Previous
Terms
Trisolaris, aptly named for having three suns, is a planet located four light-years away from Earth. Because each of the planet’s suns has its own gravity, their different gravitational forces repel and attract each other, giving the planet an irregular orbit around the suns and creating periods of extreme heat and cold known as Chaotic Eras. In order to adapt to these unbearable conditions, the residents of Trisolaris (known as Trisolarans) have evolved the ability to dehydrate and rehydrate their bodies. Humans don’t know much about life on Trisolaris, though it is clear that the society is ruled by a single leader known as the princeps. Unlike humans on Earth, the Trisolarans do not prize art, democracy, or emotion. The most valued traits on Trisolaris are “calmness and numbness,” because those are the traits best adapted to survival. The Trisolaran religion is centered on a giant pendulum monument at the planet’s capital.
Trisolaris Quotes in The Three-Body Problem
The The Three-Body Problem quotes below are all either spoken by Trisolaris or refer to Trisolaris. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 18
Quotes
“What is your impression of the Aztecs?”
“Dark and bloody,” the author said. “Blood-drenched pyramids lit by insidious fire seen through dark forests. Those are my impressions.”
The philosopher nodded. “Very good. Then try to imagine: if the Spanish conquistadors did not intervene, what would have been the influence of that civilization on human history?”
“You are calling black white and white black,” the software company vice president said. “The Conquistadors who invaded the Americas were nothing more than murderers and robbers.”
“Even so, at least they prevented the Aztecs from developing without bound, turning the Americas into a bloody, dark great empire. Then civilization as we know it wouldn't have appeared in the Americas, and democracy wouldn't have thrived until much later. Indeed, maybe they wouldn't have appeared at all. This is the key to the question: no matter what the Trisolarans are like, their arrival would be good news for the terminally ill human race.”
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Chapter 19
Quotes
“The big moon. When I was little it was still hot. When it rose to the middle of the sky, I could see the red glow from the central plains. But now it's cold…Haven't you heard about the great rip?”
“No. What's that?”
Einstein sighed and shook his head. “Let's not speak of it. Forget the past. My past, civilization’s past, the universe’s past—all of it too painful to recall.”
Chapter 29
Quotes
The ETO had once tried to develop membership among the common people, but these efforts all failed. The ETO concluded that the common people did not seem to have the comprehensive and deep understanding of the highly educated about the dark side of humanity. More importantly, because their thoughts were not as deeply influenced by modern science and philosophy, they still felt an overwhelming, instinctual identification with their own species. To betray the human race as a whole was unimaginable for them. But intellectual elites were different: Most of them had already begun to consider issues from our perspective outside the human race. Human civilization had finally given birth to a strong force of alienation.
Chapter 32
Quotes
The metallic Trisolaran spirit has infiltrated each of our cells and solidified. You really believe it can melt again? I'm an ordinary man living at the bottom of society. No one would pay any attention to me. My life is spent alone, without wealth, without status, without love, and without hope. If I can save a distant, beautiful world that I have fallen in love with, then my life has not been wasted.
Chapter 33
Quotes
“Even in nature, the destruction of universes must be happening at every second—for example, through the decay of neutrons. Also, a high energy cosmic ray entering the atmosphere may destroy thousands of such miniature universes…You're not feeling sentimental because of this, are you?”
“You amuse me. I will immediately notify the propaganda console and direct him to repeatedly publicize the scientific fact to the world. The people of Trisolaris must understand that the destruction of civilizations is a common occurrence that happens every second of every hour.”
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Trisolaris Term Timeline in The Three-Body Problem
The timeline below shows where the term Trisolaris appears in The Three-Body Problem. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 18. Meet-up
...game or a reality? Pan explains that the world depicted in the game, known as Trisolaris, really does exist. Though the Trisolarans do not really look like humans, they are capable...
(full context)
Chapter 19. Three Body: Einstein, the Pendulum Monument, and the Great Rip
...more modern pendulums, he is upset to learn that they are actually a “tombstone” for Trisolaris.
(full context)
...it should be able to protect itself against Chaotic Eras; after all, this version of Trisolaris has computers and knowledge of the atomic bomb. But the scientist explains that the moon...
(full context)
...been destroyed by the crashing suns. In less than 1,000 years, then, scientists calculated that Trisolaris was doomed to be swallowed by the gaseous layer of a sun. The Trisolarans feel...
(full context)
Chapter 21. Rebels of Earth
...believers to incite a global rebellion, revealing themselves to the world, the commander of the Earth-Trisolaris Organization (ETO) walks in. Wang is shocked to realize that the commander is none other...
(full context)
...call-and-response: she cries out “eliminate human tyranny,” and the crowd responds, “the world belongs to Trisolaris!” Then, Ye begins to interrogate Pan, telling him he has broken the organization’s key code...
(full context)
Chapter 23. Red Coast VI
...only four light-years away. More messages came in, and Ye learned of the existence of Trisolaris and of the civilization that had been reborn over and over again. When she had...
(full context)
Chapter 29. The Earth-Trisolaris Movement
...extraterrestrial civilization is like, but we know humanity.” The Redemptionists had developed a religion around Trisolaris, in which the Trisolarans were a spiritual Lord that actually existed. The Redemptionists believed that...
(full context)
...earth. Using recognizably human figures and important historical events, the game designers hoped to make Trisolaris more palatable to humans who were just learning of it. Once a player advanced far...
(full context)
Chapter 32. Trisolaris: The Listener
...Trisolarans as humanoid, begins to read their message to Evans. The message explains that across Trisolaris there were hundreds of listening posts, each manned by a single individual. The listeners were...
(full context)
The princeps (leader) of Trisolaris did not live in a palace exactly like the one in Three Body, but he...
(full context)
...literature, no art, no pursuit of beauty and enjoyment.” The princeps, meanwhile, countered that while Trisolaris had once had democratic societies filled with arts and culture, such societies were the least...
(full context)
...fleet to prepare for flight—even though the fleet might not know exactly where to fly, Trisolaris was going to be destroyed by its three suns at any moment. It was time...
(full context)
Chapter 33. Trisolaris: Sophon
...this mirror had the potential to reflect the suns’ rays and thus destroy all of Trisolaris, the science consuls directed the princeps to get into his underground bunker.
(full context)
At this moment, Trisolaris began to get even brighter and hotter as the mirror reflected the sun, forming a...
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But because the shell enclosed the entire planet, Trisolaris was shut off completely from the three suns—and a period of intense cold followed. Much...
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...appear in developing photographs or in people’s retinas. And because two sophons would remain on Trisolaris, these sophons could communicate with their counterparts on earth, getting real-time updates about humanity’s progress...
(full context)
...essentially act as a set of “omnipresent eyes.” As soon as Chang reaches this conclusion, Trisolaris communicates with non-ETO humans for the first time. Just for a moment, the same message...
(full context)
