Dr Goodner

A researcher at ARSE carrying out secret bio-weapon research for the Ministry of Defence.

He is German by birth and was a "researcher" in Buchenwald during the Second World War, but has managed to conceal this information.

Digby Driver finds out about Goodner's past through contacts at the *Orator* and uses the information to blackmail him into revealing details of his research, specifically that he was researching the bubonic plague, which Driver uses as the foundation of his sensationalist scaremongering.

The name "Goodner" is at one point revealed to be an anglicized form of "Geutner" – which is also the surname of the main female character in the original version of Adams's next novel *The Girl in a Swing*.

**Dr William Goodner** (originally known as **Wilhelm Geutner** in German) is a crucial antagonist in Richard Adams' novel *The Plague Dogs*, and its 1982 animated film adaptation of the same name.

He is a former Nazi scientist who works at A.R.S.E. and studies bubonic plague for biological warfare.

This leads to the belief that Rowf and Snitter are carrying the plague after the two dogs escape the facility.

## History:

*But I do know it's got to do with rats.*
*Dr Goodner were talking to me about dispose of the beasts' bodies and I've seen a letter at his office.*
*It were from the government, and marked "secret".*

Wilhelm Geutner was born in Munchen, Germany and claimed to work as a researcher at Buchenwald during the era of World War II.

After the war, he emigrated to England's Lake District and became a naturalized citizen.

He took the job as a scientist working at A.R.S.E. and began experimenting on bubonic plague as a secret bioweapon for the Ministry of Defence.

He kept his experiments a secret from the other whitecoats in the facility aside from the Director of the facility.

One day, after one of Dr Boycott's experiments on Rowf, the facility's janitor, Harry Tyson forgets to shut his door.

The following night, Rowf and Snitter escape and come across Dr. Goodner's office before they manage to escape the facility via the incinerator, leaving them to roam the countryside of the Lake District with assistance from a local fox known as "the Tod".

After Stephen Powell failed to retrieve Snitter from the Dawsons' residence, he chats with Digby Driver about Rowf and Snitter's experiments and reveals Dr. Goodner's backstory as a Nazi scientist. Driver heads over to Tyson's residence and the janitor reveals information about the experiments he performs. Driver later arrives at Goodner's house and blackmails him to reveal his defence work. Goodner claims that he's not a war criminal and confirms that he does experiment on bubonic plague. Driver then publishes a headline about the dogs carrying the plague, causing mass hysteria among the public and leading to a witch hunt on the two dogs.

At one point after Driver's confrontation with Boycott over the issue about the dogs wreaking havoc across the Lake District, Boycott mentions to Powell that Goodner will be moving away after his defence work was exposed to the public. In addition, Driver redeems himself and helps Snitter's owner, Alan Wood rescue the two dogs from being killed by the Parachute Regiment and clears their name of carrying the plague.

## Trivia

* It has been rumored that Dr. Goodner may have known David Ephraim during WWII, who happens to be a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. However, this is unlikely, as Goodner worked at Buchenwald, while Ephraim was a prisoner at Auschwitz.
* Goodner wears what is presumably an S6 NBC Respirator.
* He was inspired by Shirō Ishii, a Japanese war criminal who oversaw the unethical experiments conducted at Unit 731 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
	+ Although some people presume Dr. Goodner to be based on Josef Mengele, Ishii researched diseases and was pardoned for his war crimes, whilst Mengele researched genetics and remained a wanted war criminal until his death.
* Dr. Goodner seems to be the only scientist at A.R.S.E. to conduct legitimate work, while Dr. Boycott and the other whitecoats conduct pointless experiments with no practical use.