Chapter 33:
More on the Emperor, who is in his 70s by the time we’re reading and with no son, driving him to constantly posture about how much power he has with no dynasty to leave it to. ‘60s gender politics! Star Trek didn’t do it first.
Jessica wakes up in the cave, noting along the way that she trusted the Fremen enough to completely fall asleep, and there’s a nice little sequence of her slowly realizing Paul is preparing to fight Jamis. Jamis claims it’s to test the legend, with Paul as Jessica’s only possible defender, but it’s clearly just a Jerkass move over Paul disarming him. But here is the real duel that we heard about before, it seems, so we’ll finally know the real meaning of that section.
Stilgar tries to insult Jamis to Jessica to distract him, but then he finds out about the water they’ve been carrying, when some of the others in the same group don’t have enough for themselves. Jessica didn’t know and offers it to them, but Jamis has now had enough time to figure out what they’re doing and again challenges Paul. Jessica goes Mama Bear, but Jamis manages to get her sworn to silence or she’ll forfeit. Whatever, just get to the fight!
They fight with crysknives, which reminds me that Jessica still has hers, a Chekhov's Gun that has yet to go off. Paul’s been advised of Jamis’ usual strategy by Chani, but also considers that he doesn’t have one of those personal force fields that all his training used. Which also means he instinctively uses slow attacks that can get through one, so he’s screwed two ways. And it gives a quite interesting bit of Values Dissonance: the other Fremen assume Paul is sadistically toying with Jamis thanks to how his attacks suddenly slow down. Then one more It Got Worse: Paul isn’t informed until halfway through that this is a fight to the death. Big surprise, Paul wins, though only with his Combat Pragmatist lessons and not that bit about remembering not to leave himself open. Maybe that’s coming later.
Jessica does a minor Mind Screw on Paul to make sure he doesn’t grow to enjoy killing people, helped by Stilgar’s scolding him for playing around. After that’s cleared up, Stilgar agrees that Paul has earned a sietch name…Usul. I totally called that one! He also needs to choose a name himself that anyone can call him, which of course is Muad’Dib. Though he doesn’t pick it just because of his vision; it’s entirely by chance after he asks what they call the mouse he saw caught by a hawk. Kind of a strange thing to emulate, but whatever gets us there. And with that bit of Because Destiny Says So out of the way, he has a vision of becoming a Dark Messiah that he swears he won’t let happen. I sense incoming Prophecy Twist.
Stilgar gives a bit more sense to the name, with Arrakis mice being skilled at desert life and constantly spreading their influence. Paul and Jessica are fully accepted into the group, solidified by a bunch of them handing over their stillsuit nose plugs to replace the ill-fitting ones Yueh left them. Jessica reaffirms that the water they brought can be given out, though Stilgar says it will be repaid at the usual ten-to-one rate, though from his phrasing it seems this isn’t another tradition they’ll be overturning. And one more Dark Messiah vision; yeah, there’s definitely something not what it seems there.
And a legend is born...
Chapter 34:
“God created Arrakis to train the faithful.” It fits about as well as anything else.
The funeral for Jamis begins, and after a bit of Jessica considering her crappy new life in the desert, Paul reveals he has to take part as the one who killed Jamis, and thus as the one who owns the water drained from his body, to replace what he lost in the fight. He doesn’t want to but Jessica talks him into it, as after all, they can’t insult the Fremen now. Paul sums it up with a religious quote, leading to a rather disturbing section of how the Bene Gesserit have altered all kinds of religions. They’re pretty much the Vorlons here.
Jamis’ body is laid out with all his belongings, including a baliset which causes Paul to consider that only a few of the futures he’s seen involve meeting Halleck again. But seeing as we were allowed to check in with Halleck after he escaped the palace, I’d say it’s going to happen. Several people take something while telling how Jamis helped them, and Paul slowly realizes he’s supposed to say something, with even Jessica taking part to try to encourage him. So he takes the baliset and thanks Jamis for teaching him the price of killing someone, and then he cries which is naturally a pretty big deal with the whole water thing. Just more of Paul becoming the mythic Muad’Dib.
