Gerard DuGalle

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StarCraft character
Admiral Gerard DuGalle
Image:DuGalle_Portrait.png
Species Terran
Affiliation(s) United Earth Directorate
Position(s) Admiral
Voiced by James Harper

Admiral Gerard DuGalle is a character in the StarCraft universe. He is a Terran from Earth and an Admiral in the United Earth Directorate (UED).

Admiral Gerard DuGalle was a highly decorated United Earth Directorate (UED) Admiral. Possibly the UED's greatest military leader, he has defended Earth from its enemies in countless battles. He and his most trusted comrade, Vice Admiral Stukov were sent as part of the UED Expeditionary Force to the Koprulu Sector after the battles of Chau Sara and Mar Sara, in order to pacify the area and bring it under UED control. DuGalle was put in charge due to his tactical expertise, and was selected unanimously by the UED Council.

DuGalle was possibly the most proficient UED leader, possessing prior experience in military conflicts, and commanded his force from the UED flagship, Aleksander. Stukov implied that DuGalle was "rigid" and did not make friends easily.

Gerard DuGalle, age 64, is a childhood friend of Alexi Stukov, who is 52 years old.

He is voiced by James Harper.

Contents

[edit] Admiral of the Expeditionary Force

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

DuGalle was entrusted with the mission of pacifying the Koprulu Sector while containing the Zerg and Protoss; to that end he was issued three Primary Objectives:

  1. Conquer all of the "rogue" Terran colonies, and capture Arcturus Mengsk, the self-instated Emperor of the Terran Dominion.
  2. Take control of the entire Zerg Swarm by capturing the newborn Zerg Overmind with psychics and powerful drugs.
  3. Use the captured Zerg Swarm to conquer the Protoss.

DuGalle and his fleet arrived in the Koprulu Sector shortly after the death of the original Zerg Overmind. At that point, the majority of the Terran population was under Mengsk's control, and the last units of the now defunct Confederacy had been more or less integrated into Mengsk's forces.

DuGalle's first action involved the demonstration of the destructive ability of the Zerg. He released Zerg onto an unsuspecting colony to "observe" them in warfare. Stukov was appalled, but DuGalle forced him to watch, claiming that the live demonstration would instill a resolve within the Vice Admiral that recorded dissections could not.

The UED expeditionary force soon arrived at the Terran Dominion border world of Braxis. They landed forces upon the planetary surface while blockading the planet from orbit (the blockade was handled by Vice Admiral Stukov but failed to prevent the Protoss from escaping with the Uraj crystal); this assault would eventually form the cornerstone of their wildly-successful initial push into the Terran Dominion. With the assistance of a mysterious covert operations specialist named Samir Duran, who sided with the UED and offered DuGalle important information on Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion and his armed forces as well as providing Vespene gas for the UED military, the expeditionary force eventually took control of the capital city Boralis. Through this initial success, UED forces were able to gain control of vital Terran Dominion intelligence assets, which assisted them as they planned their assault.

UED victories soon followed, as the UED forces took control of a fleet of battlecruisers at the Dylarian Shipyards at Dylar IV. The UED military discovered a Psi Disruptor, a powerful anti-Zerg weapon, on Tarsonis, and Duran convinced DuGalle to destroy it. This turned out to be an enormous strategic error; Stukov was forced to secretly intervene. For the time being, this action was of little immediate consequence, however, as the UED was able to then assault the Dominion capital of Augustgrad upon the planet Korhal IV. Dominion power was broken and Emperor Mengsk was forced to flee; Directorate forces were unable to capture the Emperor, however, as DuGalle's men were ambushed by James Raynor and a small Protoss contingent, who helped Mengsk escape. A dumbfounded DuGalle then turned his attention to capturing Raynor, who had fled to Aiur.

The battle on Aiur was a disaster. While the UED troops defeated the rampaging Zerg and the Protoss, a large wave of Zerg appeared and distracted the UED at this critical moment; they had approached from Samir Duran's sector, but he had moved his troops out of the way. Duran deliberately ignored Stukov's attempts to warn him about the Zerg, enabling Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk to escape through a Warp Gate on the planet, which then self-destructed.

