List of Foundation series characters

In the Foundation and Empire (1952) story "The General", Imperial General Bel Riose of Siwenna coerces Ducem Barr to aid him in his persecution of the Foundation, which Riose hopes to destroy both as a perceived threat to the Galactic Empire and to further his own ambitions. Barr is Riose's best choice as an "expert" on the Foundation, his father Onum having met Foundation-aligned Master Trader Hober Mallow during the events of "The Merchant Princes" in Foundation (1951). Barr aligns himself with Lathan Devers, a Foundation trader who has let himself be captured by Riose to disrupt the general's operation from the inside. When Devers' machinations are exposed, Barr helps him escape further interrogation by knocking Riose unconscious and fleeing the planet with Devers in tow. They travel to the Imperial capital planet, Trantor, and plot to implicate Riose and Emperor Cleon II's Privy Secretary Ammel Brodrig in a nonexistent conspiracy to overthrow Cleon. Though Barr and Devers are caught by the Secret Police, they escape and later learn that Riose and Brodrig have been arrested for treason and executed. Barr is portrayed by Jesper Christensen in season two of the 2021 Apple TV+ television series adaptation Foundation. In the 2023 episode "A Glimpse of Darkness", Barr witnesses a presentation on Siwenna by High Claric Poly Verisof and Brother Constant of the Church of the Galactic Spirit, extolling the virtues of the Foundation and Seldon's predictions. He records it using special technology in his left eye. In "Where the Stars are Scattered Thinly", Bel Riose and his husband/second-in-command Glawen Curr visit Barr to follow up on the recording. Barr, an Imperial loyalist, has been sending reports to the Empire for 40 years, none of which have been acknowledged until now. Riose and Curr learn that the Foundation has provided the clarics with auras, protective force shield technology forbidden to everyone except the Emperors, and whisper-ships, a Foundation-created type of jumpship which can perform faster-than-light travel without requiring a Spacer to navigate. When a mob of villagers arrives for the Imperials, Barr helps them escape and asks Riose to shoot him to death, so that he may avoid interrogation and torture. Riose kills Barr and flees. == Bail Channis ==

In the Second Foundation (1953) story "Part I: Search by the Mule", the Mule has yet to find the elusive Second Foundation. He sends his agent Han Pritcher on his sixth search, this time accompanied Bail Channis, the only one of the Mule's followers who is "Unconverted", or not influenced by the Mule's psychic powers to serve him. The Mule tells Pritcher that Channis's untainted mind will allow him to be more capable of making intuitive leaps which might help in the search. In fact, the Mule has determined that Channis is a Second Foundation agent who intends to lead the Mule into a trap. Secretly followed by the Mule and his fleet, Channis leads the search to the desolate planet Tazenda, a plausible location for the Second Foundation. On a nearby world, Rossem, Pritcher draws his atomic blaster on Channis, who he now suspects to be an agent of the Second Foundation. Pritcher is correct, but Channis possesses a psychic ability similar to the Mule's and uses it to free Pritcher from the Mule's control. The Mule appears, and reveals that his fleet has destroyed Tazenda. The Mule uses mental torture to extract the true location of the Second Foundation from Channis's mind: Rossem. The First Speaker of the Second Foundation arrives and informs the Mule that he has been defeated. Channis had been preprogrammed to believe that the Second Foundation is on Rossem, but it is not. Second Foundation agents have traveled to Kalgan and the Foundation worlds to undo the Mule's Conversions and orchestrate an insurrection, and his fleet is too far away to prevent it. When the Mule experiences a moment of despair, the First Speaker is able to seize control of and alter his mind: he will return to Kalgan and live out the rest of his life as a peaceful despot. Channis's mind is later restored by the First Speaker. Channis is voiced by Trader Faulkner in episode seven "The Mule Finds" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. == ==

