Abomination
From Dune
This article or section refers to elements from Original Dune.
Abomination was a term used most commonly by the Bene Gesserit to describe individuals who could not control the ego-memories that had surfaced within them. These ego-memories usually surfaced after consumption of the Water of Life, or through direct genetic inheritance.
Abominations, along with those who possessed genetic memory, had access to vast knowledge. This, when combined with their psychological instability, those deemed Abomination were feared and considered very dangerous by the Sisterhood. Standing orders for Bene Gesserit that anyone believed to be Abomination were to be immediately killed.
The classic example of Abomination was Alia Atreides, who was a fetus when her mother the Lady Jessica converted the Water of Life and became a Reverend Mother. Being too young and weak to control the plethora of dynamic personalities that invaded her body via genetic memory, Alia was never able to adjust to her situation and eventually succumbed to the personality of her domineering maternal grandfather Vladimir Harkonnen.
Other individuals manifested similar qualities, and thus were temporarily considered Abomination by some in the Bene Gesserit order. Leto Atreides II and his twin sister Ghanima Atreides were examples of this. As the children of the Kwisatz Hadarach Paul Atreides, they possessed similarly formidable knowledge from their inception. However, because of the powers they inherited from their father, the pair were able to control the countless personalities that would have otherwise dominated them, even when they would play games together and temporarily allow the ego\memories of the Duke Leto Atreides and the Lady Jessica to surface and interact with each other.
