Hermann Fegelein

SS-Gruppenführer Hans Georg Otto Hermann Fegelein (30 October 1906 – 28 April or 29 April 1945) was a General of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany, member of Adolf Hitler's entourage, brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister Gretl Braun, and brother-in-law to Adolf Hitler through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun.

Role In Downfall
Although the parodies portray Fegelein as Hitler's major adversary, Hitler never had anything against Fegelein in the actual movie (until he committed his "Fahnenflucht", desertion). Fegelein's primary role and motive in the movie is to persuade others to flee Berlin and Hitler, and eventually does so himself. His loyalty to Hitler is questionable, preferring to act on his own principles than blindly follow Hitler; he also tries to influence others to do the same, but to no avail.

List of appearances
Fegelein has quite a few lines in the film:


 * Fegelein and Himmler at Hitler's Birthday Scene and at the garage: Fegelein and Himmler discuss about Himmler's plans to surrender Germany to the Allies via General Eisenhower.
 * Hitler walks around the model of Berlin: Fegelein first makes a suggestion that Hitler leave Berlin. Also, the only scene where Fegelein and Hitler directly interact with each other.
 * Hitler's Generals Discussing Scene: Fegelein questions the General's loyalty to Hitler overshadowing their common sense, but is rebuked.
 * Party Scene: Fegelein tells Eva about Hitler's false hope for a successful outcome of the war, and to leave Berlin as soon as possible.
 * Fegelein talking to Traudl and Gerda: Fegelein disapproves of Traudl's belief that Steiner's forces will come to Berlin's help and describing it as Hitler's "fantasy".
 * Original Bunker Scene (cameo)
 * Fegelein and Friends Scene: Fegelein further casts doubt over the Generals' loyalty and suggest that they act on their own accord, without and sometimes against the Führer's orders. (It is between this scene and the next that Fegelein deserted the bunker.)
 * Eva talking on the phone with Fegelein: Fegelein again tells Eva bluntly to leave Hitler and Berlin before its too late.
 * Fegelein's Arrest Scene: Fegelein yelled "You can't put your hands on me" when he is forced from bed by Peter Hogl's men.
 * Fegelein Execution Scene: Fegelein salutes "Heil Hitler" before Peter Högl shoots him, although that was probably but a blind gesture because of his disloyalty to Hitler, and he was also drunk.

In some other scenes, such as the Original Bunker Scene, Fegelein is shown but has no lines.

Downfall Parody Universe
In the Hitler parody universe, Fegelein commits insane and hilarious antics against Hitler as well as others who get in his way. His antics range from mundane acts to the surreal. His ability to commit surreal antics, such as by manipulating space-time, as well as creating his own tools for antics, makes it evident that Fegelein has highly advanced knowledge in chemistry, all forms of engineering, Newtonian physics, and quantum mechanics. He can also swap genders of any person he chooses (see "Fegelein's Best Antic Yet").

Fegelein, when not occupied pulling antics on Dolfy, works part-time as a video-game console designer; he designs the FegelStation series and introduces them to Hitler... as a token of apology for the antics and without pulling one on Hitler. He's also a surprisingly good (and kind-hearted) gamer. At one point, he, as seen in "Hitler Plays Left 4 Dead 2", offers to heal Hitler, only for the latter to smack him with a cricket bat. Despite this apparent peace offering, numerous oddities happen to Hitler whenever he uses the system, making it debatable whether Fegelein threw in antics in the video games, or Hitler just sucks at playing video games.

It was also known that Fegelein had a few other relatives besides Hitler as well as his immediate family. KakashiBallZ's Democracy Comes to Egypt establishes that Hermann had an Egyptian cousin named Abdul, who conspired with him in his attempt to drive Hosni Mubarak and Gaddafi out of office. Fegelein also had a younger cousin named Sally Gregory, better known throughout Hollywood as Sally Shine. She appeared in The Bunker of Terror along with a few of her friends, as she helped her older cousin in sabotaging Hitler's vacation in Los Angeles. Fegelein's grandmother or Grandmalein, as portrayed by Staedty86, is depicted as a elderly with amazing physical, combat abilities used to pwn abusive people (in all scenarios, Hitler). Hitler also believed she is the person whom Fegelein inherited his nasty genes from.

