Daniel and Marty

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Daniel and Marty are fictional characters from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. They are observers with advanced technological powers. They appear in Frank Herbert's Chapterhouse Dune and Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Hunters of Dune.

Contents 1 Chapterhouse Dune 2 Hunters of Dune 3 Fan Theories 4 Notes

[edit] Chapterhouse Dune

In the final chapter of Chapterhouse Dune, a mysterious couple calling themselves Daniel and Marty observe the escape of the no-ship from Chapterhouse. They speak of themselves as if they are Face Dancers:

"They had a Tleilaxu Master, too," Marty said. "I saw him when they went under the net. I would have so liked to study another Master."
"Don't see why. Always whistling^[1] at us, always making it necessary to stomp them down. I don't like treating Masters that way and you know it! If it weren't for them . . ."
"They're not gods, Daniel."
"Neither are we."
"I still think you let them escape."
"What would you have said to the Master, anyway?" Daniel asked.
"I was going to joke when he asked who we were. They always ask that. I was going to say: 'What did you expect, God Himself with a flowing beard?' "
Daniel chuckled. "That would've been funny. They have such a hard time accepting that Face Dancers can be independent of them."
"I don't see why. It's a natural consequence. They gave us the power to absorb the memories and experiences of other people. Gather enough of those and . . ."
"It's personas we take, Marty."
"Whatever. The Masters should've known we would gather enough of them one day to make our own decisions about our own future."

They hint that they observe and are familiar with various groups in the universe, and allude to their desire to capture and study the passengers of the no-ship:

Marty called after him: "Gather up enough people and you get a big ball of knowledge, Daniel! ... And those Bene Gesserit in that ship! ... Ever notice how alienated they feel when we peek at them?"
"Not to mention Mentats," he said. "There were two of them on that ship — both gholas. You want to play with them?"
"You know what you let get away, Daniel?" she demanded, coming up beside him. "That Master had a nullentropy tube in his chest. Full of ghola cells, too!"
"I saw it."
"That's why you let them get away!"
"Didn't let them ... Gholas. He's welcome to them."

Earlier, Duncan Idaho had seen the observers in a vision, and came to his own conclusions:

Reassuring faces. That thought aroused Idaho's suspicions because now he recognized the familiarity. They looked somewhat like Face Dancers, even to the pug noses ... And if they were Face Dancers, they were not Scytale's Face Dancers. Those two people behind the shimmering net belonged to no one but themselves.

With the subsequent death of Frank Herbert, the identities, motives, and intentions of Daniel and Marty were left to speculation.

[edit] Hunters of Dune

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson wrote the first of two sequels, Hunters of Dune, from Frank Herbert's notes for his own seventh book, found over a decade after his death.

In Hunters, Daniel and Marty are in constant pursuit of the escaped no-ship Ithaca, which has managed to leave the Known Universe and thus elude them. Daniel and Marty believe that the long-foretold 'typhoon struggle at the end of the universe' Kralizec will soon be upon them, and their victory requires the Kwisatz Haderach. According to their calculations/predictions, the escaped no-ship is the key; they believe the Kwisatz Haderach is (or will be) aboard the Ithaca. Their Face Dancer minion Khrone is executing a parallel plan to create their own Kwisatz Haderach, using a Paul Atreides ghola that will be conditioned by a ghola of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

Daniel and Marty have the ability to create illusions, and to inflict pain on any human. ^[2]

At the end of Hunters, it is revealed that Daniel and Marty are not, in fact, Face Dancers: they are actually incarnations of the Thinking Machines Omnius (Daniel) and Erasmus (Marty). When Omnius sent out its last blast of information before being destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, the signal eventually connected with one of the probes disseminated from Giedi Prime several years earlier, uploading versions of Erasmus and Omnius.

[edit] Fan Theories

Before Hunters of Dune was published, there were many different theories as to what Daniel and Marty actually were Some include:

• The old couple could be Frank Herbert and Beverly his wife. This was a provocative suggestion when it is remembered that Idaho saw them and their "net" and managed to evade them by dumping the memory banks of the no-ship. In this interpretation, on the very cusp of Frank Herbert's death his own creations "escaped" even the controlling prescience of the author to carve out new lives in the imaginations of readers.
• They reveal the true insignificance of the Old Empire, by revealing two "godlike" powers who seem beyond human concerns.
• They were members of the 'unmovable piece' that Duncan had visions of, and that they were using a new application of Holtzmann's equations to trap people in no-ships, like Duncan and co. or the Bene Gesserit sisters dispatched.
• The enemy that drove the Honored Matres out were the face dancers, who have evolved into these 'godlike' figures.
• Brian Herbert mentioned in a past interview that in his new book Hunters of Dune the machine Evermind Omnius may return after having escaped the destruction of all the Synchronized Worlds in the Butlerian Jihad, so it is possible that this was the enemy that the Honored Matres were finally driven out by and what Leto Atreides II (the God Emperor) saw in his visions as the thing that would wipe out humanity. The new "super" Face Dancers may be one of Omnius' weapons against humanity. This turned out to be the closest theory to the true purpose of the couple.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Previously it is revealed that Face Dancers are controlled by Tleilaxu Masters through a secret whistle language.
2. ^ Hunters of Dune pg. 129-133