The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam's visit to Caladan at the beginning of Dune teases both the Kwisatz Haderach and the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme. Gaius Helen Mohiam is at Caladan out of an absolute sense of duty towards the Bene Gesserit, and not in the capacity of Emperor Shaddam's Truthsayer. She stands at the door of Lady Jessica and Duke Leto Atreides' son, the fifteen-year-old Paul. The Reverend Mother gazes intently at him, and says to Jessica:

And if he's really the Kwisatz Haderach... well...

Gaius Helen Mohiam administers the Bene Gesserit human test on Paul at the outset of Frank Herbert's Dune. As she explains that the purpose of the excruciating test is to sift humans from people, Paul demands to know why the Sisterhood tests for humans in the first place. Due to Paul's counter-questions, Gaius Helen Mohiam sheds light on the Bene Gesserit breeding program.

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Paul Atreides' Questions & Gaius Helen Mohiam's Answers

During their second exchange in Herbert's seminal classic Dune, Paul narrates his dreams to the Bene Gesserit superior. He says he knows the difference between dreams worth remembering and otherwise, and Gaius Helen Mohiam seems impressed. Shortly after, her actual purpose behind the visit comes through:

Young man, as a Proctor of the Bene Gesserit, I seek the Kwisatz Haderach, the male who can truly become one of us.

The Kwisatz Haderach, also called the Bene Gesserit Totality, refers to the goal of creating a male Bene Gesserit will have access to female and male ancestral memories and thus possess an extraordinary prescience. To spawn this superbeing, the Bene Gesserit breeds Sisters to men from key bloodlines. Simply put, their breeding program is a genetic solution to the question of Kwisatz Haderach.

As explained by Gaius Helen Mohiam in Dune, the Bene Gesserit keeps genetic lines in their records. She tells Paul that his mother, Lady Jessica, is either of Bene Gesserit descent or her stock was acceptable to their Order. The Order has been manipulating bloodlines for generations through their sisters, throgh whom they carry out the breeding scheme. Their plan would have come to fruition if Jessica's daughter had been wed and bred to a House Harkonnen heir.

The Order Bred Lady Jessica To Duke Leto Atreides

Jessica is placed at Caladan as the concubine of House Atreides' ruler, Duke Leto, to further the plans of the Sisterhood. But she defies their instructions to bear only daughters to Atreides, and wills herself to have a son. Jessica's exercise of her autonomy upsets and angers the authoritarian matriarchal organization that bred her to Leto in the first place. In Dune, Jessica's former teacher, Gaius Helen Mohiam, chastises her:

You've hopelessly complicated matters. We may lose both bloodlines now.

Essentially, Jessica threw a wrench into the works of the Bene Gesserit. They intended to wed Jessica's daughter by Leto into House Harkonnen, with an aim to produce the Kwisatz Haderach. Through this superbeing, the Bene Gesserit would wield direct control of the universe. Thus, the Reverend Mother snaps at Jessica. Before leaving Caladan, she tells her that the Sisterhood has other prospects:

You well know the pattern of our affairs, Jessica. The race knows its own mortality and fears stagnation of its heredity. It’s in the bloodstream — the urge to mingle genetic strains without plan.

The words "mortality" and "stagnation" raise critical questions about the future of humanity, in that, the Bene Gesserit are committed to preventing the devolution of humans. Aside from wanting to centralize power in their hands, the Bene Gesserit seek the freedom of humans, or as Gaius Helen Mohiam puts it at the beginning of Dune:

To set you [humans] free.

The Bene Gesserit school was started after the Butlerian Jihad to hone human talents and prevent humans from becoming slaves to machines again. In Gaius Helen Mohiam's words:

The original Bene Gesserit school was directed by those who saw the need of a thread of continuity in human affairs. They saw there could be no such continuity without separating human stock from animal stock — for breeding purposes.

The Sisterhood's Eugenics Program Vs. Lady Jessica's Agency

Gaius Helen Mohiam sees Lady Jessica as a mere cog in the Sisterhood's eugenics program. To her, Jessica is a Bene Gesserit handmaid, who had no right to exercise her reproductive autonomy and should have followed instructions. It is pertinent to mention that when it comes down to the individual level, a Bene Gesserit has enhanced control over both physiology and metabolism. A woman of the Bene Gesserit can choose when to get pregnant, and determine the sex of the offspring, among other things.

Jessica refused to be a broodmare to the Bene Gesserit, and followed her heart instead. And in doing so, she established herself as a fascinating character in Dune lore.

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