Bene Tleilax
Encyclopedia
The Bene Tleilax or Tleilaxu (tleɪˈlæksuː) are an extremely xenophobic
and isolationist
society in Frank Herbert
's science fiction
Dune universe
. Genetic
manipulators who traffic in biological products such as artificial eyes, gholas, and "twisted" Mentat
s, the Tleilaxu are a major power in the Imperium. The race is ruled by a small council of Tleilaxu Masters, whose genetically-engineered Face Dancer servants have the ability to mimic any human. The Masters themselves possess a bland and diminutive appearance intended to compel other races to underestimate them. In Heretics of Dune
(1984) it is revealed that they are a secret totalitarian
theocracy
ultimately seeking domination of the known universe. Despite their influence, the Bene Tleilax are universally distrusted and inspire disgust because their products, though desirable, push the limits of the moral proscriptions established by the ancient Butlerian Jihad
.
notes that the Tleilax is the source of "twisted" Mentats. Baron Harkonnen
states his intent to "send at once to Tleilax for a new Mentat" after Piter De Vries
is killed.
The Tleilaxu themselves step into the foreground in 1969's Dune Messiah
, as their Face Dancer Scytale
enters into a conspiracy with the Bene Gesserit
, Spacing Guild
, and House Corrino
to topple the rule of Paul Atreides
. The Tleilaxu role in the Empire is illustrated as they gift Paul with the ghola Hayt, Paul's longtime friend Duncan Idaho
brought back to life and retrained as a Mentat. The Tleilaxu also provide artificial eyes for soldiers blinded by a stone burner. Scytale finally offers Paul a ghola of his deceased concubine
Chani
, cloned
from her cells, in exchange for his throne; Paul refuses and kills Scytale. Duncan further ponders the Tleilaxu legacy of his creation in Children of Dune
(1976).
Over 3,500 years later in God Emperor of Dune
(1981), Tleilaxu Face Dancers kill and replace nearly everyone in the Ixian
embassy on Arrakis
as part of an assassination attempt on Paul's seemingly immortal son, Leto Atreides II
. The Tleilaxu have been providing Leto with Duncan Idaho gholas for centuries, and their plot fails in part due to the ingenuity of the latest Duncan.
Another 1,500 years pass, and in Heretics of Dune
(1984) the core of the Tleilaxu is revealed: they are Zensufi, a distant offshoot of Buddhism
and Sufism
, and are organized along theistic
lines. They have spent thousands of years concealing this fact, waiting for their ascendancy, which they believe to be occurring in Heretics of Dune. Their secret holy language is called Islamiyat, an ancient tongue the Bene Gesserit recognize and employ to elicit trust from the Tleilaxu. The Bene Gesserit pretend to share the Tleilaxu "Great Belief, the Sufi-Zensunni
ecumenism
that had spawned the Bene Tleilax." The Tleilaxu now provide the Sisterhood with Idaho gholas, and in Heretics of Dune it is also revealed that the Tleilaxu have developed the ability to grow the spice melange in the same axlotl tanks they use to grow gholas.
By the events of Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), the Bene Tleilax have been all but eradicated by the fierce Honored Matres
save for one Master, Scytale; he is a ghola of the original Scytale of Dune Messiah, somehow having ascended from Face Dancer to Master. Captured by the Bene Gesserit, Scytale's secret bargaining tool is a hidden nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including the cells of Tleilaxu Masters, Face Dancers, Paul Atreides, Chani
, Gurney Halleck
, Thufir Hawat
and other legendary figures. He intends to not only grow his own life-sustaining ghola, but to resurrect the rest of his order as well. In the meantime, he has given the Bene Gesserit enough of the axlotl technology to grow their own gholas, in particular a replacement for their military genius Miles Teg
.
and Kevin J. Anderson
's 2006 continuation of the original series, Hunters of Dune
, the Lost Tleilaxu
are introduced; they are descendants of the Tleilaxu and Face Dancers who left the Old Empire
during The Scattering. However, their leadership is soon overtaken by their own Face Dancers, who have become independent and seek to control the universe themselves. Scytale, still a prisoner of the Bene Gesserit on the wandering no-ship Ithaca, manages to negotiate permission to grow a ghola of himself. In the series finale, Sandworms of Dune
(2007), it is revealed that the autonomous Face Dancers are creations of the reincarnated thinking machine
leaders Omnius and Erasmus but seek to overthrow their machine "masters" as well.
