4.6 Who is Scytale? (Dune)
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This article is from the Dune FAQ, by Alan Schwartz with numerous contributions by others.
4.6 Who is Scytale? (Dune)
Scytale is a Tleilaxu Face Dancer, the principal of the conspirators in
_Dune Messiah_. At the end of that book, he is killed by a knife thrown
by Paul Muad'Dib.
Scytale is also a Tleilaxu Master appearing in "Heretics of Dune" and
_Chapterhouse: Dune_. That this Scytale is the same one (or, rather a
ghola/clone of the one) from "Dune Messiah" is indicated by Master
Waff's musings that Scytale had once met Muad'Dib.
The process that resurrected Scytale and turned him into a Master is
never explained. Also, the differences between the Bene Tleilax society
vaguely suggested in "Dune Messiah" and the one seen in the last two
books are problematic. While a development obviously took place (to
incorporate the worship of Leto II, for instance), the Zensunni religion
seems always to have been a part of the Tleilaxu as seen in "Heretics of
Dune" and "Chapterhouse: Dune", yet is never hinted at in "Dune
Messiah_.
Many fancy theories have been devised to cover up this inconsistency,
but in the final analysis it seems to be what it appears: Frank Herbert
modifying a story point to fit his own purposes, creating a discrepancy.
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