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I'm listening to the Dune audiobook years after reading the book. The only reason I noticed mentioned for why Jessica has a son is because Leto wanted one.

I find this very unconvincing. I mean she seems like a very serious Bene Gesserit in every other regard. But she basically ruined a plan thousands of years in the making because Leto wanted a son? I mean... I can understand if she was cutting off from the Bene Gesserit, or she didn't believe in the ultimate plan of Bene Gesserit.

Not only that, the Bene Gesserit seem to take it really well... apart from some scolding, Jessica seems to get away with her actions scot-free. I'd think there'd be some kind of punishment for Jessica... how could they even pull off their breeding if it's so easy to break Bene Gesserit rules?

Is there some deeper reason given for Jessica's actions, or reason the Bene Gesserit seem to take it so lightly? (I mean lightly in proportion to the staggering nature of the crime).

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    But the Bene Gesserit have been working on this project for thousands of years. Jessica having a son puts off the completion by a generation; it's not that she destroyed it. And the Bene Gesserit aren't exactly always present to keep an eye on things; when Reverend Mother Mohaim shows up she's the first Reverend Mother than Paul has met.
    – DavidW
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 20:39
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    @InvisibleTrihedron "Why did Leto accept a Bene Gesserit as a wife, knowing that they only produced daughters, which would end a dynasty that had ruled for centuries?" He did not know that, because it isn't true. Bene Gesserit can chose the gender of their children, and while they sometimes only had daughters, that was not something that happened as a rule and even when it did happen, it was not known by people outside the Sisterhood that they had such control. Also, she was a concubine, not a wife, a status chose so that he could potentially marry someone else.
    – suchiuomizu
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 21:03
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    I also recall that Leto and Jessica really loved each other, before he died Leto was full of regrets for not marrying Jessica and there is no mention of other concubines. For her part love is the reason Jessica gave to the RM...
    – Alith
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 21:17
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    Does this answer your question? Why was it such a big deal when Jessica decided to have a male child? Surely she could get pregnant again?
    – Yaroslav Kornachevskyi
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 22:42
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    Also, Jessica didn't completely destroyed the plan for Kwisatz Haderach, merely one of the possible sources for it (scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/109551/…). There were more K-H than Paul, but only he has survived.
    – Yasskier
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 22:54

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There are a few things going on here.

Jessica's love for Leto.

Despite her training as a Bene Gesserit, Jessica is clearly in love with the Duke, an upright man of impeccable breeding. He wanted a son and she wants to please him. Mohiam accuses her of this outright.

“You thought only of your Duke’s desire for a son,” the old woman snapped. “And his desires don’t figure in this. An Atreides daughter could’ve been wed to a Harkonnen heir and sealed the breach. You’ve hopelessly complicated matters. We may lose both bloodlines now.”

Jessica's place in Leto's court.

As the concubine of Leto, having a daughter would have placed her in a precarious position. The Bene Gesserit aren't above playing politics, but their overriding interest is their breeding programme. By comparison, Jessica is most interested in staying in the good graces of her (in-all-but-name) husband. Had she borne him a daughter, there's a possibility that he would have taken a real wife to bear him an heir.

“You may refer to me as ‘my Lady,’ ” Jessica said. “I’m not noble born. I’m the bound concubine of the Duke Leto.”
Again that strange nod, and the woman peered upward at Jessica with a sly questioning, “There’s a wife, then?”
“There is not, nor has there ever been. I am the Duke’s only . . . companion, the mother of his heir-designate.”

To be the mother of God would be a fine thing indeed.

Mohiam accuses Jessica of having a son out of a desire to bear the Kwisatz Haderach. When they're that close to fruition of their breeding plan, there was a real possibility that her son would be the BG messiah. And in fact he was.

“And you in your pride thought you could produce the Kwisatz Haderach!”

Jessica lifted her chin. “I sensed the possibility.”

Note that Jessica doesn't deny that this was something that occurred to her.

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