(1999–2001) prequel
trilogy
by Brian Herbert and Anderson, it is noted that the founder of the Bene Tleilax had been a Master named Xuttuh. Master Hidar Fen Ajidica heads Project Amal, an early attempt by the Bene Tleilax to create synthetic melange in order to eliminate dependence upon the planet Arrakis; intending an eventual Tleilaxu takeover of the universe, Ajidica sends "improved" Face Dancers off to unexplored systems.
(2002–2004) prequel series by Brian Herbert and Anderson. They are a civilization of human merchants known as the "Tlulaxa", who specialize in slaves and replacement organs. They claim that the organs are grown artificially in organ farms; in reality, the vast majority of the organs are harvested from slaves. The Tlulaxa do have working organ farms, but they are used mainly as a front for the slave harvesting operations and provide only a small fraction of the replacement organs.
that Tleilaxu sperm "does not carry forward in a straight genetic fashion ... Gaps occur," and that they are "naturally immune to an Ixian Probe," an interrogation
device which normally can extract information even from the dead. The Tleilaxu are described as short, dwarf-like characters with gray skin, hair and eyes, elf
in features and pointy teeth. The Bene Gesserit suspect that their appearance is intended to encourage others to underestimate them.
Tleilaxu Masters control
their creations by forcing them into a hypnotic
state with some predefined, implanted sound (often a specific humming or whistling noise). In Dune Messiah, the Tleilaxu dwarf Bijaz controls the ghola Hayt through a specific humming intonation that renders Hayt open to implanted commands. In Heretics of Dune, the Master Waff
attempts to control his perfectly mimicked Face Dancer copy of High Priest Tuek with a humming language, but fails due to the copy's complete assimiliation into its new form.
In Heretics of Dune, it is revealed that the Tleilaxu have developed the ability to grow the spice melange in axlotl tanks, breaking the monopoly on spice that Arrakis held for thousands of years which strongly controlled the economics and the politics of the Imperium.
In Chapterhouse Dune, the Bene Gesserit have acquired axlotl tank technology and are able to use it to make gholas for their own purposes, but not spice. They are revealed not to be tanks at all, but dramatically altered women.
The axlotl tank is similar to the reproductive "stumps" in Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive
.
Chairdogs are also featured in Herbert's Whipping Star
and The Dosadi Experiment
, books unconnected to the Dune series. These books also feature bedogs (chairdogs used for sleeping).
s or "mules," with full sentience but a genetically-programmed loyalty to the Tleilaxu Masters. They are able to physiologically change their appearance to impersonate other people. They are used by the Tleilaxu throughout the universe to replace people whom the Tleilaxu find useful (the originals are usually killed). In this way they may infiltrate and control various groups in the universe. They are neither male nor female; changing 'gender' to fit the person they mimic.
Over the course of the series, as the Tleilaxu try to create more perfect mimics, the Face Dancers gain the ability to absorb the consciousness of their subjects by touch alone, with the potential unintended side effect of gradually becoming that person, and passing beyond the control of the Tleilaxu Masters. This renders them useless for any purpose other than living out the rest of their subject's life just as they would have on their own.
