Dune Messiah

Dune Messiah is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer Frank Herbert, the second in his Dune series of six novels. A sequel to Dune (1965), it was originally serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1969, and then published by Putnam the same year. Dune Messiah and its own sequel Children of Dune (1976) were collectively adapted by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2003 into a miniseries entitled Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.

A film adaptation covering the events of the novel, titled Dune: Part Three, is in production from filmmaker Denis Villeneuve to serve as a sequel to his films Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024). It is scheduled to be released in 2026.

Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides has ruled as Emperor for 12 years. By accepting the role of messiah to the Fremen, he has unleashed a jihad which has conquered most of the known universe, but is powerless to stop the lethal excesses of the religious juggernaut he has created. Although 61 billion people have perished, Paul's prescient visions indicate this is far from the worst possible outcome for humanity. Motivated by this knowledge, Paul hopes to set humanity on a course that will not inevitably lead to stagnation and destruction, while at the same time acting as ruler of the empire and focal point of the Fremen religion.

The Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, and Tleilaxu conspire to dethrone Paul, with the Guild Navigator Edric using his prescience to shield their meetings with the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Mohiam and Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale, from Paul's visions. Mohiam enlists Princess Irulan, daughter of the deposed Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, who is wed to Paul for political purposes. Paul has refused to father a child with Irulan, but he and his Fremen concubine Chani have also failed to produce an heir, causing tension within his monarchy. Desperate both to secure her place in the Atreides dynasty and to preserve the bloodline for the Bene Gesserit breeding program, Irulan has secretly been giving contraceptives to Chani. Paul is aware of this fact, but has foreseen that the birth of his heir will bring Chani's death, and does not want to lose her.

Edric gifts Paul a ghola named Hayt, a reanimated being of Tleilaxu-make in the image of the deceased Duncan Idaho, Paul's childhood teacher and friend. The conspirators hope the presence of the ghola will weaken Paul's ability to rule by both disconcerting him and appealing to his emotional vulnerability. Furthermore, Paul's acceptance of the gift weakens his support among the Fremen, who see the Tleilaxu and their tools as unclean. Chani, taking matters into her own hands, switches to a traditional Fremen fertility diet, preventing Irulan from tampering with her food, and soon becomes pregnant. However, Chani's extended consumption of Irulan's contraceptive has weakened her, endangering the pregnancy.

Paul learns of a Fremen conspiracy against him, but sees the strands of a Tleilaxu plot. As Paul's soldiers target the conspirators, an atomic weapon sourced from the Tleilaxu called a stone burner destroys the area. Many soldiers are maimed or killed, and Paul is blinded by the attack. By tradition, all blind Fremen exile themselves in the desert, but Paul shocks the Fremen by proving he can still see despite his condition. His oracular powers have become so developed that he can foresee everything, so by moving through his life in lockstep with his visions, he can see even the slightest details of the world around him. Posing as a dwarf servant to Paul, the Tleilaxu agent Bijaz implants a command in Hayt, compelling him to kill Paul if triggered. During childbirth, Chani's weakened body succumbs to the pain and she dies. Paul's reaction to her death triggers the command in Hayt to kill Paul, however, Hayt's ghola body resists, and the trauma forces Duncan's full consciousness to be recovered, simultaneously making him independent of Tleilaxu control.

Before her death, Chani gives birth to twins who, like Paul, have full access to both their male and female ancestral memories. The son is a total surprise for Paul, who had only foreseen the birth of their daughter. Scytale offers to revive Chani as a ghola, revealing the full purpose behind Hayt's presence and the restoration of his memories. Paul refuses, considering the possibility that the Tleilaxu might program a Chani ghola in some diabolical way. Scytale threatens the infants with a knife, demanding all of Paul's CHOAM holdings in return for his children's lives. By successfully escaping the oracular trap and setting the universe on a new path, Paul has been rendered completely blind, yet he is able to kill Scytale with a dagger to the eye due to a psychic vision from his son's perspective. Now prophetically and physically blind, Paul chooses to embrace the Fremen tradition and walks alone into the desert, winning the fealty of the Fremen for his children, who will inherit his empire.

Paul leaves his sister Alia, herself worshipped by the Fremen and now romantically involved with Duncan, as regent for the twins, whom he has named Leto and Ghanima. Alia orders Stilgar to execute Edric, Mohiam, and others involved in the plot against her brother, going against his wish that none of them should be harmed. Alia spares Irulan, who in grief for Paul has renounced her loyalty to the Bene Gesserit and vowed to dedicate her life as a teacher to Paul's children. Duncan notes the irony that Chani's death and Paul's nullification have enabled them to triumph against their enemies: the Spacing Guild and the Bene Tleilaxu have been discredited, Irulan's defection from the Bene Gesserit removes the sisterhood's last lever against the Atreides, and Paul has escaped deification by walking into the desert as a man, while guaranteeing Fremen support for the Atreides line.