Salvor Hardin

**Salvor Hardin** is one of the main characters of the Apple TV+ series *Foundation*. Intuitive, with foxlike intelligence, Salvor is the protective Warden of Terminus. She has a mysterious connection to the Vault, being the only person on Terminus capable of withstanding the effects of the null field. Salvor is portrayed by Leah Harvey, first appearing in the episode "The Emperor's Peace".

## Biography

### Early life

Salvor Hardin was born on Terminus to colonists Mari and Abbas. From a young age, Salvor showed a connection to the mysterious Vault; at the age of four, Salvor walked out to the Vault and stood underneath it without the null field affecting her. Her mother tried to crawl after her and called her name, but Salvor could not understand why the Vault was hurting her when she was unaffected by it. Salvor always believed that the Vault was calling to her, almost like an imaginary friend. As the years passed, Salvor was considered an outlier to Hari Seldon's plan and did not join the Foundation, but succeeded her father, Abbas, as Warden of Terminus. Her duties consisted of providing for the protection of the colony.

### Warden of Terminus

Salvor rescues young colonist Poly Verisof after he attempts to approach the Vault, part of a game played by the children of the colony. Affected by the null field generated by the artifact, Poly is rendered unconscious and dragged down the mountainside by Salvor. Giving him food to recover, she sends him on his way after warning him of a bishop's claw in the area. Salvor's lover, Hugo Crast, returned to the colony from a trading run aboard his ship, the *Beggar's Lament*. Salvor's connection to the Vault later manifested as visions of a young boy with a knife running away; following the boy led Salvor to discover that a force of Anacreons had landed on the planet. After capturing their leader, Phara Keaen, by taking her to the Vault and using the null field to render her unconscious, Salvor intended to find out why the Anacreons were on Terminus.

Salvor's capture and interrogation of Phara brought her into conflict with Director of the Foundation, Lewis Pirenne. Despite her best efforts, the Anacreons managed to surround Terminus City and eventually took control of the settlement. Salvor was taken prisoner by the Anacreons, but was rescued by Poly and Gia. Alongside Hugo and her father, Salvor took the fight to the Anacreons by attacking their landed corvettes.

Not long after the attack on the Anacreon corvettes, Anacreon forces take over Terminus City and its citizens. Salvor and select others from the Foundation are forced to join Phara and some of the Anacreon forces on a mission to board the *Invictus*. Hugo makes it so Phara must keep him and Salvor alive, through slaving the ship to Salvor.

To board the *Invictus*, Salvor has to jump with the hostages and Anacreon forces in space suits down to the hull of the ship. They enter the ship but incur casualties. During their passage through the ship, Salvor helps the party get past gates and doors. Salvor is able to get the door open to the bridge where she grabs a weapon and fires at the Anacreon forces, allowing her and Lewis time to get to the other side of the door, separating them from the Anacreons. Salvor and Lewis develop a plan to navigate the ship before its next jump, but Phara and Rowan are able to override the doors and interrupt this. As they do, the Invictus jumps.

Salvor wakes up while the ship is in the jump and sees visions of what had just transpired in the room. After the jump finishes, Salvor wakes again and assesses the situation, finding the Anacreons unconscious and Lewis having carried out their plan. Lewis navigated the ship back to terminus, and Salvor tries to contact Terminus with no response. She believes the null field may be involved. The jump dragged other nearby ships with them, including the *Beggar's Lament* and crafts from Thespis, and Salvor space jumps towards the *Beggar's Lament*. While there, she is reunited with Hugo, who tries to convince her to come away with him and leave all this behind. She says that she has to finish this and see it through, which Hugo reluctantly agrees to.

On Terminus, Salvor is able to deactivate the null field using the Prime Radiant, thus awakening many citizens of the Foundation - and also Anacreon soldiers. There is a stand-off between Foundation members, Anacreons, and citizens of Thespis.

### Synnax

Salvor is found by Gaal in the ocean of Synnax. After Salvor awakens and gives Gaal the Prime Radiant, she reveals to Gaal that she is Gaal’s daughter. Salvor is disappointed to see Gaal struggle to accept this and how both of them are in the same time period. Salvor leaves early the next morning to fish for food and returns to find that Gaal had been searching for her. As they sit in the boat, Salvor spots Gaal’s lie about the reasons for not opening the Prime Radiant, which Salvor calls out. Later, Gaal opens the Radiant and the pair can see the Second Crisis is approaching.

