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Chapter 18

Posted: 12 Feb 2008 17:42
by Freakzilla
Do you wrestle with dreams?
Do you contend with shadows?
Do you move in a kind of sleep?
Time has slipped away.
Your life is stolen.
You tarried with trifles,
Victim of your folly.

-Dirge for Jamis on the Funeral Plain, from "Songs of Muad'Dib" by the Princess
Irulan


Leto is standing in the foyer reading a strange message he's just received from a Fremen messenger, "A column of smoke by day, a pillar of fire by night". He puts it in his pocket to give to Hawat later. First he wants to go wake up Jessica to tell her he never suspected her. On the way he finds the smuggler, Tuek, dead in the passage. He thinks to turn on his shield but it will limit his movement and hearing and there's also the threat of the stolen lasgun shipment. Further along he finds Mapes, mortally wounded but still alive. She summoned Tuek so the Duke could escape. He's hit with a tranquilizer dart and looks up to see Yueh leaving the shield generator room. He's sabotaged the house shield generators and left them wide open to attack. Yueh confesses that it's his desire to kill the Baron Harkonnen whom has over-ridden his imperial conditioning. Yueh puts a false tooth in the Duke's mouth with poison inside, he wants him to use it to kill the Baron, in return he will save Paul and Jessica by making it appear that they've been killed and sending them to the Fremen. Yueh takes the Duke's signet ring to give to Paul and reminds him once more of the tooth.

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 04 Nov 2009 16:03
by Hunchback Jack
Reading Dune this time through, I was surprised at the abruptness of this chapter. Just as the pieces of Leto's plan start to come together, it all comes undone. Even though I knew this was coming, it still surprised me when it happened.

HBJ

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 05:42
by inhuien
It's very much a "Bus? What Bus" moment.

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 08:02
by Freakzilla
inhuien wrote:It's very much a "Bus? What Bus" moment.
Wha???

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 11:15
by Spicelon
inhuien wrote:It's very much a "Bus? What Bus" moment.
THUNK!!

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 09:25
by Freakzilla
Revised

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 09:51
by Serkanner
When I read Dune for the first time ( 1984 when I was 15 ) I fully believed that the Atreides would find the traiter before he could strike. I was utterly shocked when the treason succeeded. In my young reading experience this wasn't what I expected to happen at all. I still think that the way Frank drew me into his story and the characters is what makes me read the books again and again. whenever I reread Dune, I expect Duke Leto to survive the plot!

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 27 Dec 2011 16:08
by Freakzilla
Clean

Re: Chapter 18

Posted: 06 Mar 2023 22:17
by the rev
Just read this chapter, yet again. What really jumps out is how mentally ill Yueh is. He's lost it, slap on a straight jacket and ride the cuckoo back to it's nest, crazy. Which leads to the question, why didn't anyone see this coming? They don't ever seriously consider he could be the traitor. Hawat, (about ready to ride the cuckoo himself) is a paranoid perfectionist who has more files then J Edgar, doesn't even know about Wanna. Yueh already came unglued in front of Paul and Jessica, nearly spilt it. With their much acclaimed training why wouldn't their suspicions be kindled? I know these questions are answered by his 'conditioning' but rules are made to be broken. I'd think the fate of his wife, and the extreme grief he feels, would be a red flag. Along with the mystery of his past. I feel it's worth mentioning because it's 'the weakest link' in Frank's plot, and isn't really that weak.