Chapter 04


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Freakzilla
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Chapter 04

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melange (me'-lange also ma,lanj) n-s, origin uncertain (thought to derive from
ancient Terran Franzh): a. mixture of spices; b. spice of Arrakis (Dune) with
geriatric properties first noted by Yanshuph Ashkoko, royal chemist in reign of
Shakkad the Wise; Arrakeen melange, found only in deepest desert sands of
Arrakis, linked to prophetic visions of Paul Muad'Dib (Atreides), first Fremen
Mahdi; also employed by Spacing Guild Navigators and the Bene Gesserit.

-Dictionary Royal fifth edition

Two tigers are standing on a ridge in a barren part of Salusa Secundus, watching two red-headed children in stilsuits and cloaks as they make their way across the landscape. A few sandtrout have been smuggled to this area in hopes of breaking the Atreides spice monopoly. The tigers have servo-stimulators implanted in their brains which allow them to be controlled by whomever has the transmitter. A Sardaukar Levenbrech (Bashar's Aid) appears on the ridge behind the tigers with the transmitter strapped to his chest. He releases the restraint command and the tigers attack and kill the two children. All of this has been viewed with a hidden transeye at the Prince's keep. The Levenbrech is sure that today's work will earn him a promotion, maybe even a royal title, once the Atreides twins are out of the way.
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Re: Chapter 04

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While rereading COD, I haver to come to admire the flawless manner in which the story is woven, in such a realistic, historical manner that gives me an appreciation for the omniscient point of view that lets you see all the threads of power culminating to one climatic conclusion. This intro just characterized for me while reiterating the political nexus and center of the change where this world is rapidly changing through Leto II.
I am in awe, as always, with Herbert's writing.
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Re: Chapter 04

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One of the things I like about Herbert's writing I actually didn't notice until I'd been reading it for a while, was the constant head-hopping within scenes - it's significant that I didn't notice it for a while because this is my least favourite style, I prefer one point of view because it forces the author to show you what the other characters motivations are, rather than tell it. That I didn't even notice my most disliked style for a long time means that it was done in such an amazing way as to work.
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Re: Chapter 04

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A Thing of Eternity wrote:One of the things I like about Herbert's writing I actually didn't notice until I'd been reading it for a while, was the constant head-hopping within scenes - it's significant that I didn't notice it for a while because this is my least favourite style, I prefer one point of view because it forces the author to show you what the other characters motivations are, rather than tell it. That I didn't even notice my most disliked style for a long time means that it was done in such an amazing way as to work.
I know, right? On first reading through COD, I didn't see the connections between the epigrams and the chapters all the time. Now going back to it, it's all so beautifully interconnected.
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Re: Chapter 04

Post by inhuien »

Freakzilla wrote:melange ...
spice of Arrakis (Dune) with
geriatric properties first noted by Yanshuph Ashkoko, royal chemist in reign of Shakkad the Wise

Is there any more information on this Shakkad the Wise chappie. Might be handy in dating the discovery of Arrakis.
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Re: Chapter 04

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Nope, there's only that one reference in canon.
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Re: Chapter 04

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this is one of my favorite free-standing chapters .... I'd like to see pulphope do it.

the only depiction of the individual life of a Sardaukar
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Re: Chapter 04

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SandRider wrote:this is one of my favorite free-standing chapters .... I'd like to see pulphope do it.

the only depiction of the individual life of a Sardaukar
I just now thought about it after reading this and realized your right. It is a lifestyle we never have a glimpse into outside of the Wensica context despite the fact they are mentioned and confronted with the customary reaction of "Oh-my-god-time-to-die" flight-or-fight response from their advesaries. I suppose since the Corrino family is not at the heart of the story Frank determined that there wasn't a need for it up until this point, but it's a morsel of a world that effects so many others in the events leading up to it(well, until Paul''s armies and ascent to the throne removed the spotlight from their symbol as a token of political power to the Corrino family).
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Re: Chapter 04

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reverendmotherQ. wrote:
SandRider wrote:this is one of my favorite free-standing chapters .... I'd like to see pulphope do it.

the only depiction of the individual life of a Sardaukar
I just now thought about it after reading this and realized your right. It is a lifestyle we never have a glimpse into outside of the Wensica context despite the fact they are mentioned and confronted with the customary reaction of "Oh-my-god-time-to-die" flight-or-fight response from their advesaries. I suppose since the Corrino family is not at the heart of the story Frank determined that there wasn't a need for it up until this point, but it's a morsel of a world that effects so many others in the events leading up to it(well, until Paul''s armies and ascent to the throne removed the spotlight from their symbol as a token of political power to the Corrino family).
This is the genius that is FH. He leads you up to the curtain, but you have to do the peeking yourself. Dune is not for spoon feeding to dumb assess.
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Re: Chapter 04

