Battle of Junction
the last battle of the War of the Sisterhoods
The Battle of Junction was the final battle of the war between the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres. A seeming Bene Gesserit victory turned to disaster, and it was salvaged only by Murbella's desperate gamble to seize control of the Honored Matres.
The Battle of Junction was the last battle of the war between the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres. A campaign that seemed certain to end in Bene Gesserit victory was turned by treachery and an Honored Matre trap, and the Sisterhood survived only through a final, desperate gamble carried out by Murbella. (Chapterhouse: Dune)
Prelude#
After the memories of the Miles Teg ghola were awakened by Reverend Mother Sheeana using imprinting techniques, Mother Superior Darwi Odrade made him Bashar of the Sisterhood's forces once again for the assault on the Honored Matres. Odrade announced to the Bene Gesserit that Teg would lead the attack. She also made clear her intention to share her memories with Murbella and Sheeana, making them candidates to succeed her as Mother Superior should she die. (Chapterhouse: Dune)
The battle#
Odrade met with the Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction while the Bene Gesserit forces under Teg struck Gammu. Teg used his secret ability to see no-ships, and victory for the Bene Gesserit seemed certain. In the midst of the fighting, Rebecca and her fellow Jews took refuge with the Bene Gesserit. Then Dama's adviser Logno poisoned Dama and took the title of Great Honored Matre, assuming control of the Honored Matres. Too late, Odrade and Teg realised they had walked into a trap, and the Honored Matres turned defeat into victory and captured Odrade. Murbella saved as much of the Bene Gesserit force as she could and withdrew to Chapterhouse. (Chapterhouse: Dune)
Murbella's gamble and the aftermath#
Odrade had planned for the possible failure of the attack and left Murbella instructions for a last desperate gamble. Murbella flew a small craft down to Junction, announcing herself as an Honored Matre who had managed in the confusion to escape the Bene Gesserit with all their secrets. She was taken to Logno, who attacked her and was killed. Awed by her physical prowess, the remaining Honored Matres accepted her as their new leader. Odrade was also killed, and Murbella shared with her to take in her newest memories, as the two had already shared before the battle. (Chapterhouse: Dune)
Murbella's rise was not accepted as victory by all the Bene Gesserit. Sheeana had plans of her own and arranged to have some of the new worms that had emerged in the Chapterhouse desert brought aboard the great no-ship. She was joined by the Duncan Idaho ghola, and the two escaped in the no-ship with Scytale, Teg, and the Jewish refugees. Murbella saw their plan at the last minute but was powerless to stop them. She instead began the work of merging the Honored Matres and the Bene Gesserit into one order. (Chapterhouse: Dune)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Battle of Junction?
- The Battle of Junction was the last battle of the war between the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres, told in Chapterhouse: Dune. A campaign that seemed certain to end in Bene Gesserit victory was turned by treachery and an Honored Matre trap, and the Sisterhood survived only through a final, desperate gamble by Murbella.
- How did the Bene Gesserit nearly win the Battle of Junction?
- Mother Superior Darwi Odrade put the restored Miles Teg ghola back in command as Bashar, and his forces struck at the Honored Matres at Gammu. Teg used his secret ability to see no-ships, and victory for the Bene Gesserit seemed certain.
- How did the Honored Matres turn the Battle of Junction?
- Dama's adviser Logno poisoned the Great Honored Matre Dama and took the title for herself. The Honored Matres then sprang their trap and captured Odrade, while Murbella saved what she could of the Bene Gesserit force and withdrew to Chapterhouse.
- How did Murbella take control of the Honored Matres?
- Following a plan Odrade had left for a last desperate gamble, Murbella flew down to Junction posing as an Honored Matre who had escaped the Bene Gesserit with all their secrets. Taken to Logno, she killed her in combat, and the remaining Honored Matres, awed by her physical prowess, accepted her as their new leader.
- What happened to Sheeana and Duncan Idaho after the Battle of Junction?
- Not every Bene Gesserit accepted Murbella's rise as a victory. Sheeana arranged to have sandworms from the Chapterhouse desert brought aboard the great no-ship, and she and the Duncan Idaho ghola escaped in it with Scytale, Teg, and the Jewish refugees.
Sources
- BookChapterhouse: Dune, Frank Herbert, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1985
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Followed from this entry
Bene Gesserit
The Bene Gesserit were an ancient order of women who wielded power from the shadows of the Imperium through a millennia-long breeding program, mastery of body and mind, and the religious engineering of the Missionaria Protectiva. Their goal was the Kwisatz Haderach, and through him the guidance of humanity.
Chapterhouse
Chapterhouse was the Bene Gesserit term for the planet that served as the Sisterhood's home base. In its final form it was a hidden, deliberately unsettled world shielded from prescient eyes and, in the end, remade into desert to shelter the last sandworm.
Darwi Odrade
Darwi Odrade was a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother of secret Atreides descent who rose to become the penultimate Mother Superior during the War of the Sisterhoods. She recruited Sheeana Brugh on Rakis, allied the Sisterhood with the Bene Tleilax, and died on Junction in the final assault against the Honored Matres.
Miles Teg
Miles Teg was a Bene Gesserit Mentat and military commander, the Supreme Bashar of the Sisterhood's forces, bred down the Atreides line and so close in likeness to Leto Atreides I that he was used to reawaken a Duncan Idaho ghola. Tortured into prescience, he died in battle on Rakis and was later revived as a ghola.
Murbella
Murbella was an Honored Matre captured by the Bene Gesserit, sexually bonded to a Duncan Idaho ghola, and trained until she survived the Spice Agony to become a Reverend Mother. After the war between the two orders she rose to be both Mother Superior and Great Honored Matre, uniting the rival sisterhoods.
Sheeana Brugh
Sheeana Brugh was a girl of Rakis whose ability to command the sandworms drew the attention of the Rakian Priesthood, the Bene Gesserit, and the Bene Tleilax. Of Atreides and Idaho descent, she became a Reverend Mother and fled the Old Empire aboard a no-ship as the Sisterhood scattered.
Mentioned in4 entries
Chapterhouse: Dune Explained: Plot Summary and Ending
The full story of Frank Herbert's last Dune novel, from the Bene Gesserit under siege on Chapterhouse to Odrade's gamble at Junction, Murbella's rise and Duncan Idaho's escape into the unknown, and what that open ending means.
Dama
Dama was the Great Honored Matre during the War of the Sisterhoods, known among the Bene Gesserit as the Spider Queen. A skilled strategist, she held Lucilla captive and was assassinated by her own advisor Logno during the Battle of Junction.
Dune Timeline: from the thinking machines to the end of Kralizec
A dated chronology of the Dune universe, from the first age of space travel and the Butlerian Jihad to Paul Atreides, the God Emperor, the Scattering and the last war with the machines. Events run oldest first, era by era, and every entry says which book it comes from.
Junction
Junction was a world of the Spacing Guild, with meeting halls built to hold the tanks of its Navigators. In Chapterhouse: Dune it has fallen to the Honored Matres and becomes the scene of the war's last battle.
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