It was the moment of truth. A genius mathematician from Helicon stood in front of the tribunal of Cleon XII. Hari Seldon was as unshakable as the firm foundation itself, and his authoritative voice predicted a future that shook the entire Galactic Empire. As we enter the world of Apple’s Epic space saga, Hari, a pioneer in the area of psychohistory, lays out the possibility that the Imperium will crumble into ruins within the next five centuries. That was the moment of truth no one had prepared for.
Spoilers Alert
The Empire Will Fall
Hari’s predictions instilled a sense of fear in the minds of the Cleon dynasty, which had established its order for the past 12,000 years. Hari assured them that a period of barbarism was inevitable. The best they could do was shorten the age of darkness that would follow. But the perfect clones of Cleon were too proud to accept the predictions of a common human. They exiled Hari and his young protege, Gaal Dornick, to an uninhabited planet named Terminus, located in the outer reach. The Cleon dynasty believed that Hari would be away from the general population and, therefore, wouldn’t be able to infect their minds. But the Cleons were unaware that the damage had already been done. Hari was never the problem. It was these perfect clones of the Empire who were disrupting the course of nature, and their fall was inevitable. The only question was, When?
The Exile
Surprisingly, Hari had predicted his exile as well. He took a band of devoted followers and boarded a slow spaceship called the “Deliverance” to lay the foundation of “The Encyclopedia Galactica” on Terminus so that those who would survive the dark ages wouldn’t have to start anew. They will have the knowledge and stories of their ancestors that will help them rebuild. But there’s a catch. Hari’s predictive model was based on the behavior of a very large population. The downside of psychohistory is that it cannot accurately predict the fate or behavior of one individual. And that is where things got complicated.
The Disruption In The Pattern
Hari had predicted that Gaal Dornick would lead the first foundation on Terminus after his death. He had also predicted that he would be executed by the Empire after he made such big claims about the fall. But then, an individual stepped in. Gaal lied to the Empire, saying that the fall would be accelerated if they killed Hari. The genius mathematician had not predicted this outcome. But he didn’t try to stop Gaal because he wanted to live. He was diagnosed with Lethe syndrome and would have died sooner or later. However, like any other human being, Hari wanted to see his dream come true, to see the followers of the foundation embarking on a journey that is going to set the course of the future. But then reality struck, and Hari realized that for the success of the foundation, he had to die.
On Deliverance, Hari found out that Raych Foss and Gaal had fallen in love. It was again a branch that was not going according to his plan, and thus, he orchestrated his own death. He commanded Raych to stab him and leave the Deliverance to board a ship called the Raven that was bound to his home planet, Helicon, where Hari had set up a second foundation. Hari wanted to separate Raych and Gaal so that Gaal would lead the first foundation on Terminus, and her story would end there. But things didn’t go as planned. Instead of going himself, Raych sent Gaal to the ship bound for Helicon. Meanwhile, Raych was executed for killing Hari. In simpler words, Hari’s predictions forecasted the behavior of an entire population but failed to predict individual behavior. He followed the pattern set up by humans’ daily actions. Gaal, on the other hand, had some intuitive powers that broke the pattern and disrupted Hari’s predicted course of actions.
The Vault
On Terminus, things went according to plan, not in exact terms, but somewhat broadly. Hari had instructed his followers to send his specially designed casket into space. The casket eventually turned into a protective vault that safeguarded Hari’s consciousness and ended up on Terminus way before Deliverance arrived on the planet. The Vault was protected by an invisible null field that didn’t allow any living being to come near it except for one person, and that was Salvor Hardin. Hari designed the Vault in such a way that it could be opened by only one person, and that was Gaal. Genetically, Salvor was the daughter of Raych and Gaal, and therefore, she was unaffected by the null field. In the end, Salvor opened the Vault the way Gaal was meant to do it. Hari’s predictions had been fulfilled, but not in the way that he had expected.
As Hari’s digital consciousness walked out of the Vault, he told the gathered parties that the purpose of the foundation had never been to curate knowledge but to curate people. Hari wanted his followers to plant the seed of a new civilization, one that promoted unity among people instead of dividing them like the Empire. It was the Empire that had turned the Anacreons (derived from the word anarchism) and Thespins into sworn enemies because Cleon II feared the alliance of the outer reach kingdoms. So what was Hari’s plan again? He wanted Anacreons, Thespins and the members of the foundation, to work together and build more imperial warships like the Invictus so that they could arm themselves against an inevitable war with the Galactic Empire.
The Damage Has Already Been Done
The Cleon dynasty, on the other hand, had already been infiltrated by the rebels, who had adulterated the source, because of which the clones were no longer perfect copies of Cleon 1. Cleon 13, the current Day, has been going through an existential crisis as he found out that the clones didn’t possess any souls, and Hari’s predictions could be true. The adulteration sowed a seed of doubt in the minds of the Cleons and that would perhaps become the reason for their downfall. While the foundation successfully dealt with its first crisis, for the Cleon dynasty, it was just the beginning of the fall.
Season 2 Trailer And Predictions
The trailer for the second season begins with Cleon saying, “This is an age of darkness.” As per the books, the foundation and the Empire are going to wage war against each other—a war that wouldn’t end in the foundation’s favor. Perhaps that was the reason Hari had created a second one. Nevertheless, Hari Seldon does bring a sense of hope when he says that they will win if there is a war.
In the entire runtime of the trailer, we find Brother Day trying to capture the foundation (probably on Terminus). Earlier, Anacreons had created a megaflare through Invictus to make the Empire believe that life on the outer reach had perished. But maybe, Brother Day will find out about its existence and arrive at Terminus with his battleship to take control of their planet, as he believes it rightly belongs to the Galactic Empire.
Gaal and Salvor, on the other hand, are on Synnax. After Salvor found out about her biological mother, she embarked on a journey to find her and ended up there. Earlier, Gaal had programmed her pod for her home planet because she wanted to meet her parents. Gaal wanted to believe that her visions and calculations about her planet’s destruction were wrong, but as she arrived, all she saw was water, which implied that the inhabitants had died. However, she did find Salvor’s spaceship underwater and rescued her from the pod, only to find out that she was her daughter. The trailer explores their journey to leave the planet and join the fight against the Empire.
The clip also explores Gaal and her daughter’s intuitive powers, because of which they are able to predict events in the near future. Hari was unaware of Gaal’s supernatural abilities and, therefore, never took them into consideration while creating his predictive model. It was because of these abilities that Gaal broke the pattern that Hari had predicted. Perhaps we will learn more about her powers and their origins in the second season. In the trailer, we think we saw Gaal with more supernatural powers than before, but it is impossible to say this with certainty.
The description in the trailer suggests the rise of a vengeful queen. The woman mentioned may have been harmed by the Empire, or the Cleons may have executed her family, and she therefore swore to take revenge. The description note also introduces a colony of Mentalics who have the ability to alter Hari’s predictions. It is still unknown whether these Mentalics will form an alliance with the foundation or the Empire. Their inclination will have an impact on the upcoming war, and therefore, Gaal and Salvor will have to diplomatically bring them to their side. We witness other characters and creatures in the trailer, which implies that the creators of the series are going to bring stories from other planets. It is evident from the clip that Gaal Dornick is going to play an important role in the events to come. Her character doesn’t follow the books, but we do not know if it is better or worse. Perhaps we will find out soon.
