Characters / Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The Free Planets Alliance

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The Free Planets Alliance is the democratic state that occupies the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Stuck in a Forever War with the Empire, nowadays they barely manage to govern themselves, clinging to little resources and ideals they have left.

This page lists characters associated with the democratic half of the galaxy, including The Free Planets Alliance, The 13th Fleet, El Facil Revolutionary Government and The Iserlohn Republic.

As always, please beware of spoilers. Humans are only human after all.

General Tropes

• Anarcho-Tyranny: The Patriotic Knights Corps, under the command of Job Trunicht, reflected how far the Alliance's democratic institutions had decayed by the waning years of the war. While classified as an ultranationalist terrorist group, in practice it served as informal death squads, enforcing the ideologies of pro-war politicians by 'punishing' anyone who dared to dissent. It's also revealed to be a front for the Terraists.
• Apathetic Citizens: When the Patriotic Knights Corps attempt to assault Yang at his residence, none of his neighbors attempt to intervene until the police arrive. Yang himself, however, doesn't hold it against them in his report.
  Yang: "The freedom to not get involved is perhaps the most valued freedom we have in this country."
• Boring Yet Practical:
  • Compared to the Empire's penchant for progressively more ornate uniforms for its officers, the Alliance's officers and staff wear more-or-less the same utilitarian service uniform, while their white dress uniforms are only slightly more elaborate. At least on paper, this is meant to reflect the FPA's egalitarianism and meritocracy, with the most noticeable difference being the number of ribbons or medals on their jackets. It's suggested as well that the general design hasn't changed in generations.
  • The designs of the Alliance ships are blockier and more utilitarian than Imperial ships, in addition to being incapable of SSTO flight. They are still formidable, however, and compensate by strapping more firepower and armor. Underestimate them at your peril.
• Bread and Circuses: By the waning years of the war, the Alliance's government resorts to hollow displays of patriotism and promises of socio-economic reform to keep the public distracted from just how dire the situation has become. This falls apart following the failure of the FPA's invasion of the Empire and the subsequent military coup.
• Cincinnatus: Lin Pao and Yūsuf Topparol, the two heroic commanders who won the Battle of Dagon, both chose to stay out of politics upon retiring from military service, setting an admirable precedent for some other Alliance officers to follow. Unfortunately, by the final years of the FPA many ambitious officers seem more keen to leverage their "successes" in the military for a political career.
• Day of the Jackboot: A group of hardliners and officers goaded/manipulated by Arthur Lynch as part of a gamble by Reinhard and Oberstein stage a coup on the FPA's civilian government, proclaiming themselves the National Salvation Military Council. This spark a period of widespread unrest and open Civil War which further cripples the Alliance by the time the junta's deposed.
• Democracy Is Flawed: Despite the constant boasts about the value of human freedom, the Alliance's High Council is filled with sleazy bureaucrats who are all about promises and no delivery, and any public opinion against them is suppressed by privately hired mercenaries.
• Determinator: The Alliance's soldiers and citizenry at large, despite the failures of their leaders, manage to persevere even in the face of their society's near-oblivion.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Alliance heavily resembles various Western European democracies, and more specifically the 20th Century United States, with planets having some degree of autonomy.
• Just Before the End: Even if it's not immediately obvious, and without any foreknowledge of the Empire's victory, the Alliance is shown to be teetering on the brink of collapse. From growing discontent over continuing a generations-long war, to the mounting economic costs of sustaining said conflict, just about the only thing keeping the FPA together is the threat posed by the Empire and increasingly, Yang's exploits.
• Lowered Recruiting Standards:
  • By the start of the series, the Alliance has already resorted to cutting down on training time and education deemed superfluous in order to fill the ranks. A major reason why Yang Wen-li's even in the military at all is due to his history course being shut down as a result of budget cuts.
  • This gets progressively worse, especially after the failed invasion of the Empire. Yang in particular increasingly has to deal with raw recruits straight out of the academy, noting how it’s indicative of the Alliance’s desperation that its government is throwing them into the slaughter.
  • This also extends to the Alliance's officer corps. Thanks to a combination of nepotism, corruption and otherwise talented commanders dying on the frontlines, the FPA's military is increasingly staffed by incompetent officers with either enough connections or money to escape scrutiny. While at first it's not that big of a deal because the Empire suffers from similar issues, it becomes disastrous once Reinhard demolishes the High Nobility, takes power and purges all the incompetent officers from the Imperial Fleet.
• More Dakka: FPA ships tend to have more cannons and munitions strapped on them than their Imperial counterparts to make up for their individually weaker firepower.
• Nepotism: If it's not money, getting high-ranking positions in the Alliance government and military often involves some form of patronage network. This tends to result in horribly corrupt opportunists, inept armchair generals and sanctimonious hypocrites gaining a disproportionate influence.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Most important decisions are handled by the Council. In practice, they and their supporters are afraid of taking any risks. Only whatever makes themselves look better gets passed, at the expense of both the average Alliance citizen and military commanders on the frontlines.
• Patriotic Fervor: The Alliance’s leaders like to invoke nationalistic slogans and Arle Heinessen’s memory to the point of coming off cheap and hollow.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: In spite of the above, many of the Alliance's citizens become more willing to not only internalize the ideals Heinessen fought for, but put their lives on the line for democracy, whether it's against the National Salvation Military Council or standing with the Iserlohn Republic against the Empire. It even impresses Reinhard himself.
• Skeleton Government: Rebelo's administration following the Empire's victory erodes to the point that it not only loses much effective legitimacy outside Heinessen, but is eventually reduced to just Rebelo himself, Huang Rui, and a handful of bureaucrats trying to keep what's left intact at any cost.
• Slave to PR: Many among the Alliance's civilian and military leadership are more concerned with appearing like they're winning the war for votes than actually saving their nation. This also results in blunders like the ill-fated invasion of the Empire being green-lit, simply because of how it would make them look good on the polls for saving democracy.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: Even after the Alliance falls to the Empire, Yang's Fleet and later on the Iserlohn Republic continue to don their old uniforms. Both to symbolize their resistance to Reinhard and out of pragmatism.
• Too Dumb to Live: The politicians are too proud of their ideology and also the crowd's support, that they actively sabotage Yang who's literally the only person standing between Reinhard and the Alliance's capital. Lo and behold, just halfway through the series Reinhard enters Heinessen with little resistance.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: When the opportunity to invade the Empire arrived, the Council declared their goal to "liberate" Imperial planets from them and show them the great spirit of democracy, by force. It was met as well as you'd expect.
• Vestigial Empire:
  • Even without the Empire being at the doorstep, the economy and political climate is so incredibly poor they can collapse at any moment by themselves. And the government still believes they are in their glory days.
  • By the time João Rebelo is made Chairman of the Alliance after being conquered by the Empire, it's little more than a rickety puppet state with a largely defanged military and a government whose effective reach goes barely past Heinessen. Reinhard finally putting an end to the Alliance is almost like a mercy kill.
  • By the end of the series, all that remains of the Alliance is an autonomous republican remnant centered around Heinessen itself. In spite of that, however, Yang’s legacy lives on.
• We Have Reserves: By the later stages of the Forever War, the Alliance's leadership increasingly comes to treat its soldiers as expendable, eventually throwing raw recruits into the meat grinder. This comes back to haunt them all, however, following the failed invasion of the Empire and the subsequent Civil War.
• Worthy Opponent: As much as the Empire doesn't look kindly on the Alliance's republicanism, even Reinhard comes to see at least some of FPA, including Yang, as honorable exemplars of their cause. Reinhard even admits later on that had those stalwart patriots been in charge, the Alliance wouldn't have fallen.

The Yang Fleet

Yang Wen-li

Fleet Admiral Yang Wen-li

"I believe that being ruled by the worst democracy is preferable to being ruled by the best autocracy. That’s why I’m fighting Duke Reinhard von Lohengramm on behalf of Job Trunicht. I think it’s a good principle."

Voiced by: Kei Tomiyama (main series), Hozumi Gouda (prequel series), Yasuyoshi Hara (Golden Wings), Kenichi Suzumura (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (Die Neue These) (English)

"What is the most cowardly and shameful thing in human conduct? It’s when people with power, and people who flatter them, hide in safe places and extol war, force patriotism and self-sacrifice upon others, and then send them to the battlefield to die."

Originally a simple student who wanted to be a historian, Yang Wen-li eventually joined the military to pay off his debts and rose through the ranks to become a Commodore. At this point he was already known as the Hero of El Facil after his superior organizational skills helped avert a major crisis on that planet. After the Battle of Astarte, in which he saves the Alliance fleet from utter destruction at the hands of Reinhard von Lohengramm, and the capture of Iserlohn Fortress he becomes known as Miracle Yang and every battle afterwards served only to increase his fame. Unlike Reinhard he is a more subdued man who dislikes having accolades heaped upon him and would rather retire to live a comfortable life on as big a pension as he can accumulate through distinguished service. However, circumstances throw him time and time again into the war where he proves to be a greater strategist than even Reinhard.

Yang's most glaring flaw is his lack of political acumen. He makes no secret of the fact that he despises both politicians and the military, and his ever-increasing tally of successes only serves to make people in power nervous. Several attempts are made on his life, which he manages to survive but which leave him in a much more precarious position or force him to act before he's ready. Yet, for every disaster, he is able to rally his forces and lead them to an even greater victory than before. Yang Wen-li earns the respect of both his peers and his enemies as a miracle worker and a magician.

