WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Foundation season 2, episode 4.
Summary
- Foundation season 2, episode 4 reveals that Hari Seldon’s Vault is more powerful than previously known, able to manipulate matter and create things.
- The Foundation has entered its religious phase, where the teachings of Seldon are treated as divine and propagated as a new religion.
- Hari Seldon needs Hober Mallow for his plan to postpone the war between the Foundation and the Empire.
Foundation season 2, episode 4 answered some burning questions and teased the Empire’s war against the Foundation. After an episode almost entirely centered on Gaal Dornic, Salvor Hardin, and the Prime Radiant’s Hari Seldon, Foundation season 2 shifted its focus to Trentor and Terminus. With Hober Mallow now brought in front of the Vault, Foundation finally revealed why Hari Seldon needed this master trader for his plan. At the same time, the political maneuvers happening in Trentor hint at the Empire’s instability ahead of a potential war against the Foundation.
Foundation’s Hari Seldon has a real body now, at the least the one who was previously inside the Prime Radiant. This version of Seldon, as well as Gaal and Salvor, was absent from Foundation season 2, episode 4. Instead, “Where the Stars Are Scattered Thinly” focused on the Vault’s version of Hari Seldon and what his plans are now that the Foundation has entered its religious phase. Here is a breakdown of Foundation season 2, episode 4, and how it sets up the remaining Foundation episodes.
7 Hari Seldon’s Vault In Foundation Is More Powerful Than Anyone Knew
Foundation’s Vault is significantly different from its book counterpart. In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, the Time Vault was nothing but a room in which prerecorded holographic messages of Hari Seldon would be played for those living in Terminus. While Seldon’s Psychohistory made it so that these prerecorded messages almost felt like they were happening in real-time, no sort of A.I. or conscious simulacrum was involved. The messages were just messages. In the Foundation show, Hari Seldon’s consciousness became the Vault and can actually interact with the world around it. Now, Foundation season 2 reveals that the Vault can also manipulate matter and create an entire world inside of it.
6 What The Foundation’s Religious Phase Is
Hari Seldon’s consciousness, the one who speaks through the Vault, mentioned the Foundation’s “religious phase.” In Asimov’s Foundation novel, the Foundation’s religious phase is the third step in Seldon’s plan for humanity’s future. After convincing the Empire to send the Psychohistorians to Terminus, which was followed by the consolidation of the Foundation guided by the Encyclopedists, Seldon knew that the Foundation would eventually enter a religious phase. More specifically, the peripheral worlds located close to Terminus at the edge of the galaxy would begin to perceive the Foundation’s advanced technology as something that required a divine explanation. This would become known as the Foundation’s Scientism.
Those leading the Foundation saw this as an opportunity to propagate Hari Seldon’s plans through a new religion, which is sometimes referred to as the Church of Seldon. With Hari Seldon dead and the Foundation’s technology perceived as something magical or ethereal, Terminus became the center of a religion in which the teachings of Seldon should now be treated as the words of a prophet. This is why Foundation’s Brother Constant and Brother Poly Verisof travel across the galaxy as Foundation’s priests. During its religious phase, the Foundation brought several planets into its domain, which Empire is beginning to notice.
5 Why Hari Seldon Needs Hober Mallow In Foundation Explained
Foundation season 2, episode 2 namedropped Hober Mallow and teased his importance to Hari Seldon’s plan. Now, Foundation season 2, episode 4 confirms why Seldon needs Hober Mallow. In Asimov’s Foundation, Hober Mallow’s story only comes into play after the Second Seldon Crisis was resolved. The Foundation’s religious phase had been happening for decades already, and Seldon’s plan predicted that a new approach would be necessary. Hober Mallow, described as a master trader, was sent on behalf of the Foundation to craft deals for Terminus using commerce, not religion. Mallow was not a fan of the Foundation’s Scientism and only represented the Foundation due to his business interests.
Foundation season 2’s Hober Mallow is playing a similar role, although the chronology of events is very different from the original Foundation book already. The Foundation’s religious phase has only recently begun and Foundation‘s Second Crisis is still happening, but Seldon is already recruiting Mallow due to his merchant skills. Seldon’s Vault consciousness is connected to the one who is with Gaal and Salvor, which is why the Vault knew about Hober Mallow from Gaal’s visions. Psychohistory does not account for the actions of individuals, but Foundation’s Hari Seldon is having a far more direct influence on the events of the show compared to the books.
4 Did Cleon Kill Queen Sareth Of Cloud Dominion’s Family? Why She Suspects Day
Foundation’s Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion is expected to marry Cleon XVII in an unprecedented event for the Empire. However, Queen Sareth suspects that Brother Day is the one who had her entire family killed. Sareth was the last person in her Dominion’s line of succession, yet she became queen after her entire family died. Sareth was the only person in this line of succession who would ever consider marrying Empire, which is why she thinks Brother Day killed her family. With Sareth becoming Queen, Empire would have the powerful, strategic marriage he desperately needed. Whether Brother Day killed Queen Sareth’s family is unclear, but she is investigating Empire.
3 Brother Dawn & Queen Sareth Like Each Other: Will They Betray Day?
Foundation has been hitting at a relationship between Brother Dawn and Queen Sareth since they first met in Foundation season 2’s premiere. Sareth seems much more comfortable with Dawn than with Day, and she has used this proximity with the younger Empire to investigate her soon-to-be husband. Sareth questioned why they would not marry her with Dawn, since they seem to like each other more than Day likes her. Day’s proposal of marriage is completely political, especially because he is currently in a relationship with Demerzel. The tension between the three Cleons is always a highlight of Foundation, and there will surely be more of Dawn and Sareth’s story together.
2 Why Cleon’s Marriage To Queen Sareth Is So Important
Cleon XVII’s potential marriage with Queen Sareth was the focus of Foundation season 2, episode 4, which confirmed that not many people are happy with this alliance. In fact, Queen Sareth herself is not happy with the marriage and seems more interested in finding the truth about who killed her family. The biggest advocates for this marriage are Empire himself and Rue, Queen Sareth’s enjoiner. Empire is aware that its Genetic Dynasty has been compromised hundreds of years ago, meaning that there is no reason to continue it. As a result, Cleon XVII, the current Brother Day, wants to have an actual heir and end the Genetic Dynasty.
1 Bel Riose’s Mission In Sivvena Teases The Empire vs. Foundation War
Bel Riose was recruited by Demenzel in Foundation season 2, episode 3. Described as the Galactic Empire’s most effective commander, Bel Riose led his fleet to the planet of Sivvena at the orders of Cleon. Sivvena is one of the planets that have become loyal to the Foundation thanks to the Church of Seldon, whose technology is perceived as a divine power. With the help of an Empire informant, Bel noticed that the Foundation is using relatively ordinary tech, such as an extrapolated version of Cleon’s shields, to recruit people into its Scientism.
Foundation season 2 is describing the Second Seldon Crisis as the war between the Foundation and the Empire, which is an important change from the books. In Asimov’s Foundation, the Second Crisis involved a small-scale conflict between Terminus and Anacreon, not a war between the Foundation and the Galactic Empire. In the show, the Empire has already become aware of the threat Hari Seldon’s Foundation represents. The Foundation is essentially creating a new Empire with Terminus as its capital and the Church of Seldon as its religion. With Bel Riose investigating the Foundation’s impact on other peripheral planets, a war between the Foundation and Empire is now closer than ever.
Episodes of Foundation release Fridays on Apple TV+.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
