The Bene Gesserit Coda
the Sisterhood's credo
The Bene Gesserit Coda was a document that set out the values and ideology of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. It served chiefly as a teaching text for Sisters in early training and was little relied upon by those of greater experience.
The Bene Gesserit Coda, also called the Sisterhood's Coda, the Bene Gesserit Credo, or simply the Coda, was a document that set out the values and ideology of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. It functioned principally as a teaching text used in the early stages of a Sister's training. (Heretics of Dune; Chapterhouse: Dune)
Purpose and use#
The Coda gathered the principles and ideology by which the Bene Gesserit ordered themselves into a single body of doctrine. Its chief role was instructional; the Mother Superior Darwi Odrade tells an acolyte that the Coda is for novices and others in primary training, and that manuals exist mainly to be disproved: it was given to acolytes and Sisters in the early phases of their training as a guide to the Sisterhood's outlook and standards of conduct. As a Sister advanced in discipline and understanding, the written credo became less central to her, and the experienced members of the order relied upon it little, having internalised its teachings or moved beyond them in their practice. Passages of the Coda endured in the memory of the Sisterhood across the generations, and the Tleilaxu Master Scytale recalls reading one in a copy of the Coda, a warning that petty behaviour demeans you. Other sayings credited to it head chapters of the last two novels, among them "Never support weakness; always support strength." (Heretics of Dune; Chapterhouse: Dune)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Bene Gesserit Coda?
- The Bene Gesserit Coda was a document that set out the values and ideology of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. It gathered the principles by which the order governed itself into a single body of doctrine.
- What was the Bene Gesserit Coda also called?
- It was also called the Sisterhood's Coda, the Bene Gesserit Credo, or simply the Coda.
- What was the purpose of the Bene Gesserit Coda?
- Its chief role was instructional. The Coda was given to acolytes and Sisters in the early phases of their training as a guide to the Sisterhood's outlook and standards of conduct.
- Why did experienced Bene Gesserit rely on the Coda little?
- As a Sister advanced in discipline and understanding, the written credo became less central to her. Experienced members of the order relied upon it little, having internalised its teachings or moved beyond them in their practice.
- How long did the Coda endure within the Sisterhood?
- Passages of the Coda endured in the memory of the Sisterhood across the generations, including admonitions such as the warning that petty behaviour demeans you, which the Tleilaxu Master Scytale recalled reading in a copy of the Coda.
Sources
- BookHeretics of Dune, Frank Herbert, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1984
- BookChapterhouse: Dune, Frank Herbert, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1985
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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.
Scytale
Scytale is the Tleilaxu Face Dancer in Dune Messiah's conspiracy against Paul Atreides. He kills the veteran Farok, takes the shape of Otheym's daughter Lichna, and dies holding a knife over Paul's newborn twins. A Tleilaxu Master of the same name returns in Chapterhouse: Dune as the last of his kind.
Also in Bene Gesserit
Reverend Mother in Dune: the Spice Agony and Other Memory
A Reverend Mother is a woman who has survived the spice agony, changing a poison inside her own body and waking to the memories of her female ancestors. The Bene Gesserit use the title for their senior Sisters, and the Fremen use it for the wise women of their sietches.
Weirding way: the Bene Gesserit fighting art of Dune
The weirding way is what the Fremen call the Bene Gesserit way of fighting, built on total control of nerve and muscle. Jessica and Paul teach it to the Fremen in Dune. The 1984 film swapped it for sonic guns called weirding modules, which never appear in the books.
Genetic memory: the ancestral record hidden in the flesh
Genetic memory was the phenomenon by which the experiences of an individual's ancestors lay imprinted within the cells of their descendants. Unlocked by awareness spectrum narcotics, it gave the Imperium its Reverend Mothers, its Kwisatz Haderach, its pre-born, and its restored gholas.
Report on Alia Atreides: the Sisterhood's verdict of Abomination
The Report on Alia Atreides was a Bene Gesserit document assembled from the accounts of spies set to watch Alia Atreides for signs of Abomination. It culminated in the Judiciary Council condemning her as an Abomination to be Abhorred in 10211 AG, over the vigorous objections of her mother, the Lady Jessica.
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