Summary
- Gaal Dornick has a mysterious ability to survive lightspeed travel without going insane, which needs to be explained in Foundation season 3.
- Gaal possesses other powers, including the ability to see and interact with the future, as well as understand complex psychohistorical calculations.
- Gaal’s mental status and connections to other gifted people may explain his ability to travel at the speed of light, but this has not been confirmed. Season 3 of Foundation could provide answers.
Foundation has yet to explain one of Gaal Dornick’s best abilities, hence why it needs to be highlighted in Foundation season 3. While Foundation has covered much of his history and abilities, questions remain regarding some of his powers. In fact, she has one ability in particular that has long been shrouded in mystery.
One of the most interesting and powerful Foundation characters, Gaal found various ways to survive the series’ massive time jumps, despite the fact that she would have been dead long ago without her ingenious solutions and desire to help humanity. Much of what she has been able to accomplish can be attributed to the abilities she possesses. One of these allowed him to survive some truly dire circumstances, but the nature of that situation has not been delved into. Foundation. However, this could change over time.
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Foundation Season 3 is set to explain how Gaal Dornick kept his sanity after waking up during lightspeed travel
It only happened once
In the world of Foundation, traveling at the speed of light is a very difficult thing for the human mind to handle. Being conscious while traveling at the speed of light causes madness in its passengers. However, there is a subspecies of genetically augmented humans developed by the Empire to help them navigate Imperial ships. Known as Spacers, their physiology has been altered and their perceptions slowed so that they can tolerate the mental strain of spaceship travel while still being conscious. Spacers are tasked with monitoring unaffected humans during lightspeed travel, as ordinary people are plunged into a state of unconsciousness for the duration of the journey.
Foundation season 1 shows Gaal on such a journey between his homeworld of Synnax and Trantor. In transit between the two planets, Gaal wakes from his induced sleep and discovers his surroundings.. When a nearby Spacer notices this, the character asks how she is awake before rendering her unconscious again. Foundation seasons 1 and 2 has avoided any follow-up references, meaning the mystery of how Gaal doesn’t lose his mind after witnessing light-speed travel remains unsolved. In Season 3, Gaal’s abilities are going to be pushed to their limits, and so an explanation for this one in particular would be a welcome inclusion.
What the Foundation said about Gaal Dornick’s abilities
She has other powers
Foundation Gaal’s talent for lightspeed awareness has yet to be addressed, but his other abilities have been explored at length. In addition to being the only other person to understand Hari Seldon’s complex psychohistorical calculations, Gaal can also see and interact with the future. Foundation Season 2 shows Gaal witnessing the arrival of a violent warlord known as the Mule. While observing the Mule in the future, Gaal is attacked across time by the warlord, showing that his close connection to other time periods may also be one of his greatest weaknesses. Gaal also witnesses the death of Salvor Hardin using his temporal abilities. Interestingly, the details of his daughter’s death turned out to be inaccurate.
Gaal’s abilities rank her among the Mentallics in the world of Foundation, and she and Hari find a colony of other Mentallics who share similar powers. Gaal’s status among these gifted individuals could explain why she is able to travel at the speed of light when this feat should only be possible for Spacers of the Empire. However, it has not been confirmed that Gaal’s mental abilities were the reason. Depending on what follows, Foundation season 3 could be the story that finally puts this mystery to rest.
Seasons 1 and 2 of Foundation now streaming on AppleTV+