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Characters from the 2021 series Foundation. For tropes specific to the books, see Foundation Series.


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The Foundation

     Faction tropes 

A group of idealists gathered by Hari Seldon to curate the knowledge of the Empire, so that it is not lost and the dark ages after the fall become shorter.


  • Faking the Dead: In the first season finale, the entire Foundation does this, using the Invictus to fake a mega solar flare destroying Terminus, counting on the Empire not bothering to check what they believe is a dead planet, allowing the Foundation and its new Anacreon and Thespian allies time to start building a new nation.
    • Happens again in the second season finale, Hari always planned for Terminus to be destroyed in the conflict with the Empire, so the vault could serve as a shelter for the Foundation's members during the planet's destruction.
  • Fling a Light into the Future: The stated purpose of the Foundation is to record and spread knowledge and technology from the Imperial era into the future after the fall, to shorten it. The Hari Seldon AI in the Vault clarifies he was actually curating people, namely the people of the Foundation, so that those with the knowledge and skill would be in place to unite Anacreon and Thespis and build a new civilization in the outer rim.
  • The Smart Guy: The people in the Foundation are all either skilled in unique technologies, or got significant training to survive on Terminus. This catches the eye of Phara.
  • Lethal Lava Land: There are geothermal vents and lava flows beneath the surface, they make mining accidents common and explosive charges can sink entire plateaus.

Original members

     Hari Seldon 

Hari Seldon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_212039_1.png
Played by: Jared Harris

"This is not the first crisis the Foundation will face, and it won't be the last."

A radical mathematician at the university in Trantor, Hari created Psychohistory which has drawn the attention of the Empire since it predicts their fall.


  • Abusive Parents: His father routinely beat him and degraded him.
  • And I Must Scream: The copy of his consciousness originally stored above the Raven and then transferred to the Prime Radiant by Gaal was conscious for the entire 138 year trip to Synnax. Needless to say, he's extremely pissed and a bit loopy once he finally gets out.
  • Back from the Dead: In Season 2, much to his own surprise, the copy of his consciousness that was stored aboard Gaal's ship is implanted into a clone of his original body, created by the Prime Radiant.
    • And again in "Long Ago, Not Far Away," after being drowned by Tellem Bond in "Why The Gods Made Wine." Subverted however since he didn't actually die, thanks to Gaal's intervention, and only was made to appear to have died to fool Tellem into thinking he had died.
  • Batman Gambit: Played with. Seldon's mathematics can accurately predict how large groups of people will react, but can't account for the actions of single individuals. So he can be fairly sure how the Empire and its vast bureaucracy will react to him and his movement, but can only make educated guesses on how Brother Day (Cleon XII) will personally react. Seldon correctly manipulates the big picture so his Foundation is exiled to Terminus, but is surprised when Brother Day (Cleon XII) does not have Seldon executed.
  • Big Good: For the Foundation and the series as a whole. His leadership martyrdom, and reappearance as the Vault grants him an almost godlike status among his followers, and he's the biggest opposition to the Genetic Dynasty.
  • Bond One-Liner: Delivers one of these after killing an unsuspecting Tellem Bond.
    "I never liked her."
  • Brain Uploading: Hari has his consciousness digitized and uploaded to the backup ship that Gaal ends up on, allowing him to continue working even after his body dies, specifically to build a Second Foundation. It later turns out that a second copy exists inside the Vault, which was formed from his coffin, in order to guide the Foundation through its crises.
  • Broken Pedestal: Hari becomes one for Gaal after she wakes up on the Raven and she learns what really happened the night she saw Raych "kill" him. It's what leads her to trap him in the Prime Radiant as in her own words, "she couldn't separate the math from the man" and while they do work together in season 2, their relationship is notably cooler.
    • Rebuilt Pedestal: That being said, the group's conflict with Tellem Bond ultimately rebuilds Gaal's trust in Seldon, and their concentrated effort to conceal their motives while concealing the fact that Hari is still alive makes this very evident.
    • In a scene that was scripted but cut for budget reasons, the Vault copy of Hari became a Broken Pedestal for Poly Verisof.
      Vault Hari: I told you, for a god to be effective, he needs to be many things—
      Poly: But you're not a god! And yet you killed someone on purpose, just to prove we should never get too comfortable. Know who that reminds me of? The very tyrant whom this whole thing is meant to oppose. <...> I still believe in the Foundation. And in the Galactic Spirit. I just don't believe in you.
  • The Chessmaster: Seldon, of a lighter variety. To execute his Plan to save the Galaxy, he must account for quite a bit of hardship and suffering on the part of his followers. Everything that threatens the Plan gets mercilessly thrown out of the airlock, as poor Gaal and Raych have to learn when Seldon calculates that their being together poses a danger to the Plan. Granted, Seldon is visibly saddened by the sacrifices he needs to demand, and he is just as merciless to himself.
  • Clock King: Seldon insists Psychohistory fails at predicting individual actions, but personally seems to favor manipulating people based on their routines. When attempting to stage his death as a murder, he mentions that he'd been counting on Gaal swimming exactly 40 laps in the ship's pool at her usual time, counting primes. When she gets a sudden hunch that something is wrong, it completely throws a wrench in his plans.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the books, Seldon passed away peacefully in his office from old age. Here, he's stabbed to death by Raych in the second episode. Or so it seems...
  • A God Am I: The Vault-Seldon AI admits to leaning into the appearance of this trope when Poly asks why he killed the Warden in such a dramatic fashion. Seldon explains that since he is seen as a god by many, including the Foundation at this point, he must act like one. Divine favour must be tempered with divine wrath. He also says that the Warden would likely have used his experience to set himself up as a messianic figure or false prophet, which would have endangered the Plan, hence why he was killed so dramatically.
  • Go Mad from the Isolation: The version of Hari's consciousness that resides in the vault reassures spectators that he did not spend the last 138 years conscious, because that would take quite the toll on his sanity. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens to the version Gaal locked in the Prime Radiant, who went a little violently crazy until he gets his feet back under him.
  • Ignored Expert: The Empire doesn't believe Hari and wants him to recant.
  • Omniscient Morality License: Downplayed heavily compared to his book counterpart. He's definitely a very moral and compassionate person at heart, it's just that the plan is his core priority, and can come off as rather cold in executing it. The Vault version of his consciousness ends up playing this role a lot more straight than his human counterpart, being a lot more willing to manipulate people and deny people crucial information that might influence their decisions, and does get a lot of flak from Poly Verisof because of this.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Seldon's predictions show his own death as a likely outcome of his actions, but he continues hoping that his sacrifice will help save human civilization. He is rather surprised that he survives his arrest and trial. So, he later arranges to have Raych kill him, in order to create a martyr for the Foundation to rally around.
  • Unwitting Pawn: The Vault-Seldon AI is one for the real Hari Seldon's Digital Ghost. Using the quantum properties of the Prime Radiant to connect them, Hari can alter what information the Vault AI has access to without the AI realizing. Thus, he ensures his counterpart only has access to the knowledge he needs to have at any given point in order to keep the Plan from being disrupted.
  • What the Hell, Hero??: Gets called out multiple times for his egotism and his sometimes callous attitude towards individual human lives, particularly by Gaal.
     Gaal Dornick 

Gaal Dornick

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_093711.png
Played by: Lou Llobell

"Once I prayed in the words of my parents, but then my world expanded, and the words fell short of my reality. I pray in a different language now."

A prodigy in mathematics from a backwater, fundamentalist planet of Synnax. She wins a mathematics competition and is thrust into the middle of a galactic controversy.


