- This article describes Dessler from the original Space Battleship Yamato and its sequels. For his counterpart in Space Battleship Yamato 2199, see Abelt Desler. For the similarly named personification of half the Gamilas hive mind consciousness in the live action film, see Dessla.
Dessler is the leader of the warrior-race of the planet Gamilas.
Appearance and Personality[]
Dessler resembles a man in his early thirties, with golden hair, black eyes, and as with all members of the Gamilas race, blue skin. He typically wears a grey officer's suit, complete with a red-on-black cape, boots, and white gloves.
Dessler, as leader of the Gamilas Empire, is charming, flamboyant, nihilistic, cultured, arrogant, having a low regard for failure, and most of all, a skilled military tactician with a superiority complex. However, as the Yamato made her way to Iscandar, more positive facets of Dessler's personality arise - he attacked Earth not out of recreation nor revenge, but out of necessity, as his own homeworld was in danger of being destroyed.
When allied with the White Comet Empire, Dessler's negative traits took center stage as he was consumed by his rage against the Yamato,who had managed to defeat him a year earlier. However, in a last-ditch battle to destroy the Yamato once and for all, Dessler has a change of heart after seeing Yuki Mori's open love for Susumu Kodai. He renounces his quarrel with Earth, and even gives Yuki a piece of information that would prove useful in the downfall of the Comet Empire.
When he fought against the Dark Nebula Empire, Dessler's more positive traits were completely dominant. His loyalty and devotion to Starsha is seen, especially in his reaction when she blows Iscandar up to defeat the Dark Nebula forces who have come to strip mine the planet. His newfound appreciation of the human race is also in appearance, as seen when he alerts the E.D.F to send the Yamato to aid him.
During the Bolar Wars, Dessler still retained much of his positive personality traits, though some of his older, negative ones were still in place. One such example is his death threat to Geidel on intentionally clashing with the Yamato and the former's deliberate refusal to stay away from the spiral arm of the Milky Way, where Earth is located. His loyalty to his Earth allies was still much in appearance, as he seems to be more than willing to divert resources and manpower from his empire to aid the Yamato in saving the Earth in any way possible, and when he arrived at the eleventh hour to save his old friends by finishing the last remnants of the hostile Denguil race in the Yamato's final battle.
History[]
Space Battleship Yamato[]
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 Gamilas leader and destroying his cruiser.
Space Battleship Yamato 2[]
Shortly before his apparent "death", Dessler managed to flip a switch that teleported his half-destroyed cruiser away and was left floating in space, barely alive due to his robust will to live. Meanwhile, the Yamato returned to Earth and managed to purge the planet of it's radiation. Dessler was later found and revived by the White Comet Empire. The empire's leader, Zwordar, welcomed him into the empire, though not without objections from his subordinates. A year after being defeated by the Yamato, Dessler walked in on Zwordar's planning sessions for Earth and decided to bring about the issue of the Yamato, with several of his comrades giving him little to no regard. Taking matters into his hands, Dessler leaves his comrades and assembles the remaining strength of Gamilas to Teresart to supplement Admiral Gorand's anti-matter missile planetary defense fleet. Zwodar also gifted Dessler with a new ship.
When the Yamato finally arrived at Teresart, Dessler had an elaborate plan in mind: he would first release a swarm of space bacteria that resembled the Earth's own fireflies. The reason behind this tactic was that the crew of the Yamato, the majority of them homesick, would fall prey to the uncanny resemblance between the bacteria and the fireflies, and take them onboard. Then, the bacteria would slowly eat away at the Yamato's engines and weapon systems, allowing one of Dessler's generals, Vandevel, to attack the hapless ship with his battle carrier. Dessler's plan went well, that is, until some of the bacteria also got on Vandevel's ship and ate away at it's weapons system, thus rendering the plan redundant. Dessler later shot Vandevel dead for his failure. However, Dessler had another scheme in mind. The Yamato, in need of repairs, had to have a safe place to repair the damage. So, Dessler had a hollowed-out asteroid moved not far from the Yamato's location. If the Yamato stopped there for repairs, then, he would trap them in there with several well-placed electromagnetic sensors and fire his Dessler Gun at them while inside the asteroid. Again, the Yamato took the bait and got trapped inside the asteroid. Dessler then decided to mock the Yamato before he fired his weapon. However, thanks to the meddling of Miru, a Comet Empire advisor (actually a spy), and the crew of the Yamato's quick thinking, the ship escaped the trap. Dessler was then called back by Zwordar's mistress Sabera who told him that Zwordar had ordered him back due to his recklessness (actually a lie she had made up). Begrugingly, Dessler followed and ordered his fleet to withdraw.
