Children of Dune

Alia attempts to recite the Litany Against Fear, a Bene Gesserit mantra to calm her nerves, but the Baron Harkonnen’s voice overpowers her. She hears reports that her agent, Namri, is dead, and that 40 qanats have been destroyed. Muriz claims that Leto has escaped Shuloch by bounding across the desert, and Alia wonders if she can believe Ghanima’s report that her brother is dead. The Baron, eager to satisfy his own sexual desires, suggests to Alia that she take on another young lover, a new aide named Buer Agarves. Alia threatens to take a sedative if the Baron continues to pester her, and he relents.

Leto no longer needs a thumper or hooks to ride a worm. He encounters The Preacher and his guide in the desert and invites his father to join him. Paul reunites with his son and tells him that he is a poor copy of his former self. He is distraught to learn that Leto has merged with the sandtrout and there is no turning back. Assan Tariq, The Preacher’s guide, attempts to kill both Atreideses, and Leto snaps his neck. Paul is troubled by Leto’s decision to follow the Golden Path, a choice he was unable to make. Leto says his Golden Path will save humankind at the loss of his own humanity. He believes he will instill peace for thousands of years, to which Paul accuses him of enforcing stagnation. Leto admits his choices are no better than his father’s and may be even worse. He explains that he follows the Golden Path to prevent human extinction. Paul had not seen this vision of extinction, but Leto believes the Bene Gesserit have. Leto sets up his stilltent for them, and Paul resolves to destroy Muad’Dib once and for all.

At Sietch Tabr, Duncan reunites with Stilgar. He insists that Alia is possessed but Stilgar awaits the proof through the Trial of Possession. Duncan becomes frustrated that Stilgar does not take the dangers surrounding him seriously, especially the need to take Ghanima and flee. When Javid enters the room, Duncan quickly stabs his wife’s lover to death. The act defies Stilgar’s rule of neutrality, and Duncan calls Stilgar servile, traitorous, and infertile—taboo Fremen insults that warrant death. As a final provocation, Duncan slaps Stilgar across the face, and Stilgar thrusts his knife into Duncan. Having killed Alia’s consort, Stilgar suddenly realizes why Duncan goaded him: Alia will now have her forces hunt him down. Although Alia may approve of the murder of Duncan, she must appear to be avenging her husband’s death. Recalling Leto’s warning to flee and protect Ghani, Stilgar summons Ghanima, Irulan, and his followers, and they escape into the desert.

Gurney Halleck rides a worm to Teuk’s Sietch, another location of Fremen smugglers. The smugglers are surprised that an off-worlder has learned to ride the creature. Gurney notices the holes and crushed walls of the qanats and wonders what force could have caused so much damage. He looks at his surroundings and considers the willow tree planted in the sietch “silly” (530). He recognizes that Alia’s rule has reduced the Fremen population to profit and servitude rather than freedom. He plans to stay in Teuk to steal an ornithopter.

Alia learns from her aide, Buer Agarves, that both Duncan and Javid are dead. She promises to name Agarves the new naib of Tabr if he kills Stilgar and then instructs her attendant to have Agarves washed and brought to her bedroom. Angered by the news of the deaths and Stilgar’s flight, Alia accidentally stamps her foot on a belt buckle discarded on the floor. She recognizes the buckle as the one Duke Leto I had given to Duncan to award his service. She becomes overwhelmed with the memory of Duncan. Feeling split as if she is two people, Alia bursts into tears while a voice in her head asks who is crying.

Stilgar and his fugitive companions have been hiding out in abandoned sietches for the past months and have seen widespread damage to the qanats by what some call the Desert Demon. The eroded dwellings blend into the desert, recalling life on Dune before the terraforming project. Stilgar feels freer and happier, and Ghanima no longer feels threatened by her ancestral memories. She laments how the planet and Fremen have changed and forgotten their old ways. Ghanima objects to Stilgar’s plans to meet with Agarves, who has been brought to the sietch blindfolded to negotiate a truce.

Gurney encounters Leto and The Preacher and learns that Leto is no longer a single person but a community. Gurney recognizes The Preacher as Paul, but The Preacher responds that Paul is dead and to not revive him. As the curious Fremen circle The Preacher, he reiterates that he is not Paul, Muad’Dib, or the Emperor. Leto steps in to disperse the crowd and threatens to destroy them and their sietches with his bare hands if they speak of their presence to anyone. The three men take an ornithopter and force their way back into Shuloch. Leto uses his extraordinary strength to fight off the smugglers and proclaims the sietch his new home. With fear and awe, the Cast Out regard Leto as a god and obey his orders to cease selling spice and begin stockpiling the commodity. They view Leto as a reincarnation of Shai-Hulud, the giant sandworm revered as the god of the desert.

Ghanima observes Agarves with deep distrust as he parleys with Stilgar. Agarves reports that Alia is willing to grant Stilgar a full pardon, reinstate him as naib of Tabr, and retain the region’s neutrality. Considering the offer, Stilgar insists that he will no longer serve in Alia’s forces or provide her with his men. Irulan is suspicious of Agarves and knows that he is Alia’s newest lover. Agarves lashes out that he is not lying and declares that he feels used and dirtied by Alia. As part of the negotiations, Alia expects Ghanima to return and fulfill her betrothal to Farad’n. Before Ghanima can witness Stilgar’s objections, she is captured by men who cover her face with a cloth that renders her unconscious.

Leto observes the profound changes in his body as the sandtrout cilia envelope his cells and alter his organs. He knows not to linger too long on the feelings of loss and loneliness, which may tempt him to walk alone in the desert as his father had done. Thoughts of a new breed of greedy Fremen harden his commitment to the Golden Path and a different future. Knowing that he must meet with Farad’n and reunite with Ghanima, Leto convinces The Preacher to return to the city of Arrakeen with him as his guide. They both know that The Preacher will not likely return to the desert, and they leave Gurney behind to ensure his survival.