After the water is drained from the body, Paul accepts it along with rings that are how they measure water…somehow. There’s a quite unexpected Crowning Moment Of Funny when Paul asks Chani to hold them for him, and soon realizes that’s how Fremen handle courtship. Everyone heads down to the group’s water storage, also letting Paul and Jessica get a look at the way they funnel air down the cave to extract its moisture. And Paul sees that it’s now only with the death of everyone here that he can stop the Dark Messiah vision. Or whatever it really is.
Stilgar tells Jessica there are thousands of these water collections, but they’re disciplined enough that no one ever takes more than their fair share. It’s all being stored in preparation for the terraforming, which Stilgar makes something of a Badass Boast out of. Jessica sees that Kynes gave them the idea, and Paul can use it to take his place and get the Fremen to follow him. Yeah, there’s the kind of Prophecy Twist I can get behind.
As they walk outside again, Chani asks Paul about the waters of his homeworld, like in the vision, except she calls him Paul-Muad’Dib instead of Usul. That’s a nice subtle reminder of how pliable the future is. Jessica sees them getting closer and wants to warn Paul of something about Fremen women. And Paul, even as he sings Chani a love song, now considers Jessica his enemy and the main factor in causing that vision to come true. So we’re back on that again, are we?
Chapter 35:
Muad’Dib says something about progress protecting us from fear of the future. Most of these have been pretty good, but I’m calling Ice-Cream Koan on this one.
It’s Feyd-Rautha’s seventeenth birthday, and oddly enough our current viewpoint characters are the completely new Count and Lady Fenring, who have been invited to watch him in gladiator games. This is the first time we’ve seen Giedi Prime outside the palace, and it’s a Crapsaccharine World covering up its rampant poverty, which I’m guessing is based on America’s own Gilded Age. Harkonnen has also become Properly Paranoid after killing Leto, with trained guards even in servant roles.
Herbert actually predicts bell-bottoms with Feyd-Rautha’s fighting outfit. Not quite Jules Verne and the submarine, but you take what you can get. Count Fenring turns out to be another dangerous man, who uses Obfuscating Stupidity with appearing to be a weak old man with a Verbal Tic. Feyd-Rautha doesn’t pick up on it and freaks Harkonnen out a bit by hitting on his wife, but as he leaves she’s revealed as another Bene Gesserit who thinks he needs to be protected. Jessica’s daughter isn’t even born yet; it may be time to let that plan go.
Harkonnen and Fenring have a private talk, with another Hilarious in Hindsight as they use a “cone of silence.” Though given how popular the book was, I wouldn’t be surprised if the machine from Get Smart was a direct reference. Fenring tells him the Emperor isn’t happy with how the Fremen aren’t yet wiped out, with Harkonnen again saying they’re nothing to worry about. Then follows a duel of Magnificent Bastards, each holding a few things over the other. Though it does seem rather disappointingly that Hawat’s Face–Heel Turn has already happened off-page, though it was mainly due to the poison so there wouldn’t be much to see anyway. Neither wins before they have to go to the fight, so we’re left with a promising Evil Versus Evil subplot to replace the lost characters.
Harkonnen has hung the bull head and the painting of Leto’s father in his own palace, just as one more bit of Kick the Dog. Though by now he’s a bit freaked out by them, so there may be more purpose to it. Fenring gets one more hit in by hinting that Feyd-Rautha has been accused of a crime against the Emperor, with Harkonnen in no position to press him on it. Though when they’re alone in their private seats in the arena, he offers that he’s really here to judge if Feyd-Rautha is a suitable heir, despite the Emperor having promised Harkonnen his own choice when this started. We’ve now got two Big Bads on pretty much equal level, which should add quite a bit to the climax.
