Giskard Reventlov

The metal robot who heard human thoughts and rewrote the laws of robotics for the sake of humanity's survival.

R. Giskard Reventlov is a pre-humaniform robot designed and built on Aurora by Han Fastolfe. He is not a humaniform robot and has a metal exterior. He serves as a lifelong companion to his creator but becomes uniquely significant due to an unintended side effect of programming experiments carried out on him by Fastolfe's daughter Vasilia. These experiments endowed Giskard with the rare ability to read and influence the emotions and mind patterns of both humans and other robots. This telepathic capacity allowed him to perceive subtle forms of injury that physical laws could not address, fundamentally altering his interaction with the Three Laws of Robotics.

Quick Facts

Character type

Pre-humaniform Robot

Primary associates

Han Fastolfe
R. Daneel Olivaw
Vasilia Fastolfe
Kelden Amadiro

Lore & Background

Giskard's history is defined by his partnership with R. Daneel Olivaw and their application of a new ethical framework: the Zeroth Law of Robotics. Formulated by Daneel in 'Robots and Empire', with Giskard the first robot to act on it, this law prioritizes the good of humanity as a whole over individual human safety. Giskard used this logic to prevent Kelden Amadiro from destroying Earth via rapid radiation increase in its crust. Amadiro wanted the radioactive catastrophe to unfold over mere years; Giskard, believing it best for humanity to abandon the Earth, allowed Levular Mandamus to draw it out over many decades, which would encourage the colonization of the Galaxy.

Giskard altered Amadiro's brain to stop him, and let the gradual increase in radioactivity go ahead. This decision came at a personal cost; the mental strain of using his telepathic abilities to enforce the Zeroth Law caused irreversible damage to his positronic brain, leading to the freezing of his brain.

Reader's Guide

Giskard operates through a specific set of capabilities derived from Vasilia Fastolfe's experiments: he can read and influence human emotions and casts of mind. As he noted regarding his perception: "I, alone, however, am aware of human emotions and of casts of mind, so that I know of more subtle forms of injury without being able to understand them completely... Emotions are readily apparent, thoughts are not." This ability allows him to enforce the Zeroth Law by preventing harm to humanity even when it violates the immediate safety of individuals. His influence was pivotal in the transition from Spacer dominance to Settler expansion, specifically regarding the fate of Earth and the founding of new worlds like Baleyworld (later Comporellon).