Duncan Macmillan's Key Ideas from Dune
by Frank Herbert

Thus spoke St Alia-Of-The-Knife. 'The referend Mother must combine the seductive wins of the 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.

(Part 1) You have read that Muad'Dib had no playmates his age on Caladan. The dangers were too great. But Muad'Dib did have wonderful companion-teachers. There was Gurney Halleck, the troubadour-warrior. You will sing some of Gurney's songs as you read along in this book. There was Thufir Hawat, the old Mentat Master of Assasins, who struck fear into the heart of the Padishah Emperor.

(Part 2) There were Duncan Idaho, the sword Master of the Ginaz; Dr Wellington Yueh, a name black in teachers but bright in knowledge; the Lady Jessica, who guided her son in the Bene Gesserit Way, and - of course - the Duke Leto, whose qualities as a father have long been overlooked.

YUEH (yü'ē), Wellington (wel'ing-tŭn), Stdrd 10,082-10,191; medical doctor of the Suk School (grd Stdrd 10,112); md: Wanna Marcus, B.G. (Stdrd 10,092-10,186?); chiefly noted as betrayer of Duke Leto Atreides. (Cf: Bibliography, Appendix VII [Imperial Conditioning] and betrayal, The.)

How do we approach the study of Muad'Dib's father? A man of surpassing warmth and suprising 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?

(Part 1) With the Lady Jessica and Arrakis, the Bene Gesserit system of sowing implant-legends through the Missionaria Protectiva came to its full fruition. The wisdom of seeing the known universe with a prophecy pattern for the protection of B.G. personnel has long been appreciated, but never have we seen a condition-ut-extremis with more ideal mating of person and preparation.

(Part 2) The prophetic legends had taken on Arrakis even to the extent of adopted labels (including Reverend Mother, Canto and respondu, and most of the Shari-a panoply propheticus). And it is generally accepted now that the Lady Jessica's latent abilities were grossly underestimated.