Whilst being one of the best Antic Masters around, his skills in close combat seem somewhat less impressive. This has been seen several times in parodies, such as in Vzorkic's Untergang Wars (in which Hitler defeats him in a lightsaber duel) and Benad361's Fegelein vs Hitler: The Ultimate Showdown (in which he is beaten repeatedly in a sword fight with Hitler). But he tends to triumph in all duels in the end, rendering any lack of skill as not overly important (Hitler ultimately ends up defeated and falling to his death in the former and latter). However, he does display impressive abilities in sword fighting and unarmed martial arts against Goebbels in Der Disneygang, implying Hitler is just too strong an opponent to defeat in direct combat, despite Fegelein being a somewhat competent fighter.

Hermann Fegelein is also shown to be a very talented wizard. When his archnemesis Hitler acquired a magic wand in Hitler Becomes a Wizard, the dictator naturally wanted to use his magic against Fegelein. He confronted the antic master and attempted to kill him with the normally lethal Avada Kedavra. Fegelein predictably survives said curse and tells Hitler his skill in magic is way beyond Hitler's novice level magic, implying Fegelein has practiced magic for a while.

However, Fegelein's most infamous talent (antics aside) is his Chuck Norris-level invincibility. He can survive a head-on attack from the Death Star, attack from Hitler's Pencil of Doom and Mass Destruction, being launched into space (and returning to Earth safely), being cooked and almost eaten alive by Goering, getting shot by Burgdorf's Magnificent Gun, and even getting shot multiple times by Chuck Norris himself (although he was wearing his bullet-proof Fegel-Armor).

He also sometimes uses Blondi as a weapon against Hitler, like one time he tied her to the Fuhrer's bathroom.

He is allied with Godzilla in Godzilla vs Hitler.

Antics
In his early days, Fegelein was just a lieutenant fighting in Hitler's war against the Russians. He was apparently already skilled in antics by that time, as he was seen discussing this with one of his men on the way to war. Said soldier dared him to pull antics on Hitler himself. A dare he readily accepted. Unfortunately, the war really took its toll on Fegelein and his platoon, as many of his soldiers died during fighting and the rest getting captured when they tried to flee. When Fegelein tried to request a rescue mission, his commander coldly told him there was nothing they could do, leaving Fegelein with a feeling of guilt and powerlessness. In revenge for the lives of all the lost lives of his friends in the war, Fegelein decided to make Hitler the constant target of whatever antics he could come up with, so the Führer would never be able to rest easily.

One of Fegelein's commanding officers became so tormented by his antics that it drove him to commit suicide.

Rather than berate Fegelein for what he did, Himmler expressed his admiration for Fegelein's ability to commit antics. At the time, Himmler himself was in a war of antics with none other than the Führer of the Reich, Adolf Hitler. Hitler originally believed that Fegelein would stop Himmler from committing his antics once and for all. He was sadly mistaken. Himmler taught Fegelein all the tricks-of-the-trade on committing antics. While Fegelein himself had talent for antics, Himmler taught him how to do it with finesse[2].

However, he once said in a parody that he was "just a pawn in the great antic system" and that an antic he was accused of was the "will of the antic force". This implies that Fegelein is guided by a higher force. What this "antic force" is has not been disclosed, but it has been referred to several times in Benad361 parodies in which Fegelein is involved.

He also enjoys to ruin Hitler's fun as always, once sabotaging Hitler's ice bucket challenge.

The 'Fegel-' prefix
Unlike most of those who commit antics and acquire their tools from antic dealers, Fegelein prefers to make his tools himself. Tools created by Fegelein are given a name that acquire the prefix of "Fegel-". This was first introduced in TheSilverUniverse's parody Hitler is informed that he's going to explode in which Fegelein created a "Fegel-Bomb" to destroy Hitler's bunker. MHXDownfall's parodies suggested that Fegelein created "anticological weapons" - which were modified (and enhanced) German weapons of WWII. For example, he has a Fegel-AT; which is an AT gun, derived from a PaK 43, capable of destroying tanks in one shot, no matter how thick their armor. This means that even a main battle tank won't stand a chance! In addition, he has the Fegel-Panzer. Both weapons are mentioned in "Fegelein in Stalingrad".

Creatures affiliated with him, or resembling him also tend to use this prefix. Examples are the infamous Fegelbear, Fegel-bedbugs and the Fegel-Aliens.

