Children of Dune Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pre-born

When a member of the Bene Gesserit drank the poison called Water of Life, she became a Reverend Mother and gained access to their genetic memory. If a woman was under the influence of a large amount of spice while pregnant, the same effect would be passed on to her fetus.

The fetus would become aware and have thousands of years of memories before they had a chance to form their own personality, which could be quite dangerous. Alia became a pre-born when her mother, Jessica, became a Reverend Mother. Ghanima and Leto were pre-born because Chani was on a high-spice treatment before she died in childbirth.

Despite having more experience than everyone else around them, combined, these pre-born still looked like children, and were treated as such.

Answer: Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Those with genetic memories did not just have knowledge; they had the former personalities in their minds, too. They needed to learn to shut them out to retain control of their own bodies. Those who failed were called abominations.

Alia was the sister of Paul, the leader of the Empire. When Paul wandered into the desert to die, Alia became regent, to rule until Paul's children were old enough. It was not public knowledge, but her maternal grandfather was the cunning Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the man who had killed her father. Alia agreed to let the Baron be an advisor in her mind to help her cope with the stress of her job, but this just opened her up to further corruption.

Answer: Laza tigers were trained to recognize them and attack

Laza tigers were genetically modified conventional tigers. Wensicia Corrino, a daughter of the previous emperor, had two tigers trained to kill two children wearing a particular style of garments (a number of children on Selusa Secundus were sacrificed for this training), and then sent two such garments as gifts to Ghanima and Leto. The Atreides suspected a trap, but could not find anything wrong with the clothes.

The twins figured out the trap, and then deliberately sprung it on their own terms as part of their own plans. Leto escaped into the desert after the tigers were killed, and Ghanima reported that he had died.

Answer: Salusa Secundus (House Corrino)

Alia was under the influence of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who was making her act erratically, and was destroying her relationships. She asked her husband, Duncan, to kidnap her mother and remove her. Duncan "complied," but had seen the corruption in his wife.

He took Jessica to Salusa Secundus where she would be safe, and could teach the young Farad'n Corrino the ways of the Bene Gesserit. Farad'n would be a much less antagonistic leader of House Corrino than his mother, Wensicia.

Answer: Womb of Heaven

When Alia became regent, she established the Cult of Alia, which followed the Book of Alia, and she was known as the Womb of Heaven. She frequently gave sermons at her temple in Arakeen, the capital city.

Answer: Sietch Tabr, led by Stilgar

Stilgar was an old fashioned Fremen, but had strong ties to the Imperial family and was an advisor. As Alia become more unhinged, he slyly defied her, but was never overtly hostile. When rebellion broke out, he retreated to his Sietch away from the capital, and became a neutral ground where both sides could conduct diplomacy.

Answer: He bonded with sandtrout

The link was not known at the time, but the sandtrout were the first stage in the sand worm life cycle. Many Sandtrout would gather and join together to create a new small sand worm. Leto let the sandtrout encase him (except for his face), which granted him super-human strength, speed, and resistance to damage and poison. Leto had begun his transformation into the first human-sandworm hybrid.

He would still be alive in the next novel, the "God Emperor of Dune," which took place thirty-five hundred years later.

Answer: He goaded Stilgar into stabbing him

Stilgar was the leader of Sietch Tabr, the neutral ground between Alia and the rebels. One of Alia's advisors and lovers (when possessed by Baron Harkonan) was Javid, who was visiting the Sietch. Duncan killed Javid in front of Stilgar, who reacted immediately to kill Duncan. Duncan did not defend himself, intending to die. Stilgar realized what Duncan had done: he had forced Stilgar to take a side in the conflict.

Answer: No

In order to sell the story that Leto had been killed in the Laza tiger attack, Ghanima had that part of her mind partitioned and replaced, genuinely believing her brother was dead so she couldn't accidentally give away the secret. Believing that house Corrino had killed her brother, Ghanima vowed to return the favour.

At the end of the novel, Leto returned and said the trigger phrase to restore her memories, which removed her desire for revenge. Ghanima was officially married to her brother for political reasons, but they were not interested in (and in Leto's case, unable to have) a conjugal relationship; Farad'n became Ghanima's consort.

Answer: Yes

At the end of the previous novel, Paul Atreides had lost his prescience and his eyes, becoming totally blind. He followed the Fremen custom of wandering into the desert to return his water to Shai-Hulud (a sand worm). Everyone assumed he had died. Instead, he had been captured by the occupants of the mythical Sietch Jakurutu, run in modern times as a smuggler base called Fondak. Paul was killed at the end of the "Children of Dune," minutes before his sister Alia committed suicide.