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A male individual of the highest mental powers who will be the result of Bene Gesserit genetic breeding. The individual will be able access higher powers of cognition, including prescience, with the name “Kwisatz Haderach” signaling “The Shortening of the Way” or “The one who can be two places simultaneously.” The Bene Gesserit seek to breed and manipulate this unique individual to gain extreme power for their order.
Kwisatz Haderach Quotes in Dune
The Dune quotes below are all either spoken by Kwisatz Haderach or refer to Kwisatz Haderach. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 1, Part 3
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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.
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Book 2, Part 2
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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.
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Book 2, Part 11
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My mother obeyed her Sister Superiors where the Lady Jessica disobeyed. Which of them was the stronger? History has already answered.
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“I will tell you a thing about your new name,” Stilgar said. “The choice pleases us. Muad’Dib is wise in the ways of the desert. Muad’Dib creates his own water. Muad’Dib hides from the sun and travels in the cool night. Muad’Dib is fruitful and multiplies over the land. Muad’Dib we call ‘instructor-of-boys.’ That is a powerful base on which to build your life, Paul-Muad’Dib, who is Usul among us. We welcome you.”
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Book 3, Part 3
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“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement becomes headlong—faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thought of obstacles and forget that a precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it’s too late.”
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Kwisatz Haderach Term Timeline in Dune
The timeline below shows where the term Kwisatz Haderach appears in Dune. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Part 1
...Bene Gesserit program, including its genetic breeding program that is designed to produce the prophesized Kwisatz Haderach . This individual will be a male who is able to access higher levels of...
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Book 1, Part 3
...Harkonnen. It was hoped their union would produce a child who would be the prophesized Kwisatz Haderach , the result of thousands of years of secret genetic breeding. Jessica is unrepentant for...
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The Reverend Mother Mohiam acknowledges that Paul may be the Bene Gesserit’s prophesized Kwisatz Haderach , but doubts it. However, she offers him hints about how to successfully control the...
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Book 1, Part 14
...that the Fremen belief is linked to the possibility he will become the Bene Gesserit’s Kwisatz Haderach .
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Book 1, Part 16
...the way?” This phrase startles her, as she knows it is a reference to the Kwisatz Haderach . Jessica is unable to answer due to an interruption from Bewt, who insults Kynes...
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Book 2, Part 1
...struggles to follow his lines of thought. She believes that her son must be the Kwisatz Haderach , but he dismisses this idea, stating that he is “something unexpected.”
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Book 3, Part 7
Paul has decided it is time see if he is indeed the Kwisatz Haderach of Bene Gesserit prophecy. He will drink the poisonous Water of Life to attain Reverend...
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Book 3, Part 8
...requires Chani’s help to sit down. She feels the full realization that Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach , “the one who can be many places at once.” Paul explains to Jessica and...
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Book 3, Part 11
...son Leto’s death. Then, though, Paul affirms to Jessica that he is the Bene Gesserit’s Kwisatz Haderach . He has “lived billions upon billions of lives” and “plumbed the depths of both...
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...her that despite ninety generations of the Bene Gesserit program’s genetic breeding, now that the Kwisatz Haderach is here, he will never help with their cause—the Reverend Mother screams with anger.
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...name whether he leads it or not. He is also the “race consciousness” of the Kwisatz Haderach who can see the doom of humankind and knows that it needs to shake itself...
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...he has never seen the man in his dreams and visions—the Count is an almost- Kwisatz Haderach , undermined by his genetic anomaly as a eunuch. Count Fenring has instead turned his...
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Appendix III
...Atreides. They wrongly dismiss him as the wrong identity for their prophesized messianic figure, the Kwisatz Haderach . Their error fell particularly on assuming that one of their members, Lady Jessica, would...
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The Bene Gesserit ignored further warnings that Paul Atreides would become the Kwisatz Haderach : that he demonstrated the gift of foresight from a young age; that he withstood...
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