Introduced in Foundation and Empire in "The General", Cleon II is the last great Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Threatened by the rising power and popularity of one of his own generals, Bel Riose, Cleon has him recalled and executed for treason. Wimmer and Wilkens described Cleon as "basically decent but woefully inadequate" but also "a fairly entertaining character, who has me absolutely convinced that ruling a whole galaxy could be just a drag if you were born at the wrong time". In the 2021 television series adaptation Foundation, the 12,000-year-old Empire has been ruled for 400 years by a revolving trio of Cleon I clones: Brother Dusk (portrayed by Terrence Mann), a retired and aging Cleon who serves in an advisory role; Brother Day (portrayed by Lee Pace), a Cleon in his prime; and Brother Dawn (played by Cooper Carter as a child and Cassian Bilton as a young adult), a young Cleon being trained to succeed Brother Day. Though cloning does not factor in Asimov's novels, the television series introduces a "Genetic Dynasty", surreptitiously administered for centuries by the regal Lady Demerzel, secretly a unique, ageless robot. Cleon II is voiced by William Fox in episode four, "The General", of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. == ==

In the Second Foundation story "Part II: Search by the Foundation", Arcadia "Arkady" Darell is the 14-year-old daughter of Dr. Toran Darell II, and granddaughter of Bayta and Toran Darell. She has a keen sense of observation and deduction, and has learned that her Foundation member father is part of a cabal seeking the secret location of the Second Foundation. Arkady stows away with Foundation agent Homir Munn when he travels to the planet Kalgan to search for clues to the Second Foundation's location. Munn is rebuffed by Lord Stettin, the current warlord of Kalgan, but Arkady manipulates his flighty consort, Lady Callia, to persuade Stettin to allow librarian Munn access to the Mule's palace for research purposes. Stettin becomes suspicious of Munn and arrests him. Stettin also shows interest in marrying Arkady, and she escapes with help of Lady Callia. At the spaceport, Arkady meets trader Preem Palver and his wife, who help her flee the planet and take her to their home on Trantor. With Palver's help, Arkady sends a coded message to her father with what she has determined is the location of the Second Foundation. Dr. Darell invents a device which reveals several Second Foundation sleeper agents, and Arkady is tested to make sure she has not been compromised. Dr. Darell is relieved to find that the results are negative, not knowing that the Second Foundation did actually "adjust" Arkady shortly after birth, rendering their influence impossible to trace. Wimmer and Wilkins described Arkady as "overconfident and impetuous, but witty and awfully smart for a kid." They wrote, "It's remarkable just how perfectly Asimov captures the occasionally obnoxious precociousness of the gifted teenager ... but he also folds in Arkady's romanticism and femininity without ever making them seem silly or stereotypical." Folk-Williams wrote that Arkady "is introduced with a lot of subtlety as a strong character, but she loses that depth and agency as the story unfolds. Like many others, she only has a moment in the story as she serves the needs of the plan, and then she's gone." Donald M. Hassler called Arkady the "concluding key figure" of the original Foundation trilogy. Wimmer and Wilkins praised her as "one of the best characters Asimov ever created", and one who belonged on "the short list for science fiction's all-time greatest heroes". However, they criticized Asimov' decision to have Arkady's mind tampered with, describing it as "callous and cold", and "an unnecessarily harsh ending for such a wonderful character." Arkady is voiced by Sarar Frampton in episode eight "Star's End" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. == ==

Bayta and Toran Darell are a newly married couple in the Foundation and Empire story "The Mule". Bayta, a descendant of a great Foundation family, and Toran, who is part of a Trader family, learn that a mysterious figure called the Mule has conquered the barbarian planet Kalgan with no military force and no resistance from the Kalganians. The Darells investigate, but soon leave Kalgan with the fugitive Magnifico, a "strange, gangly creature" who is the Mule's former court jester. On Terminus, they seek out elder Foundation scholar Ebling Mis for advice. The complacent Mayor Indbur of Terminus is nonplussed about the danger posed by the Mule, believing that the pending hologram from Hari Seldon will tell them how to handle this latest crisis. Instead, Seldon predicts a civil war between the Foundation and the Traders. The Mule's forces arrive, and Indbur surrenders immediately. The Darells escape with Mis and Magnifico to find the rumored Second Foundation, their only hope to stop the Mule. At what remains of the Great Library of Trantor, Mis works tirelessly to discover clues to the secret location of the Second Foundation. Dying, Mis announces that he knows where the Second Foundation is. Bayta kills him before he can reveal the location, having just realized that Magnifico is the Mule, who seeks the Second Foundation so he can destroy it. He is a mutant who can sense and manipulate the emotions of others, an ability he has employed to conquer planets bloodlessly, and to compel Mis to work himself to death. The only person the Mule has not manipulated emotionally is Bayta, because she had genuinely cared for the lonely Magnifico. The Mule promises to find and destroy the Second Foundation, the only threat to his eventual reign over the entire galaxy, but Bayta asserts that it has already prepared for him, and will react before he has time to stop it. == Eto Demerzel ==