Needing to get off-world, the pair develop a plan to reach the *Beggar's Lament* at the bottom of the ocean and reboot it. Salvor needs Gaal’s help with this and they are successful, though Salvor worries about an unconscious Gaal on the ship. Helping Gaal recover, Salvor implores Gaal to free Hari from the Radiant which Gaal is reluctant to do as they parted on bad terms. The pair are shocked to see Hari appear anyway on the *Beggar's Lament*, having escaped the Radiant.

Salvor has to interrupt Gaal and Hari's argument in order to save the *Beggar's Lament*. With Hari's help, Salvor is able to save the ship and they escape. Salvor is filled in by Gaal and Hari on what happened long ago, and how Gaal's actions disrupted the plan for a Second Foundation. Salvor is also confused as if they help the first Foundation themselves, that's bad, but also if they do nothing, it's bad.

Gaal reveals to Salvor and Hari the visions she’s been having, of the Mule bringing destruction in the future. Hari wants Gaal to recall these visions, and Salvor is shocked to see Gaal needs to put her life at risk to do so by cutting the oxygen. Gaal is worried about going into her future memories, but Salvor says Gaal can use her voice as an anchor to bring her back. With this, Salvor brings Gaal back from the vision she was in and Gaal tells her and Hari what she saw and what planet the Second Foundation is on in her vision - Ignis - and Salvor sets course.

Later, Salvor hears more details on the vision Gaal had - Salvor dies in it.

Salvor and Gaal land on what they think is Ignis and wonder why a Second Foundation would want to set up there. They then find out from Hari that it is in fact Oona's World, an uninhabited mining planet. Salvor demands to know why Hari took them to this planet and after his explanation, she is still not convinced and nor is Gaal who refuses to take Hari and the Radiant to the mountains. Salvor wants to get off the planet quickly and throws the Radiant - what Hari needs to project himself - into the sand, forcing Gaal to go with him. The sooner Hari completes his mission, the sooner they can leave.

When Gaal returns to the ship without Hari, Salvor is surprised. She discusses with Gaal her relationship with Hari, including the arrangement to leave the planet if Hari hasn't returned in six hours. When that six hours passes, Salvor and Gaal attempt to take off but the *Beggar's Lament* falls through the planet's crust and is surrounded by autonomous mining machines. Salvor is able to pilot the ship out but a lifeform is present on the ship’s scanners. This life form turns out to be Hari Seldon, now a biological entity.

### Ignis

As the *Beggar's Lament* approaches Ignis, Salvor and Gaal ask Hari how he got into a mortal body and he says he does not remember. The *Beggar* is hit with negative ion particles in the atmosphere during its descent and begins to crash land, where Salvor detects someone is watching them. Surviving the crash, Salvor goes to find the mystery person who was watching them as Gaal and Hari run diagnostics on the ship.

While investigating, Salvor has a brief skirmish with someone who she then finds out is Hugo Crast, who claims he went into cryosleep the same time she did, being informed by the *Beggar* of everything that was transpiring. The pair make it back to the *Beggar* and Salvor is frustrated at Hari not letting them in. Soon after, new contacts approach the ship and Hugo reveals his true form as an unknown assailant. The trio are attacked and captured and taken away, unconscious. When they awaken, Salvor and Gaal hear whispers and lead Hari to the form of a girl with people surrounding her. The girl later reveals herself to be the leader of the mentalics, Tellem Bond.

Salvor wakes early due to weird dreams which she believes are the dreams of other Mentalics' leaking into hers. She continues on her walk, meeting Josiah. He shows her that Mentalics are capable of projecting their thoughts without talking, called "Unvoicing." Everyone on the planet can do it, and Tellem Bond taught them how by using a musical pitch. Josiah uses his abilities to show Salvor how his throat was cut when people feared his powers, and how he was rescued by Tellem. Other refugees show Salvor their own stories and how Tellem rescued them.

Salvor, Hari, and Gaal meet with Tellem. She reveals that Gaal's thoughts have told her about the First Crisis, the Second Crisis, and the Foundation. Tellem doesn't care about the Empire, she just wants to keep her people out of the way so they are not killed. Hari tells her about the rise of the Mule in the future, and Gaal shows her the vision she had.

