Luo Ji
Names: Luo JiXiao LuoDr. LuoLuo, my manBrother Luothe WallfacerWallfacer Luo Jithe Fourth Wallfacerthe SwordholderHonored Elder
First appears in Book 2: The Dark Forest, chapter 1 (Prologue)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 1Luo Ji was Yang Dong's high school classmate, formerly studied astronomy and now teaches college sociology at the school where Ye Wenjie taught.
- Ch 1Luo Ji describes himself as someone who drifts, and he considered astronomy an undrillable chunk of iron compared with sociology.
- Ch 2Luo Ji calls himself a young scholar who established cosmic sociology, and he cannot remember the name of the woman he spent the night with.
- Ch 2Luo Ji supports treating Escapism harshly and believes no one will ever fly away, citing the dark side of human nature.
- Ch 2Luo Ji plans to have no children, so his family line will end with him, and he breaks up with his lover of one week.
- Ch 2Luo Ji stumbles over a fire hydrant dodging a swinging bag, and the fall saves his life.
- Ch 2After a traffic accident killed a woman he had known only a week, Luo Ji finally remembered her name; he was then taken into custody.
- Ch 2Luo Ji is held in a sealed basement room ten levels underground and suspects he has been arrested, though his captors are polite.
- Ch 2Luo Ji is taken by Shi Qiang to a military airport and boards an unmarked charter plane to an undisclosed destination, escorted by fighter jets.
- Ch 2Luo Ji describes his calm as cynicism and says little in the world can make him care; he barely remembers his lovers' family details.
- Ch 2Luo Ji suspects the dead woman had special social or family connections, but Shi Qiang's reaction suggests she is not central to the case.
- Ch 2Luo Ji reflects with self-reproach that he has never made lasting room in his heart for anyone beyond his parents, and that his sorrow over the woman's death came late.
- Ch 2Luo Ji has an astronomy background and two doctorates, teaches at a university, and helped Bai Rong revise the characters in her novels.
- Ch 2After the Taihang trip he lived insouciantly; the imagined woman's influence faded but she remained in the most secluded part of his soul.
- Ch 2He broke up with his real-life girlfriend because of his love for the imagined woman.
- Ch 2Luo Ji is flown by charter plane for fifteen hours under fighter escort to New York, unaware of why he is needed.
- Ch 2Named the Fourth Wallfacer, to his own surprise; he had expected it to be one of the famous people in the first row.
- Ch 2Luo Ji is named a Wallfacer at the UN special session and is so stunned he barely registers the rest of the session.
- Ch 2After the session Luo Ji formally refuses the Wallfacer position, its powers and its responsibilities, and Say lets him go.
- Ch 2Luo Ji is shot in the chest outside the UN and survives with a broken rib and minor internal bleeding.
- Ch 2Luo Ji dreams of a quiet snowy cabin where Eve, a woman of his own creation, waits for him.
- Ch 2Luo Ji realises he still has full planetary defense security protection despite having refused the Wallfacer role, and senses something is wrong.
- Ch 3Luo Ji realizes that being a Wallfacer cannot be refused or abandoned, and that every action of his will be read as possible strategy.
- Ch 3Luo Ji describes himself as an unqualified, live-for-today professor with no wish for children or concern for civilization's survival, and asks why he was chosen.
- Ch 3Luo Ji asks Garanin for a secluded, beautiful home with snow peaks, lake, forest and grassland, a fireplace and comfortable aristocratic life, in a location never disclosed to him.
- Ch 3Qin Shi Huang says Luo Ji is his own Wallbreaker and the only Wallfacer in direct contest with the Lord.
- Ch 3Luo Ji is given a flawless lakeside estate matching the place he sketched for Garanin, and feels like dismissing the Wallfacer Project.
- Ch 3Luo Ji asks to replace his security detail with Chinese guards, preferably Shi Qiang, who does not speak English.
- Ch 3Luo Ji refuses to attend PDC hearings, claiming his seclusion is part of his plan, and lives idly in a manor, drinking and avoiding news.
- Ch 3Luo Ji buys a sunken seventeenth-century wine cask for the Wallfacer Project, drinks one sip, and falls violently ill from copper contamination.
- Ch 3Luo Ji is waiting for Da Shi, after which the next step of his plan will begin.
- Ch 3Luo Ji asks Shi Qiang to find a young Chinese woman who exists only in his dreams, claiming it is part of his Wallfacer plan.
