# The Venerians — Last and First Men character guide

> The Venerians in Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Venerians

**First appearance:** 0058-xiii-humanity-on-venus

## Snapshot

Deep-sea natives of Venus whose incomprehensible minds and radioactive biology make them both rivals and doomed hosts to human migrants.

## Who they are

The Venerians are an ancient oceanic civilization whose mental life is so alien that every attempt at parley fails completely. They hurl explosives into human island settlements and undermine them from tunnels, preferring mutual destruction to sharing their world, while their dependence on radioactive atoms already sentences their kind to extinction. Their doomed, defiant resistance forces the migrating Fifth Men into a moral crisis about whether a higher intelligence may dispossess a lower one.

## In the story

### [IV: Preparing a New World](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/iv-preparing-a-new-world)

Intelligent, swordfish-like native inhabitants of Venus, whose civilization is based on radioactive power and who resist the human invasion.

### [Humanity on Venus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/xiii-humanity-on-venus)

The exterminated native species of Venus, whose memory contributes to humanity's sense of guilt.

### [I: Taking Root Again](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/i-taking-root-again)

Their extermination by the human settlers creates a deep-seated sense of guilt.

### [II: Da Capo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/ii-da-capo)

The designers of the Ninth Men, who underestimated Neptune's ferocity and produced an ill-adapted species.

### [IV: Cosmology](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/iv-cosmology)

Mentioned as native beings imprisoned in their ocean and murdered for man's sake.

### [I: Sentence of Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/i-sentence-of-death)

Mentioned as having earlier (pessimistic) beliefs about the sun's collapse.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/characters/the_venerians
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/characters