Yang Wen-li has commanded several ships in battle. The most iconic are the battleship Hyperion and the cruiser Leda II.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: He tried to retire and live a peaceful life with Frederica. It lasted less than three months before he was forced into action again.
• 13 Is Unlucky: He commands the 13th fleet. The twist being that it's unlucky for Reinhard, not for Yang. Well, until episode 82.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Dark blue hair in the OVA, dark gray in Neue These. In Golden Wings, not only is his hair brown, but his eyes are red instead of their usual gray.
• Adaptational Personality Change: His Die Neue These version severely cuts down on the Bunny-Ears Lawyer part of his personality. The result is a more serious Yang.
• Anyone Can Die: If there is a character that can illustrate this trope, it's Yang. With him dying with an entire season left to go before the series ends.
• Author Avatar: Partially. Yoshiki Tanaka is an avid fan of Chinese history. Yang is Chinese and originally wanted to be a historian.
• Badass Unintentional: He never intended to join the military, instead, he only signed up because the only way that he could afford a post-secondary education was by attending the navy academy. Even then, his first choice was the military history department, and he only took up officer training after the history department was dissolved. And in the battle in which he first made his name, he only got put into his position because his commanding officer ran away.
• Big Good: He ended up becoming one for not only the Alliance, but also Republicanism and representational government in general.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Yang Wen-Li loves napping, drinking tea and studying history, but he constantly finds himself in situations that require his tactical and strategic insights.
• Broken Ace: The youngest, greatest and last fleet admiral of the Free Planets Alliance. Unlike Reinhard, though, Yang may have the mind for war, but not necessarily the heart for it and it takes its toll on him.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Yang's eclectic command style and quasi-anarchist political views make him an embarrassment in the upper echelons of the Alliance's political establishment, but his tactical genius makes him a valuable commander, and his popularity makes him difficult to move against overtly — which, unfortunately, only serves to make him more dangerous in their eyes.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: In spite of Yang's best efforts to live a quiet life and escape an undesirable path, circumstances gradually narrowed down all the options he had. Eventually, following the fall of the Alliance, he's forced to consider taking power himself to save democracy as the only logical choice left but dies to a Terraist assassin before anything would come of it.
• The Cassandra: If only if the people in charge of the Alliance government listened to Yang, then perhaps things would have turned out better for them. Namely, his prediction that an invasion of Imperial territory will be a horrible idea due to the Alliance lacking the logistics capacity to support such an endeavor, and later, that due to the debacle of the attempted invasion, the Alliance government is in danger of being overthrown by a military coup. Finally, he foresaw that instead of once again laying siege to Iserlohn, the Empire will instead invade though the Fezzan Corridor.
• The Chains of Commanding: See Drowning My Sorrows. As nonchalant as Yang tends to be at first glance, he knows painfully well that for all his brilliant tactics and efforts to secure victory without needless casualties, people will die. The deaths of Fleet Admiral Bewcock and Dwight Greenhill hit him hard as well.
• Character Filibuster: Quite often Yang will launch into long, detailed lectures and rants about war, history, and politics. Justified slightly in that he actually is a historian at heart and puts a lot of thought into his opinions and writes them down in various essays. Later he begins to point out contradictions and hypocrisies in his views, and eventually bluntly admits that his beliefs are likely biased and frequently expresses doubts about having done the right thing. Doesn't stop him from filibustering, though.
• Character Tics: Please decide whether your hat looks better on your head or off it, Yang.
• Children Raise You: In some respects, Julian is more of a caretaker for Yang than the other way around.
• Combat Pragmatist: Yang doesn't really care about little things like honor or conventional strategy as much as ending things decisively with the least amount of people dead.
  • He was once asked about the best path to win a battle. His answer: get a numerical superiority of six-to-one and make sure your forces are fully equipped and the commander's orders are clear.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype:
  • Of A Father to His Men and Martial Pacifist. In a less cynical universe, Yang's devotion towards the ideals of democracy, his humanitarian tendencies, and the way that he cares deeply about the wellbeing of those under his command, will make him the best example of an Officer and a Gentleman, the Ideal Hero in a Military Science Fiction. However, his refusal to make moral compromises even in the face of incompetent political leadership resulted in him losing the war and the destruction of the Alliance. Also, his humanitarian tendencies means that every casualty on both sides at the end of every battle weighs heavily on him, resulting him having to resort to become an alcoholic just to deal with the sheer amount of emotional stress and guilt.
  • Interestingly for a skilled military commander with a Chinese name and an interest in history, this serves to illustrate Sun Tzu's ideas of a perfect general, showing what happens when an otherwise exceptional general lacks the will to disobey his leaders, even in pursuit of what is arguably the best interests of the Alliance.
  • He is also a deconstruction of the Brilliant, but Lazy and Humble Hero tropes. Yang shows no political ambitions whatsoever. While he enjoys popularity from both the Alliance's civilian population and those serving under his command due to his legendary tactical genius, he never actually uses it to his advantage even when it is clear to everyone that he will make a much better political leader than those currently in power. And at the end of the day, all he really wants from life is to be able to retire with a large pension and live out the rest of his days writing political treaties while reading history books all day in peace. However, his unintentional status as both a symbol of the democratic ideals and as a war hero who has never been defeated in battle means that those in the position of power will simply never leave him alone, as he is just too much of a threat as long as he is alive.
• Democracy Is Flawed: The lynchpin of Yang's political philosophy, and one of the more significant differences between him and Reinhard, who firmly holds that Democracy Is Bad. He doesn't contest many of the flaws pointed out about the concept, but still believes that it's better than the alternative, because the safeguards it has can prevent it from sinking to the same lows autocracy can.
• Deuteragonist: The second-most important person the show revolves around. Yang is immensely prominent, but slightly less so than Reinhard, whose ambitions also happen to shape the story. The fact that Reinhard makes it to the end of the series probably helps too.
• Dirty Business: As a pacifist at heart, Yang is never shown to be excited or happy about his tactics actually working, since he understands that every victory means that thousands of lives are lost on the other side.
• Distressed Dude: He keeps getting imprisoned by his own government, to the consternation of the subordinates who have to save him.
• Does Not Like Guns: In Spiral Labyrinth, Yang is shown to only resort to guns as a last resort and would otherwise not touch them at all. This would come back to haunt him years later with his death.
• Dramatic Irony: In the Gaiden episodes, Yang mentions that he could never stack up to fleet admirals Lin Pao, Topparol and Ashbey. We all know that later on Yang will do more damage to the Empire than all three of those men combined.
• The Dreaded: The Imperial admirals always believe he is up to some trick, which often leads to them being unusually timid. Notably, he is the only admiral that Kircheis feared. He told Reinhard that Yang possessed an air of singular prudence. He was 100% correct.
• Drowning My Sorrows: While his drinking is usually played for laughs, it becomes clear as the series goes on that he drinks so much to cope with the incredible stress his responsibilities put him under. The deaths of the people under him weighs on him heavily.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Yang was nigh-constantly given the short end of the stick by much of the Alliance's high command and leadership, even though he rapidly became the main reason why they're still in charge. Despite rising up the ranks and his growing fame, he's forced to make do with green recruits, ragged survivors from the Battle of Astarte, and scrounged-up surplus for his fleet. All while being assigned with completing objectives that either make no sense or are borderline suicidal.
• Dying Alone: Bleeds out while fleeing from Terraist assassins and looking for aid. Julian finds his body just moments too late.
• Famed In-Story: Enemies and allies alike attribute Yang with almost godlike abilities. He really is brilliant, but his subordinates are almost never mentioned. His reliance on their talents to pull of his schemes is just as important to their success as his own ability to think outside the box.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Yang is a strong advocate in Republicanism, and simply refuses to violate its democratic principles by either setting himself up as the military dictator for the Alliance, or disobeying a direct order from its majority-elected officials. He is also a pacifist at heart, and always seeks to minimize casualties on both sides whenever possible. This ends up costing him the entire war.
  • This exchange about Yang between Trung Yu Chen and Alexandre Bewcock sums it up perfectly:
  Chen: "Yang Wen-li has many shortcomings, but he has one virtue that no one can possibly criticize. That is, he honestly believes in the principle that a democracy’s military exists solely for the purpose of protecting the lives of its citizens, and that he has acted upon that principle on more than one occasion."
  Bewcock: "If Yang were to ever be defeated, it wouldn’t be by the great genius of Kaiser Reinhard. It’ll be by his adherence to his own ideals."
  • In a chillingly literal example, his lack of skill in personal combat ends up getting him killed.
• The Fettered: He is a firm believer in the democratic political system and the republican form of government. This conviction ended up costing him the war at the end.
• Foil: Yang is shown to be one to Rudolf von Goldenbaum, sharing a similar military brilliance, a meteoric rise through the military, and a charisma so infectious that he could become a dictator if he wanted. Those, however, are where the similarities end. Yang is a consummate, if eccentric, defender of democracy who abhors war and would rather live a quiet life than enter politics. Moreover, part of the reason why he is averse to seizing power is because he's self-aware enough of his talents and public image to recognize that he would be at risk of becoming another Rudolf. Tellingly, he only entertains the idea of taking direct leadership after the Alliance crumbles once all other options had been exhausted. Though he dies before anything really comes of it.
• For Want Of A Nail: In-universe. It's brought up a number of times how potentially dramatic history would have changed had Yang chosen to leave the military at any point or had he defied orders and destroyed Reinhard's flagship right there and then.
• Four Is Death: His birthday is April 4th. Naturally, he does not survive the series.
• Functional Addict: Although we never see him drunk, Yang drinks a little bit just about all the time. It's to the point that people who live with him express their concern about it, and it's mentioned that his consumption is on the rise.
• Good Is Not Soft: While he is perhaps one of the most morally upstanding and easy-going characters on the show, he is still a navy admiral. And each battle that he fights in routinely results in the deaths of tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. The very first thing we see him do as an officer, is to advise his superior to abandon a losing fleet.
• Guile Hero: Most of Yang's victories come through subterfuge, trickery, and a dash of lateral thinking that exploits loopholes in standard military doctrine. He's so good at it that people call him "Yang the Magician."
• Happily Married: With Frederica, even if it only lasted a short while.
• Hauled Before A Senate Subcommittee: Yang is dragged into an Inquiry committee without any legal basis, ostensibly over his actions during the civil war and his personality. In practice, it's an excuse by the Council to discredit him, fearing his growing influence at the expense of doing their own jobs. Yang, however, sees through the pretensions and grills them in turn, even threatening to resign if not for the Empire's invasion.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: As a pacifist at heart, he deeply resents the fact that by doing his job he is both sending and costing thousands of man to die every battle. As a result, the reason why he didn't originally pursue a relationship with Frederica was because he believes that he doesn't deserve family happiness after creating so many widows and orphans throughout his career.
• Heroic Neutral: Yang is devoted to the underlying ideals of democracy and individual freedom, but he gives absolutely zero fucks about government. When the nation he serves ceases to be his benefactor, he's quick to abandon it.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Yang goes out of his way to dissuade others, even his own friends from praising him too much. Unfortunately for him, this only serves to build up his legend even more both within the Alliance and even among Imperials.
• Honor Before Reason: When he was order to stand down and seize all hostilities by the Alliance government during the Battle of Vermilion, he obeyed it since as a soldier, he must respect the orders of the country's democratically elected leaders... While he was literally SECONDS away from destroying Reinhard's flagship, ending the war in a total Alliance victory.
• Humble Hero: He doesn't like taking credit for his victories, and generally doesn't care much for the titles given to him by others.
• Hypocrisy Nod: For all of Yang's polemics and musings, he's also the first to admit that he's far from ideal, noting inconsistencies and flaws in his views. He also advises Julian not to lavish blind praise on anyone, himself included, and that people are flawed rather than perfect beings.
• Inspirational Martyr: He ends up becoming one. The Iserlohn Republic is basically founded in his name. His widow becomes the political leader, while his adopted son leads the military.
• The Leader: A clear-cut example of a "Mastermind". There are more practical and mature officers (Merkatz and Cazelnes, for instance), more charismatic ones (Schonkopf) and more headstrong ones (Dusty), but Yang has wits for days and can outsmart anybody.
• Living Legend: Earns the nickname "Yang the Magician" because he seems to be able to pull plans for victorious battles in the face of nigh-impossible odds out of his hat. Like most other aspects of his reputation, he's rather uncomfortable with it because he thinks he really doesn't deserve that much credit for it.
• Meaningful Name: One of his two flagships is called "Ulysses", the Latin version of Odysseus. Odysseus came up with the plan of the Trojan Horse, which lead to the sacking of Troy. Yang is the one who ends up capturing the supposedly impregnable Iserlohn Fortress.....twice.
• Messy Hair: A hint as to his generally lax attitude towards anything not involving either studying history or ensuring his men's safety.
• Military Maverick: It may come as a surprise to some that he almost failed his training at the military academy, as he had generally low marks in most courses not involving military history or strategic theory. As a commander, his command style is very informal and idiosyncratic, to the point that Yang Fleet sometimes feels more like a big extended family or a fraternity house than a military unit.
• Mirror Character: Like Reinhard, Yang's talents lie in warfare, command and having a keen eye for scouting talent in others (Reinhard with the young commanding officers turned admirals, Yang with the Rosenritter), but both also ended up with women who are far better at the political game than they are and both had widows and sons who basically inherited political and military power from them.
• Nice Guy: Polite, generally soft-spoken, cares deeply for the men under his command, and has a strong moral backbone.
• Nerves of Steel: Yang may be troubled by many things, but very little actually fazes him.
• Non-Action Guy: He is not much for combat, but put him in a command seat and he will send Imperial admirals running.
• No Badass to His Valet: The soldiers he surrounds himself with respect him greatly, but they will also bust his balls, though in a friendly way. This goes double for his ward Julian, whose admiration for Yang the Magician is tempered a little by having to deal with Yang the Lazy Slob on a daily basis.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Yang's life mirrors that of the Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin (widely considered one of the greatest naval commanders in history) in multiple notable ways. Both are held in suspicion by the governments they serve. Both achieve great victories despite being enormously outnumbered by the enemy through careful choice of battlefield. Both were undefeated in battle, and both died during or shortly after one of their greatest battles.
• Not a Morning Person: Requires Julian to wake him up every single morning.
• Not So Similar: For all their similar traits on the surface, there is one key difference in their attitudes: Reinhard relishes combat and leaps at the chance to gain glory, while Yang abhors war and fights mainly with the hope of bringing a quick end to the war so that he and those under his command can go home in peace.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: A frequent victim of this, often preventing him from seizing a great victory and, in one occasion, destroying Reinhard's flagship with him on it.
• Omniscient Hero: Deconstructed in that being fully aware of all possible consequences of his actions just makes him incredibly indecisive when it comes to taking initiative.
• Only in It for the Money: He often says that the main reason he fights is to secure his livelihood after retirement. How much of this is true is up for debate.
• Order Versus Chaos: Yang is chaos to Reinhard's order. In that he not only supports republican democracy and believes in the ideals of personal freedom, but was also at one point accused of having anarchist tendencies when he expressed the view that while people require societies in order to live, they do not require nations to govern them.
• The Philosopher: He often writes and monologs about the nature of war, government, and politics when with those that he trusts in private. He even waxes poetic about alcohol at one point, in part to justify his own drinking habits.
• Principles Zealot: Downplayed, but this is a key flaw for Yang. His dedication to duty and to democracy are so paramount that he's unwilling to compromise these in any real way. This comes back to haunt him when he loses a chance to take out Reinhard and later on, the Alliance loses the war.
• Properly Paranoid: Yang suspected that during the prisoner exchange between the FPA and the GE that the latter would use it as a cover to start a coup. He later turns out to be right.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Gives one to the Alliance Inquiry committee. It almost ends with his resignation — but before it comes to that, the committee cancels the hearing because the Empire is invading again, meaning they need his talents once again.
  Yang: "If the defence of our homeland and self-sacrifice are as necessary as you say, before you tell other people to 'do this and that', how about you actually do it yourselves?"
  • He also gives one to the Military Council after their coup to take control of the FPA fails. Captain Evans keeps justifying their actions, but Yang constantly calls them out on their hypocrisy by doing the very things they condemn the Empire and Alliance politicians for doing.
• Reluctant Ruler: He's not particularly fond of being a leader and it's not until several episodes later that he begins begrudgingly entertaining the notion of leading the Alliance remnants against the Empire. However, he's assassinated before anything comes of it.
• Reluctant Warrior: He never meant to become a career soldier in the first place — the FPA military academy was just the cheapest way to get an education. He expounds at length about how he believes that war is a Dirty Business, and every death, whether of an ally or enemy, weighs on his conscience heavily.
• Replacement Goldfish: In a roundabout way, he becomes this to Reinhard after Kircheis' death. Reinhard, at this point the Empire's incumbent prime minister, reflects on his friend's grave that the place he held in his heart will only be filled by a great friend or a great enemy.
• Ship Tease: With Jessica, before she died.
• The Slacker: Off the clock, he's notoriously lazy, to the point that he can barely last a few days without Julian around before his quarters start looking like a college fratboy's dorm. At one point, he says that if he weren't in the military, he'd spend all day reading history and drinking tea.
• Smart People Play Chess: Subverted — despite his genius on the battlefield, Yang actually seems to suck a little at the game. This may be because he can't "break the rules" on the chessboard the way he can in real life.
• The Strategist: A brilliant military strategist capable of achieving victory after victory in the face of seemingly long odds.
• To Win Without Fighting: Echoing Sun Tzu, Yang believes that the best victories are those where no one has to die, or at least ones which result in minimal casualties on his side.
• The Trickster: Most of Yang's plans work by identifying and exploiting psychological blind spots in his opponent's thinking to keep them off-balance. He's also an unabashed anarchist and political iconoclast, which lands him in hot water with his own government more than once.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Played With. Yang is seen as a true hero for the Alliance and proves this repeatedly, and was told multiple times he could get full political power if he only asked. Even Imperial admirals respect him, with Reinhard going so far as pulling a We Can Rule Together. The only people that don't support this view are the politicians (even they have to admit the situation would get worse without him) and ironically, himself, as he'd rather be anywhere but at the reins of power.
• Unknown Rival: Of a sort. Whereas Reinhard views Yang as his arch-rival in a grand contest of skill and ability, Yang sees his actions as him simply doing his duty as a military officer, and doesn't view Reinhard as really anything other than another enemy commander in the war. Though that said, he does acknowledge Reinhard's preternatural abilities and charisma, and recognizes his significance to the Empire.
• Worthy Opponent: Reinhard calls him this to his face. When he dies, Reinhard's admirals pay tribute to him. It's notable that when Müller pays respect to the fallen admiral, he does not salute him, but he bows. The only other person he bows to is Reinhard himself.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Plays the military version of this frequently.
• Young and in Charge: He becomes the youngest Fleet Admiral in the FPA's history and leads the Iserlohn Republic before his untimely demise.

Julian Mintz

Sub-Lieutenant Julian Mintz

"Please excuse me for this hypothetical situation, but if your beloved Kaiser passed away, would you consider changing the flag you uphold?"

Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (main series), Yūki Kaji (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Matt Shipman (Die Neue These) (English)

"I want to become a soldier who protects freedom and equality. Not a soldier who starts invasions and oppresses people, but a soldier who protects the rights of the people."

Julian was an orphan who was introduced to Yang Wen-li by his old friend Alex Caselnes. Yang adopted Julian as his ward and ensured that he got as good an upbringing and education as he could provide. From very early on, Julian felt that he was indebted to Yang in ways that he could not repay and became a soldier in order to make himself useful, despite his guardian's wishes. Eventually, Yang came to accept that Julian had become something he never wanted for the boy but still strived to end the fighting as quickly as possible. Julian studied everything he could learn about strategy, fighting, and leadership, becoming a popular mascot for the garrison at Iserlohn but eventually he proved himself to be every bit as capable as his teachers, uncovering plots by the Earth Cult and anticipating even Reinhard von Lohengramm's strategies. He was eventually chosen to succeed Yang Wen-li as the military leader of the Iserlohn garrison.

