Dune: Motivation of The Bene Gesserit Explained in FIVE Minutes 

Before the spice was found, they were into psychedelics, which is kind of interesting since many ancient cultures and even animals do this. I had mushrooms a long time ago. Quite strange, and a bad idea to do that every week, but there's certainly more inside. I remember I was disgusted by tobacco while I was a quite addicted smoker, and I lost all sense of modern society. Like, money is a joke and MTV was mental insanity.

Spice up your life .

Good one!😂👍

Space girls

SpiceWorld was a detailed explanation on how their order first formed

Millennia, more like. According to the Dune Encyclopedia (the only Dune fiction that was actually approved by Frank Herbert, not the bullshit his son wrote), the Bene Gesserit were an old order well before the Butlerian Jihad. The Jihad happened when an AI medical machine decided that Bene Gesserit sister Jehane Butler's fetus was defective and aborted the about-to-be-born baby. Jehane Butler's fetus was a girl - who would have been named Sarah, and who would have been the mother of the Kwisatz Haderach. This happens over 10,000 years BEFORE the events of the "Dune" novel.

Sounds like Herbett was reading about Rome and the Catholic Church - it's called Romanità!

I really enjoyed the treatment of her character: agonized in private, PERFECT in company. She is delicate, but adaptable & wickedly strong… just like a certain desert mouse we might notice?

plus she's hot

@@glemmstengal That movie is just filled to bursting with sexy people acting their sexy asses off. It's a double win for Cinema.

@@glemmstengal BONK! No horny!

I dunno. I see that I am in the minority here but I thought the portrayal was too surfacy. I think she should be perfect nearly all the time and find much more subtle ways to expose the doubts inside. Her training should make her extremely hard to read. She's emoting all over the place in this movie. That might work for someone just viewing the movie but if you've read the book, the conflict is jarring.

That was a good example of adaptation. I don't believe that line is from the book but in one sentence it captured the BG's manipulation of entire populations.

@@bradleynoneofyourbizz5341 The movie is absolutely littered with moments like that, and honestly it was necessary to make the film succeed. Most of them needed zero dialog to explain, you just got it. The pacing would have been so bad if they spent time going too far down the rabbit hole of Dune lore.

"Here I am, here I remain!"

Does anybody realize that this movie/story is an allegory for what's _actually happening_ in reality? Bene Gesserit are a stand-in for the secret occult orders that have always secretly controlled our world, and they describe their agenda perfectly in the movie. Look at our world and everything going on. It's telling the same story. They gave the world all of their religions to serve their greater plan for the world. It's mind-boggling to me that I never see anyone point this out. The timing of the movie was also interesting.

It means the Bene Gesserit have been at work here. Planting superstitions? Preparing the way, Paul

Also saw it today. Lynch's version is important if you want to understand the references and art style of the Westwood Dune games, but otherwise it's a B-movie. Vileneuve's version omitted a few details, but stayed pretty true to the book otherwise. It wasn't quite how I expected it to go, but I wasn't at all disappointed. I can't comment on how well it works for people who weren't into the novels, but the action sequences were awesome, and you could really get a sense of the sheer scale of things. Definitely picking up a copy once it comes out on video.

My wife also neevr read the book or saw the previous movie... but she also was surprised she could follow the plot from the movie! That is really something to expose people to a complicated novel through movie and let them follow it... and also it was amazing to me who has read the book in the past year. Excellent movie making.

Same with my wife. She got mad at me when it was over. She would have sat through another 2.5 hours to find out what happens.

Show her the miniseries next.

@@glenn_r_frank_author Show her the miniseries next.

yeah the first part had many trippy moments like this. The second was more straightforward. That arrival scene reminded me of his cinematogropy from Blade Runner. There were many shots like this one. Again not so much in the second part. I mean who gave him those notes not to indulge in this...

I honestly think we are going to see a taste of Messiah at the end of part 2 and it will be called there. But, time will tell, fingers crossed for a God-Emperor movie!

@@Yig_al_Gaib4242 A god emperor movie is all I want next!

If this was going to be Villeneuve's LOTR it would have had the same detail the miniseries did in the same amount of time. Not less.

@@PatrickOMulligan that’s why I say they need to make a director’s cut combining parts 1 and 2 plus adding the deleted scenes the cut from the theatrical run

@@Yig_al_Gaib4242 but messiah is 12 years later

They created all of it through cautious, careful means over centuries, only to lose control of it at the critical moment. Plans within plans within plans.....

Succinctly observed by Paul in the first chapter of the book: the Bene Gesserit's function is politics.

I seem to remember the term coming up when they arrive on Arrakis. Maybe my memory filled in that blank.

