Foundation Episode 3 Ending Explained: The Vault & Salvor Hardin

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Foundation episode 3.

Apple TV+’s Foundation episode 3 leaves Salvor Hardin in a crisis, while the mysterious null field generated by the Vault begins to extend across the planet Terminus. Showrunner David Goyer has brought Isaac Asimov’s classic Foundation series to life on the small screen, but that poses real challenges. As David Goyer himself observed in an interview, “The first book is kind of anthological, and there are these enormous time-jumps that happen in between the stories, and a lot of the characters don’t repeat from one story to the next.” As a result, Foundation episode 3 doesn’t even attempt to resolve the cliffhanger ending of episode 2, which saw Hari Seldon murdered and Gaal Dornick placed in cryogenic suspension. Instead, it skips forward in time – initially focusing on Brother Dusk’s passing, and then forward again to events that happen some 35 years after Seldon’s followers left Trantor for the galactic rim.

By now, the Trantor settlement is well-established and work is underway preserving the knowledge that will be key to reestablishing civilization after the coming galactic Dark Ages. But there are predators at large on Terminus, as well as a mysterious artifact known as the Vault that poses real challenges to the colonists, and so they have established the position of Warden to protect them from the hazards of their world. The current Warden is Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey), a character who’s been substantially changed from the books, where they were male and actually served as Mayor of the Foundation rather than Warden. Foundation‘s version of Salvor Hardin is much more action-oriented that Isaac Asimov’s version, and much more well-rounded to boot.

But by the end of Foundation episode 3, the colony on Terminus is facing a new and unexpected threat. It feels as though a crisis is looming, one that calls into doubt all of Hari Seldon’s plans – and Salvor Hardin, believed to be an “outlier” in the Foundation, looks set to stand at the center of it all.

Salvor Hardin Calls Into Question Hari Seldon’s Plan

While Foundation episode 2’s dramatic ending was focused on the death of Hari Seldon, the really disturbing twist was an intellectual one; Gaal Dornick’s realization something is wrong with Hari’s math. The entire initiative to Terminus is predicated on the assumption that Seldon has correctly predicted the future fate of the galaxy using the mathematical science of psychohistory, and Gaal is still the only one who has mastered this sufficiently to double-check his calculations. If Seldon has miscalculated, then it is entirely possible the effort to preserve the galaxy and prevent the Dark Ages lasting tens of thousands of years is doomed to failure. Gaal left the Foundation before she passed on her realization to anyone other than Raych, who was presumably executed for Seldon’s murder. In the decades that have passed, psychohistory seems to have developed into what can almost be called a religion, with Seldon’s predictions treated as prophecies. Nobody is questioning them further.

This makes Salvor Hardin’s presence on Terminus even more concerning. She has been assigned as Warden in part because she simply doesn’t fit in, because there is no other role to which her skills and abilities are suited. The Foundation’s Council have decided she is an “outlier,” someone whose existence was not predicted by Hari Seldon and thus is irrelevant to the mission. But the very idea there can be outliers confirms there are limitations to psychohistory’s ability to predict the future, casting further doubt on the task Seldon has assigned the Foundation. Making matters worse, psychohistory has always been said to be unable to predict the actions of a single individual, and those taken by an outlier like Salvor Hardon would have the potential to change the course of history. The Foundation’s Council don’t quite seem to have grasped this – as noted, their devotion to Hari Seldon’s mission has become almost religious – but they are all intelligent enough to sense a problem they are trying to ignore, and so they treat Salvor as an outsider. It is no coincidence Salvor Hardin is in a relationship with a trader who is not part of the Foundation.

The Vault Reacts To A Coming Crisis

As seen in Foundation episode 3, when the colonists arrived on Terminus, they discovered a mysterious object there that came to be known as the Vault. Ominous and foreboding, not appearing on any records or showing up on any sensors, the Vault generates a so-called “null field” that repels all life. At first it was feared, but as the decades pass the Vault has come to be treated as more of a curiosity than anything else, with the Foundation’s children even daring one another to see how close they can get to it. Salvor Hardin is strangely immune to the null field, further evidence of her nature as an outlier, and she seems able to sense the Vault’s activity on an almost psychic level. She believes the Vault is warning of a coming crisis – and in preparation for this, the Vault’s null field is extending across the planet Terminus, potentially threatening the colony itself.

This leads Salvor Hardin to make a deductive leap; as she points out to the characters who make up the Foundation Council, Hari Seldon predicted a number of coming crises, key events that would shape the future of the galaxy. Salvor believes one of these so-called “Seldon Crises” is happening now, not on the distant world of Trantor but on Terminus itself. If she is correct, it is surely no coincidence the Foundation was established here, and it is quite possible Hari Seldon had other secret purposes in mind for his project. This may be the flaw in the math Gaal Dornick realized; a deception, a truth not told because its revelation would change events too much.

This fits perfectly with the books, where the Vault was a repository of knowledge left behind by Hari Seldon that triggered whenever a Seldon Crisis was happening and imparted information to help the colonists navigate the situation. There, the first time the Vault opened the Foundation learned their mission to preserve the galaxy’s knowledge was a deception, a task that had been created by Seldon in order to get them to Terminus and keep them occupied until the time was right. The Vault has clearly been changed a lot from Isaac Asimov’s novels, but it seems similar enough for this to be the same here.

The Anacreon Threat Arrives On Terminus

Salvor Hardin’s connection with the Vault means she begins to experience strange visions of a young boy in Foundation episode 3, who leads her to discover Anacreon ships attempting to slip on to Terminus unseen – and then to stumble on a small squad of Anacreons who have already landed, for unknown purposes. As seen in Foundation episodes 1 and 2, the Anacreons originate from a rim-world that was devastated by the Empire when they blamed them for an act of terrorism (one that may have actually been orchestrated by Hari Seldon himself). Decades later, the Anacreons have come to Terminus, and the way they’ve done so – cutting the Foundation’s communications with the Empire off – suggests their intentions are hostile. In Asimov’s books, the Anacreons were at the heart of the first Seldon Crisis, and it’s reasonable to assume the same is true in the world of David Goyer’s Foundation show as well – although it’s likely been switched up a little.

About The Author

Thomas Bacon
(4894 Articles Published)

See also  How Young Singer Victory Brinker Made America's Got Talent History

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back – and this time it’s cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon.

A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He’s heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he’s into British politics too.

More From Thomas Bacon