, a ghola is a "manufactured" human duplicate; but while clones are grown from living cells, a ghola is grown in an axlotl tank from cells collected from a deceased subject. At the time of Dune, gholas have no access to the lives of the person from whom they were cloned, but after Dune Messiah, the Tleilaxu discover that a ghola can recover his or her genetic memory during a carefully staged moment of extreme stress. Much later in the series, it is revealed that the masters of the Tleilaxu have been using this knowledge gained in Dune Messiah as an improvised device for immortality: at their death, they are cloned; their clone recovers its memories, and the masters, in their serial incarnations, have memories stretching back thousands of years. The surviving Masters of Heretics of Dune are clearly the longest-lived characters in the saga, after Duncan Idaho
who is the first ghola to recover its memories. Scytale himself by the events of Chapterhouse Dune would be over 5,000 years old through his serial incarnations.
and a Terran pig — first mentioned in Heretics of Dune and considered a delicacy: 'The sweetest meat this side of heaven.' Most people had thought that they were "tank-bred mutations", "ugly creatures who excreted slimy, foul-smelling residue, and whose multiple mouths ground incessantly on garbage", even though they enjoy devouring the flesh of these beasts (marinated slig medallions in rich Caladan
wine sauces are considered a prime delicacy). Despite being the producers of sligs, the Tleilaxu themselves do not consume the animals, having designed them to facilitate what they see as the degrading decadence and spiritual bankruptcy of all cultures but their own.
.
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and isolationist
Isolationism
Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...
society in Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
Dune universe
Dune universe
Dune is a science fiction franchise which originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Considered by many to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Dune is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history...
. Genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
manipulators who traffic in biological products such as artificial eyes, gholas, and "twisted" Mentat
Mentat
A Mentat is a profession or discipline in Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe. Mentats are humans trained to mimic computers: human minds developed to staggering heights of cognitive and analytical ability.- Overview :...
s, the Tleilaxu are a major power in the Imperium. The race is ruled by a small council of Tleilaxu Masters, whose genetically-engineered Face Dancer servants have the ability to mimic any human. The Masters themselves possess a bland and diminutive appearance intended to compel other races to underestimate them. In Heretics of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Heretics of Dune is a 1984 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, fifth in a series of six novels. It was ranked as the #13 hardcover fiction best seller of 1984 by The New York Times.-Plot introduction:...
(1984) it is revealed that they are a secret totalitarian
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
ultimately seeking domination of the known universe. Despite their influence, the Bene Tleilax are universally distrusted and inspire disgust because their products, though desirable, push the limits of the moral proscriptions established by the ancient Butlerian Jihad
Butlerian Jihad
The Butlerian Jihad is an event in the back-story of Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe. Occurring over 10,000 years before the events chronicled in his 1965 novel Dune, this jihad leads to the outlawing of certain technologies, primarily "thinking machines", a collective term for computers...
.
The original series
The Tleilaxu control a number of planets but are originally connected with Tleilax, the sole planet of the star Thalim; Herbert's 1965 novel DuneDune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
notes that the Tleilax is the source of "twisted" Mentats. Baron Harkonnen
Vladimir Harkonnen
The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is a fictional character from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, in which he is the secondary antagonist, and is also a major character in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson...
states his intent to "send at once to Tleilax for a new Mentat" after Piter De Vries
Piter De Vries
Piter De Vries is a fictional character from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is featured in 1965's Dune, the original novel in the science fiction series, as well as the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.In David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of the...
is killed.
The Tleilaxu themselves step into the foreground in 1969's Dune Messiah
Dune Messiah
Dune Messiah is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, the second in a series of six novels. It was originally serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1969. The American and British editions have different prologues summarizing events in the previous novel...
, as their Face Dancer Scytale
Scytale (Dune)
Scytale is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. In the novel Dune Messiah , Scytale is a Tleilaxu Face Dancer who participates in the conspiracy to topple the rule of Paul Atreides. He later returns as a ghola and Tleilaxu Master in Heretics of Dune and...
enters into a conspiracy with the Bene Gesserit
Bene Gesserit
The Bene Gesserit are a key social, religious, and political force in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. The group is described as an exclusive sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical and mental conditioning to obtain superhuman powers and...
