Dune: The Prophecy – Comments from the Sisterhood to the Bene Gesserit

summation

• The sequel series, Dune: Prophecy, explores the rise of the Bene Gesserit and the era of the Padishah Emperors following the Deacon Jihad.

• The breeding program aims to create a supreme being with the power of the Mentat and Bene Gesserit for control and power of the Imperium.

• The sisters of the Bene Gesserit refine truth-telling into a powerful weapon essential to political survival in the Landsraad.

story sand dune It is developing into its own franchise. This means you now have a prequel series to add to your collection of books, movies, comics, and video games. Dune: Prophecy Having completed its first season on HBO Max, the series tells the story of the reign of Emperor Padishah, the rise of the Bene Gesserit, then known as the Sisterhood, and the aftermath of the Deacon Jihad.

The Sisterhood and its adherents do not yet call themselves the Bene Gesserit. But many of their heightened abilities and mystical skills in truth-telling, political intrigue, and assassination are already in development thanks to the guidance of Abbot Valya Harkonnen.

7

breeding program

multifamily planning

• It took 10,000 years for the Supreme Being to be born.

One of the main projects of the Bene Gesserit Order was a breeding program to eventually produce humans with both Mentat and Bene Gesserit powers. This supreme being would also be under the control of the Templars and would assume power as Emperor, so naturally the prime candidates for the breeding program were all members of the Landsraad.

The first episode of the series involves a ploy by the Sisterhood within the Landsraad to arrange a marriage and a breeding program developed and maintained by Mother Superior Raquella. Raquella confided her secret to Valya instead of her daughter because the prioress mother knew that Sister Dorotea was a deacon fanatic who disapproved of a thinking machine named Anirul who secretly ran a breeding program.

6

Arapel’s Vision

Valya called it “the burning truth.”

• The AI ​​is defeated, but not dead.

The Machine Wars defeated the AI ​​threat but were not completely destroyed, and as the beings known as “Arafel” were on their deathbed, a vision of their mother Rakela was a harbinger of their resurrection. Despite her own reservations about thinking machines, Raquella seems to have no hesitation in using the capabilities of Anirul, the name of the computer she used to calculate the nuances of her breeding program.

Araphel is the darkness seen by Paul Atreides and his son Leto II in a battle that could lead to the end of humanity and the destruction of all of humanity. It was more than a thousand years after the death of the God-Emperor that the Bene Gesserit and the rest of humanity came to understand the true nature of Arafel.

5

truth teller

Bene Gesserit's first and most powerful weapon

• Technology that has become essential for large houses

Truth telling is a practice that also exists in the real world in the form of certain interrogation techniques or body language experts. In humanity's distant future, the Sisterhood saw more valuable uses for this technology and improved it to the level of supernatural knowledge.

One of Valya's most important powers in the Empire is to grant truthtellers at the request of the Landsraad family. An essential part of the family's survival in the Landsraad was keeping a truth-teller close to prominent leaders, and without a truth-teller the family was socially and politically powerless. This tradition continued into the modern era of Dune, and the truth-teller was never far from the Emperor's side.

4

orange catholic bible

Developed after the Machine Wars

• A fusion of various religious beliefs originating from Earth

The word “Catholic” actually means universal. This collection of scriptures therefore contains much more than what modern viewers might think of as an early branch of institutionalized Christianity. After the Butlerian Jihad, it was developed as a way to extend the human mind so that it could live without computers.

All members of the Sisterhood would have studied the Bible, but Dorotea's followers are shown reading the Bible more often. Sister Emeline, a devoted acolyte of the more traditional order of sisters, can also often be seen reading the Bible to her companions.

3

bear java

Armed with lethal metacyanide

• Famous weapons of the Bene Gesserit

Familiar weapons only appear in Episode 6. Dune: Prophecy They are never referred to by names that viewers now know from the film. Bear Java. However, the design and intent are exactly the same, and Valya gives it to Francesca to end the Emperor's life.

Valya decided that Javicco was no longer useful and that his reign should come to an end. It is Francesca whom she implicitly trusts and cannot harm because of the imprint that has taken her own life. She fails and is instead pricked by a needle by Empress Natalia.

2

engraving

Practices that ensure commitment and loyalty

• Valya sends Francesca to seduce the Emperor.

Lady Fenrig of the film era was also famous for this skill, one of the many talents the Bene Gesserit would develop to control their targets. This practice already existed when Valya joined the Order, and it made sense to send a nun to use this power against the Emperor.

Valya seems to be moving towards this idea as part of her breeding plan, but when the four acolytes first discuss how to take control of the empire, it is young Francesca who best understands Valya's idea of ​​impressing the Emperor.

1

Mantra against fear

Fear is literally a mind killer

• The beginning of prayer against fear

The Litany Against Fear is one of the most popular and well-known prayers associated with the Bene Gesserit of the modern Dune era. This prayer was developed because of a deadly virus used by Desmond Hart.

During a harrowing period of trial and error that takes the lives of two other sisters, Tula and Valya discover that the more the victims fight, the stronger the virus becomes. Instead of forcing the virus to transform, Valya allows the virus to “pass through her” and survives, revealing Desmond's secret.