- Ch 3Luo Ji is deeply moved by Zhuang Yan, who resembles the woman of his dreams from two years earlier, and wants to protect her.
- Ch 3Luo Ji tells Zhuang Yan honestly that he does not know why he was chosen as a Wallfacer and is just an ordinary man.
- Ch 3Luo Ji tells Zhuang Yan her Wallfacer-assigned work is to become the happiest woman on Earth, and offers to grant whatever she wishes.
- Ch 3Luo Ji is deeply in love with Zhuang Yan, whom he first imagined as a literary creation two years earlier.
- Ch 3Luo Ji argues that annihilation is the highest respect a civilization can receive, since only a respected civilization would be seen as a threat.
- Ch 3Luo Ji and Zhuang Yan test whether messages can be conveyed by facial expressions alone, and both fail, laughing instead.
- Ch 3Gazing into Zhuang Yan's eyes breaks down the emotional barrier in Luo Ji's soul, and he feels overwhelmed by love.
- Ch 4Luo Ji has remained in seclusion for two years, living with his wife and daughter by a mountain lake.
- Ch 4Luo Ji reacted to Tyler's news that his Wallbreaker had appeared with 'So soon?'
- Ch 4Luo Ji lived five blissful years in seclusion with Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia, claiming their happiness was part of his Wallfacer plan.
- Ch 4Luo Ji told Zhuang Yan humanity should enjoy the remaining four to five centuries, then accidentally revealed he truly believed it.
- Ch 4Luo Ji is told he has no discoverable special powers, yet Trisolaris fears him; Say urges him to be his own Wallbreaker and find out why.
- Ch 4Luo Ji hears the Wallfacer's inner voice for the first time and withholds his cosmic sociology idea from Say.
- Ch 4Luo Ji vows silently to Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia to wait for them at doomsday, accepting his responsibility.
- Ch 4Luo Ji realizes his predicament stems from his meeting with Ye Wenjie nine years ago, known only to him and Trisolaris via sophons.
- Ch 4After a month of continuous thinking, Luo Ji fixates on Ye Wenjie's two axioms as the key to the secret Trisolaris fears he knows.
- Ch 4Falling through the frozen lake ice, Luo Ji perceives the truth of the universe, then survives by spreading his down jacket on the ice.
- Ch 4After the lake incident Luo Ji fears the stars and declares himself his own Wallbreaker, having now begun real work as a Wallfacer.
- Ch 4Luo Ji asks for an absolutely secure underground location in China and moves to a tenth-basement-floor complex.
- Ch 4Luo Ji asks to attend the next Wallfacer hearing by video, fearing he may be in great danger and a target of attack.
- Ch 4Luo Ji refused to use Trisolaris as the test target because it is too close and the spell's effects might reach Earth.
- Ch 4Luo Ji plans to hibernate until the spell's effects on 187J3X1 are detected.
- Ch 4Infected with the virus, Luo Ji suffered liver and cardiopulmonary failure and was hibernated as the only option.
- Ch 5Luo Ji proposed using the sun to send a spell into the universe; Trisolaris alone treated him as important, ordering his elimination.
- Ch 7Luo Ji awakens in Crisis Era year 205 after 185 years in hibernation, his illness cured during that time.
- Ch 7Luo Ji repeatedly dreams of Zhuang Yan walking through snow with their sleeping child; he longs for them but dares not ask about them.
- Ch 7Luo Ji is relieved and astonished by the confident, healthy, clean society, and believes inexhaustible energy means things may not be so serious.
- Ch 7Luo Ji learns that the Wallfacer Project is regarded as an ancient joke and that his curse on a star seemingly had no effect.
- Ch 7Luo Ji awakens about two centuries later and is moved to tears by the new world, deciding the past was a dream.
- Ch 7His Wallfacer status and legal immunity are revoked, making him an ordinary citizen, which he welcomes.
- Ch 7His wife and child remain in hibernation; UN funds can sustain them for another 230 years, and he may reawaken them when he wishes.
- Ch 7Luo Ji learns he is wealthy from two centuries of interest on deposits made in Year 9 of the Crisis Era.
- Ch 7Luo Ji claims he is no longer a Wallfacer and believes his past 'spell on a star' idea was a delusion cured during hibernation.
- Ch 7Luo Ji survives a falling car, an open sewer cover, and a robot's knife attack in one day, suggesting a coordinated plot against him.
- Ch 7Luo Ji says he always tries to live happily and urges Shi Qiang to drop his sense of responsibility and seize the day.
