Swordholder
First appears in Book 3: Death's End, chapter 17 (Deterrence Era, Year 61 The Swordholder)
Appearances
B1
B2
B3
What you know
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 18Replacing the Swordholder with AI was rejected: AIs decide poorly in complex deterrence, dictatorship-by-machine is politically worse, and sophons could interfere.
- Ch 18Because of Luo Ji's age and unreliable mental state, a compromise was to change the Swordholder.
- Ch 21The six Common Era candidates to succeed Luo Ji are masculine and cold, and many in the public fear them as dangerous.
- Ch 27The Swordholder holds the switch for the gravitational wave broadcast that underpins the dark forest deterrence between Earth and Trisolaris.
- Ch 29The Swordholder was permitted brief visits to the surface, so guards assumed Cheng Xin had come to investigate the quake.
- Ch 74The Swordholder's duty was to maintain dark forest deterrence, and the holder controlled the development direction of two civilizations.
Connections
Key moments
- Book 3 · Ch 41Public blame after the Deterrence Era
After the universal broadcast, humanity denounces the Swordholder and the selection process, though Cheng Xin is treated relatively sympathetically and fades from public attention.