In All the Light We Cannot See, Reinhold von Rumpel, played by Lars Eidinger, is the main antagonist. He is ready to do anything to get his hands on a stone called the Sea of Flames.
Reinhold von Rumpel is a high-ranking German officer who comes to Saint-Malo looking for Marie. Reinhold’s job is to find the most precious jewels of Europe and take them to the Reich.
As all of the other jewelers in Germany were Jewish, Reinhold is the only jeweler left in Germany. He is now the most senior officer in a unit of one, tracking jewels across Europe. However, Reinhold has a secret, which makes him disobey his orders.
The quest for eternal life
Reinhold is sick and does not have long to live. He wishes to live a long life, and that is why he seeks the Sea of Flames. Whoever possesses this stone will live forever, but in exchange, their loved ones will suffer terrible misfortune.
Reinhold knows that the Sea of Flames was kept in a museum in Paris, but before the Germans could loot the museum, Daniel sent all the jewels to Geneva. He took the Sea of Flames to Saint-Malo with him to keep it safe.
Reinhold interrogates Daniel’s coworker and finds all the jewels that were sent to Geneva, but not the one stone that he wants the most. He keeps looking for it. Eventually, he finds Daniel in Paris. Reinhold arrests him and interrogates him.
He knows that Daniel is a practical man who would not die for a stone, but he will die for his daughter. Reinhold figures out that Daniel has left the stone with Marie, but no matter how much he tortures him, Daniel does not tell him where Marie is.
After looking for the cursed stone for three years, Reinhold finally reaches Saint-Malo. However, the residents of the city refuse to give him Marie’s address, as Marie’s family is working for the Resistance, and people are more scared of them than they are of the Germans.
He finds Marie when she steps out of her house and almost kills her, but Marie manages to escape. After struggling for days, a sex worker gives him Marie’s address in exchange for his help in getting out of the city.
Reinhold goes to Marie’s house and tells her how he tortured Daniel before killing him. Due to this, Marie resolves to kill him. Werner also comes to help her. Werner fights Reinhold, and the two of them end up breaking the wooden model of the city that Daniel had built.
Daniel had hidden the Sea of Flames in the model, and when the model breaks, Reinhold finds it. Moments after he lays eyes on the object he had been so desperate to get, Marie kills him. Reinhold dies with the Sea of Flames so close to him.
Also Read: Werner Pfennig: All the Light We Cannot See character explained