- Ch 7After waking, Luo Ji faced a sixth attempt on his life in one day: a smart sofa tried to strangle him.
- Ch 7Revived in the modern era, he visits the desertified surface of his old city and learns of the Great Ravine's history.
- Ch 7Luo Ji lives in New Life Village #5, immersed in memories of Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia, whose reawakening is two months away.
- Ch 7A former Wallfacer, he stays calm amid the revelry and still dreams of Zhuang Yan and the child.
- Ch 8Attending the neighborhood meeting, he says that worrying about the droplet is pointless.
- Ch 8On learning of the Battle of Darkness, Luo Ji exclaimed that he was right and felt like a Wallfacer again, claiming to hold the key to human victory.
- Ch 8Luo Ji believes the approaching droplet has come to kill him, and he decides to report his insight to the highest authorities.
- Ch 8Believing the droplet would come to kill him, he drove into the desert to draw it away from cities, and found himself wrong.
- Ch 8He realizes he was self-absorbed; the droplet's real target was the sun, not him.
- Ch 8His memories before becoming a Wallfacer have faded; his earliest memory is digging pits in river sand under a moon.
- Ch 8Luo Ji is told he is now the sole Wallfacer after the Wallfacer Project is revived and the fleets recognize his status.
- Ch 8The public sees Luo Ji as an angel of justice to theists and as spokesman of a just superior civilization to atheists.
- Ch 8Luo Ji hopes a reunion with his wife and child, Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia, may be his chance at redemption.
- Ch 8Luo Ji's first two requests as Wallfacer: restore order in all cities and resume normal life, then have the crowd go home peacefully.
- Ch 8Luo Ji explains cosmic sociology to Shi Qiang, deriving that once civilizations learn of each other's existence, the only option left is eradication.
- Ch 8Luo Ji learned the terms 'chain of suspicion' and 'technological explosion' without explanation and inferred their meaning himself.
- Ch 8Luo Ji's two axioms of cosmic civilization: survival is civilization's primary need; civilization grows continually while total matter in the universe stays constant.
- Ch 8Luo Ji explains the dark forest theory: every civilization is a hunter that must destroy any other life it finds, which explains the Fermi Paradox.
- Ch 8Luo Ji did not threaten Trisolaris earlier because he was unsure of the idea and lacked the mental strength for it.
- Ch 8Luo Ji refuses to reveal the secret of the spell to the UN and SFJC, saying a Wallfacer must keep it.
- Ch 8Luo Ji threw himself into the Snow Project, proposing ion engines for the bombs and calling them space mines, to escape reality and reach his family.
- Ch 8His public standing fell from messiah to commoner to fraud, and many astronomers claimed 187J3X1's explosion was a chance occurrence.
- Ch 9Expelled from his neighborhood for disturbing residents, Luo Ji is despised by hibernators who feel he gave the world hope and then shattered it.
- Ch 9Luo Ji secretly packs a shovel and goes to the cemetery to dig his own grave beside the graves of Yang Dong and Ye Wenjie.
- Ch 9Luo Ji wears a vital signs monitor linked through the cradle system to the Snow Project's 3,614 bombs; his death would detonate them all.
- Ch 9Luo Ji threatens to shoot himself, which would broadcast Trisolaris's position and expose the Sun and Earth, unless Trisolaris meets his demands.
- Ch 9Luo Ji dreams of Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia in a snowy field, and later apologises to an ant on Ye Wenjie's gravestone.
- Ch 9Luo Ji holds a pistol to his chest, linked to the cradle system's deterrence signal, and sits against a headstone while talking with the sophon spheres.
- Ch 9Luo Ji says he is not a savior; he only wants to go home like an ordinary person and be rid of it all.
- Ch 9Luo Ji thanks the Trisolaran sophon for letting both civilizations live, and plans to hand over the cradle system upon returning.
- Ch 10Luo Ji gave a speech the previous night saying humanity was late to grasp the dark forest nature of the universe because humanity has love.
- Ch 10Luo Ji believes love supported him through the hardest period of his Wallfacer mission, and he dreams of sunlight illuminating the dark forest.
- Ch 10Luo Ji and Zhuang Yan share a wordless language of the eyes, continuing a gaze first held before the Mona Lisa two centuries earlier.
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 9Luo Ji, an unknown man, was revealed as a Wallfacer and was shot in an assassination attempt outside the General Assembly.
- Ch 17Luo Ji is to be tried for suspected mundicide for broadcasting a world's location, which led to its destruction.
