Diksha Sundriyal
The third season of Apple TV+’s ‘Foundation’ pits Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick against the Mule, who threatens to throw their plan of saving humanity completely off course. The second episode of the season opens with Gaal and Hari going into cryosleep at the end of Season 2. According to plan, they are supposed to come out for a few weeks each year to prepare the Mentallics of Ignis, now known as the Second Foundation, for the Mule’s arrival. However, things don’t go as planned, and Hari finds himself at death’s door once again. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Hari Seldon’s Age Catches Up With Him
Since the beginning of ‘Foundation,’ Hari Seldon has played cat-and-mouse with death a number of times. He has used his death as a means to further the cause of the Foundation, and he has created his copies to ensure that things go as they are supposed to. He has extended his lifetime through cryosleep and obtained a second body through unexplained means. Eventually, however, time catches up with him, and he seems to have accepted his fate.
When he and Gaal decided to go into cryosleep, they thought they would work together to prepare the Mentallics. But soon, it becomes clear that they were not going to win the race against time through their current approach, so Hari told Gaal to continue with her cryosleep cycle while he would stay behind and catch up with the plan, so that the next time she wakes up, things would be in a much better place. However, Hari being Hari dupes Gaal such that the next time she wakes up from cryosleep is not in the next year. Several decades have passed, and things have changed a lot on Ignis.
By this time, Hari has become old and frail. He didn’t wake up Gaal because he wanted her to conserve her time and energy, which would be needed to fight the Mule. In the meantime, he tried his best to give the Mentallics all the resources of psychohistory, which they would need to read the predictions of Prime Radiant and to keep the First Foundation on course to save the future of humanity. Interestingly, he has her woken up around the time when he knows his time has come. In the past few decades, he has done his part, and now, it is entirely up to Gaal to save the galaxy. In typical Hari fashion, he doesn’t say goodbye to Gaal, but slips away silently, ready to accept his death rather than find ways to cheat it.
Hari Seldon Will Still be a Part of the First Foundation
In the second episode, an old Hari Seldon goes to Oona’s World, courtesy of the Prime Radiant’s manifestation as Kalle, whose true powers remain mysterious even now. The last time we saw Kalle was when she called Hari to Oona’s World. At the time, his consciousness was still trapped inside the Prime Radiant. He duped Gaal and Salvor Hardin into taking him to the planet where the details of his meeting with Kalle still remain a secret. It is not revealed how, but Hari came out of this meeting with a physical body. So, when this body turns old, it makes sense that he would want to return to the planet where he was born again.
Since Hari and Gaal have been tied to each other since the beginning of the story, it would be a fresh change to see her function without his influence. However, Hari’s choice to go back to Oona’s World also suggests that perhaps Kalle could give him another chance, a revival of some sort, so that he can come back and continue to help the Mentallics. However, the finality with which Hari seemed to have left Ignis indicated that perhaps he doesn’t plan to come back after all.
While one could say that Hari Seldon has finally accepted death, there is still the fact that there is another version of him inside the Vault, which still exists in the First Foundation. In the last season, Hari revealed that his Vault version is not aware of a lot of stuff. For example, he has no idea about the plans for the Second Foundation. He doesn’t even know about the other version, which found a physical body and went to Ignis to meet the Mentallics and set up the Second Foundation. With this in mind, it is clear that Jared Harris’ character will continue to remain an important part of the saga of ‘Foundation.’
Read More: Foundation: Why is He Called the Mule? What is His Real Name?
