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Chapter 18
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
Seven days later, the uproar at the Keep finally subsides. Up until now, people were muttering about the stone burner, and some of the blinded were refusing Tleilaxu eyes. Everyone wonders how the Muad’Dib can see without his eyes. Some people are planning to leave, and Paul had recently taken Korba prisoner.
The refusal to accept mechanical eyes suggests a distrust of modern technology. As technological creators, the Tleilaxu often create things (like Hayt) that seem like restorations of the past—but could also be more than this. New Tleilaxu technology hides an ominous potential underneath its advantages.
Themes
Chani wakes to find Paul sitting beside her, his empty eye sockets staring into the distance. Ravenous, Chani starts eating some food left by the bed. Paul says there was no way he could have spared her. Chani trembles, wondering how Paul can see. Ever since he lost his eyes, he has been speaking in disturbing riddles. Chani gets up from bed, but Paul reaches over and pulls her back in. He kisses her and tells her they will return to sietch soon. He tells her not to fear the mystery of love, because it comes from life. Chani feels Paul’s heartbeat with her hand.
Paul’s confinement to his prescience has turned him into something that unsettles Chani. Her unease illustrates how prescience, while seeming like a handy power, really only alienates the seer from the rest of the human world. Possessing an ability that most humans do not possess doesn’t make Paul venerable—it makes him strange and untrustworthy.
Themes
Paul says that Chani’s child’s rule will be even greater than his. Chani says that she wants to live in the moment; she feels they have such little time. Paul says the moment is eternity. Chani’s womb stirs, and Paul speaks to “the little ruler of the universe.” Chani wonders why Paul addresses her womb in the singular. Didn’t he know that she is carrying twins? Chani closes her eyes so as not to see Paul’s empty eye sockets and agrees that this moment is forever.
Surprisingly, Paul’s prescience left out vital information about Chani’s pregnancy. At this point, this fallibility of his prescience seems hopeful. Until now, Paul has felt that he is chained to his wholly bad fate. But the fact that there are elements to the future that he does not know suggests that his fate could be more positive than he has foreseen.
Themes
Paul and Chani rise. Chani says she wishes the people knew Paul’s ability to love. Paul says that love is too disordered to be a foundation for politics; people prefer despotism. Chani protests that Paul’s laws are just. Paul says that laws only filter chaos. Chani finds Paul’s moodiness disturbing; lately, she got the sense that internal wars were going on inside him. Chani moves to Paul’s side, and he feels her warmth. Paul tries to close off his vision and use only on his present sense of hearing. He is filled with memories of the past as projections of the future. To an oracle, the past and the future become one. His prescience comes flooding back and moves his body for him.
Paul has developed a completely cynical view of politics and power. His description suggests that government is not something that improves lives, but rather something that makes people less afraid of the unknown and the chaotic. In other words, government is a temporary medicine for the discomfort of being alive in the universe. Like his subjects, Paul longs for security. He long for blindness—longs to live in the present so he can enjoy life without the knowledge of everything’s eventual demise weighing him down.
Themes
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Chani says they should be getting to the council meeting. The perspective shifts to Alia, who stares down from her on a line of guards escorting the imprisoned Korba. Alia stares at Korba and tries to remember him as his past Fremen self—rugged and simple—before he had become a “fop” in opulent silk robes. Korba’s Fremen friends from the old days came to watch his trail, all of them now “hedonists” too. These Fremen are uneasy about the fact that the Muad’Dib still seems to be able to see.
Alia thinks that Korba and the Qizarate are “fops”—vain people who fixate on clothing and appearances to an exaggerated degree—and “hedonists,”—people who love physical pleasure. This suggests that the Qizarate are hypocrites. While pretending to live spiritual lives of selfless worship, they really lead lives of vanity and pleasure. In this way, the religion that emerged with the Jihad is disingenuous.
Themes
Alia picks up a letter that her mother recently sent, refusing to come to Dune for Korba’s trial—Lady Jessica acknowledges Paul’s eminence but doesn’t want to submit herself to a “rabble invasion.” Alia touches the letter and feels one with her mother’s experience. Alia rereads a part of the letter in which Lady Jessica says that Paul and Alia are producing a “deadly paradox.” She writes that government cannot be religious and enforce laws at the same time; laws must eventually replace morality.
Lady Jessica suggests that government and religion are mutually exclusive. She seems to suggest that religion is something inherently ungovernable, since it's subjective, emotional, and moral. Also, laws are inherently irreligious, since they’re universal, rational, and practical. In other words, for Paul’s government to be real, the religion that accompanies it must be false.
Themes
Alia leaves her chamber, escorted by guards. Alia enters the grand council chamber and notes that the gallery is filled with Fremen citizens. Stilgar—standing at the front—gives no sign that he notices Alia enter. Korba enters, flanked by guards. Stilgar asks Alia where the Muad’Dib is. Alia says that Paul directed her to attend as a Reverend Mother. The audience rises in protest. Alia silences them, reminding them of the law that Reverend Mother’s preside over trials. Alia notes the names of the particularly angry-looking Fremen in the audience. Korba looks at Alia and declares his innocence.
