Supreme Leader Dessler



Supreme Leader Abelt Dessler (Desslok in the american dub) is the main antagonist of the anime Space Battleship Yamato and it's remake Space Battleship Yamato 2199. He is the ruler of the Garmillas (or Gamilon) empire and oversees a brutal expansion across the galaxy. Despite his brutal regime, Dessler has affection for Starsha Iscandar, the beautiful queen of planet Iscandar. He is also the archenemy to the crew of the Yamato.

Story


Throughout the Yamato's maiden voyage to Iscandar and save the planet Earth, Dessler's forces constantly antagonized the ship, with all efforts ending in failure. Dessler himself, while not present much in the campaigns to sink her, was quick to berate most of his subordinates for their failures. He did however, admire the ship and her crew's seemingly endless tenacity in escaping his empire's best-laid traps and willingness to soldier on. When the ship finally reached Gamilas itself, Dessler tried to destroy her using his planet's fragile ecosystem, but ultimately failed in that as well. Escaping in his personal battlecruiser, Dessler tried to destroy the Yamato again when it tried to warp back to Earth with his Dessler Gun, but was defeated once more when the cannon's beam rebounded against a reflective film Yamato officer Sanada had recently developed and hit the cruiser, seemingly killing the Garmilas leader and destroying his flagship.

Personality and traits
Dessler can be generous, charming, and charismatic with public audiences and in private, with Garmillas, Iscandarians and humans alike. Although Dessler's rule is absolute and is built on the threat of physical force, he cultivates genuine enthusiasm among some of his subjects. Most members of his inner circle are sincerely loyal, and in the case of Minister Celestella, affectionate. When he turns to violence, he does so without hesitation and with an easy ability to justify it--and he is equally willing to inflict it on members of his own species as he is on aliens. Regardless of the political and technological advantages of his relationship with Queen Starsha Iscandar, Dessler grows to love her, and identifies with her desire to help all intelligent life in the universe. However, he confuses this desire with his own need to rule it with an iron fist.

Dessler does not shy away from the wealth and ostentation of his position. His surroundings are luxurious, and he indulges in drink, private hot springs, and other flamboyant pleasures, even after being toppled from power.

Trivia
The character's japanese name is アベルト・デスラー (Aberuto Desurā)