Bel Riose is a fictional character in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. In the 1945 novella "Dead Hand", he is the last great general of the declining Galactic Empire. He targets the Foundation both as a perceived threat to the Empire and to further his own ambitions, but is outmaneuvered by its agents.

Riose is voiced by Dinsdale Landen in the 1973 BBC Radio 4 adaptation The Foundation Trilogy. He is portrayed by Ben Daniels in season two of the 2021 Apple TV+ television series adaptation Foundation.

Bel Riose appears in the novella "Dead Hand", published in the April 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It was later retitled "The General" and paired with the November/December 1945 novella "The Mule", and published as Foundation and Empire in 1952.

Riose is loosely based on Belisarius, a great general of the Roman Empire who served Justinian I during the 6th century AD. 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. He certainly gets an appropriately tragic ending.

James E. Gunn saw Riose as "the only character who stares in the face of determinism". 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. Riose's failure is depicted as desirable, as it ensures the Foundation's survival.

In "Dead Hand", Imperial General Bel Riose governs the planet Siwenna. He investigates the Foundation and is soon determined to destroy it, both as a perceived threat to the Empire and to further his own ambitions. Foundation trader Lathan Devers lets himself be captured by Riose to disrupt his overtures against the Foundation from the inside. With Emperor Cleon II's Privy Secretary Ammel Brodrig present to observe Riose, Devers attempts to implicate Riose in a nonexistent attempt to overthrow Cleon. His machinations are exposed, but Ducem Barr, a Foundation sympathizer forced to aid Riose, helps him escape further interrogation by knocking Riose unconscious and fleeing the planet with Devers in tow. They travel to the Imperial capital planet, Trantor, and plot to influence Cleon directly with Devers' invented conspiracy, implicating both Riose and Brodrig. Though they are caught by the Secret Police, they escape and later learn that Riose and Brodrig have been arrested for treason and executed. 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.

Riose is voiced by Dinsdale Landen in episode four "The General" of the 1973 BBC Radio 4 adaptation The Foundation Trilogy.