Chapterhouse: Dune

The core conflict of Chapterhouse: Dune is between the Honored Matres and the Bene Gesserit. These two groups share a common root and desire to accrue power, but their methods diverge radically. The starkest is how they wield power: The Honored Matres use raw strength to conquer their territory, while the Bene Gesserit use suggestion and careful planning to shape their society. This is exemplified by the Bene Gesserit’s connection with nature. The Chapterhouse keep has a large orchard on its grounds. This is maintained by the Sisterhood, who even go as far as to bury their dead there so their bodies can nourish the trees. This is a metaphor for how the Sisterhood approach power. They take great care in seeing that it is well-organized, in balance, and gives back what they take from it. This approach symbolizes their belief in long-term investment—power that grows slowly, is tended carefully, and is meant to endure. Their reverence for cycles of death and rebirth reflects their commitment to a structured and purposeful legacy, rather than conquest for its own sake.

Nonetheless, as the weather control satellites change the climate of the planet, the orchard begins to die. Many Bene Gesserit express the wish to save the orchard, but Odrade, the Mother Superior, understands that this is impossible. For the greater good, change must occur, even if that means losing something precious. For example, the desertification of the planet by the fledgling sandworms causes the ocean to recede, something Odrade urges on; she understands that the production of Spice by the worms is necessary to the order’s survival, even if it comes at the cost of their delicate connection with nature. This presents a different form of cultivation: the reintroduction of the sandworms as a species and the growth of the Bene Gesserit as a culture. Odrade must choose the best paths forward to maintain them, which contrasts with the Honored Matres’s gleeful violence, disrespect for life, and destruction of planets as a form of maintaining power. Her choices reflect a more nuanced form of domination—one that acknowledges the cost of progress but is willing to bear it for what is perceived as the greater good. Even in cultivation, a measure of control and sacrifice is required.

Though the Bene Gesserit may have less destructive methods, they still manipulate and seek power for their own aims. This is a more subtle and slow form of domination. They have abilities like The Voice, which allows them to control the individual who hears it; this is very direct metaphor for someone with a silver tongue, or a person that can easily manipulate others by talking to them. They also have a flat, cool affect and resist the outward expression of passion, as they feel it dangerous. Where the Bene Gesserit scheme and plan, sometimes over centuries, the Honored Matres seize control through aggression, particularly through their signature technique of sexual domination, which they use to enslave men. This portrays intimacy as a sign of conquest and control rather than vulnerability or connection, a rare factor that unites them with the Bene Gesserit, who refuse to display love. When the Honored Matres can’t control someone through sex, they use overwhelming numbers. So reliant are they on these direct displays of strength that they hesitate to go anywhere they are not assured of victory. Though these traits are antithetical to the Bene Gesserit, Odrade and the Sisterhood possess a growing interest in developing their sexual abilities, implying that they are adapting to more direct forms of domination. In doing so, they risk losing the very distinctions that once defined them. The slow blurring of lines between the two factions raises the question of whether the method of control matters if the outcome—subjugation—is the same.

Ultimately, the relationship between domination and cultivation is presented as delicate yet undeniable. To continue cultivating something—nature, a species, or a culture—other things must be sacrificed. To sustain the Bene Gesserit, the terrain of Chapterhouse must be overcome with a foreign species, the sandworms, who also need the planet to survive. Their life cannot exist without the death of something else. While the Honored Matres are portrayed as messier and crueler than the Bene Gesserit, their intentions are the same: to preserve their own populace through the domination of others. Their downfall comes through their inability to cultivate more long-lasting connections, such as political alliances or a loyal and steadfast order. Leaders are often assassinated, and any dissent is responded to with violence. Meanwhile, the Bene Gesserit maintain themselves through careful planning. The fate of the two groups is prepared at the end of Chapterhouse through their union under Murbella, who will have to cultivate a relationship between them in order to safeguard their futures. This final fusion reinforces the novel’s claim that survival demands more than brute strength or tradition alone. It requires the capacity to dominate wisely and to cultivate strategically, even if it means reshaping the very core of one’s identity.