, Spacing Guild
Spacing Guild
The Spacing Guild is an organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. With its monopoly on interstellar travel and banking, the Guild is a balance of power against the Padishah Emperor and the assembled noble Houses of the Landsraad...
, and House Corrino
House Corrino
Imperial House Corrino is a fictional noble family from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. The Corrinos come to power after mankind's victory against the thinking machines at the Battle of Corrin , and rule until deposed by Paul Atreides approximately 10,000 years later during the events...
to topple the rule of Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Paul is a prominent character in the first two novels in the series, Dune and Dune Messiah , and returns in Children of Dune . The character is brought back as two different gholas in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J...
. The Tleilaxu role in the Empire is illustrated as they gift Paul with the ghola Hayt, Paul's longtime friend Duncan Idaho
Duncan Idaho
Duncan Idaho is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Introduced in the first novel of the series, 1965's Dune, the character became a breakout character as the readers liked him and was revived by Herbert in 1969's Dune Messiah...
brought back to life and retrained as a Mentat. The Tleilaxu also provide artificial eyes for soldiers blinded by a stone burner. Scytale finally offers Paul a ghola of his deceased concubine
Concubinage
Concubinage is the state of a woman or man in an ongoing, usually matrimonially oriented, relationship with somebody to whom they cannot be married, often because of a difference in social status or economic condition.-Concubinage:...
Chani
Chani
Chani is a fictional character featured in Frank Herbert's novels Dune and Dune Messiah . Known mainly as the Fremen wife and legal concubine of protagonist Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, Chani is the daughter of Imperial Planetologist Liet-Kynes and his Fremen wife Faroula, and later the mother of...
, cloned
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
from her cells, in exchange for his throne; Paul refuses and kills Scytale. Duncan further ponders the Tleilaxu legacy of his creation in Children of Dune
Children of Dune
Children of Dune is a 1976 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, third in a series of six novels set in his Dune universe. Initially selling over 75,000 copies, it became the first hardcover best-seller ever in the science fiction field...
(1976).
Over 3,500 years later in God Emperor of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
God Emperor of Dune is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert published in 1981, the fourth in the Dune series. It was ranked as the #11 hardcover fiction best seller of 1981 by Publishers Weekly.-Plot introduction:...
(1981), Tleilaxu Face Dancers kill and replace nearly everyone in the Ixian
Ix (Dune)
Ix is a fictional planet featured in the Dune series of science fiction novels written by Frank Herbert, and derivative works. In Dune it is noted that Ix is classed with the planet Richese as "supreme in machine culture," and that Ixian solido projectors "are commonly considered the best." In...
embassy on Arrakis
Arrakis
Arrakis — informally known as Dune and later called Rakis — is a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. Herbert's first novel in the series, 1965's Dune, is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and it is...
as part of an assassination attempt on Paul's seemingly immortal son, Leto Atreides II
Leto Atreides II
Leto Atreides II is a fictional character from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Born at the end of Dune Messiah , Leto is a central character in Children of Dune and is the title character of God Emperor of Dune . The character is brought back as a ghola in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J...
. The Tleilaxu have been providing Leto with Duncan Idaho gholas for centuries, and their plot fails in part due to the ingenuity of the latest Duncan.
Another 1,500 years pass, and in Heretics of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Heretics of Dune is a 1984 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, fifth in a series of six novels. It was ranked as the #13 hardcover fiction best seller of 1984 by The New York Times.-Plot introduction:...