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• Adorably Precocious Child: His role at the start of the series.
  • Then becomes a Kid Sidekick / Child Soldier.
  • And finally an Ambadassador.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Give Julian an axe and a reason to hold a grudge, and you'll see what this means.
• The Caretaker: Of Yang, ironically enough.
• The Confidant: The person Yang confides in the most. Later on he shares this spot with Frederica.
• Character Development: His maturity beyond his age increasingly becomes very apparent as time passes.
• Chef of Iron: His skill in the kitchen is at least as formidable as that on the battlefield.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: In a sense, he goes from a young schoolboy learning about the world to one of the most talented and lethal characters in the series.
• Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!: “A democratic republican should never kneel to an autocratic ruler…!”
• Good is Not Nice: Despite his unfailing politeness and often sweet exterior, Julian is also shown to be extremely insecure, and he can be surprisingly uptight, cynical, and mean. Also, while he's quick to extend mercy to those who ask for it, he feels absolutely no guilt about killing his enemies in battle.
• Happily Adopted: You would be too, if your father figure was Yang Wen-li.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: He has a cat that he brought with him when he first went to live with Yang.
• Mirror Character: To both Yang and Reinhard. Julian essentially becomes their synthesis, blending Yang's strength of conviction in his egalitarian ideals with Reinhard's zeal for justice and willingness to fight for his beliefs.
• Neat Freak: The first thing that he did upon moving into Yang's house was to tidy up the entire place. In his defense, that house was a dumpster.
• Parental Abandonment: Mintz is a war orphan who ended up as Yang's ward.
• Plucky Middie: After he enlists in the Alliance military, he proves to be both resourceful and audacious.
• Precocious Crush: Julian was clearly, if quietly, attracted to Frederica. He comes to terms with her Relationship Upgrade with Yang fairly easily, although his assignment to Phezzan gives him plenty of time to adjust.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Promptly passes out after fighting his way to get a personal audience with Reinhard.
• Punny Name: A subtle and possibly coincidental example. Julian's surname (Mintz/Minci) combined with his military rank (Lieutenant, or Chui) form "Mintzu chui", which sounds fairly similar to the Japanese words for democracy, or "Minshu shugi"(民主主義). Since he pledges to continue fighting for democracy and against autocratic rule at the end of the series, the pun works whether it was intended or not.
• Superior Successor: By the end of the series, Julian becomes in certain respects a better man than Yang could ever be even if Yang himself doesn't live long enough to see it.
• Taught by Experience: While he does get formal training and education, much of Julian's growth comes from both the tutelage of Yang and his friends on the one hand, and direct experience in battle on the other.
• Underestimating Badassery: Due his young age, many didn't take him seriously. But, as Rubinsky pointed out, Reinhard had already made a name for himself at the same age Julian was appointed to serve in Fezzan.
• Unstoppable Rage: Flies into one of these after Yang is assassinated.
• Warrior Prince: Sure, he is not actually a noble, but the primary reason he was made commander-in-chief of the Iserlohn Republic was because his adopted father was its previous supreme commander. He is not a prince in name, but he is one in practice.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Even as a boy in Yang's care, he rather precociously takes control of the household's management. His subsequent military career under Yang's wing allows him to hone his talents to nearly equal Yang's own.
• You Are in Command Now: Julian is given full military authority in Iserlohn after Yang's death. Partially subverted in that, while he does have ultimate say in military matters, his main purpose is to be a figurehead under the guidance of the few who elected him.

Frederica Greenhill

Lieutenant Commander Frederica Greenhill

Voiced by: Yoshiko Sakakibara (main series), Aya Endo (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Madeleine Morris (Die Neue These) (English)

After personally witnessing Yang's pivotal role in the Miracle of El Facil, Greenhill was inspired to follow her father's footsteps and join the military. She graduated as the Salutatorian of her class and was assigned to Information Analysis before Cazelnes transferred her to the 13th Fleet as Yang's adjutant, much to her delight.

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• Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. While by no means helpless in the OVAs, DNT's portrayal of Frederica has her being more visibly capable of holding her own, befitting an Alliance soldier.
• Almighty Janitor: Despite holding a comparatively low rank as Yang's adjutant, Frederica wields significant informal power within the Yang Fleet, which becomes more pronounced as time goes on. Eventually, she becomes the de facto political figurehead of the Iserlohn Republic.
• Ascended Fanboy: Fangirl technically, but exact same principle. She joined the military due to witnessing Yang's role in the Miracle of El Facil. Working close to Yang and eventually marrying him is obviously a dream come true.
• Break the Cutie: By having her father and eventually, her superior officer/husband die ignoble deaths.
• Broken Pedestal: Her father, upon betraying the democratic principles that the Alliance was founded upon by staging a military coup.
• The Confidant: Serves as Yang's most trusted advisor when Julian is not around.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind; How she managed to save Yang from being executed when he was in prison, with literally seconds to spare.
• Daddy's Girl: Was very close to her father and was hit hard emotionally when he staged a military coup and ended up dying as a result.
• Happily Married: With Yang, even though it only lasted for a short time before he was killed.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: As noted by Yang, he needs her around to do all the paper work and operate the machinery for him. She's also a crack shot, unlike the rather un-martial Yang.
• Knight in Sour Armor: She eventually became the political representative for the Iserlohn Republic, the last bastion of democracy left in the galaxy. But she admits that if given the choice, she would rather preferred if democracy had died instead of Yang.
• Lady of War: Frederica is shown to be very feminine and demure, while still being a very professional and competent officer in general. While portrayed as being a crack shot in the OVA, Die Neue These puts more emphasis on her martial skills in stark contrast to Yang.
• Last Girl Wins: Counting the prequels, she is the last significant female character Yang meets and they end up marrying.
• One-Note Cook: Sandwiches, when she asked Yang about her cooking, her sandwiches were the only dish he could think of that he actually liked.
• Photographic Memory: Reportedly has one.
• Quitting to Get Married: She does, briefly, after marrying Yang. Her stint as a housewife, however, comes to an end when Yang's arrested.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Twice.
  • After marrying Yang and settling down as a housewife, Frederica puts on her old Alliance uniform to rescue her husband and join him in fighting the Empire.
  • Following Yang's death, Frederica formally retires from military service to lead the Iserlohn Republic alongside Julian, trading her uniform for a crisp business suit.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She is drawn to Yang's nobility and is not fond of soldiers who only care about glory. When Yang surrenders to the Empire in the name of guarding Republicanism and the will of the people, Frederica makes it known that she is more in love with him than ever.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She served in the navy in a non-combat role as the 13th Fleet's adjutant, and later, tried to settle down with Yang as a peaceful housewife. However, as demonstrated by the raid of the Alliance prison to save Yang from execution, she is more than capable and willing to kill in order to save the lives of those that she cares about.
  • In episode 6 of Die Neue These, the so-far demure, attractive and bubbly Frederica easily takes down a Rosenritter grunt who was hitting on her instead of showing the proper respect to her Admiral.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: She tried to peacefully settle down with Yang as a housewife after the defeat of the Alliance. However, the Imperial Consul viewed Yang as too much of a threat and had him arrested, with the intention of killing him. Forcing her to abandon her peaceful life and join the resistance.
• The Squadette: There are other female Alliance soldiers, but until Katerose comes up, Frederica is the only notable female one.
• Through His Stomach: She first met Yang when she was only 14 years old, and offered him a cup of coffee. And throughout the war she is often seen bringing his meals to him. They eventually get married at the end of the first war.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Her response to the Alliance arresting Yang from their home was to abandon her life as a retired happy housewife and launch an armed raid of the prison where he was held.
• You Are in Command Now: After Yang's death, Frederica becomes the de facto public face of Iserlohn's resistance and by the end, the de facto leader of the republican remnant in Heinessen alongside Julian.

Alexander Cazelnes

Vice Admiral Alexander Cazelnes

Voiced by: Keaton Yamada (main series), Tokuyoshi Kawashima (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Chuck Huber (Die Neue These, S1), Anthony Bowling (Die Neue These, S2) (English)

One of Yang's closest friends, Cazelnes is a staff and logistics officer (which gives him more power than one might expect at first glance). A family man through and through, he is frequently trying to get Yang settled down.

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• Almighty Janitor: Despite having the seemingly thankless job of being a staff and logistics officer, Cazelnes in practice has tremendous leeway to ensure that operations flow smoothly and that soldiers aren't wasted needlessly. His skill in managing such daunting responsibilities has proven invaluable for Yang time and again.
• Big Brother Mentor: His relationship to Yang strongly resembles that of a caring, older brother. After Yang's death, he also becomes a surrogate uncle to Julian.
• Desk Jockey: His skills in logistics management are highly valued by Yang, who invited him to manage the day-to-day operations of Iserlohn Fortress after its capture.
• Dramatic Irony: Cazelnes was Yang's superior officer in his earlier years, as seen in Spiral Labyrinth, only to wind up formally becoming Yang's subordinate early into the main series. He's not too hung up about it, however.
• A Friend in Need: In Spiral Labyrinth, it's heavily implied that Cazelnes arranged for Yang's seemingly "boring" assignment of investigating Bruce Ashbey's death, so that Yang could get a chance to be a historian just as he always wanted, even if only as a temporary reprieve before returning to his actual duties.
• Happily Married: He and his wife Hortense are very happy with each other. So much so that his wife and daughters are shown only prepared to leave with him to join Yang without any hesitation, simply because they love each other that much.
• Mildly Military: Downplayed. While Cazelnes does conduct himself appropriately, he's acts more like a backroom office worker than a military commander.
• Nerves of Steel: Despite often working under seemingly daunting circumstances, at no point does he really lose his cool, at worst expressing mild annoyance rather than panic. His wife even lampshades it.
• Non-Action Snarker: Is not a combat commander (usually), but he can snark with the best of them.
• Only Sane Man:
  • While Cazelnes does his best to help ease the brewing logistical nightmare amidst the Alliance's invasion of Imperial space, he immediately recognizes how the supposed "liberation" is doomed to fail.
  Cazelnes: "Yang, come back alive. This war is too stupid to die in."
  • He also remarks how inane the High Council is in going along with Kaiser Erwin Josef II's kidnapping and supporting the Goldenbaum-loyalist Government in Exile.
  Schönkopf: "If it was a pretty sixteen year old girl, the degree of enthusiasm would probably be higher. Because people in general love princes and princesses."
  Cazelnes: "In fairy tales, it is been long recognised that princes and princesses are in the right and ministers of state are not. But we can't decide justice based on fairy tales."
• The Peter Principle: Is a brilliant staff officer and logistician, but as interim commander of Iserlohn, he fares poorly and needs Merkatz and Schonkopf to basically bail him out.
• The Scapegoat: He's one of these after the disastrous Battle of Amritsar.
• Shipper on Deck: He's implied to be one, playing an active role in introducing Frederica to Yang.
  • And platonically shipped Julian with Yang, basically forcing the kid on him without consulting him first.
  • For quite a while, he and Yang both tried to do this for Julian and the Cazelnes' elder daughter, Charlotte (in an Arranged Marriage sort of way, since Charlotte is a child throughout the series, and Julian was a minor too initially). This tapers off, though, after Karin arrives on the scene.
• Vetinari Job Security: Despite being made a scapegoat following the Battle of Amritsar, Cazelnes still retains his rank and position, in no small part due to how good he is with staff and logistics. With people of his qualifications in desperately short supply, however, the Alliance by that point isn't too picky.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Yang. He rips into Yang frequently, but it's always in good fun.

Dusty Attenborough

Vice Admiral Dusty Attenborough

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (main series, prequel series), Etsuo Yokobori (Golden Wings), Kaito Ishikawa (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Jordan Dash Cruz (Die Neue These) (English)

"We're fighting this revolutionary war out of foppery and whim. Got that?"

Attenborough knew Yang Wen-li since their days in the Officer Cadet School, though they were each assigned to different fleets. Not much is known about his background, but he rose quickly through the ranks and was promoted to a flag officer at an even younger age than Yang, and goes on to become the youngest admiral in Alliance history. He is a romantic at heart, casting his lot with Yang and his group out of foppery and whim, as he calls it, but this does not dull his edge in battle. Attenborough keeps a book of memoirs that he hopes to publish after the war is over.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Blue-gray in the OVA, blonde in Golden Wings.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: It doesn't take long for him to reveal the identity of Schönkopf's daughter to the rest of the cast.
• Defensive Feint Trap: Does this so often it basically becomes his signature tactic. Justified in that he's almost always gravely outnumbered.
• Hidden Depths: Amidst his irreverence and general playfulness, he's shown to be very observant and philosophical, while also jotting down his thoughts and experiences for the future.
• Intrepid Reporter: Dusty is revealed to have originally been on his way to becoming one before joining the military. His uses those nascent skills, however, to his advantage both on the field and when observing his superiors.
• It Amused Me: A rare heroic version. He follows Yang into revolt out of "foppery and whim," and his favorite words in the universe are "So what?", which he claims to be a universal Armor-Piercing Question.
• Men Are the Expendable Gender: Lampshaded sarcastically by Attenborough in the OVAs when Poplin remarks about the double-standards of outing male officers over sexual dalliances while female ones are left unnamed.
  Poplin: "You are terrible, Admiral Attemborough! Why is it only the man gets named by his real name, while the woman gets anonymity? Is not that discrimination?"
  Attenborough: "Because women have human rights."
• Mildly Military: Even by the standards of Yang's Fleet, Attenborough is noticeably more lax and laidback than many of the other Alliance officers. He's nonetheless a very competent commander who knows when to take things seriously.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: He is an absolutely brilliant admiral who could go toe-to-toe with any of the Imperial admirals......but his boss is the most brilliant military mind in the entire series, so it's easy to forget.
• Rebellious Spirit: In Spiral Labyrinth, he expressed a strong dislike for military regulations and being commanded by incompetent superiors, which he kind of inherited from his journalist father.
• Replacement Goldfish: For Poplin, after Konev's death.
• Those Two Guys: He and Poplin account for about 80% of the comic relief on Alliance-focused episodes.

Walter von Schönkopf

Vice Admiral Walter von Schönkopf

"If the majority of the citizens wish for dictatorship instead of democracy, how do you solve such a paradox?"

Voiced by: Michio Hazama (main series), Shin-ichiro Miki (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (Die Neue These) (English)

"Rudolf, who established the Galactic Empire, became Emperor with the full support of the people. What must it have been like before then, during the rule of a terrible democracy? Something worth pondering, don’t you think? In other words, does rulership by the worst democracy provide better government than rulership by the best autocracy? Which is better, indeed?"

An expatriate who defected from the Empire along with his family, Schönkopf served in the Alliance army as the commander of a unit of elite close combat specialists known as the Knights of the Rose or the Rosenritter. He first gained Yang Wen-li's attention when he and a group of his subordinates publicly disciplined an officer for misconduct towards civilians and they were eventually instrumental in taking key points and installations from the Empire. With Schönkopf at their head, they have carved out such a bloody reputation that most soldiers on either side shuddered at the prospect of having to face them in combat. As one of Yang's most loyal subordinates, he had always believed that Yang should take power by force and set himself up as a benevolent governor, a course of action that Yang consistently opposed. In the past, Schönkopf had a reputation as a womanizer and fathered at least one illegitimate child.

