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* SelectiveObliviousness: It was clear by the end of the previous book when he was proposing that Seldon knew Dors was a robot, but that he was deliberately not thinking about it because he didn't care, all he needed to know was that he loved her. [[spoiler:When she's dying]] he "realizes" the truth again, but then admits to himself that he'd always known and simply pretended he didn't.
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* ThreeLawsCompliant: [[spoiler:While already heavily damaged, Dors made the judgment to kill her assassin in order to protect Seldon. Going against the first and most important of the Three Laws causes fatal damage to her brain.]]
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** Near the end, Seldon puts his daughter-in-law and her young grandson on a ship to take them off Trantor to another world where they and their descendants will be safe, with only his granddaughter Wanda staying behind. Their transport takes off, but never arrives at its destination. Whether the ship suffered some sort of mechanical failure, crashed, or was waylaid by space pirates is never discovered; the ship simply vanishes without a trace.
** At the same time, the reigning emperor [[KingBobTheNth Argis XIV]], a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who never actually wanted the position and was only a very distant relative of the last emperor, is quietly removed from power by Linge Chen and the Commission For Public Safety, and replaced with a boy emperor they can more easily control and who is much less friendly to Hari because of this. Whether Argis was quietly retired off-planet or murdered is never discovered, by either Hari or the readers.
** At the same time, the reigning emperor [[KingBobTheNth Argis XIV]], a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who never actually wanted the position and was only a very distant relative of the last emperor, is quietly removed from power by Linge Chen and the Commission For Public Safety, and replaced with a boy emperor they can more easily control and who is much less friendly to Hari because of this. Whether Argis was quietly retired off-planet or murdered is never discovered, by either Hari or the readers.
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** Near the end, Seldon Raych puts his daughter-in-law wife and her young grandson son on a ship to take keep them off Trantor to another world where they and their descendants will be safe, with only his granddaughter Wanda staying behind.safe from the rebellion taking place in the planet they're living in. Their transport takes off, but never arrives at its destination. Whether the ship suffered some sort of mechanical failure, crashed, or was waylaid by space pirates is never discovered; the ship simply vanishes without a trace.
** At the same time, the reigning emperor [[KingBobTheNthArgis Agis XIV]], a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who never actually wanted the position and was only a very distant relative of the last emperor, is quietly removed from power by Linge Chen and the Commission For Public Safety, and replaced with a boy emperor they can more easily control and who is much less friendly to Hari because of this. Whether Argis Agis was quietly retired off-planet or murdered is never discovered, by either Hari or the readers.
** At the same time, the reigning emperor [[KingBobTheNth
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** During "Wanda Seldon", [[KingBobTheNth Emperor Agis XIV]] and Hari Seldon discuss the intrusion of democracy in the benevolent imperial system. Agis decries it on the basis that each of the hundreds of members must agree to his idea before any work gets done, which takes months-years at best.
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** During "Wanda Seldon", [[KingBobTheNth Emperor Agis XIV]] and Hari Seldon discuss the intrusion of democracy in the benevolent imperial system. Agis decries it on the basis that each of the hundreds of members must agree to his idea before any work gets done, which takes months-years months (to years) at best.
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* HonoraryUncle: Wanda Seldon calls Yugo Amaryl (her grandfather's collague and friend) "Uncle Yugo".
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* DontCreateAMartyr: Cleon I has to be warned against having a political opponent (Joranum) executed, because that could make him a martyr, and would ensure his cause endures.
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* RoboticReveal: In "Eto Demerzel", Joranum tries to convince the public that First Minister Demerzel is a robot. [[SubvertedTrope However]], when publicly confronted with the slander, he laughs it off, convincing everyone that Joranum is a fool (popular opinion is that robots are a myth [[spoiler:[[TwoAliasesOneCharacter Daneel Olivaw]] and other robots have deliberately encouraged this belief]]).