Salvor and Hari talk on the beach, with the conversation again turning to Hari's resurrection. Salvor is still unsure why Kalle did it. Hari believes that it is part of the messianic side to his story, about death and resurrection. Salvor points out that already happened with the version of Hari on Terminus. Her theory is that someone was worried that Hari would reduce everything down to numbers so wanted him to have some actual skin in the game. Hari knows that Salvor thinks he is a bad influence on Gaal, but all Salvor wants to for Gaal not to forget that there are actual people on the planets to be saved. Hari reveals that he didn't known about Gaal and Raych's relationship until the night he died and that Gaal is angry at him rather than face the truth: Raych knew everything and still went along with it. Salvor is worried that Gaal will turn into Hari. As they fish, Hari realises that it must be hard on Salvor. Salvor admits that she feels like she is raising an army to fight the Foundation. Hari clarifies that the Second Foundation is not meant to fight the First, but to nudge it where necessary. The other version of Hari was edited and doesn't know the full plan, and has no idea about this Hari's existence or the intent to create a Second Foundation. Salvor realises that for that to work, Hari would need to be able to monitor his other self and realises that the Vault and Prime Radiant are connected. The Prime Radiant is a single object outside of space time, existing in two places at once. Gaal arrives with Tellem to reveal their arrangement for Gaal to take the lead in building the Second Foundation on Ignis; Hari wants to know Tellem offered and points out that Tellem can put anything into her mind. When Tellem refers to an incident on Macoda Mesa in Hari's youth, Hari angrily tells them if they can't trust their own minds, then what else do they have?

Salvor goes after Hari, knowing that what Tellem said about Macoda Mesa got to Hari. Hari realises that all day he could not shake the memory, and that Tellem was gouging it from his mind. Hari tells Salvor that they are after the Prime Radiant, and that it is hidden on the *Beggar* and doesn't look like itself. He implores Salvor to protect it and Gaal before hurrying away. Salvor finds Gaal, who gives her a present - a piece of fruit - after learning from Tellem that it was her birthday. Gaal is glad that Salvor had Mari and Abbas on Terminus. As they hug, they hear the *Beggar* taking off; going outside to see, they watch as it flies away with Hari at the controls.

Salvor goes to talk to Gaal; Gaal, counting primes, instinctively pushes Salvor back telekinetically. Salvor feels the situation is not right - she cannot read anyone on the planet like she could on Terminus. Josiah interrupts the pair and takes them to the feast where Tellem apologises for the business with Hari. Salvor talks with Loron at the beach about the kiss they shared when he was posing as Hugo. Despite him saying Tellem is excited they’re all here, Salvor retorts that she is more excited that Gaal is there. As Salvor sees something pulled to the shore, Salvor flips a coin. Later, as ghost mollusks are poured into boiling water alive, their screams affect Gaal and Salvor greatly. Tellem says they have to take the rough with the smooth with regards to seeing everything.

Later, Salvor returns to the raft she saw being pulled to shore earlier. After some checking, she is able to find the navigation cache. She is caught by Gaal, who wants her to trust her and stop pulling threads. Salvor is still suspicious and goes back to the boat later that night. She uses it to travel to the location it last visited. She finds Hari's body floating in a pool and goes to try to save him. Tellem is there however and uses telepathic powers to put Salvor face down into the water alongside Hari.

Tellem has taken Salvor and has placed in her in a pit, with psychic dampers in the ceiling that prevents her from doing things like reading a coin flip. She ponders her conversation with Hari and how she has the Radiant. She is able to activate it and goes to the Vault to speak with the manifestation of Hari there. Surprised to see Salvor, that Hari begins to compute that he is a copy of another Hari Seldon and information was withheld from him purposefully. He deduces his purpose as Salvor watches on. She tells him information meant for the other Hari that he really shouldn’t know. Nonetheless, he agrees to help and Salvor wants to know how to escape the pit, so Hari transports their consciousnesses there. Telling Salvor she knows the way out, they discuss Hober Mallow and what Gaal told Salvor. Salvor tells Hari to use this information, which Hari reluctantly does. As they part ways, Salvor is able to retune the psychic damper disks and blast the roof open to go and rescue Gaal.

