The Foundation Trilogy: Analysis of Major Characters
The Foundation Trilogy explores an expansive universe dominated by the Galactic Empire and the efforts to save civilization from impending chaos. Central to this narrative is Hari Seldon, a pioneering psychohistorian who foresees the Empire's fall and establishes the First and Second Foundations as critical components of his Seldon Plan. Following Seldon’s death, his recorded teachings guide future generations in navigating political and societal challenges. Key characters, such as Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow, illustrate different approaches to leadership and power, with Hardin leveraging political savvy to counter external threats and Mallow favoring trade over scientific elitism.
The series also introduces the Mule, a mutant whose unique abilities disrupt the Seldon Plan, showcasing the unpredictable nature of individual agency in a deterministic framework. Characters like Bayta Darell and her granddaughter Arcadia navigate the complexities of this universe, confronting formidable adversaries and uncovering hidden truths. The enigmatic First Speaker of the Second Foundation embodies the unseen forces shaping events to ensure the survival and success of the Seldon Plan. Overall, the characters in The Foundation Trilogy provide a rich tapestry of human experience, blending intellect and emotion within a grand narrative about the fate of civilization.
The Foundation Trilogy: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Isaac Asimov
First published: The Foundation Trilogy (1963; as trilogy); previously published as Foundation (1951; serial form, Astounding Science-Fiction, 1942–1944), Foundation and Emp
Genre: Novel
Locale: Primarily the planets Trantor, Terminus, and Kalgan
Plot: Science fiction
Time: A period of some four centuries in the distant future; in the Galactic Era, beginning in the year 12,067; in the Foundation Era, beginning in the year-2
Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian who is the founder of both the First Foundation and the Second Foundation. Originally a mathematician working at a university on the imperial planet of Trantor, Seldon developed the discipline of psychohistory, which he uses to predict the end of the Galactic Empire. Seldon is arrested by the Empire because of his predictions, but he manages to outwit its rulers, who allow him to form the two Foundations. These Foundations are the chief organs of the Seldon Plan, which is intended to save the Galaxy from twenty thousand years of barbarism. Seldon dies shortly thereafter but reappears in video recordings to instruct later generations.
Salvor Hardin, the first mayor of Terminus, the remote planet where Seldon has set up the First Foundation. Hardin chafes under the rule of the Encyclopedists, who think that the only purpose of the Foundation is to prepare an Encyclopedia. When Hardin realizes that the neighboring planet Anacreon is about to annex the Foundation and that the declining Empire will do nothing to prevent this, he seizes political power in Terminus. His theories about the Foundation's imperial mission proven, Hardin outwits the rulers of Anacreon and paves the way for the Foundation's growing regional power.
Hober Mallow, the mayor of Terminus approximately eighty years after Hardin. A merchant trader from the planet Smyrno, Mallow is mistrusted by the Foundation's elite, who resent the fact that he relies on trade rather than their religion of science to establish Foundation power in neighboring regions. Mallow exposes the Foundation elite as authoritarian and dishonest, and he becomes mayor himself after defeating the rival power of Korell.
Bel Riose, an imperial general who attempts to reconquer the Foundation. Riose is a young and confident leader who wins many military victories. His success, however, arouses the suspicion of the Emperor that Riose plans to take over the throne, and he is recalled and arrested, leaving the Foundation stronger than ever.
The Mule, a mutant with unusual emotional powers who seizes control of the planet Kalgan and begins a war against the Foundation. The Mule is astoundingly successful and eventually attacks the planet Terminus itself, defying assumptions that the Seldon Plan will protect the Foundation forever. The Mule can defy the Seldon Plan because he is a mutant and thus not provided for by the plan. After conquering the Foundation, the Mule embarks on a desperate search to find the Second Foundation. He tries to use his emotional power to find the secret but is foiled by the sudden intervention of Bayta Darell.
Bayta Darell, a young woman from the Foundation who marries a member of the dissident Independent Traders and, with him, escapes the Mule's sack of Terminus. Bayta had first encountered the Mule's power on Kalgan, and by the time she is in the old Imperial Library on Trantor, she has come to understand the Mule in such a way as to defeat him.
The Mule, who, after being defeated by Bayta, tries to search for the Second Foundation through more conventional means. He uses his emotionally converted lieutenant, Han Pritcher, to attempt to trick a suspected Second Foundationer into revealing the nature of his people. The Second Foundation, though, manages to outwit and defeat the Mule through an ingenious stratagem. The Mule dies shortly thereafter.
Arcadia Darell, the granddaughter of Bayta Darell. She lives in the revived, post-Mule Foundation and becomes interested in the Second Foundation when her father, Toran, leads a group of prominent Foundation intellectuals who try to look for it. Arcadia persuades her uncle, Homir Munn, to take her along to Kalgan with him. On Kalgan, she is almost seduced by the lascivious Lord Stettin. Arcadia flees to Trantor after guessing where the Second Foundation really is, a guess borne out by events occurring after her reunion with her father.
The First Speaker, the principal leader of the Second Foundation. Wielding tremendous power by means of his ability to control others psychologically and to envision the future, the First Speaker conceals his identity so as to arrange events according to the will of the Second Foundation and to ensure that the Seldon Plan will continue.