Hober Mallow

Hober Mallow appears in the novella "The Big and the Little", published in the August 1944 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It was later retitled "The Merchant Princes", collected with four other stories and published as Foundation in 1951.^{[1]: 23–26}

Mallow is a successful merchant who brokers deals within the Foundation, and also between their territories and non-Foundation worlds.^[2][3] He is a native of Smyrno, one of the four "barbarian" planetary kingdoms of the Anacreon Province that exist under the Foundation's religious influence, but he dislikes the religion itself.^[3] While Mayor Salvor Hardin had previously employed Foundation priests and their Scientism religion to secure the Foundation's influence over local barbaric planets, Mallow believes that this approach has limited use toward the Foundation's greater goal of amassing power across the galaxy. His business dealings have convinced him that commercial relationships are a better strategy to consolidate the Foundation's power. The complacent Foundation leaders initially resist, but Mallow's use of business deals to resolve crises and form alliances eventually proves to be effective.^[2][3]

Marcelo Leite of Screen Rant explained, "Mallow plays a significant role in establishing the Foundation’s power and influence over the galaxy."^[2] Josh Wimmer and Alasdair Wilkins of Gizmodo described Mallow as "larger-than-life", and "one of the strangest characters Asimov ever created, a heartless bastard who's described physically more like a particularly intelligent shaved bear than a normal human." He is not a native Foundationer, and is depicted as willing to kill his own crew for disobedience. Wimmer and Wilkins called the character "a good fit for the current mood of space-based science fiction—his ruthlessness in command would be a good match for Admiral Adama's approach on Battlestar Galactica, and his conduct on the Far Star reminded me of the initial, darker characterization of Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly ... he's a character who arguably works even better now than he might have done against some of the more gallant and dashing space captains of the 1940s and 1950s." They also wrote, "The only problem is that Asimov doesn't really give him any weaknesses to go against his strengths—sure, he's a complete bastard, but he's justified in his conduct at every turn."^[4]

In "The Big and the Little", Hober Mallow is a Master Trader for the Foundation. He and his ship, Far Star, are sent to Korell to investigate the disappearance of three Foundation vessels in the vicinity. A Foundation missionary, Reverend Jord Parma, seeks sanctuary, but Mallow suspects subterfuge and turns Parma over to the Korellians, whose laws forbid Foundation missionaries to be on the planet under penalty of death. Mallow negotiates the sale of Foundation devices to the ruler of Korell, and soon the planet is dependent on them. Mallow is later tried for murder on the Foundation planet Terminus for condemning the missionary to death, but is exonerated when he proves that Parma was actually an agent of the Korellian secret police. Mallow's popularity results in his appointment to Mayor of Terminus. Korell subsequently declares war on the Foundation, and when Mallow imposes an embargo on them, the Korellan economy collapses due to its dependency on Foundation technology, thus forcing its surrender.^{[1]: 25–26 [3]}