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• A Good Way to Die: He dies with a warm smile, after serving with honor under Yang, helping Julian reach Reinhard, taking an axe to the back, killing several Imperial soldiers and remembering Katerose's mother.
• Badass Crew: He's the leader of the Rosen Ritters, one of the deadliest and most audacious units of Space Marines in existence.
• Big Brother Mentor: He also tries being a surrogate one to Julian, to Yang and Cazellnes' dismay.
• Blood Knight: He enjoys a good fight, but he doesn't glorify soldiers "dying for the cause" like the Imperials do.
• Defector from Decadence: How he, the Rosen Ritters and the other Imperial exiles view themselves in general.
• The Dreaded: Schönkopf is notorious amongst both armies as one of the most badass and dangerous people you could face on the battlefield. He's even been ambushed by enemy troops, only for them to turn tail and run away when they realize just WHO they just ambushed.
• Ethical Slut: He thinks he is. His illegitimate daughter disagrees.
• Face Death with Dignity: After being fatally injured during the boarding of the Brunhild, he calmly sits down and dies after finally remembering the name of Katerose's mother.
• A Father to His Men: He's shown to be as loyal and committed to his Rosen Ritter subordinates as they are to him.
• Foil: As a noble-born, charismatic, Blood Knight ladies man who has a romantic view of war, inspires great loyalty, father's an illegitimate child and is himself loyal to a man rather than an ideology or even a nation, he is essentially what Reuenthal would be if Reuenthal got himself lots and lots of therapy.
  • A subtle one to Oberstein, as both are amoral devils on their superior's shoulders. Oberstein is a charmless, hardcore enlightened realist in comparison to Reinhard's other admirals. He is loyal to the institution and the devil on Reinhard's shoulder. Schönkopf is a romantic among enlightened realists, among the most charismatic Alliance officers, loyal to Yang and the devil on Yang's shoulder.
• Four-Star Badass: Fights on the front lines right alongside his men. He's rather good at it.
• Freudian Excuse: Schönkopf was only a child when he fled to the Alliance alongside his grandparents, but the abuses heaped on his family by the High Nobles left mental scars that hadn't quite healed by the time he met Yang.
• Frontline General: As much as possible, he leads his men into battle from the front and often engages in close-quarters combat.
• Hidden Depths: He's shown to be rather quick to grasp political machinations. Not to mention his own resentment of the Alliance's double standards.
• Honest Advisor: Schönkopf is also known to be blunt. He has a knack for giving both Yang and Julian advice and suggestions that he believes they need to hear, rather than what they want.
• Honor Before Reason: After a fashion. He clearly resents the Alliance's farce of a democracy. But he and his fellow exiles would rather have that than go back to the Empire.
• In the Back: His back is where he’s fatally hit by an axe.
• It's Personal: Like his fellow Rosen Ritters, Schönkopf's quest to take down Hermann von Lüneburg for betraying them and defecting back to the Empire is personal. He gets his wish, however, and personally slays Lüneburg during the Sixth Battle of Iserlohn.
• Lady Macbeth: When the FPA high council is deposed by a military coup d'état, he encourages Yang to sit back and let the usurpers liquidate the old regime's corrupt politicians before rushing in to save the day. Yang declines and tells Schönkopf not to share such dangerous ideas with anyone else, but one's left with the impression that Yang's aversion is rooted more in his personal ethics than any actual criticism of the ploy.
• Mystical 108: The episode he dies in. 108 is symbolic for the amount of temptations a person faces and Schönkopf (an Ethical Slut), naturally died thinking about a woman, Katerose's mother in fact.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: He claims not to care about the Free Planets Alliance and has no strong feelings on its core values; in fact, some of his counsel goes against them. It's his personal loyalty to Yang, whom Schönkopf believes is destined for greatness, and a deep-seated hatred for the Empire that keep him around.
• Not Worth Killing: After being struck in the back by an unarmored Imperial officer, the fatally wounded Schönkopf simply grins, turns to ask the name of who managed that feat, and spares his life.
• Pragmatic Hero: Loyal and brave, but amoral and ruthless, and not above using the Empire's sort of tactics.
• Purple Prose: Often has one of the more flowery styles of speech.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one of these to João Rebelo just before taking him into custody, when Rebelo constantly made excuses for his plans to execute Yang.
• Rebellious Spirit: Schönkopf's womanizing exploits and rogue demeanor comes across as much of a deliberate jab at the Empire's aristocratic social norms as a personal repudiation of them.
• Secret Test of Character: His tendency to encourage if not outright challenge Yang to take the reins of power himself can be interpreted as this.
• Shadow Archetype: Take Oskar von Reuenthal, put him in the Alliance, and the result wouldn't be far off from Walter von Schönkopf. Similarly competent, charismatic, womanizing and romantic, Schönkopf is nonetheless shown to be more stable and self-aware of his own flaws in a way that Reuenthal could not be. Schönkopf also has a wider network of friends and comrades with a therapeutic effect on his mental well-being, in contrast to how generally isolated Reuenthal had been that not even his close friendship with Mittermeyer could properly mend those neuroses. And unlike Reuenthal, at no point does he allow his own issues to override his loyalties or relationships, staying true up to the very end.
• Space Marine: What his Rosen Ritter basically amounts to. Both the Alliance and Empire have armoured grenadiers, but the Rosenritter take the cake. They're the elite ground troops in the Alliance navy charged with, among other things, infiltration, fortress defense and siege warfare. They are portrayed as by far the best ground troops in the entire series.
• Sparing Them the Dirty Work: Schönkopf is personally loyal to Yang, but he's also one of the most strident advocates of ignoring or defying the Alliance's civilian leadership when their orders seem short-sighted or politically motivated, something Yang himself is very reluctant to do.
• Up Through the Ranks: Unlike many of his peers, he enrolled in a professional ground warfare school instead of the more prestigious officer academy as he disliked its atmosphere. Nevertheless, as a corporal Schönkopf garnered numerous accolades such that within two years, he was recommended to be trained as an officer and appointed to the Rosen Ritters.

Willibald Joachim von Merkatz

High Admiral Willibald Joachim von Merkatz

Voiced by: Gorō Naya (main series), Unshō Ishizuka (episodes 1-2), Kazuhiro Yamaji (episode 16-) (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (Die Neue These) (English)

Originally an Admiral in the Empire, Merkatz was one of the few major commanders who sided with the High Nobles during the Lippstadt Rebellion. He was appointed supreme commander of their combined fleets by Duke Braunschweig but was repeatedly marginalized by the constant demands and disunity among the rebels. Eventually his advice was ignored completely and the rebellion was put down. Merkatz himself escaped and defected to the Free Planets Alliance where he placed himself under the command of Yang Wen-li and continued to fight in the wars that followed. In the aftermath of the war between the Empire and the Alliance, he was charged with putting together a clandestine fleet and waging a guerrilla war against the occupying forces.

Merkatz enjoyed a certain comradeship with Adalbert von Fahrenheit, but they eventually found themselves on different sides of the war.

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• A Good Way to Die: He fights under Yang's banner for years with pride and dies fighting against Reinhard von Lohengramm's fleet. With a smile he asks his aide, Bernard von Schneider, not to bring him back, as this is a great way to go.
• Almighty Janitor: It's mentioned multiple times that Merkatz should have been an Imperial Fleet Admiral by the start of the series, but his unadaptable character held him back.
• Antagonist in Mourning: He mourns Fahrenheit's death, even though they're on opposing sides.
• Authority in Name Only:
  • When he became Supreme Commander for the Lippstadt League. Partially due to egos of the nobles, but also because Merkatz refused to argue with them.
  • He's appointed Minister of Military Affairs by the short-lived Government in Exile following the "rescue" of Kaiser Erwin Josef II. Yet despite being promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral, he has no Imperial troops to command at all, with the exception of Bernard von Schneider and a handful of aides.
• Cool Old Guy: One of the few members of the old Imperial admiralty that almost everyone respects due to his skills and moral character. He also looks a little like Charles Bronson in the OVAs.
• Defector from Decadence: Defects to the Alliance in the aftermath of the Lippstadt Rebellion and helps form the military core of an Imperial government-in-exile opposed to Reinhard's New Empire.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • As loyal as he is to the Goldenbaum Dynasty, he personally thinks that the Government in Exile made a grave mistake using the kidnapped Erwin Josef II as their figurehead, believing that such a young child shouldn't be involved in war and politics.
  • During the Lippstadt Rebellion, he's shown to have limits tolerating the insubordinate nobles he's given command over, eventually pulling rank and prioritizing duty over aristocratic protocol, despite risking Braunschweig's ire.
• Fatal Flaw: The man is a textbook, rock-solid commander and can send guys like Reuenthal and Mittermeyer running, but at the same time he is unadaptable and sometimes quite predictable. The result is that Eisenach correctly calculates his moves and delivers a killing blow to Merkatz.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Despite his own personal misgivings with democracy, he does over time form genuine respect and camaraderie with Yang and his subordinates. From what's seen, the feeling is mutual.
• Going Native: Downplayed. While Merkatz still conducts himself like an Imperial officer and professes to be a Goldenbaum loyalist even after siding with Yang, he does become more amenable to the Alliance's ideals and develops a camaraderie with his new friends that he never had back in the Empire.
• Ignored Expert: In the Lippstadt League, he was the only commander who had any chance against the likes of Reinhard and Kircheis and could have given them a run for their money. But the nobles constantly ignored his orders and plans and went out on their own to get killed.
• We Have Your Daughter: How Duke Braunschwieg got him to join the Lippstadt League in the first place.
• Interrupted Suicide: Was in the process of taking his own life with his pistol after the failure of the Lippstadt Rebellion, but his aide Schneider manages to talk him out of it by tricking him into thinking that the gun was empty.
• Mirror Character: He is essentially what Reinhard would have become if he didn't have his sense of urgency and drive to seize power. Whereas Reinhard is willing to take ruthless, decisive and oftentimes risky steps to quickly rise up the ladder, Merkatz had a tendency to play it safe and admitted that early on his career he feared failure. As a result, Merkatz was highly respected, but not feared and his career progressed far slower than Reinhard's.
• Loyal to the Position: How Merkatz rationalizes his loyalty to the Goldenbaum Dynasty and the status quo, despite his own misgivings with the hubris and decadence of his fellow High Nobles.
• Noble Bigot: Downplayed, but Merkatz admits to himself (just before the outbreak of the civil war) that he never gave much thought to the suffering of the lower ranking soldiers or the commoners under the rule of the corrupt high nobility.
• Not So Above It All: For all his upbringing as an Imperial noble, Merkatz isn’t above enjoying a bottle of beer with people his peers would have considered beneath them.
• Number Two: The closest you will come to Yang having a second-in-command. When he joins up with Yang's fleet, the Alliance decides to acknowledge him as the equivalent of a Vice Admiral, in a time when Yang's commanders are Rear Admirals at the highest. Even after men like Schönkopf and Attenborough are promoted to Vice Admiral, they still tend to defer to Merkatz' advice.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Especially when compared to Schönkopf and the other Imperial exiles which make up the Rosen Ritter, Merkatz still conducts himself somewhat like a dignified noble even after defecting to the Alliance.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's one of the handful of high-ranking officials among the old guard who actually did their duty admirably and competently.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Realizing that the Imperial Government in Exile is doomed to fail with the Empire's triumph all but inevitable, Merkatz took the few military personnel he had under his command and rejoined Yang's Fleet.
• Space Fighter: His trademark is the exceptional use of them.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: Even after he defects to the Alliance, he and his adjutant still wear the Goldenbaum-era Imperial uniform.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Downplayed. During the Lippstadt Rebellion, Merkatz visibly tries to keep himself restrained and composed while dealing with the brash nobles disregarding his orders. When he tries putting them in line, however, he's instead reprimanded by Duke Braunschwieg, who himself is a General Failure.
• Took a Level in Badass: Merkatz admits later on in the series that he was afraid of failure until he was almost 60. He starts getting out of this mindset after joining Yang and he scores very impressive victories afterwards.
• Undying Loyalty: To the Goldenbaum Dynasty, even if he is aware of its problems and to Yang Wen-li to a certain extent.

Olivier Poplin

Commander Olivier Poplin

Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (main series), Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Orion Pitts (Die Neue These) (English)

"For our fleet, festivity is a necessity we cannot do without."

An ace pilot of the Alliance's Spartanian Fighter Corps, Poplin was eventually appointed as chief of the Aerial Defence Corps stationed in Iserlohn Fortress after its capture and remained with the Yang Fleet ever since. Outside the battlefield, he is often seen providing comic relief, be it his snarky banter with Konev and later Attenborough, or his alleged competitions with Schönkopf in being The Casanova.

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• Ace Pilot: He's one of the Alliance's best Spartanian pilots.
• Body-Count Competition: He and Konev before every battle bet on which of them will get the most kills. After Konev is KIA, he continues to keep score, and near the end of the show, he's well into the hundreds.
• Big Brother Mentor: He tries to be one, at least, for both Julian and Karin. It's implied he is this for most of the young pilots and trainees in the Spartanians as well.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He's a womanizer, but he's just looking for a little fun.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Lets just say that he does not take the news of Yang's death well.
• For Happiness: Takes the view that life is short, so any time you aren't spending by doing something you enjoy is time wasted.
• Plucky Comic Relief: His antics and humorous commentaries on events often provide a breather from the deadly-serious drama of the plot.
• Those Two Guys: At first with his fellow colleague Ivan Konev, then later with Attenborough.

Murai

Vice Admiral Murai

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (main series), Hōchū Ōtsuka (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Mike McFarland (Die Neue These) (English)

The Chief of Staff for Yang's 13th Fleet, Murai has a reputation of being a strict disciplinarian and is equally feared and respected by the members of the 13th Fleet. When Attenborough and Poplin heard that he is returning to the fleet after the re-capture of Iserlohn Fortress, Poplin even began to hum Chopin's Funeral March!

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• Comically Serious: His stonefaced, serious demeanour in the face of ridiculous situations can make many scenes extra hilarious.
• Commander Contrarian: Saw his role of Chief of Staff as such, since his superior is talented enough to not require a staff officer. Therefore he restricts himself to playing the devil's advocate and provides common-sense arguments against Yang's command decisions.
• Consummate Professional: Murai is well-known for being a stickler for military order even before he joined the Yang Fleet.
• Humble Hero: As much of a Consummate Professional as Murai is, he consistently downplays his competency to Yang, remarking simply that he's just doing his job within protocol.
• Only One Name: We never do learn what his first name is. Funny enough, his name is just "Murai" on official reports.
• Put on a Bus: Retires from military service after Yang's death in order to purge out the half-hearted members of the Iserlohn Republic.
• Sergeant Rock: A non-combat case. As Yang notes in Spiral Labyrinth, Murai seems unoriginal and impersonal, yet is nonetheless shown to be diligent, good in organization and fair. Characteristics that would lead to Murai being reassigned to the 13th Fleet by the main series.
• You Don't Look Like You: His DNT counterpart looks completely different.◊

Edwin Fischer

Vice Admiral Edwin Fischer

Voiced by: Taimei Suzuki (main series), Osamu Sonoe (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Kenny Green (Die Neu These) (English)

"The Admiral has left all fleet deployment to me. This time, it is our turn to trust the Admiral."

