Shevek

Shevek is an Anarresti physicist whose work on time drives the novel. He wants knowledge to move freely between worlds and initially assumes that honest reasoning will be enough to overcome institutional resistance. His experience with Sabul teaches him that a society without legal property can still produce intellectual ownership. On Urras, he is celebrated, manipulated, and morally compromised. He ultimately gives his theory to every world and returns to Anarres without knowing whether he will be welcomed. His fate after the landing is deliberately left open.