Dune Part 1, Chapters 11 - 22
Duke Leto is furious about the assassination attempt on his son’s life, and he struggles to contain his anger as he attempts to raise the morale of his arriving troops. He meets with Paul before the strategic meeting, and Paul allays his father’s anger toward Thufir Hawat, who had been responsible for the security of the Duke’s living quarters. The House officials discuss the operations of Spice mining on Arrakis, and the challenges of the worn-down equipment left to them by the Harkonnens. The House agrees that they need to confer with the Imperial Ecologist of Arrakis, Dr. Keynes, who has been appointed as the Judge of the Change by the Emperor and the Landsraad, the council of the great houses. Their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Duncan Idaho, who had been dispatched to make contact with the Fremen. He returns with a Fremen leader, called Stilgar, and the Duke reaches an understanding with the Fremen. Duncan Idaho is made the Duke’s ambassador among the Fremen, and Stilgar departs. The Duke discusses the power of the Fremen and tells his officers about his intent of cultivating desert power.
After the meeting, Thuffir Hawat discusses a message from a Harkonen agent that had been intercepted which suggested that Jessica was betraying the Duke. Leto is unconvinced, and Thuffir agrees that it may be a Harkonnen plot aimed at sowing discord among them. They decide to surveil Jessica by using Duncan Idaho, however, Leto later tells Paul that he is certain that Jessica is loyal to him. He asks Paul to convey this to Jessica in the instance he was unable to do so himself. Thufir also informs the duke about the growing talk among the Fremen about Paul, as they are coming to believe that he is the messianic figure that had been foretold in their prophecies.
Paul meets Dr. Keynes with his father and his lieutenants, wearing the Stillsuits of Fremen craftsmanship that had been sent as presents by the Imperial Ecologist. Keynes possesses the blue eyes of the Fremen, and seems to subscribe to their prophecies as well, as he notes the precise manner in which Paul has worn his Stillsuit without guidance. Keynes accompanies Duke Leto into the desert on an Ornithopter to observe the mining of Spice in the desert. Their reconnaissance becomes a rescue mission as the large spice factory becomes the target of a spice attack. Keynes notes the casual attitude with which the Duke sacrifices his precious equipment to rescue the men under his command. Lady Jessica organizes a dinner for the important individuals of Arrakis, and Duke Leto notes the careful manner in which Paul interacts with the rest of the guests. They discuss the sacred place accorded to water on the planet of Arrakis, and Paul gleams as a core motivation of Dr. Keynes as he discusses the ecology of Arrakis. Keynes dreams of an Arrakis that will have a lot more vegetation and water, while other diners mostly seem to disregard that notion. The Duke is called away by an urgent matter, but Paul takes over the dinner and handles himself expertly. Later that night, Jessica discovers a drunken Duncan Idaho, who reveals his secret surveillance of her. Jessica correctly deduces that Thufir is responsible for the matter, and has him summoned. She openly discusses his suspicions of her and tries to redirect his focus toward discovering the real traitor. Her ultimate argument is one of emotion, as she tells Thufir that she loves the Duke and would never betray him. She further displays her ability with the Voice, which compels him to follow her benign orders. Thufir remains unconvinced, but he gains a new respect for her abilities.
Duke Leto receives a message from Jessica, and as he is going to see her, he begins to find the dead bodies of his servants in the hallways. He finds Shadout Mapes close to death, but before she can reveal anything of her fate, the duke is shot with a dart that paralyzes him without making him unconscious. Yueh reveals himself to the duke, and he informs him about how he had also lowered the shields for the arrival of the Harkonnens. Yueh promises the paralyzed duke an opportunity for revenge, both for the Duke himself and Yueh. He replaces one of the Duke’s teeth with a container of poison gas that Leto can use to kill the Baron. In return, Yueh promises to aid Paul and Jessica find safe shelter with the Fremen. Leto’s consciousness fades as Yueh takes the Atreides signet ring off his hand. Jessica regains consciousness in the presence of the Baron and Piter. Her hands are bound along with her mouth, to prevent her use of the Voice. The Baron does not wish to directly be aware of Jessica’s death due to her status as a Bene Gesserit, and he offers Piter control of Arrakis instead of handing him Jessica. Piter agrees, and Jessica uses her Bene Gesserit observation to deduce that the Baron is lying to his Mentat. Both Jessica and Paul had been very precisely drugged by Dr. Yueh, and while Jessica’s mouth was covered, the Harkonnens hadn’t done the same with Paul. The mother and son are put on an Ornithopter by the Harkonnens, who intend to leave them in the desert where they would be killed by thirst or the sandworms. Paul uses the Voice to free his mother’s mouth, and the two of them overpower their guards and escape, they find a package that Yueh had stowed in the Ornithopter secretly for them.
The Baron rewards Yueh with death and begins to gloat over the dazed Duke Leto. Leto remembers the poison in his tooth and releases it just as the Baron comes close to him. The poison kills Piter and several other Harkonen men, but the Baron survives because of his shield. He has a humiliating encounter with a Sardukar officer who disregards his nobility and demands to see the body of Duke Leto.
In the Desert, Paul and Jessica have already made contact with Duncan. They await him in a tent of Fremen make and attempt to process the sudden changes in their lives. Paul realizes that he hasn’t quite begun to mourn for his father, he is far too consumed with plotting the next moves for House Atreides. The presence of Spice in the tent dramatically heightens his powers of computation, and he suddenly has a broader understanding of his situation. He proves this to his mother, by informing her that her unknown father was Baron Harkonnen. He realizes that he may not be the Kwisatz Haderach, and instead may be something more unexpected. He informs her that she is pregnant with Leto’s daughter. Paul foretells his integration into the Fremen people and sees them spending a bloody war across the universe in the name of his father, with Paul at their head. He dreads this future and wishes that he can find a way of preventing the ‘jihad’ as he calls it. He tells his mother that he will be called Muad’Dib by the Fremen, which translates to “The One Who Points the Way.” He finally mourns the loss of his father.
Analysis
This section serves as another powerful milestone in the Journey of Paul Atreides, who adopts the name of Muad’Dib among the Fremen. Paul arrives with his family on the planet of Arrakis and begins to assimilate into the power structure of the planet when his House is suddenly attacked by the Harkonnens. The diner party that Paul attends is an accurate depiction of the plot as it highlights the various forces at work in Paul’s immediate vicinity. Keynes obeys the emperor but his ultimate loyalty seems to lie with Arrakis, and the smuggler representative seems to be loyal to Keynes. Others on the dinner table seem to align with the Harkonnens, and so the Atreides do not truly have any allies among the people that are present at the dinner.
Duke Leto suffers a poetic death at a time of his choosing. The state of the room in which the Duke unleashes his poison is marked with Harkonnen deaths so much so that the Baron is embarrassed to show the Duke’s body to the Sardukar. Paul undergoes a process of rebirth in the tent in the Arrakis desert. The psychoactive substance, Melange or Spice, quickens his consciousness which is already heightened through his training with Thufir, Jessica, Gurney, Duncan, and his father. Paul processes his situation and realizes that his future is headed toward revenge and great power. Paul does not see this as a power, and instead, he decides that he will do all he can to avoid the realization of the bloody war that he has envisioned. Paul Atreides is reborn in the womb of the tent and exits it as Muad’Dib.
