Arkady Darell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arkady Darell is a fictional character, part of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series. She appears in Second Foundation.
[edit] Overview
She is born 11, 5, 362FE and dies 1, 7, 443FE. Her father is Toran Darell II and she is the grand-daughter of Toran and Bayta Darell and is very proud of the fact, writing a biography of Bayta in later life. She goes on to become a famous romantic novelist, writing the books Unkeyed Memories and Time and Time and Over about Kalganian society of the early interregnum. She was originally named Arcadia after her great-grandmother (Arcadia is a Trantorian name, so probably Arcadia's mother was from Trantor).
[edit] Role in history
She is a rather precocious child who lives on Terminus. She learns about a conspiracy between her father, Homir Munn, Pelleas Anthor and others to track down the members of the Second Foundation, so she stows away in a private spaceship owned by Munn to travel to Kalgan, where Munn hopes to uncover the Mule's records of the Second Foundation. Her father decides that it is wiser to pretend that this is a planned holiday with 'Uncle Homir', an old family friend, rather than send or take her back and draw attention to the conspiracy.
On Kalgan she is noticed by Lord Stettin, the local despot. Though she's only fourteen and shows no interest in sex (as distinct from romance), he views her as suitable wife to help consolidate his conquest of the Foundation. She is warned and helped to escape by Lady Callia, Lord Stettin's mistress, who is plausibly alarmed at being displaced. But as they part, Arkady notices a cold intelligence behind the apparent silliness of Lady Callia. She is being manipulated by the Second Foundation, and also works out where the Second Foundation must be.
Arkady decides to go to Trantor rather than Terminus. She has the good luck to run into Preem Palver and his wife, who live on Trantor. To them she gives the same story Lady Callia told, so they help her.
She persuades Palver that he could profitably supply food to Terminus. At the same times, he can take to her father a solution to the Second Foundation location mystery. This results in them completing their discovery of the Second Foundation.
In fact, however, they haven't. Arkady has been a tool of the Second Foundation from birth: it was possible to adjust her mind without a visible trace because she was a baby at the time. The Second Foundation sacrifice 50 of their people to make it seem that they no longer exist which they do in order to get history back on track.
[edit] Significance
Arkady Darell is given far more of a "hero" role than was usual or customary for teenage-girl characters in ca. 1950 science fiction novels, so that her portrayal can be seen as somewhat pioneering in that respect.
