Children of Dune

Stilgar, the Fremen leader, shines his light over the sleeping forms of nine-year-old Leto II and Ghanima Atreides. Stilgar is the children’s guardian and the “Naib of the Sietch,” or community leader (1). He struggles between the desire to protect the offspring of his friend and ally, Paul Muad’Dib, and the temptation to murder the twins and end the messianic worship of the Atreides bloodline that has led to holy wars and the death of billions.

Stilgar recalls how the boy Paul Atreides became the messiah Muad’Dib and created an empire from his father’s governorship of the planet Arrakis. Paul possessed extraordinary powers of prescience and was able to see the past, present, and future. With the Fremen’s vital participation, he overthrew the Emperor Shaddam IV, defeated their Harkonnen and Sardaukar enemies, and expanded his empire. Remembering his role as Paul’s chief advisor, Stilgar questions the Fremen’s worship of Paul as a god and the uneasy convergence of government and religion under the Atreideses’ banner. He is also disenchanted with the terraforming project that will transform the once dry planet to a green habitat, lamenting the trend that the Fremen no longer conserve water. Despite his authority as a government official, Stilgar sympathizes with the rebels who challenge the Atreideses’ rule.