Feyd-Rautha enters the ring, and we switch to his perspective to learn that he’s carrying two knives, of which the opposite one as usual is poisoned. Yes, we get it, they’re evil. He Mind Screws his uncle with Lady Fenring again, but then dedicates his performance to Harkonnen. And it turns out this is a Batman Gambit by Hawat to frame the slavemaster for trying to kill Feyd-Rautha for unknown reasons. For now I’m guessing Hawat’s using Feyd-Rautha as his Xanatos Sucker in a longer con to get his hands on the antidote.
The slave he’ll be facing comes in, and Feyd-Rautha has a pretty fun Oh, Crap! as he realizes it’s one of Leto’s soldiers. Hawat told him this was to make himself look like a hero for surviving a rigged fight and then get his own agent made the new slavemaster, but now he wonders if there’s a bigger plan Hawat’s running. As the slave demonstrates that he’s not drugged like usual, Feyd-Rautha also considers how part of the plan is to make Harkonnen think this is an attempt on his own life; I call Hawat trying to turn them against each other. The man is quite a Determinator and there’s even a cool moment where he uses a spear stuck in his arm to block Feyd-Rautha’s knife, but he’s also been conditioned to be paralyzed on the word “scum,” so there’s never any real doubt how this will end. Though he does get his own Dying Moment of Awesome when he overcomes it to kill himself rather than die from the poison, and to keep Feyd-Rautha from bragging to everyone as it happened.
Harkonnen is fooled completely, and even suspects the Fenrings were involved. The next bit of the ceremony is for Feyd-Rautha to cut off the slave’s head, but instead he declares the man earned an intact burial. Naturally, this gets everyone loving him even more, making him another Magnificent Bastard in his own right and a possible third party in the Evil Versus Evil fight. It also forces Harkonnen to order a celebration to keep the people on his side too.
Outside, the Fenrings have immediately figured out the entire act, and now they want to recruit Hawat themselves. And for now, Lady Fenring is going to seduce Feyd-Rautha and get impregnated by him, plus implant some conditioning phrases into him. That should make for a nice Hoist by His Own Petard later on. Plus, Lady Fenring isn’t falling for Paul and Jessica’s No One Could Survive That!, thanks to the Bene Gesserit teaching that even seeing someone’s body may not be proof that they’re dead. Things are really getting fun now.
You know, seeing someone take a second look at the novel reminds me exactly how many simultaneous Xanatos Gamits were running at the same time there. it's really quite impressive.
I dont think I could be married to Lady Fenring.
Chapter 36:
The quote's by Stilgar this time, talking about Muad'Dib learning all the ways of the Fremen. Let's get to that now.
The Fremen arrive back at their home; I guess I misread that last place they stopped which was just a temporary resting place. After a bit of getting used to the smells of the place, the word comes in on Kynes' death, but Paul barely has time to process it before he has to meet Jamis' wife Harah. She first seems like a natural match for the guy but then immediately accepts when she hears about the whole legend thing. Then the really awkward part: for killing Jamis, Paul's now responsible for Harah for a year and can take her as either wife or servant. He picks the latter, with some pretty fun cross-purposes dialogue between Harah and Stilgar.
But immediately afterward Harah is given a bit more depth, as she privately admits she knows she's not as young as she protests, having had one more husband before Jamis. There's a bit more Values Dissonance talk on her perfect acceptance of Jamis' death, plus info on how they collect dew, which unfortunately Paul needs to have explained to him which makes him kind of look like a moron. Also on the tour: the Fremen have to move around all the time with the Sardaukar hunting them, and they’re continuing to pass on the things Kynes taught them.
They reach the bedroom, where there’s a fun inversion of the usual exotic beauty routine: Harah finds Paul’s non-blue eyes strangely attractive. She leaves to get some food, and Paul contemplates his navel for a while over his new situation, capped off when he meets the two kids he’s inherited along with Harah. That’ll be quite the complication to anything happening with Chani.
edited 20th Sep '10 9:15:47 AM by Eegah
Chapter 37:
Just a weird little description of Muad’Dib giving prophecies this time; nothing new there.
