God Emperor of Dune Questions

I just finished reading God Emperor of Dune, after perusing the recent thread on the value of the Dune series &/or movies (sorry, I am miserable at linking, but it was just a week ago that that thread was active in this Forum). Several folks advised reading it in that thread, and some said it was the best of the Frank Herbert-written books, even better than Dune itself. I had read the first 3 many years ago, and even got my son excited about the series when he was about 12 or 13, but neither of us had picked up that 4th book.

I did enjoy it. Not convinced I thought it beat out the original, but still, was better than #2 and #3, and I am only embarrassed it took me so long to devour it. But I do have a couple questions, which I will spoiler-ize, for you Dune Wizards:

What was it that Leto II did to Siona to enable her to “walk among the ancestors” in her mind, after she’d done the spice essence drug trip, whilst being invisible to them, thus avoiding the internal clamor the other Atriedes had to tolerate?

and

When the sandtrout abandoned the worm’s body at the end, did they survive? How will Dune cycle itself again, (I got the impression from the name changes that the planet subsequently went thru that it DID recycle itself again) or were the narrators at the end suggesting that the synthetic melange became an alternative?

and

What was the nature of the machine that the Ixians created that was able to be hidden from Leto’s vision?

Also, loved the bit about

Nayla becoming the religious equivalent of Judas in the religion that went forward after Leto’s death. Very cool reexamination of the Judas myth.

Perhaps I need to re-read some of the first book again, or some of this book again as well, to get a clearer understanding, but these things just weren’t as clear to me as they could have been. Thanks for any answers you can provide!

It’s been too long since I read the Dune series to answer any of these questions but I’m glad to read that people are recomending God Emperor of Dune. I remember thinking that it was as good as the original and I also enjoyed the books that followed. It seems like a lot of people read books 2 and 3, were disappointed and never realized that the series gets better from there.

Your second and third questions are explored in more detail in the next two books, although I’m still not sure how the worms survived. Dune is a series I’m going to have to read a few times to really understand all that’s going on.

Let me see if I can remember. Take all I say as tentative reconstruction!

I think it was because Siona was not pre-born, that is, she didn’t have a spice essence drug trip before she was born, so she had her own personality, strong enough not to be influenced. As for the the ancestral memories’ lack of awareness of her, I don’t know - maybe it’s a new hereditary trait? Leto says that with Moneo he achieved something new, a different reaction to the “awakening”, and this could be part of it. Siona also had the invisibility to precognition.

Well, the sand trouts look for water to encapsulate it, and there was a river nearby. I think I remember a scene where they splashed in the Idaho river.

It was the null-shield, capable of shielding what’s inside from the precognition Leto and other Atreides had. The Ixians used it quite a bit, developing their navigating machine (that they wanted to use to be independent from Leto’s spice monopoly) and growing Hwi Noree in it (who they wanted to use as a bait for Leto).

Answer 1. Siona was the continuation of the Bene Gesserit breeding program. Leto understood that he was part of the problem that humanity faced, with his omniscience through his oracular power. To ensure the continued survival of humanity Leto understood that some humans must be invisible to the ‘oracle’ or prescient searchers. His manipulation of the breeding plan produced Siona, who had that invisibility.

and

Answer 2. Yes, the sandtrout do survive and return Arrakis to its Dune state. Yes again to the second part. By the next book 5000 years, IIRC, after GEoD, there is axlotl tank produced melange on the market. It went from the most valuable stuff in the universe to a common commodity. However, read the next 2 books to see the part that the sandworms still play.

and
Answer 3. The space where Hwi was created was in most likely the first or second No-Room in existance. Through various mechanations the No-Room is able to shield its contents from prescient searchers. IOW, it is a machine that does what Siona does- hides from the prescient. In the next 2 books the technology is more refined and No-Ships become common. It is worth noting that some of the extraordinary talents in the books (Guild Navigator skills and Worms making melange, Sionas invisibility) are all artifically reproduced by the end of the series.

IMO, you won’t really find what you are looking for in the earlier books. The first 3 books kinda fit together and the last 2 fit together and GEoD is a bridge between them. Again IMO, understanding the events of GEoD would be better achieved by reading Heratics and Chapterhouse.