Hugo Crast

Hugo Crast
General information
Aliases	Cian un Edan
Affiliation	Foundation
Biographical information
Date of birth	c. 12,032 Era Imperial
Place of birth	Thespis
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Appearances
Portrayed by	Daniel MacPherson
Debut	"The Mathematician's Ghost"

Hugo Crast is a character in the Apple TV+ series Foundation. Hugo is from Thespis and is a trader, operating the ship Beggar's Lament. He is Salvor Hardin's lover, and is by her side throughout the Anacreon invasion of Terminus, and assisted in resolving the First Crisis. Hugo is portrayed by Daniel MacPherson, first appearing in the episode "The Mathematician's Ghost".

Biography

Early life and Terminus

Hugo Crast, born Cian un Edan, was a native of the planet Thespis. Born around 12,032 Era Imperial, Hugo worked as a trader and spent most of his life in cryosleep between ports. Hugo left his homeworld because there was not enough to eat for all of them, and no one bothered to seek him out after. Prior to the abandonment of mining operations in the Anthor Belt, Hugo worked as a miner extracting palladium. Hugo had been off-world since the bombing of his homeworld, and was considered to be "blood-neutral," capable of hiding his heritage which proved to be useful when trading in Anacreon ports. By 12,102 Era Imperial, Hugo was a regular in Terminus City, trading supplies and information from off planet in his starship, the Beggar's Lament. While on Terminus, Hugo spent time with his lover, Salvor Hardin.

Invasion of Terminus

When an Anacreon force tried to sneak onto Terminus, Hugo was present at the Foundation meeting to discuss a plan. He identified the Anacreon craft as corvettes and warned the Foundation leadership. However, his presence at the meeting was questioned by Director Lewis Pirenne, but Salvor defended Hugo since he had knowledge that they needed. Lewis intended to contact the Galactic Empire for assistance rather than prepare for an attack. Salvor told Hugo to leave Terminus, convinced that the Anacreons were going to attack. Hugo asked if Salvor would go with him, but she intended to stay to protect the citizens so Hugo also opted to stay.

The Anacreons leader, Phara Keaen, initially took Salvor prisoner after capturing her outside the perimeter fence. Salvor managed to reverse the situation and capture her, and Hugo assisted her in the interrogation. They learned that Phara was the Grand Huntress of Anacreon. After Salvor had a vision where she sees a running boy, Hugo reassured her that he has faith in her. As the Anacreons make their presence on Terminus known and surround Terminus City, Hugo helps Salvor with the defense and offered to leave to get help, but was told he would be shot out of the sky before he reached orbit. Hugo therefore stayed, saying he does not regret staying on the planet before the attack started.

Phara is able to disable the fence protecting Terminus City using a hidden field disrupter, and the Anacreon forces attack. Hugo joined the battle to defend the citizens of the Foundation using his ion pistol. After Salvor was captured by Phara during the battle, Hugo joined up with Abbas Hardin but they were locked out on the other side of the perimeter fence once the Anacreons recoded it. Heading to the hulk of the Deliverance, they found Salvor who had been rescued by Poly and Gia. Salvor told them that she believed Phara was after a warship, the Invictus. In an effort to stop them, Salvor led Hugo and Abbas to the geothermal fields to destroy the Anacreon corvettes. Although they are successful in taking out the corvettes, it is at the cost of Abbas' life.

With the corvettes destroyed, the Beggar's Lament was the only ship on the planet. Hugo and Salvor headed there to launch and trap the Anacreons on Terminus; however, Phara was lying in wait for them and took them prisoner. In order to save Salvor's life, Hugo slaved the Beggar to her making both of them indispensable. The ship would only respond to Salvor's commands, but she didn't know how to fly it and needed Hugo's help. Reluctantly, Phara and a force of Anacreons board the Beggar with a small group of Foundation personnel and Commander Kray Dorwin of the Imperial jumpship Aegis. Their destination was the Anthor Belt.

The Invictus

The crew of The Beggar's Lament must board The Invictus and do so through a jump in space suits. During this, Hugo misses the jump and floats away. He is able to make it to a communications station where he contacts Thespin forces and calls for help. Hugo rode shotgun on one of the Thespin Lancers when they attacked the Invictus, using a sedation stick to knock himself unconscious when he noticed that the warship was about to jump and the Lancers were going to be dragged along in the quantum wake. When he awoke, Hugo heard Salvor attempting to communicated with the Thespin ships. He eventually reunited with her aboard the Beggar's Lament above Terminus.

At Salvor's request, Hugo took the Thespins aboard the Invictus to secure Phara and Rowan, but they found only Rowan. Searching the ship, they found no trace of Phara so they headed to the surface of Terminus against Hugo's advice. On the surface, a stand-off ensued that was ended by the death of Phara at Salvor's hands, and the arrival of Hari Seldon from the Vault.

After the resolution of the First Crisis, Hugo became the captain of the Invictus, overseeing its repair. Following Hari Seldon's suggestion, Hugo used the Invictus's jumpdrive to give the appearance that a mega-flare had destroyed Terminus. Several months later, Salvor Hardin was driven by an impulse to seek out Gaal Dornick. She attempted to leave Terminus without saying goodbye to Hugo, but he had anticipated her actions and was there to see her off when she left aboard the Beggar's Lament.

Legacy

One hundred and thirty-eight years later, the Mentalic Loron used his powers to trick Salvor Hardin into believing he was Hugo Crast when she crashlanded on Ignis. Drawing on the memories of Hugo from her mind, he appeared to her as Hugo. He claimed that, since the Beggar's Lament was still genetically encoded to him, it kept him informed of Salvor's movements. When she went into cryosleep, and with nothing left on Terminus, Hugo followed suit and set his own cryopod to synch up with the systems on the Beggar. Salvor believed the ruse, but Hari Seldon was suspicious enough to want further confirmation. Loron later used Hugo's image during a fight with Salvor in an effort to distract her during the confrontation.

Appearances

• Season One
  • "The Mathematician's Ghost" (First appearance)
  • "Barbarians at the Gate"
  • "Upon Awakening"
  • "Death and the Maiden"
  • "Mysteries and Martyrs"
  • "The Missing Piece"
  • "The First Crisis"
  • "The Leap"
• Season Two
  • "A Glimpse of Darkness" (Mentioned only)
  • "The Sighted and the Seen" (as a mental projection)
  • "Why the Gods Made Wine" (Mentioned only)
  • "Long Ago, Not Far Away" (as a mental projection)