Commander Rourke

Lyle T. Rourke is the main villain in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He is one of the very few Disney villains who does not initially appear to be evil, but gradually shows his villainy over the course of the film. This, however, is also true for Gaston, Clayton, Charles Muntz, and Syndrome. He initially appears as a respectable commander, but as the movie progresses, he turns out to be a ruthless and nearly crazed mercenary out to capture the Heart of Atlantis and make money off of it. He kidnaps Princess Kida. His fate is that he gets crystallized and shatters into a million pieces dead. {| class="toc" id="toc" summary="Contents"

Contents
[show]*1 Film Role
 * 2 Personality
 * 3 History
 * 4 Trivia
 * }

Film Role
In 1914, Milo James Thatch, an aspiring young linguist working in the boiler room at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., believes that a manuscript known as the Shepherd's Journal will lead to the location of Atlantis. When his request to lead an expedition is denied by the Institution's board, he angrily resigns but then finds himself contacted by millionaire Preston B. Whitmore, a friend of Milo's grandfather, Thadeus Thatch. The elder Thadeus Thatch had already located the Journal, and asked Whitmore to give it to Milo when he was ready.

Whitmore asks Milo to become part of a team to search for Atlantis on a high-tech submarine. Milo joins Commander Rourke, his second-in-command Helga Sinclair, demolitions expert Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, geologist Gaetan "Mole" Molière, medical officer Dr. Joshua Sweet, tomboy mechanic Audrey Ramirez, cook Jebidiah Allerdyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, and cynical communications expert Wilhelmina Packard.

The sub is sunk by an underwater Leviathan, but the team escapes. After fateful misadventures, they are able to find the underwater entrance to Atlantis. To their amazement, the city still survives in a bubble beneath the earth. They are met by Kida, daughter of the Atlantean King. Kida discovers that Milo can read the Atlantean language, long forgotten by her own people. They dive to read ancient underwater murals, and learn about the Heart of Atlantis, which is the source of the power that saved Atlantis from the tidal wave and of the strange blue gems that each Atlanean wears. As they leave the ruins, they are caught by Rourke and the rest of the team, who have turned mercenary and are after the Heart Of Atlantis. They find the crystal in a chamber below the King's quarters. Kida is drawn to the crystal and infused with its power.

Rourke plans to take Kida to the surface. But without the Heart, Atlantis will die. The other team members abandon their plan to steal the Heart, and Rourke leaves them all behind with Helga. The King, mortally wounded by Rourke, gives Milo his crystal and begs him to rescue his daughter and save Atlantis. Milo and the Atlanteans discover how to use the crystals to activate ancient flying machines and they give chase as an air force. Rourke plans to escape through an ancient volcano, but Milo slashes him with glass from the box holding the crystal and Kida, and Rourke is shattered into a million pieces by his own balloon's propeller. Added by Mayan PeopleMilo is having a handshake with Rourke in the control room.Added by Mayan People

Personality
Rourke is greedy, ruthless, and almost crazed. And he is also a pragmatic, tough, mercenary and makes his own rules.

Rourke, a pragmatist both personally and professionally, tends to take what he needs and discards anything he considers "useless baggage."

History
Lyle T. Rourke was born in 1860 and learned the ways of military life at an early age when his father, a cavalry officer named Lt. Col. Jackson, was killed in battle in 1864 during the Civil War. After repeated expulsions from boarding school for fighting, Rourke resolved to follow in his father's footsteps and joined the military in 1875 at age fifteen. There, he exhibited a remarkable talent for leadership, owing to his analytical mind, charisma, and refusal to acknowledge the white flag surrender. He married in June of 1887, but his wife left him after only four months.

He held numerous expeditions during his career, most notably leading the Whitmore Expedition to Atlantis.