Arriving back at Gatlantis, Dessler was arrested by Sabera who actually tricked Zwordar into thinking that Dessler had abandoned his mission. Thus, Zwordar allowed Sabera to arrest him. Dessler was soon jailed. However, Dessler didn't stay imprisoned for long, and a few weeks later, broke out of his cell when Sabera tried to have him executed. Kidnapping Sabera, Dessler and Talan, his closest friend, escaped the fortress and left Sabera behind. Fleeing to the Gamilas fleet in a stolen ship, Dessler was almost killed when Sabera attempted to order the fortress to fire upon the Gamilas leader, but Zwordar stopped her, having correctly deduced that his mistress had lied to him all along. Zwordar gave back Dessler's flagship, and the Gamilas leader departed from his allies for one last showdown with the Yamato.
A few days later, Dessler got his chance. The Yamato, having survived the cataclysmic Battle of Saturn, a battle that had reduced the fleets of the EDF and Comet Empire to mere piecemeal, prepared to warp in near Earth to attack Gatlantis. However, before they could do so, Dessler's fleet attacked the ship and launched several Gamilas bombers to harry the Yamato until Dessler could make his attack. After a few minutes of repeated bombing runs, the Yamato prepared her Wave-Motion Gun against the enemy fleet, but Dessler warped in a large number of warp-capable mines near the Yamato. Knowing tht the Yamato would get destroyed if they fired their main weapon near all the mines, the crew relented and formed up a new plan. Then, as Dessler fired the Dessler Gun, the Yamato short-warped away. Dessler ordered his ship to move away, but as it turned a full 180 degrees, the Yamato warped out and hit the enemy ship right down the middle. Then, a vast majority of the Yamato's crew then boarded the ship and engaged in a fierce battle with the Gamilas soilders on the ship. As the battle raged, Dessler soon faced Susumu Kodai at gunpoint, who he'd briefly met when Dessler attacked the Yamato on the journey home to Earth. A tense standoff followed and as Dessler prepared to shoot Kodai, the latter unexpectedly collapsed due to fatigue. Yuki Mori, Kodai's sweetheart who had been watching the standoff on the sidelines, then rushed to nurse Kodai. Touched by Yuki's love, Dessler renounces his quarrel with Earth. He then hands over Kodai's pistol to Yuki and gives her an important clue on how to destroy Gatlantis. He then departs with Talan to a carrier that had been on stand-by and orders the fleet to withdraw, leaving Yuki and Kodai alone.
Yamato: The New Voyage[]
A few months after the Comet Empire is defeated, Dessler, now on a new flagship (a heavily modified bright red battle-carrier), still leading the remnants of Gamilas in the search for a new home. In the midst of the voyage, he assembles his flagship's crew and promises that they will find a new home soon. But first, Dessler plans to return home to Gamilas to have a final goodbye before it is destroyed.
Later when Dessler and his fleet finally reached their home system, Dessler thought back to his past memories of both Gamilas (before it burned) and Queen Starsha (who he still had feelings for). When Dessler finally saw Gamilas he stared silently and began taking in his final view of his home planet. Unfortunately, when Dessler saw something in one of the craters of their old homeworld, Dessler's face quickly changed we he noticed that his own planet was already being desecrated by mysterious alien invaders, who were illegally mining the planet. Angered by this, Dessler ordered his fleet to go to battle stations and form up behind his flagship. The Gamilas fleet remnants immediately ambushed the mysterious invaders and began decimating their escort fleet, causing the Commander in charge of the mining operation to urgently call Pleiades-class Battleship Pleiades Commander Daeder for reinforcements, who then orders his fleet to immediately begin heading towards Gamilas.
Dessler and fleet continue fighting the invaders, while inflicting massive casualties on the invaders side. However, one of the remaining enemy destroyers shoots down the large mining ship, which brings it crashing down upon the mining facility, causing a massive chain reaction that begins to destroy the planet Gamilas. Dessler and his fleet had barely managed to escape, but the remaining enemy escort vessels weren't so lucky and were consumed in the resulting explosion. Dessler and everyone aboard his flagship looked on the remains of Gamilas with complete shock and sadness as Dessler himself knew that his homeworld was fated to be destroy, yet he never expected such a cruel ending. Talon then notices that the planet Iscandar has been knocked out of orbit and is moving away towards unknown space. Dessler than orders his fleet to follow Iscander while completely unaware that Commander Deader and his fleet started to follow them as well.
