Dune category
Bene Gesserit
61 entries tagged Bene Gesserit, 61 of them long reads. The rest of the wiki points here most often at Bene Gesserit and Lady Jessica: the concubine who bore a son.
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3- Alma Mavis TarazaAlma Mavis Taraza was the Bene Gesserit Mother Superior who confronted the threat of the Honored Matres and the discovery that the girl Sheeana could command the sandworms. She drove the Duncan Idaho ghola project and the Tleilaxu alliance, and died on Rakis, her memories preserved in her successor Darwi Odrade.
- Are the Bene Gesserit Evil?The Bene Gesserit test children with poison, breed people like livestock and plant false prophecies on whole planets. They also spend ten thousand years trying to keep humanity alive. Here is what Frank Herbert's novels show on both sides, and how to read it.
- Avila: the last of Dorotea's faithfulSister Avila was a Truthsayer of the Sisterhood on Wallach IX, the sole survivor of the purge of Dorotea's followers after Raquella's death. She served Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen faithfully for decades, keeping the secret of the purge, until Dorotea returned in Lila's body and Avila handed her the means to destroy Anirul and the breeding index.
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4- Battle of JunctionThe 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.
- Battle of RakisThe Battle of Rakis was an engagement in the war between the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres. The Honored Matres attacked and killed Mother Superior Alma Mavis Taraza, and ultimately destroyed the planet and its sandworms, sparing only the single worm the Bene Gesserit carried away.
- Bene GesseritThe 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.
- Bene Gesserit Powers Explained: the Voice, Truthsense, Other Memory and MoreEvery Bene Gesserit ability from Frank Herbert's novels, what it does, how a Sister learns it and who uses it on the page. None of it is magic: it all comes from training, and one gift comes from a poison.
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3- ChapterhouseChapterhouse 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.
- CorystaCorysta was a Bene Gesserit sister exiled to the water-world of Buzzell, where she defied her order by trying to keep her child and later raised an abandoned Phibian boy she named Sea Child.
- CristaneCristane was a Bene Gesserit sister and commando in the Prelude to Dune novels. Sent to Ix to uncover the secret of Project Amal, she penetrated the Tleilaxu laboratories before being captured, converted into an axlotl tank, and destroyed.
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2- Darwi OdradeDarwi 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.
- Dune: Prophecy Explained: Season 1 Plot Summary and EndingThe full story of HBO's Bene Gesserit series Dune: Prophecy, episode by episode, from Raquella's death to the escape to Arrakis. With the ending explained: who Desmond Hart really is, what Valya saw inside him, and where season one leaves the Sisterhood.
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3- Gaius Helen MohiamGaius Helen Mohiam is the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who taught Lady Jessica, serves as Truthsayer to Emperor Shaddam IV and tests the young Paul Atreides with the gom jabbar. In Dune Messiah she joins the conspiracy against Paul and is executed for it.
- Genetic memory: the ancestral record hidden in the fleshGenetic 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.
- Gom JabbarThe gom jabbar was a handheld needle tipped with meta-cyanide poison that brought almost instant death. The Bene Gesserit used it to enforce their test of humanity, holding it to a subject's neck to measure whether awareness could master instinct in the face of pain.
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2- HarishkaHarishka was Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit through the Turbulent Era, guiding the Sisterhood across the last years of Elrood IX and the reigns of Shaddam IV and Paul Atreides. She watched over the final steps of the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program.
- Hrrm: futar leader of the IthacaHrrm was a male futar, the leader of the human feline hybrids stranded aboard the no-ship Ithaca after its escape from Chapterhouse. Befriended by Sheeana Brugh during the ship's long wanderings, he vowed never to harm a Bene Gesserit sister, and he died on the Planet of the Handlers, sacrificing himself and his clan so the landing party could escape the Enhanced Face Dancers.
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3- Janess IdahoJaness Idaho was a daughter of the final Duncan Idaho ghola and the Honored Matres leader Murbella, raised within the Sisterhood on Chapterhouse. She rose to command the Valkyries and then to Supreme Bashar of all the New Sisterhood's forces during the war against the Thinking Machines.
- Jehanne Butler: the woman who inspired the Butlerian JihadJehanne Butler was a priestess and Bene Gesserit trained daughter of Komos whose child was taken from her by a machine directed abortion program. Her revolt against the machine masters of Richese grew into the Butlerian Jihad, a holy war she herself argued against until her death above Carthagos.
