God Emperor of Dune – Entry #1

Leto’s peace, forced on the universe.  Some call him The Tyrant, some call him The Worm.  He is the God Emperor.  He is nurturing the growth of the human race to survive Kralizec, the Typhoon Struggle.  Yet, it is difficult to see the pattern … so he is loved and he is feared.

In this time, he is the sole owner and controller of the spice mélange.  Every ten years, all the leaders in the Empire gather on Arrakis for a festival during which Leto decides on their allotment of spice.  This means that the Guild and the Bene Gesserit are fully at Leto’s mercy since neither organization can operate without the spice.

If I die away from water, there will be no more spice – not ever.

(God Emperor of Dune, p. 20)

We also discover that Leto has a perpetual order with the Tleilaxu for a Duncan Idaho ghola to serve as the commander of the Fish Speakers, Leto’s all-female army.  When a Duncan dies, another is ready and on his way immediately.  How strange for the new Duncan, each one needing to be updated on the time he has missed since he first died to save Paul and Jessica.  And here we are, thirty-five hundred years later!

Other new and endearing/interesting characters include Moneo Atreides, Siona Atreides, and Hwi Noree.  Moneo is a direct descendant of Ghani and Farad’N (Harq al-Ada).  Siona is his daughter and of very special interest to Leto.  We find out the possible cause for this special interest on p. 114 during a conversation between the two Bene Gesserit reverend mothers who have come to Arrakis for the Festival.

     “Do you think the Guild is right about this Siona?” Luyseyal asked.

     “I do not have enough information.  If they are right, she is something extraordinary.”

     “As the Lord Leto’s father was extraordinary?”

     “A Guild navigator could conceal himself from the oracular eye of the Lord Leto’s father.”

     “But not from the Lord Leto.”

     “I have read the full Guild report with care.  She does not so much conceal herself and the actions around her as, well …”

     “She fades,” they said. “She fades from their sight.”

     “She alone”, Anteac said.

     “And from the sight of the Lord Leto as well?”

     “They do not know.”

(God Emperor of Dune, p. 114)

And then there is Hwi.  In her interview for being the ambassador to Lord Leto from Ix, when asked why she thought that the Lord Leto had chosen to lose his humanity and become a worm, she had said the following:

“But he already had the prescient ability as did his father before him.  No! I propose he made this desperate choice because he saw in our future something that only such a sacrifice would prevent.”

(God Emperor of Dune, p. 60)

There will certainly be more on her later!