“We must recover the Tyrant’s design! All of it!”
Originally intended to be the first installment in a new trilogy of Dune books, Frank Herbert’s fifth Dune novel, Heretics of Dune, was a difficult book for him to write. At the time, Herbert was caring for his ailing wife Beverly in the last few years of her decade-long battle with lung cancer (she had been a lifelong smoker). Thus, partly written at the Herberts’ newly constructed home in Hawaii, and partly written back in Washington state, Heretics of Dune was drafted slowly and in a somewhat scattered manner as Herbert was unable to devote the extended time needed to draft a novel of this magnititude. Herbert finally finished and published the book in 1984 to somewhat lukewarm reviews. It was a hectic year in the Herbert household to say the least –the fifth Dune novel was published, along with David Lynch’s controversial Dune film (which garnered mostly negative reviews), and Herbert’s wife Beverly sadly passed on. Yet, in my view, Heretics of Dune is another incredibly immersive, astonishingly expansive installment in the Dune canon, taking readers even further into the future as the Atreides “Golden Path” lurches onward.
In Heretics of Dune, Frank Herbert takes another gigantic leap forward in time, this time fifteen hundred years after the events of God Emperor of Dune (1981), which itself occurred thirty-five hundred years after the events described in Children of Dune (1976). For a story that takes place so incomprehensibly far into the future, I was struck by just how little has changed in that time –many familiar names and groups reappear in this novel with only minimal differences from the days of Paul Atreides (i.e. the Bene Gesserit, the Tleilaxu, the Guild, the Fish Speakers, and so on).
In the wake of the God Emperor’s death at the end of God Emperor of Dune, there was a great “Scattering” of humanity out beyond the Imperium to the far reaches of the known universe. In that time, Leto II’s all-female army of Fish Speakers had taken control of his vast spice reserves but they quickly squandered it in petty feuds among themselves. Meanwhile, the Tleilaxu (producers of the reanimated gholas) have discovered a way to produce the spice mélange using their axlotl tanks (which had been previously used to create gholas). This discovery pushed the Fish Speakers into an alliance with the machine-building Ixians on Ix, while Arrakis (now known simply as “Rakis”) has returned to its original ecology –a desert-planet– and it has fallen under the leadership of a priesthood worshipping the remnants of the old worm-god Leto, Shai-hulud, who is also called the “Divided God” since Leto II’s endless dream is still being carried forward as a pearl of awareness in each of the sandworms. At the same time, one of the most powerful forces in the Old Imperium, the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, has continued to pursue its breeding program, though very little has changed lo these thousands of years.
Under the leadership of Reverend Mother Superior Alma Mavis Taraza, the Bene Gesserit has ordered numerous Duncan Idaho gholas created by the Tleilaxu –all previous gholas have been assassinated (perhaps even by the Tleilaxu themselves) until now as the twelfth Duncan Idaho ghola (who begins the novel at the age of twelve) is being trained in a heavily fortified Keep on the Planet Gammu (which was previously known as Giedi Prime, once the homeworld of the Harkonnens before it was renamed by none other than Gurney Halleck). Gammu was the planet the people of Dan (formerly Caladan) had rebuilt after the Famine Times and the Scattering. Anyway, not all the Bene Gesserit are in support of this ghola project. The elder heretic Reverend Mother Schwangyu (commander of the Gammu Keep) is one such skeptic. She fears the Sisterhood might accidentally awaken another Kwisatz Haderach and spawn a second multi-thousand-year nightmare for the Old Imperium. And perhaps she is not wrong. There is something strange about this young ghola. The Tleilaxu have modernized the child’s nerve muscle-system, but many fear the Tleilaxu have altered him in other ways, as well… It should be noted that the Tleilaxu remain a dark and mysterious bunch in this novel. No off-worlder (or “powindah”) has ever seen one of their women alive. Their society is divided between the Face Dancers and the Masters. The Face Dancers are sterile mules (they are unable to reproduce) and they are subservient to the Masters. But unlike in the past wherein Face Dancers could absorb the form and face of a person, now the Face Dancers can also absorb their memories, as well. And these Face Dancers are nearly undetectable. Many of them serve as spies among the Fish Speakers and the Ixians. They control a monopoly on the spice produced in their axlotl tanks and are slowly emerging as one of the most feared groups in the Imperium, after spending many thousands of years preserving a myth that they are weak, dirty, and incompetent. Their religion has its roots in Sufism and the Zensunni ecumenism. The Tleilaxu are led by Tylwyth Waff, a Master and Masheikh (or “Mahei”), an ambitious leader who is seizing his moment for the Tleilaxu. And so with all of these different political bodies jockeying for power in the vacuum left by the death of Leto II –the Bene Gesserit, the Tleilaxu, the Fish Speakers, and the Ixians– conspiracies, schemes, and spies are lurking everywhere.