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OMG, I really phoned in that chapter summary, huh? I'm going to do another re-read soon...
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Re: Chapter 04

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Freakzilla wrote:OMG, I really phoned in that chapter summary, huh? I'm going to do another re-read soon...
Wow, just over a year ago... right on schedule. :lol: I'll get to this one on Tuesday!
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Re: Chapter 04

Post by Freakzilla »

Revised, clean.
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Re: Chapter 04

Post by georgiedenbro »

Children of Dune wrote:People who served well in the corps of Farad'n, grandson of the late Shaddam IV, earned rich
promotions. One day, when the Prince was seated on his rightful throne, there
would be even greater promotions. A Bashar's rank might not be the end of it.
There were Baronies and Earldoms to be had on the many worlds of this realm . . .
once the twin Atreides were removed.
I like this offhand remark about Shaddam being dead. A little suspicious, no? He wasn't exactly a doddering old man, and in Dune, ~23 years earlier, he was described this way:
Dune wrote:My father, the Padishah Emperor, took me by the hand one day and I sensed in the
ways my mother had taught me that he was disturbed. He led me down the Hall of
Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides. I marked the strong
resemblance between them--my father and this man in the portrait--both with
thin, elegant faces and sharp features dominated by cold eyes. "Princessdaughter,"
my father said, "I would that you'd been older when it came time for
this man to choose a woman." My father was 71 at the time and looking no older
than the man in the portrait, and I was but 14, yet I remember deducing in that
instant that my father secretly wished the Duke had been his son, and disliked
the political necessities that made them enemies.
-"In My Father's House" by the Princess Irulan
This passage must take place near or almost during the events of Dune, given Irulan's age here. At the time of Leto's death Leto was 51, and we assume he was younger still in the portrait. We can also, I think, assume that the apparent age of the spice-user is their real effective age as they benefit from the geriatric properties. So if Shaddam looked 50 or younger here (probably as if in his 40's) while actually 71 then he'd not even be close to being at extreme old age 23 years later, as that would age him another maybe 12-15 years and make him effectively in his 50's or 60.

So what's with Shaddam's early demise? Paul? Alia? Fenring? Or maybe it was Wensicia, so that Farad'n could take over the family.
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Re: Chapter 04

Post by Serkanner »

georgiedenbro wrote:
Children of Dune wrote:People who served well in the corps of Farad'n, grandson of the late Shaddam IV, earned rich
promotions. One day, when the Prince was seated on his rightful throne, there
would be even greater promotions. A Bashar's rank might not be the end of it.
There were Baronies and Earldoms to be had on the many worlds of this realm . . .
once the twin Atreides were removed.
I like this offhand remark about Shaddam being dead. A little suspicious, no? He wasn't exactly a doddering old man, and in Dune, ~23 years earlier, he was described this way:
Dune wrote:My father, the Padishah Emperor, took me by the hand one day and I sensed in the
ways my mother had taught me that he was disturbed. He led me down the Hall of
Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides. I marked the strong
resemblance between them--my father and this man in the portrait--both with
thin, elegant faces and sharp features dominated by cold eyes. "Princessdaughter,"
my father said, "I would that you'd been older when it came time for
this man to choose a woman." My father was 71 at the time and looking no older
than the man in the portrait, and I was but 14, yet I remember deducing in that
instant that my father secretly wished the Duke had been his son, and disliked
the political necessities that made them enemies.
-"In My Father's House" by the Princess Irulan
This passage must take place near or almost during the events of Dune, given Irulan's age here. At the time of Leto's death Leto was 51, and we assume he was younger still in the portrait. We can also, I think, assume that the apparent age of the spice-user is their real effective age as they benefit from the geriatric properties. So if Shaddam looked 50 or younger here (probably as if in his 40's) while actually 71 then he'd not even be close to being at extreme old age 23 years later, as that would age him another maybe 12-15 years and make him effectively in his 50's or 60.

So what's with Shaddam's early demise? Paul? Alia? Fenring? Or maybe it was Wensicia, so that Farad'n could take over the family.
Illness?
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Re: Chapter 04

Post by Freakzilla »

I can't picture Farad'n doing something like that, he was even squeamish about killing Atreides. It does sound like something Wensicia would do, though. I think if the Atreides had been responsible we'd have been told.
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Re: Chapter 04

Post by georgiedenbro »

I tend to agree that Wensicia is the most likely suspect. I'm not inclined to believe it was illness, and even if someone in the book had said so I wouldn't believe them.
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