Arkady Darell

Arcadia “Arkady” Darell (11, 5, 362FE—1, 7, 443FE) is a fictional character, part of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series. She appears in Second Foundation. She is the daughter of Toran Darell II and the granddaughter of Toran and Bayta Darell (and through her would also be a direct descendent of Hober Mallow), and becomes famous for writing historical novels and a biography of her grandmother Bayta.

At the age of fourteen, she spies on her father and his co-conspirators who are hunting down the Second Foundation. She stows away on Homir Munn’s spaceship when he travels to Kalgan to study the palace of the Mule. Lord Stettin, who is the ruler of Kalgan, initially refuses Munn’s request to study the Mule’s palace, but soon takes an interest in Arkady as a potential wife. Stettin’s mistress Lady Callia helps Arkady to escape, and in the process discovers both Callia to be an agent of the Second Foundation and the location of the Second Foundation.

During her escape, 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. They help her finish escaping, and when they arrive on Trantor, she persuades Palver that he could profitably supply food to Terminus. At the same time, he can take to her father a solution to the Second Foundation location mystery. However, the Second Foundation has been carefully supervising the entire process, and they remain undiscovered on Trantor.

Trivia

• Arkady Darell is given far more of a "hero" role than was usual or customary for teenage-girl characters in 1950's science fiction novels, so that her portrayal can be seen as somewhat pioneering in that respect.