Miles Teg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (August 2007) |
Miles Teg is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.
In Heretics of Dune, Miles Teg is introduced as the former Supreme Bashar of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. He is charged with the weapons training of ghola Duncan Idaho by Taraza, the Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit. His mother Janet Roxbrough, a Bene Gesserit, taught him some of the ways of the Sisterhood before he was sent to Lampadas to train as a Mentat. His father is a man named Loschy Teg, chosen for breeding by the Sisterhood for his "gene potential." [1]
Miles Teg was a military genius and became Supreme Bashar of the Bene Gesserit, winning many victories. He had a very strong sense of honor, loyalty, and had the many characteristics of House Atreides. He is well known for doing the unexpected. He also is not a melange addict, not even resorting to the spice at old age (296 at the start of Heretics of Dune) when most others wish to extend their life.
Contents |
[edit] Heretics of Dune
In Heretics of Dune, Miles Teg was ordered to take over the weapons training of the Bene Gesserit Duncan Idaho ghola after he retired to his farm for a long time. When the Bene Gesserit Keep was stormed by the Bene Tleilax, he, the Duncan Idaho ghola and Reverend Mother Lucilla escaped into hiding in a Harkonnen no-globe discovered by his aide, Patrin. He awoke Idaho's original memories, and arranged to be rescued by his favorite student, Burzmali. They were intercepted, and Teg stayed behind, giving Lucilla and Idaho time to attempt escape. Teg was captured by the Honored Matres.
Teg was later tortured by the Honored Matres using a T-Probe. Under the severe stress and agony produced by the probe's attempts to gain control of his body and his knowledge; his mentat abilities and Atreides genes elevated him to a higher level of being. He was able to move faster than the eye could see and gained mild prescience which he described as a doubled vision which gave him intimations of danger. His accelerated speed came at the cost of incredible energy expenditure; he had to consume huge amounts of carbohydrates to regain his energy. After escaping his captors he found that his safe-house had been taken over by Honored Matres, who attempted to gain his allegiance. Seeing the terrible state their constant drive for power and contempt for the masses had lowered them to, he used his incredible speed to slaughter them and escaped once more. At the end of the book, he gathered a force of veterans who had served under him on previous campaigns from the bars of Ysai (formerly Barony) and managed to capture a no-ship from the Scattering using his tactical genius and new abilities. He then took the ship to Rakis to meet up with Sheeana and Darwi Odrade. The vast slaughter he had inflicted on the Honored Matres provoked an immense reaction from them, and they obliterated Rakis, turning the entire planet into a charred ball in order to be certain of killing him.
[edit] Chapterhouse Dune
At the beginning of Chapterhouse Dune, a ghola of Teg was birthed at his daughter, Darwi Odrade's orders. The Mother Superior Darwi Odrade wanted to use Teg's military abilities to defeat the upcoming threat of the Honored Matres. The Bene Gesserit later reawakened him to his full memories prematurely by using Reverend Mother Sheeana to imprint him. Under the intense stress caused by sexual imprinting to him because of the Bene Gesserit conditioning he received from his mother during his original life's childhood, some of Miles Teg's latent Atreides abilities awoke in Heretics of Dune and were unlocked once more; he moved with blinding speed, had a unique form of prescience, could sense immediate danger from people, and also had the ability to see no-ships.
Given that he accomplished all of the foregoing without undergoing any form of the spice agony, it left open the question of what level his abilities could rise to with spice agony. Miles Teg led the final assault upon the Honored Matres, but was captured when the Honored Matres pretended to surrender. After Murbella successfully succeeded to the position of Great Honored Matre and Mother Superior, he was released and joined Sheeana, Duncan Idaho on their trip on the Ithaca.
Miles Teg represents an exquisite product of the eugenic program of the Bene Gesserit and their meticulous training. Miles Teg is an Atreides and bears a striking resemblance to Duke Leto Atreides I not only in his appearance but in his strict sense of honor. Mother Superior Darwi Odrade is his daughter.
[edit] Sandworms of Dune
In Sandworms of Dune, Teg, usually referred to as the "Bashar," has been reborn on the no-ship Ithaca as a new ghola, raised and awakened by the newest ghola of Duncan Idaho. Duncan and Teg run the affairs on the Ithaca, being the only two with experience of leadership in the military. Teg considers himself responsible for the security of the Ithaca, and its vital cargo of historical gholas.
As mysterious saboteurs conduct crippling attacks on the no-ship's systems, Teg gets the suspicion that Face Dancers have infiltrated the ship during their escape from the planet of the Handlers, in Hunters of Dune. Teg, Duncan, and the unawakened ghola of Thufir Hawat set about tightening the ship's security and hunting for the traitor. However, none of their efforts yield any results, as the unborn ghola of Duke Leto Atreides is killed while still in the axlotl tank, by the misinformed actions of the ghola of Dr. Yeuh.
Later,Teg is shocked to discover that the Thufir Hawat ghola he had been training was actually a Face Dancer substitute. This was discovered when the ghola ran out onto the sands of the Ithaca hold, and was killed by the sandworms. Later, the Tleilaxu Master Scytale devises a way to locate the remaining Face Dancer saboteur, and Teg and Sheeana plan with him. However, on unmasking the Rabbi as a Face Dancer, the Rabbi sets in motion the chain of events that lead to the Ithaca being trapped by the Enemy.
The Ithaca is finally caught in the Enemy's tachyon net, and critically damaged by enemy ships. Duncan sees a way to escape, but the ship is too damaged to do so. Teg decides to use his accelerated metabolism to repair the Ithaca. Over a period of weeks in his time, but a few moments in real time, Teg succeeds in repairing the ships navigation, Holtzmann engines, life support, and weapons. He launches countermeasures against the Thinking machines that are attacking. To sustain himself through this ordeal, he consumes vast quantities of melange and carbohydrates from the ship's stores. After repairing the ship, Teg returns to the bridge with only the strength to notify Duncan of the changes. His effort had resulted in massive cellular exhaustion, and his body is completely drained. He collapses into a hollow husk of a human being, dead. Teg's valiant sacrifice allows Duncan a final attempt to escape the net, which fails.
As the Ithaca is being taken to Synchrony, Duncan and Sheeana release the husk that is left of Teg's body into space, saying that the Bashar will never be captured by the enemy. This is the second funeral to be carried out on the Ithaca.
At the end of the book, after Duncan becomes the Final Kwisatz Haderach, he asks the Tleilaxu Master Scytale to grow him a new ghola of Miles Teg, saying that he'll need his old friend to help him get the universe running smoothly.
[edit] References
- ^ Herbert, Frank. Heretics of Dune. "Yes, it was almost a certainty that she had a potential Mentat here. The breeding mistresses had been right about the gene potential of Loschy Teg.