#odrade

Chapterhouse: Dune

Date Published: 1985

Author: Frank Herbert

Page: 438: “It was too much. Logno attacked, left foot slashing outward with blinding speed. Murbella grasped the foot as she would catch a wind-blown leaf and, continuing the flow of it , levered Logno into a threshing club that ended with her head pulped on the floor. Without pausing, Murbella piroueted, left foot almost decapitating the Honored Matre who had stood at Logno’s right, the right hand crushing the throat of the one who had stood at Logno’s left. It was over in two heartbeats.”

As a visual reference, it may have looked like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8lsl2uSZ5I

But, all with all females instead though since it’s Murbella attacking and quickly subduing her former Honored Matre sisters to death. Also, instead of the Planet Arrakis, it’s [Planet] Junction.

It was after killing Logno, the then and recent Great Honored Matre leader, where Murbella saw the death of her Bene Gesserit teacher, Odrade dead with her “neck” twisted. Murbella came over to kneel her head against Odrade’s to absorb her memories. Then, Murbella proceeded to kill Odrade’s killer, Elpek, another Honored Matre.

“Elpek saw death in Murbella’s eyes and took one backward step before trying to defend herself. Elpek was dangerous but no match for this demon [Murbella] in the black robe. It was over with the same shocking abruptness that had taken Logno and her aides: a kick to the larynx. Elpek sprawled across Odrade.”

Chapterhouse: Dune Date Published: 1985 Author: Frank Herbert Pages 445 to 446: The following content below is adapted into the “Tumblr” format of a Chat since the “mental” or “internal” dialogue between Murbella and Odrade kind of resembles the “Chat posts” found on Tumblr. Note: Not saying, Frank Herbert invented a module piece for Tumblr, but the things he wrote in this book sure do look like it.

Murbella: Duncan! Ohhhh, Duncan! Dar, help me. What am I to do?

Odrade: Never ask why you’re a reverend mother.

Murbella: I must! The progression is clear in my memory and...

Odrade: That’s a sequence. Thinking of it as cause and effect beguiles you away from totality.

Murbella: Tao?

Odrade: Simpler: You are here.

Murbella: But Other Memory goes back and back and...

Odrade: Imagine it’s pyramids--interlocked.

Murbella: Those are just words!

Odrade: Is your body still functioning?

Murbella: I hurt, Dar. You don’t have a body any more and it’s useless to...

Odrade: We occupy different niches. The pains I felt are not your pains. My joys are not yours.

Murbella: I don’t want your sympathy! Ohh, Dar! Why was I born?

Odrade: Were you born to lose Duncan?

Murbella: Dar, Please!

Odrade: So you were born and now you know that’s never enough. So you became an Honored Matre. What else could you do? Still not enough? Now you’re a Reverend Mother. You think that’s enough? It’s never enough as long as you’re alive.

Murbella: You’re telling me I must always reach beyond myself.

Odrade: Pah! You don’t make decisions on that basis. Didn’t you hear him? Don’t think; do it! Will you chose the easy way? Why should you feel sad because you’ve encountered the inevitable? If that’s all you can see, confine yourself to improving the breed!

Murbella: Damn you! Why did you do this to me?

Odrade: Do what?

Murbella: Make me see myself and my former Sister see this way!

Odrade: What way?

Murbella: Damn you! You know what I mean!

Odrade: Former sisters, you say?

Murbella: Oh, you are insidious.

Odrade: All Reverend Mothers are insidious

Murbella: You never stop teaching!

Odrade: Is that what I do?

Murbella: How innocent I was! Asking you what really do.

Odrade: You know as well as I do. We wait for humankind to mature. The Tyrant only provided them time to grow but now they need care.

Murbella: What’s the Tyrant have to do with my pain?

Odrade: You foolish woman! Did you fail the Agony?

Murbella: You know I didn’t!

Odrade: Stop stumbling over the obvious

Murbella: Oh, you bitch!

Odrade: I prefer witch. Either is preferable to whore.

Murbella: The only difference between Bene Gesserit and Honored Matre is the marketplace. You married our Sisterhood.

Odrade: Our Sisterhood?

Murbella: You bred for power! How is that different from...

Odrade: Don’t twist it, Murbella! Keep your eyes on survival.

Murbella: Don’t tell me you had no power.

Odrade: Temporary authority over people intent on survival.

Murbella: Survival again!

Odrade: In a sisterhood that promotes the survival of others. Like the married woman who bears children.

Murbella: So it comes down to procreation.

Chapterhouse: Dune

Date Published: 1985

Author: Frank Herbert

Pages 410-411: “Dama glared at Logno. “So that is why none of these things work with the witches! And you never expected!” ... Dama hurled her glass to the tiles. Logno retreated slowly, holding the tray almost as a shield.

So Dama did more than sneak into power. Her sisters consider her deadly. And so must I consider her. 

“Someone one will pay for this wasted effort,” Dama said...She went to the parapet and gazed at her being unknown...

Odrade turned to her attention to Logno...No longer simple fear. Logno suddenly appeared supremely dangerous. 

Poison!

...The moment of Spider Queen’s death was visible on Logno’s face. Turning, Odrade confirmed it. Dama lay in a heap under Being Unknown.

“You will call me Great Honored Matre,” Logno said, “And you will learn to thank me for for it. She (pointing at the red heap in the balcony corner) intended to betray you and exterminate your people. I have other plans. I am not one to destroy a useful weapon at the moment of our greatest need.”

Notes and Observations: The Honored Matre is ruled under an “autocracy” of one leader, titled the “Great Honored Matre.” The rise to the top requires cunning and skill in killing the one above you to take their their rank in the Honored Matre sisterhood. In contrast with the Bene Gesserit way of governing, the Bene Gesserit claimed to have a “jury-monitoring” democracy where Proctors vote to whether or not to remove or keep the Mother Superior in office.

Darwi Odrade’s Thoughts [Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune, Page 301]