Harla Branno

Harla Branno is a character in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.
== Biography ==
Harla Branno (also called Branno the Bronze) was the mayor of Terminus during the events of Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth. She was a very capable administrator, known for her quiet decisions. She had, even without any obvious charisma, a talent to persuade voters that these decisions would be right. She considered herself the strongest to rule since The Mule's death.
She once served as Ambassador to Mandress. After an unspecified period of time since her ambassadorship, being back on Terminus, she ruled for twelve years behind the scenes using two figureheads who acted as mayors. Ultimately, she became the mayor (only the fifth woman in history to do so) and held the position for at least five years.
During the eigth Seldon Crisis, she was unpopular for her opinion that Terminus should remain as the capital of Foundation. However, she rapidly gained the popularity back when Hari Seldon appeared in the Time Vault and essentially backed her opinion. That gave her, for the while, an overwhelming political advantage.
When Councilman Golan Trevize openly questioned the validity of Seldon Plan during the session of the Foundation Executive Council and repeatedly claimed Second Foundation still existed, she gave order to arrest him for treason. After an interrogation, he was released and escorted to his home. Mayor Branno met him there and told him she was aware about the existence of Second Foundation. She also ordered him to leave Terminus and find any useful information about Second Foundation, otherwise he would be sentenced to life imprisonment or even death.
However, her true intentions, which she then revealed to her loyal subordinate Liono Kodell, were to exile Trevize into the space in hope that he would attract the attention of members of Second Foundation. As a precautionary measure, she had Trevize followed by Councilman Munn Li Compor.
Upon learning that Trevize was heading from Sayshell to nearby Gaia, she suspected that the latter might be a threat to Seldon Plan, so she ordered Kodell to send a fleet of warships as close to Sayshell as possible (without causing an incident). She also decided to set off with the fleet herself, despite Kodell's objections.
Before the confrontation with Gaia, she was sure about the existence of Second Foundation and even knew its whereabouts. She found out Compor was a part of Second Foundation, therefore she had his ship tracked. When the unknown ship approached Compor's ship, her subordinates managed to identify the ship origin from the pattern of its energy use – it came from Trantor.
When Trevize chose Gaia as the future of the Galaxy, her mind was altered to forget about the existence of both Second Foundation and Gaia. She then flew back to Sayshell and made an agreement which would eventually take them into Foundation's grip.
Category:Foundation Universe
Category:Characters