Quintinius Violet Chenoeh

This article refers to elements from Original Dune Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons: The Dune Encyclopedia

Quintinius Violet Chenoeh
Political Information
Titles	Sister
Affiliation and Relationships
Loyalty	Bene Gesserit
Behind the Scenes
First appearance	God Emperor of Dune (1981)

"No, gentle Sister, it is you who will die. You will not live to be a Reverend Mother. Do not be saddened by this for by your presence here today, by carrying my message back to the Sisterhood, by preserving my secret words as well, you will achieve a far greater status. You become here an integral part of my myth. Our distant cousins will pray to you for intercession with me!"

―Leto Atreides II to Sister Chenoeh

Holy Sister Quintinius Violet Chenoeh was a sister of the Bene Gesserit. She, along with Sister Tawsuoko, accompanied the God Emperor Leto Atreides II on a short peregrination, accompanied by his Fish Speakers. Chenoeh, believing herself to be safe from the Emperor's wrath, being a messenger, asked more daring questions and learned things from Leto which he forbade to be published in the report to the Sisterhood. In their redacted conversation, Leto told her that they would not meet again as she would die before becoming a Reverend Mother. She reported back to the Bene Gesserit and was able to confirm that the Nine Historians were executed by Leto. As Leto foretold, Chenoeh died during the Spice agony during her 53rd year in the sisterhood. Due to her status as a failed Reverend Mother and her encounters with the God Emperor, she became something of a household deity within the Sisterhood.

Biography

Meeting Leto II

Sisters Chenoeh and Tawsuoko were invited to travel to Arrakis during the reign of God Emperor Leto Atreides II. Reverend Mother Syaksa advised them to ‘do nothing which will bring down his wrath upon us.' They discovered a handwritten record of an eyewitness testimony authored by the former Majordomo Ikonicre detailing Leto's execution of the Nine Historians. Chenoeh was invited to accompany Leto and his Fish Speakers on a private peregrination on the Royal Road.

Peregrination

"Why are you telling me this now, Lord? You have never answered one of us before in this manner, not that I know of.
Because you listen well, Sister Chenoeh; because you will obey me and because I will never see you again."

―Chenoeh and Leto II

Chenoeh meeting with Leto Atreides II - Art by Naoyuki Kato

On the Royal Road, during their trip, Chenoeh was allowed to walk beside Leto and converse with him. Leto told her that he often felt he was standing on a battlement, protecting himself from invaders. When Chenoeh assured him that nobody was attacking him, Leto told her that ‘You Bene Gesserit assail me on all sides. Even now, you seek to suborn my Fish Speakers' Chenoeh prepared herself for the possibility that Leto would kill her, but the God Emperor stopped and his entourage followed suit. Leto told Chenoeh that his advisors and subordinates told him everything and asked her not to deny what he knew to be true and Chenoeh obliged.

He asked Sister Quintinius to look toward the festival city of Onn and describe it to him. Chenoeh described the beautiful greens of the city and the houses and the gardens. Leto exclaimed that the landscape had been cluttered and that ‘you cannot exult at new mysteries in such a landscape.' Chenoeh asked whether Leto truly wanted mysteries and Leto told her that no outward spiritual freedom could be present in such a cluttered landscape. Chenoeh asked whether mankind no longer had a need for privacy and protection. Leto asked her, when she returned to the Bene Gesserit, to tell them that he would restore ‘the outward view' and that ‘Such a landscape as this one turns you inward in search for whatever freedom your spirits can find within. Most humans are not strong enough to find freedom within.' Chenoeh told Leto that she would report his words accurately and Leto told her to see that she did.

Chenoeh asked why Leto commanded his Fish Speakers to weed out any Bene Gesserit Breeding program births which he objected to. Leto told her 'Be thankful for what you have'. He told Chenoeh to tell the Sisterhood that they, of all people, knew the dangers of a breeding program for a particular characteristic, which sought a defined genetic goal. He declared 'You got the unexpected. You got me, the wild card. And I have achieved Siona' and refused to elaborate on his reference to his Majordomo's daughter.

Chenoeh later told him ‘Life cannot find reasons to sustain it, cannot be a source of decent mutual regard, unless each of us resolves to breathe such qualities into it.'

Chenoeh, already knowing how Reverend Mothers possessed the memories of their ancestors, asked Leto how he acquired his. Leto told her that it was a combination of their genetic history and the effects of the Spice melange and that he and his twin sister Ghanima were awakened in the womb, possessing their ancestral memories before birth. Chenoeh noted that the Sisterhood referred to that phenomenon as Abomination. Leto told her that this was an apt description, as the sheer number of ancestors was incredibly overwhelming and it was uncertain which persona, good or evil, would command the horde. Chenoeh asked how he overcame this and Leto told her that he did not, as the pharaonic model saved both he and Ghanima, asking Chenoeh whether she was familiar with the concept. Chenoeh answered that the Sisterhood was well versed in history but Leto told her ‘you do not think of this as I do.' He told her that he spoke of a ‘disease of government which was caught by the Greeks who spread it to the Romans who distributed it so far and wide that it never has completely died out.' Chenoeh asked ‘Does my Lord speak riddles?' and Leto told her that, though he hated it, it was not a riddle. He and Ghanima formed internal alliances with ancestors who followed the pharaonic model, which helped them to form ‘a mingled identity within that long-dormant mob.' Chenoeh told the God Emperor that she found this disturbing and Leto told her that she should. She inquired as to why Leto was telling her this, as, to her knowledge, Leto had never answered a Sister in-depth before. Leto told her it was because she listened well, would obey him and because he would never see her again.