Seeing Gaal on the table, Salvor uses the psychic damper discs to disrupt the connection between Gaal and Tellem, taking Gaal away. Gaal initially fights Salvor off but eventually comes round and the pair escape. They find their way to the ‘’Beggar’’ which was never moved. Gaal takes the Radiant and runs for the ship while Salvor covers her. Salvor fights with Loron who switches between his face and Hugo’s. Their fight continues into the ship where Salvor is able to trap him inside the airlock. She removes oxygen there and she watches Hugo’s face gasping for air as he tells her he loves her. Salvor is upset and sees Loron die on the floor. She sees Tellem strangling Gaal and she goes to help, but is injured by Tellem. Hari - who is alive - comes in and finally kills the Mentalic.

Salvor is confused as to how Hari came back to life. She hears Gaal explain how Hari never died. Gaal felt like she was drowning with Hari, she couldn’t breathe. She reached out and influence the guard by giving him a need, as Tellem had taught her. Gaal controlled Hari’s body and overpowered the guard, drowning him. The best illusions are bound by reality and indeed everybody saw Hari’s body, thanks to Gaal. Gaal and Hari built a bridge of shared sensations and to hide this from the Mentallics, they counted primes together to shield their thoughts. Gaal explains to Salvor how she had to mask what they’d done from everyone, including Salvor, for fear of their plan being exposed. Salvor realises her trick with the coin nearly ruined the situation, but she is reassured by Hari that without her coming to save them, they would all be dead.

They are interrupted by the arrival of the Mentalics who want to speak to them. Not willing to come out straight away, they stay in the ship. After the Mentallics explain that they mean no harm and are now free, the trio exit and the Mentalics bow towards them. Later, the trio are among the Mentalics. Salvor spots Josiah pointing a gun at Salvor and she moves quickly, diving as he shoots and takes the shot as she throws a knife into his chest. Gaal tends to her, and Salvor is keen to point out that the future can be changed. Salvor dies in Gaal’s arms.

## From the Foundation Books

*Salvor Hardin is regarded as one of the greatest mayors to ever govern over the planet Terminus. Serving five terms as mayor, Hardin was known for his deft handling of foreign affairs. Hardin was born on Terminus and when elected to the position of the Mayor found that his role was constantly undermined by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Hardin campaigns for city representation at the Board of Trustees meetings and is eventually allowed to attend.*

*Hardin comes to learn of Terminus’ true purpose as Hari Seldon’s attempts to preserve science and civilization in the face of a crumbling Galactic Empire. Outmaneuvering the Board, Hardin takes the role of head of state for the Foundation and Terminus. A new religion, Scientism, is created by Hardin and his advisor, Yohan Lee, which regards scientific occurrences as sacred. Hardin uses Scientism to subjugate nearby interplanetary kingdoms that have fallen to barbarism to increase the power and reach of the Foundation.*

## Behind the Scenes

In the original *Foundation* series by Isaac Asimov, Salvor Hardin was a male. The character's gender was changed to female for the *Foundation* series.

## Appearances

* Season One
	+ "The Emperor's Peace" (First appearance)
	+ "The Mathematician's Ghost"
	+ "Barbarians at the Gate"
	+ "Upon Awakening"
	+ "Death and the Maiden"
	+ "Mysteries and Martyrs"
	+ "The Missing Piece"
	+ "The First Crisis"
	+ "The Leap"
* Season Two
	+ "In Seldon's Shadow"
	+ "A Glimpse of Darkness"
	+ "King and Commoner"
	+ "Where the Stars Are Scattered Thinly" (Mentioned only)
	+ "The Sighted and the Seen"
	+ "Why the Gods Made Wine"
	+ "A Necessary Death"
	+ "The Last Empress"
	+ "Long Ago, Not Far Away"
	+ "Creation Myths"

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "The Mathematician's Ghost"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Leap"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "The Emperor's Peace"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Creation Myths"
5. ↑ "Barbarians at the Gate"
6. ↑ "Upon Awakening"
7. ↑ "Death and the Maiden"
8. ↑ ”Death and the Maiden”
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 ”Mysteries and Martyrs”
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 ”The Missing Piece”
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 ”The First Crisis”
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "In Seldon's Shadow"
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "A Glimpse of Darkness"
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "King and Commoner"
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "The Sighted and the Seen"
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 "Why the Gods Made Wine"
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "A Necessary Death"
18. ↑ "The Last Empress"
19. ↑ "Long Ago, Not Far Away"