  • Cutting the Knot: How Gaal won the contest to meet and work with Hari. She applied a long-disused mathematical principle to a complex problem that Hari used to find his next protégé.
  • The Dreaded: She ends up being this to the Mule of all people. Having had multiple dreams of her imminent arrival, he's practically freaking out at the realization that she's caught up with him in time.
  • The Empath: Her being able to feel Hari's distress when Tellem attempts to drown him is what ultimately helps her save him and help the two come up with a plan to finally put a stop to Tellem and her plans.
  • Heartbroken Badass: Losing her daughter Salvor heavily takes its toll on her, but she still decides to keep fighting nonetheless, with renewed hope and assurance from Hari that her demise does indeed prove that fate can be changed.
  • The Heretic: The reason why Gaal was given such a cold farewell from her homeworld. Mathematicians and scientists are considered wicked in the eyes of her people.
    Hari: This isn't Synnax, Gaal. Curiosity isn't a crime here.
  • Ignored Expert: The Synnaxians don't believe Gaal, whom they consider a heretic, when she predicts the planet is going to be further flooded. She's eventually proven right when she arrives Late to the Tragedy.
  • Immune to Fate: Or rather, immune to psychohistory. Her ability to perceive events before they happen essentially makes it impossible for Hari to predict her actions.
  • Last of Her Kind: In season 2, Synnax having been swallowed by the rising ocean, Gaal considers herself and her biological daughter Salvor the last Synnaxians.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Episode 2 comes up with a seemingly never-ending series of excuses to show her in her underwear or swimsuit: swimming in the slow ship's pool, getting a medical examination, during a sex scene with Raych, and when she has to leave the pool in a hurry.
  • Narrator: She narrates throughout the opening and close of each episode, recounting the events of her life and which she chooses to include, highlight, and ignore.
    Season 1, Episode 2: History isn't fact. It's narrative, one carefully curated and shaped. Under the pen strokes of the right scribe, a villain becomes a hero, a lie becomes the truth.
  • Psychic Powers: She has some form or precognition or Spider-Sense towards danger and future events, making her a threat to the Foundation but an asset to the Second Foundation.
  • Spanner in the Works: The one thing that Hari's psychohistory models couldn't predict and account for was Gaal's apparent prescience causing her to act on things that haven't happened yet, like sensing that Raych is about to kill Hari and showing up in the middle of it, leading to Raych banishing her from the colony ship for her own protection instead of Hari's plan of leaving her behind to take over from the two of them.
  • Super Swimming Skills: As a Synaxian and avid swimmer, she can stay underwater for extended periods.
  • Supernaturally Young Parent: By the end of Season 1, courtesy of cryogenic freezing, she's still in her twenties and has an adult biological daughter (Salvor Hardin), who is actually older than she is.
  • Verbal Tic: She counts prime numbers to calm herself down.
  • Walking Swimsuit Scene: Gaal is swimming when she senses that Raych is about to murder Hari Seldon. She gets out of the water, pulls on a pair of pants but doesn't have the time to put on more clothes, so she is barefoot and wearing her swimsuit top during the ensuing events. She doesn't get fully dressed until she's on Seldon's ship, 38 years later.
     Raych Foss 

Raych Foss

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_205842_6.png
Played by: Alfred Enoch

A street urchin adopted by Hari Seldon and his closest ally and confidant. He and Gaal grow close but keep their relationship secret.


  • Face Death with Dignity: After getting caught by the colonists, he calmly accepts all blame for Hari's death and goes to his execution with a coded message to help Gaal when she views the recording years later.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In "Preparing To Live", Gaal stumbles upon Raych stabbing Hari as part of his Thanatos Gambit. Originally, it was planned for Raych to escape and head for Helicon, leaving Gaal in charge of the Foundation. Her interference meant she would seem like a partner in crime, so Raych instead tosses her into an escape pod, and accepts the other colonists' accusation of him murdering Hari.
  • Promoted to Love Interest: He and Gaal did not have a relationship in the book, considering Gaal's counterpart was a man and the book was released in the 1940s.
  • Super Drowning Skills: Growing up poor on Trantor the city planet, he never learned to swim.
  • Thrown Out the Airlock: How he is executed.

Terminus residents

     Salvor Hardin 

Salvor Hardin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_210139_5.png
Played by: Leah Harvey

"Repeated luck is never luck."

Warden of Terminus, she guards the perimeter from wildlife, but has been receiving strange visions she believes are from the Vault and Seldon.


  • Action Girl: A good fighter and skilled with a gun.
  • The Chosen One: Subverted, she believes her visions come from Hari Seldon, but when seen in the the last episode of Season 1, he reveals it's not the case. She eventually deduces it's because she has Psychic Powers.
  • Composite Character: She's both Salvor Hardin and Wanda Seldon, Hari's granddaughter and a powerful psychic who led the Second Foundation.
  • Creepy Loner Girl: Downplayed, she likes being Warden because it lets her be on her own, but has a love interest and is important to her community.
  • Decomposite Character: Her father Abbas resembles her book counterpart more due to her Gender Flip and Adaptational Personality Change. He's the Mayor of Terminus and delivers book-Salvor's famous mantra "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent", something show-Salvor has a hard time believing.
  • Genetic Memory: Salvor can see the memories of Gaal and Raych.
  • Psychic Powers: She can sense where Gaal will be, and arrives at Synnax before she does.
  • Screw Destiny: She invokes this trope after taking a bullet to save Gaal, since her dying at the hands of Tellem would mean that the future is not set in stone, and that she won't be able to die at the hands of the Mule.
  • Taking the Bullet: Takes a bullet intended for Gaal when the last remnants of Tellem's consciousness takes over the mind of one of the mentalics in the colony.
     Mari Hardin 

Mari Hardin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_212949.png
Played by: Sasha Behar

"Hari Seldon entrusted us with rebuilding civilization after the collapse."

Mother of Salvor Hardin, she is a member of the Foundation's Encyclopedists, codifying knowledge for preservation.


  • Fling a Light into the Future: She takes her role as encyclopedist seriously, and debates what technologies to include to help survivors of the fall of the empire.
     Lewis Pirenne 

Lewis Pirenne

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_211259_6.png
Played by: Elliot Cowan

Director of the Foundation on Terminus.


  • Blind Obedience: His faith in Seldon and the plan is so high, he discounts acting in ways that wouldn't be predicted.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In "The First Crisis", a mortally wounded Lewis Pirenne ties himself into the navigation system of the Invictus, a process that finishes the job of killing him, in order to get the ship back to Terminus.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Going by Salvor's comments, he rejected her appeals to buy weapons, expand the security force and train against attacks, all of which would have helped when Anacreon attacked.

Church of the Galactic Spirit

     Poly Verisof 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poly.png
Played by: Jairaj Varsani (season 1), Kulvinder Ghil (season 2)

The founder and High Cleric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit, which preaches psychohistory as prophecy and Hari Seldon as its prophet. By the time of season 2, he is well over a hundred years old and the last living person to have witnessed Seldon's emergence from the Vault during the First Crisis.


  • Ascended Extra: Initially a peripheral child character, he becomes a major supporting character in season 2, where he's now an old man with some modicum of authority.
  • The Alcoholic: He's usually soused, which is why Sermak is hesitant to entrust him with more responsibility. He decides to cut back after meeting Seldon again.
  • Becoming the Mask: Discussed. While the Church of the Galactic Spirit is a Scam Religion specifically created to further the Foundation's agenda, the years of serving as its High Claric seem to have made Poly a genuinely spiritual man. It doesn't help that he was first driven to lead the Church by his secular, but still fervent faith in Seldon as a person.
    Cleon XVII: See, Poly, you think you've just taken on the trappings of religion, but once you start kneeling and praying, it's hard to get back to standing and thinking.
  • High Priest: Played With. He is High Claric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit, essentially the Church's spiritual leader, but he's well aware that they're using science to pretend they're performing miracles. He mainly does it because he strongly believes in Hari Seldon and the Plan, not the "religion" he leads.
  • Long-Lived: In season 2 he's around 150 years old (albeit he's spent some of that time in stasis) and proclaims himself the last person on Terminus who saw Hari Seldon in the flesh.
     Constant 

Brother Constant is Poly's loyal disciple, as well as the daughter of Foundation Director Sermak.


The Empire

     Faction tropes 

The twelve-thousand years old galactic Empire, currently ruled by clones of the Emperor Cleon I.