The Vice Fleet Commander of the 13th Fleet, Fischer is renowned for his ability to execute perfect fleet maneuvers and is thus highly valued by Yang, who requires his talents to allow the 13th Fleet to realize his brilliant tactics in the actual battlefield. This also meant that he rarely commands a separate fleet by himself, unlike Attenborough.

He's killed in action during the Battle of the Corridor, which severely hindered Yang's Fleet's ability to continue the battle now that their main fleet movements specialist was gone.

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• Boring Yet Practical: His talents in fleet deployment are not flashy at all, but are essential for the success of Yang's "magic". That being said....
  • Simple, yet Awesome: There are times when The 13th Fleet pulls off some mindboggling maneuvers. When you see them, keep in mind that it's this man who actually makes them happen.
• Number Two: At first. He's Vice Fleet Commander of the 13th Fleet, but it's easy to forget it, as several of Yang's officers are more prominent. As time goes on the Number Two role seems to go more towards Merkatz.

Fyodor Patrichev

Rear Admiral Fyodor Patrichev

Voiced by: Kōzō Shioya (main series), Masami Iwasaki (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Jeremy Inman (Die Neue These) (English)

The Vice Chief of Staff of the 13th Fleet, Patrichev is often seen together with Murai and Fischer.

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• The Big Guy: Physically, he's very much a big bear of a man.
  • Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: And he dies during the same ambush that took Yang's life trying to protect him.
• Gentle Giant: When he's not in the thick of combat, he's usually quite friendly and cheerful, with a dry but whimsical sense of humor.

Bernhard von Schneider

Commander Bernhard von Schneider

Voiced by: Kousuke Meguro (main series), Daisuke Hirakawa (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Bryson Baugus (Die Neue These) (English)

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• Adaptational Dye-Job: Brown haired in the OVA series, blonde haired in Die Neue These.
• The Confidant: He's the one Merkatz always confides in.
• Nice Guy: He's a polite and very dutiful person who never shows bigotry towards commoners or the Alliance.
• Satellite Character: He unfortunately doesn't have much of a role besides being Merkatz's aide and confidant.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: Just like Merkatz, he never bothers to change out of his old Imperial uniform.
• Talking Down the Suicidal: When Merkatz attempted to kill himself due to his inability to prevent the self-destruction of the Lippstadt Rebellion, Schneider tells him that it won't work since he removed the ammo from his pistol, having anticipated that Merkatz would do this. When Merkatz puts down the pistol and asks Schneider when he did this, Schneider simply picks up the pistol and removes the ammo right then and there, then convinces Merkatz to defect to the Alliance.
• Undying Loyalty: He stays with Merkatz even after defecting to the Alliance. In the aftermath of the Battle of Shiva, he personally escorts Merkatz's body back to the Empire so his family can give him a proper funeral.

Katerose von Kreuzer

Corporal Katerose von Kreuzer

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi

The result of one of Walter von Schönkopf's many dalliances in his younger years. At the age of sixteen, she became a fighter pilot in Yang's fleet.

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• Ace Pilot: She has great potential according to Poplin. This is not an Informed Ability, as she ends up doing a lot of damage as an Alliance fighter pilot.
• Affectionate Nickname: She's called Karin far more often than Katerose.
• Big Damn Kiss: With Julian in episode 108.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Kind of. She was at first rather hostile and aggressive towards Julian, but eventually she softens up towards him.
• Fiery Redhead: However much she may deny it, she certainly inherited her father's aggressive temperament.
• Had to Be Sharp: By the time she catches the attention of Schönkopf and Poplin, Katerose had already developed a keen talent for coming out of skirmishes alive. Given how the average Alliance fighter pilot tends to have a short lifespan, this is no small feat.
• Heroic Bastard: Her parents weren't married and she is a hero through and through.
• Last Girl Wins: She winds up being in a relationship with Julian by the end of the series.
• Revenge: What she wanted on her father, at least at first, for abandoning her. Their relationship got better over time.
  • Restrained Revenge: At the end of the novels, after von Schönkopf's death, she tells Julian that she had decided on a milder yet ironic revenge on her father: make him realize that he's become a grandfather. The last time von Schönkopf talked to Karin and Julian, he teased them by asking the two to wait until she's twenty before having kids, so he wouldn't have to be a grandfather in his thirties.
• Tsundere: Towards Julian. They end up together by the end of the series.

Baghdash

Captain Baghdash

Voiced by: Akira Kamiya (main series), Shigeru Ushiyama (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Chris Hackney (Die Neue These) (English)

"Giving up easily is one of my best traits."

Initially a supporter of the National Salvation Military Council, Baghdash was dispatched to the 13th Fleet to assassinate Yang Wen-li and provide the Fleet with false intelligence and decided to switch loyalties once his plans were exposed and he realized that the coup d'état was doomed to fail. An expert in intelligence warfare, he is often tasked to gather intelligence or conduct subterfuge operations, such as executing the initial phase of the Yang Fleet's re-capture of Iserlohn Fortress.

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• Fake Defector: The National Salvation Military Council tasked him as such, with the mission to assassinate Yang, thereby crippling the 13th Fleet. It did not work.
• Heel–Face Turn: An exceedingly pragmatic one following the 11th Fleet's destruction (and, surprisingly, a genuine one, as Bagdash remains loyal to Yang and company for the remainder of the series).
• Only One Name: He doesn't appear have a family name
• Refuge in Audacity: He executes the trope with such ability that anyone who can makes sense of his scam is declared insane in advance.

Louis Mashengo

Louis Mashengo

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao (Main series), Tooru Nara (Die Neue These) (Japanese)

"Humans cannot oppose destiny."

A junior officer in the Alliance navy, Louis Mashengo's main claim to fame is as the only black man among the main cast in the entire series. He was shown to be a serious and reliable worker, having been assigned as a bodyguard for both Ensign Frederica Greenhill and Lieutenant Julian Mintz while they worked in enemy territory. He also joined Julian on his journey to Earth to investigate the true nature of the Earth Cult.

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• Catchphrase: "You can't fight fate."
• Heroic Sacrifice: Shields Julian with his body and takes several laser blasts in the back for his trouble.
• The Quiet One: Doesn't say much.
• The Reliable One: He's called this by Frederica, and shows his reliability throughout the show up until his death.
• Token Minority: One of only two prominent black men in the show.

Other military

Jean Robert Lapp

Lieutenant Commander Jean Robert Lapp

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (main series and Spiral Labyrinth), Yuki Ono (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Christopher Wehkamp (Die Neue These) (English)

An officer in the Free Planets Alliance's 6th Fleet. Lapp attended the Alliance Military Academy together with Yang Wen-li, where they became close friends. Though reputed to be Yang's intellectual equal by those who knew them, Lapp never got the same chance to prove himself as a commander and ultimately perished when 6th Fleet was wiped out by Reinhard von Lohengramm at the Battle of Astarte.

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• Commonality Connection: Yang and Lapp bonded in part because they both came from impoverished backgrounds, and the Academy was the only way they could get a college education.
• Decoy Protagonist: Lapp is built up as both a good friend of Yang and a competent officer in his own right, only to be killed off in the very first episode of the OVA.
• For Want Of A Nail: In-universe, Yang wonders what would have happened had either Lapp survived instead of him, or both of them lived to fight another day.
• High-School Sweethearts: Lapp and Jessica eloped in college and eventually married.
• Mirror Character: Lapp shares a broadly similar background with Yang as well as a similarly sharp aptitude for strategy. Like Yang, Lapp catches on to Reinhard's divide-and-conquer battle plan early in the Battle of Astarte, and like Yang, his superior officer arrogantly dismisses his suggestions. However, where Yang gets a chance to take command of the remnants of his fleet and wage a successful fighting retreat, Lapp is killed in action as a result of his own commander's ineptitude. Moreover, Lapp is shown to have been more charismatic and outgoing compared to the socially awkward Yang.
• Oh, Crap!: Lapp realizes early on how dire the Alliance forces' predicament truly is, but is unable to do anything about it due to his inept superior officer. He winds up dead as a result.
• Posthumous Character: Lapp is killed off in the very first episode of the series. Much of what we learn about him comes from Yang and Jessica's recollections while commiserating over his death, as well as his appearances in the Spiral Labyrinth prequel series.
• Reluctant Warrior: Like Yang, Lapp never really wanted to be in the military, only signing up to get a college education.
• Small Role, Big Impact: His death ultimately spurs Jessica to become an anti-war activist and one of the leading figures in the opposition movement, believing that her grief should never again happen to anyone else.

Alexandre Bewcock

Fleet Admiral Alexandre Bewcock

Voiced by: Kousei Tomita (main series and Gaiden), Mitsuaki Madono (Spiral Labyrinth), Bon Ishihara (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Kent Williams (Die Neue These) (English)

"The Alliance should die as a democracy rather than become a dictatorship to survive. I guess what I am saying is rather extreme, but if a nation cannot protect its founding ideals and its citizenry, there is no reason for such nation to exist."

Commander of the Free Planets Alliance's 5th Fleet, Bewcock is notable for already having a long and distinguished career when the series begins. Unlike most fleet commanders, Bewcock began his career as an enlisted soldier, slowly and gradually working his way up the ranks over many years. He is also a close friend and mentor of Yang Wen-li, and one of Yang's few allies and advocates in the upper ranks of the Alliance's military establishment.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: Bewcock momentarily retired after the Alliance's formal surrender to the Empire, and would have settled for a quiet life like Sidney Sithole before him had it not been for Imperial surveillance on his every move and the final collapse of the Alliance. Taking up his uniform, he accepted his reappointment by Rebelo without question, opting to go out dying in the name of democracy.
• Anger Born Out Of Worry: During his final battle against Reinhard, he snaps at a group of young Alliance officers for trying to fight alongside his flagship rather than joining the others making their escape towards Yang's Fleet, knowing that they'd have a better chance there than dying with him.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Inadvertently. During his final words at the Battle of Mar-Adetta, Bewcock refuses Lohengramm's offers of surrender, telling him that he cannot accept any forms of authoritarianism. In his words, "I want to have good friends and I want to be a good friend to other people. But I don't want a good master, or to be a good servant." This inwardly unsettles Lohengramm, making him worry whether he truly saw Kircheis as a close friend or merely the most trusted of all subordinates.
• Been There, Shaped History: Downplayed. He was not only a gunner in the same fleet he'd later command, but was also stationed aboard Bruce Ashbey's flagship during his heyday.
• Cool Old Guy: He's clearly earned every ounce of respect he got from his friends and subordinates.
• Do Not Go Gentle: Despite knowing he wouldn't come back alive, Bewcock sets out for one last battle against the Empire in the name of democracy, and to buy time for the Alliance's remaining forces to rally behind Yang.
• Defiant to the End: In his last battle against Reinhard, he refuses an offer of surrender even though he's clearly been defeated, as he'd rather die while remaining loyal to his ideals.
• Face Death with Dignity: A very dignified ending. Bewcock and his crew have a toast to democracy as Reinhard finishes the battle.
• A Father to His Men: Bewcock cares deeply for the men he commands. It's one reason why he gets along so well with Yang.
• Foil: Is compared to Merkatz multiple times. Both are immensely crafty admirals with ridiculous amounts of experience, who will help out Yang regardless of the political higher-ups. Yet whereas Merkatz hailed from the nobility and by his own admission benefited from the privileges of his upbringing, Bewcock had worked his way up the ranks and in the process, earned the respect of his men the hard way.
• Happily Married: From what little is seen of his personal life outside the military, he seemed to have been very close to his wife.
• Heroic Sacrifice: After being reinstated, Bewcock leads what remains of the Alliance forces outside Yang's command against Reinhard, knowing that the coming battle would be his last. Rather than surrender, however, he and his crewmates opt to die for democracy while buying time for his younger subordinates to flee to Yang's Fleet.
• Ignored Expert: The Alliance defeat at the Third Battle of Tiamat was caused by Willem Hollande ignoring his advice.
• Interrupted Suicide: Contemplates taking his own life after the Battle of Rantemario, in which his fleet was nearly destroyed in a Delaying Action. Fortunately, his second-in-command has the foresight to unload his pistol and talk him down.
• The Last DJ: For a brief time after being reinstated by the crumbling Rebelo administration, Bewcock becomes the last high-ranking Alliance officer still in service who's not part of Yang's Fleet.
• The Mentor: Bewcock is such to Yang, acting almost like a father figure to him with how he gives advice.
• Old Soldier: He's spent over forty years in the FPA Navy, climbing from a humble gunner all the way up to Fleet Admiral. He may not have the native cunning of someone like Reinhard von Lohengramm, but his experience gives him enough of an edge to force even Reinhard to work for his victories.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Bewcock is shown to be exasperated when dealing with the rest of the Alliance's upper echelons, and is visibly upset when they keep throwing Yang to the meat grinder with far less support that they ought to have. He nonetheless doesn't take that out on his subordinates or friends.
• Taught by Experience: Bewcock never went to officer school. Everything he knows he learned from hands-on experience.
• Up Through the Ranks: Where most officers are commissioned through the FPA's Military Academy, Bewcock earned a field commission. It hindered his career progress in the past, since he didn't have the benefits that came with the patronage networks an Academy student could take advantage of, but time and battlefield incompetence slowly weeded out most of those who stood in his way.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Bewcock gave one to the Council and High Command in a fit of exasperation, chiding them not only for dragging their feet in giving Yang the support he needed, but also for embodying precisely why the Alliance deserved to collapse. Trunicht, though, was unfazed, simply asking if he's done with his lecture.
  • Later on, when Trunicht seems all too quick to offer the Empire terms for surrender in order to get a ceasefire, Bewcock delivers one to the Alliance as a whole:
  Bewcock: "In other words, the life of the Alliance is at an end! Its politicians toy with power. Its opportunistic soldiers are absorbed in military adventurism just like at Amritsar. And its citizens have turned over leadership to politicians instead of participating in it! The people have democratic principles on their lips but cannot spare the effort to safeguard it! The collapse of an autocracy is the sin of its rulers and leaders. But the collapse of a democracy is the sin of every citizen!"
• Worthy Opponent: Held off Reinhard's fleet of 100,000 ships with a fleet of 20,000. Once Reinhard secures the victory, he orders that every soldier salutes Bewcock. Later on when executing several treacherous soldiers, Reinhard thinks fondly of Bewcock and performs a libation for the fallen admiral.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: In Die Neue These episode 11, when he finds out that Commander-in-chief Lobos is unavailable during an invasion because he is asleep. There is also some clear Enraged by Idiocy going on there.
• Young Future Famous People: Gets a cameo in Spiral Labyrinth as a gunner in Fifth Fleet, the same fleet he would eventually command.

Sidney Sithole

Fleet Admiral Sidney Sithole

Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi (main series), Masaki Aizawa (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Ray Hurd (Die Neue These) (English)

The former headmaster of the Free Planets Alliance Officer Academy, Sithole was the Joint Operations Headquarters Chief and saw Yang's potential early on. He appointed Yang as the fleet commander in an operation to take Iserlohn Fortress, which was an amazing success. After the devastating loss at The Battle of Amritsar, Sithole took full responsibility and retired from the military, though not before reminding Yang how important he was to the future of The Alliance.

