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Chapter 16
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dune Messiah, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power
Religion
Guilt and Longing
Fate and Choice
Summary
Analysis
In the suburbs of sietch, Paul’s guide points out Otheym’s door, and reminds him to use his sietch name, Usul. The guide walks away, and Paul knows that guards will capture and question him. Paul hesitates before Otheym’s door, not wanting to play out his vision. He can smell the odors of the atmosphere; the moisturizing dome over sietch must be poorly sealed, letting precious water evaporate. The residents of sietch must no longer remember what it is like to have no water.
The mention of the moisture-sealing dome above the desert reveals that the relatively fertile climate of sietch is artificial. Furthermore, the fact that the dome is leaking reveals that this solution to the water problem is temporary. Presumably, the threat of aridity increases the more the desert’s fertility relies on technology.
Themes
Paul overhears a woman in one of the houses berating her husband for not fixing a leaky roof and reassures himself that some people remember. Suddenly, a childhood memory of rain and a lush world comes back to him. He laments that it is his fault that the world has become an arid place where people solve all problems with power. Paul refocuses on Otheym’s door.
Paul knocks on Otheym’s door. A dwarf answers and welcomes Paul inside. Paul hesitates; there was no dwarf in his vision. This small difference from his vision gives Paul hope. The dwarf directs Paul to a door, saying that Otheym awaits inside. The dwarf walks away as Paul enters the room. The walls of the room are bare and hung with threadbare tapestries. A shelf holds a row of polished portraits of old Fremen and seascapes. Otheym sits on a cushion inside, a woman standing behind him. Paul wonders where the dwarf—the “difference”—went.
At this point, Paul is living out his future vision step by step. Therefore, the unexpected sight of the dwarf is a hopeful sign: perhaps what Paul saw was not his whole fate. The scene of a spare Fremen home suggests that the Jihad has left sietch impoverished—worse off than it was before the war. This shows that the Jihad turned Paul’s city into a wealthy kingdom at the expense of smaller communities.
Themes
Otheym clears his throat. Paul takes in Otheym’s frail appearance and his single working eye. Otheym greets Paul as Usul. The woman behind Otheym mutters that Stilgar would boast of Paul’s willingness to answer to his old Fremen name. When she steps into the light, Paul recognizes her as Dhuri—a woman he knew in childhood. She is now very elderly.
Dhuri’s comment reveals the native Fremen people’s resentment toward Paul. To them, Stilgar is a traitor who wrongly believes that Paul is a loyal friend to the Fremen. In their view, Paul is the person who changed their lives for the worse.
Themes
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Otheym tells Paul about his sickness. He starts to cough, and Dhuri props pillows behind him. Paul says that he will send for doctors, but Dhuri says that Otheym already has the best doctors. Paul wonders how he can exploit the differences he sees between this scene and his vision. However, he knows if he tries to break the pattern, violence will erupt. Paul asks what they want from him, and Dhuri asks if it is wrong for Otheym to want a friend in his final days. Paul is sad that Otheym is ill. Dhuri looks at Otheym with longing, and Paul hopes that Chani never looks at him that way.
Paul’s only hope now lies in the human inability to see beyond the present. Whenever Paul experiences something for the first time (when he has not already foreseen it), he is able to live like a normal human being. This future blindness makes him feel hope, not only that he will be able to escape his dreaded fate, but also that he can still live and enjoy the human pleasure of surprise.
Themes
Through coughs, Otheym says that the Fremen who live next door are plotting against Paul. He explains that the dwarf is a Tleilaxu “toy” who knows the names of the conspirators. Dhuri asks Paul to shelter the dwarf as he sheltered Lichna. Paul thinks how the real Lichna is dead in the desert. Dhuri explains that Otheym could not come to Paul himself because then Paul’s foes would know his allegiance. In his vision, Paul knew that he would leave Otheym with the names of his traitors, but he didn’t see the dwarf. He reflects that all people are imprisoned in their destinies, and that Free Will is the vain action of a prisoner rattling his cage. Paul’s curse is that he can see his cage.
Otheym describes the dwarf the way the novel describes Hayt—as a Tleilaxu pawn whose identity is potentially tied to his creators. Like Hayt, this makes the dwarf a threatening yet tempting character. On the one hand, the dwarf has the name of Paul’s enemies, but on the other, he could be a weapon of destruction. Paul’s description of prescience reaffirms that it is not a power. Instead of empowering the seer, prescience makes the seer distraught and helpless by revealing the cage (fate) to which the seer is already doomed.
Themes
Paul feels that he was wrong to hope, but this thought gives him hope. Dhuri calls Bijaz, and the dwarf enters. Dhuri introduces Bijaz to his new master, Usul. Bijaz rattles off riddles and says that he operates the “machine called language.” When Paul asks what his other talents are, Bijaz says he knows the right time for endings—a rare talent. Bijaz points at Paul and says that he is the Muad’Dib but also that he is no more than Bijaz’s pointing finger. Dhuri explains that the Tleilaxu discarded Bijaz because he always prattled like this. Bijaz makes more riddles. Dhuri scolds him, saying it’s time for Paul and Bijaz to go.
Like Hayt, Bijaz talks in riddles. Also like Hayt, Bijaz’s statements attempt to disturb Paul’s self-esteem. At this point in the story, Bijaz and Hayt are two mixed identities whose true identity will either displace or save Paul. In both the case of Hayt and Bijaz, Paul had not foreseen their arrival, a fact which makes him suspicious that he is being tricked—but also gives him hope that his prescience has not fully revealed his fate.
Themes
Paul asks if Bijaz has prescience. Bijaz replies that he has “now-sense.” Otheym confirms with Dhuri that Lichna is safe, and Paul lowers his face to hide the truth. Otheym tells Paul that he doesn’t like the world that’s developing. Bijaz says there is a fine line between friends and enemies. Trying to delay, Paul asks Bijaz what “now-sense” is. In response, Bijaz tugs Paul’s robe and shouts “now!” Paul asks Bijaz what he fears, and Bijaz says he fears the “spirit seeking him now.” Bijaz twitches nervously.
“Now-sense” is a parody of prescience. Technically, now-sense would be the normal person’s ability to see only the present moment and nothing beyond it. Paul reads Bijaz’s now-sense as fear—perhaps the fear of the unknown of living in the present. This fear of each coming moment is a counterpoint to the way Paul carries out every moment he’s seen in the future like he’s walking a premade track.
Themes
Paul realizes that Bijaz does have prescience and wonders how much he has seen. Bijaz urges Paul to go, saying delay prolongs the present. Paul thinks how delay defers his guilt. Paul tells Otheym that these are troubled times, but Dhuri says that Fremen know how to endure. Paul feels he can’t bear Otheym and Dhuri’s resentment. Otheym tells Paul to do what he must, ending the vision. Paul and Bijaz leave, Bijaz muttering the word bygones.
Otheym and Dhuri represent the majority of Paul’s subjects who are unhappy with his rule. Their resentment adds to Paul’s general feeling of guilt and resentment of his own power. Paul feels not only that he is doing something that most people do not appreciate, but he’s also doing something he himself detests.
Themes
