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Chapterhouse Dune is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, last in his series of six Dune novels. Published in 1985, it is also known variously as Chapterhouse: Dune, Chapter House Dune and Chapter House: Dune. Herbert died in 1986, leaving some overarching plotlines of the series unresolved in what has been described as an "über-cliffhanger." Two decades later, Herbert's son Brian Herbert, along with Kevin J. Anderson, published two sequels – Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007) – based on notes left behind by Frank Herbert for what he referred to as Dune 7, his own planned seventh novel in the Dune series.

Plot introduction

The Bene Gesserit still find themselves questioning the Golden Path of humanity set by the God Emperor Leto II. Now they must survive the Honored Matres, whose reckless conquest of the Old Empire threatens Bene Gesserit survival. The Sisters must reassess their timeless methods: does ultimate survival go beyond calculated manipulation? Is there greater purpose to life than consolidating power?

Plot summary

The situation is desperate for the Bene Gesserit as they find themselves the targets of the Honored Matres, whose conquest of the Old Empire is almost complete. The Matres are seeking to assimilate the technology and developed methods of the Bene Gesserit, their "last enemy in the million planets" (i.e. the Old Empire before The Scattering). Given the strength and record of the Matres, the Bene Gesserit need a plan.

In charge of this plan is Mother Superior Darwi Odrade, successor of Taraza. Her prescient visions show an unknown axeman stalking her — an adequate analogy to the Bene Gesserit situation.

The Bene Gesserit are also creating a new Dune on the planet Chapterhouse. Sheeana, in charge of the Worm project, expects a sandworm soon.

The Honored Matres conquest destroyed the Bene Tleilax, who falsely assumed that their control of spice production guaranteed their protection. The Matres, we come to see, are surprisingly impulsive in their use of violence. A single Tleilaxu Master remains, albeit in Bene Gesserit captivity. He yields a secret of the Tleilaxu: ghola production. The technology compromises Bene Gesserit ethics; the Tleilaxu method requires a human womb — turning women into "tanks" fit for ghola production. The first ghola produced is that of Miles Teg, the great military commander introduced in Heretics of Dune.

The Bene Gesserit have three important prisoners on Chapterhouse, held in a no-ship: Scytale, Duncan Idaho and Murbella (the Matre introduced in Heretics). The Bene Gesserit considers them valuable keys to the present predicament. This mode of thinking — that people are tools fit for a task — makes the prisoners uncooperative, despite the shared threat of the Matres.

The Bene Gesserit intend to wring more secrets of the Tleilaxu from Scytale; namely, how to create spice from the axlotl tanks. Scytale bitterly regrets supplying the Bene Gesserit with ghola technology, but he must barter with them; he is their prisoner. Within Scytale's chest is a nullentropy tube, containing the cells of all Tleilaxu masters and various significant figures of the last few millennia, including Paul Atreides himself. Potentially capable of recreating the Bene Tleilax, he retains his sense of destiny. Additionally, Scytale also wields the mind-controlling whistling language imprinted in all gholas; what ends could Duncan Idaho achieve for Scytale?

Duncan Idaho and Murbella are living together. The bond created by their mutual imprinting in Heretics has made them somewhat reluctant lovers, as their sexual addiction leads to genuine affection. The Bene Gesserit have accepted Murbella as a novice and are training her to be a Sister, despite their suspicion that she intends to steal their secrets and escape back to the Honored Matres.

The Bene Gesserit wonder about Idaho's capabilities and potential; they suspect he remembers more than this ghola existence because they see signs of his being a Mentat, a talent not taught to him. They also wonder why Leto II consistently resurrected Duncan; was it his genetic potential? Indeed, he remembers his serial ghola lives, which mystifies him. His mentat awareness tells him that the Bene Tleilax could not have accomplished this, implying that his awareness is linked beyond genetics.

Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education, has been destroyed by the Honored Matres. One Sister, Lucilla, who served as vice chancellor, manages to escape the disaster. She carries the salvation of destroyed Lampadas, later called the Lampadas Horde: the shared-minds of its millions of murdered Reverend Mothers. Unfortunately, Lucilla's ship is damaged by a mine and she makes a forced landing on Gammu.