Having caught up with Iscandar, Dessler then begins contacting Queen Starsha and her new lover Mamoru Kodai, in order to warn them of the danger. Queen Starsha is both shocked and surprised upon seeing Dessler alive and well and at first is wary of him, but Dessler reassures her that he is no longer the bad person he used to be and he tells her that he only wants to save her as a friend. Convinced, kindly Starsha thanks Dessler, but tells him that she cannot leave Iscandar because she has live there all her life, but she then tells Dessler to please understand as she does understand how he felt about Gamilas's destruction. Mamoru Kodai then tells Dessler to inform his brother Susumu Kodai that he has decided to remain happy with Starsha on Iscandar before the transmission is unexpectedly interrupted and cut off by the build of of magma that again moves Iscandar away from Dessler's fleet much to Dessler's horror. Dessler urgently orders his fleet to again pursue and track Iscandar as it begins to warp. Dessler then asks Talon to inform both Earth and Mamoru's younger brother Susumu Kodai of the situation in order to send in reinforcements to help save both Queen Starsha and Mamoru. Dessler's fleet then proceeds to warp after Iscandar, right after sending the distress signal to Earth.
Sometime later, Iscandar drops out of warp and moves through the gravity well of a nebula, with the Dessler fleet emerging behind Iscandar. Talon warns Dessler that if they aren't careful the gravity well would trap them, but Dessler remains unfazed as he orders his fleet to continue pursuit of Iscander, to which Talon reluctantly complies. Dessler again contacts Queen Starsha and he desperately warns her and Mamoru Kodai to hurry aboard his ship, but she again refuses and tells Dessler to leave quickly. Dessler again tries to tell her of the new threat, but before he could his flagship is suddenly rocked by an explosion, and Dessler is shocked and surprised at realizing that the mysterious enemy fleet has finally caught up with him. Deader's Flagship the Pleiades and her escorts begin mercilessly and relentlessly attacking Dessler's fleet, destroying many of their ships in the process. Dessler immediately orders his remaining forces to pull back and land on Iscandar. Thinking quickly, Dessler orders mines to be launched into orbit, as a distraction which succeeds in taking out several enemy destroyers in the process, while the massive enemy battleship Pleiades then halt's it's advance and begins firing at the mines while also launching fighters to deal with the surviving Gamilas ships.
Dessler's ship managed to land on the ocean near the Iscandarian city Mothertown, and begins to engaged the enemy fighters and bombers in fierce engagement. Dessler then notice's that many of the enemy fighters were attacking Queen Starsha's palace. Dessler then orders his ships to protect Queen Starsha and Mamoru Kodai at all costs. Queen Starsha and Mamoru Kodai could do nothing as they watch helplessly as Dessler attempts to protect them with his flagship. One of Dessler's bridge officer's urgently informs him that the enemy fleet has managed to create a way through the minefield. Dessler then looks on as he begins to lose hope when the enemy flagship Pleiades starts destroying some of Dessler's surviving ships before turning it's main guns towards Dessler's flagship. Before the Pleiades could open fire upon Dessler's flagship, a new challenger appears... the Yamato, much to Queen Starsha, Mamoru Kodai, and Dessler's relief. The Yamato's fighter's led by Susumu Kodai engage and destroy the enemy fighters while protecting the surviving Gamilas ships. Susumu Kodai also saves Dessler from an enemy fighter that attempts a suicidal run at Dessler's flagship, much to Dessler's surprise.
Dessler watches as the Yamato engages and manages to destroy all remaining enemy fighters and destroyer vessel's much to Commander Deader's anger. Deader then order's his flagship Pleiades to attack the Yamato. The Yamato fires back but it's main shock cannons did nothing against the Pleiade's thick armor. The Yamato then prepares it's wave motion gun, however Deader notices this and quickly orders his flagship to position itself deliberately in the path of Iscandar in order to make the crew of the Yamato back off. Fortunately Iscandar's magma activity builds up again and manages to safely move out of the Yamato's firing range, thus leaving the enemy flagship exposed. The Yamato immediately fire's it's deadly wave motion gun, killing and vaporizing Deader, his crew, and his flagship Pleiades instantly. The Yamato together with Dessler's flagship and surviving ships begins to pursue Iscandar through the nebula.
