Movie
Description
Leopold Schumacher is a former Imperial Navy officer who appears in the second season of Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, titled Die Neue These Second. He originally serves as a captain and staff officer under Baron Flegel aboard the battleship Wilhelmina during the Imperial Civil War. As a commoner who rose to that rank, his competence is noted even by Reinhard von Lohengramm. When Flegel orders a suicidal single-ship charge, Schumacher openly denounces the plan and attempts to leave the bridge. Flegel tries to shoot him, but other bridge officers intervene and kill Flegel instead. Schumacher then decides to flee the war entirely, and the crew follows his lead. He disassembles the ship's weapons, sells it to a Fezzani merchant, and distributes the proceeds among the crew. Expecting them to go their separate ways, he discovers that most lack the confidence to survive on their own in Fezzan's competitive society. Unable to abandon the men who saved his life, he purchases farmland in the Assiniboia Ravine and begins a new life as a farmer alongside them.
His peaceful existence is interrupted when Rupert Kesserling, assistant to Fezzan's leader Adrian Rubinsky, contacts him and pressures him into participating in a political scheme. Although Schumacher resists, threats against his and his crew's livelihoods force his cooperation. He teams up with Count Alfred von Landsberg, another former Lippstadt veteran, to kidnap the child emperor, Erwin Josef II, and smuggle him into the Free Planets Alliance. Unbeknownst to them, the Fezzani plot is designed to provoke Reinhard into invading the Alliance, thereby prolonging the war. Schumacher and Landsberg travel to the Imperial capital Odin under false identities. While there, Schumacher grows suspicious of Fezzani motives, noting that life under Reinhard's rule has visibly improved. He attempts to interrogate a secretary for information but ultimately continues with the kidnapping. Using an ancient tunnel network under the palace, they abduct the emperor and flee aboard a Fezzani ship to Heinessen. There, a self-proclaimed legitimate Imperial government-in-exile is established, and Schumacher is promoted to commodore. Alongside Landsberg, he becomes one of the emperor's caretakers.
After the Alliance falls to Reinhard's forces, Schumacher, Landsberg, and the young emperor vanish for a period. Later, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on Heinessenpolis, Schumacher is discovered by Imperial military police using forged identification. Under interrogation, he reveals that Erwin Josef II escaped from Landsberg's custody and that the child's whereabouts are unknown even to him. He also provides intelligence about a remaining Terraist cell planning to assassinate Reinhard. Pardoned for his crimes and released, Schumacher returns to Fezzan to find his farm dismantled and his former subordinates scattered. With the recommendation of Arthur von Streit, he is reinstated as a commodore in the Imperial Fleet. He is later reported missing in action during a battle with space pirates, and his ultimate fate remains unknown.
Schumacher is characterized by pragmatism and a strong sense of responsibility toward his crew. He is not ideologically driven; his primary motivations are survival and loyalty to the men who stand by him. He exhibits both military competence and adaptability, successfully transitioning from a naval officer to a farmer and then to a conspirator under duress. He is cautious and perceptive, aware of the dangers of the political games in which he becomes entangled, yet he often feels compelled to follow through due to circumstances beyond his control. His relationships center on his crew, who continue to look to him for leadership even after he tries to disband them, and on his uneasy alliance with Landsberg. His role in the story is that of a reluctant pawn in a larger intrigue, a figure whose actions inadvertently shape the political landscape while he struggles to protect the few people close to him.
His peaceful existence is interrupted when Rupert Kesserling, assistant to Fezzan's leader Adrian Rubinsky, contacts him and pressures him into participating in a political scheme. Although Schumacher resists, threats against his and his crew's livelihoods force his cooperation. He teams up with Count Alfred von Landsberg, another former Lippstadt veteran, to kidnap the child emperor, Erwin Josef II, and smuggle him into the Free Planets Alliance. Unbeknownst to them, the Fezzani plot is designed to provoke Reinhard into invading the Alliance, thereby prolonging the war. Schumacher and Landsberg travel to the Imperial capital Odin under false identities. While there, Schumacher grows suspicious of Fezzani motives, noting that life under Reinhard's rule has visibly improved. He attempts to interrogate a secretary for information but ultimately continues with the kidnapping. Using an ancient tunnel network under the palace, they abduct the emperor and flee aboard a Fezzani ship to Heinessen. There, a self-proclaimed legitimate Imperial government-in-exile is established, and Schumacher is promoted to commodore. Alongside Landsberg, he becomes one of the emperor's caretakers.
After the Alliance falls to Reinhard's forces, Schumacher, Landsberg, and the young emperor vanish for a period. Later, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on Heinessenpolis, Schumacher is discovered by Imperial military police using forged identification. Under interrogation, he reveals that Erwin Josef II escaped from Landsberg's custody and that the child's whereabouts are unknown even to him. He also provides intelligence about a remaining Terraist cell planning to assassinate Reinhard. Pardoned for his crimes and released, Schumacher returns to Fezzan to find his farm dismantled and his former subordinates scattered. With the recommendation of Arthur von Streit, he is reinstated as a commodore in the Imperial Fleet. He is later reported missing in action during a battle with space pirates, and his ultimate fate remains unknown.
Schumacher is characterized by pragmatism and a strong sense of responsibility toward his crew. He is not ideologically driven; his primary motivations are survival and loyalty to the men who stand by him. He exhibits both military competence and adaptability, successfully transitioning from a naval officer to a farmer and then to a conspirator under duress. He is cautious and perceptive, aware of the dangers of the political games in which he becomes entangled, yet he often feels compelled to follow through due to circumstances beyond his control. His relationships center on his crew, who continue to look to him for leadership even after he tries to disband them, and on his uneasy alliance with Landsberg. His role in the story is that of a reluctant pawn in a larger intrigue, a figure whose actions inadvertently shape the political landscape while he struggles to protect the few people close to him.