Doug's Sounding Board

Now that I’ve finished Children of Dune I better understand that Dune Messiah was a necessary story to tell first. Children of Dune takes place nine years after Dune Messiah.

More Dune ramblings to skip.

Paul’s children are coming to an age where they can move and act on their own even though mentally they were born as an adult. They have all the memories of everyone who contributed to them genetically which leads to a danger of possession which is happening to Alia, Paul’s sister. She’s not holding up well under the stress of running the empire and solidifying her power. Being children of Paul they have all the memories of Paul including Paul’s future memories from his watching the threads of the future.

Paul and Leto’s eventual meeting is interesting. You learn that Paul saw the path that Leto took and chose against it for what he would have to become and how long he would have to live. Paul grew up with a different moral code than his son. Paul made all of his choices with the hope that the slaughter in his name could be avoided. Paul saw in his empire that the killing would not stop so he left. His sister perpetuated the killings and corrupted his teachings as a tool for her power. Leto sees the slaughter as essential to get to the peace on the other side.

I liked one of the chapter heading talking about man being unique among the animals because you don’t have to do what your progenitors did.

Pre-born consciousness, where your ancestor’s memories live within you, tends to lead to possession. Leto’s sister, Ghanima, has a harder time getting control back from the others and it’s mentioned that women do in general. Up until Leto, it was only women who it happened to because it was a BeneGesserit thing. Thinking back to our pop culture and old tales, I couldn’t think of any male possession stories.

Leto has taken over the Bene Gesserit breeding program but I’m not sure what he wants to make.

There is one commandment that is repeated throughout from the Orange Catholic Bible. “Thou shall not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.” Another which is considered the one main commandment from the OC Bible is “Thou shalt do nothing which disfigures thy soul.” I think that is a good goal.

There was a part that talked about atomics not being allowed to be used on people. Every great house has them but they aren’t used. Paul uses one on a rock wall in Dune to let the forces through against the emperor’s forces. No great house would dare use them against another great house because the rest of the houses would band together and annihilate the offender. Of what use are they then? It’s stated that they are there in case humans encounter a hostile intelligence. I think this little one line thing is a reference to what will be coming in the final Dune novels.