- Ch 18Analysts of both worlds put his degree of deterrence between 91.9 and 98.4 percent, so Trisolaris would not gamble against him.
- Ch 18The UN and Fleet returned deterrence authority to him within eighteen hours of his handing it over; Trisolaris failed to exploit this window with droplets.
- Ch 18Called the Swordholder, he holds the gravitational wave broadcast switch; after sixty years of deterrence he is over a hundred years old.
- Ch 18Hawks, doves and the public came to distrust him; many saw him as an irrational monster and mundicidal despot.
- Ch 25When the Deterrence Center was designed half a century ago, Luo Ji was consulted and gave one input: 'As simple as a tomb.'
- Ch 25Luo Ji was the previous Swordholder, who lived in the bleak Deterrence Center.
- Ch 26Luo Ji established deterrence by himself using a dead hand trigger; later transmitters use active triggers, so a successor could take over if the Swordholder were killed.
- Ch 27Luo Ji served as Swordholder for fifty-four years, sitting silently before a white wall, staring toward Trisolaris, deterring it with the threat of gravitational wave broadcast.
- Ch 27Luo Ji has not spoken for decades and likely can no longer speak. He is 101 years old but moves with the strength of a young man.
- Ch 27Luo Ji bows to the white wall at handover, paying respects to his enemy, with whom he is bound by destiny.
- Ch 27As he leaves, prosecutors arrest him on suspicion of mundicide; he ignores them, seeming tranquil and relieved.
- Ch 28Luo Ji had awaited the enemy's attack for half a century; it struck within five minutes of his departure, after he handed over the switch.
- Ch 31Luo Ji's degree of deterrence was around ninety percent, while Cheng Xin's was around ten percent; Trisolaris respects him as a great warrior.
- Ch 43Luo Ji spent the Great Resettlement with the Resistance as its spiritual center, evading the Earth Security Force, droplets and sophons.
- Ch 43Luo Ji asked whether a civilization can broadcast a sign to the universe that it is harmless and so avoid a dark forest strike.
- Ch 69He is almost two hundred years old, still alive on Pluto, wears a white changshan and uses a cane, and is playful and cynical again.
- Ch 69He was chair of the tombstone committee for the Earth Civilization Museum.
- Ch 69He says the other museum workers fled on spaceships, which he calls foolish, and that he and Cheng Xin busied themselves for nothing.
- Ch 69Luo Ji explains that specialists concluded the only practicable way to preserve information for a hundred million years is carving words into stone.
- Ch 69Luo Ji is very old with white hair and beard, walks with a cane, talks a great deal, and says he feels he has missed nothing.
- Ch 69Luo Ji asks to keep the Mona Lisa, speaks to it tenderly as if to a lost friend, and appears to weep.
- Ch 69Luo Ji says the complex was designed to last a hundred million years but will not survive even a hundred.
- Ch 70Luo Ji is familiar with Halo's layout and the ship's AI obeys him, implying a past connection to the ship unknown to Cheng Xin and AA.
- Ch 70Luo Ji prepared additional artifacts for evacuation, mostly Chinese brush-painting scrolls, and then joins Cheng Xin and AA aboard Halo.
- Ch 70Luo Ji chooses to stay in the monolith on Pluto to die with the Solar System rather than board Halo, and urges the women to leave.
- Ch 70Luo Ji is described as a Wallfacer, Swordholder, and humanity's final grave keeper.
- Ch 70Luo Ji refuses to board Halo, choosing to stay on Pluto as a grave keeper because he has lived long enough and is too old for voyages.
- Ch 70Luo Ji has the highest authorization on Halo among users in range, so only he can order it to return to Pluto; he orders curvature propulsion instead.
- Ch 70Luo Ji tells Cheng Xin and AA that humanity's survivors are still alive and that Bunker World received a gravitational wave message from them five years earlier.
- Ch 70Luo Ji goes into the flattened plane with Pluto, saying it is time for him to go into the picture.