The man in charge of the young Duncan Idaho ghola’s prana-bindu training is named Miles Teg, a formerly retired military (or “Bashar”) and skilled mentat who has served the Bene Gesserit faithfully all his life (he is about 296 standard years old). He descends from the Atreides bloodline –his mother was a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, though a heretic, and she imbued Miles Teg with secret forbidden information. Notably, he bears striking resemblance to the old Duke Leto Atreides. His loyal aide is named Patrin. The young Duncan Idaho ghola is also being trained by a Reverend Mother named Lucilla, “an Imprinter of the best training” who was bred from the Atreides genetic line (her father is later revealed to be Miles Teg, himself). Between Miles Teg and Lucilla, Duncan Idaho is set to be given the best rearing that can be offered, but suffice it to say, there is quite a lot of eugenics in this novel.
As Heretics of Dune begins, the many people who were displaced from the core worlds during “The Scattering” after the Tyrant’s fall are now starting to return to the Old Imperium (they are known as “The Lost Ones”). Many people fear the strange new customs these lost ones are bringing home with them. What fearsome new practices will they possess? The most terrifying of The Lost Ones are the “Honored Matres,” a heretical offshoot of the Bene Gesserit. Many years earlier, during the “Scattering,” the Bene Gesserit had sent out probes to follow the people fleeing the known universe, but none of these probes ever returned. It was later discovered that some of them decided not to come home and started to develop unusual new cultural practices, one of which which became the offshoot known as the “Honored Matres,” a slightly mysterious but highly sexualized cult of witch-like women who have learned to control populations as if they are Homeric sirens using sex-enslavement and “orgasmic amplification” techniques. The Honored Matres can “magnify the sensations of the orgasmic platform, transmitting this throughout a male body. They elicit the total sensual involvement of the male. Multiple orgasmic waves are created and may be continued by the… the female for an extended period” (585). They wear tight red leotards and consume a strange substance which turns their eyes orange. The Honored Matres serve as the primary rivals of Bene Gesserit (who refer to the Honored Matres throughout the book as “whores”). Both the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres use a process called “imprinting” to render their victims subservient, but whereas the Bene Gesserit merely use it for their breeding programs, the Honored Matres use it for pure enslavement and planetary conquest. In addition to the Bene Gesserit, the Bene Tleilax also despise the Honored Matres. When Waff, the Tleilaxu Master, meets one-on-one with an Honored Matre, she demands his complete subservience to her. But, using hidden lethal darts inside his sleeves, he assassinates her and his Face Dancers quickly absorb her thoughts and memories while they dispose of all record of her no-ship. Under Waff, the Tleilaxu are quietly gaining clout and amassing power. When Waff later meets with Mother Superior Taraza of the Bene Gesserit, she discreetly manipulates him into thinking she is telepathic; he realizes that if he is to kill her she would merely be replaced by another powerful witch. When he shows reverence for the late Tyrant Leto II, Taraza comes to the realization that the Tleilaxu can be manipulated by the Bene Gesserit “Missionaria Protectiva” –the ancient Bene Gesserit practice of deliberately seeding religious beliefs in order to control populations and push their breeding programs. This fact greatly intrigues Taraza and so she develops a plan for the Bene Gesserit to more closely study the Tleilaxu.