Tens of thousands of Fremen gather in a particularly large cave, where Jessica will do something that risks her life to solidify their place here. Before we find out what it is, we see Paul has bonded a bit with Jamis’ sons Kaleff and Orlop, and they’ve now appointed themselves his bodyguards. Chani comes out with the group’s Reverend Mother, and Stilgar exposits for the crowd that she won’t survive the coming journey to their new home, so Jessica is taking her place. Chani steps in as the new Sayyadina, which apparently just involves the crowd accepting her after the Reverend Mother, Ramallo, says a few things. I remain unmoved by any of the Bene Gesserit stuff.
Some bags full of mysterious spice-smelling liquid are brought out, and Chani goes through more mumbo jumbo before Jessica is asked to drink. She wimps out a bit, having no idea if it’s poisoned, so Chani force feeds her a bunch and she turns into a Sense Freak, even suspended in time somehow. This lets her look inside her body and rearrange some molecules to nullify the poison. I was fine for quite a long time there, but now I’m totally lost again. But it gets weirder: she and Ramallo have a mind meld, and Ramallo has a quite unexpected Oh, Crap! when she realizes Jessica is pregnant; this process would kill a male fetus, and her daughter will likely still be altered in some way as Ramallo pours all her memories into Jessica’s mind. Quite the piece of Nightmare Fuel if you view it the right way, with this innocent mind being bombarded with a whole life’s worth of memories.
Rather conveniently, the memory exchange also lets Jessica know how to finish the ritual, and she’s taken on an exponential tour of all the previous memories that have gone through this cycle, which includes the Empire enslaving Fremen in the past, some of whom became Sardaukar. And what she just drank is liquid that comes from a dying sandworm. Why not, let’s follow the Nightmare Fuel with Nausea Fuel.
Now it’s time for everyone to have a drink, including Paul who now knows full well what will happen with his prescience. Except its effects also push his visions into everyone else’s minds, so Chani hurries him away to another room. She sees that they may have a child in the future, but Paul’s not really in a place to discuss it. He now sees all his enemies allied against him…including the Bene Gesserit, promising a glorious Screw You, Elves! to come. And he sees Chani by his side in that future, so he takes the opportunity to start that relationship in the present, as she gets the Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming line: “I see us giving love to each other in a time of quiet between storms. It’s what we were meant to do.”
That’s the end of book two, and quite a ride it was. The two books really have pretty distinct styles, with the armchair scheming of book one set against the wall to wall action of book two. Hopefully the third will feature the perfect combination of the two as the climax arrives and the new round of scheming that’s been started pays off.
The Ant King
In Dune, Reverend Mothers have the memories of every single one of their ancestors. The kid isn't getting a lifetime of memories; it's getting an eon's worth of memories.
Kill all math nerds
An eon of Bene Gesserit memories at that.
I always wondered if every generation remembers every generation remembering every generation remembering every generation...
Book Three: The Prophet
Chapter 38:
Irulan gives us more on Fenring; he was childhood friends with the Emperor and played a big role in covering up what happened on Arrakis, though he also refused to kill a certain man when the emperor ordered it. She's going into the foreshadowing business now.
Harkonnen talks to his guard captain Nefud, with a nicely subtle bit of exposition that lets us know there's been a two year Time Skip. For a while Nefud's been ordered to keep a close eye on Feyd-Rautha, and fell down on the job recently resulting in an assassination attempt. Feyd-Rautha arrives and confirms it for us, though Harkonnen still has the upper hand by not only surviving but knowing who his contacts are in the guards. Plus he orders Nefud to kill them and the slavemaster with lame excuses. Score one for the uncle against the nephew.
But Harkonnen still needs Feyd-Rautha to fulfill his role in the plan for Arrakis, and is a bit proud at how well he's taking this. Though he still lets Feyd-Rautha have a moment of fear when he asks for a private conversation. They talk completely openly, with Feyd-Rautha also having learned never to kill anyone himself, so Mohiam won't see that he's lying when he reports it. Harkonnen's also figured out his scheme with the fight. Though one thing he keeps to himself is that Hawat warned him of the attempt, though for now he'll let Feyd-Rautha think he saw through it on his own. The war of the Magnificent Bastards is just as good as I was hoping.