Unfortunately, news of Deader's death and defeat at the hands of both Earth and Gamilas is soon received by General Moelders, the supreme commander of the Black Nebula Empire's forces in the Large Magellanic Cloud, who then reports this to the Great Emperor. Meanwhile, Dessler informs Kodai of why the enemy is so interested in capturing Iscandar to which he explains that they want to mine the unstable raw minerals of both Gamilas and Iscandar to make weapons. Iscandar soon stops as soon as it emerges from the Nebula and soon stops. Kodai and the crew of the Yamato attempt to convince Queen Starsha and Mamoru Kodai to leave, but they reluctantly refuse the third time. General Moelders massive flagship Goruba then arrives and confronts both the Yamato and Dessler. General Moelders then claims that Iscandar now belongs to the Dark Nebula Empire. before ordering both the Yamato and Dessler's remaining ships to leave immediately or else he'll attack the two lovers on Iscandar if they refuse before giving them ten minutes to think it over.
Dessler overcome with grief and sadness at losing his home planet to this terrifying new enemy, immediately orders his remaining ships and fighters to attack the enemy mother ship Gorba much to Talon's shock. Dessler's ships and fighters start engaging Moelder's forces. Dessler's forces had manage to wipe out all of the enemy fighters, while the crew of the Yamato watch in horror as Dessler attacks the enemy recklessly, despite Susumu Kodai's warnings.
Moelders then orders Goruba's main weapons batteries to destroy the rebelling Gamilas forces, successfully taking out one of the carriers and remaining fighters in the process, while Dessler's flagship in hit. Dessler unfazed then orders Talon to deploy the Dessler Cannon and prepares to fire at Goruba. Dessler fires the Dessler Cannon, unfortunately, it does not do any damage what so ever to Gorba. General Moelders then laughs evilly and taunts Dessler briefly, before turning his attention towards Iscandar. Moelders then tells both Dessler and the crew of the Yamato to watch closely as he then demonstrates Gorba's firepower by unleashing a powerful burst of energy that strikes Iscandar, that creates a large crater on one of the continents. Moelders then orders the weapons officers to turn Gorba's wrath towards Queen Starsha's palace, but Dessler then realizing that Queen Starsha's life is in grave danger, quickly order's his Flagship to ram the enemy's cannon barrel in an attempted suicide run. Realizing that the foolish Gamilions were gonna ram them, Moelders then calmly, yet urgently orders his weapons officer to destroy Dessler's Flagship, but it was too late, as Dessler's Flagship successfully manages to embed itself into the hull of the enemy fortress. Dessler feeling hopeless, then urgently orders Kodai to fire the Yamato's wave motion gun at him as it's the only way to destroy Gorba. Before Kodai could do so Queen Starsha intervenes and pleads with both parties to stop fighting. She then tells General Moelders that he can have Iscandar, much to his delight. Queen Starsha the tells the crew of the Yamato that she will willingly leave Iscandar. Gorba then leaves orbit towards Iscandar, while Dessler's flagship then frees itself as Dessler is unable to do anything.
Unknown to Dessler, Queen Starsha willingly stays behind while saving both her husband and newborn child Sasha to Yamato aboard an Iscandar escape pod, while Gorba, flies right by them. Queen Starsha then sacrifices herself by activating a self destruct mechanism which causes an explosion that quickly heads towards Gorba. General Moelders is caught completely off guard but is too late to do anything as he himself and Goruba are completely vaporized in the process, killing him and his crew, resulting in Iscandar's destruction as well much to Dessler's anguish and sadness. Queen Starsha now ascended then informs both Dessler and the crew of the Yamato not to be sad, as it was better for Iscandar to be destroyed rather then to be subjected to the pain and misery of wars. Queen Starsha then bids farewell to her husband Mamoru Kodai, her daughter Sasha, the crew of the Yamato, and Dessler, before disappearing into the heavens.
Dessler and Kodai's ships then rendezvous near an unknown sytem where both of them then face each other. Kodai then asks where will he go now that his own planet Gamilas and Iscandar have been tragically destroyed. Dessler then tells Kodai that he vows to rebuilt his people's empire on another uninhabitted, yet habitable planet no matter how long it takes. Dessler then bids farewell to Kodai before boarding and departing on his damaged flagship and heading for parts unknown. Unfortunately, both Dessler and Kodai were both completely unaware that the Dark Nebula Empire and their Emperor were secretly watching from the shadowed darkness of the Dark Nebula itself... as they turn their cold eyes towards Earth intent on getting revenge for the deaths of both General Moelders and Commander Deader.
Space Battleship Yamato III[]
Continuing in his role as the leader of the Gamilas people, Dessler's old title of "Leader" is changed to "Emperor" ("Shoot for Planet Mars").
