Mike Evans
Names: Mike EvansEvansBethune
First appears in Book 1: The Three-Body Problem, chapter 21 (21)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: The Three-Body Problem
- Ch 21Mike Evans is the mastermind of the Adventists who deceived the ETO about their genocidal aim.
- Ch 27Evans is an American biologist and bird and insect specialist who planted a forest in the barren Northwest hills to save a nearly extinct swallow subspecies.
- Ch 27Locals nicknamed him Bethune because they did not know the foreigner's real name.
- Ch 27As a boy of twelve, he saw oil-soaked birds die after his father's company tanker spilled oil, which shaped his life's aim of saving species.
- Ch 27Evans despaired that wealth cannot stop humanity's destruction of other life and asked Ye how to go on.
- Ch 27After hearing Ye, Evans said he had the resources to verify her story and offered his hand, saying 'let us be comrades.'
- Ch 28Evans confirmed Ye's story by receiving a message from Trisolaris using the frequency and coordinates she provided.
- Ch 29Evans gave the Adventists their motto: We don't know what extraterrestrial civilization is like, but we know humanity.
- Ch 30Evans hid his hatred of human civilization from Ye, making human extinction his ultimate ideal; he said the protons' arrival was the day human science died.
- Ch 31Evans died during the operation to capture Judgment Day, but his body's posture pointed to the computers holding Trisolaran messages.
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 1Mike Evans stands on the bow of Judgment Day and talks with Trisolaris through a sophon that displays text on his retinas.
- Ch 1Evans tells the wolf-and-grandmother story to demonstrate deception, and the Trisolaran fails to understand why the wolf would communicate with the children.
- Ch 3Evans taught the Lord how to keep a secret about Luo Ji and is dead, so the secret cannot be known.
- Ch 4Evans, now dead, conveyed Trisolaris's order to the ETO and required that the assassination not attract attention.
- Ch 4Evans added a condition to the first assassination order of Luo Ji, which kept him alive for five years.
Connections
- leadsAdventists
- ally ofYe WenjieEvans joins Ye's cause after she tells him about Trisolaris
- family ofEvans's father
- createdPan-Species Communism
- member ofEarth-Trisolaris Organizationfirst recruit shown joining via the comrades phrase
- createdSecond Red Coast Base
- member ofAdventists
- ally ofTrisolaran LordEvans addresses the Trisolaran as 'My Lord'
- inJudgment Day
- leadsEarth-Trisolaris Organization
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 21Pan Han accused at the meeting
At the ETO gathering, Pan admits killing Shen Yufei, argues for purging Redemptionists, and is accused by Rafael and Ye of Adventist betrayal.
- Book 1 · Ch 27Ye meets Evans in the hills
While surveying observatory sites, Ye visits the foreigner called Bethune and hears Evans explain his tree planting and Pan-Species Communism. The site is later rejected for human-environment reasons.
- Book 1 · Ch 27Evans's forest is logged
Three years later, loggers including officials cut down Evans's forest because it lacks legal protection, though he could stop them with his inheritance.
- Book 1 · Ch 27Ye recruits Evans
Responding to Evans's postcard, Ye tells him the Red Coast and Trisolaris story. Evans, despairing of humanity, agrees to join her, saying 'let us be comrades.'
- Book 1 · Ch 28Ye arrives at the Second Red Coast Base
Ye is flown by helicopter from Heathrow to the ship Judgment Day in the Atlantic, where about two thousand ETO members await.
- Book 1 · Ch 28Evans reveals confirmation and the fleet
Evans tells Ye that Trisolaris replied, confirming her story, and that the Trisolaran Fleet will reach the solar system in 450 years.
- Book 1 · Ch 28Ye becomes ETO commander in chief
Ye accepts leadership of the Earth-Trisolaris Movement, and the ETO fighters shout their slogan, formally beginning the movement.
- Book 1 · Ch 30Ye Wenjie's interrogation
Ye explains ETO factions, why Judgment Day isn't attacked, the Trisolaran fleet's slow travel, and reveals the two protons Trisolaris sent to lock human science.
- Book 1 · Ch 31Ye Wenjie interrogated
Three days later, an interrogator questions Ye about her hopes for Trisolaris, tells her Evans died and the Trisolaran messages were captured, and gives her an analysis to read.
- Book 2 · Ch 1Evans's last conversation with Trisolaris
Evans and the Trisolaran discuss why 'think' and 'say' are synonyms for Trisolarans. Evans's wolf story reveals that Trisolarans cannot comprehend deception; the Trisolaran admits fear of humans, and the conversation ends.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Second Wallbreaker contacted by Trisolaris
Trisolaris proves its identity with the dead goldfish and the Evans letter password. It explains its fear of humans and asks ETO to carry out Evans's secret order without revealing ETO's role.