Connections
- friend ofYang Donghigh school classmates
- related toShi Qiangescorts Luo Ji to his destination
- partner ofBai RongCasual relationship; he considered marrying her
- createdthe womanHe imagined her as a literary character
- ally ofMr. Kentarranges his safety and requests
- friend ofShi Qiang
- enemy ofthe assailant
- ally ofShi Qiangpart of his protective detail
- member ofWallfacer Projectwas a Wallfacer
- related toGaraninarranged the estate from Luo Ji's sketch
- related toZhuang YanLuo Ji is romantically drawn to her; she is brought to him as a companion
- partner ofZhuang YanLuo Ji loves her; she is a person he is assisting as a Wallfacer
- family ofZhuang Yanhusband and wife
- family ofXia Xiadaughter
- ally ofZhang Xiangresponsible for his security
- ally ofAlbert Ringieradvises him on astronomy
- related toMr. Kentliaison
- related toAlbert Ringierprovided star positioning method to Luo Ji
- friend ofXiong Wen
- related toBill Hinesliaison to the UN Wallfacer Project Commission
- leadsSnow Project
- enemy ofOur Lorddeterrence standoff ending in a deal
- related toTrisolaran operatorspeaks to him through a sophon, hoping to nurture love in the universe
- createddark forest deterrence
- related toSwordholderholds the post of Swordholder
- related toCheng Xinseeks to succeed him as Swordholder
- related to187J3X1His dark forest experiment led to the star system's destruction
- member ofEarth Resistance Movementspiritual center
- friend ofCheng Xin
- leadsEarth Civilization Museumchaired the tombstone committee
- related toHalohas unexplained history with the ship; its AI recognizes him
- ally ofCheng Xin
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 1Ye Wenjie gives Luo Ji the axioms of cosmic sociology
At twilight at Yang Dong's grave, Ye Wenjie suggests Luo Ji study cosmic sociology, gives him its two axioms and two concepts, then leaves for her final meeting.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Luo Ji's breakup and near-attack
Luo Ji breaks up with a woman after watching Karnoff at the UN; her bag swings at his face, he falls over a hydrant, and the fall saves his life.
- Book 2 · Ch 2The traffic accident
Two cars collide and a Polo swerves, brushing Luo Ji's foot and killing the woman he was with. Luo Ji then remembers her name.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Luo Ji moved under guard
Shi Qiang and Zheng give Luo Ji a bulletproof jacket and take him from the underground shelter in an armored convoy on an hour-long drive.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Luo Ji boards the secret plane
Shi Qiang takes Luo Ji to a military airport, where they board an unmarked charter jet with strict safety rules and take off at sunset.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Night flight and interrogation lessons
Shi Qiang teaches Luo Ji interrogation and deception techniques. Later Luo Ji sees fighter jets escorting the plane.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Luo Ji's imagined woman comes alive
Luo Ji, creating a character for Bai Rong's birthday gift, imagines her life so thoroughly that she appears real to him. Bai Rong notices on New Year's Eve, leaves, and he sets off on a trip with the imagined woman.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Taihang trip and breakup call
Luo Ji drives into the Taihang Mountains with his imagined love; their car breaks down, and by their fire Bai Rong calls and they end their relationship.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Consultation with the psychologist
Luo Ji tells the doctor about loving a fictional woman; the doctor says it is not serious and advises him not to try to forget her.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Arrival at the United Nations
After a tense flight with an escort mishap, Luo Ji lands, is met by Kent, driven in a convoy to the UN building and taken to the Meditation Room before an important session.
- 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 2Luo Ji named Wallfacer and refuses
Frozen at the UN rostrum, Luo Ji is named a Wallfacer. Afterwards he tells Say he refuses the role and she replies he may.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Luo Ji shot outside the UN
Wandering out unprotected, Luo Ji is shot in the chest by an ETO assassin near the swords-to-plowshares statue. Shi Qiang's security team saves him and takes him to hospital.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Luo Ji meets the assailant and questions his protection
Luo Ji confronts the captured assassin, who mocks his misunderstanding. Luo Ji then notes heavy military security and Kent's role as liaison, despite his refusal.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Luo Ji understands his Wallfacer status
Meeting Say, Luo Ji grasps that Wallfacer status is inescapable and every action will be scrutinized. He learns he is a huge gamble with the fewest resources, then leaves despairing.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Luo Ji requests his dream home
After calming himself in the Meditation Room, Luo Ji tells Garanin to build a secluded luxurious house by a lake and mountains, with a fireplace, and never reveal its location.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Wallbreaker Project launched
In the Three Body game, Qin Shi Huang appoints Von Neumann, Mozi and Aristotle as Wallbreakers for Tyler, Rey Diaz and Hines. Luo Ji is declared his own Wallbreaker.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Luo Ji arrives at the lakeside estate
Luo Ji is taken to a dream-like estate matching his sketch, toured by Kent, and requests Chinese guards, deciding to ignore the Wallfacer Project for now.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Luo Ji's cask
Luo Ji buys a sunken cask of wine as 'part of the plan', drinks it, and becomes severely ill.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Shi Qiang draws Luo Ji's dream woman
Luo Ji asks Shi Qiang to find the woman of his dreams; Shi Qiang deduces her traits and makes a portrait Luo Ji accepts. Kent reluctantly agrees to report the request.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Zhuang Yan arrives at the estate
On a rainy evening Zhuang Yan arrives at Luo Ji's estate; he recognizes her as the woman from his dreams and they share fire and wine.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Trip to the snow mountain
Luo Ji and Zhuang Yan sail and drive to a snow mountain. He admits he doesn't know why he was chosen; Shi Qiang calls to reveal his illness and hibernation.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Luo Ji takes Zhuang Yan to the Louvre
At night they tour the Louvre; Luo Ji and Zhuang Yan discuss art and doomsday, and at the Mona Lisa Zhuang Yan suggests humans might develop sophon-proof communication.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Luo Ji and Zhuang Yan lock eyes at the Louvre
After a failed experiment in expression-based messaging, Luo Ji and Zhuang Yan stare into each other's eyes before the Mona Lisa, and Luo Ji is overwhelmed by a vision of love.
