Emperor Dornkirk is the ruler of the Zaibach Empire and serves as the primary antagonist in the narrative. His origins are not of the world of Gaea but of Earth, where he was once known as the scientist Isaac, a figure heavily implied to be the historical Isaac Newton. After his discovery of the laws of gravity, he became consumed by a broader question of what fundamental force governs the attraction between people and dictates their actions. He concluded that this unseen force is destiny, and he devoted his life to understanding and controlling it. Unable to find the answer on Earth, he was transported to Gaea on what would have been his deathbed.

Upon arriving in the desolate, resource-poor nation of Zaibach, Dornkirk used his scientific knowledge to uplift the people, transforming their society into a powerful, technologically advanced, and militarized empire. The grateful populace declared him their emperor, and he took the name Dornkirk. His guiding personality trait is an obsessive, unwavering commitment to his goal. He is a man of science and logic, viewing the conflict and chaos of the world as problems to be solved through the application of absolute principles. While his intentions are framed as noble—to create a perfect utopian existence free from suffering for all the people of Gaea—he is ruthlessly pragmatic. He is willing to wage war, destroy nations, and sacrifice countless lives, viewing these catastrophes as a necessary price to pay for the realization of his ideal future.

Dornkirk's primary motivation is to unlock the secret of Atlantis, an ancient civilization that was said to possess a machine capable of turning thought into reality and bending fate to its user's will. His ultimate goal is to recreate this power to establish a Zone of Absolute Fortune, a future where every person's desires would be fulfilled. To this end, he built the Fate Alteration Machine, a colossal engine that allows him to predict future events. However, prediction is only a step toward his true aim: altering destiny itself. He seeks the legendary guymelef Escaflowne and the secrets of the Mystic Valley to complete his Atlantean machine and achieve the power to rewrite reality.

His role in the story is as the symbolic and direct antagonist, the architect of the war that engulfs Gaea. He is the head of the Zaibach Empire, which invades and conquers other countries, including Fanelia and Freid, in pursuit of its goal. He is the master strategist pulling the strings from his capital, rarely appearing on the battlefield but orchestrating the conflicts that drive the plot. A pivotal relationship is with Folken Fanel, the elder brother of Van Fanel, the king of Fanelia and pilot of Escaflowne. After a grave injury, Folken was taken in by Dornkirk, given a mechanical prosthetic, and became his trusted strategos, believing in his vision of an engineered perfect destiny. Folken’s eventual disillusionment with the Emperor's callous methods leads to his betrayal and a final, fatal confrontation between the two.

Dornkirk also has a significant, indirect relationship with the protagonist Hitomi Kanzaki. As a girl from Earth with the ability to see the future, she represents a variable his calculations cannot account for, a true spanner in the works of his deterministic plans. It is the unpredictable interaction between Hitomi's visions and Van's bond with Escaflowne that constantly frustrates his predictions, forcing him to adapt his strategies. His development is less about personal change and more about the revelation of his origins and the consequences of his actions. He is sustained by a mechanical chair that has prolonged his life for what is said to be the equivalent of two hundred Earth years, making him a withered but intellectually formidable figure.

Dornkirk possesses formidable intellectual and technological abilities. His primary power is his genius-level scientific intellect, which he used to advance Zaibach centuries ahead of its neighbors. His signature creation is the Fate Alteration Machine, an enormous device that calculates future probabilities and is the engine of his plan. He is also connected to a life-support system that defies natural death. In the final confrontation, after being slain by Folken, his spirit persists for a time as the Fate Alteration Machine operates at full power, creating the disastrous Zone of Absolute Fortune. He is ultimately vanquished not by being killed, but when the machine itself is shattered by Van and Escaflowne, finally ending his centuries-long quest to command destiny.