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This article is about the character Telemachus Rhade. To view the article about the song, go here.




Telemachus Rhade
Telemachus Rhade
Gender: Male
Species: Nietzschean
Ship Posting: Andromeda Ascendant
Ship Position: Weapons Officer
Rank: Admiral (Tarazed)
Lieutenant Commander (New Commonwealth)
Status: Alive
Played By: Steve Bacic
Family
Mother: Majorum
Father: Rhade
Spouse: Jillian Rhade
Chronological and General Info
Era: Long Night
New Systems Commonwealth
Affiliation: New Systems Commonwealth

Telemachus Rhade is the descendant and genetic reincarnation of Gaheris Rhade. He was commander of the Tarazed Home Guard. Rhade became a crewmember of the Andromeda Ascendant after the departure of Tyr Anasazi and remained Dylan Hunt's frequent partner and friend after the Fall of the New System's Commonwealth.

History[]

Telemachus was descended from his great, great, great, great, grandfather, Gaheris' family, who had joined Sara Riley in the colonization of Tarazed. He married Jillian Rhade and soon became Admiral and commander of Tarazed's Home Guard.

When the long awaited Dylan Hunt arrived on Tarazed, Rhade was part of an isolationist group who were opposed to the idea of a new Commonwealth. When a pilot was killed in a faux Magog attack, Rhade suspected that Dylan was trying to influence the planet. When he confronted Dylan on the Andromeda Ascendant's bridge, they began a fight that mirrored the one with his ancestor 304 years earlier. When they were ready to open fire, they lowered their weapons, realizing that neither was responsible for the attack. They arrested Triumvirate member Rakel Ben-Tzion together. Tarazed joined the Commonwealth soon after, and Rhade had his rank reduced.

Joining the Andromeda[]

He was transporting Tyr Anasazi when the latter escaped. Rhade accompanied Dylan while also trying to recapture Tyr. While fleeing after attacking Dylan, Tyr encountered Rhade who challenged him to a one-on-one fight without weapons, in which Rhade began gaining the upper hand until Tyr drew a weapon on him. Rhade taunted Tyr to take the shot but mysteriously Tyr spared him and escaped.

Soon after, Rhade offered to take Tyr's place on Dylan's crew, expressing his admiration for the captain and describing Tyr as a "fool" for leaving. Amused but interested, Dylan in turn gave him a chance to join his crew; Rhade saw an opportunity to improve himself and accepted. Soon after, Rhade helped Dylan and Harper rescue Beka from Tyr, resulting in Tyr's demise, Rhade became a valued member of the Andromeda Ascendant crew, being more trustworthy, responsible, and all-round more trusted by the Andromeda crew than Tyr before him. Dylan's acceptance of Rhade into his crew was what Pish Tryan and the Collectors used to scapegoat Dylan, hunting him and Andromeda when Dylan refused to turn Rhade over to them.

The Fall of Arkology[]

Rhade remained trusted by Dylan and partook in many important missions, some upon which Dylan's life depended on ("The Others", "Machinery of the Mind"). However, Rhade's faith in Dylan would be ultimately tested after the fall of Arkology and Dylan's escape into the Route of Ages. In the Season 4 finale, "The Dissonant Interval," the crew would seek to warn the colony living on the utopian space-station Arkology of the Magog World Ship approaching to annihilate them. While Dylan would argue fruitlessly with the council to leave the system instead of facing the Magog with their tactics of "compassion and love," Rhade would fall in love with a fellow Nietzschean, Louisa Messereau and implored her to fight back against the Magog or to leave with him. When she refused to leave, Rhade decided to stay with her and protect the people of Arkology, even turning down Dylan's offers to return to the Andromeda, insisting he had learned enough from Dylan of honor and heroism and that Rhade's decision to protect Arkology was "Graduation Day." During the Battle of Arkology, the Magog succeeded and massacred the people of Arkology despite Dylan's battle with the Magog World Ship and Rhade's and Louisa's battle with the Magog infiltration. During the battle Louisa was mortally wounded by a Magog who was then killed savagely by an enraged Rhade's boneblades. Rhade, now the only living person on the Aekology, held a dying Louisa in his arms as countless Magog swarmed the room, leaving him no escape. Arkology broke into pieces and Dylan escaped into the Route of Ages.

Seefra-1[]

Before Rhade could be killed by the approaching Magog, Rhade was pulled into the Seefra System with them Dylan and the rest of Andromeda's crew. Rhade's life on Seefra (which he described as "a pleasant little hell-hole") was in a state of disrepair as he fell into a deep state of depression for nine months alone before Dylan's arrival. In the meantime, he became an alcoholic and made ends meet working as a mercenary for an evangelical charlatan named Thomas. Rhade was the first crewmember Dylan was reunited with when he arrived in the Seefra system in "The Weight (Part 1)" but Dylan was quick to notice Rhade was not himself. Greatly depressed by his loss of Louisa and disappointment over the fall of the New Systems Commonwealth, Rhade blamed Dylan for his new situation, Rhade was ordered by Thomas to kill Dylan which Rhade hesitantly agreed to after personal debate. After a brutal fistfight in which Dylan allowed Rhade to release his pent-up rage upon him before fighting back and gaining the upper hand, Rhade was given the opportunity to kill Dylan but decided not to, After running Thomas out of town with the help of Flavin, Much more cynical and self-minded than before, Rhade agreed to work with Dylan for the time being, encouraged once again by Dylan's insistence that hope was more useful in life than Rhade's depression.