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* RoboticReveal: In "Eto Demerzel", Joranum tries to convince the public that First Minister Demerzel is a robot. [[SubvertedTrope However]], when publicly confronted with the slander, he laughs it off, convincing everyone that Joranum is a fool (popular opinion is that robots are a myth myth- [[spoiler:[[TwoAliasesOneCharacter Daneel Olivaw]] and other robots have deliberately encouraged this belief]]).
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* {{Workaholic}}: Yugo Amaryl spends all of his time working on pychohistory. When Dors asks him if he ever considered taking a vacation, he seems to be baffled by the very concept.
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* DisappointedByTheMotive: The investigators of the murder of Emperor Cleon I are more than a little aghast at discovering that the man who murdered the Emperor and sent the Foundation's plans to hell was his gardener Gruber, who got more than a little impulsive at discovering that the Emperor appointed him, against Gruber's [[HappinessInMinimumWage most fervent wishes]], to the position of ''Head'' Gardener. As Gruber explains, this would mean becoming a DeskJockey and not being able to tend the gardens anymore, as well as micromanaging his replacements. Though Gruber also admits that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone this was an incredibly stupid decision]].
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* DisappointedByTheMotive: The investigators of the murder of Emperor Cleon I are more than a little aghast at discovering Seldon is shocked when he sees that the man who murdered the Emperor and sent the Foundation's plans to hell was his gardener Gruber, who got more than a little impulsive at discovering that the Emperor appointed him, against Gruber's [[HappinessInMinimumWage most fervent wishes]], to the position of ''Head'' Gardener. As Gruber explains, this would mean becoming a DeskJockey and not being able to tend the gardens anymore, as well as micromanaging his replacements. Though Gruber also admits that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone this was an incredibly stupid decision]].
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[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d8zwtoy_9d5bec40_1b30_4005_83cd_e24c4f56f6c5.jpg]]
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* MythologyGag: In "Wanda Seldon", Raych summarizes the premise of ''Nemesis'', where a little girl telepathically talks to [[GenusLoci a planet]]. This may have been a literal reference to the novel, as the space-travel physics doesn't work the same way.
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* MythologyGag: In "Wanda Seldon", Raych summarizes the premise of ''Nemesis'', where a little girl telepathically talks to [[GenusLoci [[GeniusLoci a planet]]. This may have been a literal reference to the novel, as the space-travel physics doesn't work the same way.
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** In "Dors Venabili", Wanda may have dreamed or overheard someone talking about [[{{Mondegreen}} 'lemonade death']]. Dors tries to investigate the possibility that people may be planning a third attempt to assassinate Seldon. [[spoiler:She's wrong; they're targeting her, because she's such an effective bodyguard that for any assassination to work, you'd have to eliminate her first.]]
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** In "Dors Venabili", Wanda may have dreamed or overheard someone talking about [[{{Mondegreen}} [[MondegreenGag 'lemonade death']]. Dors tries to investigate the possibility that people may be planning a third attempt to assassinate Seldon. [[spoiler:She's wrong; they're targeting her, because she's such an effective bodyguard that for any assassination to work, you'd have to eliminate her first.]]
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* {{Mondegreen}}: During "Dors Venabili", Wanda is in Seldon's office and has what she believes is a dream, in which two men are talking about "lemonade death". [[spoiler:It turns out that it had not been a dream, and that the two men are [[AssassinationAttempt plotting to kill]] Dors with a machine called the Elar-Monay device.]]
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* {{Mondegreen}}: MondegreenGag: During "Dors Venabili", Wanda is in Seldon's office and has what she believes is a dream, in which two men are talking about "lemonade death". [[spoiler:It turns out that it had not been a dream, and that the two men are [[AssassinationAttempt plotting to kill]] Dors with a machine called the Elar-Monay device.]]
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URL used for another work named "Nemesis"
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* MythologyGag: In "Wanda Seldon", Raych summarizes the premise of ''{{Literature/Nemesis}}'', where a little girl telepathically talks to [[GenusLoci a planet]]. This may have been a literal reference to the novel, as the space-travel physics doesn't work the same way.
