Fürst Finster

"I'm Fürst von Finster. The most dangerous man in the world. And from now on His boss!"

- Fürst Finster introduces himself to Tom Turbo

"We hate the sun, we hate light, we hate whatever's coloured and bright."

- Fürst Finster's war cry in Tom Turbo

Fürst Finster was one of the reccurring villains in the Austrian TV-Show, Die heiße Spur, and was mostly known for being referred to as being the most dangerous (and apparantly most powerful) of the show's villains (even by other villains, which, although it was never explained that way in the show, basically equals being the supreme villain over all the others, as many of the most dangerous criminals have often treated him like their master.

He was later reinvinted many years after the show had been renamed into Tom Turbo. However, this incarnation beared little to no resemblance to the original character as he was less of a supreme villain and more of a dark lord who seeked to plunge the world into darkness- literally, as he often tried to manipulate the weather just because he hates light.

First appearance
Fürst Finster appeared for the first time when he kidnapped Tom Turbo's boss Thomas and locked him into his castle's dungeon, threatening to feed him to animals unless Tom stole a sattelite for him. However, Tom used one of his tricks to multiply, which allowed him to both steal the satellite and save his boss. Fürst Finster left Thomas's office, however he forgot an enlightened cigar which resulted in the office being burned down. Tom replaced the remains of the office with a new interior.

Later Crimes
Later, Fürst Finster made several appearances. In one episode, he and Fritz Fantom used Tom to find Rudi Rat's new lab so they could steal his new invention, however Rudi used them as test subjects instead. On another occasion, he paid an enormous sum of money to Dr. Gruselglatz so he would find a chicken that layed golden eggs, however Fürst Finster was unaware that the book he got the information from was a fairy tale book.

Tom Turbo
Many years after the show had been renamed into Tom Turbo, Fürst Finster was reinvented. This new incarnation seemed to have no relation to the old one and had a completely different personality: instead of being basically the supreme villain in Tom's rogue gallery, he now was an acient lord who used mystical powers or modern technology to manipulate the weather and plunge the world into literal darkness as he despised the sun. This extended in later episodes into a general hate against anything that was cheerful, like laughter or colours. He often send his two henchmen, Mister Mus and Miss Hiss, to do his bidding. When being displeased by their failure, he chased them into sunlight, which was the worst punishment imaginable for them as they, like their master, hated the light.

Personality
In Die heiße Spur, Fürst Finster was known for being the most dangerous man in the world, often being referred by that title by other villains. His reputation and status as supreme villain even made Tom's nemesis Fritz Fantom jealous, however Fürst Finster was able to intimitade him, looking down on him as an incompetent idiot.

In Tom Turbo, his personality was different: true to his name (as finster means dark) he was obsessed with darkness and hated the sunlight, although it didn't do any notable damage to him standing in the light. Like his counterpart in the classic show, he always talked to other people by calling them "he" or "she" instead of "you", as a sign of his status, as referring to peasants in this grammatical form was typical for noblemen. Whenever he was diappointed by his servants, he send them into the sunlight, which was as terrible for them as it would be for him. On one occasion, he declared that, depending on which of the two would succeed in carrying out his new plan, he would banish the loser into sunlight. In the end, he banished them both, as despite Miss Hiss didn't fail, she enraged her lord by damaging his painting when she hit Mr. Mus with it. His hatred against light evolved in a hatred against anything cheerful, which resulted him making plans to get rid of laughter or colours.

Die heiße Spur

 * Shape-Shifting: One episode featured Fürst Finster being able to change his form boy covering his body with his cloak and running in a circle.
 * Grenades A trademark of the original incarnation were grendades that released black smoke, making it impossible for him to be seen by his enemies, which often allowed him could escape.

Tom Turbo

 * Dark Magic: As he was a more mystical character than the original version, Fürst Finster possessed some forms of dark magic, which included trapping people in his cloak. However, most abilities of his dark magic, like hypnotizing others or seeing things far away with a magic mirror, were mostly used by his henchmen rather than Fürst Finster himself.
 * Teleportation: Fürst Finster was able to teleport using his cloak.

Trivia

 * "Fürst" is not a name, but a German title that equals "lord"
 * Fürst Finster is not the only villain who was referred to as "the most dangerous criminal in the world"; the gangster Don Dynamit was also known by that title, but as the two never appeared in the same episode, it remains unclear which one was the rightful supreme villain.
 * However, when Thomas Brezina was asked which one was more powerful, he said it was Fürst Finster.