portrays Lady Demerzel in the 2021 TV series. In Prelude to Foundation, reporter Chetter Hummin warns young mathematician Hari Seldon that his nascent theory of psychohistory has attracted the dangerous attention of Eto Demerzel, the First Minister and chief advisor to Emperor Cleon I. Pairing Seldon with Streeling University historian Dors Venabili, Hummin assists him in his danger-fraught tour of several of Trantor's 800 varied sectors, evading capture by Demerzel while gathering information he hopes will inform if and how psychohistory can be developed into a predictive science. Hummin is revealed to be Demerzel, who has seen the importance of psychohistory to humanity's future and has manipulated Seldon to help him bring it to fruition. Seldon confronts Demerzel with his determination that the First Minister is a robot. Demerzel confirms that he is one of the last surviving robots from the Robot Wars, R. Daneel Olivaw, a prominent character in Asimov's Robot series. He has been guiding human development for centuries, and needs psychohistory to hopefully mitigate the anarchy that will be precipitated by the inevitable and imminent fall of the Empire. Thanks to Demerzel's guidance, Seldon has realized that Trantor itself possesses the diversity and complexity, at a manageable scale, required to build his calculations. This Lady Demerzel is majordomo to the revolving trio of Emperor clones, Brothers Dawn, Day and Dusk. Only the emperors themselves are aware that Demerzel is secretly an ageless robot, the last surviving gynoid from the ancient Robot Wars. == Lathan Devers ==

In the Foundation and Empire story "The General", Foundation trader Lathan Devers lets himself be captured by Imperial General Bel Riose to disrupt Riose's overtures against the Foundation from the inside. With Emperor Cleon II's Privy Secretary Ammel Brodrig present to observe Riose, Devers attempts to implicate Riose in a nonexistent attempt to overthrow Cleon. His machinations are exposed, but Ducem Barr helps him escape further interrogation by knocking Riose unconscious and fleeing the planet with Devers in tow. They travel to the Imperial capital planet, Trantor, and plot to influence Cleon directly with Devers' invented conspiracy, implicating both Riose and Brodrig. Though they are caught by the Secret Police, they escape and later learn that Riose and Brodrig have been arrested for treason and executed. Wimmer and Wilkins wrote of the character, "Devers clearly wants to be in the mold of the larger-than-life characters we met in Foundation, but he lacks the cunning of a Salvor Hardin or a Hober Mallow. What's worse, Devers is the best the Foundation's got—he's an above-average man living in an era of mediocrity going up against the Empire's last great men." Devers is voiced by Michael Harbour in episode four "The General" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. == Gaal Dornick ==

Introduced in Foundation in the story "The Psychohistorians", Gaal Dornick is a gifted young mathematician, newly awarded his doctorate, who has been invited to the Imperial capital planet Trantor from his home planet Synnax by famed mathematician and psychologist Hari Seldon. Seldon has developed the science of psychohistory, which uses sophisticated mathematics and statistical analysis to predict future trends on a galactic scale. Knowing that Dornick is possibly the only person in the galaxy capable of fully understanding his work, Seldon reveals his prediction of the unavoidable and relatively imminent fall of the Galactic Empire. He has conceived a plan, in which Dornick's participation is crucial, to mitigate the duration of this societal collapse. Under surveillance by agents of the Committee of Public Safety since his arrival, Dornick is arrested and interrogated. As orchestrated by Seldon, he and his followers are exiled to the distant planet Terminus, where he intends to execute this plan by establishing the Foundation. Describing "The Psychohistorians" as "28 pages of nonstop world-building", Wimmer and Wilkins note that "the ostensible protagonist, Gaal Dornick, is such a non-entity that he barely even counts as an audience identification figure". Dornick is voiced by Geoffrey Beevers in episode one "Psychohistory and Encyclopedia" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. A gender-swapped and expanded version of Dornick is portrayed by Lou Llobell in the 2021 television series adaptation Foundation. She is a mathematical prodigy from an ocean world where science and mathematics are considered heresy, and forbidden. == Salvor Hardin ==

