Barbarosa Rugner

Barbarosa Rugner (バルバロッサ・ルーグナー, Barubarossa Rūgunā) is a main antagonist in Suikoden. The 17th, and final, Emperor of the Scarlet Moon Empire, Barbarosa Rugner's disinterest in the empire saw it fall in his reign.

History
"Tir, I shall protect my Empire. With my own hands!"

- Barbarosa Rugner

Successor of the Sovereign Rune, Barbarosa became the 17th Emperor of the Scarlet Moon Empire after victory in the War of Succession.

Barbarosa was actually born the sixth son of Emperor Michelan and as such was considered to have held no chance of succeeding the throne. As such, little attention was paid to the young Barbarosa's tutelage, and he often played with commoner children and studied whatever he wished.

But as the years passed, two of Barbarosa's elder brothers fell ill and died to different diseases and Michelan worried his other sons had grown weak and corrupt from their pampering. And so, Michelan came to name Barbarosa as Crown Prince of the Scarlet Moon Empire.

In SY 446, while on a pilgrimage to pray for good harvest in Kunan, Emperor Michelan would pass from illness and taking advantage of the confusion, Barbarosa's uncle, Geil, enacted the Trial of Disinheritance and took the throne for himself, sparking the War of Succession.

Despite suffering early losses, including the death of his beloved wife, Claudia, Barbarosa's forces soon rallied from their base at Pannu Yakuta Castle and secured the throne following a final battle at Gregminster. Heralded as a patriotic hero, he become known as the Golden Emperor for both his golden armor and benevolent rule in his early reign. He would occasionally take lunch with Milich Oppenheimer, where the two would reminisce about Claudia.

However, in SY 449, he began to lose interest in his empire when he met the Court Magician, Windy, who physically resembled his late wife. Using Barbarosa's love to her advantage, Windy used her magic to manipulate the empire and soon the nation lost faith in its government and its Emperor as corruption and malaise continued to grow.

The Toran Liberation Army under Odessa Silverberg rose up in opposition to the corrupt empire, while Barbarosa deigned not to fight, leaving the Gate Rune War's battles largely in the hands of the Five Great Generals.

Barbarosa even helped the Toran Liberation Army briefly, allowing Futch to escape Gregminster Palace with the Black Dragon Orchid. His motivation was likely not to pollute the Floating Garden, a memory of his beloved Claudia, with violence.

At the end of the war, as the Liberation Army marched into Gregminster Palace, Barbarosa made one last stand at defending his empire using the Rugner family treasure, the Sovereign Rune, for the first and only time, to transform into a three-headed Golden Hydra.

He was still defeated and would admit that he had never been manipulated by Windy's Conqueror Rune, but had followed her of his own will, seeing the same loneliness as himself, the feared Golden Emperor, in Windy, who hated the world after her family was destroyed. He had willingly broken his own heart and everything he had built as emperor due to his love, an earnest love not borne out of Windy's resemblance to his late wife.

Giving his farewells, he leapt from the Floating Garden of Gregminster along with Windy, whom he held in his arms. He has not been seen since, and is presumed dead although his body was never found. Despite this, a memorial was built in his honor.

Trivia

 * Barbarosa was, along with Windy, confirmed as dead following the events of Suikoden. Since then, however, Konami has decided to downgrade their status to 'Missing in Action', hence the lack of a date of death.
 * Presumably named after Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, Operation Barbarossa (in German, Unternehmen Barbarossa) was also the code name for the invasion of USSR by the 3rd Reich, during WW2.
 * "Barbarossa" also translates into Italian as "red beard", although the character himself doesn't even have a beard.
 * Barbarosa commissioned the Golden Goddess statue that is seen in Gregminster in the likeness of his late wife, Claudia.