Character from remembrance-of-earths-past by
The Trisolaran ambassador on Earth — a robotic body shaped like a porcelain Japanese tea-ceremony hostess, controlled by a sentient proton-sized supercomputer, who served Cheng Xin tea in the morning and ordered the genocide of Australia by nightfall.
Sophon is the most human-feeling alien in the trilogy and the most genuinely alien. In her tea-ceremony mode she is courteous, charming, even sisterly — she calls Cheng Xin 'sister', she laughs at small jokes, she pours with exquisite care. The instant the gravitational-wave broadcast system goes down she becomes a different creature entirely: contemptuous, sadistic, ordering humanity into Australia like cattle. She admires Luo Ji's vigilance, respects Wade's ruthlessness, and despises Cheng Xin's softness — which she also recognizes as the trait that gave Trisolaris its victory. She honors Yun Tianming's wishes long after both of them are dead, with a fidelity she never explains.
A small woman with the appearance of a young Japanese hostess in flawless silk kimono — pale skin, long black hair, brown eyes that never quite track right. She kneels rather than sits. After the Deterrence Era ends she changes into close-cut military fatigues with no insignia and walks differently, with longer strides and a slight predatory bounce. Her sword is real and so is her tea.
Also known as: 智子, Tomoko, The Ambassador, Sister Sophon