For now Harokonnen wants a deal that his plans will stop, as he's giving Feyd-Rautha the throne anyway, and he's setting Hawat to watch him now. Feyd-Rautha thinks back to when Hawat came up with the idea for the rigged fight, further supporting my theory that he's just playing both of them. Harkonnen expands a bit on his control over Hawat, as he's directed Hawat's need for revenge against the Emperor rather than himself. This may just become a full-blown Enemy Civil War soon. Feyd-Rautha agrees to stop for now...but first his punishment will be killing all his slave women himself. Yeah, top off this fun round of Xanatos Speed Chess with a petty Kick the Dog; why not?
Chapter 39:
Muad'Dib says the universe is beyond logic. That would certainly explain a few things here.
Hawat meets with Harkonnen, his thoughts confirming that he's trying to bring the whole thing down. He's insisted Rabban be sent a warning about the Sardaukar, then shares with Harkonnen that they're all Boxed Crooks, even as he's a bit surprised Harkonnen doesn't already know this. Finally we get the full story of the Emperor's motivation: Halleck and Idaho's men had been trained to fight just as well as the Sardaukar, and he feared they'd try to overthrow him. Not the least predictable villain motivation I've heard, but it works.
But Hawat also brings up the Fremen as the Emperor's main interest in Arrakis, and how they're still a threat despite all the thousands that have been killed on Rabban's watch. And in fact, only the strong ones are left now. So he suggests they recruit from the Fremen to go against the Emperor before he can do the same to them. Harkonnen remembers his offhand comment to Fenring at the fight about making Arrakis a prison planet, which is probably what gave the Emperor the idea. This plays right into Hawat's hands, so he suggests Harkonnen cut Rabban off from any more assistance, cleaning his own hands of any of Rabban's oppression and making the Fremen more willing to work for him. This gets Harkonnen to open up about his plan for Feyd-Rautha, as the two schemes go together perfectly.
Harkonnen keeps his own Magnificent Bastard status by not actually accepting all this as easily as it seemed, while Hawat is revealed to still be in contact with Halleck, who's informed him about the religion that's popped up around one Muad'Dib. And we're reminded that Hawat still thinks Jessica was the traitor, which I really hope has a good payoff as it's long gotten tiresome.
Chapter 40:
Muad’Dib talks about all things in nature having a natural pattern, that always ends in death. If he starts going on about Phi, I’m out of here.
After two years of seeing into the past and the future, Paul has started to lose his grip on which is which, quite a piece of High Octane Nightmare Fuel in its own right reminiscent of Inception. But it does give a handy way of what he’s been up to all this time, including his sister Alia being born and having his own son with Chani, Leto II. Plus a raid on Arrakeen where he was able to retrieve his father’s skull and enshrine it in Fremen tradition. Paul has taught Chani and a few others the weirding way, which would seem to wreck our opportunity to learn just what it is, so I’ll just accept it as some vague super secret fighting technique. At first there were several challengers to Paul, but they dropped off after Chani intercepted and killed one herself.
Jessica is worried about Paul’s growing influence because, to quote Neroon, “Religion and politics mixing together? Never a good idea.” And I agree; no matter how worthy Paul might be of this position, he’s going to recruit some people to his cause that will go too far with it, and that’s how you get that Dark Messiah vision. She also didn’t accept Chani as his wife at first, but had to give in once a new Atreides heir came out of it. That memory lets him anchor himself in the present again, kind of a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming.
Followed by a bit of a Tearjerker as Paul remembers seeing Halleck during an encounter with the smuggling gang, but unable to reveal himself so the Harkonnens couldn’t find him. For now, Paul is in the deep desert with Chani and a few guards, to capture his own sandworm for the first time in the Fremen manhood ritual. He and Chani talk a bit about how the male Fremen have all gone off on his campaign against the Harkonnens with the women all left to tend to the home. Yay, more ‘60s gender politics. Then comes Alia, who can already talk and act like an adult, which is Uncanny Valley enough that the Fremen are having a hard time accepting her. I think I just found another reason why David Lynch wanted to make a movie out of this.