Alia’s forces discern Stilgar’s hiding place from a secret tracker planted in Agarves’s boot. Stilgar kills Agarves and is imprisoned with Irulan in Alia’s dungeons. Ghanima agrees to cooperate with Alia’s demands in exchange for sparing Stilgar’s life. Alia expects Ghanima to kill Farad’n, leaving her with uncontested power.

Leto disguises himself as the guide and leads The Preacher to the Arrakeen plaza. Farad’n and Jessica make an unannounced visit to Alia’s quarters, wishing to hear The Preacher from her tower. Alia commands her assistant to bring Ghanima—in full bridal garb, including her knife—to join them in her room. In his sermon, The Preacher chastises the people for forsaking their ways and calls for the return of the desert and Shai-Hulud. The Preacher then points directly at Alia’s window and names her a blasphemy. One of Alia’s priests stabs The Preacher in the chest, and the crowds cry out that Muad’Dib has been killed. Alia’s guards quickly lock the giant doors to her chamber, anticipating a riot.

The chamber doors blast open, revealing Leto holding Ghanima by the arm. He announces that they have arrived to set them on the Golden Path, and his utterance of the words Secher Nbiw awakens Ghanima from her self-hypnosis. Immediately, she turns to Leto and asks if their plan worked. Leto, still the size of a child but with his formidable sandtrout skin, fights off Alia’s guards with ease and throws Alia to the ground. He tells Alia that she has a chance to fight Abomination as both he and Ghanima have learned to conquer the voices. Ghanima offers to teach her, but Alia’s ancestral voices consume her, and she begins cursing in a jumble of different voices and languages. Amid the chaos, Alia’s singular, child-like voice emerges and asks her mother for help. Leto shatters a window and tells Alia to enter the Trial of Possession or make her own choice. The Baron’s voice cries for Alia to stop, but she chooses to leap from the window and end her life rather than be executed at the trial. Leto tells Jessica that they had told her to pity Alia.

Weeks after Alia’s death, Leto prepares to ascend the throne. He spends most of his evenings running in the desert, knowing that he will soon lose this human ability. The Golden Path entails that Leto become a symbiote of man and worm and rule as God Emperor for 4,000 years. He will usher in a “Golden Age” (589) where food is plentiful and wars no longer exist. However, his rule will be tyrannical and absolute. Leto will allow the sandworms to die off within the next 200 years, giving him sole control over the remaining stockpile of spice and universal domination. He will have strict control over space travel, manipulating the Spacing Guild’s dependence on spice’s properties for navigation. Farad’n will be required to mate with Ghanima and produce offspring according to Leto’s takeover of the Bene Gesserit breeding program. Stilgar objects to Leto’s plans, seeing the end of the Fremen people on the horizon. Ghanima explains that Leto will rule with tyranny to instill the value of life and freedom into humanity. His empire will fall after 4,000 years when he completes his transformation into a giant sandworm and burrows back into the sand. The worms will return, and humanity, invigorated after four millennia of Leto’s stagnant rule, will be prepared to face and survive Kralizec, the battle at the end of the universe.

In the Great Hall, Leto sits on his throne and greets the many Fremen tribes offering him tributes in submission. The Fremen have seen Leto demonstrate his powers; he survived walking through fire, summoned a giant worm to the surface, and tipped over cargo vessels with his bare hands. He is immune to injury from knives, poisons, and acids. The Fremen believe him to be a god and regard him with fear and awe.

Jessica is bitter about Alia’s death and the determinism of the Bene Gesserit narrative of Abomination. Alia was never given any hope and was told she was doomed before there was a chance to save her. In contrast, Ghanima’s skill at self-hypnosis and her alliance with her benign ancestors empowered her to conquer her ancestral voices. Leto survives with Abomination by allying himself with Harum, the dominant voice, and never becoming fully possessed. Jessica regrets that Alia could have survived Abomination had she been given the chance earlier.

Stilgar and Leto exchange modest gifts, a woven headband and a scrap of cloth from a robe, both worn by Ghanima. Leto proclaims that all humans err and all leaders are human. At the side of his throne, a canopic urn containing Muad’Dib’s water is displayed. Stilgar is moved by the inscription that states Paul’s water represents creativity and movement. Leto instructs Stilgar to return to Tabr with Gurney as his advisor and to begin recruiting to build Leto’s forces. Stilgar recalls passing on the opportunity to kill Leto in his sleep. He is uneasy about Leto’s plans but yields to his authority in a tenuous reconciliation.

Farad’n accepts his new role as the Royal Scribe, a position that takes advantage of his skills as a historian. He reluctantly agrees to give Leto control over his Sardaukar armies, and Leto plans to have them reproduce with the Fremen. Leto explains that he will rule in the same manner as Harum had. Harum was a cruel autocrat who commanded a dynasty for thousands of years as a god-king. Like the ancient pharaohs, Leto will marry his sister. His new hybrid form renders him sterile, and he instructs Farad’n to secretly father children with Ghanima to continue the Atreides line and perhaps find love with her. Leto claims to teach humanity a new consciousness and build their resilience to survive the inevitable Kralizec. Farad’n declares he will resist Leto’s rule, and Leto approves. He gives Farad’n the new name Harq al-Ada, which means “Breaking of the habit” (604). Leto stands back-to-back with Ghanima to illustrate that they will always face outward to protect each other. He reminds Farad’n that when he looks upon Ghanima with love, his back will be exposed. As Leto leaves the Great Hall, Ghanima takes Farad’n’s hand and comments that someone had to suffer, and Leto was always the stronger of the two.