SandChigger wrote:10,197 AG
Four Years After the Fall of Shaddam IV
So many lives within me, so many voices! A lifetime would not suffice to listen to them all!
—Paul-Muad’Dib Atreides, Meditations of an Emperor
Since when Is Paul pre-born. IIRC there should be no reason for the OM to cause this assult on someone who awakens OM after they have secured their own personality. Otherwise every single RM in the universe would be bat-shit insane. Maybe this is another dig at Brian's mental instabilities. Either way its WRONG and if this is a pillar on which the book is written then Kevin Fails. Again. "
Meditations of an Emperor"
Night had come to Arrakeen, replacing the searing bedlam and broiling clamor of the day with something of the cool silent serenity of the deep desert.
4 Years after the Jihad and already we've switched day and night cycles. Pretty sure nighttime doesn't stop the space traffic either. It sure doesn't stop air traffic here in the modern era. Oh crap I forgot! DON'T MENTION PLANES AROUND BRIAN. Oh wait we're okay, cause Brian was no where around any of this 'writting'.
And yet Paul could not sleep.
I imagine this is what KJA tells others a Talifan rant is instead of us pointing out major thematic inconsistancies:
"Paul could not sleep" Er duh, but he's still at least 17.01% human regardless of being the universe's super being. Of course he can sleep. Duh, you 'TARD huhuhuhuhuh"
He lay awake on the luxurious bedding beside his beloved Chani and waited until her soft, measured breathing told him she was asleep, and then he arose and quietly wrapped himself in a light robe of fine Terrinian broccato before stepping out onto the wide balcony adjoining their bedroom. He signaled for the guard at the far end of the balcony to leave and watched as the man disappeared into a secret passage behind a cleverly concealed door.
At last the Emperor of the Known Universe (There will be Robots) was alone and stood gazing down upon the sleeping form of the city he had made his capital. How different the face it presented now from that which sweated in the dust and heat of the midday sun. Arrakeen of Dune . . . the name itself was enough to make the hearts of devoted converts leap within their breasts (Fanboys love it when you mention titties) across the Imperium. The daytime streets of the city were choked to impassibility with the pilgrims who flocked to Arrakis, millions every year, overflowing from the shuttles which travelled (misspelled, you SC? I hope so.) back and forth all day between the Guild Heighliners in orbit and the growing spaceport on the outskirts of the city. From this vantage point he could see the lights of the landing fields, greatly expanded over the last couple of years to handle the increased volume of traffic.
Paul looked up at the almost unflickering stars and thought of the worlds that circled them, planets from which so many pilgrims came to worship him. And he thought about how many of those worlds were even now the scene of bloody battles in his name. He wanted to close his eyes but knew that doing so would only bring dreams . . . that would give way to the frightening visions that haunted his soul. And also bring the voices. . . .
<cough> BULLSHIT <cough><cough> Hey! He got the right amount of dots in an ellipsis. Sorry Byron you were right they did 'improve their writing'.
The Jihad progressed, his fanatical holy warriors spreading ever further afield, bringing destruction to many of the star systems in their path. Paul was wracked with guilt over what he had unleashed on the universe, but still could see no way to rein in the bloodthirsty hordes of his followers. Every solution he imagined led only to even bloodier visions of the future. He was near to despair, made worse by the certain knowledge that his own suicide or death would only intensify the horrors still to come.
Orly, what ever happened to Terrible Purpose? I guess Paul hasn't seen yet why he has to let Leto have his 'Golden Path'. Repetition, again. I wonder if we extract this paragraph from the book, every time it is reiterated, how many pages will the book lose.
“What can I do?!” he implored of the night.
“Perhaps you need counsel other than your own.”
The woman’s voice had come from the far end of the balcony, in the shadows that hid the door to the passage the guard had used. Had some spy or assassin managed to invade his sanctum? A Reverend Mother of the hated Bene Gesserit?
I don't remember Paul hating the Bene Gesserit. Sure he kept them pacified and they were untrusted, but hated? But i think we are missing another important point.
PAUL IS FUCKING PRECIENT. HE WOULD KNOW EXACTLY WHO IT FUCKING IS. Unless its someone else who is Prescient. In which case he'd know it was a Navigator. No Kevin, Navigators can't fly. Or fold space.
He strained but could see no one there. Then, slowly, as if coalescing from the darkness itself, a figure moved slowly towards him.
Frank uses the same term, 'coalescing' to Describe the Baron's apperance to Alia. Obviously Serena (oh no i spoiled it) is in his OM. I'm sure Piece of Dung will involve an 'exciting' possession trial of Muad'dib. If Serena possesses Paul the same way the Baron possess Alia
I renew my call to buy the book and burn it publicly.
“Who are you?!” (BATMAN!)he challenged, but the woman said nothing and continued to approach. Something about the figure reminded him of the stately, green-eyed beauty he called mother—Jessica. But no, she was on Caladan and he had not seen her since he had returned there with her for a visit three years before. Finally the woman came to a place where her face was lit by the lights of the city below and she stopped. Although by no means old, the face he saw was lined with care. Paul thought to himself that she had probably possessed a classical beauty when younger. Her hair was brown but streaked with gray, and her eyes were piercing. She looked familiar, but he didn’t recognize her.
“My name is the least important of the things that I can tell you,” she said. “I can teach you of the art of jihad, which you desperately need to learn!”
“Who are you?!”
“Never mind that. We haven’t much time this time. You fret and worry that your army is but a horde of fanatics..."
I don't know maybe they are busy you dumb bitch, you know, ON A JIHAD.
"...yet seem to forget that a force of fighting fanatics is able to overcome any number of enemy soldiers and weapons!”
MAYBE YOU HAVEN"T NOTICED MY WARRIORS ARE KICKING ASS AND TAKING NAMES ON THEIR
FUCKING JIHAD
“I worry because I have seen the future. I disturbed and awed. The masses-”
Whine, cheese please!
“And I have lived the past. To guide, to manipulate the masses who flock to your banner is the only way to defend what must be preserved. To oppose them is to become a rock on the beach, broken and worn away by the tide.”
“Who ARE you?!” Paul cried, growing exasperated.
Thank you for the cheese!
“Have you not figured it out by now? I am Serena Butler, the mother of all jihads.”
I'M BATMAN! But seriously, shouldn't this sentence end with an exclamation point? No, wait it should never have existed to start with.
The only entertaining thing i find in these novels is ripping them apart. The fact that it is this easy with my knowledge of Dune that is just in my head is incredibly sad. Rest In Peace Frank, your legacy is held safe in the hands of the ORTHODOX HERBERTIANS.