Foundation and Empire

Did You Know?

• The story 'Dead Hand' (later retitled 'The General') was second among novellas nominated for a retrospective 1946 Hugo Award, losing to Animal Farm by George Orwell.
• In Foundation's Edge, Asimov wrote that the Mule had been a rogue member of the planet/society Gaia.

Plot summary

General Bel Riose of the Galactic Empire governs the planet Siwenna. He encounters myths about the Foundation and forces Ducem Barr, a Siwennian whose father met the Foundation trader Hober Mallow, to help him investigate. Riose concludes the Foundation threatens the Empire and declares war, seeking both duty and personal glory. Barr, versed in Hari Seldon's psychohistory, believes the Foundation will inevitably win.

Riose captures trader Lathan Devers, who secretly plans to disrupt Riose's operations. Devers meets Ammel Brodrig, Emperor Cleon II's Privy Secretary, and tries to implicate Riose in a conspiracy to overthrow Cleon. Brodrig betrays Devers to Riose, but Barr knocks out Riose, allowing Devers and Barr to escape. They head to Trantor to turn Cleon against Riose but are caught bribing officials and flee.

They intercept news of Riose and Brodrig's recall and execution for treason, leading to Siwenna's rebellion and the end of the threat to the Foundation.

Characters

The Foundation faces two major threats. Bel Riose, modeled on the Roman general Belisarius, is the last powerful general to try conquering the Foundation. He holds Ducem Barr, a Siwennian patrician and son of Onum Barr, as a hostage. Lathan Devers, a trader, spies on Riose. Emperor Cleon II, based on Justinian I, is the last strong ruler before Trantor’s Great Sack, aided by his Privy Secretary Ammel Brodrig. Later, the Mule, a mutant, captures the Foundation, having disguised himself as Magnifico Giganticus, a supposed escaped clown. Toran and Bayta Darell, a married couple from Haven and the Foundation, encounter him. Captain Han Pritcher, a Foundation agent, first recognizes the Mule’s power. Mayor Indbur III leads the Foundation during the conquest. Psychologist Ebling Mis finds the Second Foundation’s location. Dagobert IX is a late emperor on Neotrantor.

Reception

Groff Conklin described Foundation and Empire as fine swashbuckling galactic adventure based on hard-headed, scientific social-political thinking. Boucher and McComas panned the volume, stating that anyone familiar with Gibbon, Breasted, or Prescott would find no new concepts except the incomprehensible ones in Asimov's psychohistory. Parts of the novel originally published in Astounding Science Fiction were later retroactively nominated for Retro-Hugo Awards. The Mule won the 1946 Retro-Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1996. The Foundation trilogy, of which this is the second book, won a Hugo Award in 1966 for Best All-Time Series.