@@markv785 don't they also reference him as "the shortening of the way?" I swear I remember that from the book.

@@markv785 I was referring to the comment on the Missionaria Protectiva. I seem to remember it being mentioned. Time for a second viewing!

this is a given

Underrated comment lmao

Sequel? We want a trilogy

Nope I want the whole Frank Herbert book adaptations.

@@MrMocny82 a trilogy is not enough considering they divided book 1 into 2 movies

God like power is only nice when you are the one controlling it lol

@@thearcanamodernau8130 That was the overarching theme of Dune, though, that getting what you want isn't necessarily all that good. And Leto, having godlike power, didn't think it was nice at all. He was miserable.

This is the most absurd part)

I don't think they believe in their own misionaria protective. If anything they are dismissive of those influenced by those engineered myths. It's more that the Bene Gesserit believe they know best, always. It is less superstition and belief, and more pure arrogance and pride.

That makes sense. I think their complacency and overconfidence in their own prophecies made them too arrogant.

"Because they can only recall as much of each past life up to the moment of conception" Whose conception are you referring to?

Not just conception, they also do their "sharing," such as depicted in Chapterhouse, which is more "up to date."

I think you're forgetting that when Reverend Mothers share "Other Memory," they can pretty much piece together the whole of human history. I've always wondered just how far back along our genetic track they can go...

This was the first movie I saw in the Dolby digital theater at amc, and it was so worth it.

A good point. Having said that, Odrade would have been horrified at this Jessica's lack of emotional and physical control. Obviously, it was overplayed for the needs of drama, but it wasn't BG-level.

@@w0mblemania Odrade would have also asked Jessica why Jessica didn't have a second child with Duke Leto. At the very least, Duke Leto would have understood the phrase "an heir and a spare". Or the Bene Gesserit could have phrased it as "we sent you one of our daughters, you will send us one of yours"

In Heritics of Dune, there is no denying who is the greatest threat to the sisterhood is. But who is the greatest heretic, Darwi Odrade or the Honored Matres?

@@vergyltantor3211 Odrade did what she did to keep some semblance of the Sisterhood alive. Without her, the HM's would have eventually found all the BG, wiped them out.

@VergylTantor That's the thing, *everyone* in that book is a heretic in one way or another... and sometimes on multiple levels.

Yes! Though I’m pretty sex-positive in real life, I worry about HBO’s penchant for gratuitous “sexposition” to hamper the pacing & overall quality of this potential series.

I want them to go out like order 66

Said something like “our plans are measured in centuries” or similar that I thought was cool!! (Chess)

Whaaat? There is going to be a series about Bene Gesserit??? 😳

I have little faith in HBO ... they'll add sex scenes for no reason and make half the cast gay.

If you haven't read the entire series yet I envy you for the rabbit hole you're about to discover. Come along! There are multitudes of us who have journeyed through Herbert's epic and have discovered a great many things! Hope you enjoy it every bit as much as I have!

You mean this is Shai-Hulud's work.

@@arthurr.r.lucasspublicdoma5621 tha God Leto II works in mysterious ways cuh

Bless the Maker and his Channel. Bless the recording and the uploading of Him. May His videos inform the World. May He keep the World for His subscribers.

*God-Emperor Leto Atriedes the 2nd

@@arthurr.r.lucasspublicdoma5621 Or Shaitan's perhaps, if one's name is Sheeana, Mistress of Worms.

By indoctrination, how else ?

The short answer is hubris. The Bene Gesserit’s Hubris is a recurring plot point in the entire series.

@Donald Donald i get that, but their goal is to make the most powerful being and then control that being. Seems like a fools errand.

Exactly. I think that even if their original plan worked and the Kwizats Haderach was on their side like they wanted, he would have ended up doing whatever the hell he wanted. If they couldn't control Jessica despite being heavily conditioned, they couldn't have controlled a god like creature

​@@lesdaniel4584well, Jessica was heavily indoctrinated and they still couldn't control her screwing up their centuries long plan. Their indoctrination would be a joke to a creature whose power is bigger than the entire sisterhood

I have HBO max so I’m just watching certain scenes again whenever

One question, if the Bene Gesserit planted the superstition that Paul would come and be a messiah, why were they so surprised when Jessica had a boy child and not a girl?

@@scottash351 The superstition was that an outworlder would come as a saviour not specifically Paul, with Jessica knowing the pattern these traditions would take she was able to mold the perception of Paul into that pattern,

"Sad"? How so?

@@guyagena8205 They tried and failed? They tried and died.

What phrase is used to define someone who believes that their way is the only way? ...Controlling.

