Bene Gesserit: Encyclopedia II - Bene Gesserit - The powers of the Bene Gesserit

Bene Gesserit - The powers of the Bene Gesserit

Thanks to intensive training, all Bene Gesserit possess skills and abilities that appear to those outside the order as magical powers. These include both mental and physical powers. All Reverend Mothers are storehouses of information through Other Memory; they are trained to notice tiny details; and they have fine control over each muscle in their bodies.

Bene Gesserit - Other Memory

One of the 'powers' of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother is her Other Memory: the combined ego and memories of all her female ancestors, passed on through the genes, and thus, up to the point where each following ancestor was conceived. The ego/memory combination remains a distinct identity within the Reverend Mother's mind, and is able to inject itself into her awareness at appropriate or emotional moments, though the Reverend Mother's ego is always dominant.

A Reverend Mother has access only to her female lineage in Other Memory; her male line is unavailable to her, present as a dark void that terrifies her. Until the time of God Emperor of Dune, the purpose of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme is to breed a Kwisatz Haderach, a male with Other Memory who can see both lines (see below).

Reverend Mothers may also pass their own ego/memory combination to other Reverend Mothers at will, merely by touching foreheads. When a Reverend Mother dies in the presence of another Reverend Mother, the second will accept the ego/memory of the first to prevent the loss of the dying Reverend Mother's experience and ancestral memories. Especially when the Mother Superior perishes, it is important to take her ego/memory so that her plans and strategies may continue uninterrupted. In Chapterhouse: Dune, Darwi Odrade is Mother Superior, a contentious choice ratified by the fact that she was present at the previous Mother Superior's death, and has her in Other Memory, so she represents the most continuous line of leadership. Under extreme conditions, a large community of Bene Gesserit will practice Extremis Progressiva, a mass sharing of ego/memories with each other to spread all the ego/memories amongst everyone; thus, if one survives, they all survive. In Heretics of Dune, the Bene Gesserit school on Lampadas, under attack by the Honoured Matres, undertakes Extremis Progressiva; Lucilla escapes with 'the Lampadas Horde', hoping to return to the Bene Gesserit with them.

Bene Gesserit - The Voice

Bene Gesserit are trained in the use of their voice (it is always capitalized "the Voice" in the novels) to compel obedience in listeners on a subconscious level. By controlling the subtleties of her voice, a Bene Gesserit can speak to a person's unconscious mind, commanding it in a way that the conscious mind is aware of, but cannot resist. Voice is not specific to individual listeners; it is applicable in group speaking as well. In some way, Voice is an extreme version of oratorical ability; a real-world example would be Adolf Hitler, whose speeches were said to be electrifying.

Voice control is not magical or mystical. It is an innate talent, present in greater or lesser amounts in everyone, requiring only training to be made useful. A Bene Gesserit doesn't have to be a Reverend Mother to use Voice, and others outside the order may be taught to use it. In Dune, Jessica teaches it to Paul; after the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam tests Paul, she urges Jessica to give him the 'deep training', the deepest secrets of Bene Gesserit in the use of Voice, saying only that "he'll need it."

At least three things hamper the Voice: it is useless against targets who cannot hear the Bene Gesserit (e.g., someone deaf), and its effectiveness is limited by how well the Bene Gesserit can analyze her target's personality and vocal patterns to determine what pitch of Voice will be most effective-- a limitation offset by the Bene Gesserit's skills in observing their targets and perceiving its weaknesses. Also, being a manipulation of the target's subconscious mind, the Voice is of limited utility against an extremely disciplined mind, such as a Reverend Mother or a strong Mentat; if the target understands what Voice is and how it works, and is aware that it is being used, he may resist it; in Dune Messiah, Paul trains some guards to resist Voice so that he may imprison Bene Gesserit.

Bene Gesserit - Petit perception

Bene Gesserit are trained to exercise petit perception at all times, noticing minutiae that others miss to a terrifying degree. When combined with their analytical abilities, Bene Gesserit appear to be witches (hence the nickname for them), capable of divining secrets in persons and circumstances that are invisible to everyone else. Slight differences in air currents or the design of a room will allow a Bene Gesserit to detect hidden portals and spyholes; variations in a person's voice and tiny reactions allow Bene Gesserit to deeply understand a person's emotional state, and manipulate it.