Introduced in Foundation in the story "The Encyclopedists", Salvor Hardin is the first mayor of Terminus City, the primary settlement on Terminus. Hardin believes Terminus is in danger of political exploitation by the four neighboring prefectures of the Empire. Identifying the kingdom of Anacreon as the most powerful of the four, Hardin visits the others and convinces them that they must resist nuclear power from falling to Anacreon alone. The three issue a joint ultimatum that all be allowed to receive nuclear technology from Terminus City, ensuring that the Foundation is indispensable to all. In "The Mayors", Anacreon launches a direct military assault against Terminus using an abandoned Imperial battlecruiser. Hardin secretly installs a kill switch into the cruiser, causing the crew to mutiny. Maddened by this failure, Prince Regent Wienis of Anacreon orders Hardin's execution, but his royal guardsmen refuse to obey him. He then attempts, but fails, to kill Hardin himself. Hardin is voiced by Lee Montague in episode two "The Mayors" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. A gender-swapped version of Hardin is portrayed by Leah Harvey in the 2021 television series adaptation Foundation. She is the Warden and protector of Terminus, 35 years after Seldon's trial. == Hober Mallow ==

portrays Hober Mallow in the 2021 TV series. Introduced in Foundation in the story "The Merchant Princes", Hober Mallow is a Master Trader for the Foundation. He and his ship, Far Star, are sent to Korell to investigate the disappearance of three Foundation vessels in the vicinity. A Foundation missionary, Reverend Jord Parma, seeks sanctuary, but Mallow suspects subterfuge and turns Parma over to the Korellians, whose laws forbid Foundation missionaries to be on the planet under penalty of death. Mallow negotiates the sale of Foundation devices to the ruler of Korell, and soon the planet is dependent on them. Mallow is later tried for murder on Terminus for condemning the missionary to death, but is exonerated when he proves that Parma was actually an agent of the Korellian secret police. Mallow's popularity results in his appointment to Mayor of Terminus. Korell subsequently declares war on the Foundation, and when Mallow imposes an embargo on them, the Korellan economy collapses due to its dependency on Foundation technology, thus forcing its surrender. In Season 3, the Darell family is rewritten as his descendants, including changing their surname to Mallow. == Ebling Mis ==

portrays Ebling Mis in the 2021 TV series. In the Foundation and Empire story "The Mule", Ebling Mis is the Foundation's first real psychologist since its founding. He is warned by Bayta and Toran Darell about the Mule, a mysterious figure who has conquered the planet Kalgan and is planning to do the same to other worlds. Mis tries to warn Mayor Indbur of Terminus of the danger posed by the Mule, but is rebuffed. The Foundation soon falls to the Mule, and Mis flees with the Darells and Magnifico, the Mule's former jester, to find the rumored Second Foundation and seek their aid. At what remains of the Great Library of Trantor, Mis works tirelessly to discover clues to the secret location of the Second Foundation. Dying, Mis announces that he knows where the Second Foundation is. Bayta kills him before he can reveal the location, having just realized that Magnifico is the Mule, who seeks the Second Foundation so he can destroy it. He is a mutant who can sense and manipulate the emotions of others, an ability he has employed to conquer planets bloodlessly, and to compel Mis to work himself to death. The Mule promises to find and destroy the Second Foundation, the only threat to his eventual reign over the entire galaxy. The character is described as a "self-taught psychohistorian and diehard fan of Hari Seldon." == The Mule ==

