C O L L E C T I O N S | |
DUNE CHRONICLES |
Muad'Dib: Family Commentaries |
Thus spoke St. Alia-of-the-Knife: "The Reverend Mother must
combine the seductive wiles of a courtesan with the
untouchable majesty of a virgin goddess, holding these
attributes in tension so long as the powers of her youth
endure. For when youth and beauty have gone, she will find
that the place-between, once occupied by tension, has
become a wellspring of cunning and resourcefulness. from "Muad'Dib, Family Commentaries" by the Princess Irulan Dune
How do we approach the study of Muad'Dib's father? A man
of surpassing warmth and surprising coldness was the Duke
Leto Atreides. Yet, many facts open the way to this Duke:
his abiding love for his Bene Gesserit lady; the dreams he
held for his son; the devotion with which men served him.
You see him there - a man snared by Destiny, a lonely
figure with his light dimmed behind the glory of his son.
Still, one must ask: What is the son but an extension of
the father?
What had the Lady Jessica to sustain her in the time of
trial? Think you carefully on this Bene Gesserit proverb
and perhaps you will see: "Any road followed precisely
to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain
just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. From the
top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.
It is said that the Duke Leto blinded himself to the perils
of Arrakis, that he walked heedlessly into the pit. Would
it not be more likely to suggest he had lived so long in
the presence of extreme danger he misjudged a change in its
intensity? Or is it possible he deliberately sacrificed
himself that his son might find a better life? All evidence
indicates the Duke was a man not easily hoodwinked.
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