Editing Bene Gesserit (section)

== Goals, strategies, and ritual ==

===Breeding program===
<!-- This section is the redirect destination of [[Kwisatz Haderach]] -->
The ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, up to the end of the novel ''Dune'', is the creation of a male Bene Gesserit they call the Kwisatz Haderach ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|w|ɪ|s|ɑː|t|s|_|ˈ|h|ɑː|d|ər|æ|k}},<ref name="Pronunciation">{{Cite web |url=http://www.usul.net/books/sounds.htm |title=Audio excerpts from a reading of ''Dune'' by Frank Herbert |publisher=Usul.net |access-date=October 6, 2010}}</ref> defined by Herbert as "The Shortening of the Way", the term comes from the Hebrew mystical term [[Kefitzat haderech|Kefitzat Haderech]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weingrad |first=Michael |date=March 29, 2015 |title=Jews of ''Dune'' |url=https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/1633/jews-of-dune/ |website=Jewish Review of Books}}</ref>). They intend to achieve this superbeing through a massive human breeding program, which they have conducted for countless generations; using careful manipulations of relationships and breeding sisters to "collect" key genes, the Bene Gesserit have controlled and finessed bloodlines through the ages. Also called "the one who can be two places simultaneously" or "the one who can be many places at once", the Kwisatz Haderach, with mental powers that would bridge space and time and access to both male and female lines in Other Memory, will be an overt figure in the Bene Gesserit's manipulations and thrust upon the universe as a [[messiah]].<ref name="Kwisatz">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |chapter=Terminology of the Imperium: Kwisatz Haderach |date=1965}}</ref>

In ''Dune'', the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme is, in theory, to have come to full fruition from the union of an [[House Atreides|Atreides]] daughter (planned to be born of the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica and the [[Leto I Atreides|Duke Leto Atreides]]) and [[Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen]], nephew of the Baron [[Vladimir Harkonnen]] (himself secretly the natural father of Lady Jessica). This plan is disrupted when Jessica chooses to conceive an Atreides son rather than the daughter she had been ordered to produce. This son, Paul Atreides, later proves to be the Kwisatz Haderach, born a generation early. Political intrigue results in Paul's rise to power as Emperor of the Known Universe, secured by his stranglehold on the melange supply. A decade later, in ''Dune Messiah'', the Bene Gesserit are frustrated to be at the mercy of their own creation, but a conspiracy to remove Paul from power fails. He realizes, however, that while prescience grants knowledge, absolute control of outcomes is not possible due to interference patterns caused by their own actions. Despising the religion that has risen up around him and seeing where it will lead, Paul walks into the desert seeking death in hopes that he can change the course of the future. Paul's son [[Leto II Atreides|Leto II]] is also a Kwisatz Haderach; seeing the same future, Leto decides to do what his father could not. He takes control of both the empire and the Bene Gesserit breeding program in ''Children of Dune'', and begins his own transformation into a human-[[sandworm (Dune)|sandworm]] hybrid to give himself the time he needs for his [[Golden Path (Dune)|Golden Path]] to be fully realized. Thirty-five hundred years later, his breeding plan produces [[Siona Atreides]], the first in a line of humans who are able to disappear from prescient sight, and Leto allows himself to be assassinated. After 1,500 more years (as chronicled in ''Heretics of Dune'' and ''Chapterhouse Dune''), the Bene Gesserit have restored their breeding program. However, they are too terrified of the consequences of producing another Kwisatz Haderach, so instead breed for special individuals of great talent and usefulness in order to amplify certain human characteristics and preserve them. Now aware of Leto's Golden Path, the Bene Gesserit widen their goals of advancing humanity and saving it from extinction.

