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Dune Messiah
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Chapters 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
In a spice trance to help him see through the fog caused by the Dune tarot, Paul has a “terrible vision of […] a falling moon” (161). Paul interprets the vision as a warning of his own demise, and confirmation that to “buy an end for the Jihad, to silence the volcano of butchery, he must discredit himself” (161-62). Looking over the city of Arrakeen, Paul disdains his own influence over the architecture and landscape and muses on the inevitability of fate.
Hayt appears, suggesting that Paul is overestimating his own importance in the scheme of eternity. Paul retorts that he is aware of his own mortality and inevitable doom and accuses Hayt of attempting to disturb him further. Again, Paul laments that the only future he can see in which humanity survives is one in which Chani must die.
Chapter 12 Summary
The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is summoned to Paul’s throne room. The colossal size of the room, the emerald throne, and general genius of the design indicate Paul’s immense power; it takes minutes for the elderly Gaius Helen to walk from the entrance to Paul’s throne. She interprets this display of power as a sign that Paul wants something from the Bene Gesserit but intends to humble her first.
Dispensing with subterfuge, Paul admits that he meant to intimidate the Reverend Mother publicly and offers to retire to his private chambers to negotiate, accompanied by Alia and Hayt. Paul offers to artificially inseminate Irulan if the Bene Gesserit swear to leave Chani alone. Chani is newly pregnant with Paul’s heir. The Bene Gesserit laws do not permit artificial insemination, as they believe the physical act of lovemaking better forms the “psyche” of the individual as well as their genetics. If Gaius Helen accepts, the Bene Gesserit will preserve the Atreides genes for their purposes but never be able to declare this publicly or make claim to the throne, as Paul will denounce any resulting children and expose their methods. Gaius Helen asks for time to consider the offer and consult the sisterhood, then leaves.
Alone with Hayt and Alia, Paul declares that he and Chani will travel to Sietch Tabr for the birth of their child. Alia senses Paul’s immense grief, as he knows Chani will die in childbirth, and attempts to comfort him.
Chapter 13 Summary
Scytale and Edric conspire together, and Edric himself wonders whether his powers will hide them from Alia as well as Paul. Scytale wants to accelerate their plan by provoking Hayt because Paul is now aware that the conspirators are targeting Chani. Edric fears that Paul may discover their plot simply through logical reasoning. Scytale realizes that the conspirators are not compatible, and that this makes them weak. Scytale fears that Alia will merely replace Paul if he is defeated without his reputation being dismantled first. Edric insists that Paul’s powers are finite, but Scytale counters that Paul “would’ve stopped [the Jihad] if he could” (191). Frustrated by Edric’s overconfidence, Scytale warns that their success or failure will have repercussions for centuries.
Chapter 14 Summary
Paul trains with Hayt to distract himself. Chani meets with Paul after consulting her doctors, furious to have discovered that Irulan fed her contraceptives. Paul is secretly grateful that the contraceptives prolonged Chani’s life by delaying her pregnancy but does not reveal to Chani what he knows about her death. He refuses Chani’s demand that Irulan be killed for her treachery, which she accepts but does not understand.
Paul probes Hayt with questions about whether a ghola has ever recovered their past self, calling him “Duncan in every aspect” (200). Hayt is clearly disturbed, and momentarily appears as “an intense, vital human being” (201). Chani realizes that Paul intentionally provoked Hayt to reveal his underlying humanity to her. Chani tells Paul again that she will accept his decisions, though she does not always understand his motives. She reveals her fear that her pregnancy is developing at an unnaturally fast pace, as she must consume large quantities of spice to offset the poison fed to her by Irulan.
Chapter 15 Summary
Scytale infiltrates Paul’s palace disguised as Lichna; Chani recognizes Lichna as the daughter of an ally and is fooled by the extraordinary imitative skills of the face dancer. Paul, however, knows it is a Face Dancer because he recognizes Lichna as the murdered girl in the desert due to the visual signs of semuta addiction. Paul senses that another prescient being is concealing visions of the Face Dancer’s future.
Scytale, believing he has tricked Paul, attempts to convince Paul and Chani to accompany him (in disguise as Lichna) to the home of Otheym, Lichna’s father. Paul decides to walk into the trap he knows is set for him there on his own terms. Paul has Scytale-as-Lichna placed under special guard, insisting that he knows the way to Otheym’s home and will go there alone. Scytale momentarily reveals his frustration—the plot was intended to kill Chani as well—but must accept Paul’s authority to maintain his disguise. Paul has foreseen what will happen at Otheym’s home and how it will lead to his demise but humanity’s survival. However, he did not foresee Scytale’s involvement; this gives him hope that he may be able to choose a different fate than the one he fears.
Chapters 11-15 Analysis
Paul struggles against fate even as he manifests the terrible future he has foreseen. His vision of the falling moon in Chapter 11 implies that the only way for Paul to end the violence done in his name is to abdicate both his throne and his self-imposed role as humanity’s savior. Still, Paul understands that he must suffer great losses in either case. Desperate to save both Chani and humanity, Paul seeks an escape from the certainty of his own oracular vision. Paul’s offer to artificially inseminate Irulan and appease the Bene Gesserit is a last-ditch attempt to negotiate an alternate version of events, and to secure the safety of his unborn children even if he cannot save Chani. Gaius Helen Mohiam’s reluctance to accept worries Paul and helps to motivate his decision to walk knowingly into the trap Scytale sets for him.
As the fatal complications of Irulan’s contraceptive plot become clearer, Herbert begins to deliver the details of the broad outline of events he presents in the opening chapters of the novel. Chani’s trust in Paul despite her Fremen objections to his reasoning indicate both her enduring love for him and the precarity of Fremen loyalty; if even Paul’s lover hesitates to accept his reasoning, Paul is precariously dependent on the strength of religious conviction to ensure Fremen compliance with his will. This dynamic, alongside Korba’s obvious ambition in earlier chapters, foreshadows the role of the Qizarate in the conspiracy, as they seek to replace Paul himself with the religion created in his name.
At the halfway point of the novel, Herbert foreshadows the remaining events. Paul’s insistence that Hayt is truly Duncan Idaho hints at the ghola’s eventual triumph over his conditioning. Meanwhile, Hayt’s intended purpose, to worsen Paul’s crisis of confidence in himself as a ruler, seems to succeed, although Hayt simply reinforces Paul’s existing fears. Counterintuitively, Paul seeks advice and comfort from the vestiges of Duncan Idaho within Hayt, even though he knows Hayt has been sent to undermine him. Through Scytale’s conversation with Edric, Herbert suggests that Scytale’s own arrogance will prove ironic, as the Face Dancer makes exactly the mistake he cautions Edric against. Scytale overestimates the success of his disguise as Lichna and cannot hide his disappointment when Paul successfully maneuvers Chani out of immediate danger. Still, Scytale stands out as Paul’s worthiest opponent in his scene with Edric, able to recognize Paul’s ambivalence toward his own power and the uncontrollable nature of the Jihad. Scytale also correctly predicts that Alia will step in to replace Paul as godhead and emperor; Paul will name Alia regent in the closing chapter. Lastly, Scytale’s assertion that Paul would “destroy himself before changing into [his] opposite” is an important clue to coming events (209). This observation predicts Paul’s total embrace of his own doom and indicates how Hayt will regain his identity as Duncan Idaho.
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By Frank Herbert