There is concept of devouring mother, one that "cares" so much, that she'll controll life of her child down to every detail devouring all freedom, choice and happiness

Quite the contrary. One of THE central motifs of the dune franchise is the futility of the human drive to control chaos. The Bene Gesserit are perhaps the Prime embodiment of this idea. In order to control, one must exist outside of the system being operated upon, not within it. The Sisterhood was moving according to a higher order that it was neither aware nor in control of. It was always, even into the later books, a component of the system it sought to control. This connects to another theme of the books that Quinn actually discusses regularly: when a species reaches a certain size, it ceases to function as a concentration of individuals and begins to function as one vast organism. Herbert explicitlya states over and over that the gaoal was control, and he built a unique manifestation of that drive into literally every single faction and party in the universe. He also explicitly states that the Bene Gesserit were victim to this myopia. Even if there is a maternal element, tht element is subordinate to the hubris of seeking to control chaos.

I think the BG are just winging it, like since they can't see the future they are just enacting countless plans and projects in hopes that one succeeds. They see the goal of the Kwisatz Haderach but cannot see every path that will lead to its creation, and so they need control. They were right tho, the KH will save humanity, and their plan going to shit due to Jessica actually saved everybody, but if the BG ever 100% succeeded then we are all doomed. They do love humanity, but their plan is like 50/50 we all live or we all die.

@hecate235 True... but "control" is still an apt term for the process the Sisterhood chose to take. Their Kwisatz Haderach ("the Shortening of The Way") was intended to create their desired future sooner by bridging Time. They alone wanted to decide the future of humanity... and likely cause it's extinction in the process. Would a BG-controlled KH see the necessity of the Golden Path? Would the BG allow it?

Mohiam is NOT Paul's grandmother, Tanidia Nerus is/was. The "retcon" that Mohiam used the name of Nerus for the breeding records is just Brian "the hack" Herbert's shameless attempt to justify his sloppy storytelling. I refuse to accept that excuse as canon, and anyone with respect for Frank's work should too.

@@theeffete3396 The Dune Encyclopedia suggests otherwise. While we will probably never know if Frank Herbert actually left notes confirming, we do know that he endorsed the Encyclopedia before his death and the 'Nerus-Mohaim Controversy' is in there. Narratively it's a beautiful twist and I lean towards the Grandma Gaius side. And hey, I'm no great fan of Brian Herbert and that other guy either but your contempt and spite seems to be disproportionate. You alright?

"Are you suggesting the Duke's son might be an animal?"

No, he is not. It’s the bene gesserit goal is to create humans. That is what the gom jabbar is. To test paul to see if he is human.

"You take much on yourselves." - The Chad Paul

@@sblinder1978 let us say I suggest you may be human

If only more of the first chapter's dialog had been included in the movie it would have answered a lot of questions for 'non-bookers'.

Even leto wasn't, he was an unplanned freak of nature as well.The sisterhood inntheir arrogance be,ieved too strong in their plans and devices...while future never can be planned q00%

Paul was the Kwisatz Haderach, as was his son Leto II. Paul just couldn't bear the burden of carrying out the Golden Path which is why he blinded himself to escape that destiny.

So they went all the way back to machine overlords of the past.

He is so perfect he can even master Hamon.

Yes. Frank seems to have been fascinated with Love as a motivational force. That concept surfaces in a lot of his other books too.

Very interesting!

Yes, Bene Gesserit made plans to keep Kwisatz Haderach under control, or rather, aligned with the goals and methods of the Bene Gesserit. They lost that control with Paul. All other KH candidates have been planned, but Paul was the one that was not planned, not prepared for. And then they lost even Paul in the desert of Arrakis...

They wanted a Miles Teg that could see the future.

@@SolzhenitsynBoogie That's a great way to put it.

I always imagined the Bene Gesserit planned on using the Kwisatz Haderach to overthrow the galactic status quo and rule the Imperium as a sort of "god-emperor" similar to Leto II except with them in charge and calling the shots as a sort of new priesthood/theocracy.

If the original plan had worked and a female Paul married Feyd-Rautha, that would lead to the downfall of the Corrinos. But then, when Paul was, well, a boy, Bene Gesserit's plan shifted to merging the Harkonnens with the Corrinos. So I think Bene Gesserit did not really care whether the old order is preserved, as long as their Kwisatz Haderach is under their control or aligned with them, and has enough power to "steer" humanity.

It was funny how I learned about dune. It started with seeing a figure of the Baron from the 80s movie, with no context. Then I learned about the Giger art for it while watching how they made alien. Still no context to the story. And then one of the families from a homeschool group had it, but I never picked it up. Then like 8 years later, I saw a review of the og movie and it finally all came together