We quickly see a cold war emerging in the novel between the powers of the Bene Gesserit, the Tleilaxu, and the Honored Matres. Things come to a head when a Tleilaxu Face Dancer attempts to assassinate the young Duncan Idaho ghola on Gammu, but when it fails, the characters Miles Teg, Duncan Idaho, and Lucilla flee together through the forest (escaping from Schwangyu whom they realize is compromised) until they come upon an ancient Harkonnen “no-globe” (or a place that is invisible to the power of prescience). Note that throughout Heretics of Dune, there are new unique pieces of technology where secrecy can still take place, such as no-globes and no-ships. At any rate, inside this no-globe Miles Teg decides the moment is right to awaken Duncan Idaho’s past memories. He physically beats the young ghola, causing the necessary trauma in order to make him remember his past selves (much like what happened to “Hayt” in Dune Messiah). It helps that Miles Teg bears a strong resemblance to Duke Leto.
Meanwhile on Rakis, a young girl has been mysteriously shown to communicate and even control the giant worms. Her name is Sheeana Brugh. Once, her whole family and everyone she loved was killed by a worm, and she was mysteriously spared; thus, she carries great anger within her. She refers to the worms as “Shaitan,” or “those who spared me,” rather than the traditional moniker of Shai-hulud. She is worshipped on Rakis and is taken in by the priesthood as a deified figure. But Mother Superior Taraza of the Bene Gesserit sends Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade (also of the Atreides line from Siona, and a cousin of Lucilla who bears striking resemblance to the Lady Jessica) to Rakis where she is to take command of the Bene Gesserit Keep (it is located in the city of Keen, once the ancient city of Arrakeen). However, before long there is another unsuccessful assassination attempt on Sheeana, leading Odrade to wrest control of the child away from the Priesthood (she quietly has the traitors murdered and together they flee to a former Fish Speaker center hidden in the city of Keen). Then Mother Taraza arranges for Waff, Master of the Tleilaxu, to meet Sheeana on Rakis after recognizing his vulnerability to religious experiences. But when Waff attempts to assassinate Odrade using his signature hidden darts concealed inside his sleeve, she responds quickly, dodging his attacks and breaking both of his arms. Odrade then takes Waff and Sheeana out into the desert. Why does she take a wounded Waff with her? This question baffled me. It seems she brought him along simply for the rare opportunity to study the religious views of the Tleilaxu in this moment. They head for the city of Dar-es-Balat, but Odrade has a vision of Leto II, realizing she can see the spot where the Tyrant once died, falling from a bridge down into the river as described at the end of God Emperor of Dune. Sheeana then hails a magnificent and terrifying worm which the three of them ride across the sand. The worm leads them to an ancient place, an old clearing, before it slithers away. Here, the trio falls into a sand hole and they find an ancient Fremen catchbasin from the long-gone Sietch Tabr (city of the long-dead Stilgar). Deep inside this ghostly abandoned place are many mummified bodies dried out by the desert, in addition to a huge hidden mélange trove. On the wall, Odrade spots the word “Arafel” –a reference to the cloud-darkness at the end of the universe, an apocalyptic message only a Bene Gesserit would understand. Beneath it is written in ancient Chakobsa “Here” and all around the room and on the walls are written cryptic messages like: “A REVEREND MOTHER WILL READ MY WORDS… I BEQUEATH TO YOU MY FEAR AND LONELINESS. TO YOU I GIVE THE CERTAINTY THAT THE BODY AND SOUL OF THE BENE GESSERIT WILL MEET THE SAME FATE AS ALL OTHER BODIES AND ALL OTHER SOULS.” Leto II’s message goes on to question the purpose of the Bene Gesserit and he calls on Odrade to join Leto II’s “noble purpose.” His spirit still lived on within the worm that carried them to this remote, forgotten place.
