Her being nice to him was why he didn't mind control her period, the not making a harem was becuase he was sterile.
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Her being nice to him was why he didn't mind control her period, the not making a harem was becuase he was sterile.
This conflates two different passages from the final chapter of "The Mule" -- why the Mule left Bayta untouched, and why he didn't Change her into his consort.
The first:
That "mistake" left Bayta free to murder Ebling Mis when Mis was about to reveal that he had discovered the location of the Second Foundation -- as we would learn later, on Trantor -- and the Mule didn't see her as a threat to his scheme (driving Mis to the brink of death as he worked out where the Second Foundation was) until there was a gaping wound through Mis's chest.
The second:
As an aside, that final chapter of "The Mule" reads exactly like a 1920s British sitting room mystery -- here's a recap of everything that happened and everything that you missed along the way. I would not be overly surprised if young Asimov read Christie and Sayers in his teenage years.
The Mule could have Changed her as he routinely did with anyone around him, but she liked him anyway so he didn't. And he could have Changed her to become his consort, but he didn't see the point.
From a 2020 standpoint, the Mule's sterility is puzzling. I'm going to set aside the Foundation's Edge retcon -- the powers of Gaia made the Mule effectively sterile. Why is the Mule so certain that he's sterile? Some sixteen thousand years in the future there aren't fertility treatments? The Mule couldn't clone himself? Disbelief must be suspended; this is, after all, a universe where starships are powered by coal.
Truth to be told, medical science in the Asimov's Robot/Empire universe seems quite unadvanced. The real reason was obviously that in the 50's even a scifi writer couldn't predict the incredible advances in medicine in a so relative short time, but in universe is quite puzzling. I mean, Hari Seldom had to use a wheelchair. They tried to explain why in the prequel books, but it wasn't (IMO) really convincing...
I checked the science.
Mules cant make sperms or eggs.
Did a gaia and a human bang to make the mule?
Mules cant make sperms or eggs.
Did a gaia and a human bang to make the mule?
Maybe I'm confusing it in my mind with another book but I'm sure one of the male characters is looking forward to having sex with the 13 year old daughter of his companion and they talk about getting her ready to have sex with older men.
I dunno, I don't remember that at all. It would be an odd detail to include given that none of Asimov's Foundation books really featured anything in that category, and that he was trying to mimic the style as much as he could.
I just reread the first chapter of "Search by the Foundation" in Second Foundation, and I can see this as a badly remembered account of the chapter. Arkady, two days past her fourteenth birthday, has a strange man, Pelleas Anthor, climb in her bedroom window. He's come looking for her father, Toran Darrell II, and they have a strangely flirty conversation before her father barges in on them. Darrell and Anthor then have a brief conversation about Arkady's romantic prospects when she's older. Anthor's assessment: "Life could hold no greater horror than living with what she'll be like when she's twenty." Darrell agrees.
I really, really envy your memory...
Assuming that's what JoeZhang was thinking of, there really aren't any other options. There aren't a lot of female characters to choose from, and there's only one that's young. And while I would characterize the Trilogy as "sexless," Arkady and Anthor's conversation does read a bit like innocent flirting between a grad student and his colleague's daughter, and I could see how that could get misremembered.
The only instance of something like that being hinted at in the original trilogy is Lady Callia (sp) intimating to Arkady that Lord Stetton might have an interest in her. I think Arkady says "I'm not in love with him" to which Callia replies "That's not what I was I thinking of" or something along those lines.
Beyond that, can't recall anything else in the series, and don't recall enough about his other books.
Yeah, my thoughts as well. It definitely wouldn't go unnoticed. I tried looking at reviews to find any references, but the best I could come up with were references to different customs that the author tried to show via different cultures that woudln't fly today, though I doubt it's that.
As above - I'm referring to psychohistorical crisis.
Edit: I am misremembering it slightly - the lead character Eron Osa as a child (skimming he's about 12 at this point) sleeps with a child sex worker/servant and part of the conversation is about how this is wrong because culturally an older man should be the one to sleep with young girls.
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Actually I was right the first time and it is worse than I remember - a bit later in the book, one of the main characters (Hyperlord Kikaju) lusts after a six year old girl and is looking forward to seducing her over the next couple of years.
Just to be clear, does the author make the reader understand that these are aberrant behaviors? I.e what is the authorial intent while describing these scenes? To make it clear how much these characters are abject?
I'd need to re-read it all but I think it is just presented as culturally normal.
Hormones in food over the recent decades have had children start puberty very early. In 15 thousand years, the farms needed to feed 40 billion people per planet are going to be gmo monsters.
After a few hundred years of 6 year old girls starting puberty, the moral and legal rules about age and consent are going to shift if 9 year olds look like they are 23, and they have urges.
After a few hundred years of 6 year old girls starting puberty, the moral and legal rules about age and consent are going to shift if 9 year olds look like they are 23, and they have urges.
