Miles Teg

Miles Teg is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.

Description

In Heretics of Dune (1984), Miles Teg — the former Supreme Bashar of the Bene Gesserit — is noted to be 296 standard years old^[2] and to have a striking resemblance to his ancestor, Leto Atreides I.^[3] The son of the Bene Gesserit Lady Janet Roxbrough of Lernaeus (a Fish Speaker descendant) and Loschy Teg,^[3] a "CHOAM station factor"^[4] chosen for breeding by the Sisterhood for his "gene potential,"^[5] Miles Teg had been instructed in the Bene Gesserit ways by his mother before being sent to Lampadas to train as a Mentat, a human computer.^[3]

Teg is a military genius, having a very strong sense of honor, loyalty, and many of the characteristics of House Atreides, his ancestors. He is well known for doing the unexpected. Teg is also not a melange addict (unlike most other people), not even resorting to the spice at old age when most others might wish to extend their lives.^[3]

By the time of the novel, Teg's wife had been dead for 38 years, his grown children living elsewhere except for his eldest daughter Dimela. She and her husband Firus take control of Teg's farm when he leaves Lernaeus; the couple have three children. Teg had a younger brother, Sabine, who had been poisoned on Romo. During the events of Heretics of Dune, it is revealed that Teg had fathered other children during his younger years, and he discovers that Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade is one of them.^[3]

Heretics of Dune

In Heretics of Dune, Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Taraza seeks out a retired Teg at his family home on the planet Lernaeus in hopes he will agree to take over the weapons training of the newest Duncan Idaho ghola. Later, on the planet Gammu, the Bene Gesserit Keep is stormed by the Bene Tleilax, and Teg, the Idaho ghola and Reverend Mother Lucilla escape into hiding in a long-forgotten Harkonnen no-globe discovered by Teg's aide, Patrin. He awakens Idaho's original memories and arranges to be rescued by his favorite student, Burzmali. They are intercepted, and Teg stays behind, giving Lucilla and Idaho time to attempt escape. Teg is then captured by the Honored Matres.^[3]

Teg is 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 elevate him to a higher level of being. He is able to move faster than the eye can see by accelerating his metabolism, and he gains mild prescience, which he describes as a doubled vision which gives him intimations of danger. His accelerated speed comes at the cost of incredible energy expenditure; he has to consume huge amounts of carbohydrates to regain his energy. After escaping his captors, he finds that his safe-house had been taken over by Honored Matres, who attempt to gain his allegiance. Seeing the terrible state their constant drive for power and contempt for the masses has lowered them to, he uses his incredible speed to slaughter them and escape once more. At the end of the book, he gathers a force of veterans who had served under him on previous campaigns from the bars of Ysai (formerly Barony) and manages to capture a no-ship from the Scattering using his tactical genius and new abilities. He takes the ship to Rakis to meet up with Bene Gesserits Sheeana and Odrade. The vast slaughter he had inflicted on the Honored Matres provokes an immense reaction from them; they destroy Rakis using Obliterators, turning the entire planet into a charred ball in order to be certain of killing him.^[3]

Chapterhouse Dune

At the beginning of Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), a ghola of Teg is birthed on orders from his daughter, Odrade, who is now Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit after Taraza's death at the end of Heretics of Dune. Odrade needs Teg's military abilities to thwart the worsening threat of the Honored Matres. The Bene Gesserit later reawaken him to his full memories prematurely by using Sheeana to imprint him. As the original Teg has been trained by his mother to resist such manipulation, the attempt subjects the Teg ghola to a heightened amount of stress which also unlocks the superhuman abilities acquired by Teg under Honored Matre torture in Heretics of Dune. A reawakened Teg leads the final assault upon the Honored Matres, but is captured when the Matres pretend to surrender. Murbella, a captive Honored Matre indoctrinated into the Bene Gesserit, kills the Honored Matre leader Logno as Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Odrade is killed, and Murbella manages to secure the leadership of both groups. Teg is released, later joining Sheeana and Duncan Idaho when they escape Bene Gesserit control in a no-ship.^[4]

Hunters of Dune

In Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Hunters of Dune (2006), Duncan and Teg run the affairs on the no-ship — now named the Ithaca, being the only two passengers with experience in military leadership. Teg considers himself responsible for the security of the Ithaca and its vital cargo of historical gholas (including those of Teg's own ancestors Paul Atreides and Lady Jessica), produced in transit from genetic material possessed by captive passenger Scytale, purportedly the last Tleilaxu Master.^[6]

Sandworms of Dune

In Sandworms of Dune (2007), mysterious saboteurs conduct crippling attacks on the no-ship's systems, and Teg suspects that Face Dancers had 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; they are unsuccessful, and the unborn ghola of Duke Leto Atreides is killed while still gestating in an axlotl tank. Later Teg is shocked to discover that the Thufir ghola he had been training is a Face Dancer substitute. The other Face Dancer is revealed to have replaced the Rabbi, who before he is killed manages to lead the Ithaca to the Unknown Enemy who have been stalking the ship for years.^[7]

Caught in the Enemy's tachyon net and critically damaged, the Ithaca is trapped. 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. In mere moments — a period of weeks for Teg's body, in his accelerated time — Teg succeeds in repairing the ship and launches countermeasures against the attacking thinking machines. To sustain himself through this ordeal, he consumes vast quantities of melange and carbohydrates from the ship's stores. Teg returns to the bridge with only the strength to notify Duncan of the changes. His effort having resulted in massive cellular exhaustion, Teg collapses dead. Duncan's final attempt to escape the net fails, and the ship is brought back to the machine world Synchrony. En route, Duncan and Sheeana release the husk that is left of Teg's body into space, vowing that the Bashar will never be captured by the Enemy. Later, after the machines are defeated, Duncan asks Scytale for a new ghola of Teg, whom he'll need at his side in his new position as ruler of both mankind and machines.^[7]

References