Dagobert VIII, Emperor of the Galaxy

Dagobert VIII was the last Emperor of the Galaxy whose government was seated on Trantor. He is generally considered the last ruler of the Galactic Empire, though at least one other, Gilmer, also claimed that title.

Dagobert VIII ruled Trantor when it came under attack by Gilmer's navy. Dagobert's uninspired military and political leadership led many of his soldiers to fight half-heartedly, not at all, or defect to Gilmer altogether. This left Dagobert by turns indignant and disbelieving. However, he was touched by the near-fanaticism shown by the citizen-soldiers recruited from the students and faculty of the Galactic University. Dagobert did not realize that they were not fighting for him, but for their own purposes.

Dagobert evacuated Trantor ahead of Gilmer's forces.

Literary Note
The character of Dagobert VIII was created by Isaac Asimov in his 1945 novella "The Mule," which would later be reprinted in Foundation and Empire in 1952. According to Asimov, Dagobert attempted to set up a government-in-exile on an agrarian world which he renamed Neotrantor. He retained suzerainty over some twenty inhabited planets, but by the time Asimov introduces him, some forty years after the events portrayed in "Trantor Falls," he has become a doddering old man who has lost his connection with reality. He believes himself to be emperor of the entire galaxy, including parts of it lost to Trantor centuries earlier. He believes Bayta Darrell and her companions, citizens of the First Foundation, are imperial subjects from the long-defunct Anacreon Province. Dagobert assures his "subjects" that he will soon retake Trantor from Gilmer, and grants them permission to visit the Imperial Library. On attempting to use this permission to continue on their way, Bayta's party learns from Dagobert's bemused courtiers that, while they humor him in his imperial delusions, even they do not take his authority seriously.