Bene Gesserit

The Bene Gesserit () are a group in Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe. A powerful social, religious, and political force, the Bene Gesserit are described as an exclusive sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical and mental conditioning to obtain superhuman powers and abilities that seem magical to outsiders. The group seeks to acquire power and influence to direct humanity on an enlightened path, a concerted effort planned and executed over millennia. Members who have acquired the full range of Bene Gesserit abilities are called Reverend Mothers; some outsiders call them "witches" for their secretive nature and misunderstood powers. As the skills of a Bene Gesserit are as desirable as an alliance with the Sisterhood itself, they are able to charge a fee to teach women from Great Houses, and install some of their initiates as wives and concubines to their advantage. Loyal only to themselves and their collective goals, Bene Gesserit sometimes feign other loyalties to attain their goals and avoid outside interference. The Bene Gesserit are primary characters in all of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, as well as the prequels and sequels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. They also feature prominently in the multiple adaptations of the Dune series: the 1984 film Dune; the 2000 TV miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune; and its 2003 sequel, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune; as well as the 2021 feature film Dune, and its 2024 sequel, Dune: Part Two. A television series based on the Bene Gesserit, called Dune: Prophecy, debuted on November 17, 2024, on Max. Some of their fictional powers are analyzed and deconstructed from a real-world scientific perspective in the non-fiction book The Science of Dune (2008), written by physicist Kevin Grazier and other experts.