On the other hand, Fegelein's infamous reputation for antics causes the 'Fegel-' prefix to be used as a cuss word by people who severely dislike Fegelein and his antics. Which, obviously, makes Hitler a prominent user of this prefix. Whenever he encounters something he dislikes, or something bad happens to him, he sometimes adds the prefix to the thing that causes him discomfort. Even when said thing has no affiliation to Fegelein. For example, in Adolf Hitler vs a Fly, he calls the fly a Fegel-fly, despite Fegelein having no role in the parody.

Gradual loss of dominant status
Due to the gradual emergence of new antic masters and forces, many (including HitchcockJohn, Benad361 and others) see Fegelein as an antic master who is no longer superior in the parody universe, and is very much the equal of his peers (such as Tukhachevsky). However, this is equal to other parodies - Fegelein is still seen as the antics master in the Hitler parodies. This has been expressed by several Untergangers many times, and shown in their parodies, such as the parodies and statements of HitchcockJohn, the parodies and stated opinions of Benad361 (see Tukhachevsky Vs. Fegelein), the parodies of Subtitlecomedy (in which Felicity Merriman is a match for the man himself), and in other such examples.

Recently, Fegelein attempted to prevent Germany from winning the 2014 World Cup. His most humiliating moment came when Germany defeated Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals, ruining his reputation and making him a wanted man in Brazil. With Germany victorious over Argentina in the finals, Hitler achieved his greatest victory over his arch nemesis. Hitler celebrated by shooting Fegelein personally, despite knowing that he wouldn't be killed, and that he will return again as usual.

That said, the general consensus among many viewers is still in Fegelein's favor. However, many of them are unaware of the existence of other antic masters. But signs of a gradual shift have been noticed, such as some highly-recommended comments on popular parodies having mentioned other antic masters (such as comments on the 'trapped' parodies of Echoes1224), the immense popularity of some parodies featuring these other characters, the growing popularity of the wiki, and so on.

Other Portrayals
Fegelein has been portrayed by many other people beside Thomas Kretschmann in Downfall, which include:
 * Shakti Kumar in Dear Friend Hitler (Gandhi to Hitler).
 * Jay Lance in National Geographic's 42 Ways to Kill Hitler.
 * Volker Spengler in 100 Years of Adolph Hitler.
 * Terrence Hardiman in The Bunker.
 * Julian Glover in Hitler: The Last Ten Days.
 * Inigo Jackson in 1973's ITV Saturday Night Theatre.
 * Jean Topart in Le Bunker.
 * Julius Jonak in The Last Ten Days (The Last Act).

Trivia

 * He is the only Downfall character whom Hitler mentions more than once in succession (Fegelein! Fegelein Fegelein!).
 * Fegelein! is often replaced as "Dammit" in the "Hitler is Informed by Günsche Scene".
 * Fegelein is a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. He also assumed command of the SS Cavalry Brigade and the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer.
 * He oversaw the killing of around 20,000 Jews in the Prypiat Swamps in July 1941.
 * Fegelein has a vice for being promiscuous. Once he fled the bunker, the place he took refuge was a brothel. When he phoned Eva Braun, he was also supposedly having sex with a prostitute.
 * Fegelein was executed even though Adolf Hitler did not order it and even before he is to see Fegelein.
 * Although he was a Gruppenführer, he is wearing a Brigadeführer uniform throughout the film.
 * Along with Gaddafi, he is one of the only characters with objects with his name as a prefix (e.g. Fegel-vuvuzela, Fegel-polly, Fegel-bees, Fegel-balm, Fegel-Teleporting Device, Fegel-fist, Fegel-bear).
 * His counterpart in the Mirror Parody Universe, Nielegef Nnamreh, is the victim of Reltih's antics instead of the doer.
 * Although he is wanted by Hitler in the Parody Universe because of his antics, in Downfall, he is only summoned in liaison to Himmler who had betrayed Hitler.
 * In real life, those who were close to Fegelein actually nicknamed him Flegelein. In German, one calls another a Flegel (lout or brat) for lack of manners and appropriate behavior. Flegelein is the hypocoristic form of a Flegel.
 * Fegelein was present at the conference room during the failed 20 July plot (Operation Valkyrie) to kill Hitler, and he was among the many injured in the explosion.
 * Fegelein shares the same Zodiac sign as Joseph Goebbels, something Goebbels isn't too happy about.
 * We don't know who he considers as an archenemy between Hitler and Tukachavesky.
 * History's 2005 documentary Hitler's End reveals that it is in fact Otto Günsche who endorsed Fegelein's execution to Hitler, when the latter appeared to care little about Fegelein. More discussion on this can be found in this thread on the Axis History Forum.