Chapter 31

[Freakzilla]

The password was given to me by a man who died in the dungeons of Arrakeen. You
see, that is where I got this ring in the shape of a tortoise. It was in the suk
outside the city where I was hidden by the rebels. The password? Oh, that has
been changed many times since then. It was "Persistence." And the countersign
was "Tortoise." It got me out of there alive. That's why I bought this ring: a
reminder.
-Tagir Mohandis: Conversations with a Friend

Leto planted a thumper and sprinkled spice around the dead tigers and can now hear a worm approaching. Ghani by now has convinced herself that he is dead and will only remember him being alive upon hearing the words secher nbiw which means "golden path" in an ancient language only they know. After that worm does it's work, he calls another and rides Southeast towards Jacurutu. When that worm tires, he burries himself in a stilltent and reflects on their decision. He had not told Ghani all the details of his dream which he now considered a vision. Not only that, it was a vision within a vision. He must break free of Paul's presient trap and the only way to do that was to die in a way not predicted by any vision. He prays to Arrakis for strength and knows the terrible skin will restore the balance.

[Freakzilla]

No revisions.

[howardhamlin]

Something that has eluded me through my readings of CoD has been Tagir Mohandis and his connection to Jacurutu/Fondak. This chapter is the beginning of Leto II’s journey of self-discovery proper, and the epigraph is from Tagir Mohandis speaking about his ring in the shape of a tortoise.

Later on in the book, Namri (who Leto II meets not long after) in his introductory chapter is said to be wearing “a ring in the form of a magic tortoise” (pg. 368 in my edition) on his knife hand. Later in the same chapter, after telling Leto II “You speak like a true rebel”, Namri rubs the tortoise ring on his finger (pg 370).

I feel there is a clear connection being drawn between Mohandis and the Iduali here - the tortoise ring is such a specific callback to this earlier epigraph we see here. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I missing something obvious? This is confounding me.

[georgiedenbro]

Prior to my last reading of the book, I'd had a mind to try to figure out who is on whose side in the book, and what all the connections are. The read-through ended up interrupted a few times, which didn't help, and in the end I was tempted to say that the entire series of hints and subplots maybe go nowhere. But now I'll admit that...I have to read it yet again. I definitely remember the bit with Tagir in Alia's court, and I really like this chapter, but I didn't catch the tortoise connection until you mentioned it. Good catch! But I don't know what it means yet.