portrays the Mule in season three. In the Foundation and Empire story "The Mule", a mysterious figure called the Mule has conquered the planet Kalgan with no military force and no resistance from the Kalganians. Foundation-aligned newlyweds Bayta and Toran Darell leave Kalgan with the Mule's fugitive court jester, Magnifico Giganticus, and soon the Foundation falls to the Mule as well. The Darells and elder Foundation scholar Ebling Mis escape with Magnifico to find the rumored Second Foundation, their only hope to stop the Mule. After tireless research, a dying Mis announces that he knows where the Second Foundation is. Bayta kills him before he can reveal the location, having just realized that Magnifico is the Mule, who seeks the Second Foundation so he can destroy it. He is a mutant who can sense and manipulate the emotions of others, an ability he has employed to conquer planets bloodlessly, to "Convert" Foundation intelligence officer Han Pritcher into a loyal agent, and to compel Mis to work himself to death. The Mule promises to find and destroy the Second Foundation, the only threat to his eventual reign over the entire galaxy. Decider called the introduction of the Mule "one of the show's most long-awaited moments". The role was recast with Pilou Asbæk for season three. Additionally, Magnifico is portrayed by Tómas Lemarquis. == Preem Palver ==

portrays Preem Palver in the 2021 TV series. In the Second Foundation story "Part II: Search by the Foundation", farmer and trader Preem Palver and his wife are at the spaceport on Kalgan when they meet teenager Arkady Darell. Arkady is fleeing Lord Stettin, the warlord of Kalgan, so the Palvers take her with them to their home on Trantor. Palver later helps Arkady send a coded message to her father, Dr. Toran Darell II of the Foundation, containing what she believes is the location of the Second Foundation. Stettin launches an invasion of the Foundation which fails, and the discovery of several Second Foundation sleeper agents convinces the Foundation that they have eliminated the threat of the Second Foundation. Palver, however, is secretly the First Speaker of the intact Second Foundation, and has orchestrated Stettin's attack, its failure, the discovery of Palver's own agents and even Arkady's participation to convince the Foundation that they have triumphed. == Lewis Pirenne ==

portrays Lewis Pirenne in the 2021 TV series. Introduced in Foundation in the story "The Encyclopedists", Dr. Lewis Pirenne is the chairman of the Foundation's Board of Trustees and the leader of the Encyclopedists. He dismisses Mayor Salvor Hardin's concerns about the Foundation's susceptibility to interference by nearby regimes, believing that their focus should be on creating the Encyclopedia Galactica and not local politics. When Hari Seldon's Time Vault opens and Seldon reveals that the encyclopedia was merely an excuse to establish the Foundation away from Imperial control, Pirenne realizes that he was wrong and cedes leadership of the Foundation to Hardin. Book Analysis and Shmoop explained that Pirenne is rigid and resistant to change, which is ultimately in conflict with Seldon's Plan. He is the Director of the Foundation and first successor of Hari Seldon, and comes into conflict with Salvor Hardin over how to handle the arrival of the Anacreons to Terminus. == Han Pritcher ==

portrays Han Pritcher in season three of the 2021 TV series. In the Foundation and Empire story "The Mule", Han Pritcher is a Foundation intelligence officer and secretly a member of the Democratic Underground on Terminus, planning to overthrow Mayor Indbur. Though ordered by the Mayor to investigate renegade traders, he instead looks into the sudden takeover of the planet Kalgan by the Mule. Pritcher attempts to assassinate the Mule in a suicide attack to thwart his conquest of the Foundation, but the Mule is a mutant and uses his psychic powers to "Convert" Pritcher into one of his most loyal followers. Wimmer and Wilkins described Pritcher's final Conversion by the Mule as "crushing", writing that "more than any other character in this story, Pritcher was an individual, and it's so sad to see him reduced to a puppet of the Mule, albeit still a charming and unconventional one." Wimmer and Wilkins wrote that the Converted version of the character in "Search by the Mule" is "a tricky protagonist to really connect with" due to "a lot of second derivative characterization". Pritcher is voiced by John Justin in episodes five, six and seven of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. Pritcher is portrayed by Brandon P. Bell in season three of the 2021 television series adaptation Foundation. == Bel Riose ==

