Dune: The Battle of Corrin
The final battle of the Butlerian Jihad against Omnius.
The third book in the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy, this 2004 novel concludes the Butlerian Jihad, a war fought by free humans against the sentient computer Omnius and its thinking machines. Set over 10,000 years before Frank Herbert's original Dune, the story unfolds in two parts: a biological war in 108 B.G. and the events leading to the Battle of Corrin in 88 B.G. It reached number nine on the New York Times bestseller list in its second week.
Quick Facts
- Authors
- Brian Herbert; Kevin J. Anderson
- Read by
- Scott Brick
- Cover artist
- Stephen Youll
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Series
- Legends of Dune
- Genre
- Science fiction
- Published
- 2004
Facts from the source article.
Plot summary
The machine evermind Omnius continues its campaign to eradicate humanity. Following a suggestion from the traitor Yorek Thurr, the captured Tlulaxa Rekur Van and the independent robot Erasmus design an RNA retrovirus. Omnius launches capsules containing the virus to infect human-inhabited planets. The virus has a 43% direct-mortality rate, crippling the League of Nobles.
Consumption of the spice melange bolsters immunity and stops progression in some infected individuals. Unaware that the virus has been halted, Omnius gathers its machine armies and launches a massive fleet toward the League capital Salusa Secundus. Vorian Atreides devises a plan for humans to launch pulse-atomic attacks on all undefended Synchronized Worlds using unreliable space-folding technology. The Great Purge destroys Omnius on all planets except Corrin, at an appalling cost in human lives; each planet is turned to slag, killing all captured humans and slaves.
The space-folding technology causes a 10% attrition rate per jump, resulting in billions of deaths. The cogitor Vidad warns Corrin-Omnius of the attack, and the machine fleet is recalled to defend Corrin. The Jihad is declared over, ending with an impasse between humans and thinking machines on Corrin.
Legacy
The novel follows the relationship between Vorian Atreides and Abulurd Butler. Abulurd learns from Vorian that Xavier Harkonnen was betrayed by Iblis Ginjo, not a traitor himself. Abulurd changes his last name back to Harkonnen, a reviled name in the League, which hinders his military career. Vorian promotes him to Segundo in the Army of the Jihad and later to Bashar in the Army of Humanity.
They vow to win the war and clear Xavier Harkonnen's name. During the Battle of Corrin, Erasmus places two million captive humans in cargo containers rigged to explode, called the Bridge of Hrethgir. Vorian believes sacrificing the captives is necessary, but Abulurd disagrees. Vorian relieves Abulurd of command and confines him.
Abulurd deactivates the fleet's weapons to save the captives, making the attack more difficult and causing higher casualties. Unknown to both, Erasmus had disabled the human shield programming, saving the humans in orbit. After the victory, Abulurd is discharged, branded a coward by Vorian, and banished to Lankeveil. When Abulurd dies of a fever, his sons claim Vorian brought the fever to destroy the Harkonnens. House Harkonnen's accusations against House Atreides are accepted as truth, beginning the feud between the two houses.
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