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Mari Hardin

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"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 and was affected by the null field emanating from it like the rest of the team. Over the years, she married Abbas and the pair had a daughter, Salvor.[1] Mari chose to carry Gaal Dornick and Raych Foss' zygote to term,[4] hiding the fact from Salvor to protect her from the stigma of being the daughter of Hari Seldon's murderer.[5]

Mari was worried about Salvor due to her seeming connection to the Vault; one night when Salvor was four, Mari found her by the Vault but was unable to reach her due to the null field. She also believed her daughter was a dreamer and distracted, and had difficulties with her teachers. Abbas saw it differently, assuring Mari that Salvor was aware and a thinker. Mari and Salvor's relationship was not smooth, with Salvor following in her father's footsteps as Warden rather than training to be a member of the Foundation, which she found to be overly reliant on Hari Seldon's initial plan. 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.[1] 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.[6] Mari was present when Phara Keaen planned to take several members of the Foundation off-planet; she asked Salvor where Abbas was, only to learn that he had died during the Anacreon invasion.[3]

Mari remained on Terminus when Phara and her team left to salvage the Invictus. She noticed that the null field was expanding, and attempted to warn Lieutenant Freestone of the danger. She told him that it was not a trick, and the null field did not care which planet a person came from, it would affect them all.[7] She attempted to approach the Vault with the Prime Radiant, but was rendered unconscious by the null field's effects. Salvor Hardin found her, and then used the Radiant to remove the null field and trigger the opening of the Vault.[8]

Hari Seldon's emergence from the Vault, and his reveal of the Foundation's true plan left Mari feeling used. She had thought the Foundation would be sitting out the fall, building a time capsule for the future survivors. Learning that they would be responsible for putting the plan in action and hastening the fall of the Empire made her feel as if all the work they had been doing was busywork. After talking it through with Salvor, Mari revealed Salvor's true heritage to her. When Salvor told her that she was leaving to seek out Gaal, believing her to be the source of her visions, Mari gave her the Prime Radiant to give to her.[4]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "The Mathematician's Ghost"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Preparing to Live"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Death and the Maiden"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Leap"
  5. ↑ "The Leap (podcast episode)"
  6. ↑ "Upon Awakening"
  7. ↑ "The Missing Piece"
  8. ↑ "The First Crisis"
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