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• Badass Bureaucrat: His job as Joint Operations Headquarters Chief. He appoints commanders for operations, keeps the brass off the soldiers' backs and makes sure that proper procedures are being followed. The problem is that he has to share control of the military with Lobos and foolish politicians task him with an impossible goal to bolster their falling poll numbers.
• Bystander Syndrome: As he rose through the ranks, he developed a habit of passing the buck over to others he thought would get the job done, without considering whether they would actually take responsibility. Unfortunately, this made him more of a bystander to the FPA's decaying competence, which he comes to regret deeply.
• Cool Old Guy: Similar to Bewcock, he is a stern, but caring mentor to Yang and guys like Attenborough and Cazellnes like him too.
• Decapitated Army: Downplayed. It's gradually revealed that Stihole's efforts are among the biggest reasons the Alliance hasn't already collapsed by the time the series takes place. His forced retirement, however, allowed the more corrupt and incompetent elements of the FPA military to grow even more unchecked, further crippling the armed forces.
• Foil: A clear one to the other Fleet Admiral, Lassalle Lobos. Sithole was a reasonable, hard-working, wise man, whereas Lobos was equal parts idiot and jerk. Lobos couldn't be bothered to be aware of how much his soldiers suffered due to an atrocious operational plan, that seemingly every admiral not named Lobos saw was utter trash. The result was the disastrous Battle of Amritsar and both Sithole and Lobos retiring. The latter was good for the military, as Bewcock took his place, but losing Sithole caused further problems for the armed forces.
• The Mentor: Even moreso than Bewcock. Not only did he actually teach at Officer school, but he often reminds Yang of the dangers of having people like Falke becoming more powerful, Yang not being aware of his importance to the Alliance and taking responsibility not just for Yang himself but all the people who wish to follow him. Indeed, Yang took command of the 13th fleet and Iserlohn fortress later on, because of Sithole.
• My Greatest Failure: In his own words.
  Sithole: I passed on to other people the responsibilities that I should have held and I became a spectator. Because of that, many who took on those responsibilities died. I regret it deeply. This time I around, I will not run away from my responsibilities.
• Red Herring: After his retirement and the fall of the Alliance, the Imperials still keep a close eye on Sithole's whereabouts, suspecting that he might be involved with Yang to some degree. Ultimately, no connection is ever proven. Sithole's let go altogether on Reinhard's orders, allowing him and some of his compatriots to live the rest of their lives unmolested.
• Resigned in Disgrace: Even though it wasn't his plan and did everything in his power to prevent disaster, the utter failure of the Invasion of Imperial space forced him to resign alongside Lobos, with their reputations greatly damaged.
• Scary Black Man: He's actually a pretty cool guy, but he can be intimidating and commanding, as fits his positions.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't appear much throughout the series, but Sithole is the man who constantly reminded Yang why he was important to the Alliance and if it weren't for him, Yang would have retired from the Alliance navy much earlier than expected, which would have been a nightmare for the military. Things also start going to hell for the Alliance after he retires, for multiple reasons.

Lassalle Lobos

Fleet Admiral Lassalle Lobos

Voiced by: Ōki Tamio (main series), Eiji Hanawa (Die Neue These, Japanese), John Baker (Die Neue These, English)

Chief Commander of the Space Fleet.

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• Fat Bastard: His overweight feature, massive ego, and general lack of military acumen tend to emphasize this trope.
• Foil: Compared to Sithole's competent and hardworking nature, Lobos' incompetence and uncaring nature along with his strings of military failure tend to put the two as stark contrast.
• General Failure: His three notable credentials are the Sixth Invasion of Iserlohn, Fourth Battle of Tiamat, and the Invasion into Empire; all of which were not only failures but also had examples of his poor conduct. To add to that, he places a glory-seeking nutjob like Willem Holland in charge of the overall battle plan for the Third Battle of Tiamat and it leads to yet another defeat.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Lobos thoroughly buys into Andrew Falk's ludicrous plans during both the Sixth Battle of Iserlohn and the later invasion against the Empire, seemingly oblivious to how horrible said plans and their ramifications actually are.
• Insane Admiral: He does many stupid things, but his approach to the invasion into the Galactic Empire (an expedition encompassing 30,000,000 Alliance troops) takes the cake. He has a delusional nutjob of a commodore formulate a plan that doesn't take supply lines into consideration and is so vague that every admiral in the room (not named Lobos) is baffled at its stupidity. He ignores the warnings of Cazelnes that he can't account for logistics of such a vast expedition and Yang's warnings not to underestimate Reinhard (who at that point has already murdered multiple Alliance Admirals). When the invasion fleets are running low on supplies, he tells Cazelnes to ask Heinessen for new supplies. That supply fleet gets destroyed by Kircheis. Does Lobos tell the fleets to retreat to Iserlohn? Nope. Reinhard sends in his admirals to rain all kinds of hell on the Invasion fleets. Of the 8 fleets, 3 are completely wiped out, 1 loses 70%, another 50% (also losing their top admirals in the process) and 2 more lose 30%, with only Yang's fleet being mostly unscathed. At this point you'd think this idiot would pull them back to Iserlohn. No, he tells these battered and depleted fleets to head for Amritsar for a decisive battle. Another fleet is destroyed and only Yang and Bewcock end up coming home in one piece. All in all the Alliance loses a monstrous 20,000,000 soldiers, for a gross loss of 70%. The result is that the balance of the war shifts heavily to the imperial side, especially after Reinhard seizes power.
• The Neidermeyer: Out of all commanders in Free Planets Alliance, he is by far the most callous towards his subordinating soldiers. This makes it much of a problem due to his constant military blunders.
• Pet the Dog: Subverted. Even in the occasional times when Lobos takes Yang's advice and runs with it, he still finds some way of attributing the resulting successes more to himself than anyone else.
• The Peter Principle: Implied to be a victim of this. Before reaching his current post, he was considered unimaginative, yet competent enough; as commander of the Alliance's Space Fleet, he's clearly out of his depth.
• Resigned in Disgrace: The utter failure of the Invasion of the Empire and the defeat at Amritsar forced him to resign in shame.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: He used to be a competent officer until he reached his forties. It's mentioned as well that FPA commanders in-universe speculate among themselves over what caused him to become so callous and incompetent.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's left vague what happens to him after his ignoble resignation, though it's implied that he may have died sometime during the Empire's Lippstadt Rebellion.

Andrew Falk

Commodore Andrew Falk

Voiced by: Tōru Furuya (main series), Hiroshi Kamiya (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Justin Briner (Die Neue These) (English)

An officer of the Free Planets Alliance, first introduced by proposing his disastrous plan to invade the Empire. The damage he causes to the Alliance and its members get worse along with his mental state.

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• Armchair Military: Loves giving impossible orders from the safety of Iserlohn Fortress, but as soon as Admiral Bewcock dares him to come to the front lines, he folds faster than a cheap suit.
• Can't Take Criticism: Falk is shown to buckle mentally when faced with so much as mild common-sense criticism. Die Neue These has him outright collapse from hysteria before Bewcock could even finish verbally dressing him down.
• Didn't Think This Through: Falk's grand plans for invading the Empire are shown to be horribly flawed, which become more pronounced once the invading fleets' supplies run out and are forced to scrape for resources from the very planets being "liberated." The only reason the Alliance forces aren't entirely wiped out is due to the likes of Yang and Cazelnes coming up with contingencies on the spot to mitigate the damage.
• Entitled Bastard: So much so that he shoots an officer when said officer calmly but firmly tells him to follow proper procedure to return to duty.
• Glory Hound: More than most since he jumps the Chain of Command and tried to launch a plan to invade the Empire despite being a Commodore, an officer that is not part of the top brass. This is further reinforced by how said plan is a thinly-veiled ploy to get himself into politics following its apparent (to him) success, which Yang and Sithole see through rather easily.
• Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: His efforts to promote the Alliance's "sacred duty" and the invasion of the Empire are at once passionate and utterly hollow.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Towards Yang.
• Hate Sink: Next to Lobos himself, probably the most hated character in the Free Planets Alliance. He violates military regulation to propose a plan that most talented officers saw was poorly thought out. When the Alliance fails, he attacks said officers, despite seeing how his plan fell apart. And after the Alliance falls, he blames Yang Wen-li for the fall of the Alliance and tries to kill him for it, only to get killed by the Terraists who used him.
• Informed Ability: He's said to have graduated at the top of his class at Officer Academy and yet the only plans of his that we ever see (the Sixth Invasion of Iserlohn and the Invasion of the Empire) are poorly thought out and lead to mass casualties.
• It's All About Me: For all his grandstanding about democracy and the FPA's "sacred duty," Falk evidently cares more about the political windfall his plans would give him than anything else. Something both Yang and Sithole see through almost immediately.
• Karmic Death: Gets killed by officers of his country and the Terraists who used him.
• The Neidermeyer: The guy lives by this trope, unwilling to so much as see the consequences of his grandstanding up close. That he's even in a position to make delusional orders at all is indicative of how broken the state of the Alliance's officer corps has become.
• Never My Fault: Attacks his superior officers, blaming them for the failed invasion, including Yang Wen-li though he was manipulated by the Terraists at the time. And this is despite seeing himself that the whole mess was due to his lack of oversight.
• Sanity Slippage: His sanity takes a nosedive the moment he suffers from temporary blindness due to hysteria.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He likes to prance around as if he's the greatest strategist the Alliance has ever seen, but he's merely a Commodore that's only good at talking without substance, and whose plan only got implemented because Fleet Admiral Lobos was dumb enough to believe it would work.
• Unknown Rival: In the novels, Admiral Sithole tells Yang that part of Falk's motivation for proposing the ill-fated invasion was to outshine a rival that had been gaining glory. Sithole has to spell out that Yang was the rival Falk was trying to outdo, despite Falk's passive-aggressive barbs during the planning meeting.

Paeta

Vice Admiral Paeta

Voiced by: Kan Tokumaru (main series), Shinya Fukumatsu (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Chris Rager (Die Neue These) (English)

Yang’s commanding officer prior to his command of the 13th Fleet. Paeta is a shrewd man to sees himself as a professional, but he ignores Yang’s advice when he advises the right call. A combination of that and Yang’s inability to go against orders results in many deaths of his fellow soldiers. Eventually, he is injured in the Battle of Arstate, transferring his command to Yang, where his talents shine.

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• Allegorical Character: He gives the audience a preview of what the Alliance military brass has mostly become. Stubborn, short-sighted, unimaginative, arrogant and because of these things, mostly useless.
• General Failure: Zigzagged. His profile states that he is a decent commander. However, he is eclipsed by Reinhard and refuses to listen to Yang’s advice, seeing himself as superior due to his longer years of service in the military.
• Hate Sink: While not as bad as others like Falk or Lobos, Paeta still does not have a good reception either, representing the incompetence of professional commanders against a talented genius like Reinhard. He treats Yang as a pest rather than a trusted First Officer, held in high-regard by his superiors like Bewcock, and has his ego and paranoia get the better of him that results many pointless deaths. He is only injured upon the Battle of Astrate but gets better later on, with karma only catching up with him taken to prison and dying there during a riot.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: He never received any punishment for letting any people die due to his arrogance, blaming his failures on bad luck and the weather. Even when he transfers his command to Yang upon being injured, he remains in service until the end of the war. It is until after the war, he is sent to Rugpool Prison and dies during the riots following the crackdown on Heinessen.
• Never My Fault: Blames his failures on bad luck and unforeseen factors, when it is ultimately because he disregarded Yang’s advice against a talented commander like Reinhard. Yang lampshades this, saying how it is common among incompetent officers.
  Yang: When something goes wrong, it is often blamed on the weather, the terrain, or bad luck. They can’t accept that it’s the commanders who are at fault.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He sees himself as better than Yang due to being out on the battlefield more. While his profile states that he is a decent commander by his own right, upon facing a genius Reinhard, he is ultimately outmatched with his ego rejecting his subordinates’ advice that would’ve saved many lives.
• Too Clever by Half: Paeta is generally competent at what he does. He is, however, not only unimaginative and woefully out of his depth when facing Reinhard, but refuses to admit otherwise until he's injured in the line of duty.

Dwight Greenhill

Admiral Dwight Greenhill

Voiced by: Issei Masamune (main series), Mitsuaki Hoshino (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Sonny Strait (Die Neue These) (English)

The chief of staff for Space Fleet commander Lassalle Lobos. Greenhill was something of a father-figure to Yang and the actual father to Frederica Greenhill. A caring and capable officer, he nonetheless led a military coup that subjugated Heinesen under martial law.

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• Broken Pedestal: Becomes this for Yang and Frederica when they learn that he's sided with the military junta in their coup attempt, as it's a betrayal of the democratic ideals he supposedly fights for.
• Foil: Rockwell eventually becomes one of him, as both are military officers who do military coups against the Alliance government, of which they are dissatisfied over. However, Greenhill was a Well-Intentioned Extremist who cared for his citizens and soldiers with hopes of reforming the government. Rockwell, on the other hand, did it out for fearing his own safety upon serving a government that just sold out talented military officers like Yang Wenli to preserve itself and sought to further hand over the Alliance to Reinhard to get into his good graces. Furthermore, Greenhill’s coup became a colossal failure in achieving any of his original goals. While Rockwell’s coup was a success, he and his conspirators were immediately executed by the man they tried to appease for such treachery.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: After his coup fails and he's killed, the corrupt politicians like Trunicht and his cronies end up gaining free reign thanks to the distrust of the public towards the military, and that helps precipitate the fall of the Alliance. It also leads to the loss of yet another fleet, so the Alliance military is in worse shape than ever.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Despite realizing how much the entire coup was rigged from the start, Greenhill is killed by his erstwhile comrades-in-arms before he could properly atone.
• Heel Realization: He realizes far too late that not only his fellow officers in the junta far less interested in actually helping the Alliance, but that he'd been manipulated by Arthur Lynch as a tool.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Rear Admiral Lynch calls him out on this and he is very much correct.
  • He decides to take in Lynch and trust his plan for a coup, being fully aware that Lynch ended up in Imperial hands due to being a Dirty Coward devoid of moral character. He also never questions why Lynch just happens to have this plan ready after being freed through a prisoner's exchange.
  • Before the invasion into Imperial territory, Yang brings up that Reinhard should not be underestimated. Greenhill counters by saying that Reinhard is inexperienced and that will lead to him making mistakes. You know, Reinhard, the guy who built his entire career on murdering Alliance commanders left and right and thus has PLENTY of experience with combat.
  • He supports Lobos in authorizing the invasion into the Empire, knowing full well that it would be a logistics nightmare. This should have been a major hint that Lobbo is utterly insane. Greenhill is later on surprised when Lobos orders the remaining, battered fleets to fight until the end.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: When he rebelled, he was one of the 5 highest ranking officers in the Alliance (the others being Bewcock, Yang, Kyubersly and Dawson), with a splendid reputation for both his military service and character. Naturally, nobody expected him to lead millions of soldiers in revolt.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's one of the few in the higher echelons of command to recognize Yang's talents early on, as well as the fact that the civilian leaders of the Free Planets Alliance care more about scoring political points than securing the long-term interests of the Alliance as a whole. Unfortunately, that last one leads him to make some compromising decisions.
• Token Good Teammate: Publicly, Greenhill's reputation lends the junta some much-needed credibility. Privately, he has doubts about the motives of some of the other members and mostly joined the coup so that he could use his clout to serve as a moderating influence. When he learns that the coup was orchestrated with Reinhard's backing to keep the Alliance from interfering in the Empire's own civil war, he's shocked and horrified that Arthur Lynch would stoop to such treasonous collaboration.
• Unwitting Pawn: Manipulated by Lynch with the backing of Reinhard to put the Alliance in conflict so they couldn't take advantage of their own civil war. He's horrified when he realizes the truth.

