In Dune, was the Golden Path really necessary?

Question

I am trying to understand the reason why Leto II merged with the sandtrout in Children of Dune and why he was so committed to the Golden Path.

I just finished the first four books and I fear that I have missed the point of why prescience is so bad. According to the wikipedia entry, Leto wanted to teach humanity a lesson to avoid stagnation, so much so that he punishes them for 3,500 years by being a brutal emperor.

What isn't clear to me is how this actually saves humanity? Given the horrors of Muad'Dib's holy war and Leto's rule you'd think that having a few prescient noblepeople running around wouldn't be so bad. And why does he need to merge with a sandtrout and then let the Sandworms go extinct in order to accomplish this?

I checked out the Dune and Children of Dune miniseries in the hopes that the "made for TV" aspect would simplify the explanation of Leto's commitment but it doesn't do a good job explaining that either, it just seems to be a rehash of Leto's speeches on why the path is necessary.

Answer 1

The golden path was necessary due to the events that are seen through prescience and not fully realized until after Chapterhouse: Dune.

Without the Golden Path, humanity stagnates: it grows ever more dependent on melange and Arrakis, on the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and the other powers-that-be. Realize that, through the control of melange and the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program, the main powers of the Dune Universe literally control humanity's continued evolution.

Paul Muad'Dib and Leto II both foresee the final destruction of mankind by an unknown power due to its complacency. So, Leto attempts to instill such a hatred of the centralized power structure that's at the heart of humanity's stagnation so humans would do everything in their power to "scatter": to go to the farthest reaches of the known Universe to avoid being tied to one central authority. This causes the established powers to lose their hold on humanity's progress and future.

The Scattering has one major additional effect: the development of humanity's ability to avoid prescience, which allows a section of humanity to elude the unforeseen power in the universe that will ultimately destroy them. This side effect plays heavily into the unwritten final chapter of the series, later adapted into Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune.

In it, the unknown power uses a form of prescience to detect every possible move humans can make and provide the appropriate counter. That is, if I know what you're going to do before you do it, you can never defeat me. Developing the ability to avoid prescience allows humanity to have a fighting chance against the unknown power.

Answer 2

The answers to your questions can all be found in God Emperor of Dune, when Leto II takes Siona into the desert.

Is the Golden Path necessary? He tells Siona:

"Without me, there would have been by now no people anywhere, none whatsoever. And the path to that extinction was more hideous than your wildest imaginings."

Is prescience really so bad? He gives her concentrated spice essence and observes her spice trance, thinking about what she is experiencing:

She would carry with her forever afterward the clear sights and sounds and smells. The seeking machines would be there, the smell of blood and entrails, the cowering humans in their burrows, aware only that they could not escape . . . while all the time the mechanical movement approached, nearer and nearer and nearer ...louder...louder!

and after she awakes, and begins to come to terms with the visions:

like the terrible machines of that apocalyptic vision, the predator could follow any creature who left tracks.

Leto II states that the human species would already be extinct without him. His dominion has prevented this from happening, but his goal in removing prescience is to protect humanity from this particular threat forever.

The Brian Herbert novels muddle this point. The threat he has saved them from is not external, but would have come from within the existing Empire. His strict control of the known universe prevents humans from inventing technology to give machines prescient ability while they are still vulnerable. His breeding program ensures that it can never be used if it were invented.

Answer 3

The Golden Path is the only way to save humanity from extinction.

This has several possible explanations, together or separate. It is a shame that Herbert died before the final two installments were written by him. His son falls short of the mark, in my humble opinion.

I believe the main purpose of the Golden Path is to prevent a single power from controlling the human race. Humans will be so far widespread in the universe to avoid systematic destruction and that they will not be controlled by one resource or talent.

Invisiblity to prescience is a defense mechanism to prevent prescient observers from controlling future human history. The Ixian navigation device breaks the Spacing Guild monopoly on space travel. The Tleilaxu "axlotl tanks" prevent a melange monopoly. Also, the new spice worms can survive in many different environments.

It seems that Herbert also meant for a return of thinking machines, as an extinction menace. I would be disappointed with Herbert if that was the only purpose of the Golden Path. The surviving machines of the Butlerian Jihad escape to a far distant world to build a massive space fleet. Over thousands of years of construction they will return to obliterate humanity.

The purpose of the Fish Speakers is to flood the universe with military expansion, eventually encountering the machines. In the long process, they transform into the Honored Matres. The Honored Matres come retreating back, to merge with the Bene Gesserit.

I would rather believe that ultimate destruction comes from within: rot at the core spreads outward. I want the machine element to be secondary, not that it necessarily is. Notice that in the modern world many of us are controlled by machines. It makes it easier for the few to rule the many.

Do not underestimate the role of power. People desire it more than anything else. The Harkonnens represent the worst case scenario of those in power. Breaking possible sources of ultimate power is what I believe the Golden Path is about.

Answer 4

In God Emperor of Dune, Moneo describes the horror that the golden path avoids saying that it was so terrible the knowledge almost destroyed/killed him. I'd encourage you to keep reading! It's a wonderful series and in my opinion it only gets better after "Children"

Answer 5

I agree with most of what's been said. However one of the simplest explanations may also be a valid point. The idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy is what Paul created and what leto was trying to avoid. Paul's Jihad was entirely unnecessary and occurred due to Paul's arrogance in thinking he could control the future. When Leto describes why the golden path is needed he blatantly states that he is hoping to create a world free of predetermined destiny a world free of one man's vision. This to me seems to say that prescience when taken to the extreme of what Paul had is the "trap "when he states the first step in avoiding a trap is knowing it exists. in short the golden path is the eradication of prescience controlling mankind's destiny.

Answer 6

Prescience showed him that the Ixians were going to invent a "death machine" that would wipe out humanity. Leto II cancels this future event by bringing the empire tight under his control. By controlling the spice and Dune, he controls all the groups and their machinations. He also uses the breeding program to develop a new human being - immune to prescience. He cannot see Siona and her descendants and neither can the death machines. This is the essence of the golden path. He sacrificed everything to save everyone. He isn't a tyrant, he is a martyr - a true hero! My favorite fictional character. Bar-none. He also orchestrates his own assassination by the way...a cunning suicide from a brilliant and troubled being. Poor Leto...to have everything and nothing at all. Sacrifice!!

Answer 7

I think what everyone is missing is what was brought out in the Brian Herbert novels.

Leto also had access to the past of humanity and he understood the true origins of the human race; that they had long ago escaped from the thinking machines who controlled them as slaves. In addition, as a result of the Scattering, the Honored Matres were discovered by Ominous, who chased them back to the old Empire.

So while the Empire thought that the Honored Matres were conquerors, they were really on the run, which means the Siona gene didn’t help with the Honored Matres but did help to elude Ominous. This is how Leto knew humanity had to follow the Golden path to survive.