Chani Kynes Character Analysis in Dune

A Fremen soldier and daughter of Liet-Kynes, Chani also has some Bene Gesserit talent that makes her a fearsome fighter. Stilgar charges her with guiding Paul Atreides when he is accepted into their Fremen community; Paul and Chani fall in love and she gives birth to his first child, Leto, who is later killed during an Imperial attack. By the end of the novel, she is deeply hurt when Paul must marry Princess Irulan for political reasons, leaving Chani as just his concubine.

Chani Kynes Quotes in Dune

The Dune quotes below are all either spoken by Chani Kynes or refer to Chani Kynes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

And Paul, walking behind Chani, felt that a vital moment had passed him, that he had missed an essential decision and was now caught up in his own myth. He knew he had seen this place before, experienced it in a fragment of prescient dream on faraway Caladan, but details of the place were being filled in now that he had not seen. He felt a new sense of wonder at the limits of his gift. It was as though rode within the wave of time, sometimes in its trough, sometimes on a crest—and all around him the other waves lifted and fell, revealing and then hiding what they bore on their surface.

And through it all, the wild jihad still loomed ahead of him, the violence and the slaughter.

Related Characters: Paul Atreides / Muad’Dib, Lady Jessica, Stilgar, Chani Kynes

Page Number and Citation: 518

Explanation and Analysis:

Survival is the ability to swim in strange water.

Related Characters: Lady Jessica (speaker), Paul Atreides / Muad’Dib, Chani Kynes

Related Symbols: Water

Page Number and Citation: 504

Explanation and Analysis:

"Do you know so little of my son?" Jessica whispered. "See that princess standing there, so haughty and confident. They say she has pretensions of a literary nature. Let us hope she finds solace in such things; she'll have little else." A bitter laugh escaped Jessica. "Think on it, Chani: that princess will have the name, yet she'll live as less than a concubine — never to know a moment of tenderness from the man to whom she's bound. While we, Chani, we who carry the name of concubine — history will call us wives.”

Related Characters: Lady Jessica (speaker), Paul Atreides / Muad’Dib, Duke Leto Atreides, Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, Chani Kynes, Princess Irulan

Page Number and Citation: 794

Explanation and Analysis:

Chani Kynes Character Timeline in Dune

The timeline below shows where the character Chani Kynes appears in Dune. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Environment and Human Culture Theme Icon

...again, hurling colorful insults at their hotheaded approaches. He warns off a young woman called Chani who is stealthily trying to approach Paul at his hiding place, calling her a “spawn... (full context)

...have let him harm any of her companions. The young woman reveals that she is Chani, Liet-Kynes’s daughter, and Paul is shocked to recognizes that she is also the girl from... (full context)

Chani offers to lead him down the rocks, teasingly chiding Paul that he chose the most... (full context)

...will identify them as Stilgar’s sietch members in case they are separated. He also instructs Chani to look after the “child-man,” meaning Paul, and keep him out of trouble. Chani takes... (full context)

...they are spotted by enemies. Arriving at a deep cave, the troop relax again, and Chani offers Paul food while teasing him. Paul notices that the food smells strongly of spice.... (full context)

...again, although the recent visions of his death in many possible futures unnerves him slightly. Chani gives him a crysknife, and Paul matches Jamis’s actions in stripping off his stillsuit before... (full context)

...outwit him by changing his knife to his left hand. Thanks to Halleck’s training and Chani’s advice, Paul is aware of the danger. Jamis’s leap brings his body straight down onto... (full context)

...the stillsuit that envelops her body and runs across her face. She also worries about Chani’s growing attachment to Paul. Jamis’s funeral takes place and Paul is offered his water—Fremen law... (full context)

Stilgar calls forward friends of Jamis, while Chani leads Jessica to sit opposite the men. Anyone who has a claim of friendship with... (full context)

After ritual chanting, the final funeral rite is to pass on Jamis’s water. Stilgar and Chani ensure that the water goes to Paul along with the customary instructions for its usage—Paul... (full context)

Chani asks Paul to sing a song and play the baliset. Jessica reminds herself that she... (full context)

Stilgar’s tribe travel in near silence to their sietch in moonlight. Chani advises Paul to lower his hood in a certain manner to shield everything but his... (full context)

...as paper, plastics, and explosives. As they take in their new environment, they realize that Chani has disappeared ever since they entered the sietch. (full context)

Paul wonders where Chani is. He also thinks about his pregnant mother, Jessica, and how she will adapt to... (full context)

...young boys who keep their hands on their knives as though protecting their new guardian. Chani also approaches the front of the cavern, wearing green to mourn her father, her face... (full context)

The ceremony is one of great ritual. Chani offers Jessica a drink from one of two sacks of liquid, stating that she passes... (full context)

...has successfully neutralized the Water of Life and must now prove it to the Fremen. Chani takes a drop of the liquid from Jessica’s lips and adds it to the rest... (full context)

...of higher cognitive awareness. It seems that the drug alters everyone’s minds; both Paul and Chani sees visions of a future in which they have a child together. Paul also foresees... (full context)

...beyond space and time under the influence of spice. He dreams of his family—he and Chani are now a couple and have a young son named Leto II in honor of... (full context)

...though not a wife. Jessica is similarly worried about the love match between Paul and Chani, noting that her son is a nobleman who needs to secure a marriage for political... (full context)

...his own course now to find a real happiness. She acknowledges that he should marry Chani if he loves her. (full context)

...weeks since Paul decided to drink the Water of Life. Unaware of Paul’s dangerous decision, Chani has been called north by Paul, only to learn that is Jessica has called for... (full context)

Upon viewing Paul’s seemingly lifeless body, Chani feels a sudden strong connection to Jessica. She clasps the Reverend Mother’s hand, reflecting on... (full context)

Chani suddenly realizes what Paul has attempted—becoming the first male to pass the Reverend Mother Water... (full context)

...be a Reverend Mother. Paul thinks he has been unconscious for only minutes, learning from Chani and Jessica that in fact it has been three weeks. He is weak from his... (full context)

Paul shortly releases Jessica, who is completely drained of energy and requires Chani’s help to sit down. She feels the full realization that Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach,... (full context)

Paul informs Jessica and Chani of his chilling plan to create a Water of Life weapon that will be the... (full context)

...and children are taking refuge—a Sardaukar raiding party attacked, killing many Fremen including Paul and Chani’s son Leto. The Sardaukar have also captured Alia; there is no word in the message... (full context)

Paul asks Halleck to bring Jessica and Chani to him, knowing that Chani will by now have learned of their son Leto’s death.... (full context)

Stilgar informs Paul that while Chani has taken time alone in her grief, Lady Jessica has asked to meet her son... (full context)

...“key to the throne” but that this is all she will ever be to him. Chani enters, grief written upon her body. Paul is shaken to see that she has been... (full context)

...Emperor will not have it. While Reverend Mother Mohiam tries to convince him, Paul comforts Chani that despite this marriage to Irulan, Chani is his only beloved. (full context)

...and Paul claims that he will be making Stilgar the governor of Arrakis. When asked, Chani says that she wants for nothing. She is still saddened by her grief and Paul’s... (full context)