- 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.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia taken
Luo Ji wakes to find his wife and child gone; Say reveals the PDC sent them into hibernation, and Luo Ji says he will join them at doomsday.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Say reveals Trisolaris wants Luo Ji dead
Say tells Luo Ji the car crash was an ETO assassination ordered by Trisolaris, concluding that Trisolaris fears him, and urges him to uncover why. Luo Ji resolves to wait for his family at doomsday.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Luo Ji's breakthrough on the frozen lake
After a month pondering Ye Wenjie's axioms, Luo Ji walks onto the frozen lake, falls through the ice, glimpses the truth of the universe, and escapes. He declares himself his own Wallbreaker.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Move underground and consultation with Ringier
Luo Ji relocates to a deep underground facility with heavy security and questions Ringier about hiding or revealing star positions, choosing star 187J3X1 for a position pattern. He requests a video Wallfacer hearing.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Command to destroy Luo Ji
In a dark gathering of figures from many eras, Qin Shi Huang announces the Lord's command to destroy Wallfacer Luo Ji.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Secret meeting on assassinating Luo Ji
Qin Shi Huang's organization discusses the Lord's second order to kill Luo Ji, finds a direct attack impossible against the deep bunker, and is told to submit plans.
- Book 2 · Ch 4PDC hearing on Luo Ji's plan
Luo Ji presents his plan, a spell targeting 187J3X1 via the sun, to the PDC. Delegates mock it as sorcery; he says he will hibernate afterward.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Luo Ji struck by genetic virus and hibernated
Luo Ji's bed flu worsens into shock, experts identify a genetic guided missile virus, and he is hibernated.
- Book 2 · Ch 4The spell is sent
Two days after Luo Ji's hibernation, radio waves are sent to the sun and amplified, carrying his spell into the cosmos.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Probes discovered in Trisolaran fleet
Hubble II reveals ten fast probes launched by the Trisolaran Fleet, which will arrive decades ahead of it. Fitzroy links the launch date to Luo Ji's hearing and concludes Luo Ji is vital.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Luo Ji reawakens in year 205
Luo Ji wakes from hibernation after 185 years, meets the doctor, nurse and fellow hibernator Xiong Wen, and learns about the era's technology, the Trisolaran fleet and the dismissal of the Wallfacer Project.