Leto asked Chenoeh had not yet asked about what the Sisterhood called his ‘insane tyranny.' Chenoeh, ‘emboldened by his manner', told him it was because of his history of bloody executions. Leto closed his eyes and told her that, because she was trained to accurately record his words, he would speak to her as if he was a page from his journals, asking the Sister to ‘preserve these words well, for I do not want them lost.' Leto told her the following:

"To my certain knowledge, when I am no longer consciously present here among you, when I am here only as a fearsome creature of the desert, many people will look back upon me as a tyrant. Fair enough. I have been tyrannical. A tyrant-not fully human, not insane, merely a tyrant. But even ordinary tyrants have motives and feelings beyond those usually assigned them by facile historians, and they will think of me as a great tyrant. Thus. my feelings and motives are a legacy I would preserve lest history distort them too much. History has a way of magnifying some characteristics while it discards others. People will try to understand me and to frame me in their words. They will seek truth. But the truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it. You will not understand me. The harder you try the more remote I will become until finally I vanish into eternal myth-a Living God at last! That's it, you see. I am not a leader nor even a guide. A god. Remember that. I am quite different from leaders and guides. Gods need take no responsibility for anything except genesis. Gods accept everything and thus accept nothing. Gods must be identifiable yet remain anonymous. Gods do not need a spirit world. My spirits dwell within me. answerable to my slightest summons. I share with you, because it pleases me to do so, what I have learned about them and through them. They are my truth. Beware of the truth, gentle Sister. Although much sought after, truth can be dangerous to the seeker. Myths and reassuring lies are much easier to find and believe. If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes. Conceal your truths within words. Natural ambiguity will protect you then. Words are much easier to absorb than are the sharp Delphic stabs of wordless portent. With words, you can cry out in the chorus: “Why didn't someone warn me?" But I did warn you. I warned you by example, not with words. There are inevitably more than enough words. You record them in your marvelous memory even now. And someday, my journals will be discovered-more words. I warn you that you read my words at your peril. The wordless movement of terrible events lies just below their surface. Be deaf! You do not need to hear or, hearing, you do not need to remember. How soothing it is to forget. And how dangerous! Words such as mine have long been recognized for their mysterious power. There is a secret knowledge here which can be used to rule the forgetful. My truths are the substance of myths and lies which tyrants have always counted on to maneuver the masses for selfish design. You see? I share it all with you, even the greatest mystery of all time, the mystery by which I compose my life. I reveal it to you in words: The only past which endures lies wordlessly within you."

―Leto Atreides II

Leto fell silent and Chenoeh asked whether those were all the words he wished preserved. Leto, according to Chenoeh, sounding tired and discouraged, as someone would reading their last testament. He told her that those were the words. Chenoeh asked who his journals were written for and Leto told her it was for posterity. He told her that he thought of future readers as distant cousins who were filled with familial curiosity and intent on unraveling dramas only Leto could recount: Ones who want to make personal connections to their own lives and ones who wanted meanings and the truth. Chenoeh told him 'But you warn us against truth, Lord' and Leto told her that history was a malleable instrument in his hands and that, even using them truthfully, Leto would manipulate and change them. Leto fell silent and Chenoeh pondered his words, weighing it against Syaksa's admonition and Leto's previous words. As Leto had previously told him that she was his messenger, Chenoeh felt under his protection and thus was willing to ask him more daring questions. She asked whether, since he said he would not see heir again, he was about to die. Leto chuckled. He told Sister Chenoeh that it was she who would die and that she would not live to become a Reverend Mother, asking her not to be saddened by this, as, by recording his words, she would become an integral part of his myth. Leto exclaimed ‘Our distant cousins will pray to you for intercession with me!' and laughed warmly. Chenoeh felt a ‘profound bond of friendship' with Leto, as if ‘some physical thing had leaped between us, tying us together in a way that words cannot fully describe.' In that moment, Chenoeh understood what Leto meant by ‘wordless truth.' Leto asked Chenoeh to, for now, keep the final part of their conversation secret, telling her to ‘return to your Superiors with my message, but these words keep secret for now. I will visit my rage upon your Sisterhood if you fail.'

Later life

Chenoeh and Tawsuoko returned safely from Arrakis and brought with them Ikonicre's report. Chenoeh, keeping her word, did not include the end of their conversation when she detailed her encounter. She wrote that she steeled herself for death following Leto's assertion that the Bene Gesserit ‘assail me on all sides' and noted that Leto knew about everything: her mission, her special training as an oral recorder. She compared him to a Reverend Mother and said that she could hide nothing from him. Chenoeh noted that Leto's final mention of the Breeding program was an obvious reference to his father Paul Atreides, the Kwisatz Haderach.

Chenoeh wrote down the details of her final conversation with Leto and kept the papers secret.

Death

During her fifty-third year in the Sisterhood, Chenoeh attempted the Spice agony in an effort to ascend to the rank of Reverend Mother. She died due to Melange incompatibility. After her death, her papers were found, detailing the complete description of her Peregrination with Leto. Details of her death were recorded in the Chapterhouse archive records under Chenoeh, Holy Sister Quintinius Violet with the subheadings The Chenoeh Report and Medical Aspects of Melange Rejection.

Legacy

Following her death, a Cult of Sister Chenoeh formed in the Sisterhood and she became a household Goddess as a failed Reverend Mother. Despite her death, she was considered to be a role model in the Spice agony by many Acolytes, including future Mother Superior Darwi Odrade. She was considered to be Saintly and “Beloved of God" and busts as well as statuettes, often kept in niches, were erected on Chapterhouse and she was considered to be its guardian symbol.

Appearances

• God Emperor of Dune (mentioned only)
• Heretics of Dune (mentioned only)
• Chapterhouse: Dune (mentioned only)