Lucilla seeks refuge with an underground group that she knows will be sympathetic to the Bene Gesserit: Jews. Long ago, Jews went underground to escape the repeated pogroms against them. They continued to practice their religion in secret, under cover as "religious revivalists," to conceal their unbroken connection to ancient history. They were so successful that they have survived for 26,000 years while history believed them long since annihilated. The Bene Gesserit — with their memories of the past — were not deceived, and have developed a clandestine relationship with the Jews.

The Rabbi, trapped in the web of mutual obligation, gives Lucilla temporary sanctuary, but in order to save his organization he must deliver Lucilla to the Matres. To Lucilla's shock he reveals Rebecca, a "wild" Reverend Mother who has gained her Other Memory without Bene Gesserit training. Lucilla shares minds with Rebecca, who promises to take the memories of Lampadas safely back to the Sisterhood. Lucilla is then "betrayed" to the Honored Matres.

Back on Chapterhouse, Odrade's plans are reaching fruition. She confronts Duncan Idaho and forces him to admit that he is a Mentat, proving he retains memories of many ghola lives. To some degree this is a relief to Duncan, as he no longer has to disguise his abilities, but he realizes this makes his position still more precarious. He also does not reveal that he has been having sporadic mysterious visions of two strangers; an anonymous man and a woman named Marty, who seem to be aware of Duncan when he sees them.

Lucilla is taken before the Great Honored Matre Dama, and to her surprise she is not killed outright. A game of words begins, and the Matre tries to persuade her to join the Honored Matres, preserving her life in exchange for Bene Gesserit secrets. It becomes known that the Matres dearly want to learn to modify their biochemistry as the Bene Gesserit do. It is speculated that the Matres were driven from The Scattering by an enemy who used biological weapons.

Meanwhile, Murbella collapses under the pressure of Bene Gesserit training and pregnancy, giving in to "word weapons" that the Bene Gesserit planted to undermine her earlier Honored Matre identity. Murbella realizes that she really admires and wants to be Bene Gesserit, and sees her former Matres as ignorant children. The words of her initiation are repeated with an emphasis not in the original.

Dortujla, the head of a Sisterhood keep on Buzzell, arrives on Chapterhouse reporting that Handlers and their half-man/half-cat enslaved Futars have offered alliance, though Dortujla's Mentat analysis suggests they intend dominance. She speculates that if the Handlers found Buzzell then Matres may too; smugglers would have sold their information indiscriminately. Why have the Honored Matres not already attacked? Odrade sees an opportunity and orders Dortujla to return to Buzzell with the Sisterhood's offer of surrender. Dortujla is to set up a meeting at Junction — the old Spacing Guild complex — which the Matres control. Unbeknownst to them, Miles Teg has intimate experience with Junction from his human life.

Lucilla's verbal battles with the Great Honored Matre continue for weeks. When she reveals to Dama that although the Bene Gesserit know how to manipulate and control the populace, they practice and believe in democracy, Dama's desire to destroy the Sisterhood is redoubled; the Bene Gesserit teach dangerous knowledge and believe in ridiculous ideas like democracy! Dama kills Lucilla.

Odrade decides that the task of awakening Teg's human memory is best suited to Duncan Idaho, and so he and Murbella take over Teg's training. It is a job that Duncan excels at, but he has reservations regarding the traditional way of awakening a ghola, remembering the pain he went through to release his own memories.

Odrade and Tamalane tour Chapterhouse and visit Sheeana to consider promotion. Arriving at the inland sea of Chapterhouse, Odrade is dismayed to see how small it has become. As she swims, she accepts the ruthlessness of some decisions, and returns to the shore with the decision to accelerate the terraforming by removing the last sea on the planet.

Arriving at Desert Watch station, Odrade confronts Sheeana as a test of her suitability for promotion. But Odrade is undermined by her lingering affection for Sheeana and so does not force the full truth out of her, but discovers that Duncan and Sheeana have been allied together for some time and have exchanged much information. Sheeana does not reveal that they have been considering the option of reawakening Teg's memory through Imprinting, nor does Odrade discover that Sheeana has the keys to Duncan's no-ship prison.

While Odrade is away, Bellonda (a chief advisor to Odrade) decides to get rid of Duncan Idaho, whom she believes is too dangerous. However, she underestimates Duncan's capabilities; when she confronts him he protects himself with Teg, since Teg would never serve them after witnessing the murder of his teacher and friend. With his centuries of awareness — his serial lives — Duncan manipulates Bellonda by revealing his genius as a Mentat. He chides the Sisterhood by focusing on things that they refuse to face, arguing that their emergency plan of Scattering is flawed. Nobody sent to the Scattering has ever returned; therefore they are being trapped. Bellonda leaves, realizing not only that Duncan is too useful to kill, but also that Odrade probably manipulated her into this precise situation. She releases the blocks on Duncan's information flow, giving him full access to the data on the no-ship's computers. "If you have a tool, use it properly," she admits to herself.

