"Everything is connected."
Dark - Symbolism & Philosophy
Symbols & Motifs
The Triquetra
Symbolizes the trinity of time (past, present, future) and the 33-year cycle that governs the wormhole's opening.
Seen on the metal door in the caves, on the Emerald Tablet, and used as the logo for the secret society Sic Mundus.
The Yellow Raincoat
Represents the burden of the protagonist and the cyclical nature of the 'hero' figure across timelines.
Originally worn by Jonas Kahnwald, it becomes a visual anchor that passes through various characters and worlds, marking the person caught in the center of the storm.
St. Christopher Pendant
Symbolizes protection for travelers and the tragic, overlapping love stories that span decades.
Found in the sand at the lake, it is passed between Jonas and Martha across different years, acting as a physical tether to their connection.
Ariadne's Thread
A reference to the Greek myth of the labyrinth, symbolizing the search for a way out of the time loop.
Martha performs in a play called Ariadne, and red threads are used in the caves to guide characters through the tunnels.
Philosophical Questions
Can we ever truly act of our own free will?
The series explores this through characters who desperately want to change things but find themselves fulfilling their own history. It asks if our desires are just chemicals and memories that force us into predictable patterns.
Is Time the only true God?
Adam frequently refers to time as a deity—blind, merciless, and all-powerful. The show investigates whether humanity's struggle is not against evil, but against the sheer entropy and inevitability of the passage of time.
Core Meaning
The core message of Dark is an exploration of determinism and the limits of human agency against the relentless tide of time. The creators, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, suggest that our desires and traumas are inherited loops from which we rarely escape, as expressed by the recurring Schopenhauer quote: 'A man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills.' Ultimately, the series posits that the only way to truly solve a cycle of suffering is through a selfless sacrifice that erases the self, prioritizing the 'Origin' over the preservation of one's own existence.