Desslar, also known as Dessler or Desslok across different adaptations, serves as the leader of the Gamilas race—a warrior people from the planet Gamilas in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Gamilas is the twin planet of Iscandar, and its people are descendants of an ancient Milky Way race called the Galmans. Desslar rose to power through his leadership abilities, potentially aided by education, combat experience, or noble heritage. His leadership proved vital when volcanic activity rendered Gamilas environmentally unstable, endangering his species.

Confronted with extinction, Desslar planned to conquer Earth as a new homeworld by bombarding it with radioactive planet bombs to eliminate humanity and prepare the planet for Gamilas life. This campaign was driven by necessity. The intervention of Queen Starsha of Iscandar, who supplied Earth with Wave-Motion Engine technology, led to the creation of the Space Battleship Yamato and thwarted Desslar’s strategy.

During the Yamato’s maiden voyage, Desslar’s forces relentlessly pursued the ship, though each effort ended in defeat. He admired the vessel and the crew’s persistence. When the Yamato reached Gamilas, Desslar tried to destroy it by triggering his planet’s unstable environment, but this too failed. A follow-up attack with his Dessler Gun resulted in the beam reflecting back onto his ship, apparently destroying it and killing him. Desslar survived by activating a teleporter at the final instant.

He was later discovered adrift in space, near death, and revived by the White Comet Empire—also called the Gatlantis Empire—a conquering force from the Andromeda Galaxy. Emperor Zworder welcomed him and furnished a new ship. Desslar’s rage toward the Yamato intensified during this alliance. He crafted intricate plans to destroy the ship, such as deploying space bacteria to impair its systems and baiting it into a hollow asteroid trap. These schemes were ultimately foiled.

After false accusations of treachery by Zworder’s mistress Sabera led to his brief imprisonment, Desslar broke out, took Sabera hostage, and escaped. Zworder later exonerated him and restored his flagship. In a final confrontation with the Yamato, Desslar experienced a change of heart upon witnessing Yuki Mori’s open love for Susumu Kodai. He renounced his feud with Earth, supplied key intelligence to defeat the Comet Empire, and commanded his fleet to withdraw.

After the Comet Empire’s defeat, Desslar guided the surviving Gamilas people on a quest for a new home. Returning to the Gamilas system for a farewell, he found alien invaders defiling the planet. After defeating them, he learned of the ancestral Galman homeworld in the Milky Way, then under Bolar Federation control. Desslar freed the Galman people—physically identical to the Gamilas—from Bolar occupation and united them into the Galman-Gamilas Empire. He renamed the twin planet near their new home “Starsha” in tribute to the Iscandarian queen.

Desslar devoted himself to the Galmans’ welfare, guiding them as they swiftly built a new empire. This expansion eventually sparked conflict with the Bolar Federation, initiating the Bolar Wars. Throughout this period, his loyalty to his Earth allies reemerged, and he committed resources to aid the Yamato in defending Earth from emerging threats.

In appearance, Desslar resembles a human in his early thirties, with blue skin, golden hair, and black eyes, matching his race. He usually wears a grey officer’s suit with a red-on-black cape, boots, and white gloves. His personality combines charm, flamboyance, nihilism, cultured manners, arrogance, and intolerance for failure. He is a skilled military tactician with a superiority complex, though his character evolves across his appearances, revealing deeper traits such as loyalty, devotion, and a growing appreciation for humanity.