The behind-the-scenes intrigues of the breeding program are illuminated in the ''[[Prelude to Dune]]'' prequel trilogy (1999–2001) as the program nears fruition in the time immediately prior to the novel ''Dune''. The origins of the program are explored in the ''Legends of Dune'' prequel series. Over 10,000 years before the events of ''Dune'', the Sorceresses of Rossak had started keeping detailed breeding records circa 400 B.G., trying to improve the potency and prevalence of their telekinetic powers. In 108 B.G., the Sorceresses begin collecting genetic samples of various human bloodlines, which were in jeopardy from a catastrophic virus genetically engineered and unleashed by the thinking machines.

In ''[[Sandworms of Dune]]'' (2007), written by [[Brian Herbert]] and [[Kevin J. Anderson]], [[Duncan Idaho]] is revealed to be the final Kwisatz Haderach destined to bring together humans and thinking machines.  While he is not a product of a breeding program, his multiple rebirths and deaths as a ghola throughout the series had given him the opportunity to gain experience and develop himself as no other human could.

=== Avoiding direct power ===
The Bene Gesserit choose to use indirect methodologies to further their goals, rather than wield overt power themselves. They have noted the [[Taoist]] principle that whatever rises must fall; and so rather than taking direct control of the human race, they instead manipulate the social and political order with subtlety and insinuation, often using extraordinarily long-term stratagems spanning generations. The Bene Gesserit avoid appearing too rich or powerful, or revealing the extent of their powers, to prevent being seen as overtly responsible for the rise and fall of governments and empires, and to avoid any organized backlash. To this end, the Bene Gesserit provide some of their trained initiates as wives and concubines, and will train the daughters of noble families for a fee.<ref name="Dune"/><ref name="God Emperor fee"/>

In ''Dune'', [[Padishah Emperor]] of the known universe [[Shaddam IV]] keeps the wise but calculating Bene Gesserit Truthsayer [[Gaius Helen Mohiam|Mohiam]] by his side at all times. The Emperor's deceased wife, [[Anirul]], had been a "Bene Gesserit of Hidden Rank", and Herbert notes that every one of their five daughters is Bene Gesserit-trained.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |chapter=Appendix IV: The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected Excerpts of the Noble Houses): Shaddam IV |year=1965 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |year=1965 }}</ref> In fact, Shaddam is kept without a male heir on specific orders from the Sisterhood, and is bound by an agreement that only a daughter will ascend his throne.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |year=1965 |chapter=''In My Father's House'' ([[Epigraph (literature)|Epigraph]], Princess Irulan)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |year=1965 |chapter=''In My Father's House'' (Epigraph, Princess Irulan)}}</ref> The Bene Gesserit had also placed their acolyte Jessica (herself the product of a secret Bene Gesserit liaison with the Baron Harkonnen) as the concubine to Duke Leto Atreides, and married the Bene Gesserit [[Margot Fenring|Margot]] to Shaddam's close friend and minion [[Count Fenring]].<ref name="Dune"/> After Shaddam's eldest daughter [[Princess Irulan]] is forced into marriage to Paul to secure his claim to the Imperial throne, in ''Children of Dune'' Irulan's loyalty to the Sisterhood gives them false hope that she can help them topple Paul, or at least control his offspring. Later in ''God Emperor of Dune'', Herbert establishes that despite Leto's many restrictions on them, the Bene Gesserit still train young noblewomen for a price.<ref name="God Emperor fee"/> In fact, when Leto meets [[Hwi Noree]], the [[Ix (Dune)|Ixian]] ambassador obviously bred and trained to charm him, he realizes "that part of her education had been conducted by the Bene Gesserit. She had their way of controlling her responses, of sensing the undertones in a conversation. He could see, however, that the Bene Gesserit overlay had been a delicate thing, never penetrating the basic sweetness of her nature."<ref name="God Emperor">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=God Emperor of Dune |year=1981 }}</ref>

=== Missionaria Protectiva ===

{{blockquote|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 seeding 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. 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 panoplia propheticus). And it is generally accepted now that the Lady Jessica's latent abilities were grossly underestimated.|from ''Analysis: The Arrakeen Crisis'' by the Princess Irulan }}

