Ishmael

Ishmael (b. 211 BG) was a Zensunni man, born on Harmonthep and grandson of Weyop; His fondest memories were from his grandfather who told him Kuran Sutras and stories, and instilled strong faith in Buddallah.

Ishmael would later escape slavery and join the Free men of Arrakis

Slavery on Poritrin
When he was only about 10 years old, he witnessed the arrival of Tlulaxa slavers assaulting his village. He and his cousin Taina were captured and taken to Poritrin. Initially he worked in the slimy mudflats of Isana, scooping clam seedlings and rushing them out into the wet fields.

Soon he was moved to the mansion of Tio Holtzman and entered his team of solvers; he became friends with the unruly Aliid who was a Zenshiite. Aliid proposed him to make a prank by deliberately entering wrong mathematical formulas. Fortunately, the mistakes were detected by Holtzman who then punished his solvers.

Ishmael was transferred in a slave team that constructed a giant mosaic in a canyon wall of the Isana river. During the rebellion of Bel Moulay, he and Aliid destroyed their own work on the mosaic, and then punished by whipping. The rebellion was soon quieted down and the two boys watched Bel Moulay's cruel execution, and was remembered for the years to come.

Years later, Ishmael had a wife, Ozza, who gave him two daughters, Chamal and Falina. Ishmael grew with docile belief, remembering nostalgically the sutras and stories told to him by his grandfather. He recited them to his co-slaves, gave them courage and strengthened their faith, although the more defiant, Aliid, used to scorn his meekness.

Ishmael worked constructing the decoy fleet that fooled the machines during their attack against Poritrin, and idea by Vorian Atreides that saved the planet. Moved by Aliid and others who demanded recognition for their labor and better living conditions, Ishmael audaciously attempted to meet and talk with Lord Niko Bludd personally. Because of his disrespect, he was separated from his family taken to work for Norma Cenva with other 130 slaves.

During that time, Ishmael continued to preach and tell stories to the Zensunni comrades who came to him. The Zensiites with Aliid rested on different quarters. After some years, among a new batch of 30 slaves, Ishamel recognized his daughter, Chamal (with her husband Rafel) who were also taken to work for Cenva.

Escape to Arrakis
Soon, Ishmael learned of Aliid's and the Zenshiite's plot to revolt on the 28th anniversary of the rebellion on Poritrin. Ishmael was a pacifist, and preached non-violence - giving hope to other slaves by telling them that God will grant them freedom if they are patient.

During Aliid's slave revolt, Ishmael with the help of Rafel and others, forced Tuk Keedair to take his band of slaves to freedom. Keedair made sure to warn them that he is no pilot and the only coordination he remembered was of Arrakis. Eventually, using the space-folding technology, they arrived on the desert planet and crashed on the sand.

The slaves soon realized the world was hostile, with scarce moisture, no vegetation and poor fauna, under a hot sun. Several scouting attempts resulted in tragedy. After five months of waiting, 1/3 of the slaves were dead.

Then, Jafar found them, hearing the claims of Tuk Keedair about the lost slaves, and came to find them. He accepted them to the band of the Wormrider outlaws after the death of Selim Wormrider and the Poritrin slaves joined their population.

Ishmael met Selim's widow, Marha, who indoctrinated the ideals of Selim. Ishmael took care of her son, El'hiim, and even saved his life when it was endangered by Scorpions in the desert. Eventually Ishmael and Marha felt a mutual attraction and they were joined in marriage. Around that time Ishmael became the Naib of the Wormriders' village

In the following years Marha died. El'hiim insisted that she would receive treatment from scientists of the Arrakis City, but Ishmael, having now adopted the ideals of Selim, denied to trust the offworlders. Marha had listened to her husband and In El'hiim's view that had led directly to her death. Marha made Ishmael swear to shelter and advise her son.

Conflicting visions
When El'hiim grew up. he became the Naib of the Wormriders but his stepfather perhaps had applied too much pressure, unwittingly forcing him to turn in another direction. El'hiim but was changed by the new experiences and was radically different than his father. To Ishmael's dismay, the young Naib trusted offworlders and insisted that they should buy commodities by trading spice.

Ishmael often scorned his stepson about their conflicting views, but respected his position as the Naib. Eventually the village was assaulted by slavers but they were repelled successfully.

Ishmael decided to re-educate El'hiim. They both went to a pilgrimage in the Tanzerouft riding a sandworm, and make him remember the wild way of living on Arrakis. However on their return home, they found their village devastated by slavers who returned during their absence, kidnapping several young men and women. The young Naib realized from a fabric tissue that the attackers were from Zanbar and knew where they were.

El'hiim traveled to Arrakis City where the authorities promised to enforce certain regulations against kidnapping. Not trusting the word of the outsiders, Ishmael organised a meeting of the Zensunnis at their main settlement in the faraway cliffs. Accompanided by a reluctant El'hiim, they reached the slavers' camp; they counted about a dozen. After disabling the lighting with maula rifles, they fell on them with their crystal and wormtooth knives. During the fray, Ishmael caught Wariff, the unrepentant Tlulaxa man who saved years ago. Ishmael remembered the words of his aggressive friend Aliid and started to endorse them; he commanded his men to seek payment in blood and return it to the desert as water.

Following the successful kanla raid, Ishmael and El'hiim argued about Ishmael's violent attack on the slavers, particularly the draining of their enemies' blood to take their water. While El'hiim preferred trade and contact with offworlders, Ishmael advocated returning to the ways of Selim Wormrider and retreating to the deepest deserts. Unable to reconcile their differences, Ishmael challenged his adopted son to a duel and disowned him, slapping him twice as with the custom to invoke deep insult. With El'hiim unwilling to fight him, Ishmael demanded a sandworm duel.

During the sandworm duel, Ishmael and El'hiim charged their sandworms at each other. However, the duel ended in El'hiim's favor when Ishmael lost control of his sandworm, allowing El'hiim's sandworm to gain the upper hand and drive his sandworm away. Having lost the leadership of the clan, a defeated Ishmael led several Zensunni supporters from El'hiim's village into the dangerous Tanzerouft desert. There, he and his followers vowed to build their own isolated settlements and avoid contact with outsiders.

Behind the scenes
Since Ishmael is mentioned frequently remembering of his grandfather and nobody else from his previous life, it is probable that he was an orphan.

Appearances

 * Dune: The Butlerian Jihad
 * Dune: The Machine Crusade
 * Dune: The Battle of Corrin