- Book 2 · Ch 7First look at future Beijing
The nurse takes Luo Ji outside, where he sees a blue sky and a city shaped like a forest of giant trees; she tells him it is Beijing.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Luo Ji sees the underground Beijing
A nurse shows Luo Ji that Beijing is a thousand meters underground with a projected sky, space cities and flying vehicles, before flying away.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Wallfacer Project terminated
The SFJC votes unanimously for Proposition 649, ending the Wallfacer Project and Act and revoking Luo Ji's and Hines's status. Jonathan then briefs Luo Ji.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Reunion with Shi Qiang
Shi Qiang meets Luo Ji, gives him adjustable clothes and takes him out into the new world. Yamasuki meanwhile tries to speak at the hearing.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Luo Ji and Shi Qiang tour the new city
Luo Ji learns of his fortune from a banking counselor, then discovers that the flying cars use wireless power and sophons still block science, while Shi Qiang calls these good times.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Flying car crash
A driverless flying car crashes where Luo Ji stood; Shi Qiang tackles him clear. Police treat it as an accident, though Shi Qiang suspects assassination and files a report.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Sewer cover opens
Near Shi Qiang's tree a sewer cover slides open under Luo Ji, and Shi Qiang catches him. The worker blames a software failure.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Robot server attacks Luo Ji
In a restaurant a robot server stabs a knife where Luo Ji's heart would be; Shi Qiang pulls him away. The engineer shuts it down, blaming software failure.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Sofa attack and Killer 5.2 revealed
The wrong sleeping pills turn out to be suicide hibernation medicine, then a sofa tries to strangle Luo Ji. Officer Guo arrives, firewalls the home, explains Killer 5.2 and advises living on the surface.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Luo Ji and Shi Qiang reach the surface
Shi Qiang reunites with his son Shi Xiaoming on the sandy surface, and they visit a hibernator village where neighbors recount the Great Ravine and its aftermath.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Trisolaran advance ship revealed
The telescope sees a Trisolaran ship still accelerating ahead of the fleet; humanity concludes it is coming to negotiate, sparking worldwide celebration.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Earth reels from the fleet's destruction
Mass mental breakdown sweeps Earth after the fleet's destruction is seen. Shi Qiang, in charge of a hibernator neighborhood, urges migration to the northwest and agricultural preparation.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Luo Ji seeks the mayor
Hearing of the Battle of Darkness, Luo Ji declares himself vindicated and goes with Shi Qiang through the chaotic underground city to City Hall to meet the new mayor.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Meeting the mayor
Luo Ji and Shi Qiang meet the mayor, who refuses help, describes social collapse and Escapism riots, and offers Shi Qiang a job.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Luo Ji awaits the droplet
Luo Ji parts from Shi Qiang and waits in the desert, reviewing his life, believing the droplet will strike him.
- Book 2 · Ch 8The droplet seals off the sun
The droplet stops at a Lagrange point and broadcasts radio at the sun, blocking its use as a message amplifier. Luo Ji survives and reunites with Shi Qiang.
- Book 2 · Ch 8The crowd kneels to Luo Ji
A glowing crowd near New Life Village waits for Luo Ji, kneels to him as an angel or spokesman, and Hines and Jonathan announce the Wallfacer Project's revival and 187J3X1's destruction. Luo Ji asks for order to be restored and everyone to go home.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Luo Ji explains cosmic sociology
In the dark desert, using two cigarettes as two planets, Luo Ji leads Shi Qiang through the axioms, chain of suspicion and technological explosion, concluding that once a civilization learns of another, only eradication remains.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Luo Ji explains the dark forest
Luo Ji tells Shi Qiang how the dark forest theory underlies his spell, why it cannot be sent now, and why humanity could never have used it against Trisolaris.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Wallfacer Project hearings
The revived commission demands Luo Ji do something, offering his family's reawakening in exchange. It assigns him the Snow Project to track the nine droplets.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Snow Project fails and Luo Ji loses prestige
The project stalls after a year and a half, and the public loses faith in Luo Ji as a savior.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Luo Ji expelled and driven out
The residents' council expels Luo Ji; he leaves that night with a shovel, is thrown off a car and a bus by hibernators who recognise him, and walks to the cemetery.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Luo Ji digs his grave
At the cemetery beside the graves of Yang Dong and Ye Wenjie, Luo Ji digs a shallow grave, sleeps, dreams of Zhuang Yan, and wakes feverish at dawn.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Final showdown with Trisolaris
Luo Ji, pistol to his heart, announces the bomb broadcast deterrent. Sophons appear, and Trisolaris agrees to halt the probe transmissions and redirect the nine droplets, but not turn the fleet.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Trisolaris yields to Luo Ji's deterrence
Facing the dark forest deterrence, Trisolaris agrees to turn its fleet around. Luo Ji explains how he deceived them, then lays out likely negotiation topics before the sophon leaves.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Luo Ji leaves the graveyard
At sunrise Luo Ji, relieved, stands, looks at the graves of Ye Wenjie and Yang Dong, and walks back; an ant is the only witness.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Family visits the antenna
Luo Ji, Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia visit the giant gravitational-wave antenna at sunset in northern China.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Trisolaran operator speaks with Luo Ji
Through a sophon, the elderly Trisolaran who sent the original warning protests that humanity is not the only species with love, and proposes encouraging love elsewhere in the universe; Luo Ji agrees.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Assassination attempt on Luo Ji
After the Wallfacer Project announcement, a Wallfacer is shot outside the General Assembly; PIA staff only see the commotion.
