Previous
Sietch
A sandworm’s liquid exhalation when it drowns, this substance is used in a ritual for Fremen to determine their Reverend Mothers. The ritual is called the spice agony, and a Fremen candidate must successfully alter the poisonous Water of Life into an enhancing substance that increases mental awareness. If the Fremen candidate fails in the ritual, he or she will die from the poisonous Water of Life. In the novel, both Paul and Jessica ingest the Water of Life successfully.
Get the entire Dune LitChart as a printable PDF.
Water of Life Term Timeline in Dune
The timeline below shows where the term Water of Life appears in Dune. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2, Part 5
...of the desert firsthand and can understand why people would kill to reclaim a body’s water. Jessica reflects on the difference between this arid planet and the Atreides home planet Caladan,...
(full context)
Book 2, Part 15
...a drink from one of two sacks of liquid, stating that she passes Jessica the Water of Life . This is a life-altering substance that can “open the universe” to Jessica. After drinking...
(full context)
Jessica has successfully neutralized the Water of Life and must now prove it to the Fremen. Chani takes a drop of the liquid...
(full context)
...that the creatures that Fremen call “makers” are the sandworms of Arrakis, and that the Water of Life must be the liquid exhalation that a sandworm makes as it dies. The newly altered...
(full context)
Book 3, Part 3
...she is self-aware and walks and talks like adult. This advanced awareness results from the Water of Life transformation process that Jessica undertook when Alia was in the womb; like her mother, Alia...
(full context)
Book 3, Part 7
...as per every sietch, a small sandworm is kept in stunted growth near the tribe’s water basin. It is trapped in this space by the water which is poisonous to sandworms....
(full context)
...he is indeed the Kwisatz Haderach of Bene Gesserit prophecy. He will drink the poisonous Water of Life to attain Reverend Mother status, a move that no man has yet attempted and survived.
(full context)
Book 3, Part 8
...the Princess relates the Muad’Dib’s trial in undertaking a dangerous transformation ritual by drinking the Water of Life —“a poison that gives life.” Muad’Dib lies in a cave as though he is dead...
(full context)
It is three 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...
(full context)
Chani suddenly realizes what Paul has attempted—becoming the first male to pass the Reverend Mother Water of Life test. She tells Jessica to fetch her the poisonous holy liquid, smearing some of it...
(full context)
Jessica is appalled to learn that Paul drank the Water of Life . He states that he only sipped the smallest of drops, but now he knows...
(full context)
Paul informs Jessica and Chani of his chilling plan to create a Water of Life weapon that will be the catalyst for destroying all the planet’s spice by setting off...
(full context)
