Mule (Foundation)
The Mule is a male literary character who features in Foundation.
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Biography
Mule was a male human mentalic who was from the planet Gaia. His real name was unknown with many details of his early life being mere conjecture. In 12,067 GE, his rise was predicted by Hari Seldon following the rise a similar figure, twisted Mentalic Vara Liso. Born on the mentalic planet Gaia within Sayshell Sector in 268 FE, where he was regarded as a criminal for his willingness to use his mental powers to manipulate people. By some means he managed to escape the planet at a young age and use the innate powers of its inhabitants against the Galaxy. Motivated by awareness of his abnormal appearance and hatred against the galaxy, the Mule used his extensive powers to rise to power: first conquering a pirate's asteroid base in , an industrialist later gave him control of a planet. From there he managed to take over the planet Kalgan by converting the then warlord of Kalgan in 295 FE. This gave him the possibility of conquering the First Foundation, but he needed allies for this, so he decided to disguise himself as a clown, claiming to be his own jester, in order to seek the agents the Foundation would sent to investigate him. This allowed him to meet Han Pritcher, but the first to encounter him were Toran and Bayta Darell, whom he encountered and joined in their travels in 296 FE. This, at the same time, allowed him to have Kalgan declare war on the First Foundation, conquering both it and the Independent Traders' planets. His attempts to find the Second Foundation through manipulation of Ebling Mis, though, ended up being stymied in the last second thanks to Bayta, who had realized who he was and killed Mis before he could speak up. The Mule ended up leaving, allowing the Darells to go untouched on the basis of their friendship.
It was after the fall of the First Foundation that the constructive aspects of the Mule's regime took shape. After the definitive break-up of the first Galactic Empire, it was he who first presented history with a unified volume of space truly imperial in scope. The earlier commercial empire of the fallen Foundation had been diverse and loosely knit, despite the impalpable backing of the predictions of Psychohistory. It was not to be compared with the tightly controlled Union of Worlds under the Mule, particularly during the era of the so-called Search. The Mule established his empire incrementally, using past conquests to aid new ones: first by mentally converting a pirate band to his allegiance, then a whole planet, then the militarily powerful kingdom of Kalgan, which he obtains by mentally converting the warlord of the planet Kalgan, and then the Foundation. The Mule sets up his own short-lived Galactic Empire, the "Union of Worlds", styling himself "First Citizen of the Union" and making Kalgan its capital planet. Leading up to, during, and for a good time after the Mule's conquest of the Foundation and its trade confederacy, almost no one ever actually sees the Mule or knows what he looks like.
The Foundation, after the death of the Empire, is the sole supplier of nuclear weaponry in the galaxy, and using this asset the Mule begins rapidly conquering surrounding territories, all of which lack nuclear power, sweeping aside the remnants of the Galactic Empire centered on Neotrantor.
The Mule's conquest is amazingly fast: he defeats the Foundation and establishes the Union of Worlds after only five years. Then, just as suddenly, and seemingly randomly, he stops his advance and settles into a five-year period of consolidation. This is actually because the Mule fears the mysterious Second Foundation, which is rumoured to be capable of defeating a mentalic individual like himself. According to a hint given by Hari Seldon, the Second Foundation was founded at "the opposite end of the galaxy" from the First Foundation, which was itself founded on the distant galactic rim planet Terminus. However, the true location of the Second Foundation is a total mystery and popular sentiment is that it does not exist. Nevertheless, the Mule launches repeated expeditions in search of the Second Foundation during this period of consolidation.
These expeditions, particularly the last, led by Han Pritcher and Bail Channis, are very nearly successful. Ultimately, however, the Second Foundation succeeds in defeating the Mule, transforming him into a relatively harmless individual lacking ambition, and ending his threat to the Seldon Plan.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, the Mule was considered a freak by most people who gazed upon him. His nose was incredibly long, sticking out over three inches from his face. The flesh of the rest of the Mule's face seems stretched across his skull. The Mule's body was spindly and gangly: he weighed only 100 to 120 pounds (45 to 54 kg), stretched out across a 5'8" frame. Thus his joints, such as elbows, seemed to jut out from his diminutive musculature. The Mule's meagerness was glandular and could not be compensated for. Further, the Mule's limbs met at awkward angles, giving the general impression of a scarecrow assembled poorly. It was said that one could not look at the Mule without derision. The only aspect of the Mule which was not blatantly farcical were his eyes, which were described as deep brown and perpetually sad.
He came to be regarded as one of the greatest conquerors the galaxy.
Powers and abilities
The Mule was born a powerful mentalic mutant who had the ability to reach into the minds of others and 'adjust' their emotions, individually or en masse, using this capability to conscript individuals to his cause. Not direct mind-control per se, it is a subtle influence of the subconscious; individuals under the Mule's influence behave otherwise normally - logic, memories, and personality intact. This gives the Mule the capacity to disrupt Seldon's plan by invalidating Seldon's assumption that no single individual could have a measurable effect on galactic socio-historical trends on their own, due to the plan relying on the predictability of the actions of very large numbers of people.
Notes
- The Mule was created by Isaac Asimov where he featured in the setting of the Foundation universe.
In other media
Television
Appearances
- Foundation and Empire:
External Links
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