(1984) the core of the Tleilaxu is revealed: they are Zensufi, a distant offshoot of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
, and are organized along theistic
Theism
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
lines. They have spent thousands of years concealing this fact, waiting for their ascendancy, which they believe to be occurring in Heretics of Dune. Their secret holy language is called Islamiyat, an ancient tongue the Bene Gesserit recognize and employ to elicit trust from the Tleilaxu. The Bene Gesserit pretend to share the Tleilaxu "Great Belief, the Sufi-Zensunni
Zensunni
The Religions of Dune are a key aspect of the fictional setting of the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Many of the names of religions mentioned in the novels indicate they are blends of current belief systems, some syncretic....
ecumenism
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
that had spawned the Bene Tleilax." The Tleilaxu now provide the Sisterhood with Idaho gholas, and in Heretics of Dune it is also revealed that the Tleilaxu have developed the ability to grow the spice melange in the same axlotl tanks they use to grow gholas.
By the events of Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), the Bene Tleilax have been all but eradicated by the fierce Honored Matres
Honored Matres
The Honored Matres are a fictional matriarchal organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. They are described as an aggressive cult obsessed with power, violence and sexual domination...
save for one Master, Scytale; he is a ghola of the original Scytale of Dune Messiah, somehow having ascended from Face Dancer to Master. Captured by the Bene Gesserit, Scytale's secret bargaining tool is a hidden nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including the cells of Tleilaxu Masters, Face Dancers, Paul Atreides, Chani
Chani
Chani is a fictional character featured in Frank Herbert's novels Dune and Dune Messiah . Known mainly as the Fremen wife and legal concubine of protagonist Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, Chani is the daughter of Imperial Planetologist Liet-Kynes and his Fremen wife Faroula, and later the mother of...
, Gurney Halleck
Gurney Halleck
Gurney Halleck is a fictional troubadour warrior in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is a major character in Herbert's Dune and Children of Dune , and appears in some of the prequel and sequel novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.Gurney is portrayed by Patrick Stewart in the...
, Thufir Hawat
Thufir Hawat
Thufir Hawat is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, but also appears in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson...
and other legendary figures. He intends to not only grow his own life-sustaining ghola, but to resurrect the rest of his order as well. In the meantime, he has given the Bene Gesserit enough of the axlotl technology to grow their own gholas, in particular a replacement for their military genius Miles Teg
Miles Teg
Miles Teg is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.-Description:In Heretics of Dune , Miles Teg — the former Supreme Bashar of the Bene Gesserit — is noted to be 296 standard years old and to have a striking resemblance to his ancestor, Leto Atreides I...
.
Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune
In Brian HerbertBrian Herbert
Brian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Herbert....
and Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson is an American science fiction author with over forty bestsellers. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune prequels...
's 2006 continuation of the original series, Hunters of Dune
Hunters of Dune
Hunters of Dune is the first of two books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to conclude Frank Herbert's original Dune series of novels....
, the Lost Tleilaxu
Lost Tleilaxu
The Lost Tleilaxu are a fictional organization from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Descendants of the Tleilaxu, they are first mentioned in Herbert's Heretics of Dune ; however, the group is not referred to explicitly as "Lost Tleilaxu" until the 2006 Brian Herbert/Kevin J...
are introduced; they are descendants of the Tleilaxu and Face Dancers who left the Old Empire
Old Empire (Dune)
The Old Empire is a fictional galactic empire in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. The term has been applied to two distinct eras in the fictional history of the Dune series.-The Padishah Empire:...
during The Scattering. However, their leadership is soon overtaken by their own Face Dancers, who have become independent and seek to control the universe themselves. Scytale, still a prisoner of the Bene Gesserit on the wandering no-ship Ithaca, manages to negotiate permission to grow a ghola of himself. In the series finale, Sandworms of Dune
Sandworms of Dune
Sandworms of Dune is the second of two novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to conclude Frank Herbert's original Dune series of novels. They have stated that it is based on notes left behind by Frank Herbert for Dune 7, his own planned seventh novel in the Dune series...