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* MythologyGag: In "Wanda Seldon", Raych summarizes the premise of ''{{Literature/Nemesis}}'', ''Nemesis'', where a little girl telepathically talks to [[GenusLoci a planet]]. This may have been a literal reference to the novel, as the space-travel physics doesn't work the same way.
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* DisappointedByTheMotive: The investigators of the murder of Emperor Cleon I are more than a little aghast at discovering that the man who murdered the Emperor and sent the Foundation's plans to hell was his gardener Gruber, who got more than a little impulsive at discovering that the Emperor appointed him, against Gruber's [[HappinessInMinimumWage most fervent wishes]], to the position of ''Head'' Gardener. As Gruber explains, this would mean becoming a DeskJockey and not being able to tend the gardens anymore, as well as micromanaging his replacements. Though Gruber also admits that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone this was an incredibly stupid decision]].
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%% [[caption-width-right:350:caption]]
First published in 1993 by Creator/IsaacAsimov, this ScienceFiction {{novel}} is a {{sequel}} to ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'', taking place [[{{Interquel}} between]] the events of that novel and skipping over the events of "Literature/ThePsychohistorians", from ''Literature/Foundation1951''. It's broken into four parts, with [[DashedPlotLine ten year jumps between each event]].
[[AC:Part I -- Eto Demerzel]]
Starting [[TimeSkip eight years]] after the end of ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'', when Department Head Seldon is [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo 40 years old]], First Minister Eto Demerzel is under political attack. A firebrand revolutionary named Laskin "Jo-Jo" Joranum is thumping for sector equality and blames the First Minister for all of the problems on Trantor.
[[AC:Part II -- Cleon I]]
Starting [[TimeSkip ten years after]] the end of "Part I", when First Minister Seldon is [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo 50 years old]], he must contend with the last group of Joranumites, who plot an AssassinationAttempt.
[[AC:Part III -- Dors Venabili]]
Starting [[TimeSkip ten years after]] the end of "Part II", when Professor Seldon is [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo 60 years old]], he is under scrutiny from the military junta that has ruled since the successful assassination from ten years ago. Another AssassinationAttempt occurs, and he doesn't figure out the target until too late.
[[AC:Part IV -- Wanda Seldon]]
Starting [[TimeSkip ten years after]] the end of "Part III", Professor Seldon is [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo 70 years old]], and trying to find people with PsychicPowers to build his Second Foundation.
[[AC:Epilogue]]
A short chapter, set [[TimeSkip eleven years after]] the end of "Part IV", 81 year-old Professor Seldon [[DyingAlone dies alone]], and it ends with an ''[[EncyclopediaExposita Encyclopedia Galactica]]'' entry on Hari Seldon, including the official record of [[EndingMemorialService his death and funeral service]].
----
!!''Forward the Foundation'' provides examples of:
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: In "Wanda Seldon", the (human) judge presiding over Professor Seldon's trial has faint blue skin -- the color gets more pronounced when she's angry.
* AssassinationAttempt:
** During "Cleon I", there’s a FlashBack to ten years ago, not long after the events of "Eto Demerzel", when the newly-appointed First Minister Seldon is targeted by an attack. Since Venabili had been protecting him at the time, however, it was quickly stopped. First-class gardener Manuel Gruber, however, showed himself just as ready to defend Seldon's life.
** "Cleon I" is mostly about an assassination attempt by the Jorumites. Their current leader, Gambol Deen Namarti, wants to kill First Minister Seldon, both in revenge for the events in "Eto Demerzel" and to replace him in the palace. His second-in-command, Gleb Andorin, wants [[KingBobTheNth Galactic Emperor Cleon I]] assassinated so that he can replace Cleon on the throne. They agree to starting with Seldon, and they'll drug Raych Seldon, who has tried to become TheMole in their organization, so that he can carry out the assassination. [[spoiler:Their plot is foiled by security officer Manella, who followed them undercover. However, recently-promoted Chief Gardener Gruber takes one of the blasters and assassinates the Emperor with it because he [[DecliningPromotion he didn't want the job]].]] The palace is quickly thrown into chaos with the successful assasination, and the next part, "Dors Venabili", establishes that a military junta took over afterwards.
