so Noah will not kill him.

Who kills Noah?

Immediately after Noah threatens to kill Adam, Noah ends up being killed himself.

While the gun in Noah’s hand seemed to malfunction, his own sister, Agnes, shows up. When Adam gives Agnes the go-ahead, she takes the gun from her own brother’s hand, switches off the safety and shoots him point-blank.

Who is Agnes Nielsen?

We don’t know that much about Agnes Nielsen yet. She just arrived in Season 1 of Dark where she moved in with the Tiedemann family. Here, she began a loving relationship with Doris Tiedemann. She is the mother of Claudia Tiedemann who becomes one of the main players in terms of time-travelling.

Along with her, Agnes had her young son who will grow up to be the father of Ulrich Nielsen. Ulrich Nielsen is the husband of Katharina. Together, they have Mikkel who ends up becoming Michael, the father of Jonas.

This means Agnes Nielsen is the grandmother of Ulrich, the great grandmother of Mikkel/Michael. And, of course, she is also the great great grandmother of Jonas. All while also being involved with the Tiedemann family, so she is a key part of this story,

Is Claudia Tiedemann working with Agnes Nielsen?

Well, it would seem that way.

At the very beginning, we also learn that Claudia Tiedeman knows her own mother, Doris Tiedemann, had an affair with Agnes Nielsen. We see the young Claudia walk in on the two having a very intimate moment. Something Agnes handles very relaxed, which is explained indirectly later in the same episode.

We see Claudia travel back to 1954 as a very old lady. Here, Agnes is clearly working with Claudia, who tells Agnes the following: “My mother loves you. Do you know that? She will make you very happy if you let her”. 

Very soon after being told this, she travels all the way back to 1921 and says that she wants to start working on the project again. Also, the very old version of Claudia is killed shortly after this encounter, but she knows this and accepts her own death.

Since Agnes is still young and Claudia was about to die, it cannot be a coincidence that the two worked together. The same goes for giving Agnes her blessing to be with Claudia’s mother right before she knew she herself would be killed.

Claudia’s death in Season 2 of Dark

Since Claudia dies in 1954, when her own father is a police officer, who has a young daughter with eyes of different colors, he ends up looking at the corpse of his own daughter when she is found as a Jane Doe.

He was already thrown off a few days earlier, when she showed up at the police station. It does always seem as if parents can recognize their kids at all ages. 

How are Jonas and Martha related?

This question was already answered in season 1 of Dark, but in season 2 this was made very apparent to both Martha and Jonas. This happened after Martha’s mother, Katharina Nielsen (who is also Jonas’ grandmother) told her daughter to stay away from Jonas.

The reason being that Jonas is Martha’s nephew. Yes, since Martha’s baby brother, Mikkel, accidentially travelled back in time in Season 1, he grew up as Michael. Michael married Hannah and they had a son, who is Jonas.

In other words, Jonas’ father is actually Martha’s younger brother. This means Katharina (mother of both Martha and Mikkel/Michael) is Jonas’ grandmother. And so, Martha is Jonas very blood-related aunt.

Who is Charlotte’s mother?

Charlotte has been wondering about her parents for quite some time. In Season 2 of Dark, we finally get the answer. And it’s one hell of a mindfuck.

Charlotte’s mother is her own daughter Elisabeth.

How is Noah related to Elisabeth and Charlotte Doppler?

At the end of Dark Season 1, a young Noah is sent from the past (1921) to the present (2019) by the older version of himself. He shows up at the shelter where a young Elisabeth Doppler is seeking refuge from the impending apocalypse.

We know from pictures shown earlier in Season 2 of Dark, that Noah will have a child with a blond woman who looks a lot like Elisabeth. And together, they will have a child; Charlotte.

So, Elisabeth Doppler is her own grandmother?

Yes, that is exactly what she is. She is the mother of her own mother, Charlotte. And Noah is her father.

Of course, this also means that Noah is both the husband of Elisabeth in one time and the grandfather of her. 

And yes, this also means that Noah has a child with his own granddaughter, Elisabeth. 

It does all seem very incestuous, but that’s just how it all works in Dark Season 2.

Who is Elisabeth’s father?

The father of Elisabeth is still Charlotte’s husband Peter. And Peter is the son of Helge Doppler, who Noah worked on quite a lot when Helge was just a young boy. In fact, Noah is the one who melted the entire side of Helge’s face – including his ear.

In other words, Elisabeth maternal grandfather, Noah, tortured and brainwashed Elisabeth’s paternal grandfather, Helge, when the latter was just a young boy.

Where is Elisabeth in the future?

We do also see Elisabeth as a deaf adult in the very bleak future of a post-apocalyptic world in 2053. That’s the one Jonas ended up in when Season 1 of Dark ended. Here, she seems to know a whole lot about what’s going on and is trying to get the weird God partical working. 

At the beginning of Dark Season 2, it’s a chaotic mess but Jonas gets it working long enough to travel back to 1921. Not that this was his intention, but that’s what happened.

Also, at the end of Season 2 of Dark, Elisabeth gets the time-travelling device working for a short while. This happens at the same time that the apocalypse is happening in 2020, when Charlotte (her daughter and mother) is standing next to the God particle time-machine of that time. 

Unfortunately, it’s very unstable and does ultimately create the nuclear power plant disaster. But for a few seconds, the older Elisabeth and Charlotte can see each other and just manages to touch one another across time.

At this point Elisabeth has had a childhood being the daughter of Charlotte. And then she grew up and had a child with Noah, which she must then have realised was also Charlotte. So, she gave birth to a woman who would later become her own mother.

Dark Season 2 ending explained!

Finally, let’s get into a few of the things that happened at the very end of season 2.

Is Martha dead or alive?

Well, this is a bit tricky because the Martha of our world is clearly dead. Jonas held her in his arms as she died. However, briefly after she dies, a new Martha shows up.

She’s holding what appears to be a smaller time-travel machine. Also, she tells Jonas that she is from a different world than the one they’re currently in.

To put it plainly; Not only will we be dealing with time travel in Season 3 of Dark, we will also be dealing with multiple universes. Maybe this is exactly what Adam (who we now know is an old Jonas) has been trying to create; A way to cross over between the multiple universes. 

Answers we want in Season 3 of Dark

As of the ending of Dark season 2, we don’t know why Charlotte grew up without her parents, Elisabeth and Noah. We especially don’t know why Charlotte seems to be standing at the heart of the 2020 nuclear disaster while her own adult daughter (who is also the mother she never knew) is living in a post-apocalyptic world.

Though, of course, we can imagine that it has to do with the fact that Charlotte needs to give birth to a girl, Elisabeth, who will grow up to be her own mother in the future.

We also don’t know what Jonas has learned from Claudia during the time when she taught him how everything works.

Also, we need to know how Claudia Tiedemann and Agnes Nielsen have worked together. And why Agnes ended up killing her own brother, Noah, and is working with Adam, who is the sworn enemy of Claudia. Or is he?

And that’s the ending of Dark Season 2 explained through answering the most asked questions. Watch both seasons of Dark on Netflix now!