The beginning of the ritual is carried out and Stilgar arrives, along with the banner from the vision that will undoubtedly come to pass in Paul’s name if he dies here. More of the ritual, then Paul heads out to plant a thumper, also taking a pair of those hooks that were mentioned before and confirming what they’re for. They hold a portion of the worms’ bodies open so they won’t dive into the sand, and also rotate to put the exposed section on top and away from any irritation, which also lets them be turned by sliding it around. Again, for a supposed soft sci-fi story, I’m impressed by the thought put into this. The worm that he calls is bigger than any he’s seen before, and we’re left on that cliffhanger though there’s no way I’m buying that he’ll be killed now.
The Ant King
In the David Lynch film, the weirding way is some super-secret sonic technology the Atreides built, as opposed to the Bene Gesserit fighting style it is in the book.
Kill all math nerds
After seeing part two of the miniseries, I laughed out loud when Jessica sees Paul staring at a hot topless chick and her mind instantly goes to "She must be the one he's been dreaming about." Yeah, I'm sure there can't be any other reason he's so distracted by her.
I am pretty intrigued, though, with how the miniseries gives Irulan a larger role (read: any role), with her appearing in the big dinner scene and then seducing Feyd-Rautha to find out her father's role in the scheme. I'm very interested to see where they're going with this, and to see how it compares to the book.
X_X
Heh; I observed the exact same thing about the former scene in my liveblog.
In the David Lynch film, the weirding way is some super-secret sonic technology the Atreides built, as opposed to the Bene Gesserit fighting style it is in the book.
◊" that weaponize the sound of one's voice, it appeared. And at one point, it took only one of them to blow up an entire Harkonnen ship overhead. Yeah, big difference from a close-range fighting style. I chalk that isolated incident up to any one of the following properties:
a. Power increases as needed by the plot
b. Wielded by Patrick Stewart
c. Harkonnen ships powered by nitroglycerine
Knowing the characterization of the Harkonnens in that film, I'm leaning toward C.
Ce ne pas un post.
I am pretty intrigued, though, with how the miniseries gives Irulan a larger role (read: any role)
Chapter 41:
An unusual start with Muad'Dib's secret message to the Landsraad, that rather vague Senate-like organization that's been brought up now and then. It tells them more or less to start looking closer at the Emperor, though in the roundabout way that's usual for these things.
Jessica rests in her new room, knowing Paul is taking the sandworm test despite everyone trying to keep it from her. She takes an anonymous gift of coffee, marveling that this is the one society where she doesn't have to check for poison, plus that everyone eating spice all the time has given the community a low-level mind meld with each other that they don't even realize so they can anticipate each other's wants and needs. She also thinks it'll be at least four more years before they can challenge the Harkonnens again, so we may be headed for a Day of the Triffids ending picked up in the sequels though I really hope not. They just come off as desperate writer's block more often than not.
Harah and Alia arrive, and Alia gets her Creepy Child on with having spyed on a baby being born and stopping its crying by touching it. She's also freaking everyone out by an Uncanny Valley sitting and staring while moving only one muscle. But Harah's figured out what's really going on, and now it's up to her to try to explain to everyone else. There's a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming where Harah insists to Alia that she isn't a freak, and then Alia describes her own point of view of having those memories thrust into her, oddly reminiscent of River Tam forced to feel every surface emotion.
They're interrupted by some kind of ceremony I think is a funeral, and then one of Stilgar's wives comes in to report that a group of men are going to push Paul into challenging Stilgar once he's passed the test. As Reverend Mother, Jessica can't interfere, but Alia and Harah go to see what they can do. But first Harah clears the air a little, saying she's not jealous of Chani, as Chani herself won't marry Paul if she thinks it won't be in his interest. Harah's really become a surprisingly deep character in her brief page time.
edited 23rd Sep '10 10:12:38 AM by Eegah
Chapter 42:
A bit of pondering on the inevitability of politics entering religion. Since I'm also reading Safehold right now, I can dig it.
