Dagobert IX is a character in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.
About Dagobert[]
Dagobert IX was the last recognized Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Born on Trantor during the twilight of its greatness, his life and reign were defined by the single most catastrophic event in the Empire's final millennia: the Great Sack of Trantor by the rebel Gilmer in 255 F.E.
He was twenty-five years old when the Sack occurred. He did not flee alone; he escaped the ravaged capital alongside his father, Dagobert VIII, and the remnants of the Imperial court to the nearby world of Delicass. There, his father re-established a pathetic shadow of the court and renamed the planet Neotrantor, symbolizing its role as the "New Trantor."
Dagobert IX eventually ascended to the throne of this rump state, reigning from Neotrantor for a very long period. His advanced age became a central feature of his late rule. In his final years, he fell into a state of severe senility and detachment from reality, often lost in reminiscences of an Imperial grandeur that no longer existed. While he retained the title, the actual administration of his tiny "Empire" fell into the hands of his son, the Crown Prince.
Despite his mental decline, Dagobert IX could still project a semblance of the dignity befitting his office. When visited by Ebling Mis, Toran Darell, Bayta Darell, and The Mule in disguise as Magnifico Giganticus in 295 F.E., he granted them permission to access the Great Library of Trantor. In this moment, he appeared as a dignified, tragic relic of a bygone age.
His son, the Crown Prince, served as regent but was a corrupt and ineffective ruler, heavily influenced by the manipulative Governor of Neotrantor, Jord Commason. The Prince conspired against the visitors from the Foundation. In a critical moment, he attacked Bayta Darell and was killed instantly by Magnifico Giganticus using a Visi-Sonor. This act ensured that the Crown Prince, who would have ascended as Dagobert X, never claimed the throne.
Dagobert IX thus died as the last Emperor, his line extinguished, his realm a mockery of its former self, and his death marking the true, final end of the Galactic Empire.
Appearances[]