Arthur Lynch

Rear Admiral Arthur Lynch

Voiced by: Takao Oyama (main series), Issei Futamata (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Jay Hickman (Die Neue These) (English)

A cowardly former Rear Admiral of the Free Planets Alliance, Arthur Lynch faced capture at the hands of Imperial forces and hatred from his Alliance allies after he abandoned his position at El Facil years ago. Now given new drive by Reinhard von Lohengramm, Lynch seeks to bring about as much chaos within the Alliance as possible.

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• The Alcoholic: Drowns his self-pity in alcohol, being seen almost always with a bottle by his side.
• At Least I Admit It: By the Alliance Civil War, he's long accepted that he's a bitter, cowardly hypocrite, but takes some pride in admitting that much, unlike the rest of the coup leaders.
• Dirty Coward: For as much as he may hate being seen as one, Lynch is most remembered by the Alliance for his cowardly actions during the Battle of El Facil, in which he abandoned millions of innocent civilians, including his own troops, to die so as to save himself. He does eventually accept his status as a self-serving coward, and causes even more problems for the Alliance.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Downplayed. Lynch is self-aware about his pettiness and hypocrisy, but even he could barely put up with the nonsense coming from Greenhill's co-conspirators.
• Evil Is Petty: He knows full-well he's being used as a pawn by Reinhard in a scheme he's unlikely to survive but Lynch's only motivation is to disgrace respected military officers out of bitterness for rightfully being remembered as a coward.
• Jerkass Has a Point: On two counts in regards to Dwight Greenhill's coup.
  • He points out that Greenhill is a Horrible Judge of Character. Greenhill proves time and time again that this is the case. In regards to Lynch, Reinhard, Lobos and Falk.
  • He calls his 'allies' out for being self-righteous hypocrites who hide behind morals, while they themselves take away the power of the people they're supposed to protect and wipe their asses with the FPA constitution.
• Manipulative Bastard: Expertly put Reinhard's coup scheme into action, manipulating Dwight Greenhill and the NSMC into pulling a hostile takeover of Heinessen and other Alliance worlds, all while making them believe it was their own idea.
• The Man Behind the Man: Is this, to a point, in regards to the NSMC. Though he holds no official position of power in the organization, he's an outside advisor who pulls their strings into kick-starting their violent coup.
• The Mole: Accepts freedom from Imperial internment in exchange for serving as a double agent inside the Alliance, something Lynch is all too eager to do out of spite.
• The Neidermeyer: Even before his cowardly retreat from El Facil and capture by Imperial forces, Lynch is implied to have been a rather incompetent rear admiral who enjoyed the benefits his rank gave him more than actually taking his duties seriously.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Pushes the noble Dwight Greenhill into enacting a plan to usurp the vile ruling council of the Alliance. Lynch however cares for no purpose save disgracing other officers and only intends to stir up conflict as part of Reinhard's plan.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Lynch only appears properly in three episodes, and spends much of his time in those episodes out of focus. Despite this, he was not only indirectly the reason Yang Wen-li became a war hero when the latter had to save millions after Lynch abandoned them, but he also is the true mastermind behind the NSMC's revolution and takeover of Heinessen.
• Taking You with Me: The other reason why Lynch goes along with Reinhard and Oberstein's deal. Despite knowing he wouldn't likely survive, at least he could bring everyone who wronged him down along the way.
• Unknown Rival: Part of his plans to sabotage the military officers involves getting back at Yang for becoming a hero off of his failure. Yang never talks about his past with Lynch or even seems to regard him beyond his influence on the coup.

Bruce Ashbey

Admiral Bruce Ashbey

Voiced by: Morio Kazama (Japanese)

Legendary Alliance admiral who dealt the Empire one of it's most brutal defeats in its history. His flagship was the Hard Luck. Leader of the 730 Mafia, a group composed of Alliance Military Academy classmates who each ended up becoming Alliance military heroes.

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• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: In his case it involves using battleships, rather than Kung-fu, but he was great at naval battles and he took every opportunity he had to rub it in the Imperials' faces. His ego also won him few friends among his peers in the Alliance outside the 730 Mafia.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Even though much of his fame stemmed from intel leaked to him by Siegmeister, it's a testament to Ashbey's brilliance that he's able to sift through volumes of data, much of which being glorified chaff, and make the most of the information he does find on the fly.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Deconstructed. Ashbey gained a reputation for delivering these against the Empire, sometimes in successive skirmishes, even when critics pointed out how this went against conventional doctrine. Given how he had access to Siegmeister's intel from within the Imperial High Command, it's little wonder he'd been able to pull it off spectacularly.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Downplayed. While Yang's investigation reveals that Ashbey was genuinely talented and earned his ranks, many of his most famous exploits were only made possible by either the little-appreciated efforts of his friend Alfred Rosas or leaked intel purposefully sent to Ashbey by Martin Otto von Siegmeister and other Imperial defectors through an intricate spy network.
• Fiery Redhead: He was redheaded and sometimes he let his temper get the best of him, which in turn led to the 730 Mafia resenting him.
• Foil:
  • His profile somewhat reads like an anti-Yang. Yang is humble, Ashbey was audacious and somewhat of an egotist. Yang respected his enemies, Ashbey ridiculed them. Yang felt bad about killing opposing soldiers, Ashbey loved it. Yang was more defensive, Ashbey favoured an offensive approach. Yang is blue-haired, Ashbey a redhead. Yang was more of a strategist, Ashbey favoured tactics (hence his choice to enlarge the space fleet, rather than building a fortress in the Iserlohn corridor). Yang is devoted to one woman, Ashbey had affairs. Yang was open to other people's thoughts, whereas Ashbey didn't allow the other admirals to question his orders. Yang changed the strategic course of the war multiple times, Ashbey for all of his talents never did. the list goes on and on.
  • Ashbey's affairs aside, he sounds a lot like Reinhard. Both men were offensive-minded tacticians obsessed with fleet battle victories and eschewed more decisive strategies (Ashbey said no to the fortress, Reinhard said no to Hildegard's Heinessen plan). Ashbey felt like he had to win battle after battle, while Reinhard was obsessed with beating Yang. Both men were charismatic with a flair for the dramatic and didn't allow their subordinates to question their orders, though Reinhard never lets his ego get the better of him unlike Ashbey. To add to that, Ashbey had designs on going into politics after he became a fleet admiral. The 730 Mafia basically stopped being a thing after Ashbey died and this may very well be what could have happened to the Imperials had Yang given Reinhard the killing blow.
• For Want Of A Nail: After all of his successes, the Alliance brass asks him what he would rather have, a fortress in the Iserlohn area or a larger space fleet. Ashbey chose the latter. Had he chosen the former, millions of Alliance soldiers might not have faced the wrath of Thor Hammer.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: The mystery surrounding Ashbey's death and the 730 Mafia's demise afterwards proves to be this in spite of Yang's best efforts to investigate it. He realized that either Ashbey and his co-conspirators took the truth with them to the grave or that there are still those keen on making sure it's never told. Yang ultimately concludes that the actual truth may never be known until both the Alliance and the Empire cease to exist.
• Irony: Compare him with Yang. Ashbey was a glory-hound, hell-bent on becoming the youngest Fleet Admiral in history, but died before it could happen and ultimately kept the status quo going. Yang cared nothing for glory and wanted to resign after becoming a rear admiral and just live off his pension, yet he ended up becoming the youngest Fleet Admiral instead, and helped changed the course of human history forever.
• It's All About Me: Ashbey is revealed to have had an immense ego, which only grew worse as his fame skyrocketed. This soon fostered a myopic streak that threatened to undermine the 730 Mafia if not for Rosas' intervention.
• Meaningful Name: His flagship was the Hard Luck, he ends up dying due to a piece of shrapnel.
• Posthumous Character: He's long dead in the series' time frame, with his story largely being told through flashbacks as Yang investigates the circumstances of his death.
• Riddle for the Ages: Bruce Ashbey's last words are implied to be this. Was he intentionally murdered? Was he the beneficiary of an intelligence network set up by Siegmeister to secure his victories? Yang would never know.
  Ashbey: "If I don't close up this wound, everyone will find out that I'm evil-hearted."
• Shadow Archetype: Take Reinhard, put him in the Alliance and have him lose control over his ego. Ashbey was brilliant, ambitious and charismatic, but he was also shortsighted, overly egotistic (which lead to a TON of friction between him and his subordinates) and far too reckless with other people's lives. For all of his flaws, Reinhard would never take credit away from his subordinates or put them into overly harsh conditions.
• Small Role, Big Impact: His decision to go for new fleet rather than a battlestation to counter Iserlohn Fortress would ultimately contribute to not only the status quo persisting, but also millions of Alliance soldiers dying needlessly in a war of attrition in the years after his death.
• We Were Your Team: With Ashbey's death, the 730 Mafia effectively dissolved, though each member would gain some kind of prominence in the years after.
• Young and in Charge: Ashbey was notable for rapidly rising through the ranks and becoming a distinguished commander at a fairly young age compared to others in his position. Had he not died, it's likely he would have beaten Yang Wen-li for being the youngest Fleet Admiral in Alliance history.

Alfred Rosas

Admiral Alfred Rosas

Voiced by: Inoue Norihiro (Young), Sagawa Tetsurō (Elderly)

Alfred Rosas was an Alliance flag officer and a member of the 730 Mafia. He also served as Bruce Ashbey's chief of staff and graduated fourth in his class.

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• Due to the Dead: Two months after his death, Rosas is posthumously promoted to Fleet Admiral for his actions in the line of duty. It's implied that Yang's discoveries during his investigation likely contributed to this long overdue yet well-earned honor.
• Humble Hero: Deconstructed. Rosas was exceptionally humble compared to the rest of the 730 Mafia, remarking in his own autobiography how his talents as a military officer were "only slightly above average.” However, this constant tendency to downplay and understate his own competence also meant attributing many of his accomplishments to Ashbey. This inevitably led to his own family, notably his granddaughter, believing that Ashbey stole the glory that Rosas rightfully deserved.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: While Bruce Ashbey was brilliant when it came to commanding fleets, he was horrible at dealing with his subcommanders. Rosas was the one who diffused conflicts between them and Ashbey, allowing the latter to focus on winning battles.
• Number Two: Rosas was Ashbey's second-in-command and ultimately his closest (and only) friend.
• Old Soldier: He's the last of the 730 Mafia to die, living just long enough to be interviewed by Yang.
• Only Friend: Eventually, Rosas became the only one left among the 730 Mafia who genuinely stayed on good terms with Ashbey, and the last one who seemed to have any good personal memories of him.
• Only Sane Man: Rosas was the most level-headed and diplomatic among the 730 Mafia. He was also the least power-hungry, being content to live out of the limelight rather than tempting fate or pursuing a risky career in politics.
• Posthumous Character: Certainly dead by the time the main events in the series takes place. Spiral Labyrinth, however, reveals that he lived long enough to be interviewed by a young Yang Wen-li as the latter was investigating the circumstances of Bruce Ashbey's death.
• Shadow Archetype: Take Siegfried Kircheis, put him in the Alliance, and have his humility amplified even further. Rosas was immensely competent and empathetic, but also unwilling to assert himself much, to the point that he even attributes many of his accomplishments to Ashbey. In contrast, Kircheis is shown to be both capable of stepping up when it counted, and able to stand up even to his best friend, both contributing to his lasting renown. Moreover, Kircheis dies young but whereas Rosas outlives everyone in the 730 Mafia, albeit with a fairly uneventful career and retirement.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Rosas' autobiography, My Recollections, comes to significantly contribute to the Alliance's lionizing of Ashbey as a legendary hero.

Martin Otto von Siegmeister

Admiral Martin Otto von Siegmeister

Martin Otto von Siegmeister was an aristocrat and officer in the Imperial Fleet who defected to the Free Planets Alliance some time before the Second Battle of Tiamat. The research into his career by an Imperial POW named Christopf von Köfenhiller would play a key role in Yang Wen-li's investigations into Bruce Ashbey.

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• Defector from Decadence: One of the only things known about Siegmeister with some certainty. Yang hypothesizes that Siegmeister may have held progressive beliefs and developed more republican sympathies before defecting, despite never indicating a particular affinity for democratic rule in public.
• Despair Event Horizon: It's implied that he suffered an existential one following Ashbey's death, refusing medical treatment and dying a few years later in obscurity, taking the truth with him to the grave.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Siegmeister orchestrated an intricate intelligence apparatus that not only exposed the Empire's vulnerabilities but also helped propel Bruce Ashbey to everlasting fame. Ironically, it's precisely because of his efforts that both the Empire and Alliance have done everything possible to keep the truth buried, leaving him all but forgotten.
• Man Behind the Man: Yang Wen-li believed that Siegmeister determined to gamble his republican dreams on the brilliant young talents of the 730 Mafia, and specifically chose Bruce Ashbey as his best bet. Siegmeister's spy network ultimately helped engineer Ashbey's legend.
• Mirror Character: Siegmeister's backstory reads hauntingly similar to Reinhard's, being born to a lower-noble house that's barely above being a commoner, and was believed to have had a troubled family life in his youth. Unlike Reinhard, however, those circumstances and the lack of anyone early on to root him more in the Empire helped radicalize Siegmeister into being a progressive republican who ultimately fled to the Alliance when the opportunity presented itself.
• Posthumous Character: He's long dead by the time Spiral Labyrinth takes place, having passed away from apparently natural causes.
• Riddle for the Ages: As both Köfenhiller and Yang himself admit, they may never know just how much of Siegmeister's life and connections with Ashbey are true.
• The Spook: So much of Siegmeister's life is redacted and shrouded in hearsay that it takes a while for Yang to put the pieces together. Even with the volumes of data compiled by Köfenhiller over the decades, he could at best, only make an educated hypothesis based on what he's gathered.
  Yang: "There's no material evidence. It's probable, and it's persuasive, but it's still just a hypothesis.... Both the Empire and Alliance are hiding too many historical facts under the name of military secrecy."

Christopf von Köfenhiller

Captain Christopf von Köfenhiller

Voiced by: Masaaki Yajima

Christopf von Köfenhiller was an aristocrat and captain in the Imperial Fleet, who was captured by the Free Planets Alliance during the Second Battle of Tiamat. A POW at the Econia Internment Camp, he played a key role early the career of Yang Wen-li as an old man, notably during the staged Prison Riot there and in providing valuable knowledge involving Bruce Ashbey's death.