- Jen: acolyte of the Sisterhood SchoolSister Jen was a fierce, unpredictable acolyte training to be a Truthsayer at the Sisterhood School under Valya and Tula Harkonnen. Alone among the acolytes untouched by the nightmares that swept the school, she was entrusted with the secret of Lila's survival and stood witness when Dorotea returned to expose the lies at the heart of the order.
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2- Kasha Jinjo: Truthsayer to Emperor Javicco CorrinoReverend Mother Kasha Jinjo served as Truthsayer and confidant to Emperor Javicco Corrino, holding a position of great influence in the Imperium on behalf of the Bene Gesserit. When visions of danger to the princess Ynez drove her to question the Sisterhood's design, she died burning from within on Wallach IX on the same night a boy burned in the Imperial palace.
- Kwisatz HaderachThe Kwisatz Haderach was the prophesied culmination of the Bene Gesserit breeding program, a male able to access the genetic memory of both his male and female ancestors and to bridge space and time through prescience. Paul Atreides and his son Leto II became the beings the Sisterhood had sought.
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5- Lady Jessica: the concubine who bore a sonThe Bene Gesserit ordered Jessica to bear Duke Leto a daughter. She had Paul instead, and that single disobedience broke the breeding programme.
- Lady Margot FenringLady Margot Fenring was the Bene Gesserit wife of Count Hasimir Fenring. Though she moved within the court of House Corrino, her true loyalty lay with the Sisterhood, in whose service she left a coded warning for Lady Jessica on Arrakis and was tasked with preserving the Harkonnen bloodline.
- Lila: the twice born acolyte of the Sisterhood SchoolLila Cho Grace Na-Berto Anirul was the youngest acolyte at the Sisterhood School on Wallach IX, a girl of deep empathy who carried the hidden bloodline of Raquella Berto-Anirul. Poisoned into the Agony untrained, she died in the eyes of the school, was kept alive in secret by Tula Harkonnen, and woke as a vessel for the ancestresses who would tear open the Sisterhood's buried past.
- Litany Against FearThe Litany Against Fear was a mantra spoken in moments of peril to focus the mind. Believed to have originated with the Bene Gesserit, it was used by Paul Atreides to endure the agony of the gom jabbar test of humanity.
- LucillaLucilla was a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother and Imprinter assigned to imprint the final Duncan Idaho ghola on Gammu. She later escaped the destruction of Lampadas carrying the memories of millions of sisters, before dying in Honored Matre captivity.
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5- Marcus Claire LuyseyalMarcus Claire Luyseyal was a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother and Truthsayer, reckoned the best of her order during the final years of the God Emperor Leto Atreides II. She joined Tertius Eileen Anteac in a failed attempt to alter the Sisterhood's spice allotment.
- Margot FenringLady Margot Fenring was a powerful Bene Gesserit and the wife of the Mentat Count Hasimir Fenring. Outwardly tied to House Corrino, she served the Sisterhood in secret, leaving the warning that reached Lady Jessica on Arrakis.
- Miles TegMiles 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.
- Missionaria ProtectivaThe Missionaria Protectiva was the Bene Gesserit program for seeding protective myths and prophecies among primitive cultures, so that a Sister in danger could later cast herself as a foretold figure and turn local belief to the Sisterhood's advantage.
- MurbellaMurbella 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.
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3- Orange Catholic BibleThe Orange Catholic Bible, the Accumulated Book, was one of the most important religious texts of the known universe. Produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators in the wake of the Butlerian Jihad, it sought to fuse all significant religious thought of human history under one supreme commandment.
- Ori ZhomaDoctor Ori Zhoma was a Suk physician who rose to lead the flagship Suk school on Salusa Secundus after murdering its corrupt head. Recruited by the Sisterhood to sterilize Emperor Salvador Corrino, she was killed before her role could be exposed.
- Other MemoryOther Memory was the Bene Gesserit term for the well of genetic memory that a Reverend Mother possessed after the Spice Agony, an inheritance of the lived experience of her ancestors that could be passed from Sister to Sister and carried across thousands of years.
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4- Raquella Berto-AnirulRaquella Berto-Anirul was the first Reverend Mother and the founder and first Mother Superior of the order that became the Bene Gesserit. A physician of the Jihad era, she survived a transformative poisoning that unlocked the powers of the Reverend Mothers and reshaped the Sisterhood of Rossak into a new force.
- Report on Alia Atreides: the Sisterhood's verdict of AbominationThe 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.
- Reverend Mother in Dune: the Spice Agony and Other MemoryA 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.