This extraordinary experience changes Odrade: “I speak your language now, old worm. It has no words but I know the heart of it” (426).
Back on Gammu, Miles Teg, Lucilla, and Duncan Idaho leave their no-globe to meet up with Alef Burzmali, a friendly soldier sent by Mother Superior Taraza to help them, but they are suddenly attacked by a band of Face Dancers. Miles tells the other to flee as he stays behind to fight the attackers, only to discover that they actually want him alive. He is stunned and captured before being taken away, while Lucilla and Duncan Idaho are rescued by Burzmali who leads them into a rocky tunnel covered in a thick algae which disrupts life scanners. Here, Lucilla is disguised as an Honored Matre and Duncan Idaho is disguised as a Tleilaxu. Miles Teg then awakens in a dirty room where he is tortured by three figures after they place a “T-Probe” on his head, with the painful intention of probing his mind. However, Miles Teg merely endures the excruciating trauma of the probe which awakens a strange new power within him. He manages to resist the probe, much to the confusion of his captors, and he brutally kills all three of them almost as if they had been moving in slow motion (his power is akin to a new kind of prescience). Then he flees out to the city of Ysai. Before long, Miels Teg meets one final time with a leader among the Honored Matres, but after a brief confrontational discussion, she attempts to bring in a young woman to “mark” him, but instead he awakens his new prescient powers. He embraces a “whirlwind” mentality as he embarks on an utterly vicious string of murders, killing every single person inside this headquarters building (including Honored Matres). He leaves behind a massive trail of blood as he realizes he can suddenly sense the locations of no-ships. He uses this power to acquire a no-ship after regrouping with a band of former soldiers who once served under him. As it turns out, the heretics of the Sisterhood, like Miles Teg’s mother, have actually saved the Bene Gesserit.
At the same time, Burzmali, Lucilla, and Duncan Idaho are entrapped by the Honored Matres. He has been “marked” by Murbella for sexual enslavement. During the outrageous sexual ceremony, Lucilla and Burzmali watch from behind a glass window as Murbella begins her orgasmic process on Duncan Idaho, but during their intercourse, Duncan awakens a previously unknown hidden power imbedded within him by the Tleilaxu –he suddenly sends orgasmic waves of ecstacy through Murbella, even though “these were the sensations by which men were governed” according to the Honored Matres. The Tleilaxu had hidden a sexually loaded weapon inside the Duncan Idaho ghola –an ability to sexually imprint others just like the Honored Matres. Their original intent was for him to “mark” Sheeana so that Duncan Idaho (and therefore the Telilaxu) could control the sand worms on Rakis. But instead this forbidden knowledge subdues Murbella, enslaving her to Duncan Idaho, and it clearly spells doom for the Honored Matres. In effect, the Tleilaxu created a male version of an Honored Matre (hence why the Honored Matres initially attacked the Bene Gesserit Keep on Gammu at the start of the novel). From here, Burzmali, Lucilla, Duncan Idaho, and Murbella head for Rakis where they regroup with Mother Superior Taraza. Lucilla shares a dark memory that had been awakened in Duncan Idaho during the sexual ceremony: the fear that the Tleilaxu do not actually use axlotl “tanks” per se, but rather surrogates of Teilaxu females who are simply used for reproduction purposes (recall that no one has ever seen a Tleilaxu woman alive). Waff is shocked to hear that Taraza has discovered this long-hidden Tleilaxu secret and at the same time, his Face Dancers are starting to lose their identitities –they have been made so accurately that they now believe themselves to embody their new identities.