Odrade's molding of Scytale continues apace. She points out to him that his dream of Scytale's great revival is fatally flawed, because the Tleilaxu who scattered are no longer true to his beliefs and indeed serve the Matres. Scytale is amazed and terrified when Sheeana arrives with a baby sandworm. The Bene Gesserit have assured their own long term supply of spice, destroying Scytale's main bargaining card.

At Duncan's suggestion, Teg is awakened by Sheeana using imprinting techniques. Teg's mother had conditioned in him a resistance to imprinting; under Sheeana's sensual assault, his old conditioning is triggered and his memories are awakened. In his awakening he cannot help but reveal the new physical abilities given to him by the T-Probe, the device used by the Honored Matres to torture him in Heretics. Odrade frees and appoints him again as Bashar of the military forces of the Sisterhood for the assault on the Honored Matres.

Finally it is decided that Murbella is ready to become a Reverend Mother. Odrade relaxes the strictures, and for the first time ever, a man — Duncan — is allowed to watch a spice ceremony. Duncan is filled with trepidation, first because he fears Murbella will not survive the ritual, and second because he wonders whether she will still love him after going through such a life changing experience. Odrade watches with equal trepidation because Murbella is vital to her plan to deal with the Honored Matres and to reform the Sisterhood. Odrade believes that the Bene Gesserit made a mistake in fearing emotion, and that in order to evolve, the Bene Gesserit must learn to accept emotions. Murbella, Odrade is pleased to find, takes and survives the hard path to becoming a Reverend Mother.

Murbella goes through a manic phase after becoming a Reverend Mother, and her feelings for Duncan are not the same — a fact that worries Odrade as much as Duncan. Whether it is a temporary effect of the experience or a permanent one is unknown.

Odrade calls a Convocation (a meeting of all the Bene Gesserit) announcing her plan to attack the Honored Matres. She tells them that this attack will be led by Teg. She also announces candidates to succeed her as Mother Superior; she will share her memories with Murbella and Sheeana before she leaves.

Odrade goes to meet the Great Honored Matre with Dortujla and Tamalane. To Odrade's surprise Dama seems cooperative; Odrade wonders whether she was wise to have prearranged the attack. After a while she realizes that Dama intends no reasonable negotiation.

Under cover of Odrade's diplomacy, the Bene Gesserit forces under Teg attack Gammu with tremendous force. Teg uses his secret ability to see no-ships to secure control of the system. Survivors of the attack flee to Junction, and Teg follows them there and carries all with him. Victory for the Bene Gesserit seems inevitable. In the midst of this battle, the Jews (including Rebecca with her precious memories) take refuge with the Bene Gesserit fleet.

Logno — chief advisor to Dama — assassinates Dama with poison and assumes control of the Honored Matres. Her first act surprises Odrade greatly; she surrenders to Odrade. Teg arrives, and reports come in. Too late Odrade and Teg realize they have fallen into a trap, and the Honored Matres use a mysterious weapon hinted at throughout the book to turn defeat into victory. Murbella saves as much of the Bene Gesserit force as she can and they begin to withdraw to Chapterhouse.

Odrade, however, had planned for the possible failure of the Bene Gesserit attack and left Murbella instructions for a last desperate gamble. Murbella pilots a small craft down to the surface, announcing herself as an Honored Matre who, in the confusion, has managed to escape the Bene Gesserit with all their secrets. She arrives on the planet and immediately announces her intentions by killing an overeager Honored Matre with a blinding speed enhanced by Bene Gesserit training that makes her faster than any Honored Matre before her.

Murbella is taken to the Great Honored Matre and immediately declares herself hostile. Unable to control her anger, Logno attacks but is disposed of by Murbella, who becomes Great Honored Matre by having killed her predecessor. Awed by her physical prowess, the remaining Honored Matres are forced to accept her as their new leader. Odrade is also killed in the melee and Murbella Shares with her, thereby also becoming Reverend Mother Superior.