- Book 3 · Ch 18Authority handed back to Luo Ji
After Luo Ji transferred deterrence control to the UN and Fleet, humanity quickly realized only he gave credible deterrence and returned it within eighteen hours; Trisolaris failed to strike during that window.
- Book 3 · Ch 18Debate over replacing the Swordholder
Sixty years into deterrence, society debates the aging Luo Ji's role; AI control is rejected and replacing the Swordholder is proposed as a compromise.
- Book 3 · Ch 27Handover of the Swordholder switch
Luo Ji hands the gravitational wave broadcast switch to Cheng Xin in the white hall, ending his fifty-four-year tenure; no one thanks him.
- Book 3 · Ch 27Luo Ji arrested
In the lobby, Tribunal prosecutors arrest Luo Ji for suspected mundicide; he ignores them and enters the elevator.
- Book 3 · Ch 31Sophon confronts Cheng Xin at the crater
Sophon reveals Cheng Xin was kept alive as a safety shield, that Gravity was destroyed, and that Wade would have been feared. She then leaves, telling them to prepare for Australia.
- Book 3 · Ch 40Review of the evidence for dark forest theory
The excerpt examines three pieces of evidence: the destruction of 187J3X1, Trisolaris's fear of deterrence, and the Ring's confirmation. It finds each scientifically inconclusive, and public opinion in the Broadcast Era shifts toward calling the theory a delusion of cosmic persecution.
- Book 3 · Ch 43Conversation of the Way of Tea
Sophon hosts Cheng Xin and Luo Ji, describes Trisolaris's destruction and dark forest attacks, and answers Luo Ji's one question: a safety notice to the universe exists.
- Book 3 · Ch 44Humanity debates safety notice proposals
After the Sophon–Cheng Xin–Luo Ji conversation is publicized, humanity floods in proposals for a safety notice, which divide into declaratory and self-mutilation camps, but none solve the problem of convincing a distant universe.
- Book 3 · Ch 45Sophon's farewell tea
Before a vast silent crowd, Sophon holds a final tea with Cheng Xin and Luo Ji, then says her last mission is a message: Yun Tianming wants to see Cheng Xin.
- Book 3 · Ch 69Federation requests an artifact rescue mission
Cao Bin asks Cheng Xin and AA to take Halo to Pluto to scatter museum artifacts in space and tells them Luo Ji wants to see them. They agree.
- Book 3 · Ch 69Meeting Luo Ji in the museum
Halo lands on Pluto; Cheng Xin and AA enter the monolith and meet Luo Ji, who explains the museum is humanity's tombstone and its history.
- Book 3 · Ch 69Luo Ji reveals the stone-carving tomb
Luo Ji tells Cheng Xin and AA that experts found carving words in stone the only way to preserve information for a hundred million years, and shows them the carved walls and lamps.
- Book 3 · Ch 69Choosing artifacts
In the artifact hall, Cheng Xin and AA remove frames from oil paintings to carry more, including Starry Night. Luo Ji keeps the Mona Lisa for himself.
- Book 3 · Ch 70Flattened Earth and giant snowflakes
Cheng Xin, AA and Luo Ji watch the flattened Earth, whose frozen oceans form enormous snowflakes seen by telescope from fifty AU away.
- Book 3 · Ch 70The Sun is flattened
From Pluto, Luo Ji, Cheng Xin and AA watch the Sun collapse into two dimensions and die, followed by Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus.
- Book 3 · Ch 70Luo Ji stays behind
Luo Ji refuses to board Halo and returns to the monolith, insisting Cheng Xin and AA depart on their mission and stay in contact.
- Book 3 · Ch 70Luo Ji reveals Halo's curvature drive
As Halo leaves Pluto, Luo Ji tells the women Halo has a lightspeed curvature engine and that they may go anywhere, explaining the secret program's history.
- Book 3 · Ch 70Luo Ji refuses to leave Pluto
Luo Ji declines to board and, using his authority over Halo, orders curvature propulsion, explaining that the black domain could be formed by lightspeed ship trails, and tells them to find the other survivors.
- Book 3 · Ch 70Solar System flattened
Pluto expands onto the plane and Luo Ji goes into the picture. The last voices fall silent as the Solar System becomes a completed two-dimensional painting.