Darwi Odrade

Mother Superior Darwi Odrade was the penultimate Bene Gesserit Mother Superior, holding the position for a large portion of the War of the Sisterhoods against the Honored Matres. Plucked from obscurity by the Sisterhood as a young child, she carried predominantly ancient Atreides, Harkonnen and Corrino genes, and other memory later revealed that she bore a strong resemblance to the Lady Jessica. She was the natural daughter of Miles Teg, and her name Odrade was itself derived from Atreides.

Early life and hidden origins#

Odrade was the natural daughter of Miles Teg by a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother in extremis, who gave the child to a foster couple on the planet Gammu to hide her from hunters, since she was an Atreides descendant. The couple, whom Odrade remembered as Mama Sibia and Papa, raised little Darwi as their own near the seashore until the Sisterhood returned for her six years later when it was safe. Reverend Mothers accompanied by assistants and guards came to take the girl, and Darwi recognized that the sisters had used the Voice on Mama Sibia when the woman refused the money offered to her.

Odrade was haunted thereafter by memories of her foster mother and showed a tendency toward romanticism and compassion, feelings the Sisterhood frowned upon. She projected them into a secret alter-ego she named Sea Child. Proctors tried to root out her deep desire for personal affinities but never quite succeeded, remaining suspicious of her. They sent her to Al Dhanab, a Bene Gesserit planet deliberately maintained as a mimic of the worst of Salusa Secundus, yet none of its dangers touched the secret core within her.

Training and friendship with Taraza#

After surviving Dhanab and entering the Bene Gesserit School, Odrade befriended Alma Mavis Taraza, an older Sister who took her under her wing. Their bond was strong, and the two used the nicknames Dar and Tar despite repeated rebukes from the Proctors, who held that such feelings were prohibited in the Sisterhood. Taraza eventually rose to the rank of Mother Superior. At some point Odrade underwent the Spice Agony, surviving to become a Reverend Mother. She came to be regarded as highly skilled, though her superiors also judged her a strong risk-taker, which led Taraza to trust her judgment in moments of crisis.

The Honored Matres' ambush#

In 15229 A.G. Taraza sent Odrade to Rakis to determine the truth about Sheeana, the girl who could apparently control the sandworms. Before departing, Taraza deliberately fell into a trap set by the Honored Matres, who transported the Mother Superior and her staff to a Guild Heighliner in orbit above Gammu, the planet where the Sisterhood's Duncan Idaho ghola was being trained by Supreme Bashar Miles Teg and Reverend Mother Lucilla. Taraza forced the Honored Matres commander to release them using nothing but Teg's strategic mind, then revealed that she had allowed the capture on purpose, to learn why the Matres were so anxious about the Idaho ghola.

At the Bene Gesserit Keep on Gammu, Teg recognized Odrade among Taraza's guards, and she revealed to him that she was his daughter. When Teg wondered whether Lucilla, who so resembled Odrade, might also be his child, Odrade explained that both women resembled the Lady Jessica because both were Atreides, but that Lucilla came from a different bloodline and was neither her sister nor her daughter. She then left Gammu for Rakis.

On Rakis#

On Rakis, Odrade replaced Reverend Mother Tamalane as head of the Bene Gesserit Keep at Keen. Her arrival drew the attention of Sheeana Brugh, the Holy Child of the Rakian Priesthood. High Priest Hedley Tuek arranged to present Odrade to the girl, but as his acolyte Kipuna left to carry the message, an assassination attempt struck the Rakian Temple terrace. Kipuna and the priest's guards sacrificed themselves so that Tuek and the old priestess Cania could carry Sheeana to safety, and they were met by a crowd of Bene Gesserit sisters led by Odrade, who took the girl and cleared the terrace. From that moment Odrade and Sheeana began a friendship that lasted until Odrade's death.

Odrade trained Sheeana in the Bene Gesserit ways and was surprised both by the girl's intelligence and by her wish to become a full Reverend Mother. While waiting for one of Sheeana's sessions, Odrade watched the ancient ritual of the Siaynoq performed in Keen and recognized it as a surviving remnant of Leto II.