** In "Dors Venabili", Wanda may have dreamed or overheard someone talking about [[{{Mondegreen}} 'lemonade death']]. Dors tries to investigate the possibility that people may be planning a third attempt to assassinate Seldon. [[spoiler:She's wrong; they're targeting her, because she's such an effective bodyguard that for any assassination to work, you'd have to eliminate her first.]]
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: In "Cleon I", First Minister Seldon is surprised to hear the soft sound of a blaster when one is pointed at him, since if you get vaporized by a blaster you never get a chance to hear it. He heard the blaster from Manella, an undercover security official, who was trying to stop an imperial assassination by killing Andorin. [[spoiler:Gleb Andorin used mind-control drugs on Raych Seldon, who was undercover as "Planchet". Raych was pointing a blaster at his father on Andorin's orders because Andorin wants him to kill First Minister Seldon, to make it look like a family feud. Manella kills him before he can give Raych the order to fire.]]
* BilledAboveTheTitle: No matter what cover you find, every one includes Dr Asimov's name above the title ''Forward the Foundation'', many of them giving equal or greater size to his name versus the book's title.
* BoxedSet: In 2018, Creator/EditoraAleph, a Brazilian publisher, printed ''Fundacao: declinio e ascensao''. Roughly translated into English, this means ''Foundation: Decline and Ascension''. Both {{Sequel}} and both {{Prequel}} novels are here; ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'', ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth'', ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'', and ''Literature/ForwardTheFoundation''.
* CaneFu: In "Wanda Seldon", an aged Hari Seldon is about to be attacked, and uses his weighted cane to smash the would-be attacker (as advised by his [[PsychicPowers psychic]] granddaughter, Wanda). He gets into [[WhenEldersAttack some trouble]] over this.
* ContinuityNod: During "Eto Demerzel", Seldon thinks back to the events of ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'', describing how [[MainCharacters he met only four people]] during his [[TheQuest Flight across Trantor]]. He mentions [[TheSmurfettePrinciple three men and Dors Venabili]], who married him in the intervening period.
* DashedPlotLine: The first part, "Eto Demerzel", starts eight years after the end of ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'', when Department Head Seldon is 40 years old. The next part, "Cleon I", is ten years after that, when First Minister Seldon is 50. The third part, "Dors Venabili", takes place during Professor Seldon's [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo 60th birthday]]. The last part, "Wanda Seldon", begins ten years after that. The book ends with an epilogue, describing the death of 81-year-old Hari Seldon.
* DecliningPromotion: In "Cleon I", Gardner First-class Gruber, of the royal gardens, is promoted by Emperor Cleon I to Chief Gardener. Gruber protests; as Chief Gardener he'd have to [[DeskJockey manage people and do paperwork]] instead of gardening, which is what he enjoys. He tries to reject the promotion, but the Emperor refuses to have his courtesy dismissed. Desperate, Gruber [[TheKingslayer assassinates the Emperor]].
* {{Dedication}}: Dr Asimov dedicated this book "For all my loyal readers".
* DemocracyIsBad:
** During "Eto Demerzel", Laskin "Jo-Jo" Joranum is thumping for political reforms of the Galactic Empire (an absolute monarchy that is said to have brought peace and prosperity for millennia). His movement is shown to have much popular support, but Seldon points out that Joranum doesn't believe in his own rhetoric and is planning on using demagoguery, lies, and manipulation to take and hold power.
** During "Cleon I", Joranum's rhetoric is called democracy, but the leaders of the group dismiss it as a system of government that was tried a few times throughout history, but was always unstable and short-lived.
