Whitaker Goldario (ウィテカー・ゴルダリオ) was the final head of House Goldario and a backer of Eugard Vollachia before his coronation as Vollachia's emperor. A victory contractor for the Imperial Selection Ceremony, he was the guiding figure behind Eugard's rise to the imperial throne.
Having been selected to become a Stargazer at some point in time, he allied himself with the Nine Divine Generals and betrayed Eugard just prior to his coronation. In the end, he was executed at the hands of Eugard himself, marking the conclusion of his rebellion.
Appearance
Whitaker was a young man in his early twenties with dark red hair and narrow amber eyes. He dressed in a formal jacket.
Personality
Whitaker was a cunning man who utilized every means available to him to fulfill his purpose of backing an imperial family member to ensure they would become emperor, employing numerous subordinates, including shinobi, who acted as his eyes and ears. Despite that, he had a reckless and childish side to him, as his schemes were rooted from a desire to bear witness to that which was “dramatic”. For this reason, he sided with Eugard in the Imperial Selection Ceremony. Furthermore, Whitaker cared deeply for the welfare of his sister, Terriola, and consistently endeavored to guarantee her a prosperous life, even after she opposed his failed rebellion. He also had a habit of using the English loan word “dramatic”, a word passed down in the Goldario family, when the situation called for it, with it being unknown who and where they learned it from.
It is unclear when Whitaker became a Stargazer and what his commandment to fulfill was. Although his sister believed it was his intention from the beginning to betray the King of Thorns and install himself on his throne, he admitted that he had not always intended to betray Eugard shortly before his death.
History
As the head of the Goldario family, despite outwardly being designated a commoner, Whitaker was entrusted with the responsibility to observe every candidate for the Imperial Selection Ceremony and determine which of contenders to be the advisor of like his predecessors before him. As the King of Thorns, Eugard Elcanti, began to show interest in involving himself in the Imperial Selection Ceremony, a move unexpected from him, Whitaker watched him and the other candidates from the sidelines with his sister, Terriola.
After exerting various efforts to verify the existence of the Goldarios, Eugard Elcanti finally managed to get in contact with Whitaker over a Conversation Mirror, introducing himself to the advisor with Iris at his side. Whitaker exposed his intent to regard Eugard as the successive emperor, choosing to side with him because of the response to his circumstances of his life and his curse not being rooted out of anger or lamentation, but from something else, and since siding with him granted the Goldarios the highest odds of success. With Iris's affirmation of Eugard's candidacy, Whitaker ascertained his plan to conspire together. After their conversation ended, he spoke with Terriola about the King of Thorns and his relationship with Iris, and expressed his awareness of his sister's interest in Eugard.
From then on, Whitaker began travelling around Vollachia, making preparations to ensure Eugard would acquire the imperial throne, procuring an abundance of Conversation Mirrors necessary to contact him with while doing so. During this period of preparation, he corroborated Volcas's capabilities as being worthy of the Nine Divine Generals, attempted to ask Eugard why Iris was an exception to the binding of his Curse of Thorns, failing to receive an answer, and subsequently attempted to gauge his interest in Terriola, proposing that she could serve as a candidate for an empress consort to him, to which the King of Thorns said he would consider. Suddenly, Eugard pulled out the Yang Sword, signaling his father had died just then and that it was time to commence the Imperial Selection Ceremony.
When it was discovered that Iris had an illness, Whitaker did research to determine it was Battle Craze Syndrome, that the healer who nursed her back to health when she was contracted it had only subdued it despite being unaware of its nature, and visited her to inform her of his findings and gifted her medicinal herbs he had quickly gathered with his influence to aid in her recovery, entrusting their use to Lynek in order to cure the disease and save her life. Once Eugard killed his final sibling, he was congratulated over a Conversation Mirror by Whitaker, who had prepared a “dramatic” gift for him. Iris, finally cured of her disease, had rushed to see Eugard; however, she was afflicted by his Curse of Thorns, triggering the emperor-to-be to repeatedly yell out Whitaker's name in horror as she was assaulted by his thorns' binding. The ensuing fallout resulted in Volcas aiming his claws over Whitaker's neck in rage, pinning him responsible for Iris having succumbed to Eugard's curse, only being stopped from taking his life by Terriola. Attributing the herbs as having produced this situation, Volcas was countered by Whitaker by mentioning Iris's preexisting illness. Volcas then left to see Iris, leaving the siblings to continue preparing for Eugard's coronation.
Alone, the two spoke about the unexpectedness of Iris losing her resistance to the Curse of Thorns, with Whitaker saying that curing her had “backfired”, rousing suspicion in Terriola. Eugard's Curse of Thorns had expanded in its scope and began to pierce people through Conversation Mirrors, leaving only indirect communication as the only remaining method to viably contact him with. As Terriola left to continue preparing for the coronation, she saw Whitaker muttering to himself, wondering what the most “dramatic” plot twist from there would be. Sometime thereafter, Lynek bore news to Iris, revealing that Whitaker Goldario had launched a rebellion against Eugard, intending to murder him by setting fire to the Imperial Residence in the Imperial Capital. However, Terriola intervened before his assassination could be carried out, allowing Eugard to escape. Regarding his sister a traitor and knowing that she had loved Eugard, Whitaker imprisoned Terriola, and the siblings argued. Whitaker had come to the conclusion that Eugard needed to be dispatched because his Curse of Thorns was going haywire, believing there was no other option, which Terriola vehemently refused to accept, being under the impression he had intended to murder the King of Thorns prior to his coronation and install himself on the throne from the beginning. She expressed her abhorrence for her brother, receiving no answer in return.
The rebellion caught Eugard by surprise due to both his own incompetence and Whitaker's meticulousness and shrewdness. Without the aid of Terriola, who aided him in escaping from the Imperial Residence before it could be set ablaze, he would have died. Pursued by the Nine Divine Generals, whom Whitaker had made his allies, he reasoned that the rebellion had been hastily planned and his past loyalty had not been a lie. Though he briefly considered surrendering, he was encouraged to ascend to the position of emperor by Iris, who confessed her feelings to him. Driven by love, he systematically slew the Nine Divine Generals one by one. Whitaker appeared before Eugard after the final Divine General was killed, admitting defeat. He imparted some final advice to Eugard relating to the Goldario family's dissolution and managing the water supply in the north region of the Imperial Capital, and made sure Terriola would be spared from the consequences of his actions, expressing relief once her safety was assured. He revealed that it was not his intention to rebel from the beginning, and commented on how fateful and “dramatic” it was for House Goldario to be remembered as traitors, before proceeding to kneel and bow his head, offering his neck to Eugard. Receiving final words of commend for his service, Whitaker Goldario was executed by Eugard Elcanti, putting an end to the Thief Emperor's rebellion.
Trivia
- Despite neither the narration of Iris and the King of Thorns nor Whitaker himself outright confirming it, he was a Stargazer. The story's narration describes him as a “gazer”, a term that has been tied to Stargazers and commandments through a subsequent side story. Moreover, the origin of the fervent wish to reunite with Eugard that was held by Iris, reincarnated as Yorna Mishigure in the present day, was said to be “not unrelated to the Stargazers”.[1]
References
- ↑ Yorna could not help but feel some bitterness inside as the word “Stargazer” echoed, spoken by his mouth in such a confident tone. The existence of the Stargazer was one of Vollachia's evil practices. At least, that was the only way Yorna could describe it. The genesis of Yorna’s strong, fervent wish was not unrelated to the Stargazers. Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 30, Chapter 1, Section 4.
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