The sandworm comes up, and Paul climbs it and resists showing off as he simply steers around to let everyone else on. But despite all the flowery descriptions of the act, it's kept from CMOA status by Stilgar admonishing him for such a sloppy job that only succeeded by luck. One more nice steering away from making him a Mary Sue.
Paul challenges Stilgar on where they'll ride from here, and Stilgar assumes Paul will challenge him soon. But he accepts this gracefully, even as Paul thinks of how he'll try to avoid doing it. This goes back and forth a bit before an ornithopter arrives and everyone has to jump off, with a pretty tense sequence involving Paul having to run back along the worm as it dives before they're safe. The intruders were smugglers, and Paul comes up with a plan to bait them and make sure they don't sell anything they saw. And I'll guess right now these are the people Halleck is with and we'll finally get the reunion we were teased with before.
Chapter 43:
More on politics and religion, and how it can lead to a loss of the sense of self. We kind of covered this last time.
Halleck sees the spice collection that Paul talked about to bait the trap, and leads a group out. One more, I Knew It!! A bit of Technology Porn as his team gets out, along with the neat little detail that Halleck doesn’t wear his stillsuit’s face mask, preferring being able to shout long distances over retaining all his water. The trap is sprung and there’s the expected Let's You and Him Fight before Paul reveals himself and that shouting ability comes in handy to stop the fight.
Then the Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming as Paul and Halleck hug, repeating their old nicknames for each other. Halleck also is able to answer himself why Paul never got word to him, as he’d lead the Harkonnens wherever he went. Paul introduces Stilgar, and it turns out all of Halleck’s men are either dead or long gone, with only him staying for revenge. Things get a bit darker: Paul is more concerned for the equipment needlessly destroyed than the men thanks to living as a Fremen for two years.
Halleck has sandworm riding demonstrated for him, which Paul explicates is the kind of thing his father meant by “desert power.” Halleck is still disturbed by how Paul talks like he’s a Fremen, having spent his own two years in a culture where going native is frowned on. But he still signs on for the final attack on the Harkonnens, having lived for nothing else all that time as well. He’s introduced to Chani, just in time for a storm to blow in. He and Paul discuss the smugglers, given that some of them are naturally untrustworthy, and may even be Sardaukar. Though with only five chapters left, the focus really should be more on wrapping some things up.
There’s a bit of a funny moment where Halleck realizes Paul is Muad’Dib, and thinks back over what a Memetic Badass he’s become. But Paul’s also been making Halleck one among the Fremen, as we learn when Stilgar retrieves his baliset. They all head inside, where the Fremen immediately ferret out the Sardaukar and kill all but three of them. Paul gets a new Crowning Moment Of Awesome when he steps right up to the leader and thoroughly intimidates him using both the Bene Gesserit voice and his own badassery until he surrenders, even killing one of his two men who tries to keep fighting.
Paul tells Korba, the man who missed the Sardaukars’ weapons, just how Crazy-Prepared they can be, including the rather squicky detail of having transmitters in false toenails. He briefly goes Guile Hero as he orders the two remaining Sardaukar to be released, but instead of explaining he hands one of their knives to Stilgar and convinces him they don’t ever have to fight, and Stilgar can stay in control while Paul goes back to Arakeen. Another amusing bit with Halleck having severe Continuity Lockout over the whole exchange, but then Chani is sent to get Jessica, and Halleck still thinks she’s the traitor too. Hey, this is finally going somewhere! But it’ll have to wait for next time.
edited 24th Sep '10 11:34:50 AM by Eegah
Chapter 44:
Muad’Dib muses that an angry man is often in denial over something. Not really digging that one.
