Tylwyth Waff
From Dune
This article or section refers to elements from both Original Dune and Expanded Dune.
Tylwyth Waff was a Tleilaxu Master or Mahai, and a Masheikh. Most significantly, he is the tacit leader of the Ruling Council during the return of the Honored Matres. As such he had significant control over the direction of the Bene Tleilax.
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[edit] Background
As with most Masheikhs, Waff had lived for thousands of years, thanks to successive ghola replacements. Waff had spent an unknown number of years guiding the Tleilaxu's secretive religious agenda for power.
[edit] Actions as Leader
After the return of the Honored Matres, Waff saw his own power and the wider Tleilaxu civilization threatened with destruction. He subsequently allied himself with the Bene Gesserit, thinking they were true believers of the Zensunni faith. However, his efforts were ultimately fruitless, and the Tleilaxu, including Waff, were almost entirely destroyed by the Honored Matres.
[edit] Awakening of the 8th Ghola
In Hunters of Dune, it is learned that eight gholas of Waff were kept in suspended animation in Bandalong on Tleilax by Hellica, a leader of a rebel faction of the Honored Matres. Prodded by Hellica and the Enhanced Face Dancer leader Khrone, a lesser Tleilaxu scribe Uxtal attempted to awaken the Waff gholas memories' pre-maturely. As the seven duplicates were subsequently killed, the eight ghola, had his memories partially awakened, but not enough to remember the ability of synthesizing melange.
[edit] Creating the Seaworms
Later, when the New Sisterhood attacked and conquered Bandalong, the ghola of Waff escaped with help of the Guild Navigator Edrik, whom he promised to help create a synthesized sandworm.
Waff was able through genetic manipulation to create a new sub-species of sandworm -- one that could exist and flourish in water. Testing these "seaworms", as they came to be known, Waff dumped undeveloped worms into the seas of Buzzell. Later, the worms in just a few short years begun to take over the eco-system of the planet. When the seaworm was harvested by Waff and his Guild assistants, one of the liver-like organs of the seaworms produced a concentrated form of melange, known as Ultraspice.
[edit] Death on Dune
Concurrently, Waff, having regained almost all of his former memories, developed a armor-enhanced version of the sandworms. He planned to and subsequently released the genetically-altered worms on Rakis. Waff hoped to bring The Prophet, the remnant of Leto Atreides II, back to his ancestral home on Dune.
Later, as the rest of the Known Universe experienced the Day of Kralizec, Waff released the worms into the Dune surface, and the worms bored through the heat-fused surface of the planet. After a short amount of time, however, the Waff-enhanced worms died, leaving Waff confused and forlorn.
Soon afterward to Waff's great happiness, deep rumblings came from deep within the Rakian surface. The original worms of Rakis, each containing the pearl of essence of the God Emperor, had pre-sensed the Honored Matres attack on Dune decades before, and had burrowed deep down into the planet's surface. Waff was overjoyed when found that the worms had survived! As Waff was to die of natural causes anyway, he decided to allow himself to be engulfed and eaten by the newly found sandworms, and gave his life to his Prophet.
