the psychologist
Names: the psychologistthe doctorDr. West
First appears in Book 2: The Dark Forest, chapter 2 (Year 3, Crisis Era)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 2He told Luo Ji that his love for a fictional person was not a sickness, only natural literary talent, and that he should not try to forget her.
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 24West is Gravity's civilian psychiatrist; he attributed Devon's vision to fatigue and loss of the surveillance feed, and takes an interest in Guan's case.
- Ch 24West is a psychiatrist aboard Gravity who has been awake for much of the voyage and keeps his emotions controlled to support others' mental health.
- Ch 24West feels old after about fifty years of travel and is moved to tears in conversation with Guan.
- Ch 36Dr. West, with the psych corps, explains the ship's strange events as mass hallucination caused by the sophons' loss.
- Ch 38A psychologist who had studied Trisolaran language and proved skilled at establishing communication with unknown intelligences; interpreted the Ring's bitmaps.
Connections
- member ofGravity
- friend ofGuan Yifanpsychiatrist and patient who bond over talk of the universe
- related toGuan Yifanconvinced Guan his four-dimensional experience was a hallucination
- ally ofGuan Yifanexploratory team members
Key moments
- 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 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 3 · Ch 24West visits Guan Yifan
West confronts Guan over his claustrophobia and takes him to Plaza #1; the open space does not relieve Guan's feeling of being trapped.
- Book 3 · Ch 24Guan describes the universe as a diseased body
Guan tells West about his dream and argues the universe is paraplegic and a bloating corpse because of light-speed limits and three accessible dimensions; he says he wants to go home.
- Book 3 · Ch 24Droplet attack on Gravity and Blue Space
Battle alarms sound as two droplets accelerate, one toward each ship. With no time to evade, Guan and West calmly accept imminent death.
- Book 3 · Ch 38Exploring the Ring
Guan, Zhuo and West fly a pinnace through four-dimensional space to the Ring, exchange prime-number bitmaps, and send the Rosetta System. The Ring declares itself a tomb and converses with them.