Louis Wu
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Louis Gridley Wu, a fictional character, is the protagonist in
Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel ''Ringworld'' won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus, Ditmar Award, Ditmar, and Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula award ...
's ''
Ringworld ''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an ...
'' book series. Louis Wu was born in 2650 to Carlos Wu and Sharrol Janss. When he appears in ''Ringworld'', Louis is 6′2″ (188 cm) tall. Without " Flatlander" bodypaint, his brown eyes show no discernible slant and his yellow-brown skinned features are a blended fusion of Earth's many races. Born a "Flatlander", Louis is best known among his friends for inventing the "Sabbatical"—going off alone in a spaceship outside the boundaries of known space until one can tolerate human company again. Louis was the first human being to make contact with the Trinoc species. He is also the only hominid ever to become a Protector and return to normal (
Breeder A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed, to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist ...
) state afterward.


Birth and childhood

Louis Wu is the second of two children born to Carlos Wu and Sharrol Janss. Sharrol was married to Beowulf (or "Bey") Shaeffer at the time but the Fertility Board of the United Nations of Earth had absolute control over reproductive rights on that planet (its population was about 18 billion at the time). The Board denied a parenthood license to Shaeffer based on his
albinism Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...
, considering it an undesirable genetic trait. Sharrol was unable to leave Earth because of her Flatland Phobia, a fear of being off-planet. They asked Carlos Wu, a friend of Sharrol's who has an unlimited parenthood license, to help them. Sharrol and Wu were married on a two-year contract arrangement; Tanya Wu was born in 2649 and Louis a year later, 2650. Shaeffer returned to Earth in 2650 and both children were raised by Sharrol and Beowulf. Carlos remained a family friend to both Beowulf and Sharrol. Several years later, amidst unusual and perilous circumstances, Louis, his sister, mother, and adoptive father (Beowulf) along with Carlos and Carlos' girlfriend, Feather Filip, secretly and illegally emigrated from Earth to Fafnir. Upon reaching Fafnir, Feather shot Shaeffer in the chest with an ARM punchgun, but Carlos managed to escape with Tanya and Louis. Sharrol killed Feather by cutting her throat, then decapitating her. Sharrol then placed Bey's head (after removing it from his body) in Carlos's
nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...
-based autodoc where it reconstructed his body, sizing it to the Intensive Care Cavity of the autodoc, which was tailored to Carlos's body proportions. Eventually, Beowulf recovered, was reunited with Sharrol, and had two more children with her, Jeena and an unnamed second child; therefore, Louis has one sister and two half-siblings, who grew up on the Home colony world. Eventually, in his adulthood, Louis moved to Earth, and in the years between his two trips to the
Ringworld ''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an ...
he relocated to Canyon. At the end of '' Ringworld's Children'' he is in a spaceship, heading back to Home. While Louis Wu was raised by Beowulf Shaeffer, in the first ''Ringworld'' novel Louis seems not to know who Shaeffer is, nor does he make any reference to his relation to Carlos upon encountering the same autodoc in the later ''Ringworld'' novels. As the
Known Space Known Space is the fictional setting of about a dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories by American writer Larry Niven. It has also become a shared universe in the spin-off ''Man-Kzin Wars'' anthologies. The Inter ...
universe continued to grow in complexity with each newly published story, Louis' own backstory was increasingly
retconned Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in fictional story telling whereby facts and events established through the narrative itself are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work ...
to fit in with this continuity. This is also probably why Louis never reflected on the obviously traumatic events in his childhood that took place on Fafnir. This might also be explained as Louis simply being tight-lipped about certain aspects of his personal history, a trait he shared with both his biological father Carlos and his adoptive father Beowulf.