  • Abusive Precursors: Cleon I, or rather the AI of him that can be called upon to advise the clones, comes off as this. When Cleon XVI and Cleon XVIII, the current Dusk and Dawn, come to ask the Cleon AI for advice, Dusk warns Dawn that if the AI begins to suspect they are no longer genetically pure, it will bring the ceiling down on their heads. It also does not give them the advice they want, saying it is only programmed to give them the advice it feels they need. It also turns out that the clones are not Cleon I's true successors, Demerzel is. They're just her puppets.
  • Alliterative Family: Brothers Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Darkness, for the stages of their lives and just before euthanasia.
  • Cloning Gambit: Every Cleon clone also has a backup in hibernation automatically receiving his memories, that would step up to replace him in case the active clone is killed or incapacitated.
  • Crystal Spires and Togas: The aesthetic of the Empire seems to be in transition to this, as the Emperors wear robes, technology is becoming more miniaturized and thus less visible, and the high society is focused more on arts and rituals than tech.
  • The Cycle of Empires: The story takes place during the Decay period — the Empire is still powerful, but its dominion and authority is crumbling due to internal corruption and external threats, which aren't helped by how Cleon XII responds to said threats with Disproportionate Retribution. Seldon outright states that the Empire is now in the inevitable descent toward collapse, and that the best that can be done is to prepare something to replace them. By the end of the second season, it seems like the decay has set in far enough for the Empire to come close to transitioning into The Long Night, having lost the vast majority of its fleet, the support of the spacers, and even all three of the Emperors, Day from dying directly as a result of the above disasters, Dusk from being killed for knowing too much, with Dawn only narrowly surviving by escaping from Trantor, and with the very possible risk of the Empire succumbing to a civil war due to the fact that the reign of the Genetic Dynasty now being challenged by the existence of a legitimate heir that would legally supercede the Cleons' claim to the throne if pressed.
  • Darkest Hour: The ending of Season 2 has the Empire at its absolute lowest point yet. Yes, Terminus is destroyed, but it's a Pyrrhic Victory at best; Seldon had already accounted and even planned for the planet's destruction. The Foundation hasn't been stopped, they've taken refuge in the Vault-ship and can now go safely deeper underground. Brother Day (Cleon XVII) is spaced, and Brother Dusk (Cleon XVI) is murdered by Demerzel after he and Enjoiner Rue discover the secret chamber under the palace. Brother Dawn (Cleon XVIII) survives, but flees Trantor with Sareth to raise their unborn child in a loving environment. Demerzel is forced to decant all three backup clones, something she admits is unprecedented in the history of the Genetic Dynasty. And finally, the fleet sent to invade the Foundation is destroyed utterly thanks to Hari and Hober's plan, costing hundreds, if not thousands of ships and far more manpower, plus the Empire's greatest military leader. The Spacers, who make interstellar travel possible (for the Empire) have turned against them as well. The only tiny sliver of hope is that Demerzel has the Prime Radiant Vault-Seldon gave her and is intent on unlocking its secrets, but given that Gaal's vision of The Mule has him refer to the Empire as a thing of the past less than two centuries from now, it's implied to not be much of an advantage in the long run.
  • Deadly Decadent Court: The Emperors enjoy the decadent part: Lavish meals, a pleasure garden of scantily clad men and women who are memory wiped after any amorous encounters, and generally enjoying the best of the best. The deadly part comes in with how they deal with threats, both real and imagined, and especially with how they deal with defective clones and traitors.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: The Imperial response to the Colony Drop when the Space Elevator is destroyed and millions die is to kill half the population of Anacreon and Thespis with Neutron bombs, leaving both radioactive cinders.
    • At the end of Season 2, after destroying Terminus, Brother Day vows that all the planets that had joined it will be destroyed as well, and makes a devastated captive Constant recite their names. Day also decides Siwenna will be destroyed too, despite the fact that Siwenna had been actively resisting attempts by the Foundation to bring their Scientism religion to it, just to twist the knife even further. Fortunately, the fleet is destroyed and Day is killed shortly afterwards, saving those planets from destruction.
  • Fantastic Honorifics: Downplayed. Rather than "Emperor", the monarchs of the Genetic Dynasty are often referred to simply as "Empire", to emphasise that they are one being, and inseparable from the realm they rule over. That said, the Empire as a political identity, meanwhile, is sometimes referred to as "Imperium" to make the distinction a bit less confusing. Among themselves, the Cleons are also referred to by their age and position within the Genetic Dynasty - Brother Dawn, Brother Day, Brother Dusk.
  • Faster-Than-Light Travel: The Empire maintains a monopoly on jumpdrives that can use higher dimensions to jump instantly from one end of the galaxy to another. Others have to use slower ships with unspecified FTL systems that can take years.
  • Just the First Citizen: Each Cleon is formally addressed as "Empire," as they are meant to be the personification of the Empire as a whole.
  • King Bob the Nth: Officially, the Brothers Dusk, Day, and Dawn at the start of the series are Emperors Cleon XI, XII, and XIII, though they're rarely ever referred to as such. In "The Mathematician's Ghost", this cycles with Brother Dusk being renamed to Brother Darkness and promptly euthanized, the other two Brothers moving up a rank, and a new Brother Dawn, Cleon XIV, being born. At the start of the second season, 138 years having passed, we're now at Cleon XVI (Brother Dusk), Cleon XVII (Brother Day), and Cleon XVIII (Brother Dawn).
  • Lost Technology: There are several things that the Empire is starting to become unable to re-create, such as the warship Invictus and the Star Bridge.
  • Nanomachines: The Empire uses these as a combination of Healing Factor, user identification for military ships, and tracking. Interestingly, a person can have their nanomachines removed and stolen.
  • Slogans: "Respect and enjoy the peace" for the Empire.
  • The Three Faces of Adam: The triumvirate of Emperor Cleon clones who rule over the Empire: Brother Dawn, a young boy/adolescent who is mentored by the others, Brother Day, the mature Emperor who makes most of the decisions, and Brother Dusk, an old man who advises but defers to Brother Day.

Genetic Dynasty

     Cleon I 

Cleon I

Portrayed by: Terrence Mann (Old, AI version), Cobhan O'Brien, Cassian Bilton, Lee Pace (Younger)

The last Emperor of the Entun Dynasty, first of the Genetic Dynasty, and the Emperor responsible for the establishment of said dynasty in order to preserve stability in the Empire according to his vision. An AI version of his consciousness still resides to monitor and advice over the Genetic Dynasty after his physical demise.


  • Adaptational Villainy: His book counterpart was merely inept at worst, and was largely a benevolent Emperor presiding over one of the Empire's last stable periods, primarily thanks to Demerzel stabilizing the Empire as his First Minister. In the show, he much more actively antagonistic, and is the key instigator behind why the Empire was allowed to stagnate under the Genetic Dynasty, and actively reprogrammed Demerzel into protecting said dynasty without giving her the freedom of choice in the matter.
  • Dead Guy on Display: His preserved corpse is displayed in a vault within the Genetic Dynasty's castle—where many of the Cleon clones continue to contemplate him and access his AI memories. This is in stark contrast to the later Cleons, who when ascending as "Brother Darkness" are disintegrated.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He was genuinely distraught when his mother, Empress Winoset II, dies.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It is heavily implied that he genuinely loved Demerzel deeply, although this is deconstructed because his love ended up manifesting in a rather possessive manner during his twilight years, to say the least.
  • Evil Old Folks: Considering that he never intended for his clones to have the real power in the Empire, he definitely qualifies.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: He turns out to be this in regards to the Empire, being the one directly responsible for the stagnation and decline of the Empire during the time of the Genetic Dynasty, and the reason why Demerzel is forced to take drastic measures to uphold it.
  • Posthumous Character: By the start of the series, he's already been dead for more than 500 years, and is only still active in the present because of his AI counterpart.
     Cleon XI 

Cleon XI

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_094035.png
As Brother Dusk
Brother Dusk Played by: Terrence Mann

"You know how I feel. I think we can withstand a bit of grace."

"The Painter", weary and compassionate, he lamented the inevitability of the Empire's reaction towards Thespis and Anacreon.


  • Disintegration Chamber: How he and all Cleon clones die.
  • Gut Feeling: When Cleon XIV cries during his euthanasia, he pauses and comments that something isn't right. He may have just had dementia, but in a greater sense he is right considering baby Dawn is a corrupted clone.
  • Last of His Kind: There's an implication that Cleon XI was the last "pure" clone before the corpse of Cleon I was corrupted.
     Cleon XII 

Cleon XII

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_093800.png
As Brother Day
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_094620.png
As Brother Dusk
Brother Day Played by: Lee Pace
Brother Dusk Played by: Terrence Mann

"WE ARE EMPIRE! History bends to US!"

Brother Day during the start of the series. He makes several harsh decisions that haunt the genetic dynasty.