portrays Bel Riose in the 2021 TV series. In the Foundation and Empire story "The General", Imperial General Bel Riose governs the planet Siwenna. He investigates the Foundation and is soon determined to destroy it, both as a perceived threat to the Empire and to further his own ambitions. Foundation trader Lathan Devers lets himself be captured by Riose to disrupt his overtures against the Foundation from the inside. With Emperor Cleon II's Privy Secretary Ammel Brodrig present to observe Riose, Devers attempts to implicate Riose in a nonexistent attempt to overthrow Cleon. His machinations are exposed, but Ducem Barr, a Foundation sympathizer forced to aid Riose, helps him escape further interrogation by knocking Riose unconscious and fleeing the planet with Devers in tow. They travel to the Imperial capital planet, Trantor, and plot to influence Cleon directly with Devers' invented conspiracy, implicating both Riose and Brodrig. Though they are caught by the Secret Police, they escape and later learn that Riose and Brodrig have been arrested for treason and executed. Asimov later explains the political dynamics of why Riose would never have been able to defeat the Foundation: a strong emperor's sense of self-preservation would never allow him to tolerate a subordinate who develops potentially threatening power. In exchange for his freedom and a reunion with his husband, Glawen Curr, Riose agrees to investigate the dissident Foundation on behalf of the Empire. == Hari Seldon ==

portrays Hari Seldon in the 2021 TV series. Introduced in Foundation in "The Psychohistorians", famed mathematician and psychologist Hari Seldon has developed the science of psychohistory, which uses sophisticated mathematics and statistical analysis to predict future trends on a galactic scale. He has predicted the unavoidable and relatively imminent fall of the Galactic Empire, which will spark a Dark Age lasting 30,000 years. Seldon has conceived a plan which, by his calculations, will limit this interregnum to 1,000 years. He orchestrates his own trial by the Commission of Public Safety, the ruling body of the Empire, who are displeased with his predictions and the potential chaos they would incite. As Seldon anticipated, the Commission does not want to martyr him, so he and his 100,000 followers are exiled from Trantor, the center of the Empire, to the distant and nearly uninhabitable planet Terminus. There Seldon intends to establish the Foundation, "a repository of crucial, civilization-preserving knowledge" that will enable society to revive itself more quickly and efficiently. Seldon is portrayed by Jared Harris in the 2021 television series adaptation Foundation. == Dors Venabili ==

In Prelude to Foundation, reporter Chetter Hummin introduces young mathematician Hari Seldon to Streeling University historian Dors Venabili, who subsequently joins Seldon in his danger-fraught tour of several of Trantor's 800 varied sectors. Seldon is gathering information he hopes will inform if and how his nascent theory of psychohistory can be developed into a predictive science. He realizes that Trantor itself possesses the diversity and complexity, at a manageable scale, required to build his calculations. But he also requires the emotional support of Venabili, and he does not care that she may also be a robot. Venabili begins an investigation centered on the Electro-Clarifier, a new device co-invented by Tamwile Elar and built by Cinda Moray, which enhances the abilities of Seldon's Prime Radiant. Venabili believes the Electro-Clarifier is aging Seldon and Yugo Amaryl prematurely. She instead discovers it is actually killing her, because it only affects the positronic brains of robots. She finally admits to Seldon that she is a robot, and having killed Elar to protect him, reveals that the combination of the device's effects and breaking the First Law of Robotics by harming a human has caused irreparable damage. Dying, she tells Seldon that his love made her human. Wimmer and Wilkins wrote that though Venabili's death delivered "a genuine sense of tragedy ... Dors was a hard character to get a fix on—there was always a faint coldness about her". == Poly Verisof ==

