- "Hari Seldon entrusted us with rebuilding civilization after the collapse. We can't assume anything. Whether or not our future survivors will be able to read, or what language they'll speak. We don't even know what worlds they'll be scattered upon."
- —Mari Hardin[src]
Mari Hardin is a recurring character in the Apple TV+ series Foundation. She is a member of the Foundation and a colonist living on the planet Terminus. Mari is portrayed by Sasha Behar in the Apple TV+, first appearing in "Preparing to Live."
Biography
Mari Hardin lived on Trantor and fully believed in Hari Seldon's predictions that the Galactic Empire was destined to fall within a few hundred years. She volunteered to join the Foundation, along with Abbas, who had fallen for her.[3] The pair travelled onboard the slow ship Deliverance to the planet Terminus. Over the years it took to reach the planet, she trained to survive on Terminus alongside Gaal Dornick, Abbas, Briwan, and Shivaughn. During a simulation that ended in disaster, Mari was "killed" by exploding rock fragments after Abbas' weapons fire ignited pockets of mercury and arsenic in the geothermal tunnels.[2]
Mari was also part of the Foundation budgetary committee alongside Lewis Pirenne.[2] Arriving on Terminus, Mari was part of the initial scouting team that discovered the Vault. Over the years, she married Abbas and the pair had a daughter, Salvor. Mari continued to keep faith with the plan, continuing the training of others as the sought to preserve knowledge for civilization.[1]
When the Anacreons arrived on Terminus, Mari held to the belief that Hari Seldon would have accounted for this possibility. She showed Salvor the Prime Radiant, taken from Hari's office on the night he died. Mari hoped that Salvor could understand it since she was an outlier to the Plan.[4] During the Anacreon's attack on Terminus City, Mari is held hostage by Phara Keaen, hoping to leverage her against Salvor. Salvor managed to rescue her mother, but the Anacreons took control of the settlement.[5]