Dune: The Prophecy – Links The Sisterhood created the Bene Gesserit

Summary

• The prequel series, Dune: Prophecy, explores the rise of the Bene Gesserit and the era of the Padishah Emperors after the Servant Jihad.

• The breeding program aims to create a supreme being with mentat and Bene Gesserit abilities for control and power in the Empire.

• The Sisters of the Bene Gesserit hone Truth Telling into a powerful weapon vital to political survival in the landsraad.

The story of Dune is evolving into its own franchise, meaning there is now a prequel series to add to the collection of books, movies, comics, and video games. Dune: The Prophecy just finished its first season on HBO Max, the series tells the story of the rise of the Bene Gesserit, then known as the Sisterhood, and the era of the Padishah Emperors after the Servant Jihad.

The Sisterhood and its adherents do not yet call themselves the Bene Gesserit. However, many of their enhanced powers and arcane skills in truth-telling, political intrigue, and assassination are already in development under the guidance of Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen.

7

Breeding program

Multi-generational plan

• It took 10,000 years to create the Supreme Being.

One of the flagship projects of the Bene Gesserit order was a breeding program that eventually aimed to create a human being with both Mentat and Benegesserit abilities. This supreme being would also be under the control of the Order and would be in a place of power like the emperor, so naturally all the members of the landsraad were prime candidates for the breeding program.

The first episode of the series involves the machinations of the Sisterhood in the landsraad to arrange a marriage and breeding program as developed and maintained by Mother Superior Raquella. Raquella confided her secrets to Valya instead of her daughter because the Mother Superior knew that Sister Dorotea was a Servant fanatic who would not approve of a thinking machine named Anirul who was secretly running the breeding program.

6

Arafel's vision

Valya dubs it “The Burning Truth”

• The AI ​​was defeated, but not dead.

The Machine Wars defeated the AI ​​threat, but it was never completely destroyed, and Mother Raquella's vision on her deathbed of a being called “Arafel” was a harbinger of their revival. Despite her own misgivings about thinking machines, Raquella didn't seem hesitant to use the powers of Anirul, the name of the computer she used to calculate the nuances of the breeding program.

Arafel is the darkness that Paul Atreides and his son Leto II saw at the end of humanity, a battle that could end the entire human race. It wasn't until over 1000 years after the death of the God Emperor that the Bene Gesserit and the rest of humanity understood the nature of Arafel.

5

Tell the truth

The first and most powerful weapon of the Bene Gesserit

• A technique that has become essential for large houses

Truth Saying 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 a more valuable use for this skill and refined it to supernatural knowledge.

One of Valya's most important powers in the Empire is to grant Landsraad families the Truth upon their request. Keeping truth tellers close to prominent leaders was an essential part of the family's survival in the landsraad, and without him the family was socially and politically impotent. This tradition continued in the modern era of Dune, with the truth teller never far from the Emperor's side.

4

Orange Catholic Bible

Developed after the Machine Wars

• A fusion of various religious beliefs that originated on Earth

The word “catholic” actually means universal, so this collection of holy texts contains much more than what a contemporary viewer might think of as an early branch of institutionalized Christianity. It was developed as a way to expand the human mind to live without computers after the Servant Jihad.

All members of the Sisterhood would study the Bible, but Dorothea's followers read from it more often. Sister Emeline, an acolyte who follows a more traditional version of the Sisterhood, also often reads from the Bible to her peers.

3

Gom Jabbar

Armed with deadly meth cyanide

• The famous weapon of the Bene Gesserit

The familiar weapon only appears in the sixth episode Dune: The Prophecy and is never referred to by the name that audiences today know from the movies; Gom Jabbar. However, the design and intent are exactly the same, and Valya gives it to Francesca to end the Emperor's life.

Valya has decided that Javicco is no longer useful and his reign must end. It is Francesca, whom he trusts without limits and cannot harm because of Imprinting, who is tasked with ending his life. She fails and is instead stabbed by Empress Natalya with a needle.

2

Imprinting

A practice that ensures dedication and loyalty

• Valya sends Francesca to seduce the Emperor.

Movie-era Lady Fenrig also became famous for this skill, one of the many talents the Bene Gesserit developed to control their targets. The practice had already existed since Valya had joined the Order, and sending a sister to use this power on the Emperor made sense.

Valya appears to be moving towards this idea as part of a breeding plan, but it is young Francesca who best understands Valya's idea to impress the Emperor when the four acolytes first discuss how to take control of the Empire.

1

Mantra against fear

Fear is literally a mind killer

• Beginning of the Litany Against Fear

The Litany Against Fear is one of the most famous and famous prayers associated with the Bene Gesserit in the modern era of Dune. This litany was developed due to a deadly virus used by Desmond Hart.

In a horrific time of trial and error that claimed the lives of two other sisters, Tula and Valya discover that the virus grows stronger the more the victim fights it. Instead of trying to force the transmutation of the virus, Valya allows it to “pass through her” and survives to reveal Desmond's secret.