Dune - Entry #7

The first and last time that Alia meets her grandfather, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, is so fabulously played.  She sits innocently on the dais beside Emperor Shaddam's throne when the Baron enters.  Of course, the Baron does not know that Alia is his granddaughter.  The introduction of the child to the Baron includes this passage:

"Unfortunately," the Emperor said, "I only sent in five troop carriers with a light attack force to pick up prisoners for questioning  We barely got away with three prisoners and one carrier.  Mind you, Baron, my Sardaukar were almost overwhelmed by a force composed mostly of women, children, and old men.  This child here was in command of one of the attacking groups."

(Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition, p. 447)

Alia's power is beyond what any of them had really imagined possible.  Consider this passage:

Of all the uses of time-vision, this was the strangest.  "I have breasted the future to place my words where only you can hear them," Alia had said.  "Even you cannot do that, my brother.  I find it an interesting play.  And ... oh, yes -- I've killed our grandfather, the demented old Baron.  He had very little pain."

(Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition, p. 454)

Both Paul and Alia are so different.  There are times that we, the readers, are made to feel in awe of them and there are times that we are made to feel sorry for them, sad for lost innocence in Paul's case and no innocence in Alia's case.

"I have seen a friend become a worshiper, he thought." (Dune, 40th Anniverary edition, p. 455)

I felt so sad when I read this line.  This is Paul thinking of Stilgar.  The respect Paul has for Stilgar is palpable but he can't stop the fanaticism surrounding him.

This book ends on page 474 with a whispered conversation between Jessica and Chani.  Powerful female characters are a cornerstone of the Dune story ... LOVE IT!!!

So I am moving on to Paul of Dune next, but before that I will post an entry about the Appendices provided in Dune.  These are more than a postscript and deserve thoughtful consideration by the reader.