This article is sponsored by

In the epic of Dune, the hero of the story might appear to be Paul Atreides, but the most powerful character in the original Frank Herbert novel is actually his mother, Lady Jessica. Although not formally married to Paul’s father Duke Leto, Jessica belongs to the order of the Bene Gesserit, a matriarchal group of telepathic pseudo-witches, who are pretty much Dune’s version of the Jedi. In the backstory of Dune, Jessica has angered her Bene Gesserit elders by disrupting their complex breeding program. Instead of having a daughter with Duke Leto — as instructed — Jessica had a son. (he Bene Gesserit can choose the gender of their babies.) In the first chapter of the original Dune, the Bene Gesserit are annoyed with Jessica for the existence of Paul, but it’s also a given that they’re just going to have to live with it.