Gaius Helen Mohiam
Gaius Helen Mohiam | |
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Dune character | |
First appearance | Dune (1963–65) |
Last appearance | Dune: Part Two (2024) |
Created by | Frank Herbert |
Portrayed by | |
In-universe information | |
Alias |
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Title | Reverend Mother |
Affiliation | Bene Gesserit |
Children |
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Gaius Helen Mohiam is a fictional character in the
In Dune, Gaius Helen Mohiam is the Imperial
Gaius Helen Mohiam is portrayed by Siân Phillips in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, by Zuzana Geislerová in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, and by Charlotte Rampling in the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film Dune and its 2024 sequel.
Description
In the novel Dune, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen has this impression of Gaius Helen Mohiam:
An old woman in a black
aba robe with hood drawn down over her forehead detached herself from the Emperor's suite, took up station behind the throne, one scrawny hand resting on the quartz back. Her face peered out of the hood like a witch caricature—sunken cheeks and eyes, an overlong nose, skin mottled and with protruding veins.
The Baron stilled his trembling at sight of her. The presence of the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, the Emperor's Truthsayer, betrayed the importance of this audience.[3]
In Dune Messiah, Herbert notes that Mohiam's eyes are "dark with the blue brilliance of her melange addiction."[4]
Novelist Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, describes Mohiam as "a witch mother archetype".[5]
The non-canon Dune Encyclopedia (1984) by Willis E. McNelly gives an extensive, alternate biography for Mohiam, including the first suggestion that she is Lady Jessica's mother.[6]
Appearances
Dune
As Dune begins, the "old crone" Reverend Mother Mohiam comes to
Later, Mohiam accompanies Emperor
Paul is victorious; seeing the inevitability of the situation he has orchestrated, Mohiam compels Shaddam to give in to Paul's demands, allowing Paul to depose him and become Emperor in his place.[3]
Dune Messiah
In Dune Messiah, the Reverend Mother joins the
Forbidden to ever return to Arrakis, Mohiam is taken into Paul's custody when it becomes known that she is on a
When the conspiracy ultimately fails and Scytale is killed, Edric is executed in 10,207 A.G. by
Prelude to Dune
The Prelude to Dune prequel novels reveal that Mohiam is secretly the mother of Jessica and the grandmother of Paul. According to the authors, this fact was pulled directly from Frank Herbert's working notes for the original Dune series.[1][7]
Mohiam is instructed by the Bene Gesserit to collect the genetic material of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (through conception) for their breeding program. She blackmails the homosexual Baron into fathering a child with her. When that daughter proves genetically undesirable, Mohiam kills it and then returns to Harkonnen for a second try, at which point he drugs and viciously rapes her. She exacts her retribution by infecting him with a disease that later causes his obesity. Though Mohiam kills her first child with Harkonnen, their second child is Jessica, Harkonnen's paternity having been previously established in Dune.[1]
It is also revealed in the prequels that the name given for Jessica's mother in the original novels, Tanidia Nerus, is an alias used by Mohiam, a common practice among the Bene Gesserit to conceal true parental identity.[1]
In adaptations
Mohiam is portrayed by Siân Phillips in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune,[8][9] and by Zuzana Geislerová in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.[10][11][12] The character is played by Charlotte Rampling in the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film Dune and its 2024 sequel Dune: Part Two.[13]
All three portrayals received positive reviews in contemporary press.
Family tree
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Notes:
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References
- ^ Prelude to Dune.
- ISBN 0-441-17271-7.
Mohiam to Jessica: 'You're as dear to me as any of my own daughters, but I cannot let that interfere with duty.'
- ^ a b c d Herbert, Frank (1965). Dune.
- ^ a b c d Herbert, Frank (1969). Dune Messiah.
- Penguin Publishing Group. p. 875.
- ISBN 0-425-06813-7.
- ^ "Chat with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson: Dune: House Harkonnen". SciFi.com (Internet Archive). 2000. Archived from the original on November 5, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2007.
- ^ a b "Movie Review: Dune". Variety. December 31, 1983. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (December 14, 1984). "Movie Review: Dune (1984)". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
- ^ Franklin, Garth (2000). "Review: Frank Herbert's Dune". Dark Horizons. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- ^ "Dune: Cast & Details". 2000. Retrieved December 9, 2013 – via Movies.TVGuide.com.
- ^ "Children of Dune: Cast & Details". 2003. Retrieved December 9, 2013 – via Movies.TVGuide.com.
- ^ Kit, Borys (January 15, 2019). "Charlotte Rampling Joins Timothee Chalamet in Dune". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
- ^ "Siân Phillips: Dune Costume". DuneInfo. February 10, 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved January 10, 2020 – via YouTube.
- Tor.com. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
- ^ West, Thomas (October 21, 2021). "10 Most Powerful Quotes in Dune 2021". Screen Rant. Retrieved November 9, 2021.