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• Arranged Marriage: Köfenhiller was in a dysfunctional one back in his youth with the daughter of a count. While he fell in love with her, after only one year of marriage, his wife was revealed to have been in an affair with a promising young High Noble architect. He refused the divorce, and his wife left him.
• Death Seeker: He revealed to Yang that he joined the Imperial military in the hopes of dying a noble's death with how his marriage wound up. After being captured by the Alliance, however, his suicidal tendencies died down, opting instead to live on and deny his estranged wife the satisfaction of having her affair legitimized.
• Due to the Dead: Yang and Patrichev attend Köfenhiller's funeral towards the end of Spiral Labyrinth.
• Going Native: For Köfenhiller's part in saving Yang, Murai arranged him to not only get Alliance citizenship but also a retroactive pension from the FPA military befitting his rank, as if he had always been there. Köfenhiller, on his end, makes no real objections, while noting how he's by then lived much longer in the Alliance than he'd ever been in the Empire.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Köfenhiller's warnings from his commanding officer of a potential leak in the Empire's upper echelons before the Second Battle of Tiamat led him to discover Siegmeister's network and the secret to Ashbey's great successes while in captivity.
• Restrained Revenge: Part of the reason why he voluntarily stayed at the Econia Internment Camp for so long. While he had no plans of returning to the Empire, so long as he lived his wife would never be able to legally divorce him or marry her lover.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Köfenhiller in his final days not only played a crucial part in saving Yang from both a court marshal and a frontier assignment to wallow into obscurity, but also provided him with valuable information regarding Ashbey and Siegmeister's intelligence network.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies at the Masjid spaceport from natural causes by the end of Spiral Labyrinth, following his release from Econia.

The politicians

Job Trunicht

See here under Third Parties.

João Rebelo

Chairman João Rebelo

Voiced by: Kayumi Iemasa (main series), Daisuke Egawa (Die Neue These)

João Rebelo was a politician in the upper-echelons of the Free Planets Alliance government. Unlike most of his peers, he had a reputation for being an honest and reasonable man.

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• Authority in Name Only: Became Chairman of the Alliance when it had already been mostly conquered by the Empire, leaving him with very little actual power outside Heinessen.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Rebelo eventually does gets his chance to become Chairman, by which point the Alliance is in near-total collapse and the Empire's conquest of Heinessen itself is imminent.
• Beleaguered Bureaucrat:
  • Upon becoming Chairman of the Alliance, he quickly grows haggard and mentally unstable, overwhelmed by the weight of managing a nation collapsing before his very eyes.
  • Even beforehand, there are signs of this. It's mentioned how often he's at wit's end trying to keep the Alliance's economy even remotely functioning, while also trying to keep the other council members in line.
• Due to the Dead: Reinhard, disgusted at Rockwell and his men's cowardice in killing Rebelo to get on his good graces, has them all executed and orders that Rebelo receive a proper funeral. Yang, on his part, expresses mournful sympathy for Rebelo, not really taking the latter's actions personally given the circumstances he'd been dealt with.
• Face Death with Dignity: Recovers most of his sanity and remains calm and collected when held at gunpoint by Rockwell and other cowardly members of the military who intend to kill him to get on Reinhard's good graces, daring them to shoot him.
  Rebelo: "Please, go ahead and shoot me, in order to buy your own safety!"
• Face–Heel Turn: Played with and deconstructed. When he's introduced, Rebelo proves himself to be an honest figure who's determined to put the needs of the populace before his own. At the time, this makes him a strong ally to Yang's faction. After the fall of the FPA, this philosophy forces him to make corrupt decisions that hurt Yang and his friends, all in the hopes for protecting the Alliance. The same noble traits that made him Yang's ally are what force him to betray Yang under a new regime.
• Heel Realization: As the Alliance was on its last legs, Rebelo resigned himself to the fact that history would damn him as an evil man. Using what little authority he had left, however, he had the retired Bewcock reinstated and knowing that Yang and his supporters were making a run for it to fight another day looked the other way, thinking that those fighting for democracy would need all the help they could get.
• I Did What I Had to Do: As Chairman, Rebelo rationalizes to himself that his increasingly unpopular and draconian measures are all in the name saving the Alliance. As his sanity deteriorates and things grow more desperate, however, even he struggles to believe that much.
• Ignored Expert: Much like his friend, Secretary Huang Rui, his warnings about the Alliance's precarious economic and social situation are ignored by the rest of the High Council, who are either obsessed with beating the Empire or more concerned with looking good for the polls.
• Internal Reformist: Rebelo was one of the handful of politicians in the Alliance left who had some measure of dignity and sought to do whatever he could to keep his nation going. Unfortunately, he's constantly hamstrung by the rest of the government, while the pressures of holding the FPA together in the face of imminent defeat drive him almost insane.
• Only Sane Man: As Secretary of Treasury, he pointed out that the Alliance's economical situation was so dire it was on the verge of collapse, and they needed to hold off or even end the war to recover. Unfortunately he was overruled by the other council members.
• The Quisling: He's forced to become one in all but name, doing whatever he could to keep the Alliance alive while trying to avoid drawing the Empire's ire. His very efforts, however, help accelerate the inevitable.
• Sanity Slippage: Becoming Chairman and his desperation at keeping the Alliance alive, even if only in name, took a toll on his sanity and made him take irrational decisions, like trying to execute Yang to appease the Imperials.
• Token Good Teammate: He and Huang Rui were the only members of the High Council that weren't sleazy politicians and actually cared about the people of the Alliance and its future, instead of their careers.

Huang Rui

Secretary Huang Rui

Voiced by: Kaneta Kimotsuki (main series)

“Superiors? Are we really as good as that? We don’t contribute anything to society’s productiveness. All we are appointed to do is distribute everyone’s tax money fairly and effectively, and then we get a salary for that position. Calling us parasites is putting it lightly. Anything more than that is an illusion created by our publicity.”

The Secretary of Human Resources (more accurately, the Secretary of Labor) who served in final administrations of the Alliance. Like Rebelo, he is one of the few politicians who actually care for the country and its people but is held back by his pessimism of being in power.

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• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Huang Rui is no doubt one of the better politicians in the Alliance. But as his quote suggests, he sees himself no better than every other Sleazy Politician who is just exploiting the system for personal gain.
• Ignored Expert: He points out how the war has consumed most of the Alliance manpower and will come to the point where there is only the children and elderly left, which will result in societal collapse. Too bad for him, the other politicians are more concerned about their popularity than demographics.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Of the positive type. He remains honest and dignified within the Alliance’s Inner Circle, even in the face of annihilation. When the Alliance falls for good, he not only dodged Reinhard and Reuenthal’s crackdown and execution of every Sleazy Poltician and their cohorts that they could find but got an even better, more effective role fitting for his talents by the end of the series.
• The Last DJ: Especially following Rebelo's death and outside the Iserlohn Republic Huang Rui winds up being the highest-ranking Alliance official left still committed to democracy and his countrymen in any meaningful way.
• Only Friend: By the time Rebelo takes charge as Chairman, Huang Rui winds being the only person still keeping him relatively grounded and the last one in the Alliance's government who understands just how dire the situation really is, voluntarily staying in Heinessen even as the Empire closes in to finish the FPA off.
  • He is also one to Yang Wen-li in the Alliance government, understanding him fully well as both a democratic idealist and as a person, knowing his lack of ambitions and treachery of any kind.
• Only Sane Man: Even more so than Secretary Rebelo, seeing the extreme nationalism of the Alliance as self-destructive as it leads to not only economic but also social collapse. He's also one of the only members of Rebelo's crumbling administration shown doing their duties with their sanity still intact.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He rightfully points out how the incompetence of the military and the even the war itself is wasting all their potential talent and reducing their available manpower. He also states how their Knight Templar fanaticism in spreading democracy is actually going against the nation’s ideals by forcing their citizens to make great sacrifices for the politicians’ ambitions.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: While he served in even Rebelo’s puppet administration, it is unsure what happened to him after that. Chances are he might have been appointed to a similar position within Reinhard’s rule over the region due to his Reasonable Authority Figure status and being true to democracy. It is still far better for him compared to the other politicians who plagued the Alliance and ended up executed.

Jessica Edwards

Jessica Edwards

Voiced by: Mami Koyama (main series), Sayaka Kinoshita (Die Neue These) (Japanese), Dawn M. Bennett (Die Neue These) (English)

An old school friend of Yang's and the fiancée of Jean Robert Lapp. Following Lapp's death, her public outrage against the war quickly propels her towards work as a peace activist and a politician.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: She is blonde in the series, brown haired in Die Neue These.
• Badass Pacifist: On top of opposing the war, she consistently refuses to take up arms against the government, holding steadfast to her nonviolent convictions.
• Crusading Widower: Subverted. She initially seems willing to throw her life away out of grief. After surviving her encounters with the Patriotic Knights Corps, she dedicates herself to protesting the war and working to keep others from suffering like she has.
• Defiant to the End: Her last action before being killed? Calling out the NSMC for their cruelty.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: She dies calling out the oppressive tactics of the National Salvation Military Council publicly. While she's beaten to death, she becomes a martyr to the civilian resistance.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Jessica went from being a humble music teacher and peace activist who's happy to live out of the limelight to being a political thorn for the Council and eventually a martyr for the cause of democracy.
• Inspirational Martyr: Her death much like Yang's later on helps galvanize public support for democracy and republicanism in the crumbling Alliance.
• The One That Got Away: Yang was too shy to make a move himself, despite Jessica's interest in him. By the time of Lapp's death, both of them agree that too much time has passed to make it work.

Francesk Romsky

Francesk Romsky

Leader of the revolutionaries on El Facil who declare independence from both the New Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance.

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• Defector from Decadence: Romsky and his supporters in El Facil announce their independence from the crumbling Alliance government, vowing to continue fighting for their liberties.
• I Owe You My Life: Downplayed. He originally met Frederica Greenhill back when he was just a doctor during the original evacuation of El Facil and while he feels somewhat indebted to Yang for his actions that time, he doesn't make too much of a deal about it.
• Know When to Fold Them: When the Imperial Fleet comes knocking, he surrenders El Facil (which is hard to defend and heavily populated) and evacuates the revolutionary government to Iserlohn Fortress.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: In the end, he not only fails to preserve El Facil's independence, but is killed by Terraists by virtue of being aboard the same ship Yang Wen-li's on.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Despite initially coming across as an opportunistic politician, it becomes apparent to Yang that Romsky is genuine in what he claims.

Arle Heinessen

Arle Heinessen

The defector from the Empire who three centuries ago, along with 400,000 colonists escaped into open space and drifted into the unknown territory. While he died mid-voyage, his fleet settled on a planet that later became the capital of the Alliance.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: While not directly based on any historical figure, Heinessen's plight is influenced by various republican revolutionaries, as well as the founding of the United States of America.
• Crazy-Prepared: Realizing that just escaping the Empire was only the beginning of a long, arduous journey, Heinessen had the foresight to have the Exodus Fleet equipped with ample supplies, industrial capabilities and redundancies. Both to keep said fleet in working order during the perilous voyage, and to quickly lay down infrastructure upon settling down, the latter coincidentally giving the nascent Alliance a good head start later on.
• Cult of Personality: Arle Heinessen inadvertently became one after his death, with the Alliance's homeworld itself being named in his honor by his aging friend, Nguyen Kim Hua. By the time the series begins, however, this has devolved into a farcical pseudo-religion exploited by the leadership to sustain the war effort (and their own pockets).
• Dramatic Irony: Arle Heinessen sought to forge a republic free from tyranny. His successors, however, have not only propped his memory up to the point of rivaling Kaiser Rudolf in terms of Cult of Personality, but have also abused it to handwave the sort of corruption and excesses that he sought to escape from.
• Egopolis: Gets an entire planet named after him, though this only happens after his death.
• Generation Ships: What the Exodus Fleet effectively became, due to how its ships were traveling into unexplored space. By the time it arrived at what would later become the Alliance's capital half a century later, not only were there about 160,000 people left of the original 400,000, but most of them had never set foot on a planet until then. Nguyen Kim Hua, the de facto captain of the fleet after Heinessen's death mid-voyage, was already old and blind by then.
• Good Counterpart: He's to the FPA what Kaiser Rudolf is to the Empire (despite having lived a century and a half later). Heinessen's statue towers over Heinessenopolis (or, in DNT, over the government's cabinet room), much like Rudolf's image adorns plazas and public spaces in the Empire.
• Good Old Ways: Played With, in contrast to Rudolf von Goldenbaum. Heinessen longed to bring back the days of the democratic Galactic Federation at its heyday, albeit without the malaise that brought it down. This is further reinforced by the Exodus Fleet reviving the previous calendar.
• Great Escape: Using the inexhaustible supply of natural dry ice around the Imperial labor camp of Altair VII, Heinessen and his comrades hollowed out a makeshift spaceship large enough for them and 400,000 others to escape their wardens. In the safety of a remote planetoid, they then proceeded to construct the Exodus Fleet, with which to escape the Empire altogether into then-uncharted territory.
• Humble Hero: From what's known of Heinessen's life, he wasn't keen of getting fame or recognition, even going so far as to have the makeshift spaceship used to escape the Altair VII labor camp named after the child who inspired the plan rather than himself. This ironically stands in sharp contrast to his near-deification in the Alliance generations later.
• Legend Fades to Myth: Downplayed. The life of Arle Heinessen is well-known to historians and to the people of the Free Planets Alliance, as a man who went from a serf in the fringes of the Empire doomed to a life of hard labor to the charismatic leader of a reborn republican movement. Over the generations, however, his memory has been exploited and exaggerated to the point of making it seem as though he built the Alliance with his own bare hands, even though the real Heinessen didn't live long enough to see it.
• Our Founder: He is widely idealized throughout Heinessenpolis along with the giant statue of him. However he wasn't even the one who found the Alliance, as he died from an accident after the Exodus Fleet traversed the then-unmapped Iserlohn Corridor. Instead, it was founded by his friend Nguyen Kim Hua, who lived long enough to make landfall and named the planet in his honor. But to the Alliance, ideals mattered more than history.
• Posthumous Character: As a historical character, he died ages ago, even before his fleet managed to reach a suitable planet.
• The Power of Legacy: In the present day, whatever spirit of democracy Heinessen started has remained in-words only, as modern politicians use him as a role model with almost religious insistence despite driving the Alliance into a miserable state.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: While Yang resented how the Alliance's government had exploited and abused Heinessen's ideals, he still respected the man himself. His own efforts, coincidentally, also had the effect of rekindling the spirit of what Heinessen had set out to do even if the Alliance founded in his honor is no more.
• Slave Liberation: Made a serf doomed to a life of hard labor, Heinessen and his fellow captives were slaves in all but name. Despite the risks to their own lives and the dangers of going beyond explored space, they nonetheless managed to escape, laying the groundwork for the Free Planets Alliance even if Heinessen himself never lived to see it.

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