Matthias Brandner

Matthias Brandner
Thomas Ohrner as Matthias Brandner (2009)
Verbotene Liebe
Portrayed by	Thomas Ohrner
First appearance	Episode 3084 January 15, 2008
Profile
Gender	Male
Occupation	Construction manager at Brandner Bau
Residence	Brandner house Cologne, Germany
Relationships Spouse(s) Katja Brandner (widowed; deceased) Nathalie Käppler (married; 2010-) Children Lydia Brandner (daughter, with Katja) David Brandner (son, with Katja) Fabian Brandner (son, with Katja) Ben (son, with Nathalie, stillborn) Grandchildren Nick Brandner (grandson, via Lydia) First cousins Arno Brandner Achim Brandner Philipp Brandner

Matthias Brandner is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love) portrayed by actor and entertainer Thomas Ohrner. He made his first appearance on screen on January 15, 2008^[1].

Storylines

The arrival

Matthias comes together with his wife Katja to Düsseldorf, after his cousin Arno Brandner invited them. What only was planned as a short visit, became more, when Matthias found out that his daughter Lydia has a new job in this town. Katja begged him to stay and after his company, what he worked for in his old hometown Flensburg, he agreed to stay and begin a new life. Arno tells them that they can stay as long as they want. The family soon later is joined by Matthias and Katja's youngest son Fabian.

When Matthias loses his job in Flensburg, Arno wants to help his cousin and gives him work at his own construction company 'Brandner Bau'. But then it comes to first tensions between Arno and Matthias when he helps Arno's daughter Susanne to get enough money from his ex-wife Elisabeth to save the company. Arno doesn't want the help of his ex-wife and loses almost his company to Adrian Degenhardt out of pride. But then it is one of Arno's worst enemies, Sebastian von Lahnstein, who is also Lydia's new boyfriend helps him get his company back and fixes also the money problem Arno was in.

The betrayal

Matthias is impressed with Sebastian and thinks that he is the right guy for his daughter. But the young couple has many problems to solve. Matthias' own marriage falls apart when his wife Katja confesses to him that she slept with another man and eventually that she is pregnant. Matthias has problems to deal with all that, but tries to rescue his marriage over and over again. Then he is even willing to accept Katja's unborn child, in case it isn't his. Matthias gets credit from his family for working things with Katja out, when he has the suspicion that the man Katja might had slept with is Lydia's boyfriend Sebastian. But his son Fabian tells him, that this would be insane and that Katja would never do this to Lydia. Matthias thinks Fabian is right and is on a business trip for the next few days. When he comes back, he soon learns that his instinct was right. Katja slept with Sebastian and destroyed with that one-night-stand the whole family. Matthias is angry and can't believe that Katja would betray him and Lydia like that. He throws her out of the house with the announcement that he wants a divorce. When David, Matthias' other son, returns from Australia he tries to talk to his parents and get them back together, but their decision seems final.

But in the end, Matthias can't stay away from her and sees that Katja is his great love and he never will get over her. He takes her back and wants to give her another chance, which Lydia doesn't understand and fears to lose her father. But with time, Lydia begins to miss Katja too. Matthias hopes that he sooner or later can reunite his family. When Lydia helps Katja to give birth to her daughter Christina, the two finally reconcile. Matthias first doesn't know how to deal with Christina, still not knowing if she really is his daughter, but after a moment of soul searching he accepts Christina as his daughter. Together with David, Lydia and Christina, Matthias and Katja celebrate Christmas, before Katja starts to feel sick. Matthias is worried and wants her to see a doctor, but she won't listen. Short time later, Lydia promises her mother to take care of the family, before Katja dies in Matthias' arms.

The new love

He tries to move on and finds a good new friend in Nathalie Käppler.While she becomes a friend of the family, Nathalie starts to realize that she develops strong feelings for Matthias. He surprises Nathalie to spend the day with him and Christina at a baby swimming class. A day that ends with the two sharing a kiss. They eventually become a couple, but have to deal with the jealousy of Nathalie's former husband Ansgar von Lahnstein. He tries to ruin the construction company Brandner Bau in order to get Nathalie back. When she tries to stop him and gets into one of his schemes, Ansgar makes it seem like Nathalie cheated on Matthias with him. But it doesn't take Matthias long to see that Ansgar only tries to separate them and do whatever it takes to be successful. Ansgar almost can ruin the company though, but thanks to a new project, Arno and Matthias can rescue Brandner Bau. Nathalie and Matthias look into their bright future with now expecting their first child together.

Fighting for Christina

Sebastian and Matthias both try to avoid to subject of Christina's paternity, but when she has an accident on Sebastian's wedding with Lydia and needs a blood donation, Matthias finds out that he isn't a match and not Christina's father. Lydia and Sebastian are shocked and Lydia can't believe that her father and husband lied to her before, by telling her that they already had a paternity test with Matthias as biological father. Sebastian tries to handle to situation in staying away from his daughter in order to save his marriage. But with time and his involvement in the Brandner family, Sebastian comes close to Christina and can't hide his fatherly feelings for long. When Matthias realizes that Sebastian wants to be a part of his daughter's life, he is alarmed and fears to lose her to the man who once slept with his deceased wife. The two get into fights over and over again and Sebastian even plans to get custody, when he needs to realize that because of Katja and Matthias' marriage he has no legal claim on Christina. Matthias and Sebastian then try to work out a visit agreement, but Sebastian oversteps by getting to much fatherly feelings for the girl.

Notes

1. ^ [1] Das Erste.de - First appearance (German)