The Search for the Second Foundation
The location of the Second Foundation became the galaxy's greatest mystery. The Mule, after conquering the First Foundation, devoted years to finding it. He searched Tazenda, believing it to be 'Star's End,' only to discover he had been deliberately misled by Second Foundation agents.
Later, the First Foundation itself — fearful of being secretly controlled by mental manipulators — launched its own search. Led by Arkady Darell and others, this search appeared to succeed in locating and destroying the Second Foundation on Terminus itself. But this too was a carefully orchestrated deception.
The True Location
The Second Foundation was on Trantor all along, hidden among the farmers who tended the former Imperial Palace grounds after the Great Sack. The phrase 'at Star's End' was a play on words: Trantor was where all 'stars ended' — where every star in the galaxy was reduced to a bureaucratic entry in Imperial records.
This revelation is one of the great literary twists of the Foundation saga. The Second Foundation survived the Mule's search and the First Foundation's purge precisely because no one thought to look at the center of the galaxy — the last place anyone expected.
Significance in the Seldon Plan
The Second Foundation's hidden location was essential to its mission. As guardians of psychohistory and the Seldon Plan, the Speakers needed to operate in complete secrecy. If either the First Foundation or external threats discovered them, the plan's delicate balance would collapse.
The misdirection of 'Star's End' ensured that even when the Second Foundation was forced to reveal its existence — as it did against the Mule — its true location remained secure.