Children of Dune

Gurney Halleck reveals himself to be Leto’s captor. Following Jessica’s orders, he injects Leto with a vial of concentrated spice essence, triggering the spice trance that the twins have been avoiding. Paul had undergone a similar process as a youth and nearly died, only to awaken as the Kwisatz Haderach. The ego-memory of Paul protects Leto from falling to Abomination during the trance. Leto repeatedly experiences a feeling that his “skin is not [his] own” (382) as visions of the past, present, and future converge in his mind. Of the many voices in his head, the ego-memory of Harum stands in distinction as the voice to lead him to his future. Leto proclaims in an old voice that “[u]niversal prescience is an empty myth” (385). Endowed with his new visions and awareness that Time and the universe are too vast and ever-changing to ever be formulated, Leto informs Namri that his father’s life was a trap he had made for himself.

Under Alia’s custody, Ghanima vehemently rejects her proposal to have her marry Farad’n, which would unite the Houses of Atreides and Corrino; she refuses to marry the man that killed her brother and knows that the Fremen will also reject her as a traitor. Irulan tries to convince Ghanima of her duties, believing that the betrothal will secure the release of Duncan and Jessica from Salusa Secundis. However, Ghanima correctly suspects that Alia has no desire to protect her mother. She resents being called “Ghani” and being treated as a child. Alia suggests that she will not stand in Ghanima’s way if she lures Farad’n to Arrakis under the pretense of marriage only to murder him. Eager to avenge her brother’s death, Ghanima agrees. Irulan objects to the deception, but Alia assures her that her absolute political and religious authority will protect them from scrutiny.

Leto is fed more spice to induce a continual state of spice trance. With Harum’s help, he learns to command the multitude of ancestral voices who rise and fall in his consciousness like waves. Leto realizes that he needs to pass the test of Abomination if he means to succeed on the Golden Path and makes a reference about surviving in his new skin. He tells Gurney and Namri that he will bring humankind “amor fati” (403), or “love of fate,” and praises the importance of irreverence in religion. Though he suspects he may regret it, Leto agrees to cooperate with the Bene Gesserit. He has attained a higher knowledge of genetic memories, both from his human and nonhuman pasts on a protozoan and molecular level. In a cryptic message to the ego-memory of Paul, Leto tells his father he will bring social order in an unexpected way and live as a dangerous being for thousands of years.

Farad’n bursts into Jessica’s room at three o’clock in the morning with news that he has succeeded in envisioning the changing ages of his hands. In an epiphany, he concludes that his mind controls his reality. Jessica informs him he has learned a foundational principal of prana-bindu, the Bene Gesserit technique of controlling one’s nerves and muscles. Farad’n confesses that he only achieved the skill after relinquishing his urges to fight against Jessica and abandoning what his own upbringing and education have taught him. Jessica promises that he will learn to become his own man and be whatever he desires.

Leto is force-fed more spice and drifts in and out of reality. He envisions a future Arrakis covered in greenery without a single giant sandworm. The fear of such of future causes Leto to relapse, and his ancestral multitude threaten to take over his consciousness, even Harum. Recalling his father’s prana-bindu training, Leto focuses on the aging of his hands and regains control. He confronts his ancestors and tells them he is the house of their spirit and their only home. Leto regains his sense of self and a new awareness of his coexistence with the multitude. Sabiha, Namri’s niece, watches over Leto. He tells her about his vision of the future downfall of civilization when all the sandworms die. He also tells her they will one day be lovers and only he has the power to save the worms.

Ghanima wonders if she will meet the same fate as Alia. She recalls a memory where Jessica admitted she was afraid of what she had created and abandoned her daughter. Ghanima calls upon her benevolent ancestors to protect her against the malignant ones. Irulan fears for Ghanima’s safety and tries to dissuade her from her plans to murder Farad’n, but Ghanima tells her the Atreides name dates back to Agamemnon and have a bloody history. She promises to protect Irulan’s life to repay her for the love she has devoted to her family. Irulan doesn’t believe that The Preacher can be Paul or that Alia would ever try to hurt her family, and Ghanima suspects that Alia must have placed her under a spell. While embracing Irulan, Ghanima hopes that she will not have to kill her.

