72 pages • 2 hours read
God Emperor of Dune
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Atreides Insignia
The Atreides Insignia is a symbol of duty and loyalty, and throughout the novel, various characters wear different versions on their uniforms to communicate their allegiance or resistance to Leto’s rule. The crest features a red hawk, typically positioned on the uniform at the left breast. Another symbol of loyalty to the family is the green and black Atreides banner. In addition to providing clues to the wearer’s allegiance, these emblems also function as part of Herbert’s critique against fascism and nationalism.
During the novel’s opening, the older Duncan wears an earlier version of the Atreides uniform—black with a golden hawk—to signify his defiance against the new regime under Leto. Leto describes the golden hawk as equivalent to the statement, “I serve the honor of the old Atreides!” (29) and correctly interprets the subtle change as evidence of Duncan’s dissent and intent to kill him. The newer Duncan ghola alternates between uniforms that display the red hawk and those without the insignia, and the fluctuations mirror his internal struggle to define his identity and allegiance. In contrast, both Moneo and Siona wear uniforms without the insignia but for very different reasons. For Siona, she will never submit to Leto’s authority, and for faithful Moneo, he never needs to prove his allegiance because “[h]is face, almost as well known as Leto’s, was all the insignia he needed” (50).
The insignia also functions as an emblem of nationalism, as the banner and crest come to symbolize supremacy and obedience to a fascist order. In the previous novels, Dune and Dune Messiah, the green and black Atreides banner at first represents the just rule of the Atreides, but it mutates to symbolize the terror and violence of Paul Muad’Dib’s reign as messiah. Duncan has an ambiguous relationship with these emblems. The original Idaho lived in the time between these two reigns, before Paul came to power, and he remains faithful to the ideas represented by that earlier iteration of the House of Atreides. When Duncan wears the insignia, Moneo notes with approval the “high boots glistening with polish” and thinks, “There was a ritual look about the man” (440-41). This specific language, coming from a character whose total devotion to Leto contrasts with Duncan’s ambivalent loyalty, implies a critique of fascism. Duncan’s relationship with authority is to don the insignia first and ask questions later. Only when he begins to resist Leto’s reign does Duncan acknowledge the hypocrisy of the Atreides emblems. He bitterly claims, “I know my place…I’m a useful follower. I can carry the Atreides banner. The green and black is on my back!” (470-71). In many ways, the Atreides emblems function like the word “Siaynoq” for the Fish Speakers; both symbolize an uncritical obedience to authority.
The Crysknife
The crysknife is a layered symbol in the Dune series, as it originally represented the might and rectitude of the Fremen in the first three books. A sacred weapon made from the tooth of a giant sandworm, the crysknife could not be returned to its sheath without drawing blood. In God Emperor of Dune, the weapon no longer holds its sacred and intimidating connotations and functions—when it is remembered at all—as a prop for Museum Fremen. Now that the sandworms have died out, most crysknives in existence are replicas. The crysknife has transformed from an authentic sacred object—whose uses were simultaneously mystical and practical—to an artificial relic whose value is purely nostalgic. The crysknife symbolizes the loss of the resilience that characterized Fremen culture embodied, and starkly illustrates the stagnation of Leto’s “enforced tranquility.”
Cheap replicas of the crysknife abound in Leto’s world, and they represent the degradation of a once prestigious culture. Topri purchases a copy of the knife to demonstrate his Fremen identity, but the object he flourishes in the “Showing” ceremony merely emphasizes his weak ties to his lost heritage. The Museum Fremen who sold him the replica assured him with no hint of irony, “It is a true copy, but it is made of plastic…It will not cut cold grease” (69). The knife is also a prop in Tuono village when Garun, the Fremen naib, threatens Duncan but then submissively retreats and admits that his knife is neither a crysknife nor even a real knife at all but simply a decoration.
Even the authentic crysknives that Leto uses have lost their rich, traditional significance. Out of nostalgia, Leto bestows the weapon on Nayla to commemorate her service to him, yet the ceremony, which even includes the drawing of blood, is hollow. The knife is improperly fixed, and as a result “the blade would grow increasingly brittle and useless” (112). Leto acknowledges the irony of using the crysknife, a formidable weapon in the hands of a warrior Fremen, in a ceremony to bind Nayla to servitude. Similarly, Leto uses the original crysknife of Paul Muad’Dib in the Siaynoq ritual to entrance his mass of followers to affirm his godhood. The exploitive use of the crysknife in Leto’s time reflects the corruption and stagnation of his reign, as everything that was once vital becomes a mere copy of its former self.
Ixian Technology
Throughout the novel, the motif of dangerous technology emphasizes the novel’s tone of doom and the theme of humanity’s downfall. As established early in the Dune series, the Butlerian Jihad was an ancient crusade against “thinking machines” that threatened to take over humankind. Since then, the Great Convention has banned any technology that mimics the human mind. Although the secret horror of the Golden Path reveals that prescient machines will once again hunt humans to extinction, Leto argues that the machines themselves are not the enemy. Rather, it is people’s reliance and subservience to them that will cause their demise.
Leto acknowledges that technology in the hands of humans has had catastrophic consequence and decries, “Technology breeds anarchy” (56). Since the Butlerian Jihad, armies and individuals have used weapons to enact violence, and even with his restrictions, rebels were still able to make homemade explosives. Leto abides by the Great Convention by confiscating all atomics in the universe, but he does not abjure thinking machines for his own personal use. Leto covertly uses Ixian tools such as dictatels, computers, and a brain implant for direct communication. His Royal Cart and openings to his chambers are controlled by his “thought-of-command” (526). When Leto accuses the Ixians of hiding their experiments from him, Malky exclaims, “Lord, you yourself are one of our best customers!” (216). Leto sees no contradiction in using machines that are the precursors to the “seeking machines” that will one day threaten human existence. In his view, an absolute ban on such technologies is foolish. The problem is not the technology itself but how humans use it. At the same time, Leto’s position with regard to such technologies can be seen as further evidence that absolute power has corrupted his moral judgment. He believes that he alone should have the right to use these tools because he alone understands how to use them properly. The logic is self-serving and functions to increase his power.
Technology, specifically artificial intelligence, does not personally threaten Leto because he understands the importance of his own creative intelligence. When the Reverend Mother Anteac and Luyseyal seek Leto’s answer to their fears of the advent of “imaginative technology” (238), Leto points out the difference between automation and intelligence. He tells them, “Intelligence creates…That means you must deal with responses never before imagined. You must confront the new” (242). The answer to the dangers of new technologies is not to ban them, but to outwit them. Leto regards the challenge as one that will improve human intelligence. He explains that the reason machines in the past got the upper hand was because of human passivity. He recounts “a lesson from past over-machined societies…The devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines” (244). The machines did not debase humans, but rather, humans debased themselves due to their dependence on machines. Malky echoes this lesson to Leto and calls Leto a fool for suggesting that some things shouldn’t be invented. He advises, “Run faster. History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe. Education helps but it’s never enough. You also must run” (542-43). Malky’s lesson is one that encourages human intelligence and ingenuity to confront challenges and resolve them rather than avoid them altogether. The lesson reflects Leto’s Golden Path and his goal of teaching humans to metaphorically “run faster.”
Unlock all 72 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Frank Herbert
