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The Water Of Life appears about two thirds of the way through the firstDunenovel, where it changes the course of galactic history. Ingesting the Water is a major turning point for several characters, including several yet to be born. It gives Jessica the powers of a Reverend Mother, the highest rank of her order, and establishes her as a religious figurehead among the Fremen.
The Water Of Life scene gets weird fast, as everyone in Sietch Tabr enters a drug-induced haze. Here’s everything you need to know if this part of the book made itself hard to follow along.
What Is The Water Of Life?
The Water Of Life is ahyper-concentrated dose of the spice melange, extracted from an adolescent sandworm kept in captivity for that express purpose. Ingesting any amount of the Water Of Life is lethal to humans, which is why part of its ritual purpose is to establish faith in the power of the Reverend Mother.
Fremen Reverend Mothers, like the Bene Gesserit Sisters of the same title, are able toalter the chemistry within their body. At the start of the ritual, the Reverend Mother takes a sip of the Water Of Life, at the same timecreating an enzyme in her saliva that partially neutralizes the poison. Attendantsextract the enzyme through a tube, then add it to the Water Of Life, rendering it safe for the rest of the tribe to partake.
Parts of the Fremen religion were seeded in past generations by the Bene Gesserit’s Missionaria Protectiva, resulting in both factions having Reverend Mothers with similar powers.
While the Water Of Life is no longer fatal in its diminished state, it stillcreates an altered state of perception.While ostensibly the ritual is used tostrengthen the sense of community among the Fremen, focusing on the tribe over the individual, the ritual trance also helps todiminish the long-term effects of the spice, preventing possible possession from genetic memory.
What Happened To Jessica When She Drank The Water Of Life?
When a Reverend Mother ingests the undiluted Water Of Life, the spice allows herunfettered access to the genetic memory of all her female ancestors.She gains all of their lifetime experiences and knowledge, as though she had lived them herself. This happened to Jessica, completing her initiation as Reverend Mother, but resulted in an unforeseen consequence.
Although she had only revealed this fact to her son Paul,Jessica was pregnant at the time of the ritual.Her unborn daughter also received the full dose of the Water Of Life, giving her the same access to genetic memory as Jessicabefore she had even fully formed in the womb.
“This changes both of you! Holy Mother, what have we done?” -Reverend Mother Ramallo, Dune
The child, Alia, was consequently born with thousands of lifetimes' worth of experience. The Bene Gesserit considered her to be anAbominationbecause of this, and she was denounced by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, but the reasons for this wouldn’t become fully known for decades.
