Possessed of strange powers, the Mule may not be human, but his military victories cause a fifth Seldon Crisis and call into question the accuracy of psychohistory.įoundation leaders refuse to believe that anyone can defeat them: The Seldon Plan, they declare, makes their work foolproof. A mysterious military figure, the Mule, arises to threaten the Foundation and the Trader planets.

The Foundation thus escapes the latest Seldon Crisis and barely lifts a finger to do so, fulfilling Seldon’s psychohistorical predictions.Įighty years later, the Foundation has vastly increased its control over the remains of the Empire, but it also has deteriorated into the very tyranny it sought to expel. The Emperor, suspicious of such success, has them arrested for treason and executed. Riose and Brodrig’s efforts prove so successful that the Foundation teeters on the edge of conquest. Brodrig promptly allies himself with Riose and provides the general with much-needed reinforcements. Devers claims the Foundation can transmute ordinary metals into precious ones, and that once Riose controls the Foundation, he can conquer the Empire. Imperial secretary Brodrig questions Devers, on whom Psychic Probes fail to work instead, Brodrig simply bribes him to reveal the true nature of the Foundation. He seems uninvolved in Foundation affairs, but privately he allies himself with Barr. Undaunted, he encircles Foundation territory with carefully placed garrisons. Riose requests reinforcements, which the emperor denies. Its leaders realize that this is a crisis predicted by Hari Seldon. Riose probes the Foundation for weaknesses. Along with a sister organization at the far end of the galaxy, the two Foundations are meant to stitch civilization back together, preserving high technology and shortening the barbarism to a mere thousand years. The amazing device was brought to Siwenna decades earlier by a mysterious trader.īarr’s research shows that a Foundation was established centuries in the past by psychohistorian Hari Seldon, whose work predicted the collapse of the Empire and a 30,000-year dark age. Barr, who hates the Empire but whose family is under threat from Riose, shows the general a walnut-sized force-field generator. Imperial general Bel Riose visits scholar Ducem Barr on the distant planet Siwenna, searching for information about the mythical magicians of the equally mythical Foundation.

The ebook edition of the 2004 Del Rey/Random House reprint of Foundation and Empire forms the basis for this study guide.

Isaac asimov foundation and empire