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This article or section refers to elements from Original Dune |
- "I'm a person, you know. Persons come in many shapes and sizes. This is but one of them. I'm weak of muscle, but strong of mouth; cheap to feed, but costly to fill. Empty me as you will, there's still more in me than men put there."
- ―Bijaz cryptically telling Paul Atreides his nature[src]
Master Bijaz [d. 10210 AG] was a Tleilaxu Master and a prescient dwarf, who was immune to others' prescience. He spoke cryptically in riddles and rhymes.
Biography[]
Bijaz had lived many previous ghola lives. He was bought by Otheym during Muad'Dib's Jihad, who believed that the Bene Tleilax had "thrown him away", he was given to Emperor Paul Atreides in 10209 AG as a means of aquiring the names of the conspirators in the plot against him.
He had a hidden purpose: to control the first ghola of Duncan Idaho, Hayt. When the dwarf was confined to the keep, Hayt was ordered to question him, but all of Bijaz's answers were at first as obscure as his usual manner of speaking. During the conversation, Bijaz refused to call the ghola Hayt, insisting that he was Duncan Idaho, and implanted in him the command to kill the Emperor when he was in the depths of grief, using the secret whistling language of the Bene Tleilax. Duncan also did, however, manage to get from him a full list of the conspirators against Paul.
When Idaho confronted Paul after the death of Chani, the trauma restored his pre-ghola memories and he spared Paul. It was, however, revealed that this was in fact only a contingency, and the Tleilaxu were planning to use Idaho as proof of gholas regaining memories, plotting to use Chani's ghola as a bargaining chip. The Face Dancer Scytale bargained with Paul but was killed by him.
After Scytale's death, the plan had still not failed, however. Bijaz escaped his confinement and came to a worn out Paul and Duncan, giving him the same deal once again. Paul refused and ordered Idaho to kill Bijaz to prevent any more temptation. It is possible, however, that his body was returned to Tleilax and restored to life via axoltl technology, such as occurred with Scytale.
Relationships[]
Duncan Idaho[]
- "We are like brothers. We grew in the same tank: I first and then you."
- ―Bijaz describes his connection with Duncan while imprisoned in the keep in Arrakeen[src]
Duncan first met Bijaz as Hayt, before he regained his original memories. He took an instant dislike to him, mistrusting the dwarf and being wary in his presence and particularly distraught at Bijaz's provocative use of his original name of Duncan Idaho. However, Hayt and Bijaz also had a fundemental connection in that they had been grown in the same Tleilaxu axolotl tank, making Bijaz compare them to brothers.
During Hayt's conversation with Bijaz after their initial meeting, the ghola noted that he radiated a charismatic alertness that made the observor think of ancient idols and threatened to order a guard to strangle him in an attempt to indimiate the dwarf, who also was not fond of Hayt, calling him a callous lout. When Hayt asked what Bijaz planned to do with him, he said that he would do him a simple kindness. Following the reawakening of Duncan's memories in Hayt, Paul ordered him to kill Bijaz before he succumbed to the Tleilaxu plan, and Duncan obeyed without hesitation, saying that he had been the one to do Bijaz the 'kindness.'
Paul Atreides[]
- "You’ve sired, Sire. You are much more than the base Usul. You’re the Atreides Emperor, Paul Muad'Dib. And you are my finger."
- ―Bijaz to Paul[src]
Bijaz clearly did not respect Paul as the Emperor of the Known Universe, at least at first. Bijaz openly talked to Muad'Dib despite addressing him as "Sire" and comparing him to his finger. During their initial encounter, he also mockingly asked, "Usul, that's the base of the pillar. How can Usul be base when I'm the basest thing living?"
Scytale[]
While the exact relationship between Bijaz and the Face Dancer Scytale is unclear, it is certain that at some point either prior to Otheym's buying or earlier during his ownership in secret they met and conspired for the plan against Emperor Muad'Dib. Despite Bijaz being a Tleilaxu Master and thus originally higher in rank within the hegemony of the Bene Tleilax than Scytale, the latter would later become the youngest ever Masheikh and thus postthumously outrank the dwarf.