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Dune Messiah is a Science Fiction novel
by Frank Herbert, the second in a series of six novels. It was originally
serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1969. The American and British editions have different prologues summarizing events in the previous novel.
Warning: Plot details
follow.
Synopsis
At the end of Dune, Paul Atreides is triumphant, but we find in Dune Messiah twelve years on that this triumph has not brought
Paul the Empire he would have wanted. He won the Fremen to his side by using the religious card, but having started a jihad he
discovers it is impossible to stop, and the Fremen have taken their religion everywhere he sends them in the Empire. So Paul sits
on an empire in a more powerful position than any Emperor before him, but finds himself powerless to stop the excesses of the
juggernaut he has created.
His jihad has killed sixty billion people across the known universe, but according to
his prescient visions, this is a fate far better than others he has seen. Paul
is beleaguered by the need he sees to set humanity on a course that doesn't lead to its stagnation and destruction, while at the
same time managing both an empire and a church built around him.
Paul has had no children. Chani, his lover has not conceived because Princess Irulan has been secretly feeding her
contraceptives. Paul is aware of this, but he has seen in his visions that for Chani giving birth will cause her death, so he
lets the situation continue as it is, because he does not want to lose her. Chani, however, changes the dynamic at this point by
deciding to go on a traditional spice diet in an attempt to have children. Irulan is unable to meddle with this diet and Chani
soon becomes pregnant.
The conspirators who plot his doom are a varied bunch: Gaius Mohiam, representing the Bene Gesserit, who wish to regain control of their breeding programme; Edric, a guild navigator representing
the Spacing Guild, and by virtue of his own oracular powers, protects the
conspirators from Paul's visions; Scytale, a face dancer representing the Bene
Tleilax; and Irulan, their spy in the Emperor's household who wishes to be mother to a dynasty. The conspirators plan is a
subtle one; it begins with the Spacing Guild giving Paul a gift he cannot resist, a ghola
of Duncan Idaho, his childhood teacher and friend. The conspirators send Hayt -the ghola - in the belief Paul will be undermined
with doubt because Hayt will make Paul question himself and the empire he has created.
The arrival of the ghola creates shock waves. Paul is unable to refuse this gift, and so gains to his service a Mentat trained
philosopher and swordsman. This action weakens Paul's support among the Fremen because they see the Tleilaxu and their tools as
unclean. Meanwhile Alia, his sister, is also most taken with him. Her
body has now reached puberty and screams for a worthy mate.
Soon after a dead woman is found near the city. Alia and Hayt investigate, and do not learn much. However, Hayt realizes that
it means a Tleilaxu plot, because no woman has been reported missing by any Fremen in the city; she is probably not missing
because she has been replaced by a face
dancer. Hayt also takes this opportunity to steal a kiss from Alia. She is outraged, but Hayt just laughs, saying he took
nothing more than she offered, a fact she admits to herself privately.
Mohiam, the Reverend Mother is called to an audience with Paul Maud'dib. She enters worrying that it might mean her death, but
she is soon elated by the knowledge that he wants to bargain with her. What Paul offers is utterly cunning. He offers a child of
his by artificial insemination in return for Chani's survival, and her child. Mohiam is caught between conflicting pressures. On
the one hand the Bene Gesserit are desperate to regain the Atreides genes for their breeding programme, but on the other
artificial insemination breaks the Butlerian taboos against the use of machines. It has the further effect that no child born
that way would be a candidate for the Imperial throne, and the Bene Gesserit could not even admit this child existed without
weakening their own moral position in the Empire. She decides that she must consult with the Mother School of the Bene Gesserit
on Wallach IX about a decision of such significance.
Six weeks later Chani is seen by a medic about her pregnancy. She is upset to discover why her pregnancy has complications:
that someone has been feeding her contraceptives, obviously Irulan, and that this is going to make her pregnancy dangerous. Chani
wishes to kill Irulan, but Paul tells her that it will not help. Chani takes this to be a prophetic vision and such is her trust
in Paul that she regains her balance. She then realizes that Paul has been sparring with Hayt and questions whether it is
sensible for Paul to do this. Paul answers that the Tleilaxu have made better than they could know, that he is also Duncan Idaho,
and suggests that it may be possible to restore Hayt's memories as Duncan Idaho.