Vice Admiral Stukov left the planet with a large contingent of troops to take care of a private matter. Stukov did not inform DuGalle of what he was doing or where he was going, leading DuGalle to believe he was abandoning the battle on Aiur. Tracking him to Braxis, DuGalle and Duran became aware of a new development ... the Psi Disruptor had been reconstructed and had been activated.

Duran told DuGalle that Stukov had betrayed him, and that he reconstructed the Disruptor in order to sabotage DuGalle's mission in the Koprulu Sector. DuGalle was reluctant to believe it, but stated that the evidence was incontrovertible. With a heavy heart he ordered Duran to enter the Disruptor and deal with the traitor.

Aware that DuGalle would send troops after him, Stukov had his men secure the disrupter, and brought in Goliaths to help assist his infantry units in an effort to protect the disruptor, but ultimately even this measure failed. Duran confronted Stukov, who had taken shelter in a control center within the disruptor, and personally executed Stukov for treason. Although mortally wounded, Stukov managed to inform Dugalle that the traitor was actually Duran, who had been infested by the Zerg. In the mayhem that followed, Duran disappeared as the Disruptor entered its self-destruct sequence. An enraged DuGalle managed to save the Psi Disruptor, swore vengeance upon the Zerg, and set out to take control of the Zerg Overmind.

DuGalle and his men were successful in their attempt to capture the Zerg Overmind, partially because of the Psi Disruptor, and UED forces believed that victory was imminent. They, however, underestimated the determination of Infested Kerrigan, who tricked Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk into destroying the Psi Disruptor. Kerrigan then retook the former Dominion capitol world of Korhal IV from the UED in return for Mengsk's Psi Emitters. Shortly there after, Kerrigan showed her true colors, and launched a massive offensive against Raynor's Raiders, the Terran Dominion troops and Protoss forces on Korhal IV, inflicting massive casualties to all three factions, and severely weakening the ability of these sides to interfere with her plans. In particular, the Zerg were able to kill General Edmund Duke, Arcturus Mengsk's right hand man, and Fenix, a powerful Protoss warrior and war veteran. Kerrigan also blackmailed Zeratul into destroying the second Overmind, forcing DuGalle and his men to ally themselves with the forces they were originally sent to capture/suppress in order to defeat the Zerg. In a combined effort, the UED forces under DuGalle, Protoss forces under the command of Artanis, and the remnants of the Dominion under the command of Mengsk assaulted one of Kerrigan's defense platforms above the planet Char at a time when Kerrigan was very vulnerable, only to be beaten back by the Zerg Swarm. DuGalle acknowledged his defeat at Kerrigan's hands, and offered the terms of surrender, but Kerrigan refused to accept them.

The remainder of DuGalle's fleet began an organized retreat from the platform; however, DuGalle realized that they would be unable to escape from the sector. As well, he was notably disturbed by the loss of his long-time friend through the treachery of Duran and the undeserved absolution of guilt that the propaganda films granted him. Alone in his cabin, he composed a final letter to his wife Helena (with whom he has several children), blaming the defeat on his pride and arrogance. He also admitted that Stukov was not killed in combat, but claimed that 'his pride' killed Stukov, and had thus consumed him. DuGalle then produced a small calibre firearm (Which appears to possibly be a luger/walther), which he used to commit suicide. Shortly thereafter, Kerrigan's swarms overtook the remaining UED ships, eliminating the entire fleet. There were no survivors to bring word of the defeat back to earth (the wording of the phrase leaves room for UED survivors in the Koprulu sector). Dugalle is described as having a Black Trenchcoat and a Black Admiral's cap. He carries a silenced silver-plated Luger.

