Contents
Chapter 19
Overview
Leto grants Hwi Noree a prolonged private audience, recognizing her as an Ixian-bred instrument designed to charm him. He reveals knowledge of a secret Ixian colony and their alliance with a Guild steersman and the Tleilaxu, then names Hwi permanent ambassador and threatens Ix with crushing reprisal.
Hwi’s innate goodness intensifies Leto’s grief over his lost humanity, sharpening the emotional stakes even as political tensions escalate around Ixian technological ambitions.
Summary
Before the Festival, Leto grants an extended private audience to the new Ixian ambassador, Hwi Noree. He notes her resemblance to Malky but perceives a calm, cultivated goodness and Bene Gesserit training layered over an inherently open nature. Recognizing Ixian breeding aims, he concludes she was designed to charm him and find a weakness.
Probing her responses, Leto revisits Ix’s past assassination attempts and reveals his awareness of a distant, secret Ixian colony. Hwi admits warning her masters that Leto would know. Leto senses an Ixian partnership influenced by a Guild steersman and possibly tied to the Tleilaxu, and he pointedly refuses to use prescience to confirm details, preferring to be surprised.
Questioning Hwi’s background, Leto deduces she was conceived and born within the Ixian machine being developed to amplify prescience, with Malky possibly her father. He confirms that Hwi was trained by specialists, including Bene Gesserit, and largely isolated from normal friendships, all to prepare her to engage him.
Leto then delivers a warning: Hwi will be the permanent Ixian ambassador, and he will crush Ix if they continue covert interference. Hwi, in tears, says she already urged obedience. Leto recognizes that her authentic goodness makes her profoundly compelling to him.
Confronted by Hwi’s presence, Leto’s phantom human sensations and memories surge, intensifying his anguish over his transformed body. He dismisses her kindly, understanding that both would have been intimate companions if not for his metamorphosis—pain he believes the Ixians intended. Reflecting on Malky and Ixian defiance, Leto admits he must still tolerate their forbidden innovations while reminding both Ix and the Guild of the peril their technologies pose.
Who Appears
- Leto II Atreides (God Emperor)Grants Hwi a private audience, exposes Ixian plots and secret colony, appoints her permanent ambassador, and agonizes over his lost humanity.
- Hwi NoreeNew Ixian ambassador, bred and trained to charm Leto; sincere and good-hearted; accepts permanent post and weeps at Leto’s pain.
- MalkyHwi’s uncle, recalled in Leto’s memories; a charming rogue possibly linked to Hwi’s origins and Ixian schemes.
- Fish SpeakersMute guards attending the private audience; their presence underscores Leto’s control and court ceremony.
- MajordomoFrames the setting via epigraphic exchange noting the Festival’s timing and Leto’s sense of time.