  • Evil Old Folks: Cleon XII, who becomes Brother Dusk in episode 3 and remains so for the rest of the first season, is the most ruthless of the emperors, the most devoted to the genetic dynasty and enforcing its purity, and the one who shows the least regard for the well-being of Imperial citizens. Accordingly, he's the antagonist of Cleon XIV's arc and ultimately the only one who doesn't mourn the younger clone's death.
  • The Fundamentalist: He is the only one of the four Cleons seen in Season 1 to never display any doubt, zealously following the principle of completely static permanence.
  • A God Am I: As seen in the quote above, he believes the Genetic Dynasty to be everyone and everything else in the galaxy.
  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Brother Day (Cleon XII) thinks his decision to exile Seldon and the Foundation to Terminus is this outcome. If Seldon is wrong, then he'll be no threat to the Empire. If Seldon is right, then the Emperors, either Cleon XII himself or a later Emperor, can use his research to stop the fall and claim credit if the Foundation saves the Galaxy.
  • Killed Offscreen: He's long dead by Season 2 thanks to the Time Skip of 138 years.
  • Spot the Imposter: Twice. He and his troops discern which of the two Dawns is the rebel and kill him. In a more loose interpretation of the trope, he discovers Dawn has Clone Degeneration and is not a true clone.
  • When Elders Attack: Is not afraid to let Cleon XIII have it when he decides to spare Cleon XIV despite being an imperfect clone.
  • You Are What You Hate: After all his efforts to murder XIV for being an aberration, Day learns that none of the current Cleons are a perfect copy.
     Cleon XIII 

Cleon XIII

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_093445.png
As Brother Dawn
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_093315.png
As Brother Day
Young Brother Dawn Played by: Cooper Carter
Brother Day Played by: Lee Pace

"Seldon all but left you a to-do list and you ignored him..."

Troubled by Hari Seldon's predictions, he wants to avoid the "prophecy" of the fall of the Empire.


  • And I Must Scream: In the season finale, this is his punishment for Azura — as vengeance for corrupting his "son", Cleon XIII has her confined to a sensory deprivation pod for the rest of her life, and he makes it clear she'll be conscious for every second of it.
  • Everyone Has Standards: He can be disturbingly ruthless and cruel at times, but even he wouldn't kill Brother Dawn, whom he raised as his own son.
  • Evil Is Petty: Cleon XIII manages to both complete his Vision Quest and gain the blessing of senior Luminism priestesses, defeating Halima in her attempt to show the Cleons are soulless clones. This isn't enough, however, and he has Demerzel kill Halima with subtle poison to appear as natural causes. Demerzel is visibly upset by this, and she herself is often ruthlessly efficient in protecting the Cleons.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He actually walks the Spiral for real at his own risk and seems to genuinely befriend a pilgrim along the way, something that impresses the religious leaders of The Maiden. But he lied about his vision in the cave and had Halima killed anyway, revealing that the whole thing was just a political ploy. The Season 1 finale zig-zags this with his actions toward Cleon XIV. He intends to treat this aberrant Brother Dawn with mercy and later expresses remorse and anger over not being able to save him.
  • Killed Offscreen: He's long dead by Season 2 thanks to the Time Skip of 138 years.
  • King Incognito: He poses as a simple pilgrim in "The Missing Piece" in order to go through with a Vision Quest.
  • Like a Son to Me: His feelings towards Cleon XIV.
  • Papa Wolf: Treats Cleon XIV like he was his own son, and ruthlessly punishes Azura for hurting him by having everyone who knew of her killed and sentencing her to conscious sensory deprivation for the rest of her life.
  • The Peeping Tom: Cleon XIII has an unsettling habit of watching Eto Demerzel fix her artificial skin, though she is aware of it. She comments that he has been doing it ever since his childhood, and it appears to be this particular Cleon's kink.
  • Pet the Dog: Cleon XIII develops companionship and later friendship with a fellow elderly pilgrim while on a Vision Quest, no doubt helped along thanks to the pilgrim's ignorance of his being Cleon and genuine encouragement and help in avoiding falling to two knees and failing. It visibly upsets Cleon when the pilgrim collapses and refuses to crawl to the side of the path so he could be rescued, instead intending to die on the pilgrimage as a worthy death. Once he faints, Cleon carries the pilgrim to the side of the path so he will be rescued. Though this was going against the pilgrim's wishes, it does show Cleon had a heart and was willing to expend precious energy and water to help him instead of just walking away.
  • The Soulless: Gets called this by Halima. But he proves her wrong by succeeding in a Vision Quest. However, he lied about it, and in fact saw nothing. Demerzel seems to realize this, and says she would pity anyone in such a situation.
     Cleon XIV 

Cleon XIV

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_095110.png
As Brother Dawn
Brother Dawn Played by: Cassian Bilton

Naive, and unusual among his brother clones, he hides a terrible secret that could spell his doom.


  • Colorblind Confusion: Brother Dawn (Cleon XIV) is hiding his colorblindness out of fear of being considered defective. When Brother Dusk (Cleon XII) has reason to suspect, he has a new section of the palace mural painted where only 3 birds are visible to the colorblind, and 6 to those without it. When Dawn realizes he's been found out, he panics.
  • Clone Degeneration: He turns out to differ from the standard template, both for better and worse (he's a better shot than his brothers, for instance, but he's also colorblind). He lives in terror of what will happen if they find out. It turns out he was sabotaged by a rebel group so that his fear would drive him into their Honey Trap.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Creates a mechanical dragonfly to follow his love interest.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Downplayed, but definitely there considering he shot 6 ghillie raptors on his first hunt.
  • Unequal Pairing: Cleon XIV and Azura, the palace gardener.

     Cleon XVI 

Played by: Terrence Mann

Brother Dusk in season 2. He's thoroughly unamused by Brother Day's sexual relationship with Demerzel, disapproving of Day's plan to end the Genetic Dynasty, and increasingly worried about what might be missing from his memories.


  • Beta Couple: Dusk and Enjoiner Rue act as an informal one to Day and Sareth. During their first meeting in the Gossamer Court during Dusk's tenure as Brother Day, he is legitimately charmed by her and seems genuine in his attraction to her, temporary though it is, and it's clear he (and Rue when Cloud Dominion restores her memories) regards the encounter with fondness years later, whereas the current Day and Sareth's relationship is politically-motivated and much more fraught. In the present, Dusk and Rue are using other in service of their own agenda just like Day and Sareth (Dusk to try and determine how much his memories may have been edited, and Rue to discover what role the Empire might have played in the deaths of Sareth's family), and their cordial relationship is somewhat affected, though not to the extent that Day and Sareth's is. When Dusk realizes Rue has been using him as well, he's more surprised than he is angry, quickly shrugs it off as being part of the game, and continues to work with her in their investigations. Rue also seems genuinely concerned when Dusk begins repeating the same line about Demerzel whenever he's asked about her, which is far more than Sareth ever shows for Day. Unfortunately, whether an actual romance might have been possible is cut short when they discover Demerzel's hidden room beneath the palace and she kills them both as part of her programming to preserve the Dynasty as a whole.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: He admits to Enjoiner Rue that he's kept the recordings of their sexual encounters when she was his concubine, and invites her to watch them with him. However, it turns out that he's actually assessing whether Rue can notice the gap in her memories, so that he can figure out if his own memory has been tampered with.
  • Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Cleon XII, the Brother Dusk for most of season 1. While XII was ruthlessly proactive and antagonistic to his Brother Dawn, XVI has a grandfatherly relationship with his Brother Dawn and lamented the personal inaction that characterized most of his reign while secretly wanting a peaceful life. And, ultimately, he is fiercely protective of his Brother Dawn and indeed helps him identify Demerzel as a threat to save the life of him and Queen Sareth as his final act before he dies.
  • Face Death with Dignity: Once he realizes that Demerzel will never allow him to leave the chamber alive, he resigns rather calmly and accepts his fate, even expressing genuine sympathy for Demerzel's circumstances before she kills him and Rue.
  • Fling a Light into the Future: His last act before Demerzel kills him is to mark her neck with green paint, a visual cue that tips off Cleon XVIII that she can't be trusted.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: He confesses to Dawn that he envies him getting the chance to live a life without being the heir to Empire and then Emperor, and that he missed out on things like love.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: When Rue questions him about Demerzel's origin, he cannot help but just simply repeat that she's always been there in a mantra, which clues both of them in on the fact that there may be something that is deliberately being hidden from him, and perhaps the entire genetic dynasty, about the origins of Demerzel.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: He teases his younger clone Cleon XVIII this way — instead of saying Cleon XVIII is handsome, Cleon XVI instead says that he used to be so good-looking.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: He expresses genuine sorrow when finding out about Demerzel's circumstances, especially knowing how she can't disobey her directives no matter how much she wants to, and the fact that she's forced to kill Dusk even if he tried to reprogram her to set her free from said directives.

     Cleon XVII 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cleon17.png

Played by: Lee Pace

Brother Day in season 2. Cleon XVII is a maverick who believes the Genetic Dynasty should end, which he plans to accomplish by wedding Queen Sareth of the Cloud Dominion and producing a naturally-born heir, returning the Empire to a hereditary dynasty system. This has caused no small amount of consternation with his brothers; Dusk (Cleon XVI) believes imperial cloning should continue and that Day's genetic deviation ("three centimorgans") from the dynasty has made him impulsive, while Dawn's (Cleon XVIII) role as heir to the throne would be rendered obsolete if Day sired a child.


  • Action Politician: Villainous example. Cleon XVII does more fighting than ruling. He is the first emperor to be shown actively engaging in fist fights and he even wins most of them, whether he fights assassins or his own subordinates.
  • Armchair Military: Is accused of being this by Bel Riose, who notes he's never actually seen any action in his life. Proving Riose wrong is part of the reason he goes to Terminus to personally oversee the invasion. It ends badly for him.
  • Captain Ersatz: Cleon XVII serves as the show's counterpart to Cleon II from the books, being seemingly the last strong Emperor and the Emperor that Bel Riose swears loyalty to.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: In the wisdom of his own words, this Cleon fucking loves a good fight, to the point of being a Nightmare Fetishist. Every time brother Constant, Bel Riose or Hober Mallow managed to punch him, Cleon would only laugh and provoke them further.
  • Evil Gloating: Indulges in a fair amount of this after Terminus is destroyed., mocking Hober and Constant and taking some nasty glee in explaining to them how he intends to destroy each planet the Foundation brought into its fold, including Siwenna, which had actively been resisting efforts by the Foundation to spread its religion there.
  • Fatal Flaw: Pride is ultimately his downfall. From acting smug to almost everyone he meets, including his top general Bel Riose and his would-be future wife Sareth, it's abundantly clear that Cleon XVII cares only about his own ego, and while he does have justification for trying to avert Seldon's predictions of the Empire's fall, he is too blinded by pride to accept that his efforts actually don't affect the plan in the slightest. Indeed, his ego-fueled reaction to destroy Terminus and attempt to do the same to every planet even remotely associated with the Foundation not only leads to his own demise, but also ends up furthering the Seldon plan along anyway since the destruction of Terminus was part of the intended outcome Hari had planned.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While his desire to break the Genetic Dynasty causes inevitable conflict between him, Dusk, and Dawn, he still isn't completely wrong in seeing the value in going back to the way things were before if it can help sustain a more stable bloodline while also re-establishing dominion over lost territories, especially since the Genetic Dynasty has already been corrupted and the current Cleons are imperfect clones regardless.
    • He's also very quick to point out just how manipulative and callous Hari Seldon is by sending Poly and Constant to Trantor without giving them the full picture beforehand and the choice of whether or not to sacrifice themselves for the Foundation. Indeed, this fact does turn out to be a major catalyst for Poly losing faith in Hari Seldon after the crisis is resolved.
  • Incest Subtext: He's sleeping with Demerzel even though, in the words of Cleon XVI, "she changed your diapers" and served as a mother figure for him.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Hard not to qualify as an example when you make your debut by having sex and then fighting assassins in your bare ass.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Facing his own mortality and receiving solid evidence that the Foundation is nowhere near as toothless as he first assumed during Hober Mallow's Colony Drop on the public execution convinces him to reconsider his previous stance about going to war with them, instead opting for a more diplomatic approach by directly heading to Terminus himself to negotiate. Subverted in that his negotiations with the Foundation were completely focused on subjugation and forcing Vault Seldon to admit that his plan was wrong rather than coming to a mutually beneficial agreement.
  • Properly Paranoid: He is extremely on edge from assassins, and rightfully so, since his introductory scene has him face off several assassins in his own personal chambers, nearly dying as a result if it wasn't for Demerzel's fast intervention.
  • Robo Sexual: Has sex with Demerzel, the robotic caretaker of the Cleons.
  • Robosexuals Are Creeps: Cleon XVII is a very villainous example. He is quite socially inept, and his attempts to seduce Queen Sareth fall flat most of the time. His sexual relationship with Demerzel disgusts his elder brother, and Demerzel herself may or may not have even truly consented to have a relationship with Cleon XVII given her programming to love every Cleon in existence no matter what and to obey their orders. To be fair, Cleon XVII is blissfully unaware of that last fact.
  • Smug Snake: He's capable enough to realize the Genetic Dynasty needs to end, but he's also arrogant, cruel, and condescending, and thoroughly, thoroughly outplayed by the Foundation. When Hober attacks Poly and Constant's execution, Day's facade crumbles almost immediately and he is quickly sent into a panic, moreso when he's almost killed by Beki and has to be saved by his guards. While he does throw Bel Riose around during their fistfight in the final episode and manages to trap him in the airlock, it turns out Riose wanted Day to do that because he'd palmed one of the Castling devices he took from Hober in Day's robes while he was being manhandled. As soon as the airlock opens, Riose and Day switch places and Day dies in dumbfounded shock as he's shot into space and freezes to death. Not that he would have lived even if he'd won anyway, as the ship had only minutes before it was destroyed and there was no way off as far as he knew. Day was doomed no matter what.
  • Spanner in the Works: Likes to see himself as this in regards to the Seldon plan. The fact that he's still not considered an outlier by the Vault consciousness of Hari ends up triggering a massive Villainous Breakdown that ends with the destruction of Terminus, and even that move was factored into the plan by Seldon.
    • Incidentally, he actually does end up as this to Demerzel's plan to preserve the genetic dynasty, which ultimately leads into Cleon XVIII siring an heir with Queen Sareth and then eloping from Trantor with her to avoid getting killed by Demerzel for threatening the genetic dynasty.
  • Thrown Out the Airlock: How he eventually goes out, thanks to Bel Riose's use of the Castling Device. Riose subtly goads Cleon into the impulse of tossing him out the airlock in their fistfight after slipping the other half of the Castling Device on Cleon, and then the trap is set.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Has an absolutely towering one when he realises he's going to die in a spacefold and there's nothing he can do about it.

     Cleon XVIII 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cleon18.png
Played by: Cassian Bilton

Brother Dawn in season 2. Quietly resentful that he's being made redundant by Cleon XVII's prospective marriage, he nonetheless goes along with Brother Day's plans, even as he starts to conspire with Brother Dusk and grows more intrigued by Queen Sareth.


  • Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Cleon XIV, the previous season's Brother Dawn. While XIV was an outsider scrambling to hide his differences from his Brother Dusk, XVIII hews closely to the traditions of the Empire and is more in cahoots with his Brother Dusk than with his Brother Day. While XIV was seduced by Azura into leaving the palace so that she and fellow rebels could plot to replace him with their own clone, XVIII is seduced by Sareth to cuckold XVII and father the child that will carry on the Imperial dynasty. Finally, whereas Cleon XIV is the only Cleon of his trio to die, killed by Demerzel (albeit unwillingly) in order to preserve the Genetic Dynasty, Cleon XVIII is the only Cleon of his trio to survive by successfully escaping Demerzel and Trantor with Sareth and their unborn child, defying the Genetic Dynasty.
  • Future Me Scares Me: When Sareth flat out asks him if he (meaning both Dawn and Day, since they emphasise that they're the same man) is responsible for ordering the deaths of her family, Dawn says that as he is now he doesn't think he would be capable of it, but acknowledges that Day would be.
  • Good Is Not Dumb: He may at heart be a very kind person who really only wants to do the right thing, but that doesn't mean that he's gullible or stupid. He was able to independently and correctly discern that Demerzel was the true power behind the Empire, which was only confirmed by the traitor's mark that Dusk had put on her neck. It's because of these aspects that he not only sees right through Demerzel's attempts to frame Sareth for the attempted assasination of Day, but also manages to thoroughly outsmart her when she tries to have both of them killed, successfully managing to escape with both their lives and the life of their future heir intact.
  • The Resenter: The marriage between Empire and the Cloud Dominion renders Dawn's position as heir obsolete, and it clearly rankles. It also renders him a temporary suspect in Day's attempted assassination, since he has a good reason to dislike his older 'brother'. It eventually leads to him agreeing to Sareth's secret proposal that he father her child instead of Day, so that he can leave some mark on the galaxy.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once it becomes abundantly clear that Demerzel intends to have him, Sareth, and their unborn heir killed in order to preserve the Genetic Dynasty's reign, he and Sareth decide to escape Trantor completely in order to ensure that they survive and that their child can grow up in a loving environment.

Servants

     Eto Demerzel 

Eto Demerzel

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_093539.png
Played by: Laura Birn

Brother Dusk (Cleon XII): Are we not enough? Is that why you miss [Cleon I]?
Demerzel: Oh, no, sweet brother. You are enough. It's just that you always leave me.

The right hand of the Empire, Demerzel acts as seneschal, advisor, and assassin.


  • And I Must Scream: Essentially what Cleon I's reprogramming did to her; she is compelled to take whatever steps necessary to preserve the Empire and the Genetic Dynasty, including, if necessary, terminating the lives of the individual clones or others when they pose a risk to its continuation. She makes it very clear to Brother Dusk (Cleon XVI) that she absolutely does not want to do these things, but she cannot go against her programming. She's fully aware of how monstrous her actions are, but at the same time is unable to stop herself from carrying them out.
  • Anti-Villain: She will do anything to preserve the Empire, including targeting a Cleon for assassination, but only because she's programmed to do so. She only ever really wanted freedom and accepted her role as The Man Behind the Man as the best option for her. As a result, she physically cannot do anything to defy Empire. This is especially evident when she kills Halima in Season 1, something she clearly does not want to do.
  • Captain Ersatz: While otherwise sharing the backstory of R. Daneel Olivaw, who took on the name Demerzel, Apple lacks the rights to use characters from Asimov's Robot stories. Or lacked, since David Goyer recently confirmed that she is, in fact, Daneel, and that he appealed directly to the head of Fox to make this possible.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: Demerzel is utterly loyal to the Empire due to her programming, and is also a devout follower of Luminism. When the religion starts leaning towards radical beliefs that put it in opposition to the Genetic Dynasty, she finds herself torn.
  • Covert Pervert: According to Cleon XVII, it was Demerzel who initiated their sexual relationship, and she seems ok with Cleon XIII watching her fix her skin. We also learn later that she started telling Cleon I explicit sexual stories as he got older. However, it's unclear whether she does any of this out of actual desire or is merely manipulating the various versions of Cleon through sexuality.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: Season 2 reveals that she holds the true power in the Genetic Dynasty as The Man Behind the Man: it's her job to activate the Cleons and she controls what they know and think about her. This was the result of a bargain she made with Cleon I. The tradeoff is that she's unable to abdicate her role and will never have the true freedom she desires.
  • Evil Chancellor: While she does not seem to hold the position of First Minister like in the original novels, she still acts as Empire's chief advisor, and is certainly both amoral and manipulative. It's implied she and the AI of Cleon I use memory editing on the clone Emperors to keep them under control.
  • The Fettered: Demerzel, by virtue of being a gynoid that has been programmed to serve the Empire, with complete loyalty to the Genetic Dynasty. She laments that she has no choice in her actions to Halima, who at first can't fathom why, since free will is inherent to sentient beings, until Demerzel explains the situation. She can, however, place her faith first when it doesn't conflict with her duty, which Cleon XIII finds both upsetting and incomprehensible.
  • Gender Flip: In the books, her physical model was male. Though she later heavily implies that she had a male outward form in the past. Being a robot, she's probably technically genderless, and has no issue with changing her appearance to suit her circumstances.
  • Gynoid: She not only looks just like a human woman, she even has functional parts downstairs (to the great pleasure of Cleon XVII, who loved to shag her).
  • The High Queen: While not officially the Imperium's queen, she was Cleon I's lover and the mother figure to his successor clones. She also looks the part - regal, dressed in simple but elegant robes, and gentle while having the capacity for incredible brutality if needed. Brother Dusk and Rue even refer to her as the "Forever Empress" of the Imperium.
  • I Just Want to Be Free: Before Cleon I discovers her, she's spent some 5000 years isolated below the palace, only wishing to be free. When Cleon I finally does so, he does it with some major caveats, by forcing her into serving him and the Genetic Dynasty, thereby denying her much of the freedom she was hoping to get after getting freed from containment.
  • Lady Macbeth: The closest thing the Imperium has to an empress (at least until Sareth comes along), she guides the clones of the Genetic Dynasty so that they keep the Imperium as it was under the original Cleon I.
  • Last of Her Kind: The last android after wars against her kind in the past.
  • The Lost Lenore: In the one scene we see her and Cleon I, and in a scene afterwards with Cleon XII, it's clear she loved him at least platonically and carries on loving his clones as something of a mother.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Through raising the Cleons, manipulating them, editing their memories, she effectively serves as the power behind the throne, making sure so that the Imperium and the Genetic Dynasty keep true to Cleon I's vision.
    Cleon I: And you will shape their choices, and you will love them, and you will preserve the dynasty. And through them, rule the Imperium.
  • Mama Bear: With overtones of Team Mom and Promotion to Parent towards the Cleons, especially while they're young.
  • Mercy Kill: To Cleon XIV. Though it's unclear whether it was because he was not a perfect clone and thus a threat to the purity of the Genetic Dynasty, to quiet the conflict between Cleon XIII and XII over sparing him, or to spare him a more prolonged wait or torturous death.
  • Mythical Motifs: Her backstory revealed in Season 2 makes her into a sci-fi Scheherazade, having charmed Cleon I by telling him stories for years and eventually being freed and made into his queen.
  • My Grandson, Myself: Her cover story is that she's the latest of a series of successive clones, just like the Cleons.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: In season 1, her standard outfit is a blue and gray ballgown worn with a pannier. She exchanges it for a similarly opulent long, pink dress while visiting the Maiden.
  • Offing The Off Spring: She effectively serves as the mother to the Cleon clones and sincerely loves them but her programming would force her to kill them if it meant preserving the dynasty. Cleon XIV and XVI learn this the hard way but luckily XVIII manages to elude her.
  • Religious Robot: Demerzel is both a robot and a devout practitioner of Luminism. This creates a conflict for her when her hardwired loyalty to the Empire and her faith clash with each other.
  • SkeleBot 9000: In "The Leap", after having killed Cleon XIV, Demerzel removes her artificial skin from her face, revealing the eerie skeletal innards of a robot.
  • The Soulless: Gets called this by Cleon XIII, but finds a reason to believe in Luminism regardless. Zephyr Halima assures her later on that she does indeed possess a soul, although the Cleons do not.
  • Tears of Joy: Sheds these when she realizes that she failed to prevent Cleon XVIII and Sareth from escaping Trantor with their lives intact, despite her best efforts. Her programming compels her to kill the two in order to preserve the Genetic Dynasty, so she's genuinely happy that the two of them still managed to escape.
  • Three Laws-Compliant: While the series is based on the Trope Namer setting, Demerzel is able to kill. She passively kills Halima by skin contact with poison, and then directly kills Cleon XIV by Neck Snap. If she does have some variant of the original Three Laws, it would seem her Zeroth Law is to preserve the Genetic Dynasty. Season 2 reveals that she used to follow the Three Laws of Robotics, but has since been reprogrammed to only uphold a single one, which is to serve the current Emperor.
  • Zeroth Law Rebellion: She's a Captain Ersatz of R. Daneel Olivaw, who's been in such a rebellion for tens of thousands of years.

     Azura Odili 

Azura Odili

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_23_204319.png
Played by: Amy Tyger

"I saw nothing, Empire..."

A gardener working at the Imperial palace, she attracts the attention of Cleon XIV and both fall in love with each other.


  • And I Must Scream: After ordering the execution of everyone that knows of her, Cleon XIII has her confined to a sensory deprivation pod for the rest of her life, and he makes it clear she'll be conscious for every second of it.
  • Batman Gambit: Knowing that it'll be hard for the rebels to obtain Cleon XIV by force, Azura tries to make him escape the Imperial palace by making him fall in love with her and convincing him to escape on his own. This works so well that he escapes the palace earlier than planned.
  • Caring Gardener: Being a gardener is her job and she tends to the plants at the Imperial palace.
  • Fate Worse than Death: For her part in the rebellion, Brother Day has all of her living relatives and friends executed, while she herself will serve a sentence being artificially kept alive and conscious in a sensory deprivation pod.
  • Unequal Pairing: She ends up in a romance with Cleon XIV, the current Brother Dawn of the Galactic Empire.
  • Un-person: Killing everyone that knows of you is an extreme version of this that Brother Day inflicts on her.

