Foundation and Empire
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Foundation and Empire is a novel written by Isaac Asimov in 1952. It is the second book in the Foundation Series. It takes place in two halves, originally published as separate novellas.
Contents |
The General
The first half of the book, titled The General, tells how the Galactic Empire, now well into its collapse, launches an attack against the Foundation. They are led by General Bel Riose. The Empire, despite its decay, far outclasses the Foundation. Lathan Devers, a Foundation agent, goes on a mission to Trantor to attempt to see the Emperor. He fails and is nearly killed. However, the Emperor does recall and execute Riose, for being too successful and therefore too much of a threat. The war ends with the General's death.
The characters of Emperor Cleon II and Bel Riose in this story are based around those of the historical Roman Emperor Justinian I and his general Belisarius, the story of whom was familiar to Asimov from his recent reading of Robert Graves's novel Count Belisarius.
The Mule
The second half of the book, titled The Mule, takes place about a hundred years after the first half. The Empire has ceased to exist in name as well as in fact, Trantor having been sacked by a "barbarian fleet". The Foundation has become the dominant power in the galaxy, controlling its region through its trading network. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Foundation has become degenerate: the Mayor of Terminus is the ineffectual successor to a stongman who seized power and instituted hereditary rule.
In addition to this internal corruption, an external threat arises in the form of a mysterious man who is known only as the Mule. The Mule (whose real name is never revealed) is a mental freak and possesses the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others. He uses this ability to take over the independent systems bordering the Foundation, and has them wage a war against the Foundation.
While his vassals prosecute the war, the Mule travels under the guise of a refugee clown named Magnifico Giganticus with Foundation citizens Toran and Bayta Darrell to different worlds of the Foundation. He uses his abilities to undermine the Foundation's war effort by speading despair and destroying morale. In the end, the Foundation falls without much of a fight.
Still under the guise of a refugee clown, he travels with the Darrells, along with psychologist Ebling Mis, to the Great Library of Trantor. The Darrells and Mis seek to contact the Second Foundation, which they believe will be able to defeat the Mule. The Mule, on the other hand, wishes to know the location of the Second Foundation so that he can use the First Foundation's technology to destroy it.
While at the Great Library, the Mule surreptitiously stimulates Ebling Mis's mind, allowing him to make powerful insights. Unfortunately for Mis, the Mule's actions cause his health to deteriorate very quickly. As Mis lies dying, he tells Toran, Bayta, and the Mule that he knows where the Second Foundation is. Just before he reveals the Second Foundation's location, however, Bayta kills him. (Bayta had shortly before realized that the renegade clown was actually the Mule and killed Mis to prevent him from revealing the Second Foundation's whereabouts to the Mule.) Defeated, the Mule leaves the Darrells on Trantor to go and reign over the Foundation and the rest of his new empire.
Characters
- Bel Riose, the last strong general who attempted to capture the Foundation
- Ducem Barr, Siwennian patrician and hostage of Riose
- Lathan Devers, trader sent to spy on Riose
- Emperor Cleon II, the last strong emperor before the sack of Trantor
- Brodrig, Cleon II's Privy Secretary
- The Mule, mutant who captures the Foundation and attempts to establish a Second Empire
- Toran and Bayta Darrell, the Mule's companions
- Han Pritcher, intelligence agent for the Foundation and first to recognise the power of the Mule
- Mayor Indbur III, mayor of the Foundation during the Mule's conquest
- Ebling Mis, psychologist who discovered the location of the Second Foundation
The Sequels
This novel is very closely tied into Second Foundation, which tells the rest of the Mule's story.
We learn in Foundation's Edge that the Mule was a rogue member of the planet/society Gaia.
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