It's interesting that I perceive the dead Baron in a completely different way - for me Alia wasn't just pathologically deprived of love from the very beginning and forced to grow up too fast, she was used by her family. She was born as a sacrifice by Lady Jessica for her son.
Essentially, the only person she loved her entire life, whom she served devotedly and for whom she laid herself on the altar, was Paul Atreides. He could always count on his sister - notice that in Dune Messiah, he uses her for advice, but all his thoughts and feelings are occupied only by Chani and his own prescience. He doesn't even really perceive her as a living feeling person - the scene where he enters the gym while she's training naked and suddenly discovers that his little sister has grown up speaks to this. Alia is convenient, reliable, obedient, she is his "battle comrade". But there's no point in blaming Paul, he is also a broken personality, and a broken person can rarely give love to another; mostly, they extract resources.
Alia killed the Baron for her brother because he couldn't (according to her words). Alia became a part of his empire, even though she didn't like it. Alia attended council meetings, even though she hated them. Alia killed the conspirators. Alia ate spice for Paul. Alia didn't have children (even though she wanted them) because Chani couldn't, and she was ready!!!! to give them to Paul, and later she essentially became regent for his children.
When Paul abandoned her and walked into the desert, she was abruptly left with no love, no support, and no reason to live. Her psyche made the most logical move and formed the personality of the Baron - "If no one loves me, everyone uses me, I have no value to anyone, then love is a weakness and it doesn't exist. However, I have an entire empire of resources, and since things have turned out this way, why shouldn't I try to love myself?"
The Baron is a selfish, pathological "love" for oneself in conditions of a love deficit, which later transforms into a complete inability for empathy towards anyone, yet it serves as a good means of survival in a toxic environment. This is why, by the way, I consider innerBaron/Alia to be quite sincere – the Baron is the external shell that protected the wounded girl inside and contributed to her survival. And, by the way, in fact, the dark side of Alia's psyche was the only thing that tried to prevent her suicide in the end of "CoD".
gummygunk
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
gracieabrams
kianamaiart
baratheonpilled