Later, a daughter of one of Paul's death commandos - Otheym - arrives, asking Paul to visit her father secretly. Paul is aware
that the woman is really a face dancer but we learn he is hemmed in by the alternatives he sees in his future. Revealing that it
is a face dancer leads to futures he does not want, so he plays along with the obvious conspiracy. The face dancer asks to be
taken into Paul's household for safety, and Paul concurs.
Paul visits Otheym, and is pleased to discover that his old comrade is still himself but obviously unaware his daughter has
been replaced with a face dancer. Otheym reveals that he has discovered a huge plot against Maud'dib among Fremen, and that he
has the evidence against them. He has a Tleilaxu servant, who is like a recording machine, and he can relay faces, names and
conversations on command. Otheym gives Paul his servant Bijaz, and Paul accepts reluctantly, knowing full well that he is
entering into some sort of Tleilaxu plot.
The plot is soon revealed. As Paul's soldiers attack the source of the conspiracy against him, Otheym's house explodes
viciously. The Tleilaxu set off a stone burner, destroying the house and blinding many people nearby, including Paul. Although
physically blinded, Paul is able to continue in leadership because his oracular powers allow him to see the world around him.
Paul is aware of many of the conspirators now. Included with them is Korba, high priest of Paul's church. Korba tries to deny
all part in the plot, claiming that while the Qizarate did procure the Stoneburner, it was stolen without his knowledge. Korba is
reasonably successful in persuading the Naibs of his innocence, until Paul arrives to confront him directly. The meeting ends
with Korba being put into the custody of Stilgar, who promised to discover the truth.
Bijaz is questioned by Hayt. This was foolish because Bijaz uses planted conditioning words to control Hayt. He programs Hayt
to offer Paul a bargain when Chani dies. Bijaz offers Chani's return as a ghola, in return for Paul sacrificing the throne and
going into exile. Bijaz also betrays the hope that Duncan Idaho might be woken. Bijaz then commands Hayt to forget the
conversation.
Hayt comes across Alia after she has taken a huge dose of spice in the hope of enhancing her prophetic visions. She is
delirious and in danger of dying provoking a fierce emotional response from Duncan at the thought of an Atreides dying. He rushes
her to a medic. During the experience Alia realizes that Duncan loves her. She asks him if this is so, and he admits it.
Paul and Hayt are talking when news is brought that Chani has died giving birth to two children, who are both fine. This
message and Paul's reaction to it, trigger the hidden compulsions in Hayt's mind, and he attempts to kill Paul. But his body
reacts against his programming and remembers itself, and a new consciousness arises, a mix of Duncan Idaho and Hayt, which is
unconditioned by the Tleilaxu programming. Paul asks if it Duncan Idaho himself again, and Duncan answers yes. Paul is
unsurprised by this as he saw it in a vision.
They go to say goodbye to Chani, and see her newborn children, only for there to be a standoff. Along the way Paul's prophetic
vision fails, he reached the key decision point in time, a spot where not even he could predict all the consequences, and he
becomes truly blind. Scytale, disguised as Otheym's daughter, holds a knife to the necks of Paul's children. He offers Paul a
poisoned chalice. He will give Paul a ghola of his beloved Chani, if he will hand over power, while at the same time he threatens
the lives of Paul's children. Paul finds vision from an unusual source, he is able to see through the eyes of his newborn son,
and is able to throw a dagger and kill Scytale.
Paul, however is now truly blind. He makes Alia regent for his children. and then he chooses to walk off into the desert as
blind Fremen do, and so cements his family's power among the Fremen.
The book ends with Duncan musing. He examines the irony that despite the fact Paul is dead, as is his love, Chani, Paul has
triumphed against his enemies. He escaped deification, it was as a man that he walked into the desert, not as a god. His enemies
have over-reached and a pogrom, initiated by Alia, Stilgar, and the vengeful Fremen, leads to their end. Indeed, by walking into
the desert as according to Fremen tradition Paul has won the fealty of the Fremen for his children who will inherit his mantle of
Empire, with regenthood being Alia's until they are adults. Stilgar interrupts Duncan to suggest he should go to a distraught
Alia who need his support. Duncan goes to comfort Alia and they swap professions of love. The Atreides empire seems to be in good
and secure hands.
The series:
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