Frederick Tyler
Names: Frederick TylerTylerFirst Wallfacer
First appears in Book 2: The Dark Forest, chapter 2 (Year 3, Crisis Era)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 2Recently retired US secretary of defense; named First Wallfacer. His theory holds that technology ultimately empowers small countries over large ones.
- Ch 3Tyler's mosquito swarm plan calls for a thousand single-pilot space fighters, each carrying a hundred-megaton hydrogen bomb, under his own command; pilots would hibernate during years-long travel.
- Ch 3Tyler says finding pilots is the hardest part of his plan, and he plans to requisition Rey Diaz's superbomb technology.
- Ch 3Tyler argues that reviving kamikaze squads matters morally now, since computing is limited by the sophons and human-controlled weapons will be needed in four centuries.
- Ch 3Tyler visits Zhang Beihai to inspect the space force's political and ideological work and to obtain an answer about restoring past armies' spirit.
- Ch 3Tyler argues that humanity has four hundred years to restore the old military spirit of duty, honor and self-sacrifice throughout society.
- Ch 3Tyler travels by mule to a cave in Afghanistan to meet a dying old man who leads an organization long hunted by the US.
- Ch 3Tyler offers to make the old man into Seldon by preserving his organization until the Doomsday Battle, to supply human space fighter pilots.
- Ch 3Tyler fails to find the dedicated force he seeks; he fears he talks in his sleep and needs help to stop it.
- Ch 3Tyler proposes equipping each mosquito fleet fighter with a pilot mode and a drone mode, letting him control the whole fleet.
- Ch 3Tyler recommends the PDC scale back attacks on the ETO to preserve the only direct channel of communication with Trisolaris.
- Ch 4Tyler's mosquito swarm plan won PDC approval, and he also began a side project studying Europa, Ceres and comets.
- Ch 4After approval, Tyler lived like a normal person at home, waiting while the space fighters were developed slowly.
- Ch 4Tyler's true strategy was the mosquito swarm, which the Wallbreaker correctly deduced; the enemy showed contempt by not caring that it was exposed.
- Ch 4After the PDC refused to charge him, Tyler broke down and shouted his guilt in the square, but crowds only saw a Wallfacer at work.
- Ch 4Tyler visited Luo Ji, said there was a way out of the vicious cycle, then shot himself by the lake.
- Ch 7His mosquito swarm plan was judged strategically meaningless and criminal, aimed at wiping out Earth's fleet.
Connections
- enemy ofVon NeumannWallbreaker of
- enemy ofManuel Rey Diazhostile, though Tyler's plan depends on Rey Diaz's technology
- related toZhang BeihaiTyler visits and questions him about military spirit
- enemy ofThe old manTyler's government long hunted him; Tyler now seeks to preserve his organization
- member ofWallfacer Project
- enemy ofWallbreakerWallbreaker assigned to expose Tyler's strategy
- ally ofEarth-Trisolaris Organizationaccording to the Wallbreaker's claim
- related toSecond WallbreakerWallbreaker of Tyler
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 2Say announces the Wallfacer Project
At the UN, Secretary General Say explains the Wallfacer Project and names Tyler, Rey Diaz and Hines as Wallfacers, then reveals Luo Ji as the Fourth Wallfacer.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Tyler presents mosquito swarm plan
At the PDC hearing, Tyler discloses his plan of a thousand hydrogen-bomb fighters with hibernating pilots; Wallfacers bicker and Luo Ji is absent.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Tyler seeks kamikaze force in Japan
Tyler asks Koichi Inoue to revive kamikaze-style units for his fleet; Inoue resists and questions the need for human pilots.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Tyler and Inoue argue over kamikaze squads
At a memorial in the rain, Tyler argues for reviving kamikaze spirit; Koichi Inoue refuses on moral grounds, and Tyler angrily leaves.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Tyler meets Zhang Beihai
Tyler begins inspecting the space force's ideological work and asks Zhang Beihai whether past armies' spirit can be restored.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Tyler questions Zhang Beihai
Tyler debates with Zhang Beihai whether society can recover a spirit of sacrifice within four hundred years, and learns little more.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Tyler meets the old man in Afghanistan
Tyler visits the dying old man in a cave and offers resources to preserve his organization until the Doomsday Battle. The old man says hatred sustained it and is gone, so it will perish.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Fourth PDC Wallfacer Hearing
Tyler submits revisions to his mosquito swarm plan, including drone control, personal studies of Europa, Ceres and comets, and easing attacks on the ETO. Diaz objects, and a vote is deferred.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Tyler's Wallbreaker appears
A humble man announces he is Tyler's Wallbreaker and lays out Tyler's hidden plan involving water, the ETO and betrayal of Earth's fleet; Tyler collapses in defeat.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Tyler visits Luo Ji
Tyler visits Luo Ji's lakeside home, meets his family, and tells him his Wallbreaker appeared four days ago.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Tyler's suicide
After telling Luo Ji there is a way out of the Wallfacer vicious cycle, Tyler walks to the lake and shoots himself.