Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke

Commander **Lyle Tiberius Rourke** is the main antagonist of Disney's 2001 animated feature film, *Atlantis: The Lost Empire*. Prior to the main events of the film, he was the Commander of a previous mission to Iceland where he assisted Milo Thatch's grandfather, Thaddeus, in locating the Shepherd's Journal. He initially appears as a very reliable and praiseworthy commander able to lead his men through perils, but as the film progresses, he turns out to be a highly manipulative, ruthless and sadistic mercenary who is out to capture the Heart of Atlantis and make money off of it.

## Background

Lyle Tiberius Rourke was born in 1860 and learned the ways of military life at an early age. In 1864, his father, a cavalry officer named Lt. Col. Jackson, was killed in battle during the Civil War. After repeated expulsions from boarding school for fighting, Rourke resolved to follow in his father's footsteps and joined the military at age fifteen. There, he exhibited a remarkable talent for leadership, owing to his analytical mind, charisma, and refusal to acknowledge the white flag surrender. He married in June 1887, but his wife left him after only four months.

He held numerous expeditions during his career, most notably leading the Whitmore Expedition to Atlantis.

## Appearance

Initially, Rourke wears a standard military uniform that usually army commanders wear. After the pyre-fly attack, he loses his military coat with a tank top, cargo pants, and boots like the rest of the crew. This transition symbolizes who Rourke truly is as a person. After being crystallized by Milo during the climax, his clothes were fused to his body as he became a crystalized humanoid monster, a true reflection on his insanity. Cracks appear on his body with beams of red light shining through as every movement causes him extreme pain before being obliterated to pieces.

## Personality

Rourke is seemingly composed, pragmatic, and a reasonable figure of authority. In truth, he was extremely manipulative, scheming, cruel, and violent, having no qualms against harming or threatening others to get what he wanted, as he planned to steal the Heart of Atlantis to sell for a high price and didn't even care if the Atlanteans would die as a result.

Rourke is also shown to be an authoritative and intelligent pragmatist (both personally and professionally) who tends to make his own rules, take what he needs, and discards anything that he considers "useless baggage". Rourke is also partially argumentative and has quite a bit of control over his temper, as he tells Milo and sarcastically congratulates him for setting it off. Even then, he remains mostly calm despite his clear annoyance. However, following the thwarting of his plot, Rourke completely lost his calm attitude as he sadistically attempts to kill off Milo in revenge.

Due to being expelled from boarding school numerous times at the age of 15, he possesses a strong sense of anti-intellectualism as he believed that intellectualism prevented people from 'playing dirty' in order to become successful in life.

## Role in Sora’s Adventures

He joined with Vanitas and Dark Riku in finding the Keyhole while taking the Heart of Atlantis with the Heartless and Unversed at his command in Sora's Adventures in Atlantis. Similar to Clayton, Shan-Yu, the MCP, Sykes and several others, he is not a member of the Villains' Council; rather, he led the Heartless into Atlantis by the darkness in his heart.