** During "Wanda Seldon", [[KingBobTheNth Emperor Agis XIV]] and Hari Seldon discuss the intrusion of democracy in the benevolent imperial system. Agis decries it on the basis that each of the hundreds of members must agree to his idea before any work gets done, which takes months-years at best.
--->''"The Emperor Cleon," said Agis impatiently, "had two first-class First Ministers-Demerzel and yourself-and you each labored to keep Cleon from doing anything foolish. I have seventy-five hundred First Ministers, all of whom are foolish from start to finish."''
* DescriptionInTheMirror: In "Cleon I", Raych looks into a mirror to describe his "plucked" baby-face after being given a disguise to join the Jorumites in sector Wye.
* DeskJockey: In "Cleon I", one of the Emperor's gardeners gets promoted [[DecliningPromotion against his will]] to Chief Gardener; he feels the promotion will take him away from his beloved gardening and confine him to the inside of the palace (he's right). [[spoiler:He [[TheKingslayer assassinates the Emperor over it]].]]
* DyingAlone: A major theme of the final Asimov-penned Foundation story, ''Forward the Foundation'', which chronicles the second half of Hari Seldon's life, leading up to his creation of the Plan, is the loss of everyone close to him. [[spoiler: His wife, Dors Venabili is targeted by an anti-robot weapon and killed. His foster-son Raych dies during a riot on another planet. His daughter-in-law and grandson take a spaceship to a supposed safe haven, but it just vanishes without a trace. By the end, the only person Hari has left in his life is his granddaughter Wanda, but they are also separated as she and the other founding members of the Second Foundation are required by the Plan to go into seclusion, and thus he never sees her again before his death.]] However, while he may die alone, Hari also dies content in the knowledge that the future is safeguarded.
* EncyclopediaExposita: This novel is broken into four parts ("Eto Demerzel", "Cleon I", "Dors Venabili", and "Wanda Seldon"), with a matching ''[[FictionalDocument Encyclopedia Galactica]]'' entry for each. It also ends the story with sections of the entry for Hari Seldon, giving the [[EndingMemorialService official details about his death and burial]].
* EndingMemorialService: The epilogue contains a ''[[EncyclopediaExposita Encyclopedia Galactica]]'' entry for Hari Seldon, giving the official details about his death and burial.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Joranum is baffled that Demerzel spends his time trying to keep the citizens of the provinces happy, when it's only on Trantor that a rebellion would be dangerous to Demerzel's power.
* ExactlyExtyYearsAgo: The story begins eight years after the events of ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'', so that Hari Seldon is 40 years old, exactly. Each TimeSkip between the parts is ten years long, causing Seldon to be fifty, sixty, and seventy. During "Dors Venabili", they throw him a birthday party.
* FantasticFightingStyle: Hari Seldon has taught his "Helicon Twisting" to his son, Raych. It comes in handy, as Seldon sends the younger man into multiple dangerous situations to spy for him.
* FutureFoodIsArtificial: The Mycogen sector of Trantor specializes in producing yeast-based proteins as luxury foods. Other sectors only produce relatively bland gloop, while Mycogenian exports demand a high price (and the Mycogenians keep the very best for themselves; when Seldon tries one little morsel, it is described in almost orgasmic terms).
* HappinessInMinimumWage: Mandel Gruber, one of the royal gardeners, loves his job on the palace grounds. When Emperor Cleon promotes him to Chief Gardener in "Cleon I", he tries to [[DecliningPromotion decline it]], not wanting to be [[DeskJockey indoors, and out of the weather/work]]. When this doesn't work, [[spoiler:he takes advantage of an AssasinationAttempt and [[TheKingslayer kills Emperor Cleon]]. Gruber has a [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment of shock]] once he sees the dead body, and freezes]].
* InSeriesNickname: In "Dors Venabili", Elar calls Professor Seldon 'Maestro', as a show of respect for the inventor of psychohistory.
