The world of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” is stuffed with prophecies, cultish religions, superhuman powers, and genetic experiments, all of which mix within the central storyline of the Kwisatz Haderach. The prophecy foretells the arrival of a person who can efficiently endure the mind-altering course of that begets the order’s reverend moms — a course of sometimes deadly for male attempters. From the very starting of the primary novel, Paul Atreides is engulfed by the shadow of the Kwisatz Haderach challenge, and it proves too highly effective for him to withstand.
Is Paul the Kwisatz Haderach in “Dune”? Sure and no. Sure, he suits all the standards laid out by the Bene Gesserit, however he additionally is not the solely individual within the books to match that description. Unsurprisingly, the cult shaping all of human civilization from the shadows does not precisely predict how their large genetic superperson challenge will truly end up. Paul is not the final Kwisatz Haderach, neither is he essentially the most highly effective, however you would not know that when you’d solely seen the Denis Villeneuve “Dune” films.
Let’s dig a little bit deeper into what the Kwisatz Haderach truly is, the way it pertains to the prophecy of the Lisan al Gaib, and who all has earned the title within the “Dune” franchise.
What’s Dune’s Kwisatz Haderach?
The Kwisatz Haderach is an idea created by the Bene Gesserit, describing a theoretical one that may very well be made to see each the previous and the long run and thus lead humanity down a path of upper evolution and societal development. The phrase itself is Chakobsa, one of many essential languages in Herbert’s universe (to not be confused with the real-world language of the identical title, although there’s certainly a connection), and interprets to “shortening of the way in which.”
In essence, greater than 10,000 years earlier than the primary “Dune” novel, the Bene Gesserit got down to breed a person able to enduring the reverend mom initiation course of. That ritual connects each new reverend mom with their genetic reminiscence, giving them entry to historic historical past by way of a connection to previous reverend moms lengthy useless. Sometimes, males who tried the transformation would die, however the order believed it was doable to create a male candidate who may do it by fastidiously crossing bloodlines over generations.
The aim was to provide a person below the Bene Gesserit’s management who may see the long run in addition to the previous, simply because the navigators of the Spacing Guild use restricted spice-induced prescience to ferry ships safely by way of deep area. Within the books, it is defined that Paul additionally makes use of his lifelong coaching as a Mentat to correctly course of and interpret all the temporal info he receives from his imaginative and prescient. (Since there are not any computer systems, or “pondering machines,” within the “Dune” universe, a Mentat is a human conditioned from start to course of big sums of data in a computer-like approach.)
All of those items had been needed to provide an individual with the proper mix of predilections and skills, which is why the method took so lengthy to finish. However even nonetheless, Paul wasn’t actually meant to be the Kwisatz Haderach.
Paul wasn’t purported to be the Bene Gesserit’s Kwisatz Haderach
Early on in “Dune,” Reverend Mom Gaius Helen Mohiam chastises Girl Jessica, Paul’s mom, for giving start to a boy as a substitute of a lady. The plan was for the Bene Gesserit to offer Duke Leto Atreides a daughter, who would then be married to somebody from the Harkonnen bloodline — doubtless Feyd-Rautha. The kid of that match was supposed to be the Kwisatz Haderach. As a substitute, Jessica took issues into her personal fingers, believing she may very well be the mom of the prophesied determine. And, because it seems, she was proper.
The problem is that Paul Atreides proved too tough for the Bene Gesserit to regulate. They feared a Kwisatz Haderach who may exist outdoors their plans, which is a part of why the order advises the emperor to assist Baron Valdimir Harkonnen in wiping the Atreides out. The Bene Gesserit need a Kwisatz Haderach to foster new progress and improvement for humanity, however they need him to obey them most of all. Had Jessica given start to a daughter, the Atreides doubtless by no means would have been given dominion over Arrakis, and the Bene Gesserit would have had a greater likelihood at controlling a Kwisatz Haderach born to a Harkonnen male.
Whereas the scheming of the Bene Gesserit is not essentially one thing to admire, they had been proper to be afraid of an impartial Kwisatz Haderach. Due to how Paul traces up with the Lisan al Gaib prophecy on Arrakis — one other story planted by the sisterhood — his powers find yourself bringing a few galactic holy battle that decimates human civilization.
Paul is not the one Kwisatz Haderach
Along with Paul, there are a few different Kwisatz Haderach candidates within the “Dune” universe. In “Dune Messiah,” a gaggle assembles to plan Paul’s downfall. One member is Scytale, a member of an order referred to as the Bene Tleilax, which makes a speciality of genetic experimentation. Scytale claims that at one level, the Tleilaxu created their very own Kwisatz Haderach by way of genetic modification, reasonably than the long-term crossing of bloodlines. Nonetheless, the challenge went south rapidly, and it is implied that the Kwisatz Haderach killed himself as a result of overwhelming expertise of his powers.
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen looks like he might have had Kwisatz Haderach potential, although that is by no means absolutely explored within the books. However since he and Paul occupy the identical generational stratum within the Bene Gesserit breeding program, it is doable that below the proper circumstances, he too may have come away with comparable powers.
After all, the principle different Kwisatz Haderach moreover Paul is his son, Leto II, whose story is informed within the third and fourth books within the sequence. Leto undergoes an much more weird transformation, granting him a form of immortality along with Paul’s prescient talents. Frank Herbert’s last “Dune” novels discover the fallout and bigger ramifications of this absolutely realized Kwisatz Haderach.