[edit] DuGalle's Mistakes

Despite his tactical brilliance, DuGalle was not very good at proposing long term strategies. In some ways he seemed reckless in his pursuit of his goals. He was also prone to believing faulty intelligence. DuGalle was also convinced that the United Earth Directorate would eventually emerge victorious, and this hubris led him to engage in several tactically-risky maneuvers:

  • His first blunder was setting up a base camp on Braxis without scouting for Vespene first. This led him to accept Samir Duran into his forces with few qualms, despite his misgivings.
  • DuGalle polarized the sector by refusing to deal with any outside factions besides the forces of Duran, possibly due to their initial successes and an arrogant assurance of victory. Kerrigan exploited general fear of the UED in order to build her coalition of Protoss and Terran forces.
  • DuGalle underestimated the importance of the Psi Disruptor because of faulty intelligence from Duran, who understood the importance of the Psi Disruptor in controlling the Zerg swarms. Even upon realizing the Disruptor's importance, he merely left a planetary garrison behind to defend it, and no guard at all to defend its power supply, and furthermore, there was no backup power. As well, it stands to reason that if Stukov had moved the Disruptor from Tarsonis to Braxis, it would have been much easier to move the Disruptor to perhaps, Korhal, and thus defend two objectives as one with a larger force.
  • DuGalle made no further serious attempts to pursue Mengsk after he escaped with the assistance of the Zerg, allowing Kerrigan to obtain an ally that made her objectives somewhat easier to achieve. Admittedly, this task was very difficult to pursue, considering both the fact that he was unaware as to the location that Mengsk had fled to and the fact that he was attempting to garrison several important worlds while hunting down a supposed traitor who had fled with part of his fleet.
  • He made his final blunder when Sarah Kerrigan destroyed the Psi Disruptor. His fleet possessed the unenviable task of having to occupy Korhal, Char and Braxis all at the same time for tactically sound but very different reasons. His forces were stretched too thin to maintain a full defense of any of the planets, and the majority of his forces were based on Char, when the Psi Disruptor was equally as important but much more lightly defended. There was also no obvious reason for occupying Korhal than holding it from Mengsk, a pointless endeavour.

From that point on the expeditionary force was doomed. Kerrigan inevitably defeated his forces on Korhal and Char, then destroyed his fleet in a titanic battle.

Ironically, upon arriving in the Koprulu Sector, DuGalle initially proclaimed to his fleet that "should we fail in our mission here, not one of us will be going home". Little did he know how painfully true this would turn out to be.

After typing a letter to his wife Helena, DuGalle shoots himself just before the Zerg Swarm annihilates the remaining fleet.

[edit] Trivia

DuGalle's design originated from a Terran officer, called Lester, who appears in a short clip in the first Starcraft game; his face is indefinitely identical to the recruit who asks "Sarge, why do we always gotta listen to this shit for anyway?" Interestingly enough, using a special map editor, the unit Gerard DuGalle appears as a Battlecruiser, even though it is stated to be a Ghost. When actually testing the unit out, his title is "Recruit".

It is interesting to note that Dugalle commanded from the ship Aleksander, perhaps in reference to Alexander the Great, whose empire was shattered upon Alexander's death because there was no one alive who possessed his knowledge and skill in warfare. It could be named after Tsar Aleksandr I or II of Russia.

Admiral DuGalle was most likely named after Charles de Gaulle, a famous French general during World War II and later president of France.

[edit] References

StarCraft by Blizzard Entertainment
StarCraft Universe Gameplay of StarCraft • StarCraft storyline • Psionic technology
Species Terran • Protoss • Zerg • Xel'Naga • Hybrid
Factions and Organizations Judicator Caste • Kel-Morian Combine • Khalai Caste • Protoss Conclave • Pirate Militias • Raynor's Raiders • Sons of Korhal • Templar Caste • Terran Confederacy • Umojan Protectorate • United Earth Directorate • Zerg Brood
Locations Aiur • Antiga Prime • Braxis • Char • Chau Sara • Korhal • Mar Sara • Moria • Shakuras • Talematros • Tarsonis • Umoja • Zerus
Characters Aldaris • Artanis • Gerard DuGalle • Edmund Duke • Samir Duran • Fenix • Sarah Kerrigan • Arcturus Mengsk • Nova • Raszagal • Jim Raynor • Alexei Stukov • Tassadar • Zeratul • Zerg Overmind • Minor Characters
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