Voiced by: Masato Yamanouchi (Japanese) , Richard Newman (Bandai dub) , Jeremy Schwartz (Funimation dub)
"When the dragon and the girl come close, the image of the future wavers. That girl from Earth is the key to everything. I must separate them! " -Dornkirk
Emperor Dornkirk (formally known as Issac) is the leader of the Zaibach empire. He is the ultimate antagonist of the Escaflowne series and is responsible for the atrocities inflicted on Fanelia, Asturia and Freid.
Life on Earth
He is originally from Earth and was known as Issac. He was a scientist who began to question why people were drawn to each other and why they act they way they do. He eventually concluded that the unseen force known as Destiny was responsible for the fates of humans.
He began to research a way to control destiny and continued to pursue that goal all his life but never found an answer. On his death bed, just before he expired, he was transported to Gaea (though the means of how this happened are not explained).
Life on Gaea
Upon arriving on Gaea, he discovered a nearly barren land, where the people were barely sustaining themselves off the meager resources the land gave them. There was constant conflict and life was one of hardship. Seeing this, Issac decided to use his knowledge to give the people the tools to better their lives and become an industrial society. Eventually, he founded what would become known as the Zaibach empire.
His search for the power to control destiny continued on Gaea and he discovered the legend of Atlantis. He became obsessed with the secret of Atlantis and at some point, he met Leon Schezar who was also searching for the secret of Atlantis, said to reside in the Mystic Valley. Leon discovered the secret of Atlantis but refused to tell Issac, so he was killed.
At some point, Emperor Dornkirk built a giant machine called the Fate Alteration Engine which allows him to predict the future. However, his ultimate goal is to be able to bend reality to his will through his wishes as the Atlanteans were once able to do. He seeks Escaflowne and the Mystic Valley in order to accomplish this.
Personality
Emperor Dornkirk is an obsessive man, spending his entire life searching for a way to control destiny and going to whatever lengths necessary to obtain that power. His quest comes before anything and anyone else. He is ultimately responsible for the destruction of three countries and he counts the death and devastation wrought by his actions as the price of obtaining his ideal future.
He has noble intentions of wanting to create a perfect existence for the people of Gaea, but goes about it in the wrong way and seems to be misguided that such a thing has a perfect destiny can really exist.
Powers & Abilities
Although he possesses no supernatural powers of his own, Emperor Dornkirk is an extremely intelligent and resourceful man. He founded and built the Zaibach empire and created the technology for the Guymelefs. He also built the Fate Alteration Engine.
He has lived a long life and is implied to be far older than most humans. How he came to obtain such long life is unknown.
Inspiration
Emperor Dornkirk may have been inspired by Dr Isaac Newton, an English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist known among other things for his Laws of Motion. Evidence for Dr Newton being the inspiration include:
- a shared interest in unseen forces that draw things to each other (gravity for Newton, Destiny for Dornkirk)
- to an extent, understanding how matter behaved (by Laws such as Newton's) was thought to allow prediction of the future, just like Dornkirk's Destiny Prognostication Engine
- sharing the same name
- having a similar appearance, particularly the style of their hair when considering paintings of Newton.