Not long thereafter, the Honored Matres attack Mother Superior Taraza from a ‘thopter which slices her apart. As she lies dying, Odrade presses her head against Taraza’s in the ancient method of sharing memories; in doing so, Odrade becomes the new Mother Superior. Then Miles Teg arrives on Rakis with his stolen no-ship along with his friendly soldiers, Lucilla, Duncan Idaho, and a now-pregnant Murbella (the former Honored Matre who has pledged herself to the Bene Gesserit). They rescue Sheeana and Odrade out in the desert as they come riding on a worm. Sheeana ushers the worm into a container on the no-ship, knowing that the Honored Matres will soon come to Rakis and destroy it once they discover that the ghola is here (it was Taraza’s original plan to use the Duncan Idaho ghola as bait this whole time). Miles Teg remains behind on Rakis to create a diversion –“we were trapped too long in the Tyrant’s oracular maze” (666). He tells Odrade to “do what you must” before the ship departs and he dies on Rakis along with Waff, and Waff’s Face Dancers, as the Honored Matres suddenly release their “Obliterators,” weapons that scorch away all life on the surface of Rakis while Lucilla, Duncan Idaho, Burzmali, Odrade, Murbella, and Sheeana escape, along with a single sand worm which is nearing metamorphosis. They flee aboard Miles Teg’s stolen no-ship to the secret Bene Gesserit planet called “Chapterhouse.” Here, they intend to create a second Dune populated by sand worms which will be bred by Sheeana. The survival of one worm will prevent the Honored Matres from capturing a worm for themselves (the worm will be kept in a small earth-dammed basin filled with mélange). The new political shift toward the Bene Gesserits will surely spell the decline of the Ixians, the Guild, and the Fish Speakers, with the goal that no single force like the worms will rule humanity ever again.
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Heretics of Dune is another incredibly captivating, utterly engrossing epic science fiction novel that adds an incredible amount of depth to the Dune universe. In the same way that God Emperor of Dune was a wild departure from prior installments, Heretics of Dune is also an unexpected deviation. It takes place thousands of years after Paul Atreides’s rise and demise, and as such, the characters are all entirely unfamiliar (aside from the ghola of Duncan Idaho). This great distance of time and space spanning between the books is both fascinating and jarring. Frank Herbert was entirely unafraid of taking huge risks with each new book in this series, and for that he is to be praised. In many ways, Heretics of Dune offers a return to Frank Herbert’s breathless action-adventure style which was previously employed in the first book Dune and the third book Children of Dune; Heretics of Dune departs from the more introspective works like God Emperor of Dune. But Heretics of Dune is also a staggering and unique achievement with a dizzying number of new characters, names, and ideas brought forward. For example, Herbert briefly mentions things like the Bene Gesserit mental control technique “simulflow” and the Suk doctors, as well as things like “chairdogs” (which are a form of living furniture), and numerous details about the Tleilaxu, their kehl council, and even the crystalline air on their home planet, and so on. There are various religious texts referenced in Heretics of Dune, like the Holy Book of the Divided God, the Guard Bible, the Orange Catholic Bible, the Apocrypha, “The Nine Daughters of Siona,” and “The Thousand Sons of Idaho.” These are but a few small examples of the rich lore which is expanded upon in Heretics of Dune. In particular, one of the ideas that struck me while reading this novel was the concept of “no-ships.” No-ships are invisible to the power of prescience and they use an independent calculation system for travel (and hence do not require the use of Guild Navigators), but this also means the no-ships risk defying prohibitions established during the Butlerian Jihad which once tried to rid humanity of mechanical minds. However, with so many new characters introduced in the novel, some characters like the Bashar Miles Teg and the sexual imprinter ghola Duncan Idaho truly standout, while others are a bit under-utilized, like the worm-speaker Sheeana. At any rate, the depth and complexity in Heretics of Dune is still astounding. It shows us a world after the Muad’dib begat the Tyrant, and the Tyrant begat Shaitan. Even in death, Leto II’s “Golden Path” is still unfolding.
Herbert, Frank. Heretics of Dune. ACE, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, NY, NY (2008, originally published in 1984).