Dune Lore: The God Emperor's Greatest Secret

[Music] this video will of course contain spoilers for the book god emperor of dune of the many great and powerful dukes barons and emperors of the dune universe none have had more impact than the god emperor lato the second his eventual powers would dwarf those of even his father paul atreides his influence outgrew the guild all of chome even the bini jesuit the great houses of the landsrad were rendered irrelevant he controlled the flow of spice throughout the universe and no one moved throughout his empire without his knowledge his prescient eye reached to the furthest reaches of time almost nothing was hidden from him he was the most powerful human being who ever lived by far and the most oppressive imperial dictator of all time never before had the whole of humanity been held in such a tight grip but even he was vulnerable the god emperor possessed secrets these hidden vulnerabilities are ultimately the key to his undoing the first of the god emperor's secrets which duncan idaho was supposedly put in charge of maintaining was simply the fact that he was vulnerable he was not truly a god as many throughout the human universe truly believed he could be harmed he could be killed you will be asked to guard me by whatever means necessary and you will be asked to guard my secret what secret that i am vulnerable that you are not god not in that ultimate sense lato's origins had been purposely obscured only the most perceptive entities in the universe like the bini jesuit and the chile laksu understood that he was the descendant of paul atreides the average human in nato's empire was less aware of the emperor's nature lato understood that it was easier to main control over the people of the empire if enough of them believed that he was truly a god in the absolute sense immortal and unkillable but in truth lato would always be human a vast multitude of human lives lived within him though he lived within a pre-worm body and though his brain was no longer a brain of human dimensions his mind held the true essence of humanity and this leads to lato's next secret which he actually considered his ultimate secret later was human in the most essential sense he had the ability to love siona atreides first realizes this fact when later ii allows her to escape with some of his journals which she and other rebels had stolen from his palace she finds a passage which mentions the death of the god emperor's sister gennima it is there that she comes to the realization he loved his sister yes he is capable of love oh yes we have him now as eons passed him by he had loved many companions all of which he watched die he had been filled with sorrow each time he knew that if his enemies uncovered this fact about him that they could use this vulnerability to manipulate him the ixians had also uncovered his secret specifically one man which the god emperor had seemed to favor named malki malki eventually acquired an even greater understanding of the god emperor than his closest servant maneo he recognized the emperor's vulnerability using ixian technology a no room a chamber which could hide those within from prescient vision he created we nori my most secret secret is exposed they had discovered his secret we was the evidence of it we nori had been genetically engineered and conditioned for one purpose alone to make the god emperor love her she had been created from malki's own cells just a few tiny cells from my body marky said then carefully nurtured growth and education everything and exact opposite to your old friend malki we did it all in the no room where you cannot see somehow the ixians had intended to use we to destroy laeto but they had not intended on we nor re to return lato's love regardless before the ixians could act upon their plans siona atreides got to the god emperor first lato's final secret was the manner in which he was vulnerable he was immune to most conventional weapons but just as the great worms of ancient arrakis had been lato was too averse to water moisture was poisoned to him this is the secret that siona atreides uses at the end of the book god emperor of dune to end lato she discovered the fact after lato brought her into his desert to be tested later had a small desert which was maintained on rakis by weather machines the planet during the time of the god emperor had been terraformed the process had eliminated the deep desert entirely laetos desert was the only desert on the planet a place where he could roam freely by chance his weather machines malfunctioned it rained briefly and sionna saw the effect it had on him the clouds passed and it was a few moments before siona sensed his disturbance what's wrong with you he was unable to answer the rain was gone but the water remained on the rocks and in puddles all around and beneath him there was no escape siana saw the blue smoke rising from every place the water touched him it's the water when lato is drenched momentarily in the rain water the sand trout cilia which make up his skin start to begin the process of separation his body begins to produce true spice essence which siona can see as puffs of blue smoke she realizes in that moment that enough water could probably kill him he was not human not like her at all and she possessed the secret of his undoing ring him with water destroy his desert immobilize him with a moat of agony siona uses this knowledge of lato's weakness to assassinate him at the end of the book the god emperor had managed to maintain rule of the human empire and safeguard his secrets for nearly four thousand years before he was undone by his own creation siona it can be argued that leitel allowed himself to be killed as a necessary part of his golden path hi guys quinn here thank you for watching my video make sure you like and subscribe if you enjoy the content and also if you want to support this channel consider clicking the patreon link and pledging a dollar or two per month you can also make a one-time donation by clicking the paypal link in the description and while you're here you can totally go follow me on twitter which is totally free and it also helps me spread my reach as a content creator thank you guys so much again peace out

Channel: Quinn's Ideas

Views: 507,702

Keywords: God Emperor, Dune, Explained, Denis Villeneuve, New, Movie, Book, Frank Hebert, Leto, Lore

Id: I1Qyxy0nmhU

Length: 8min 19sec (499 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 13 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/truthysmuthy]

Quinn is incredible. Im about to start his god emperor walk through. Seems like hes actually making a living off doing sci-fi videos. Legend.

[u/frackstarbuck]

I disagree with his statement about Leto’s origins not being known. There is an oral history mentioned many times in God Emperor of Dune that Siona and her rebels believe and keep alive. This oral history contained Leto’s heritage.

“Siona leaned over the table and read: “A strand of Ghanima’s hair with a starflower blossom which she once brought me.” Looking up at Nayla, Siona said: “Our God Emperor is revealed as a sentimentalist. That is a weakness I had not expected.” “Ghanima?” Nayla asked. “His sister! Remember your Oral History.” “Oh . . . oh, yes. The Prayer to Ghanima.”

“What particular parts of the Oral History were you told to review?” Siona asked.” “The . . . uhhh, the Atreides line.”

In Heretics of Dune, Sheeana mentions that the oral history as well:

“Sheeana reflected upon this. Atreides. That was the family that had brought Shaitan into being. Before the Atreides there had been only the Fremen and Shai-hulud. The Oral History, which her people preserved against all priestly prohibition, chanted the begats of the most important people on Rakis. Sheeana had heard these names many nights in her village. “Muad’Dib begat the Tyrant.” “The Tyrant begat Shaitan.”

The way that the oral history is talked about in GEOD, it doesn’t sound like it is limited to a small group of people just on Arakis.

“To most of the Empire’s docile citizens, Moneo knew, the firm knowledge which he held in his own head lay concealed in the Oral History, in the myths and wild stories told by infrequent mad prophets who cropped up on one planet or another to gather a short-lived following.”

Hwi Noree mentions it in her interview to be the IX ambassador:

“INQUISITOR: You make the tyrant appear a selfless servant of the people! HWI NOREE: Was that not a prominent characteristic of his Atreides Family? INQUISITOR: So the official histories would have us believe. HWI NOREE: The Oral History affirms it.”

I don’t think Leto really needed to keep his lineage a secret because of his prescience. He had proven time and again that he could squash rebellions or attacks if needed, and his prescience was strong enough that he knew the exact people, troops and weapons needed to be sent where and went to do it.

“As the Reverend Mothers watched in awe, Leto laid out for Idaho the exact points for ambushes, detailing the size of each force and even some of the specific personnel, the timing, the necessary weapons, the precise deployments at each place. Idaho’s capacious memory catalogued each instruction. He was too caught up in the recital to question it until Leto fell silent, but a look of puzzled fear came over Idaho then.”

Leto ruled from the power of his prescience and not him being immortal. He did this for the purpose of building up resistance to prescience in his “prey,” which they did through the invention of no-rooms and Siona being invisible to the prescient eye.

[u/Shadowgovernment86]

I always enjoy Quinn’s videos