Character from The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
CEO of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile who funded protomolecule weapons research through Protogen, sacrificing his own daughter and countless children for profit and power.
Jules-Pierre Mao is the banality of evil in a bespoke suit. He didn't create the protomolecule, but he saw it as a product — the ultimate weapons platform, worth any cost to develop. He funded Protogen's research on Phoebe Station, approved human experimentation, and when his own daughter Julie was infected, he mourned her privately while accelerating the program that killed her. He genuinely loves his children in the abstract way that narcissistic parents do — as extensions of himself, as legacy. Julie's rebellion wounded him not because she was in danger but because she rejected him. He moved protomolecule experiments to Io, using children with compromised immune systems as test subjects for hybrid soldiers. When confronted, he frames everything in the language of progress and necessity. He is ultimately arrested and imprisoned, his empire dismantled, but the damage he enabled — protomolecule hybrids, the cascading wars — echoes through the rest of the story.
Distinguished older man with silver hair and the composed bearing of generational wealth. Tall, trim, impeccably dressed in tailored suits even on space stations. Handsome features carefully maintained — the kind of face designed for boardrooms and press conferences. His hands are soft and manicured, the hands of a man who has never done physical labor but has signed orders that killed thousands.
Also known as: Mao, Jules-Pierre Mao, Jules-Pierre, JP Mao