Introduced in Foundation in the story "The Mayors", Poly Verisof is the Foundation ambassador and High Priest on Anacreon. After Salvor Hardin discovers a plot against him orchestrated by Prince Regent Wienis, he employs the aid of Verisof, who uses his mass following to instigate a mob against Wienis that helps assure Hardin's victory. Wimmer and Wilkins wrote that though Verisof does not believe in the religious culture established on Anacreon, he does not "think any less of the believers or wish them any harm" and recognizes religion as "the best way of doing some good at a time when science has become tainted with the Empire's failure." Verisof is voiced by William Fox in episode two "The Mayors" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. Verisof is portrayed by Kulvinder Ghir in season two of the 2021 TV series adaptation Foundation. He is High Claric of the Foundation's propagandist Church of the Galactic Spirit. Verisof, who was a child at the dawn of the Foundation, is Brother Constant's superior and companion. He is described as "Whip-smart and sardonic, he's also a terrible drunk — intelligent enough to see the path he's on, but too cynical to change. The character is portrayed as child by Jairaj Varsani in season one, and the season two episode "Where the Stars Are Scattered Thinly". == Others from the novels ==

• '''' is a trusted colleague of Hari Seldon who works closely with him on the development of psychohistory. In Prelude to Foundation'', Hari Seldon meets Amaryl, a menial worker in the heatsinks of the Dahl sector of Trantor, where vast subterranean operations generate energy from heat in the deep recesses of the planet. Seldon and Dors Venabili are on a danger-fraught tour of several of Trantor's 800 varied sectors, evading capture by First Minister Eto Demerzel while gathering information Seldon hopes will inform if and how psychohistory can be developed into a predictive science. Amaryl reveals himself to be a mathematical prodigy, and once Seldon is safe he arranges for Amaryl to begin studies at Streeling University. :Wimmer and Wilkins described Dorwin as "pretty hilarious." • '''' is an ambitious politician in Forward the Foundation'' who schemes to replace Eto Demerzel as Cleon I's First Minister, with the goal of ultimately deposing the emperor himself. Realizing the danger, Hari Seldon has his foster son Raych "reveal" that Demerzel is a robot. Joranum accuses Demerzel, who seemingly proves himself to not be a robot by laughing, as a human would. A humiliated Joranum is exiled to a distant planet. • '''''' is Salvor Hardin's chief advisor and friend in the Foundation story "The Encyclopedists" who assists him in overthrowing the ruling board of Terminus City. :Lee is voiced by John Hollis in episode one "Psychohistory and Encyclopedia" and episode two "The Mayors" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. • '''' is an agent of the Foundation in the Second Foundation'' story "Part II: Search by the Foundation". He is part of a cabal within the Foundation which has been alerted to the galactic manipulations of the Second Foundation and its Mentalics, and sees them as a threat to their own efforts toward Seldon's Plan. Munn is sent to Kalgan to search for clues to the Second Foundation's location, and is followed by teenager Arkady Darell. Munn is rebuffed by Lord Stettin, the current warlord of Kalgan, but Arkady manipulates his flighty consort, Lady Callia, to persuade Stettin to allow librarian Munn access to the Mule's palace for research purposes. Stettin becomes suspicious that his court might have been infiltrated by the Second Foundation, and arrests Munn. After Stettin's invasion of the Foundation on Terminus fails, Munn believes the Second Foundation never existed. He is proven incorrect when several Second Foundation sleeper agents are discovered. :Munn is voiced by David March in episode eight "Star's End" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. • '''''' is an associate of Jo-Jo Joranum who plots to supplant Hari Seldon as Cleon I's First Minister after Joranum's exile in Forward the Foundation. He attempts to assassinate Seldon by drugging his foster son Raych, but the plan is foiled at the last moment by undercover security officer Manella Dubanqua. • '''' is a Master Trader of the Foundation introduced in Foundation'' in the story "The Traders". He negotiates with the Elders of the planet Askone to secure the release of Eskel Gorov, another Foundation trader of nuclear weapons who has been imprisoned and sentenced to death due to traditional taboos that effectively ban advanced technology. Ponyets manipulates the Elders using their