We’re missing out on so much weird Bene Gesserit sex from Frank Herbert’s books
The Bene Gesserit are masters of intrigue in the Dune novels, executing millennia-long schemes that involve manipulating the Emperor and Great Houses, seeding prophecies, and breeding a chosen one. Writer-director Denis Villeneuve shows off their mysterious power and the scope of their influence in his movie adaptations of theDunebooks, but author Frank Herbert spent a lot more time exploring and explaining how the organization actually works — particularly in his last two novels, which are unlikely to ever be adapted for the screen.
As weird as the ancient society is in Villeneuve’s movies, though, they’re much weirder in the books, in ways that audiences who only know Dune from these recent movies might find hard to believe. Here’s how the Bene Gesserit in the movies compare to the much wilder version in the books.
[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Frank Herbert’s Dunenovels and Denis Villeneuve’s Duneand Dune: Part Two.]
To secure a place for Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and herself among the Fremen of Sietch Tabr, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) agrees to replace their dying Reverend Mother by undergoing a rite that involves drinking the Water of Life, a concentrated form of spice created by drowning a baby sandworm. While the details of the ritual vary by society, this is the same process used to elevate all Bene Gesserit sisters into Reverend Mothers, giving them access to the memories of their predecessor in the role and their own ancestors by unlocking their genetic memory.
Bene Gesserit are trained to resist poison in part to allow them to undergo this process. In the book Dune, Jessica also uses her abilities to molecularly break down the Water of Life and create a less potent version of it that Paul and the rest of the sietch drink while she gets acquainted with the old Reverend Mother, who now shares her body. The drug creates a psychic connection between members of the tribe, prompting an orgy that the film skips in favor of focusing on Chani and
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