[2][3]: 56–57  Josh Wimmer and Alasdair Wilkins of Gizmodo wrote: Bel Riose might be the best example I've seen of an anti-villain—his goal is the destruction of the Foundation and the defeat of the Seldon Plan, and he can be quite brutal in his means, but he's fundamentally honorable, honest, and really rather brilliant.

You might even call him the tragic hero of the Foundation series, struggling in vain against the forces of history for no greater reason than to prove that he can.

While his failure against the forces of historic necessity might seem depressing, the fact that he is not the viewpoint character changes the impact of the story: The reader sympathizes with the Foundation.

They travel to the Imperial capital planet, Trantor, and plot to influence Cleon directly with Devers' invented conspiracy, implicating both Riose and Brodrig.

Asimov later explains the political dynamics of why Riose would never have been able to defeat the Foundation: a strong emperor's sense of self-preservation would never allow him to tolerate a subordinate who develops potentially threatening power.

[10] He is the last great general of the Superliminal Fleet, imprisoned by Emperor Cleon for breaking orders to save troops, despite still achieving a victory.

"[11] In the 2023 episode "King and Commoner", Cleon's emissary Lady Demerzel visits Riose at the Lepsis penal colony, offering him his freedom to investigate the Foundation on behalf of the Empire.

[7][11] In "Where the Stars are Scattered Thinly", Riose and Curr visit Imperial informant Ducem Barr on Siwenna and learn that the Foundation, and by extension their propagandists the Church of the Galactic Spirit, possess auras, protective force shield technology forbidden to everyone except the Emperors, and whisper-ships, a Foundation-created type of jumpship which can perform faster-than-light travel without requiring an enhanced human Spacer to navigate.

[15][16] In the season two finale "Creation Myths", She-Bends-Light, a Spacer on Riose's flagship Shining Destiny, uses a jump sequence smuggled onboard by con man Hober Mallow to program the fleet's warships to jump into one another, which will inevitably consume the entire fleet and free the remaining Spacers from Empire.

[17] Collins wrote, "Ben Daniels, who goes from a hermit of the wastes to one of the handsomest men on TV with a shave and a haircut, has a great deal of screen presence as Bel".