Was the Mule really a hero?

[thestars]

Warning: Foundation trilogy spoilers ahead

I loved the Foundation trilogy, but I found myself admiring and rooting for the Mule. Does anyone else feel this way?

Consider: the Mule was a single man, a physically deformed mutant that everyone mocked, who defied the historical necessity imposed by mathematics itself to conquer half the galaxy. He almost destroyed the Second Foundation, a small elite who aimed to eventually subject the entire galaxy to their will by mind control--not much different from the Mule's goals, except that the Second Foundation's control will be eternal while the Mule's control would last only a lifetime. As a conqueror, the Mule shed almost no blood and committed no atrocities, instead relying on emotional control of a small number of highly placed enemies. As far as we know, the emotionally controlled humans are not zombies; they can still make friends, pursue their hobbies, advance their careers, and enjoy life, the only difference being that they're loyal to the Mule.

The Mule also isn't a cruel or pompous ruler. When Bayta defeated him by trickery, he just admitted his mistake and let her go. He didn't put her into a dungeon and torture her for life. He didn't even enslave her by emotional control. At the beginning of Second Foundation, Asimov says that citizens who came to see the Mule didn't need to bow or kiss his feet. The Mule gave them a chair to sit in (while the previous mayor of Foundation made visitors stand). They could turn their backs on the Mule, if they wished. He called himself First Citizen (probably inspired by the Roman Empire's princeps). He didn't need to inflict terror on his people, and so he didn't. As the Mule said himself, if he conquered the whole galaxy, he would have realized Seldon's plan of a peaceful re-united empire 700 years before his timeline.

The Mule gives us hope that individuals matter, that we matter. That we don't have to be slaves to mathematical fate or puppets in a dead man's game. That we don't have to blindly follow the tracks laid by an all-powerful elite toward their own goals, especially if those goals involve mind controlling the galaxy. That gave me hope, so the Second Foundation's victory seemed quite dystopian to me. Thoughts?

 

[Danny McG]

I had similar thoughts when I read about him (all those years ago!)

I was a teenager then and I spent a good while pondering how many people he'd have to 'mentally modify'

I toned it down and worked out, just for my small town, that I'd need to have about 160 loyalties, I think to control most of the galaxy he'd need a planet full of serfs

 

[thestars]

I was a teenager then and I spent a good while pondering how many people he'd have to 'mentally modify'

I toned it down and worked out, just for my small town, that I'd need to have about 160 loyalties, I think to control most of the galaxy he'd need a planet full of serfs

Do you think the Mule could control people en masse, or did he have to consciously decide to convert someone? The Mule did say emotional control was tiring for him. There also seems to be a distance limit, because although he doesn't need line of sight (unlike the Second Foundationers), he also can't control someone on a different planet. If he needs to make a conscious decision to convert someone, he probably can't convert more than one person a second, or 10 million people a year at the very most. Still a lot, but in a galaxy of 10^15 people, that's only 1 in 100 million.

That does seem too small. The Romans (and most other successful conquerors on Earth) ruled their conquered subjects by replacing or bribing their elites, but it was probably more like 1 in 10,000. But also, the Mule single-handedly brought back a strong united empire while barely shedding any blood and not being a tyrant, so maybe his subjects just liked him.

 

[chornedsnorkack]

But also, the Mule single-handedly brought back a strong united empire while barely shedding any blood and not being a tyrant, so maybe his subjects just liked him.

Or maybe they just liked Empire. Trantor had fallen just 40 years ago. People expected new Emperor after a crisis, like Cleon´s father had been. The problem after Sack was that neither Gilmer nor Dagobert were up to the task of getting recognized, and Indbur would not try.

 

[BAYLOR]

In doing what he did , Mule thought he was a hero.

 

[AE35Unit]

I have no idea, I never got to relate to him that much. Didn't really understand what was going on.

 

[BAYLOR]

I have no idea, I never got to relate to him that much. Didn't really understand what was going on.

The mule believed that he and he alone could bring order to the Galaxy .

 

[AE35Unit]

The mule believed that he and he alone could bring order to the Galaxy .

It just wasn't that interesting to me, too much politicing. I prefer his robot books

 

[BAYLOR]

I ned up feeling sorry for the Mule.

 

[farntfar]

Yes. I too thought that he had advanced the progress of the reunification of the galaxy, and was thus a sort of hero. And you would have to say that in some ways he did, although the reunited planets were just absorbed into the foundation after he'd gone.

I suppose his problem was what would happen after he died, which IIRC was expected to be when he was still quite young.
Would his new order just collapse, as happened to the republic of England after Cromwell died, when they had to call Charles II back from exile in France, because they had no one with enough clout to take over from Oliver. (Not that C II was a very good king.)

In which case, all he would have achieved would have been a good advance in unification, followed by its collapse, and a Seldon plan that was essentially broken.
The second foundation would have had to work like crazy to get the galaxy back on track.