God Emperor of Dune

[Scotch78]

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I imagine that this is in reference to the Golden Path? I think I got that, too. Leto's death is necessary because he has supressed five galaxies full of people for four millinea, which gives them motivation to leave once he is dead. In later books, this is known as the great scattering. His death is a necessary part of it. Still, he can't kill himself and neither can any of his rivals. He must be killed by something he can't predict, and he must be betrayed. That way, people will continue to worship him after he is gone and society won't decay into complete chaos.....

So Leto is a Christ figure. OK.

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Leto can kill himself, and he can be killed by his enemies. He chooses not to kill himself, and he chooses to battle his enemies because his Golden Path will fail if he goes quietly into that gentle night. I made the sarcastic reply that I did for the reasons that Enrique touched on: basically, your interpretations are expicitly refuted in the book itself.

Scott

[Exsubmariner]

I would like to make an addendum to my post above.

As far as the whole destiny thing is concerned, the Golden Path, etc. I think it is all to some degree part of Leto's spin. He uses myth and prophecy to rule and manipulate. He may have clairvoyant powers and be so tolerant to spice through generations of breeding that he can actually meld with the sandtrout to become a worm, but, he is still human. He is a God to his followers, but he is still human. The bits where he talks of his sacrifice for humanity are all said to his followers. This is what he wants them to believe. I think he is bored, despite what he said, and that is his motivation for engineering his demise. But, since he is a God-emperor, he can't undermine his own credibility by seeking to openly do this. He must be the ultimate manipulator to succeed. Everything has to fit in with his mythology. It would be, come to think of it, quite a challenge to pull off.

[JPinAZ]

Kind of OT, but don't let the Dune books be the end of your Frank Herbert reading. All of his other books I've read have been good as well. I'd rank The Jesus Incident series up there with Dune.

[Enrique]

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As far as the whole destiny thing is concerned, the Golden Path, etc. I think it is all to some degree part of Leto's spin. He uses myth and prophecy to rule and manipulate.

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I disagree.
Leto talks about the Golden Path when he discusses the future of the world with Ghanima when they are seven years old. I really doubt that he used it as a manipulator. Besides, the Atreides family (Moneo and his predecessors) are not people that can be easily manipulated.
I think Leto did a sacrifice. He was bored, but it was part of the sacrifice.

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The bits where he talks of his sacrifice for humanity are all said to his followers. This is what he wants them to believe.

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I guess you can interpret as you say. And yes, he has to be convincing to his followers. But he also has to be convincing to his detractors. Note how Moneoo and Siona believe in the Golden Path even though they are rebels (I guess Moneo is not a rebel anymore). Siona decided to kill him, not because she doesn't believe in him, but because she can't get over Leto killing (indirectly) her companions (and I guess she knows she's now more important to the Golden Path).