The Tleilaxu alliance and Leto II's message#

Hedley Tuek came to feel that the Bene Gesserit were assuming responsibilities that belonged to his Priesthood, including Sheeana's safety. Odrade countered that his incompetence had nearly cost the girl her life. During a tense meeting, with the Tleilaxu Master Tylwyth Waff hidden behind the hall's curtains, Tuek admitted he had asked the Tleilaxu for help in recovering their Holy Child. Odrade revealed that the Tleilaxu had been spreading the Atreides Manifest across many worlds, though Waff, summoned into the open, denied authorship. Waff then attempted to kill both Odrade and Tuek with poisoned darts hidden in his bracelets. Odrade broke his arms with her fighting skills, but one dart reached its mark and killed Tuek.

Odrade spared Waff and offered an alliance between the Bene Gesserit and the Bene Tleilax against the forces emerging from the Scattering, convincing him that the Sisterhood shared the Tleilaxu faith. They agreed that a Face Dancer would take Tuek's seat and deceive the other priests while Odrade, Waff and Sheeana went into the desert. Sheeana led them by sandworm to the site of the ancient Sietch Tabr. Passing ruined bridges, Odrade recognized through other memory the place where the Idaho River had run in the days of the God Emperor, and saw the scene of Leto II's fall. In the ceremonial chamber where Paul Muad'Dib had once spoken to the Fremen, she discovered a message Leto II had left for the Bene Gesserit, a discovery that revealed to her the full shape of Taraza's plan.

As Mother Superior#

Odrade attained de facto Mother Superior rank by being present at Taraza's death on Rakis and sharing minds with her, combined with her elite standing in the Sisterhood. The order was not entirely satisfied, but accepted the arrangement given the deepening crisis with the Honored Matres and Odrade's success in discovering Leto II's spice hoard, recruiting Sheeana, and capturing the sandworm that would begin the desertification of Chapterhouse. As Mother Superior she worked closely with Bellonda and the aged Tamalane on the High Council.

Forced to remain hidden on Chapterhouse until the right moment to strike, Odrade faced internal opposition, the education of Murbella, and the raising of a new ghola of her father Miles Teg, who, if awakened, was expected to lead the Sisterhood to victory. She managed the Weather Control as Chapterhouse turned into a new desert for the developing worms, and pioneered the use of axlotl technology within the Bene Gesserit, through which the Teg ghola was born. Her indoctrination of Murbella, the only Honored Matre captured alive, made Murbella the first Reverend Mother and Honored Matre hybrid. In 15240 A.G. Odrade confronted Duncan in his no-ship prison and forced him to admit he was a Mentat, proving he retained the memories of his many ghola lives. She came to believe the Sisterhood had erred in fearing emotion, holding that to evolve they had to learn to accept it.

Death on Junction#

After Murbella survived the Spice Agony and Teg was awakened by Sheeana, Odrade reappointed her father as Bashar of the Sisterhood's military for the final assault on the Honored Matres. She declared her intention to share her memories with Murbella and Sheeana, making them candidates to succeed her. While Teg attacked Gammu and then Junction, Odrade met the Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction. During the assault Dama was poisoned by the Grand Dame Logno, who seized the title of Great Honored Matre. Too late, Odrade realized she had walked into a trap, and the Honored Matres used a mysterious weapon to turn defeat into victory and capture her. Murbella saved much of the Bene Gesserit force, which withdrew to Chapterhouse, but Odrade, who had prepared for failure and left Murbella instructions for a last gamble, was killed by Elpek in the melee between Murbella, disguised as an escaped Honored Matre, and Logno. Murbella won, then shared with Odrade to absorb her final memories, as the two had already shared before the battle.

Through Odrade, the Atreides legacy passed on once more, her life resembling those of her ancestors the Duke Leto, Muad'Dib, and Leto II in its swift rise to leadership and its purchase of enormous change at the cost of her own life.