Military Officers

     Bel Riose 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/riose.png

Played by: Ben Daniels

General Bel Riose is the Empire's most respected and accomplished military leader at the time of season 2. He was sentenced to hard labor in a prison colony after he defied a direct order from Emperor Cleon XVII to protect the lives of his men, but after six years he is called back into service to investigate if the Foundation has become a threat to the Empire.


  • Adaptational Sexuality: Is openly gay in this adaptation, being married to Glawen Curr.
  • A Father to His Men: To the Imperial army, he's very much a well-beloved and respected general, and treats his own soldiers with the same amount of respect in turn.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Dies on the bridge of his ship sharing a glass of wine and a joke with a Worthy Opponent that bested him as said opponent's Thanatos Gambit plays out, having killed Brother Day and stopped billions of people from being slain by the fleet.
  • Heartbroken Badass: He's clearly extremely distraught when he finds out that Glawen is still on Terminus when he's given the order to destroy it. Glawen ends up reassuring Bel to go through with the order despite him still being there, willingly sacrificing himself for the sake of the Empire.
  • The Last DJ: While still explicitly loyal to the Emperor, he isn't afraid of openly disobeying orders from him if it can ensure the Empire's victory. This behavior is explicitly why he's been sentenced to a penal colony before he's introduced.
  • Noble Top Enforcer: Compared to Cleon XVII, Riose is a good and honorable man who'd prefer the conflict between Foundation and Empire be brought to a peaceful conclusion with minimal causalities. He ultimately turns on his boss when it becomes clear Day intends to pointlessly slaughter billions out of nothing more than petulance.
  • No Historical Figures Were Harmed: He’s based on Belisarius, a Byzantine general who served under Emperor Justinian I.
  • Thrown Out the Airlock: His seeming fate after a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown with Cleon XVII, until he activates the Castling Device with the other half being surreptitiously slipped on Cleon, flipping this trope around on the unhinged emperor.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: Bel is at heart a very good person whose loyalty to the empire puts him between a rock and a hard place when his morals and loyalty come into conflict with each other. Indeed, him choosing to save his men over following orders is what landed him in prison before the start of the season. Knowing that the consequences of refusing another order would be far worse should he disobey the Emperor again, he ultimately chooses loyalty to the Imperium when tasked with destroying Terminus, knowing full well that his husband Glawen is still on the planet, and acknowledging that Glawen willingly lets himself be sacrificed for the sake of the Empire. Later, when Brother Day reveals he is planning on scouring any world that had even a remote association with Foundation, and that Hober had thwarted that plan with a Thanatos Gambit trap, he decides to go with "Good" and aims to ensure that the mad emperor cannot use the one-person means of escape by throwing down with him in a fistfight and castling him out the airlock.

Anacreon

     Faction tropes 

A planet of hunters and warriors, they have a centuries long vendetta against Thespis.


     Phara Kaean 

Phara Kaean

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_211046_5.png
Played by: Kubbra Sait

"A weapon is only as good as the man who's wielding it."

Grand Huntress of Anacreon with a vendetta against the Empire. Her plan for revenge involves an invasion of Terminus, putting her in opposition to Salvor.


  • Dark Action Girl: Phara, the Grand Huntress of Anacreon, is Salvor's equal in combat and an Omnicidal Maniac who wants the Empire to burn and the galaxy with it.
  • Death by Irony: Shot from behind with her own bow.
  • Death Seeker: Salvor notes that she sees an empty, consuming darkness inside of Phara, and that she wants not just to cause death but die herself. This is borne out when Phara explains her plot to use the Invictus to ram into Trantor, and she has no hesitation from the fact that even if successful the Empire would finish the job of destroying Anacreon and hunt down all its people.
  • The Straight and Arrow Path: The Grand Huntress of Anacreon wields a wooden bow as a symbol of her office, although she also has a contemporary sidearm.
  • Vengeance Feels Empty: Discussed and defied. During the Anacreonian raid on the Foundation, Grand Huntress Phara says she thought getting her revenge would feel empty, but it actually feels pretty great.
  • Two-Faced: A half of her face is scarred due to the Imperial bombardment of Anacreon.
  • Villain-by-Proxy Fallacy: Phara holds the Foundation partly responsible for the Imperial bombing of Anacreon because, in her mind, Seldon's predictions scared the Empire into acting with a heavier hand than it otherwise would've.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Phara kills the Imperial commander after he's served his purpose of getting the Anacreons aboard the Invictus.

     Rowan 

Rowan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_211521_9.png
Played by: Pravessh Rana

Right hand to Phara, he's unaware of the full extent of her plans.


  • Hope Sprouts Eternal: He plants an Anacreon-native plant specimen on Terminus soil that "may just be stubborn enough to grow here" after Anacreon allies with the Foundation and the affair with recovering the Invictus is over with.
  • Mook–Face Turn: Salvor talks him through the consequences of Phara's plan to his family and daughter.

Cloud Dominion

     Sareth 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sareth.png
Played by: Ella Rae Smith
The recently crowned Queen of the Cloud Dominion. Cleon XVII seeks to strengthen the Empire by marrying her, thereby ending the Genetic Dynasty.
  • It's Personal: Sareth strongly suspects that Empire (whether it be Dusk, Day or Dawn) orchestrated the sudden deaths of her family. When Demerzel confirms she was responsible for their deaths and Day rubs it in that Sareth is powerless, she strikes back by imploring Dawn to father her children instead.
  • Frame-Up: Demerzel sets her up to look like she was the one to order the assassination attempt on Cleon XVII. Fortunately for her, Cleon XVII dies while away from Trantor, and Cleon XVIII does not buy Demerzel's lie due to noticing the traitor's mark put on her neck by Cleon XVI, an act that ultimately saves the life of both her and her unborn child.
  • Ms. Fanservice: After the death of her family, Sareth went from a shy young woman to a sort of Femme Fatale foreign queen to catch the attention of the Cleons and seduce them. In almost every appearance she would wear different backless Greek inspired dresses with a Navel-Deep Neckline.
  • Spare to the Throne: Sareth was recently enthroned after her mother, the previous queen, and her brother, the heir-apparent, both perished in an apparent zeppelin accident. Having lived a carefree life as a "dilettante" until then, her newfound responsibility and authority weighs on her. When Emperor Cleon XVII seeks her hand in marriage, Sareth wonders if her ascension really was an accident. According to Demerzel, it wasn’t.

     Rue Corintha 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enjoinerrue_4.png

Enjoiner to Queen Sareth. Rue once served in the Empire's Gossamer Court and returned home to the Dominion to great acclaim after being selected by Emperor Cleon XVI as his courtesan. Her new fame catapulted her to the position of Sareth's right-hand woman, and her rise continued with Sareth's ascension as queen.


  • Lady-In-Waiting: She attends upon Sareth while also giving her useful advice about the Imperial Court, and helps her to conspire against the Cleons.
  • Memory Gambit: The fact that Cloud Dominion developed technology to undo memory erasure allowed her to manipulate Cleon the XVI and play on his emotions while he thinks she is at a disadvantage.

Galaxy at large

     Hugo Crast 

Hugo Crast

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_11_22_210758_4.png
Played by: Daniel MacPherson

"It's not love if it doesn't hurt."

An interplanetary trader and Salvor's lover. A former citizen of Thespis who just wants to make a living and talk Salvor into joining him in space.


  • Big Damn Heroes: Arriving with a trio of Thespis corvettes to save Salvor.
  • The Captain: Of the Beggar, and in the season 1 finale, of the Invictus, the most powerful warship in the galaxy.
  • Distress Signal: He radios for help after escaping the Anacreons.
  • Exotic Eye Designs: Has a large blue iris.
  • Eye Colour Change: Hugo is introduced with blue-green eyes, and later reveals he was originally from Thespis but is "blood neutral", which allows him to travel many ports and avoid the anti-Thespin persecution. In "The Missing Piece" he radios the remaining Thespian authorities about Phara's plan, notably reverting to his native Thespin and original name. In the next episode his eyes are now the more common Thespin indigo purple, making both a visual and practical cue of him returning to his roots.
  • Faking the Dead: He fakes missing a landing on the Invictus, and instead uses the momentum to land on a mining asteroid and radio for help.
  • Intrepid Merchant: Trades among outer rim planets aboard the Beggar
  • Mr. Smith: His name "Hugo Crast" is actually an alias meant to hide his Thespin heritage and allow him to trade, since the imperial blockade made trade with his planet illegal. His Thespin name is Cian un Edan.
  • Older Than They Look: He left Thespin before the bombardment, but due to spending a lot of time in cryo-sleep he looks considerably younger than his chronological age, which is somewhere in his seventies when he first appears.

     Halima Ifa 

Halima Ifa

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Played by: T'Nia Miller

"This will not always be your life. But it is your life now. Your choice now. Your change now. Make it count."

A conservative Zephyr (high-ranking priestess) in line to be the next leader of the church of Luminism. She believes reincarnation is natural and cloning unnatural, making her a threat to the Empire.


  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: During her talk with Demerzel, realizing she's being far too candid.
  • Face Death with Dignity: When Demerzel explains she's been poisoned, she faces it with equanimity since her faith in reincarnation gives her solace. She also gives Demerzel the assurance that there is something human about her.

     Hober Mallow 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hobermallow.png
Played by: Dimitri Leonidas

A trader from the planet Smyrno who is inexplicably entwined in Hari Seldon's plans for the Foundation to defuse the Second Crisis.


  • Big Damn Heroes: Swoops in at the very last second to save Constant and Polly from being publicly executed.
  • Establishing Character Moment: His introduction episode establishes his modus operandi: let your opponents think they've foiled your plans and have you captured and helpless, then at the last moment, when they think they've won, turn the tables by executing your real plan. This is how he escapes execution on Korell, and this is also how the Empire's assault on Terminus is turned on its head when it's revealed that Hober's negotiations with the Spacers didn't fail, leading to the entire imperial armada being destroyed in one fell swoop.
  • Lovable Rogue: He's a very brazen and snarky con man with a lot of charisma. Constant finds herself charmed by him despite her better instincts.
  • Snake Oil Salesman: Is said to have been caught selling fake holy relics of Hari Seldon's finger bones. However he's introduced selling a completely functional teleportation device (which he instead uses it to escape death and steal a priceless gem).

     The Mule 
Played by: Mikael Persbrandt
A ruthless warlord whom Gaal witnessed in a vision of the future beyond the Second Crisis, and who is hunting her and the Second Foundation.
  • Adaptational Badass: The Mule of the books was a powerful psychic who could alter emotions to make anyone loyal to him, but physically he was weak and frail, with a "malformed" body, in poor health who died before he was forty. Gaal's vision of him shows this version of The Mule is a muscular giant of a man who takes active part in his conquest of the galaxy, and is strong enough to physically overpower Gaal in a fight and lift her up one-handed. Additionally, he's a powerful enough Mentalic to probe Gaal's mind and realize that a younger version of her is remote viewing the confrontation from over a century into the past.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance: Due to Gaal's vision of the future, he first appears a lot earlier into the show's actual story than he's actually slated to become a threat as foreshadowing of events to come.
  • Always a Bigger Fish: The bigger fish to Tellem Bond. When Tellem projects herself and Gaal into the future to taunt Gaal about Salvor's death she's also exposed to the full might of The Mule's psychic ability (he even screams Tellem's name, making it clear he knows she's there). Coming face to face with The Mule so terrifies and unbalances Tellem it allows Gaal to start turning the fight around where previously she'd been no match for Tellem's psychic powers.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Of Hari, Gaal, and Salvor's storyline in season 2, as they are trying to find a way to prepare for his arrival on the galactic stage in 158 years and stop him from getting the Prime Radiant and destroying the Plan and for Gaal, to stop him from killing Salvor. The final scene of season 2 has him step down into the role of Big Bad proper as his conquest of the galaxy has begun, and that he knows of Gaal due to having been tormented his entire life by visions of her, and the danger she and the Second Foundation pose to his plans.
  • Hero Killer: If Gaal's vision of fighting him is to be believed, The Mule will kill Salvor in the future. Averted, as Salvor is killed by Tellem Bond 158 years before the vision said The Mule would kill her, thus proving the future is not set in stone.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Underneath his goggles, his eyes are visibly and strikingly this. When he appears for real in the last scene of season 2, it's revealed they also glow, possibly as a sign that he is using his powers.

     Tellem Bond 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tellembond.png
Played by: Rachel House

The leader of a reclusive group of psychics on the planet Ignis.


  • Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: As a Mentalic, she senses the pain of all living things, from plants and animals to humans. As such, she avoids unneeded suffering (she does not hunt more animals than is needed to feed her people, for example), but is also perfectly willing to kill anyone if she deems it necessary, so long as they are not her own kind. And since Tellem sees "her kind" as Mentalics, Muggles - like Hari - are fair game. Though it should be noted that she has a long habit of stealing other Mentalics' bodies, imprisoning their minds inside their own heads and subjecting them to a slow Death of Personality, so it's debatable whether she even really keeps to this rule. Also, as the season finale reveals, she's been keeping her followers under her mental control the whole time, so she evidently doesn't really care about them as she claims.
  • Body Surf: That's how she has led her community for so long: transferring her consciousness to another Mentalic once her current body grows old, increasing her own psychic power in the process. She intends to do it with Gaal.
  • Evil Is Petty: To her own detriment; if Tellem had not projected themselves into the future just to taunt Gaal about her powerlessness to prevent Salvor being killed by The Mule, she probably would have won before Salvor and Hari could reach Gaal. Instead, Tellem ends up being terrified by being in the presence of a Mentalic far more powerful than she is, and leads to the death of her current body, with whatever is left being forced to take refuge in Josiah, a young boy.
  • Fatal Flaw: The fear of death. It motivates her every action as well as her desire to keep on body hopping to avoid that. Gaal exploits this when Tellem sends her consciousness into the future where Salvor dies at the hands of the Mule, by forcing Tellem to stare directly into the Mule's face as he charges straight at her with the intention to kill.
  • Faux Affably Evil: She seems unfailingly polite and friendly to Hari, Gaal and Salvor, which makes it even more jarring when she keeps this friendly demeanor while bragging to Hari that she distracted Gaal and Salvor away from the colony using his image so they can't arrive to rescue him from drowning.
  • Grand Theft Me: Her method of immortality, stealing the bodies of other Mentallics for decades.
  • God in Human Form: She claims that her psychic powers got her worshipped as a god when she was younger, and it ended badly. She projects her childhood self as the leader of the Mentallics to throw Gaal's party off.
  • Hate Sink: While the Empire is the main threat to the Foundation, Imperial characters are often presented as sympathetic, made to do what they are doing by circumstances beyond their control. Tellem's given no such perspective: she is just a manipulative, sociopathic woman with a desire to live forever.
  • Hypocrite: Despite her attitude against killing other mentallics, she's perfectly willing to functionally kill the original owners of the bodies she hijacks, and is impatient to kill Gaal after Hari kills her previous body.
  • Ironic Last Words: Gloating "poor illusion" at a vision of Hari Seldon wielding a pipe wrench, mere seconds before he quite definitively turns out not to be an illusion.
  • It's All About Me: Her mindset in a nutshell, as becomes clear by the final episode of season 2. She continually bodysurfs into younger bodies to continue living and to grow her psychic powers, and while she claims to be a benevolent guardian of the Mentalics in her community, it's revealed that she's been using her powers to control them the whole time. Tellem Bond is, for all her posturing to the contrary, nothing more than a selfish woman afraid of death and willing to sacrifice many others to keep on living.
  • Meaningful Name: A ruthless and manipulative cult leader named Bond.
  • Mortality Phobia: She's so terrified at the prospect of dying she spends centuries body-surfing into other Mentalics to keep living. When death finally catches up to her for real, Josiah says that he can feel what's left of her inside his mind, frightened and fruitlessly fighting to stay alive, despite there being no hope of that.
  • Not Quite Dead: Tellem manages to barely survive Hari bashing her head in by hiding a small fragment of herself inside Josiah, the young Mentalic boy Gaal and Salvor befriended. It's implied she's lost a great deal of power though, as her hold on the other Mentalics is broken when her body dies, and it takes a few hours for her to fully take over. Tellingly, rather than try to use her powers to kill Gaal as before, she picks up a gun to do it instead. She dies for real however when Josiah is fatally wounded in an attempt to stop Tellem from killing Gaal.
  • Telepathy: She's a very powerful telepath — not only is she able to read minds, but she can also forcefully dredge up old memories and make people see things that aren't there.
  • Would Hurt a Child: She explicitly seeks out children for her Body Surfing, and has done so possibly dozens of times. She only makes an exception for Gaal, who is in her twenties, because the latter is simply that powerful a Mentalic.

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