Pre-Ringworld

According to narration in ''Ringworld'', Wu ran for political office in the United Nations in his middle 70s. He lost the election but in the process of running learned an oratorical technique he would later use to attempt to convince Teela Brown not to come on what would later turn out to be the first Ringworld expedition. In an adventure some 70 years before the events of ''Ringworld'' (around when Wu was 130, related in '' Betrayer of Worlds''), that he does not recall in his later life (e.g., in ''Ringworld''), Louis is found by a Pierson's Puppeteer named Nessus while working in a hospital in a rebel camp on Wunderland and severely addicted to pain killers. Nessus is attempting to find members of Louis' family, but Louis reports them dead. Desperate and hoping Louis has similar talents, Nessus recruits Louis with the understanding that his memory would be altered before his return to Known Space, he would be saved from the Civil War on Wunderland, well compensated and cured of his addiction. Louis' task is initially to prevent a war between the Puppeteers and Gw'oth. He eventually ends up preventing a genocide, observing the removal of the legitimate Puppeteer government, its ironic replacement with a puppet regime controlled by the Gw'oth, and finding himself with a very large Puppeteer bounty on his own head. Taking it for granted that he would eventually be discovered in Puppeteer regions of space, he agrees to let Nessus alter his memory and return him to Known Space. He awakens on a very expensive FTL singleship near Known Space, physically younger than he recalled, unaddicted (the ship refuses to provide him with alcohol or pills), and without recollection of how he came to be in this situation while several months away from Sol and Wunderland. He attributes the memory loss to pill usage and resolves to sell his ship as soon as he arrives back in the Sol system. In terms of in-universe chronology (falling in-between ''Betrayer of Worlds'' and ''Ringworld''), Wu later appears in the short story "There Is a Tide", where he becomes the first human to make contact with the Trinoc species. In terms of publication chronology, "There Is a Tide" is the story where Wu first appears.


Appearance in ''Ringworld''

At the beginning of ''Ringworld'', Louis celebrated his 200th birthday by working his way from party to party around the world using transfer booths to stay ahead of the dateline. After one of his booth transfers gets diverted to a hotel room, he accepts an offer to go on an expedition with three other members – two aliens (a Pierson's Puppeteer named Nessus, and a catlike Kzin called
Speaker-to-Animals This is a list of fictional characters featured in the ''Known Space'' novels by Larry Niven. Individual characters Sigmund Ausfaller Sigmund Ausfaller, a native of Earth, is a member of the Amalgamated Regional Militia ("ARM"), working in t ...
) and
Teela Brown This is a list of fictional characters featured in the ''Known Space'' novels by Larry Niven. Individual characters Sigmund Ausfaller Sigmund Ausfaller, a native of Earth, is a member of the Amalgamated Regional Militia ("ARM"), working in t ...
, a human female supposedly bred for
luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at a ...
. Unfortunately, the group crash-lands on the
Ringworld ''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an ...
, a huge structure with 3,000,000 times the surface area of Earth. When Louis comes up with an ingenious way to get them home, he is rewarded by the
Puppeteers A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...
with the " Quantum II Hyperdrive", capable of moving a spaceship one
light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astr ...
in 1.25 minutes. Louis then returns to the
Ringworld ''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an ...
looking for matter conversion technology for another Pierson's Puppeteer, a deposed leader (the "Hindmost"). While there, he discovers that the Ringworld is unstable. He decides to save the Ringworld with Speaker-To-Animals (renamed Chmeee) and the Hindmost (after Louis destroys the hyperdrive motor, trapping them there again). Louis appears again for the last two ''Ringworld'' books, where he tries to get the Pak Protectors in line in '' The Ringworld Throne'' and finally escapes in ''Ringworld's Children''. Events immediately following his escape are chronicled in ''Fate of Worlds'' (subtitled ''Return from the Ringworld'').


List of Louis Wu novels and short stories

* '' There Is a Tide'' * '' Betrayer of Worlds'' * ''
Ringworld ''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an ...
'' * ''
The Ringworld Engineers ''The Ringworld Engineers'' is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven. It is the first sequel to Niven's ''Ringworld'' and was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1981. Origin In the introduction to the novel, ...
'' * '' The Ringworld Throne'' * '' Ringworld's Children'' * '' Fate of Worlds''


References


External links


The Incompleat Known Space Concordance: "Wu, Louis"
* https://www.januarymagazine.com/features/ringworldexc.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Louis Known Space Literary characters introduced in 1968 Fictional characters from the 3rd millennium Male characters in literature Fictional adventurers