Be Forever Yamato[]
Dessler sadly does not make an appearance during the Dark Nebula Empire's invasion of Earth in "Be Forever Yamato" during the 2nd Earth-Dark Nebula War (But it can be interpreted and speculated by the viewers that Dessler still had his own problems with conquering the remaining Bolar Federation remnants, or he was completely unaware of the mysterious Dark Nebula Empire's return without his knowing).
Final Yamato[]
Dessler would play one last role in helping the Earth in a time of need. Not long after the Bolar Wars ended, Dessler lead a fleet on an off-planet mission. Unfortunately, a titanic "invader galaxy" from another dimension appeared close to the Milky Way and crossed it. In the process, plenty of planets were destroyed, the others ruined. Unfortunately, the capital of the Galman-Gamilas Empire was one of those ruined planets. The Yamato under Kodai rushed to the planet to save Dessler, but when they arrived, they found a ruined planet, full of destroyed buildings and ruined infastructure. Mistakenly thinking that Dessler was dead, the crew left several roses near his palace as a sign of respect and mourning. Not long after, they left.
However, Dessler would arrive not very long after and returned to his planet. Finding the roses, he kept some and sensed that the Earth was in danger once more. He then ordered his flagship and several of his ships to warp as fast as they could to Earth.
They arrived close to Earth and found a tritum-loaded Yamato at the mercy of the Denguil, a warrior-race that had comandeered the water planet Aquarius on a colision course with Earth, as their own home was destroyed by Aquarius. Reacting quickly before any of the Denguil ships could fire, Dessler's fleet opened fire on their enemies as they warped in. Dessler contacted the Yamato for what would prove to be the final time to explain his sudden appearance and expression of graditude on honoring his "death". Shortly afterwards, he attacked and destroyed the flagship of Denguil emperor, Lugal, killing his opponent in the process.
Later, as the Yamato self-destructed in order to save the Earth from getting flooded by Aquarius, thus creating an ocean in space, Dessler watched from his flagship silently with tears in his eyes as the ship that had been enemy and ally sank silently below the waves of the ocean it had created.
It is unknown as to what happened to Dessler after that, however it can be safely assumed that Dessler and his remaining forces eventually set out to rebuilt their once great civilization once more and on a newer and much different planet after wishing Susumu Kodai and the people of Earth farewell and after making sure there were no more remaining Enemy Denguil Warships still surviving, since Earth's Defense Fleet was yet again decimated during the Denguil invasion.
Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection
Dessler does not appear either in "Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection" either during the Earth-SUS War (however it can be safely assume that Dessler was currently unavailable or it could be assumed that he and his empire were busy elsewhere).
History (Alternate Timeline)[]
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato[]
In an alternate timeline, where Dessler and Talon are the only two surviving members of their species, Dessler was rescued by the White Comet Empire not long after his defeat by the Yamato, when his cruiser was destroyed during the Earth Garmilas War. When the Yamato defeated some of the Comet Empire's best forces, Dessler was brought in to stop her. He was given a new flagship along with several destroyers to sink the Earth battleship. Dessler's plan was simple and straightforward... he would warp in the destroyers, which would hound the Yamato until Dessler could finish her off with his Dessler gun. The plan went well, until the Yamato warped away when Dessler fired his weapon, destroying the destroyers instead. The Yamato eventually warped out so close to Dessler's ship that both ships grazed each other's sides and forced them both to a complete stop. The Yamato's contingent of Space Cavalry then attacked and boarded the flagship, forcing Dessler to send out the ship's robot guards against them. Not very long after, Dessler shot Miru, a Comet Empire officer sent to keep an eye on him. Then, Talan, Dessler's closest friend and only other surviving member of the Gamilas race, died in an explosion, leaving Dessler the last Gamilas member. Susumu Kodai, who'd been second-in-command of the Yamato throughout her campaign to defeat the Comet Empire, them burst in, gun in hand. After a brief standoff, Dessler falls injured, and Kodai's lover, Yuki Mori, runs in to help him. An injured Miru then awakens and shoots Yuki (though he could have been aiming for Dessler). Dessler then shoots Miru, killing him. While Kodai tries to keep Yuki conscious, Dessler is touched by Kodai's love and apologizes for his misdeeds against Earth. Dessler then imparts some vital information regarding the weakness of Gatlantis, the White Comet Empire's main base, and steps into out of an airlock and into the cold reaches of space.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Dessler's title of Leader (総統 Sōtō) is the Japanese translation of the German word Führer, Adolf Hitler's title while he was in power.