- Rossak EpidemicThe Rossak Epidemic was a mutated strain of the Omnius Scourge that evolved in the jungles of Rossak, far deadlier than the original plague. It resisted melange and conventional treatment until Raquella Berto-Anirul synthesised an antidote within her own body and destroyed the mutation.
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3- Sarah Butler: the unborn mother of the Kwisatz HaderachIn The Dune Encyclopedia, Sarah Butler was the daughter of Jehanne and Thet'r Butler, destroyed at birth in a hospital on Komos by order of a thinking machine. She had been chosen by the Bene Gesserit breeding program to bear the first Kwisatz Haderach, and her death sparked the revolt that grew into the Butlerian Jihad.
- Sheeana BrughSheeana 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.
- Sorceresses of Rossak: the telekinetic orderThe Sorceresses of Rossak were an order of telekinetic women native to the toxic jungle world of Rossak. Staunch enemies of the thinking machines, they eventually evolved into the Sisterhood that became the Bene Gesserit.
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8- Tertius Eileen AnteacTertius Eileen Anteac was a Bene Gesserit Mentat Reverend Mother and Truthsayer who served the plans of the God Emperor Leto Atreides II in his final years. A secret Mentat descended from Gaius Helen Mohiam, she led the Fish Speaker invasion of Ix and died in its accomplishment.
- Tessia VerniusTessia Vernius, born Tessia Yasco al-Reill, was a Bene Gesserit Sister who became the beloved concubine and later wife of Earl Rhombur Vernius. She was a source of strength through the fall and restoration of House Vernius before the Sisterhood forced her into a comatose trance and carried her away.
- The Bene Gesserit Breeding Program Explained: Why They Wanted a Kwisatz HaderachFor generations the Bene Gesserit bred the noble houses like livestock, aiming at one man. Here is what they wanted, which bloodlines they used, how Jessica wrecked the plan, and what became of the programme after Paul.
- The Bene Gesserit CodaThe 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.
- Theodosia: the shapeshifting SisterTheodosia was an acolyte of the Sisterhood on Wallach IX, bred as an experiment by Tlulaxan geneticists and born with the ability to transform herself into any other person. Chosen by Valya Harkonnen for her talent, she served the Mother Superior on Salusa Secundus and gave herself up to free Princess Ynez, stabbing Desmond Hart before being taken into suspension.
- Ticia CenvaTicia Cenva was the daughter of Grand Patriarch Iblis Ginjo and Supreme Sorceress Zufa Cenva, raised to lead the Sorceresses of Rossak. Cold and driven, she guided the order through the Omnius Scourge before succumbing to the Rossak Epidemic.
- TruthsayerA Truthsayer was a person able to detect truth as it was spoken, the talent itself called truthsense. The skill was cultivated chiefly by the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, and Truthsayers were often retained by the Padishah Emperor to sit in judgment over the testimony of others.
- Tula Harkonnen: the Harkonnen who wed and slew an AtreidesTula Harkonnen was an early member of House Harkonnen and a sister of the Bene Gesserit. On the orders of her elder sister, Valya Harkonnen, she married Orry Atreides and murdered him on their wedding night to avenge their slain brother.
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2- Valya HarkonnenValya Harkonnen of Lankiveil rose from a promising student of Raquella Berto-Anirul to become the second Reverend Mother Superior of the order she renamed the Bene Gesserit. Consumed by a vendetta against House Atreides, she developed the technique of Voice and used it to seize sole leadership.
- VoiceVoice was an audio-neuro control technique perfected by the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, which let a trained adept seize control of a listener by altering the tonal qualities of speech. It was used to compel obedience and extract truth, and a few rare individuals learned to resist or even wield it untrained.
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4- Wallach IXWallach IX was the ninth planet of the Laoujin system and the seat of the Mother School of the Bene Gesserit. From it the Sisterhood trained its acolytes, convened its councils, and plotted against the House of Atreides.
- Wanna Marcus: the Bene Gesserit whose torment broke a Suk doctorWanna Marcus was a Bene Gesserit adept and the wife of the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh. Her abduction and torture at Harkonnen hands shattered her husband's Imperial Conditioning, an act long believed impossible, and turned him into the instrument that destroyed House Atreides on Arrakis. She was believed killed on the order of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who lied about her survival to keep her husband obedient.
- Water of LifeThe Water of Life was a poisonous blue liquid drawn from a drowning sandworm, lethal to the untrained but converted by the Bene Gesserit into the substance that made a Reverend Mother. Its conversion by a man marked the coming of the Kwisatz Haderach.
- Weirding way: the Bene Gesserit fighting art of DuneThe 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.