Paul now has to sell the idea of not challenging Stilgar to the rest of the Fremen, though he’s developed a plan based on an intercepted message about Rabban being denied further support. But to start out he just lays bare the logic of the situation, which doesn’t get him much sympathy. Then he announces the message, and puts his father’s ring on to symbolize that it’s now time to take Arrakis back. Plus, there’s the way everyone already knows he can beat them all, so fighting for real will just deplete their numbers needlessly. Stilgar backs him up, and finally everyone comes around; that calls for another Crowning Moment Of Awesome. And it turns out the film’s famous Narm line “Long live the fighters!” is a bastardized version of their accepting chant.
Then Paul goes Off the Rails of the plan by enlisting Stilgar in the Atreides fashion, freaking Jessica out until it works. Oh, and guess what, this was all part of the prophecy too. When will these people get enough of that? Jessica is left alone in Paul’s room, where she considers that he’ll need a marriage alliance with another great house if he’s going to reclaim his dukedom. So, did you miss the last couple minutes? I’d say he can do whatever he wants with the sheer force of awesomeness.
And now time for things to really get awkward, as Paul brought her here to meet Halleck again. He’s become Crazy-Prepared on how to deal with her, and lays out all the tricks he’ll kill her for once Paul enters. Funnily enough, Jessica’s reaction is pretty much “You have got to be kidding me.” Paul tries to talk him down by spelling everything out, almost to a Hannibal Lecture level, which becomes quite a Tearjerker as both he and Jessica are very affected by having to think about Yueh’s betrayal again. And when Halleck believes him, it goes even further and merges with Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming as Jessica sees how strong Paul has become and apologizes for all her manipulations, encouraging him to stay with Chani if it makes him happy.
And it keeps on coming, as Halleck wants them to kill him for his misunderstanding, but both Paul and Jessica encourage him that they hold nothing against him, and he starts playing one of Jessica’s old favorites as Paul leaves them alone. It’s about an old soldier who can’t move on from his war memories despite his peaceful surroundings, as if this needed any more emotional pounding. Paul is told the Fremen Council will be meeting soon, but now he’s unnerved by having never predicted that scene he just left, and decides to kill the miniature sandworm being kept in the cave to have the Reverend Mother drink himself, which is also the test for the Kwisatz Haderach. It would have been nice to know this before, but this chapter was such an emotional drainer I don’t really care.
The Ant King
I always wondered how the Fremen get the minature sandworms.
Kill all math nerds
It's mentioned that it's kept from growing by being kept in a small container, like a goldfish.
Chapter 32:
Muad'Dib says the Fremen have mastered holding back on their desires. Yeah, you'd think so. Though Jamis being so eager to kill him last time shows some flaws too.
Paul and Jessica reach Stilgar's home, with plenty more Scenery Porn. The Fremen choose their leaders by Asskicking Equals Authority, so now everyone's looking to Jessica to teach them how to fight, though Stilgar's still the leader until she formally challenges him. He confirms that they're bribing the Guild to keep satellites away, as they're slowly terraforming Arrakis for several generations down the line. And then the payoff to all those hints about the sandworms, which the HSQ completely makes worth it: the Fremen ride them. And this isn't even given that much attention, since Stilgar doesn't think it's any kind of big deal, a clever piece of writing that promises much more will be made of it later.
Stilgar offers to marry Jessica to resolve the inevitable need for one to defeat the other for leadership one day, but she can also take the position of a Sayyadina, which has something to do with the group's own Reverend Mother. He's actually nicely covering his bases here, waiting for the prophecied words from her yet not giving any hint to what they are to let the prophecy stand or fall on its own. That's something I wish we'd see more of. Luckily, the Bene Gesserit have already tipped the scales a bit, so she knows the poem they'll be expecting from what Stilgar said about having their own Reverend Mother.
Paul, meanwhile, has eaten some Fremen food, and all the spice in it unlocks his abilities again. And this time he really has to work to not be overwhelmed by all the possible futures that are constantly changing, especially as the moment he's in now is a particularly important turning point based on what he does next. And most of those futures end with him getting a knife in the back, one more nice way to put limits on his powers.