Tleilaxu Master
ruling caste of the Bene Tleilax
Tleilaxu Masters were the elite caste of the Bene Tleilax, served by gholas and Face Dancers and immune to the Bene Gesserit Voice. The ten Masheikhs of the Ruling Council stood at the summit of their order.
Tleilaxu Masters are the ruling caste of the Bene Tleilax, served by the constructs their people make, the gholas grown in axlotl tanks and the shape-changing Face Dancers. Masters command their Face Dancers through a private language of humming and keening sounds likened to angry insects. (Dune Messiah; Heretics of Dune)
Caste and command#
The Masters stand above the constructs that the Bene Tleilax breed and use: the gholas, like the Duncan Idaho ghola Hayt they give Paul in Dune Messiah, and the Face Dancers, like the Scytale of that novel. (Dune Messiah)
In Heretics of Dune the Masters hide behind their Face Dancers and let outsiders mistake the servants for the masters. Their authority over their creations rests on a private command language, the humming and keening sounds Tylwyth Waff uses to command and freeze his Face Dancers. (Heretics of Dune)
Lives in series#
The Masters do not die as other people do. They carry their lives forward in serial ghola bodies grown in their own axlotl tanks, so the same small circle keeps the Tleilaxu secrets for thousands of years. Outsiders, the powindah, are kept out of that circle entirely. (Heretics of Dune)
Appearance#
Tleilaxu Masters are generally small and childlike beside the powindah. Tylwyth Waff in Heretics of Dune is an elfin figure with a child's face, and Frank Herbert gives other Masters a similar stamp. (Heretics of Dune)
The Ruling Council#
At the summit of the order sit the Masheikhs, the Masters of the secret council, the kehl. Tylwyth Waff leads it as Mahai and Abdl in Heretics of Dune, and the Tleilaxu ambassador Duro Nunepi works for the Masters among the powindah. (Heretics of Dune)
In Chapterhouse: Dune the Honored Matres have destroyed the Tleilaxu worlds, and the Master Scytale, held by the Bene Gesserit, is the last of his kind. Hidden in his body he carries a nullentropy capsule holding the cells his people could grow again. (Chapterhouse: Dune)
Frequently asked questions
- What is a Tleilaxu Master?
- Tleilaxu Masters were the elite social caste of the Bene Tleilax, served in their daily lives and political machinations by subservient constructs such as gholas and Face Dancers. They stood above the constructs that the Bene Tleilax bred and used.
- How did Tleilaxu Masters control their constructs?
- Through a private language of humming and keening sounds, likened to angry insects, which Tylwyth Waff uses in Heretics of Dune to command and freeze his Face Dancers.
- How do the Masters live so long?
- They renew themselves as gholas. In Heretics of Dune the Masters carry their lives forward in serial ghola bodies grown in their axlotl tanks, which is how they keep their secrets inside the same small circle for thousands of years.
- Who was Scytale?
- Two different figures carry the name. In Dune Messiah Scytale is a Face Dancer in the conspiracy against Paul. In Chapterhouse: Dune Scytale is a Tleilaxu Master, the last one left after the Honored Matres destroy his people, held by the Bene Gesserit.
- What was the Ruling Council of the Bene Tleilax?
- In Heretics of Dune the Masters rule through a secret council, the kehl, whose members are the Masheikhs. Tylwyth Waff leads it as Mahai and Abdl.
Sources
- BookDune Messiah, Frank Herbert, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1969
- 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.
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