The incrimination of Korba unsettles Fremen loyalty to Paul. As a spiritual people, the Fremen rallied together to support the Jihad to subjugate the rest of the universe because they believed it was spiritually ordained. In other words, the Qizarate represents the compromise between Fremen belief and Paul’s rule. Now that Paul is arresting Korba, the Fremen feel that Paul’s interest in their religion was a lie—that he exploited their faith for political gain.
Themes
Stilgar reads Korba’s charges: conspiring with traitors to destroy the Muad’Dib. Alia thinks this is nonsense. Korba declares his innocence. Alia takes in the gallery full of Fremen who see themselves in Korba and thinks about how much sway they hold. Korba demands to speak to his accuser. Alia suggests that Korba accuses himself. Terror flashes across Korba’s face as he realizes that Alia might have the prescient powers to accuse him herself.
Korba used his position as a religious leader to conceal his motivation for personal power. Even though his religion feigned being a selfless worship of another, it was flawed, insincere, and just another means for him to achieve power and influence. This view suggests that the desire for personal power motivates all religious movements.
Themes
Paul enters, Chani beside him, and says that his enemies stole a melange worm and took it to another planet. Paul looks at Korba with his empty eye sockets. The crowd mutters about the Fremen law that condemns the blind to exile in the desert. To prove his sight, Paul addresses Fremen by name and makes observations about their clothes. He tells Korba there is guilt on his face. Alia stares hard at Korba. Korba grows uneasy and protests that Paul can’t see. Paul says he doesn’t need eyes to see. As Korba squirms, Alia notices some of the Fremen in the audience starting to doubt Korba’s innocence.
As well as incriminating Korba, Paul’s apparent blindness further shakes Fremen trust in him. If Paul wanted to secure their loyalty, he would banish himself to the desert. In this way, losing his eyes was more damaging than the losing his prescience would have been. The absence of this human organ makes Paul untrustworthy and alien. In this way, human eyes—although seemingly inferior to prescience—are a far more valuable possession.
Themes
Paul says that Otheym accuses Korba. When Korba protests that Otheym is dead, Paul charges him with bringing in the stone burner. Korba says that the stone burner was to defend the Qizarate and asks again how a dead man can accuse him. Paul says that Otheym told him all the names of the traitors. Paul says that even if he were to release Korba, the blinded Fremen whose melange worm was stolen would seek their revenge on him. Korba insists that the blinded will receive Tleilaxu eyes. Paul says that Tleilaxu eyes come with bondage and asks how a vicious weapon like a stone burner was merely for defense. Korba demands to face his accuser.
Paul likens Tleilaxu eyes to bondage, drawing a similarity between mechanical eyes and prescience. As supernatural forms of sight, both prescience and mechanical eyes have the potential to show the seer things beyond the reach of natural human vision. Paul asserts that this super-humanness is limiting rather than empowering—that it ties the seer to forces beyond their control, like fate or the will of the Tleilaxu; power and advanced technology are surprisingly destructive.
Themes
Stilgar says that Korba’s request is fair; the law is the law. Alia looks suspiciously at Stilgar, wondering why he defends the law in this case. Korba looks triumphant, like one unjustly accused. Alia feels that they almost cornered the conspiracy, only to let the critical moment slip by. Paul thanks Stilgar for reminding him of the law, then he signals the guards to take Korba to his cell. Paul appoints Stilgar as Korba’s questioner, and Stilgar silently assures Paul that he will “wring Korba dry.”
Although Paul’s superhuman powers show him Korba’s betrayal, he flouts human law by not bringing forward Korba’s accuser for Korba’s human eyes. Therefore, Paul’s prescient power does him no good where the law is concerned. Since the laws are for the people, they are built on the terms of human blindness. In this way, Paul’s power is always flawed.
Themes
The trial ends, and the crowd starts to leave the gallery. Paul thanks Stilgar for playing his part perfectly. At Alia’s questioning, Paul explains that adhering to Fremen law and protecting Fremen rights exposed which of the Fremen in the audience are the true traitors. Paul asks Alia for the names of the traitors she noticed in the audience, and she lists them. Stilgar says the Fremen citizens are afraid. Paul asks Stilgar if he is afraid, and Stilgar says yes. Paul assures Stilgar that he will protect him as a friend.
Paul was careful to maintain Fremen trust during Korba’s trial. This suggests that the goal of a leader is to ensure the trust of the majority of their citizens above all else. Without the support and approval of the Fremen, Paul would lose his ability to command them. In this way, Paul resorts to playacting in order to rule his Imperium—something which, although necessary, alienates him from everyone.
Themes
Paul and Chani leave. Alia tells the crowd that she will stand in for Paul to answer their questions. Stilgar asks Alia why she didn’t know Paul’s purpose. Alia says that Stilgar’s dramatic change distracted her. Shocked, Stilgar reflects how drama is a characteristic of the groups that conspire against the Muad’Dib. Alia says she trusts Stilgar, but she senses he will disobey Paul. Before Stilgar can answer, Alia turns to address the crowd.
Alia distrusts Paul and Stilgar’s use of drama to control the citizens because it’s the kind of disingenuous tactic that enemy plotters employ. The fact that Paul’s ruling strategy is similar to that of enemy plotters suggests that even just rulers must sometimes resort to unjust tactics. In this way, power is always flawed: it cannot always be wielded justly.
Themes
