The listener
Names: The listenerthe listener from Post 1379
First appears in Book 1: The Three-Body Problem, chapter 32 (32)
Appearances
B1
B2
B3
What you know
Book 1: The Three-Body Problem
- Ch 32The listener at Post 1379 detected a radio signal from Earth rated Red 10, the first message from another world that any Trisolaran had read.
- Ch 32Fearing his life would be wasted and having fallen in love with Earth, he secretly sent the warning 'Do not answer!' toward Earth.
- Ch 32The listener is old, about 600,000 Trisolaran hours into a life expectancy of 700,000 to 800,000, and lives a lonely, low-status life.
- Ch 32The princeps pardoned him from execution so he would live to see Earth lose all hope, knowing he could not save it.
Connections
- member ofListening Post 1379works as sole listener
- enemy ofThe princeps
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 32The listener receives Earth's message
The listener at Post 1379 detects and decodes Earth's transmission, learning of Earth, then dreams of it burning.
- Book 1 · Ch 32The listener sends the warning
To save Earth and his own life's meaning, the listener transmits 'Do not answer!' toward the source, hoping to keep Earth silent.
- Book 1 · Ch 32The princeps judges the listener
The princeps spares the listener to let him witness Earth's fall, orders six thousand monitoring officials burned, and commits to launching the fleet.