Bene Gesserit - Truthsaying

Many Bene Gesserit are Truthsayers. A Truthsayer has a finely honed perception of their own sense of someone else's veracity, an ability that all humans have, in principle, but that requires extensive training to develop to the point of usefulness. The training of the Bene Gesserit is very useful for developing this ability, but is not the only way. It is not a skill: It is the development of a latent talent. One character describes the talent as "whenever I hear someone tell a lie, I want to turn my back on them."

Bene Gesserit - Simulflow

Bene Gesserit also have the ability to practice simulflow, literally the simultaneous flow of several threads of consciousness at any given time; mental multitasking, as it were. The combination of simulflow with their analytical abilities and Other Memory are responsible for the frightening intelligence of the average Bene Gesserit. This simulflow can also be held with Other Memory; Mother Superior Odrade practiced both forms in Heretics of Dune.

Bene Gesserit - Prana Bindu training and the Weirding Way

The Bene Gesserit develop their physical abilities as well as their mental abilities. A trained Sister has full control over each muscle in her body; this is called prana bindu training. It allows her to bend the last joint in her little toe while remaining otherwise motionless or put a remarkable amount of force behind a physical blow (unarmed attacks being a part of their specialized martial art called "the Weirding Way"). They can bend and contort their bodies in ways that most would consider impossible. The mental part of Prana Bindu, or Prana nervature (Bindu stands for musculature) is the precise control of the totality of nerves in the human body. In Dune, Reverend Mother Mohiam tests Paul with a pain box. Paul learns that he is not the only one to have tried it, but is perhaps specially resistant; this conversation points to a widespread use of it as tool among the Bene Gesserit to measure self control, nerve control, and as Mohiam puts it, crisis and observation.

Bene Gesserit - Internal Organic-Chemical Control

While the Prana Bindu attempts to control and properly play each muscle and nerve, there remains the question of internal organs and body chemistry, to which the Sisterhood has responded as such: a Sister can completely control her breathing and heart rate, to the degree that she can appear dead to most tests even after intense physical exertion. They can commit suicide at will by simply stopping their hearts. They can control their need for food and water to the extremes of hunger and thirst. It is hinted at that should a Bene Gesserit wish to, she could slow her aging process dramatically, controlling every aspect of her metabolism. Of course, no Bene Gesserit would ever do this, as it would call too much attention and reveal too much of their abilities (the Lady Jessica realizes that her daughter, the Lady Alia Atreides, has done this in the novel Children of Dune . This is the first sign she encounters that suggests her daughter is sinking into abomination ).

Most remarkably, the Bene Gesserit have such training over their bodies that they can control their own menstrual cycle, and even what gender their child will be at conception. The Lady Jessica was ordered to bear only daughters to the Atreides but defied her Bene Gesserit sisters and had her son, Paul Atreides. The Bene Gesserit conspired against the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV's desire to have a male heir and only gave him daughters, such as Princess Irulan.

Bene Gesserit - Considerable Sexual Talents

The Bene Gesserit are notable for their extensive skill in seduction, sex and sexual imprinting.

In Heretics of Dune, Sister Lucilla has been charged with the seduction-imprinting of the Duncan Idaho ghola. While Duncan ultimately avoids her, it is implied that seduction was and is a tool for the Bene Gesserit. Lucilla also mentions the hundreds of sexual positions and variations she knows (presumably so does every sister). It is even more interesting that Lucilla is a breeding mistress, pointing to their sexual talents as a major force in their breeding programs, not just concubines and wives; note that while Mother Mohiam was raped by Baron Harkonnen in the Brian Herbert novels, the original novels point to a "clever seduction" in his youth, presumably by Tanidia Nerus as mentioned in Children of Dune, as the reason for Lady Jessica's existence.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The powers of the Bene Gesserit", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki