Warning: Foundation trilogy spoilers ahead
I loved the Foundation trilogy, but I found myself admiring and rooting for the Mule. Does anyone else feel this way?
Consider: the Mule was a single man, a physically deformed mutant that everyone mocked, who defied the historical necessity imposed by mathematics itself to conquer half the galaxy. He almost destroyed the Second Foundation, a small elite who aimed to eventually subject the entire galaxy to their will by mind control--not much different from the Mule's goals, except that the Second Foundation's control will be eternal while the Mule's control would last only a lifetime. As a conqueror, the Mule shed almost no blood and committed no atrocities, instead relying on emotional control of a small number of highly placed enemies. As far as we know, the emotionally controlled humans are not zombies; they can still make friends, pursue their hobbies, advance their careers, and enjoy life, the only difference being that they're loyal to the Mule.
The Mule also isn't a cruel or pompous ruler. When Bayta defeated him by trickery, he just admitted his mistake and let her go. He didn't put her into a dungeon and torture her for life. He didn't even enslave her by emotional control. At the beginning of Second Foundation, Asimov says that citizens who came to see the Mule didn't need to bow or kiss his feet. The Mule gave them a chair to sit in (while the previous mayor of Foundation made visitors stand). They could turn their backs on the Mule, if they wished. He called himself First Citizen (probably inspired by the Roman Empire's princeps). He didn't need to inflict terror on his people, and so he didn't. As the Mule said himself, if he conquered the whole galaxy, he would have realized Seldon's plan of a peaceful re-united empire 700 years before his timeline.
The Mule gives us hope that individuals matter, that we matter. That we don't have to be slaves to mathematical fate or puppets in a dead man's game. That we don't have to blindly follow the tracks laid by an all-powerful elite toward their own goals, especially if those goals involve mind controlling the galaxy. That gave me hope, so the Second Foundation's victory seemed quite dystopian to me. Thoughts?
I loved the Foundation trilogy, but I found myself admiring and rooting for the Mule. Does anyone else feel this way?
Consider: the Mule was a single man, a physically deformed mutant that everyone mocked, who defied the historical necessity imposed by mathematics itself to conquer half the galaxy. He almost destroyed the Second Foundation, a small elite who aimed to eventually subject the entire galaxy to their will by mind control--not much different from the Mule's goals, except that the Second Foundation's control will be eternal while the Mule's control would last only a lifetime. As a conqueror, the Mule shed almost no blood and committed no atrocities, instead relying on emotional control of a small number of highly placed enemies. As far as we know, the emotionally controlled humans are not zombies; they can still make friends, pursue their hobbies, advance their careers, and enjoy life, the only difference being that they're loyal to the Mule.
The Mule also isn't a cruel or pompous ruler. When Bayta defeated him by trickery, he just admitted his mistake and let her go. He didn't put her into a dungeon and torture her for life. He didn't even enslave her by emotional control. At the beginning of Second Foundation, Asimov says that citizens who came to see the Mule didn't need to bow or kiss his feet. The Mule gave them a chair to sit in (while the previous mayor of Foundation made visitors stand). They could turn their backs on the Mule, if they wished. He called himself First Citizen (probably inspired by the Roman Empire's princeps). He didn't need to inflict terror on his people, and so he didn't. As the Mule said himself, if he conquered the whole galaxy, he would have realized Seldon's plan of a peaceful re-united empire 700 years before his timeline.
The Mule gives us hope that individuals matter, that we matter. That we don't have to be slaves to mathematical fate or puppets in a dead man's game. That we don't have to blindly follow the tracks laid by an all-powerful elite toward their own goals, especially if those goals involve mind controlling the galaxy. That gave me hope, so the Second Foundation's victory seemed quite dystopian to me. Thoughts?
