Paul has a sudden insight that this moment in the cavern is his last chance to take action—the difficult action of mass murder—to prevent the greater violence of a future Fremen religious crusade. Either event will be marked by violence, pain, and bloodshed, but if Paul kills the Fremen, it will be him committing the violence, while if he lets the religious crusade play out, it will be other people committing widespread murder and destruction across the Imperium in his name. Since Paul does not choose to act, consequently paving the way for the religious crusade, he is now wholly tied to the myth of the Mahdi now known as Muad’Dib.