(2007), it is revealed that the autonomous Face Dancers are creations of the reincarnated thinking machine
Thinking machines (Dune)
Thinking machines is a collective term for artificial intelligence in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. The Butlerian Jihad a human crusade against thinking machines is an epic turning point in the back-story of the Dune universe...
leaders Omnius and Erasmus but seek to overthrow their machine "masters" as well.
Prelude to Dune
In the Prelude to DunePrelude to Dune
Prelude to Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe....
(1999–2001) prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
by Brian Herbert and Anderson, it is noted that the founder of the Bene Tleilax had been a Master named Xuttuh. Master Hidar Fen Ajidica heads Project Amal, an early attempt by the Bene Tleilax to create synthetic melange in order to eliminate dependence upon the planet Arrakis; intending an eventual Tleilaxu takeover of the universe, Ajidica sends "improved" Face Dancers off to unexplored systems.
Legends of Dune
The ancestors of the Bene Tleilax are featured in the Legends of DuneLegends of Dune
Legends of Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe.* Dune: The Butlerian Jihad * Dune: The Machine Crusade * Dune: The Battle of Corrin...
(2002–2004) prequel series by Brian Herbert and Anderson. They are a civilization of human merchants known as the "Tlulaxa", who specialize in slaves and replacement organs. They claim that the organs are grown artificially in organ farms; in reality, the vast majority of the organs are harvested from slaves. The Tlulaxa do have working organ farms, but they are used mainly as a front for the slave harvesting operations and provide only a small fraction of the replacement organs.
Tleilaxu Master
Masters are the leaders and real minds of the Bene Tleilax. After Dune Messiah, they have the ability to regain their genetic memory with ease, allowing them to live forever, using the axlotl tanks to create gholas of themselves. In Heretics of Dune it is noted via epigraphEpigraph (literature)
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional...
that Tleilaxu sperm "does not carry forward in a straight genetic fashion ... Gaps occur," and that they are "naturally immune to an Ixian Probe," an interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
device which normally can extract information even from the dead. The Tleilaxu are described as short, dwarf-like characters with gray skin, hair and eyes, elf
Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
in features and pointy teeth. The Bene Gesserit suspect that their appearance is intended to encourage others to underestimate them.
Tleilaxu Masters control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
their creations by forcing them into a hypnotic
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
state with some predefined, implanted sound (often a specific humming or whistling noise). In Dune Messiah, the Tleilaxu dwarf Bijaz controls the ghola Hayt through a specific humming intonation that renders Hayt open to implanted commands. In Heretics of Dune, the Master Waff
Waff (Dune)
Tylwyth Waff is a fictional character from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is a Mahai, the leader of the Bene Tleilax, and is a major character in Heretics of Dune.In Heretics of Dune, Herbert provides this description of Waff:...
attempts to control his perfectly mimicked Face Dancer copy of High Priest Tuek with a humming language, but fails due to the copy's complete assimiliation into its new form.
Technologies
The Bene Tleilax are masters of biological science and control the secrets of a number of important technologies in the Dune universe.Axlotl tank
An axlotl tank is essentially a brain-dead woman whose womb is used as a tank to create gholas. The Bene Tleilax's use of their women in this capacity explains why no one has ever seen a Tleilaxu female.In Heretics of Dune, it is revealed that the Tleilaxu have developed the ability to grow the spice melange in axlotl tanks, breaking the monopoly on spice that Arrakis held for thousands of years which strongly controlled the economics and the politics of the Imperium.
In Chapterhouse Dune, the Bene Gesserit have acquired axlotl tank technology and are able to use it to make gholas for their own purposes, but not spice. They are revealed not to be tanks at all, but dramatically altered women.
The axlotl tank is similar to the reproductive "stumps" in Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive
Hellstrom's Hive
Hellstrom's Hive is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert. It is about a secret group of humans who model their lives upon social insects, and the unsettling events that unfold after they are discovered by a deeply undercover agency of the US government.-Inspiration:David L...
.
