Chapterhouse: Dune – Entry #5

Since I have read all the Dune books published to date prior to this undertaking of reading them in chronological order of the story, then I know who the old couple is that Duncan sees.  The old couple, as well as the Oracle of Time, are key to the story’s climactic conclusion in what would have been Frank Herbert’s Dune 7 but that Brian Herbert and co-author decided needed to be broken up into two books: Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune.  But Frank Herbert gives so few clues leaving the reader as lost and confused as Duncan, the only one who has visions of the elderly couple.  And the reader is left with solving the mystery along with Duncan.

Duncan keeps his visions to himself, worked that the Bene Gesserit would wonder if he was a Kwisatz Haderach.

On pages 178-179, Duncan describes more of his vision:

Immediately, he saw what he had come to call “the net” and the elderly couple defined by criss-crossed lines, bodies visible through a shimmering of jeweled ropes – green, blue, gold, and silver so brilliant it made his eyes ache.

…

The couple stared back at him with an intensity that made Idaho feel naked.

…

Round faces.  Abbreviated chins.  Fat wrinkles at the jowels.

…

The man suited [the woman] as though created by the same artist as a perfect match.

…

Reassuring faces.  That thought aroused Idaho’s suspicions because now he recognized the familiarity.  They looked somewhat like Face Dancers, even to the pug noses.

(Chapterhouse: Dune, p. 178-179)

I think Brian Herbert used such passages to enhance content in the books chronicling the Butlerian Jihad.  The fact that the couple is dressed as gardeners is significant as is the reference to art.  Recall Erasmus’ keen interest in understanding art and his curiosity about Serena Butler’s gardening when she was his captive?