religious beliefs and a transmuter that will convert iron into gold. :Wimmer and Wilkins called Ponyets "the least interesting of all the Foundation protagonists", but wrote that he and Salvor Hardin "let the bad guys accumulate all this power, and then ever so deftly turn it back against them." They also described Ponyets's blackmail of an ambitious politician as "lame" compared to "the operatic scope of Hardin's secret plan in 'The Mayors'." • '''' is a street urchin in the slums of Billibotton whom Hari Seldon and Dors Venabili meet as they traverse Trantor in Prelude to Foundation. In Forward the Foundation'', Seldon determines that populist Jo-Jo Joranum is scheming to replace Eto Demerzel as Cleon I's First Minister and then overthrow the emperor. Seldon has Raych, now his foster son, "reveal" that Demerzel is a robot. Joranum confronts Demerzel publicly, and is ruined when Demerzel seemingly proves himself to not be a robot by laughing, as a human would. Years later, Joranum's associate Gambol Deen Namarti plots against Seldon. Raych infiltrates Namarti's group and becomes involved with a prostitute named Manella Dubanqua. Recognizing him as Seldon's son, Namarti drugs Raych, who is stopped from assassinating Seldon himself by Dubanqua, secretly a security agent. Raych and Dubanqua marry and have two daughters, Wanda and Bellis. Raych emigrates from Trantor to the planet Santanni, and is killed fighting anti-Imperial rebels. • '''' is the daughter of Raych Seldon and Manella Dubanqua. In Forward the Foundation'', 12-year-old Wanda finds an error in one of the equations generated by Yugo Amaryl's Prime Radiant. Amaryl soon realizes that she is not a mathematical prodigy, but instead possesses nascent mentalic ability which she unknowingly used to read his mind and pick up on his subconscious sense that the formula was wrong. This leads to a revival of Seldon and Amaryl's plan to create a Second Foundation made up of Mentalics. • '''' is a political rival to Salvor Hardin, introduced in Foundation'' in the story "The Mayors". Sermak's Actionist party proposes that the Foundation takes direct action against Anacreon and the three other local kingdoms instead of Hardin's subtle method of technology trade and scientism. After Hardin's methods save the Foundation from the crisis, Sermak concedes that Hardin was correct all along. Years after Hardin relinquishes power as mayor, Sermak succeeds him. :Sermak is voiced by John Samson in episode two "The Mayors" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. Sermak is portrayed by Oliver Chris in season two of the 2021 television series adaptation Foundation. Director Sermak is the leader of the Foundation, and he and his husband Pater are the fathers of Brother Constant. • '''''' is the First Citizen and ruler of Kalgan, 55 years after the Mule's death of natural causes, in the Second Foundation story "Part II: Search by the Foundation". He believes that the Mule's actions have made the Seldon Plan irrelevant, and declares war upon the Foundation. Stettin intends to usurp their role in the formation of the Second Empire, and is unconcerned by the possible intervention of the Second Foundation. He prepares a full-scale invasion of the original Foundation on Terminus, but is handily defeated, in part because the Second Foundation has used their psychic abilities to reduce the morale of his troops while boosting the Foundation's. It is also later revealed that Lady Callia is a Second Foundation agent who manipulated Stettin into declaring war so that he would lose. :Stettin is voiced by Peter Pratt in episode eight "Star's End" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. • '''' is the secretary to the Mayor of Terminus in the Foundation'' story "The Merchant Princes". As the real power behind the Mayor, he is threatened by the rising political power of Master Trader Hober Mallow. Sutt sends Mallow on an investigative mission accompanied by his spy, Jaim Twer, and later has him tried for murder. When Mallow is exonerated and named Mayor, he arrests Sutt and his accomplices. :Wimmer and Wilkins described "scheming Terminus politico" Sutt's plan as "subtly worse than anything we've seen before—he wants to turn the science-based clergy against the Foundation, leading the combined might of the Four Kingdoms against all his enemies on Terminus, and then in turn he will start conquering the rest of the galaxy ... he's actually trying to pervert the Seldon Plan to his own ends." :Sutt is voiced by Anthony Jackson in episode three "The Merchant Princes" of the 1973 radio adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. == Introduced in the TV series ==