* {{Interquel}}: This story takes place between the events of ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'' and ''Literature/Foundation1951'', and partially overlaps with events from "Literature/ThePsychohistorians".
* KidsAreCruel: In "Wanda Seldon", an elderly Hari Seldon and his granddaughter Wanda end up the center of a huge trial over Wanda's (at her grandfather's insistence) alleged assault of three youths (in actuality gangmembers who wanted to mug the two). Wanda fights the gangmembers off and then flees with Hari, since Hari has already gotten in trouble for a previous incident with other gangmembers, but the incident is seen and reported to the guards anyway by a fourteen year old boy who paints Seldon and Wanda as the aggressors and the gangmembers as innocent, because shortly before the attack occurred, [[DisproportionateRetribution Seldon yelled at the boy not to throw litter in the streets]].
* KingBobTheNth: "Wanda Seldon" shows Agis XIV has taken the throne. Like many previous emperors, Agis XIV doesn't really want the job. He also mentions his namesake, Agis IV, under whose rule the Galactic Library became independent.
* TheKingslayer: In "Cleon I", the (retroactively recognized as) last good Emperor of the Galactic Empire is murdered [[spoiler:by Gruber, a palace minion who killed him for getting [[DecliningPromotion promoted against his will]] to Chief Gardener, rather than for political reasons]]. However, the result is the same, drawing the Empire one step further towards the impending chaos that psychohistory sees coming.
* LifeWillKillYou: Hari Seldon dies an old man, peacefully in his office in the University of Trantor, still working away on the Plan.
* TheMaidenNameDebate: In "Eto Demerzel", Department Head Seldon mulls over the fact that, despite marrying her, he still can't think of his wife as anything other than Dors Venabili. Dors Seldon would imply a sort of ownership that he does not have, and the current arrangement suits them just fine, including an adopted son named Raych Seldon.
* MarriedToTheJob: Yugo Amaryl is only interested in developing psychohistory. He never marries, doesn't know any people aside from his colleagues and dies early from overwork. Several times (mostly offscreen), Seldon tries to encourage Amaryl to take a break and find someone to spend time with, but he's never successful.
* {{Mondegreen}}: During "Dors Venabili", Wanda is in Seldon's office and has what she believes is a dream, in which two men are talking about "lemonade death". [[spoiler:It turns out that it had not been a dream, and that the two men are [[AssassinationAttempt plotting to kill]] Dors with a machine called the Elar-Monay device.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Chief Gardener Gruber has [[spoiler:[[TheKingslayer killed Emperor Cleon]]]], he stands in shock at the [[spoiler:dead body in front of him]].
* MythologyGag: In "Wanda Seldon", Raych summarizes the premise of ''{{Literature/Nemesis}}'', where a little girl telepathically talks to [[GenusLoci a planet]]. This may have been a literal reference to the novel, as the space-travel physics doesn't work the same way.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: In "Dors Venabili", Raych's wife, Manella, and his foster-mother, Dors Venabili, don't get along well. Their one point of agreement is in protecting Raych's foster-father, Seldon. Otherwise, Dors hates her, finding her unworthy of marrying (or even dating) her beloved son. She often works to undermine their relationship, and was the only unhappy face at the wedding. She recants her position [[spoiler:as she's dying]].
* OnlyOneName: When going undercover in "Cleon I", Raych Seldon takes the identity of 'Planchet', who was born in Millimaru, lived in Dahl for years, and has only the one name.
* PleasurePlanet: Hari Seldon mentions, in "Dors Venabili", that he's tried to convince Yugo Amaryl to take a break from working on psychohistory and take a vacation on Getorin, a 'resort planet' near Trantor.
* PrequelInTheLostAge: ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'' and ''Literature/ForwardTheFoundation'' are both {{Prequel}} stories to ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'', taking place in the heart of the First Galactic Empire, before the collapse became apparent due to the independence of the Periphery worlds.