Chairdogs
Another of the most profitable and widely used creations of the Tleilaxu, chairdogs are alive and partially sentient creatures used for seating. They possess the ability to shape themselves to fit their occupant. Some characters dislike sitting on an animal and prefer normal chairs.Chairdogs are also featured in Herbert's Whipping Star
Whipping Star
Whipping Star is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It is the first full-length novel set in the ConSentiency universe established by Herbert in his novelette The Tactful Saboteur.- Plot summary :...
and The Dosadi Experiment
The Dosadi Experiment
The Dosadi Experiment is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert. It is the second full-length novel set in the ConSentiency universe established by Herbert in his novelette The Tactful Saboteur and continued in Whipping Star....
, books unconnected to the Dune series. These books also feature bedogs (chairdogs used for sleeping).
Face Dancer
Face Dancers are sterile humanoidHumanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
s or "mules," with full sentience but a genetically-programmed loyalty to the Tleilaxu Masters. They are able to physiologically change their appearance to impersonate other people. They are used by the Tleilaxu throughout the universe to replace people whom the Tleilaxu find useful (the originals are usually killed). In this way they may infiltrate and control various groups in the universe. They are neither male nor female; changing 'gender' to fit the person they mimic.
Over the course of the series, as the Tleilaxu try to create more perfect mimics, the Face Dancers gain the ability to absorb the consciousness of their subjects by touch alone, with the potential unintended side effect of gradually becoming that person, and passing beyond the control of the Tleilaxu Masters. This renders them useless for any purpose other than living out the rest of their subject's life just as they would have on their own.
Ghola
Similar to a cloneCloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
, a ghola is a "manufactured" human duplicate; but while clones are grown from living cells, a ghola is grown in an axlotl tank from cells collected from a deceased subject. At the time of Dune, gholas have no access to the lives of the person from whom they were cloned, but after Dune Messiah, the Tleilaxu discover that a ghola can recover his or her genetic memory during a carefully staged moment of extreme stress. Much later in the series, it is revealed that the masters of the Tleilaxu have been using this knowledge gained in Dune Messiah as an improvised device for immortality: at their death, they are cloned; their clone recovers its memories, and the masters, in their serial incarnations, have memories stretching back thousands of years. The surviving Masters of Heretics of Dune are clearly the longest-lived characters in the saga, after Duncan Idaho
Duncan Idaho
Duncan Idaho is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Introduced in the first novel of the series, 1965's Dune, the character became a breakout character as the readers liked him and was revived by Herbert in 1969's Dune Messiah...
who is the first ghola to recover its memories. Scytale himself by the events of Chapterhouse Dune would be over 5,000 years old through his serial incarnations.
Sligs
One of the earliest successes of Tleilaxu genetic engineering, the slig is a hybrid livestock animal — a cross between a large slugSlug
Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...
and a Terran pig — first mentioned in Heretics of Dune and considered a delicacy: 'The sweetest meat this side of heaven.' Most people had thought that they were "tank-bred mutations", "ugly creatures who excreted slimy, foul-smelling residue, and whose multiple mouths ground incessantly on garbage", even though they enjoy devouring the flesh of these beasts (marinated slig medallions in rich Caladan
Caladan
Caladan is a fictional planet in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, first mentioned in the 1965 novel Dune.-Overview:Caladan, the third planet of Delta Pavonis, is the ancestral fiefdom of House Atreides, who have ruled it for twenty-six generations, from the ancient Castle Caladan...
wine sauces are considered a prime delicacy). Despite being the producers of sligs, the Tleilaxu themselves do not consume the animals, having designed them to facilitate what they see as the degrading decadence and spiritual bankruptcy of all cultures but their own.
Emperor: Battle for Dune
The Tleilaxu are one of the five subfactions in the 2001 computer game Emperor: Battle for DuneEmperor: Battle for Dune
Emperor: Battle for Dune is a Dune video game, released by Westwood Studios on June 12, 2001. It is based in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe....
.