The Führer is the leader of the Fourth Reich in the Moscow Metro. He appears in Metro: Last Light and more information about him is revealed in Metro 2035.
Background[]
The Führer's background is not widely known. Most of what is known is likely propaganda by the Nazis, attempting to promote a great past. It isn't fully understood when he came to power, or if he originally formed the Reich. This can only be speculated. It's most likely that he was part of a Neo-Nazi Russian group before the war, being widespread by 2013 the year of World War III. It is also possible that he had political power in the Central Metro Command giving him a large influence. A beta version of Metro 2033 gives him a description. However, this has yet to be confirmed as canon.
Beta Version Backstory[]
The Führer was given a detailed past in the Beta version of Metro 2033. However, this plot was never made official and thus is considered non-canon.
"The Führer was born and raised in the Reich, a Nazi state hell-bent on achieving complete racial and genetic “purity”. Yet, when the Fuhrer was still a simple stormtrooper, his beautiful wife gave birth to a disfigured baby with an oversized head and extra fingers. Correctly seeing this as an end of any prospects for a political career, the future Führer put the baby in a plastic bag and dumped it alive. His wife went mad and he locked her up for life in a solitary cell under a false accusation. Denial of this crime, while wishing to prove that anybody would have done the same in his shoes, made the Führer take an extremely antagonistic position to any or all mutants, turning the faction's predisposition against them into his own personal vendetta. Denial of possible “genetic trash” within himself turned the Führer into the most outspoken advocate of genetic purity. Hatred towards himself and fear of his secret being uncovered drove the Führer to begin this mad crusade against the unfortunate mutants."
Appearances[]
Metro 2033[]
The Führer is never seen in the entirety of the Metro Book Series. However, he's mentioned quite frequently among the Communist and Nazi factions. It's unknown where the Führer is located, some have speculated that he is located in Germany and is able to come back and forth from a plane. This is heard when some men in the Metro say there had been a sighting of a plane flying over Moscow, stirring up the watchmen and demons. Although many of the survivors don't know where the Führer is and if he's even located in the Metro System, or somewhere on the surface, his main rule in the game appears to be over the Fourth Reich.
Metro: Last Light[]
In Metro: Last Light, the Führer can be seen holding a rally when Artyom and Pavel escape the concentration camp. He's also present at one of the podiums of the Polis peace conference. Although he doesn't speak, his speech can be heard before entering the conference where he orders Operation: El Dorado (The Nazi's plan to take over D6) to be shut down. He also tries convincing Moskvin to order Korbut to stand down, and calls him a "spineless worm" when he rushes out of the conference.
In the Developer Pack, a model of the Führer can be found in the Metro Museum.
Metro 2035[]
The Führer (real name Yevgeniy Petrovich) never makes a physical appearance in the novel, but is mentioned several times. He can be heard giving a speech over the loud speakers when Artyom first arrives to the Reich with Dietmar. Ilya Stepanovich praises the Führer for abandoning the Reich's racial policies, a move not popular among the higher command, and focusing on exterminating "freaks" instead, i.e. people with mutations. Miller later tasks Artyom and three other rangers with delivering a message to the Führer personally, in order to stop the war between the Red Line and the Reich. Unfortunately, the message is intercepted by Dietmar and never reaches the Führer. After the Reich is flooded, the Führer flees. Bessolov later reveals that the Führer, like all the other major faction leaders in the Metro, is under his control, and even implies that he orchestrated the creation of the Reich, along with the other factions. He plans on finding the Führer and having him rebuild the Reich. Bessolov also reveals that the envelope meant for the Führer contained blackmail materials, specifically pictures of his daughter who was born with no fingers, but was kept in secret by the Führer anyway.
Trivia[]
- Führer is a title popularized by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler. The term Führer further draws parallels to the Fourth Reich and that of the Third.
- During the rally, two soldiers run to the stage shouting "Herr Sturmbannführer". There is a common misconception that they are addressing the Führer but the man standing next to the Führer is the one who answers, indicating that he is the Sturmbannführer who is being addressed. This is because of the fact that "Führer" in German means "leader", so the Führer as a person is leader of the Fourth Reich, while the addressed Sturmbannführer is leader of a troop or squad.
- The Führer wears a beige coat similar to that of Hitler.
- There is a rumor among the Reich that their Führer has a mutant child which he's hiding any evidence of. This is confirmed in Metro 2035.
- It's likely that the Führer was part of a Neo-Nazi group before the war, or his family was. However, given Russia's history with Nazi Germany, there is much resentment towards Nazism with ordinary Russians.
- In the beta backstory, his paranoia about the possibility of mutant genes (as evidenced by his mutant child) is similar to rumours and conspiracy theories that Adolf Hitler himself was Jewish or came from a Jewish background.
- In Metro 2035, his first name and patronymic are revealed to be Евгений Петрович (Yevgyeniy Petrovich), but his surname remains unknown. Similarly to the games, he's an elusive and somewhat cowardly character who is only mentioned in the whole duration of the story.
Gallery[]
| Metro 2033 | Ace • Anton • Arkadiy Semyonovich • Artyom • Artyom's Mother • Bourbon • Currency Exchange Booth Survivor • Daniel • Hunter • Khan • Kirill • Lenka • Loginov • Melnik • Mikhail Porfirevich • Oganesyan • Oleg • Pavel • Ruslan • Sukhoi • Ten • Tretyak • Ulman • Vanechka • Vitalik the Splinter • Zhenya |
|---|---|
| Metro 2034 | |
| Metro 2035 | |
| Universe of Metro 2033 | Anna • Czeslav Korbut • Euan • Danila Dobrynin • Franz • General Manager • John Daniels • Kamila Czapnik • Paweł Remer • Pavel Morozov • Wesoły • Zhabdar |