Back in the sietch, Leto doesn’t know whether he should hate or thank Jessica for forcing the spice trance on him and compelling him to learn how to resist Abomination. Sabiha feeds him while he is in his stupor, and with his remaining strength, Leto hypnotizes her into a slumber. He dresses in his stillsuit and escapes the sietch. Gurney and Namri discover that he is missing, and Namri believes that Leto will die in the upcoming sand storm before they can find him and kill him themselves. Namri tells Gurney that he had cut the heel pump in Leto’s stillsuit, damaging the outfit’s ability to conserve the water from the wearer’s body. Gurney laments that Jessica had ordered Leto’s death if he succumbs to Abomination and wonders what has happened to the Atreideses’ code of honor to protect family.

Duncan returns to Arrakis and informs Alia that Jessica is training Farad’n, then he retreats into his emotionless mentat state to mask his grief at losing Alia to Abomination. Alia sends Ghanima with Irulan to Sietch Tabr where Stilgar can keep them safe in the neutral territory. Javid is also stationed at Tabr, and she sends Duncan to watch them. Realizing that her husband no longer trusts her, Alia plans to have Duncan murdered in a contrived accident. Duncan senses that he is in danger and takes an ornithopter to Sietch Tabr. Alone in the cockpit, he bursts into tears and mourns that he has lost Alia forever.

Leto only does what he has not seen in his prescient visions to avoid the pre-determined threads of his future. In escaping Jacarutu, an action which did not appear in his visions, he cuts the threads where he and Sabiha become lovers. Leto places his thumper in the sand, and the pounding device vibrates the earth and attracts a worm to his location. He inserts his Maker hooks into its folds and steers the worm toward the oncoming storm. Leto releases the worm just as they meet the storm and quickly inflates his stilltent in the loosened sand as the worm burrows away. The shelter has limited oxygen, and Leto enters a trance to slow down his metabolism to conserve energy and wait out the storm.

Jessica tells Farad’n that her son, Paul, chose to turn against himself rather than betray humanity. He believed choosing his own comfort over others to be “moral cowardice” (452). She tells Farad’n that he has graduated and is no longer a Corrino but a Bene Gesserit.

After the storm, Leto digs his way out of his shelter. He realizes that someone has tampered with his stillsuit and his reserve of water is dwindling. He ponders how he had not foreseen this predicament and recognizes the dangers of avoiding prescience. He rides another worm and heads south, thinking about his new life and the need to balance the competing voices in his head.

In the desert, Leto comes across Muriz, the father of The Preacher’s guide. Leto tells him he is the son of Muad’Dib and orders Muriz to take him to Shuloch, the mythical sietch where he knows his father is staying. Muriz doesn’t believe him and holds him at gunpoint, but Leto swiftly disarms him. Leto states that the sandworms of Arrakis will die and spice production will cease without him. He has seen Muriz in his visions and knows that the Fremen of Shuloch found his father in the desert alone and coerced him to join them. Leto forces Muriz at knifepoint to bite his finger and taste his blood. The renegades had forced Paul to do the same when they found him. The act is an old Fremen ritual which mingles their water and binds them. Muriz cannot kill Leto unless Leto offends the tribe, and he takes Leto to Shuloch.

At Shuloch, Leto sees a system of canals where captured sandtrout and worms are held to sell off-planet. Leto tells Muriz that the worms will never survive off Dune, then he reveals his plans to lead them to Kralizec, the term for the legendary battle at the end of the universe. Leto encounters Sabiha, who has been casted out of Jacarutu and shamed for allowing Leto to escape. Leto contemplates his impending decision to follow the Golden Path, which would forfeit his future with Sabiha. To the surprise of Muriz and Sabiha, he begins to weep. The act of crying is rare among Fremen and is observed as a profound giving of one’s water to the dead.

Namri informs Gurney that Leto is still alive but withholds his location. He considers Gurney an outsider who has already seen too much. Gurney’s instructions were to bring Leto back to Jessica if he survived the spice trance and resisted Abomination. Namri mocks Gurney; he tells him that Jessica is a prisoner at Salusa Secundis and has no idea of the true plans. He reveals that he is Alia’s agent and was instructed to kill Leto, regardless of Abomination. Alia also commanded Namri to kill Gurney, and Gurney parries his attack and stabs him to death. Knowing that Alia’s forces intend to kill him, Gurney heads to Sietch Tabr to find Stilgar.