72 pages 2 hours read

Frank Herbert

God Emperor of Dune

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1981

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Chapters 20-30Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 20 Summary

In an epigraph from The Stolen Journal, Leto explains how societies fight to protect the innocent and attack anything new as a threat, describing the pattern as a feedback system.

Leto has Duro Nunepi, the Tleilaxu ambassador, publicly whipped in the plaza of Festival City and denies the Tleilaxu delegation their allotment of spice for 10 years. Not wanting to publicize the assassination attempt, Leto lies by accusing Nunepi of spreading vile rumors about his sex practices. Leto asserts that he has no sex habits and is the God, Shai-Hulud. Duncan fears the punishment will incite protests, but Leto claims he is teaching a lesson on personal responsibility. Like belonging to the military or a subscribing to arcane conspiracy theories, Leto says, membership in the elite society of the Tleilaxu gives people a false sense of freedom from individual responsibility. Duncan fears that nothing good will come of such a spectacle of brutality, and Leto enthusiastically agrees.

Chapter 21 Summary

Leto proclaims in an epigraph from The Stolen Journals that liberal governments inevitably turn into aristocracies and repeat patterns of domination.

Leto meets with Reverend Mothers Anteac and Luyseyal at False Seitch, a mock construction of the Fremen’s ancient abode.