What if, Theoderic accepts the Western reguila and be the western emepror?

We all know that in OTL , Theoderic did not accept to be the Western Emperor, even though he was granted the Western Regalia.

So what if he choose to accept the title of the Western emperor and his heir Eutharic was named as his Caesar?

Would the Western empire be able to rebuild itself, with the rebuilding efforts carried out by Theoderic, making the Latin region less dependent on external provinces and etc?

Would the Western empire be able to run itself, and in the long run, actually prolong the life of the Roman empire as a whole?
 
It might have made Italy better prepared for future conflict with the Eastern Roman Empire...I guess the question is whether the Vandals or the Franks would accept Gothic rule in the long run.
 
Theodoric couldn't be a Roman Emperor, since he was the King of the Ostrogoths, and thus a barbarian. By accepting the Western Regalia he was simply accepting his position as the Emperor-in-Constantinople's regent in Italy.

The only way for Gothic Italy to avoid the Gothic Wars waged by Justinian is to maintain stable leadership. The divisions in the Gothic court gave Justinian all the pretext he needed for an invasion. Get rid of those divisions and present a Gothic court standing strong behind the successor of Theodoric, and Justinian wouldn't launch his wars of reconquest in Italy. He might not even attempt it in North Africa.
 
Theodoric couldn't be a Roman Emperor, since he was the King of the Ostrogoths, and thus a barbarian. By accepting the Western Regalia he was simply accepting his position as the Emperor-in-Constantinople's regent in Italy.

The only way for Gothic Italy to avoid the Gothic Wars waged by Justinian is to maintain stable leadership. The divisions in the Gothic court gave Justinian all the pretext he needed for an invasion. Get rid of those divisions and present a Gothic court standing strong behind the successor of Theodoric, and Justinian wouldn't launch his wars of reconquest in Italy. He might not even attempt it in North Africa.

Let's just say he his heir Eutharic was the one that declared himself as the Roman emperor, given that he is already a Roman consul.
 
Let's just say he his heir Eutharic was the one that declared himself as the Roman emperor, given that he is already a Roman consul.

Again, no. Theodoric was also consul in Constantinople, and that still didn't make him a Roman. The Germanic tribes maintained separate legal, religious, and political systems from the Romans they ruled. Though leading Gothic nobles served as consuls, this was a ceremonial post by this point. The Gothic King ruled his tribe as the King of the Ostrogoths, and the Romans in Italy as the representative of the Emperor. The title of Emperor holds all kinds of religious, legal and political duties that conflict with the way the Ostrogoths (as well as Visigoths and Vandals) had structured their rule.

If you want an enduring Gothic-ruled Italy, then keep the King of the Ostrogoths stable enough to ward off an Eastern invasion, but ultimately that Gothic Italy is best served by maintaining its place in a Roman Empire that is de jure ruled by the Emperor-in-Constantinople.
 
As Matthias suggests, the problem is that post-imperial Italy was effectively two states in one. The Ostrogoths maintained a separate legal and judicial system from the Romans, and the two really weren't directly compatible.

On the other hand, for the sake of an argument, let's say that Theodoric decided to ignore these and declare himself emperor anyway. He'd almost certainly have a full-scale mutiny on his hands, from both the Ostrogoths and the Romans. The former would likely view the coronation as a betrayal of their social and religious values, and Theodoric would almost certainly face a civil war. The Romans would be affronted by the audacity, and a rebellion might arise from that sector as well. And that's to say absolutely nothing of the actual surviving Roman Emperor in Constantinople, who for all of the reasons above would never willingly offer the title of Emperor to Theodoric, and, if he decided to take it anyway would have little choice but to view it as an act of war.

The end result is that Theodoric most likely gets overthrown and killed within days, if not moments, of his accession. If he manages to defy all odds and keeps the crown and the head it rests upon, he's still managed to destabilize Italy and the former Western Roman Empire well beyond OTL.

Even more fundamentally, the Latin region was capable of supporting itself, but in order to act as an empire, it needed the support of external provinces. You can have an independent and more-or-less self-sustaining Italy, but not anything particularly resembling OTL's empire. And to get even that far is complicated (though honestly not ASB-level complicated) by the fact that there were plenty of outside powers salivating over incorporating Italy into their own empires.
 
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