* TheProfessor: Hari Seldon is secretly developing his [[FictionalFieldOfScience psychohistorical mathematics system]], and spends many years as the Head of the Mathematics department in Streeling University sector. His political influence rises (becoming First Minister to the Emperor) and falls (culminating in political exile), but he is always known as the [[PrescienceByAnalysis mathematician who can predict the future]] (even when he can't yet do so).
* RedBaron: In "Cleon I", we get a Flashback to an event shortly after the end of "Eto Demerzel", where [[ActionGirl Dors Venabili]] is defending First Minister Seldon from an attempted assassination. The fierceness she displays in taking out the assassin and torturing information from them earns her the nickname 'the Tiger Woman'. In "Dors Venabili", she uses her reputation for violence to intimidate military personnel after entering the Imperial grounds illegally.
* RoboticReveal: In "Eto Demerzel", Joranum tries to convince the public that First Minister Demerzel is a robot. [[SubvertedTrope However]], when publicly confronted with the slander, he laughs it off, convincing everyone that Joranum is a fool (popular opinion is that robots are a myth [[spoiler:[[TwoAliasesOneCharacter Daneel Olivaw]] and other robots have deliberately encouraged this belief]]).
* RoboticSpouse: Dors Venabili is the [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots ridiculously human-like robot]] wife of Hari Seldon. The only ones who know that she isn't human are Demerzel and Seldon himself.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Amidst the chaos surrounding high-level plots and counter-plots of "Cleon I", [[KingBobTheNth Galactic Emperor Cleon I]] is [[AssassinationAttempt assassinated]] by [[spoiler:a totally insignificant palace minion, because he (Cleon) was insisting on promoting said peon, [[DecliningPromotion against the peon's fervent wishes]], from "gardener" to "chief gardener"]].
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: It is implied that Wanda's [[spoiler:PsychicPowers are just an amplification of her father's inherent ability to [[MagneticHero charm anyone he meets]]]].
* {{Tagline}}:
** "The Ultimate Adventure in the Greatest Science Fiction Epic of All Time" -- Creator/Doubleday's original cover from 1993
** "His epic ''Foundation'' series: The final chapter" -- Creator/Doubleday's UK cover from 1993
** "The breathtaking conclusion to the greatest science fiction epic of all time" -- Creator/BantamSpectra's cover from 1994
* TWordEuphemism: When talking about unreasonable words used in the context of a pair of quarreling lovers, the word "whore" is written "wh___". Raych denies that he would ever use that word.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Near the end, Seldon puts his daughter-in-law and her young grandson on a ship to take them off Trantor to another world where they and their descendants will be safe, with only his granddaughter Wanda staying behind. Their transport takes off, but never arrives at its destination. Whether the ship suffered some sort of mechanical failure, crashed, or was waylaid by space pirates is never discovered; the ship simply vanishes without a trace.
** At the same time, the reigning emperor [[KingBobTheNth Argis XIV]], a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who never actually wanted the position and was only a very distant relative of the last emperor, is quietly removed from power by Linge Chen and the Commission For Public Safety, and replaced with a boy emperor they can more easily control and who is much less friendly to Hari because of this. Whether Argis was quietly retired off-planet or murdered is never discovered, by either Hari or the readers.
* WhenEldersAttack: During "Wanda Seldon", the 70-year-old Professor Hari Seldon is forced to defend himself several times. However, because he consistently does so effectively enough to be unharmed, he's [[WoundedGazelleGambit blamed for the fights]]. He and his grand-daughter, Wanda, are convicted for assault and battery.
* ZerothLawRebellion: [[spoiler:R. Daneel Olivaw]] explains to Seldon that the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]] limit his PsychicPowers, and he has trouble determining when the known harm of manipulating people's minds (violating the First Law) is justified by the hypothetical benefit to humanity (per the Zeroth Law). Seldon is surprised to learn this makes [[spoiler:Daneel]]'s [[UselessSuperpowers psychic powers are almost useless]]. He is forced to retire from politics and recommends Seldon to replace him as First Minister.
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