4.5 Who are Marty and Daniel at the end of "Chapterhouse: Dune_?
Description
This article is from the Dune FAQ, by Alan Schwartz with numerous contributions by others.
4.5 Who are Marty and Daniel at the end of "Chapterhouse: Dune_?
The explanations of who the mysterious Marty and Daniel (who appear
irregularly in "Chapterhouse: Dune_) may be are as many as there are
readers of the Chronicles. People seem to agree about some basic facts,
though:
- They were some kind of Face Dancers
- Like "NFDs" (see Subject 2.4.1), they were able to absorb memories and
personalities, not just appearances. However, they did not "become"
these people, like NFDs did
- In this manner, they had absorbed Reverend Mothers and
possibly Tleilaxu Masters
- For this or other reasons, they were now beyond Tleilaxu control
- They had vastly superior powers (their means of spying on Duncan),
either intrinsically or through technology
There are hints that they are enemies of the Honoured Matres from the
Scattering, part of the force that have driven them back to the Old
Empire, and in that case identical with the "Enemies of Many Faces" the
Honoured Matres fear. The technology they apparently transmit to Duncan
seems to support this. However, others have objected that their ability
to absorb memories indicates they are from the Old Empire, since that
ability was developed there (but with help from Scattering Tleilaxu?).
They also point out that "Enemies of Many Faces" could mean anything,
and that we have no basis for supposing that Marty and Daniel are not
unique.
Another interpretation, compatible with any of the above theories, is
that Marty and Daniel are Frank Herbert and his wife Beverly, saying
goodbye to readers and setting the characters free in a universe of
infinite possibilities. This idea was advanced in a French edition of
Dune, and is supported by the fact that Beverly died shortly before and
Frank shortly after "Chapterhouse: Dune" was published, and of course
the touching dedication and afterword. However, it is apparently
disproved by the fact that FH planned and had begun working on another
Dune novel before he died, and that he did not know of his terminal
disease when he wrote what was to be the last volume in the Chronicles.
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson claim to possess Frank Herbert's
outline of "Dune 7", and plan to write the novel sometime in the future,
finally explaining the mystery.
Further speculations on the nature of Marty and Daniel can be found at:
<http://jkenny.home.mindspring.com/MartyandDaniel.htm>
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