The man behind this, Don Reba (oddly resonant with Beria) has seized control of the area Rumata is observing, but Rumata cannot figure him out-no motivation or purpose is perceivable, just ever increasing violence and chaos which moreover Reba doesn't even, really, seem to relish but is compelled to keep on with even to his own downfall. He feels increasingly hopeless, intuiting a situation beyond anything that ever happened on earth, that any of their "Basis Theory" of history encompasses. Rumata has been trying to save anyone who shows any spark but even the best are not ready to progress beyond their own personal situation/salvation. He isn't a god, but he might as well be with his unlimited gold and impervious armour.
The protagonist/hero, Don Rumata (Anton) has been in this world for three years, posing as a powerful and wealthy aristocrat in a very class/caste oriented society, top dog. The soviet way has prevailed in this future world, and the initial story was meant to be apolitical and fun-except in the USSR of the early 1960's (when the book was written)-that was not an option. Having come across a planet so earth-like as to be virtually identical (homo sapiens top of the food chain) but mired in medieval chaos, 'historians' are sent to 'observe' and where possible tweak things in the direction of enlightenment. The premise is the future (violence and political turmoil are a thing of the past) with space travel and concern to help prevail. This is my third Strugatsky work (The Dead Mountaineer's Inn and Roadside Picnic) and likely not the last.
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