Despite his personal dissonances with Dylan's optimism, Rhade slowly regained his humanity and helped Dylan in many of his ventures despite being most-often motivated by his self-interests. Accompanying Dylan in his misadventures, he and Dylan reunited with the Andromeda Ascendant, Beka Valantine, and Seamus Harper. Rhade went undercover once to aid Dylan free an enslaved people ("So Burn the Untamed Lands") and accompanied Dylan in rescuing Trance when she had been impersonated by Virgil Vox ("Chaos and the Stillness of it"). When he wasn't helping the crew of the Andromeda, Rhade spent his time drinking and carousing at the Harper's pub. After his blaming of Hunt for landing them in Seefra-1 offended Trance Gemini who thought it was meant for her, Rhade confessed to Beka and Harper that he once had a wife and children who he had lost and believed dead. Disgusted by what he had become, Rhade gave up drinking.

Leaving Andromeda[]

In "The Heart of the Journey (Part 1)" Rhade was reunited with his wife, Jillian Rhade and his children who were revealed to be alive. Overcome with joy and emotion, Rhade expressed he had done terrible things but that now he was with his family again, he would never leave them. When the Andromeda Ascendant finally returned to Tarazed, Rhade insisted on going down to defend his homeworld and his people. He put up a valiant stand, assisted by Beka Valentine, who was in the process of trying to convince him to return to the Andromeda to help. Despite her imploring him to return to the Anbdromeda, he refused, insisting on staying and protecting his family. Just after the Spirit of the Abyss was destroyed, Rhade emerged from the now-reopened Slipstream portal in the Seefra system with his ship out of fuel; but explaining that his family was safe. The crew of the Andromeda was relieved, most vocally Harper who expressed that he had never been so happy seeing Rhade safe than he was since Tyr left. The Andromeda Ascendant picks him up, and the crew head over to welcome him back.

Inconsistency[]

Telemachus has on some occasions introduced himself as "Telemachus Rhade out of Majorum by Rhade". Traditional Nietzschean naming conventions state that the speaker should introduce themselves as "[Personal Name], of [Pride Name (optional)], out of [Mother's Name] by [Father's Name]", e.g. "Tyr Anasazi, of Kodiak Pride, out of Victoria by Barbarossa"; in that case, Tyr's parents are Victoria Anasazi, and Barbarossa Anasazi. In Telemachus' case, that would mean his mother's name would have been Majorum. However, in this introduction Majorum refers to the pride that the Rhade clan belongs to; this, coupled with the fact that traditional naming conventions would have Telemachus' father named Rhade Rhade suggests that at least some Nietzscheans use different naming rules. Although it is unlikely, it is nonetheless possible that Telemachus' parents were in fact named Majorum Rhade and Rhade Rhade. Another explanation is that Telemachus' father's name is Rhade Rhade; the Majoram Pride would be named after his mother, despite the inherent patriarchy of Nietzschean society.

Trivia[]

  • Telemachus is a character from the "Odyssey". Rhade is a region in Germany.

Quotes[]

"The devil doesn't tempt us with measly offerings. He knows what we want most." (“Abridging the Devil's Divide“)

"A Nietzschean never beats himself up. We're self-absorbed, not masochists." (“Exalted Reason, Resplendent Daughter“)

"Life is too short to carry a grudge." (”Exalted Reason, Resplendent Daughter“)

"I'm not worth the demise of the Andromeda." (”The Torment, The Release“)

"There's a price to pay for doing the right thing, but an even higher price for doing the wrong thing." ("Trusting the Gordian Maze")

(To Dylan) "I can't hold a grudge against you. It's too much effort." (”The Weight (Part 1)”)

"It's never good when you have to sneak onto your own ship, captain." (”The Weight (Part 2)”)

Appearances[]

Gallery[]

Gaheris Rhade
Rhadegun
Rhadeseason4
Current members
 · Andromeda Ascendant  · Andromeda Ascendant Artificial Intelligence  · Beka Valentine  · Doyle  · Dylan Hunt  · Rommie  · Seamus Harper  · Telemachus Rhade  · Trance Gemini  ·
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Former members
 · Fatima Novarro  · Gaheris Rhade  · Iskander Hassan  · Kim Jong San  · Kylie Vance  · Maisus nax Sinque  · Perim  · Rev Bem  · Stam  · Thabo Xhosa  · Tristan Selvig  · Tyr Anasazi  · Yukio Cooper  ·
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