Foundation and Empire
The first half of the book, titled
The General, tells how the
Galactic Empire, now well into its collapse, launches an attack against the
Foundation. They are led by General
Bel Riose. The Empire, though a wreck of its former self, is still partially alive and has far more resources than the Foundation.
Lathan Devers, a Foundation agent, allows himself to be captured by Riose and tells him about the Foundation: how it's supposedly protected by the dead hand of Hari Seldon, how its technology surpasses anything else in the Empire. Riose asks the Emperor for way more reinforcements than he could possibly need, so he can guarantee victory over the Foundation. He also rejects the Foundation's offer of "You stop invading us and we'll pay you a wad of money." Devers intercepts a message that summarizes the General's doings and escapes to
Trantor, trying to see the Emperor and show him the message. He fails and is nearly killed, but the Emperor finds out anyway. Essentially, the Emperor decides that Riose is too dangerous (Refusing bribes? Highly suspicious. Taking that many reinforcements? And he's popular enough that he could easily turn them against the Empire and carve out his own territory.) and has him tried and executed.
This was the psychohistorical defense: Under a weak Emperor, an upstart general would have much better things to conquer than a group of planets on the edge of the Galaxy. A strong Emperor, on the other hand, is one that allows no one else to become too powerful; he would get rid of a general like Riose, as just happened. And if the Emperor and the general are the same person, then someone will take over while the Emperor is off conquering the Foundation. In all cases, the Foundation is invulnerable.
The characters of Emperor Cleon II and Bel Riose in this story are based around those of the historical Roman Emperor
Justinian I and his general
Belisarius, the story of whom was familiar to Asimov from his recent reading of
Robert Graves's novel
Count Belisarius.
The second half of the book, titled
The Mule, takes place about a hundred years after the first half. The Empire has ceased to exist in name as well as in fact, Trantor having been sacked by a "barbarian fleet". The Foundation has become the dominant power in the galaxy, controlling its region through its trading network. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Foundation has become degenerate: the Mayor of Terminus is the ineffectual successor to a strongman who seized power and instituted hereditary rule.
In addition to this internal corruption, an external threat arises in the form of a mysterious man who is known only as the
Mule. The Mule (whose real name is never revealed) is a mental freak and possesses the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others. He uses this ability to take over the independent systems bordering the Foundation, and has them wage a war against the Foundation.
While his vassals prosecute the war, the Mule travels under the guise of a refugee
clown named Magnifico Giganticus with Foundation citizens Toran and Bayta Darrell to different worlds of the Foundation. He uses his abilities to undermine the Foundation's war effort by spreading despair and destroying morale. In the end, the Foundation falls without much of a fight.
Still under the guise of a refugee clown, he travels with the Darrells, along with
psychologist Ebling Mis, to the Great Library of
Trantor. The Darrells and Mis seek to contact the
Second Foundation, which they believe will be able to defeat the Mule. The Mule, on the other hand, wishes to know the location of the Second Foundation so that he can use the First Foundation's technology to destroy it.
While at the Great
Library, the Mule surreptitiously stimulates Ebling Mis's mind, allowing him to make powerful insights. Unfortunately for Mis, the Mule's actions cause his health to deteriorate very quickly. As Mis lies dying, he tells Toran, Bayta, and the Mule that he knows where the Second Foundation is. Just before he reveals the Second Foundation's location, however, Bayta kills him. (Bayta had shortly before realized that the renegade clown was actually the Mule and killed Mis to prevent him from revealing the Second Foundation's whereabouts to the Mule.) Defeated, the Mule leaves the Darrells on Trantor to go and reign over the Foundation and the rest of his new empire.
*
Bel Riose, the last strong general who attempted to capture the Foundation
*
Ducem Barr, Siwennian patrician and hostage of Riose
*
Lathan Devers, trader sent to spy on Riose
*
Emperor Cleon II, the last strong emperor before the sack of
Trantor*
Brodrig, Cleon II's Privy Secretary
*
The Mule, mutant who captures the Foundation and attempts to establish a Second Empire
*
Toran and Bayta Darrell, the Mule's companions
*
Han Pritcher, intelligence agent for the Foundation and first to recognise the power of the Mule
*
Mayor Indbur III, mayor of the Foundation during the Mule's conquest
*
Ebling Mis, psychologist who discovered the location of the Second Foundation
This novel is very closely tied into
Second Foundation, which tells the rest of the Mule's story.
We learn in
Foundation's Edge that the Mule was a rogue member of the planet/society
Gaia.
