Bliss

Bliss
species: Human
from foundation series
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Bliss is a character in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series. She appears in Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth. Her full name is Blissenobiarella, and she is a Gaian sent to aid and protect Golan Trevize on his mission to find Earth. Bliss is a mentalist, capable of both reading and manipulating emotions, as well as a part of the collective consciousness that is Gaia.

Bliss both comes from an egalitarian society and is patriarchally-acceptable. She is depicted as sexual, mistaken by a number of characters as a prostitute. Additionally, she falls in love with Janov Pelorat, who is much older than her. However, Bliss is shown as having no interest in Pelorat’s companion Golan Trevize, and it is established that there is a reason she is attracted to Pelorat; she is drawn by his selflessness. Additionally, it is revealed that Bliss is polygamous; Pelorat is not her only partner. In general, it reads as plausible justifications given for a female character from a non-patriarchal society being palatable to the patriarchy.

Initially, Bliss and Trevize have difficulty getting along, as Trevize, for the same reasons that Bliss does, also loves Pelorat, although he professes that the love is non-sexual. Trevize’s animosity towards Bliss stems from his fear that Bliss will hurt Pelorat by ultimately rejecting him. However, Bliss and Trevize eventually decide to be friends after Bliss persuades him that she will not harm Pelorat.

Bliss is to a large degree a pacifist, not believing in harming or killing unnecessarily, and she regrets moments in which circumstances force her to kill when she could have obtained the same goal non-violently if there had been more time. It is for this reason that Bliss rescues Fallom, who would have otherwise been killed after – and because – Bliss was forced to kill Fallom’s biological parent Bander in order to save Trevize, Pelorat, and herself.