The Bene Gesserit practice "religious engineering" through the Missionaria Protectiva, which spreads "infectious superstitions on primitive worlds, thus opening those regions to exploitation by the Bene Gesserit".<ref name="Term MP">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |year=1965 |chapter=Terminology of the Imperium: Missionaria Protectiva}}</ref> Collectively known as Panoplia Prophetica, these myths, prophecies, and superstitions provide the opportunity for a Bene Gesserit to later cast herself as a guide, protector, or some other figure in fulfillment of a prophecy in order to manipulate the religious subjects for protection or other purposes. These myths also exploit religion as a powerful force in human society; by controlling the particulars of religion, the Bene Gesserit have a manipulative lever on society in general. The Bene Gesserit also employ the Missionaria Protectiva to prepare the Empire for its Kwisatz Haderach.

In ''Dune'', Jessica and Paul take refuge among the Fremen after the attack on House Atreides. With his mother's guidance, Paul is able to make use of the planted myths by claiming to be the "[[mahdi]]", a [[messiah|messianic]] figure from legendary material planted among the Fremen by the Missionaria Protectiva. That the mahdi legend has been planted on Dune indicates to Jessica that conditions on Dune are truly awful, since this legend is reserved for only the harshest environments where a Bene Gesserit would need the maximum advantage over surrounding influences. Paul's meteoric rise to power is greatly facilitated by his association with the mahdi legend. Later, in ''Heretics of Dune'', the Bene Gesserit plan to use Reverend Mother Sheeana's ability to control the great sandworms to build her into a religious figure around whom they can fashion a mass devoted following, uniting many factions in the universe under the Bene Gesserit and against the forces of the Scattering.

===Spice agony===
The '''spice agony''' is an ordeal in which an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit takes a poisonous "awareness spectrum" narcotic and, by internally changing the substance and neutralizing its toxicity, gains access to [[Other Memory]], the combined ego and memories of all her female ancestors. In ''Dune'', Lady Jessica notes that the ritual originated with the "discovery of the poison drug on [[Rossak]]", although by her time, the Rossak drug has long since been replaced by melange. On [[Arrakis]], the Fremen Reverend Mothers use a poison called [[Water of Life (Dune)|Water of Life]], which is the exhalation of a drowning "little maker" (small sandworm) in water. In the Fremen version of the rite, after the ordeal the Reverend Mother also provides the changed poison for the [[sietch orgy]].

An acolyte unable to effect this change dies. Only women have ever survived the agony, but through their breeding program the Bene Gesserit seek the male Kwisatz Haderach who will be able to change an illuminating poison. The Bene Gesserit try over many generations through selective breeding to produce such a being. A Kwisatz Haderach is given abilities different from those of a Reverend Mother. During the spice agony, there are two areas of the soul that the acolyte may visit — the part that gives, and the part that takes; a Reverend Mother cannot access the memories of her male ancestors, and is terrified by the psychic space within her that the masculine memories inhabit. Until Paul Atreides, all men who had attempted the spice agony had died.

In ''Dune'', Jessica endures the agony while pregnant with her daughter, [[Alia Atreides|Alia]]. This has a profound effect on the unborn Alia, who is consequently born a full Reverend Mother with the complete Other Memory of both her female and male ancestors. The Bene Gesserit refer to children born this way as "[[#Abomination|Abominations]]". Without the benefit of a fully formed adult ego of her own, Alia is susceptible to the influence of her ancestral memories. This ultimately leads to her downfall, as she is eventually [[spiritual possession|possessed]] by the persona of her evil grandfather Baron [[Vladimir Harkonnen]], whom she herself had murdered as a child in the events of ''Dune''.

The origin of the ritual is explained in the prequel novel ''[[Dune: The Battle of Corrin]]'' (2004) when Raquella Berto-Anirul is poisoned by Rossak Sorceress Ticia Cenva with the '''Rossak drug'''. Raquella manages to internally convert the poison into a harmless substance and is thus the first to experience the awakening of Other Memory. Raquella later establishes the Bene Gesserit, presumably perfecting the technique and training others to survive the ordeal.