Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam Character Analysis in Dune

An elderly leader of the Bene Gesserit order, Mohiam trained Lady Jessica and serves as the Padishah Emperor’s truthsayer. Before Paul Atreides travels to Arrakis, she tests him with the gom jabbar in order to discover if he is human or animal—in other words, whether he bends to his animal instincts or has mastery over his mind and body. She furthermore wants to find out if he is the Bene Gesserit prophesized messiah known as the Kwisatz Haderach.

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam Quotes in Dune

The Dune quotes below are all either spoken by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam or refer to Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. 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:

“A duke’s son must know about poisons,” she said. “It’s the way of our times, eh? Musky, to be poisoned in your drink. Aumas, to be poisoned in your food. The quick ones and the slow ones and the ones in between. Here’s a new one for you: the gom jabbar. It kills only animals.”

Related Characters: Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (speaker), Paul Atreides / Muad’Dib, Lady Jessica

Related Symbols: Gom Jabbar

Page Number and Citation: 11

Explanation and Analysis:

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Related Characters: Paul Atreides / Muad’Dib (speaker), Lady Jessica, Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

Related Symbols: Gom Jabbar

Page Number and Citation: 12

Explanation and Analysis:

The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows—a wall against the wind. That is the willow's purpose.

Related Characters: Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (speaker), Paul Atreides / Muad’Dib, Lady Jessica

Related Symbols: Gom Jabbar

Page Number and Citation: 42

Explanation and Analysis:

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam Character Timeline in Dune

The timeline below shows where the character Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam appears in Dune. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...and a 15-year-old son named Paul. One night, an elderly woman (later revealed as the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam ) visits Castle Caladan and together with Lady Jessica looks in on Paul sleeping. Although... (full context)

...she is similarly tense. She informs Paul that the old woman, who is Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam , has summoned Paul to meet her. Paul says that he has dreamed of the... (full context)

Paul and Jessica meet the Reverend Mother Mohiam in Jessica’s morning room. Paul is angered by the Reverend Mother’s seemingly disrespectful dismissal of... (full context)

Paul is outraged that the Reverend Mother Mohiam considers he may not be human, and threatens to call servants to kill her when... (full context)

Reverend Mother Mohiam makes note of the caution, courage, and mind control that Paul uses to succeed in... (full context)

...test. He learns that she passed the same test during her Bene Gesserit training. The Reverend Mother Mohiam explains the history of the matriarchal Bene Gesserit program, including its genetic breeding program that... (full context)

...it is the evening on the same day of Paul Atreides’s gom jabbar test. The Reverend Mother Mohiam challenges Lady Jessica about her decision to bear Duke Leto a son instead of following... (full context)

The Reverend Mother Mohiam warns Jessica that the Atreides family are in danger due to the Emperor Shaddam IV... (full context)

The Reverend Mother Mohiam calls for Paul and speaks to him about his dreams of foresight. He recounts a... (full context)

The Reverend Mother Mohiam acknowledges that Paul may be the Bene Gesserit’s prophesized Kwisatz Haderach, but doubts it. However,... (full context)

Environment and Human Culture Theme Icon

On Caladan, it is a week after the Reverend Mother Mohiam ’s visit to Paul Atreides. Thufir Hawat, a Mentat who has been in the Atreides... (full context)

Paul tells Hawat some of the details from his meeting with the Reverend Mother Mohiam . The Reverend Mother told him, “you must learn to rule. It’s something none of... (full context)

...is disbanded, with Paul concerned that his father’s leadership is unsteady, even “desperate.” He remembers Reverend Mother Mohiam ’s prediction that Duke Leto would be killed when he moved to Arrakis. (full context)

...suffused with the “sense of terrible purpose” that has visited him since his meeting with Reverend Mother Mohiam . (full context)

...Shaddam IV interrogates Baron Harkonnen with the aid of his Bene Gesserit truthsayer, who is Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam . Also present are two Guild members and the Princess Irulan. The Baron has not... (full context)

The Reverend Mother Mohiam ’s presence demonstrates the significance of this meeting, with the Baron Harkonnen frightened at the... (full context)

Meanwhile, the Reverend Mother Mohiam is appalled when she recognizes Alia’s strange way of being and demands that they kill... (full context)

Emperor Shaddam IV retreats into a damaged ship with Princess Irulan, Reverend Mother Mohiam , two Guildsmen, and a guard of Sardaukar soldiers. The Emperor and the Reverend Mother... (full context)

Gurney Halleck also informs Paul that Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is with the Emperor, as is Thufir Hawat, Duke Leto’s old Mentat. Paul is surprised... (full context)

Paul’s Fremen guards stop the group on their approach to Paul’s throne. He sees Reverend Mother Mohiam peering out at him, and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen’s face beside her. Paul also spies a slight... (full context)

Paul addresses Reverend Mother Mohiam , whom he has not seen since she tested him with the gom jabbar on... (full context)

...agrees and is willing to marry Paul, but the Emperor will not have it. While Reverend Mother Mohiam tries to convince him, Paul comforts Chani that despite this marriage to Irulan, Chani is... (full context)

...is excited by what he sees as a sure win over the “yokel Duke.” The Reverend Mother Mohiam trembles as she realizes that Paul knows his maternal grandfather’s heritage that the Bene Gesserit... (full context)