Murbella's ascension to the leadership of the Honored Matres and the Bene Gesserit is not accepted as victory by all the Bene Gesserit. Some feel that she will suborn the spirit of the Bene Gesserit and many worry that her plan of merging the two orders is doomed to failure. Some then decide to flee Chapterhouse, notably Sheeana, who has a vision of her own. They ask Duncan if he wishes to join them, and upon his agreement escape in the giant no-ship, with Scytale, Teg and the Jews from Gammu still aboard. Murbella recognizes their plan at the last minute, but is powerless to stop them, realizing at the same time that Duncan's departure solves many problems for her. Watching this escape with interest are Daniel and Marty, the observers Duncan had been having visions of, who by all indications are independent Face Dancers.

The story ends on a cliffhanger with several questions left unanswered regarding the merging of the Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit, the fates of those on the escaped no-ship (including the role of Scytale, the development of Idaho and Teg, and the role of the Jews), the identity of the god-like characters in the book's final chapter and the ultimate mystery of what chased the Honored Matres back into the Old Empire.

References

1. Snider, John C. (August 2007). "Audiobook Review: Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson". SciFiDimensions.com. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
2. Liptak, Andrew (September 13, 2016). "The authors of Navigators of Dune on building an epic, lasting world". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.

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   Quinn, Judy (November 17, 1997). "Bantam Pays $3M for Dune Prequels by Herbert's Son". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2014. The new prequels ... will be based on notes and outlines Frank Herbert left at his death in 1986.

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   Anderson, Kevin J. (December 16, 2005). "Dune 7 blog: Conspiracy Theories". Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2008 – via DuneNovels.com. Frank Herbert wrote a detailed outline for Dune 7 and he left extensive Dune 7 notes, as well as stored boxes of his descriptions, epigraphs, chapters, character backgrounds, historical notes—over a thousand pages worth.

3. Neuman, Clayton (August 17, 2009). "Winds of Dune Author Brian Herbert on Flipping the Myth of Jihad". AMC. Archived from the original on September 21, 2009. Retrieved June 16, 2020. I got a call from an estate attorney who asked me what I wanted to do with two safety deposit boxes of my dad's ... in them were the notes to Dune 7—it was a 30-page outline. So I went up in my attic and found another 1,000 pages of working notes.

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   "Before Dune, After Frank Herbert". Amazon.com. 2004. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2008. Brian was cleaning out his garage to make an office space and he found all these boxes that had 'Dune Notes' on the side. And we used a lot of them for our House books.

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   "Interview with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson". Arrakis.ru. 2004. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2008. We had already started work on House Atreides ... After we already had our general outline written and the proposal sent to publishers, then we found the outlines and notes. (This necessitated some changes, of course.)

4. Ascher, Ian (2004). "Kevin J. Anderson Interview". DigitalWebbing.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2007. ... we are ready to tackle the next major challenge—writing the grand climax of the saga that Frank Herbert left in his original notes sealed in a safe deposit box ... after we'd already decided what we wanted to write ... They opened up the safe deposit box and found inside the full and complete outline for Dune 7 ... Later, when Brian was cleaning out his garage, in the back he found ... over three thousand pages of Frank Herbert's other notes, background material, and character sketches.

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   Adams, John Joseph (August 9, 2006). "New Dune Books Resume Story". SciFi.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2007. Anderson said that Frank Herbert's notes included a description of the story and a great deal of character background information. 'But having a roadmap of the U.S. and actually driving across the country are two different things,' he said. 'Brian and I had a lot to work with and a lot to expand...'

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   Snider, John C. (August 2007). "Audiobook Review: Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson". SciFiDimensions.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2008. Retrieved February 15, 2009. the co-authors have expanded on Herbert's brief outline

5. Herbert, Frank. Chapterhouse Dune. "Scytale rubbed his breast, reminding himself of what was hidden there with such skill that not even a scar marked the place. Each Master had carried this resource — a nullentropy capsule preserving the seed cells of a multitude: fellow Masters of the central kehl, Face Dancers, technical specialists and others he knew would be attractive to the women of Shaitan . . . and to many weakling powindah! Paul Atreides and his beloved Chani were there. (Oh what that had cost in searching garments of the dead for random cells!) The original Duncan Idaho was there with other Atreides minions — the Mentat Thufir Hawat, Gurney Halleck, the Fremen Naib Stilgar . . . enough potential servants and slaves to people a Tleilaxu universe."

• 1985 novels
• Novels by Frank Herbert
• Dune novels