Date Posted:20:17:38 01/02/11 Sun Author:bijaz Subject: alia's role in children of dune In reply to:
IDAHO
's message, "I disagree" on 18:24:09 08/18/03 Mon
Alia was certainly closer to Paul than any other person besides Chani. (Though this might not be saying much.) In CoD, Alia fights a battle with herself (and with the Baron) as to what she should do about the preacher. She knows he is her brother, and thus can't bring herself to harming him until the very end of the book. This shows Alia admired her brother: why else would she execute anyone who said anything bad about him?
On another note, Alia can't be considered evil. As Duncan mentioned in CoD, the real Alia died when she became possessed by the Baron. Before this, she was completely devoted to her brother. Even afterwards, she chose to kill herself and the Baron when he was confronted by Leto II, even though the baron claimed to have a plan. If all the "true" Alia had wanted was power for herself, she would have followed this plan of the Baron's. In my opinion, this was the last stand of Alia, defeating the Harkonnens once and for all.
As for why Paul put Alia in charge: 1. there was no alternative. 2. He had prescient visions of how his son would take power, and of his need to become the Preacher.
Finally, Why on Earth does everyone seem to think Alia is Bene Gesserit? She was nothing of the sort. She was a wild Reverend Mother, not a BG one. She did receive BG training from Jessica, but so did Paul, and nobody says he was BG. Besides, the BG hated her beyond anything else in the universe, as she was the dreaded abomination.
