Warning: SPOILERS for the Foundation episode 4 ending.

The Empire begins to unravel in the Foundation episode 4 ending - and Gaal Dornick returns at last. Inspired by the short stories and novels of Isaac Asimov, Foundation tells the story of an Empire's downfall and those who would replace it. The story is driven by the predictions of Hari Seldon, the psychohistorian who has mastered a mathematical discipline that allows him to predict the future of galactic civilization.

The first "Seldon Crisis" manifests decades after Hari Seldon's death, with the Anacreons arriving on Terminus and threatening the Foundation. Meanwhile, Emperor Cleon is becoming disturbingly aware he can see signs of the coming collapse everywhere he looks; Seldon foretold a religious sect speaking out against the Empire, and even uprisings on Trantor, both of which are in danger of becoming a reality. The relationship between Brothers Dawn, Day, and Dusk is fracturing under the strain. And in the midst of all this, at a timing that seems so convenient it can only have been fore-ordained by Hari Seldon himself, the cryogenic pod containing Gaal Dornick is picked up by someone.

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Foundation showrunner David Goyer has routinely described the series as a great galactic chess game spanning a thousand years, with Hari Seldon on the one hand and the Emperor on the other. Seldon's opening moves have been subtle - it's possible Seldon was responsible for the bombing of Trantor - but they are proving successful; now the Emperor has become aware of the threats to their reign.

Foundation Episode 4 Ending: Where's Gaal & Who Rescues Her?

Foundation Episode 4 Gaal Dornick

Foundation episode 4 ending shows the cryogenically-frozen body of Gaal Dornick being found by a mysterious vessel. Hari Seldon's protégé, Gaal Dornick stumbled upon Hari Seldon being murdered by her lover Raych in Foundation episode 2, and was rushed out of the Foundation spaceship in a cryo-pod. She has slumbered for decades, lost in the depths of space, until now - conveniently just as the first Seldon Crisis is taking place. The vessel that picks up her pod does so carefully and deliberately, suggesting it contains people who had been assigned to collect it at just the right moment. But it's important to remember that Raych prepared the cryo-pod for himself, only adjusting his plans when Gaal walked in during the murder.

The murder of Hari Seldon remains a mystery, but it's likely he orchestrated it himself, perhaps believing the Foundation needed him to serve as a martyr. If Seldon was indeed the one who arranged all this, then it makes sense that the cryo-pod would be collected during the First Seldon Crisis, suggesting he intended Raych to have a part to play in it. Unfortunately his plans have now been disrupted, with Gaal inside the pod rather than Raych, and she'll have to figure out what's going on for herself.

Why The Anacreans Attacked Terminus In Foundation

Foundation Anacreon

The Anacreons have arrived on Terminus in force. They claim they're wanting to acquire navigational data so they can flee their devastated homeworld, but Salvor Hardin senses there is a lot more to it than that. In Salvor's view, the Anacreons have been consumed by death, and they just want to wage war - to kill everybody and everything. That makes their arrival on Terminus rather odd, because it's difficult to see why they would seek out a remote colony like this; Terminus doesn't have weapons, armies, soldiers, or even anything more than the skeleton of a single derelict starship. There is, however, one thing it does have in abundance; scientists. The colonists of Terminus were all chosen because of their scientific knowledge and acumen, so it is reasonable to assume it is knowledge they seek.

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Salvor's Visions Of Hari Seldon's Library Explained

Foundation Salvor Hardin Episode 4

Meanwhile, Salvor Hardin is beginning to doubt herself. All her life the Warden of Terminus has been told she's an "outlier," and now the colonists fear her aggressive response to the Anacreons has threatened the entire project. But Salvor's connection to the mysterious artifact called the Vault appears to be strengthening, even generating an intense vision of Hari Seldon's library on Trantor. This appears to confirm that, as in Isaac Asimov's original stories, the Vault has been placed on Terminus by Seldon himself containing knowledge that must be imparted at the moment of a Seldon Crisis, essential information to help the Foundation navigate the coming galactic storms. Far from an outlier, it seems Salvor Hardin is just the kind of person Seldon was banking on, someone who has a mysteriously strong psychic connection to the Vault and is thus able to receive its message. Already the Vault is guiding her - its strange visions led her to the Anacreon intruders on Terminus in the first place - and that will likely increase. The vision of Seldon's library may well mean Seldon left messages before his death; these were holographic recordings in Asimov's works, but they are likely to be something far more potent in this modern retelling of the story.

Foundation episode 4 further reveals Salvor Hardin possesses remarkable, almost supernatural, predictive abilities. As she demonstrates, she can reflexively "call" whether a tossed coin will land heads or tails, always getting it right, and she has a preternatural power to read into the very souls of the people she is talking to. She sounds almost like psychohistory made manifest, another prophet, and these powers may well be linked to her tie to the Vault.

Why Emperor Dawn Tried To Kill Himself In Foundation Episode 4

Foundation Brother Dawn Suicide

Meanwhile, back on Trantor, Brother Dawn makes an attempt to take his own life - only to be foiled by his protective aura, which absorbs the kinetic impact when he jumps out his window. Although Brother Dawn does not explain himself - his attempt is only seen by a gardener - the voice-over seems to suggest he feels trapped within the Cleon system, and that this was some desperate attempt to regain individuality. As Lee Pace explained in an interview, every one of the Emperors is of two minds: "On one side of their mind, they believe they're the same person. They actually believe this, and they believe that person is the Emperor of the galaxy. That person actually has control over whether trillions of people live or die, prosper or suffer, they believe in... but there's a limit to that control, right? And on the other side of that mind, are a series of individuals who, whether they like it or not, are individuals. They do have sentience, they are distinguished from one another." It looks as though the conflict between those two minds is particularly pronounced in Brother Dawn, leading to his suicide attempt in Foundation episode 4.

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