Movie
Description
Oskar von Reuenthal is an Imperial officer in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, with a supporting role in the film My Conquest is the Sea of Stars. He was born on 26 October 767 UC into a family of lower nobility. His father, a wealthy but low-ranking noble, married the third daughter of Count Marbach, a marriage that was primarily an exchange of money for status. Reuenthal was born with heterochromia, one brown eye and one blue eye, while both parents had blue eyes, which was taken as evidence of his mother's affair. His mother attempted to gouge out his eye as an infant and later committed suicide, while his father descended into alcoholism and neglect, leaving Reuenthal to grow up resented and emotionally abandoned. The trauma shaped his lifelong bitterness toward women and his difficulty forming intimate relationships, though he remained outwardly charming and successful with the opposite sex. He revealed the story of his childhood only to his closest friend, Wolfgang Mittermeyer.
Reuenthal joined the Imperial Fleet and rose steadily through the ranks. In 789 UC, while both he and Mittermeyer were sub-lieutenants, the two met during a bar fight in which they defended lower-ranking soldiers from the Imperial Military Police, and they became inseparable friends. He attended Mittermeyer's wedding in 792 UC. By May 794 UC, Reuenthal was a captain, and he first encountered Reinhard von Lohengramm and Siegfried Kircheis at the Ministry of War on Odin. His early assessment of the young Reinhard was that he was a baby tiger mistaken for a house cat, recognizing Reinhard's talent as genuine rather than a product of his sister's favor with the Kaiser. In December of that year, Reuenthal fought as a commodore at the Sixth Battle of Iserlohn, where his calm and capable leadership, together with Mittermeyer's, was credited with preventing a total rout of the Imperial fleet.
In May 795 UC, as a rear admiral, Reuenthal swore allegiance to Reinhard in exchange for Reinhard's help in freeing Mittermeyer from an unlawful imprisonment arranged by the high nobility. In the film My Conquest is the Sea of Stars, Reuenthal is stationed at Iserlohn Fortress during the Battle of Astarte. He and Mittermeyer are deliberately ordered by the Naval Command to remain behind, part of a scheme by Duke Otto von Braunschweig and the aristocratic faction to weaken or destroy Reinhard. Their absence means they do not take part in the battle itself, and Reuenthal instead observes Reinhard defeat three numerically superior Alliance fleets, confirming his earlier belief in Reinhard's abilities.
Reuenthal is a brilliant strategist, widely considered second only to Reinhard in strategic ability and counted among the five best tacticians of his era. He appears calm and composed on the surface, and he is an accomplished administrator as well as a battlefield commander. Beneath that composure lies a proud and ambitious nature, carrying deep self-loathing from his childhood. He frequently contemplates treachery and the seizure of greater power for himself, but he is restrained by his respect for Reinhard and the debt he owes him. Mittermeyer is the one person with whom Reuenthal is able to have a normal, trusting relationship, and this friendship functions as a stabilizing force in his life.
Over the course of the larger story, Reuenthal rises to the rank of fleet admiral, becomes Chief of the High Command Office, and serves as Governor-General of the former Alliance territory. Alongside Mittermeyer, he is known as one of the Twin Pillars of Reinhard's Goldenlöwe Dynasty. His later development is marked by the conflict between loyalty and ambition. After complex scheming by various interests behind the scenes, he decides to rise in rebellion against Reinhard, only to fall in battle in December 800 UC, dying from combat injuries. At the time of his death he had fathered a son, Felix, with Elfriede von Kohlrausch. His flagship is the Tristan, and his legacy is that of a gifted commander whose personal wounds and restless ambition ultimately led to his downfall.
Reuenthal joined the Imperial Fleet and rose steadily through the ranks. In 789 UC, while both he and Mittermeyer were sub-lieutenants, the two met during a bar fight in which they defended lower-ranking soldiers from the Imperial Military Police, and they became inseparable friends. He attended Mittermeyer's wedding in 792 UC. By May 794 UC, Reuenthal was a captain, and he first encountered Reinhard von Lohengramm and Siegfried Kircheis at the Ministry of War on Odin. His early assessment of the young Reinhard was that he was a baby tiger mistaken for a house cat, recognizing Reinhard's talent as genuine rather than a product of his sister's favor with the Kaiser. In December of that year, Reuenthal fought as a commodore at the Sixth Battle of Iserlohn, where his calm and capable leadership, together with Mittermeyer's, was credited with preventing a total rout of the Imperial fleet.
In May 795 UC, as a rear admiral, Reuenthal swore allegiance to Reinhard in exchange for Reinhard's help in freeing Mittermeyer from an unlawful imprisonment arranged by the high nobility. In the film My Conquest is the Sea of Stars, Reuenthal is stationed at Iserlohn Fortress during the Battle of Astarte. He and Mittermeyer are deliberately ordered by the Naval Command to remain behind, part of a scheme by Duke Otto von Braunschweig and the aristocratic faction to weaken or destroy Reinhard. Their absence means they do not take part in the battle itself, and Reuenthal instead observes Reinhard defeat three numerically superior Alliance fleets, confirming his earlier belief in Reinhard's abilities.
Reuenthal is a brilliant strategist, widely considered second only to Reinhard in strategic ability and counted among the five best tacticians of his era. He appears calm and composed on the surface, and he is an accomplished administrator as well as a battlefield commander. Beneath that composure lies a proud and ambitious nature, carrying deep self-loathing from his childhood. He frequently contemplates treachery and the seizure of greater power for himself, but he is restrained by his respect for Reinhard and the debt he owes him. Mittermeyer is the one person with whom Reuenthal is able to have a normal, trusting relationship, and this friendship functions as a stabilizing force in his life.
Over the course of the larger story, Reuenthal rises to the rank of fleet admiral, becomes Chief of the High Command Office, and serves as Governor-General of the former Alliance territory. Alongside Mittermeyer, he is known as one of the Twin Pillars of Reinhard's Goldenlöwe Dynasty. His later development is marked by the conflict between loyalty and ambition. After complex scheming by various interests behind the scenes, he decides to rise in rebellion against Reinhard, only to fall in battle in December 800 UC, dying from combat injuries. At the time of his death he had fathered a son, Felix, with Elfriede von Kohlrausch. His flagship is the Tristan, and his legacy is that of a gifted commander whose personal wounds and restless ambition ultimately led to his downfall.