A Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who rises to lead the Sisterhood during its greatest crisis. Odrade is witty, unorthodox, and possessed of an Atreides bloodline that gives her dangerous impulses toward compassion and individual action - qualities the Bene Gesserit normally breed out.

A Bene Gesserit Bashar - supreme military commander - and one of the greatest tactical minds in human history. Teg is old, honourable, and devastatingly effective, a man whose reputation alone is a strategic asset. His loyalty to the Sisterhood is tested when the stakes escalate beyond anything his training prepared him for.

The Great Honored Matre, supreme leader of the Honored Matres who have returned from the Scattering. She rules through violence and sexual enslavement, directing the campaign to destroy the Bene Gesserit. She is poisoned by her subordinate Logno.

A heavyset, aggressive Bene Gesserit Mentat and Reverend Mother who serves as an advisor and deliberate counterweight to Mother Superior Odrade. She opposes Odrade's more merciful instincts and advocates ruthless action against both the Honored Matres and internal dissent. She becomes co-leader of the Sisterhood under Murbella.

Duncan Idaho is a loyal Atreides swordmaster, one of the finest fighters in the Imperium and deeply devoted to Duke Leto and his family. Trained by the Ginaz Swordmasters, Duncan combines exceptional combat ability with a charismatic personality and genuine warmth. He serves as weapons instructor to Paul Atreides and acts as the Duke's ambassador to the Fremen.

A Bene Gesserit Imprinter assigned to sexually bond the Duncan Idaho ghola to the Sisterhood's purposes. Skilled in seduction and combat, she escapes from Gammu with Burzmali and later plays a critical role in Chapterhouse by sharing the Lampadas memory horde with Rebecca before being killed by the Honored Matres.

An Honored Matre - one of the violent sisterhood that returned from the Scattering - captured by the Bene Gesserit. Murbella's relationship with the Duncan Idaho ghola and her gradual conversion to Bene Gesserit ways becomes central to the Sisterhood's survival strategy.

A Tleilaxu Face Dancer - a shapeshifter capable of perfectly mimicking any human form. Scytale is an agent of the Bene Tleilax, involved in the conspiracy against Paul Muad'Dib, carrying both the threat of assassination and the temptation of resurrection.

A young Fremen girl from Rakis who can command the sandworms - the first person to demonstrate this ability since the age of Muad'Dib. Every faction in the galaxy wants to control Sheeana, but she proves far more capable of controlling her own destiny than anyone expects.

An elderly Bene Gesserit archivist and Reverend Mother who serves on the Council alongside Bellonda and Odrade. She specialises in Bene Gesserit history and records. She dies at Junction during the Honored Matre assault.

Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit during the events of Heretics of Dune. A brilliant political strategist who orchestrates the plan to use the Duncan Idaho ghola and Sheeana to control the sandworms of Rakis. She dies on Rakis during the Honored Matre attack, passing her memories to Darwi Odrade.

An Honored Matre at Junction who is first to address Murbella as Great Honored Matre; appointed first member of Murbella's new council.

A Bene Gesserit operative and skilled fighter who assists Lucilla's escape from Gammu. He navigates the dangerous underground networks of the planet to get Lucilla to safety.

Odrade's favoured driver, a transport specialist later turned cyborg after a near-fatal ornithopter crash. Pilots the smuggler lighter to Junction and destroys his ship on arrival.

One of two mysterious figures who appear in Duncan Idaho's recurring visions; revealed in the final chapter to be an independent Face Dancer who with Marty has accumulated enough personas to act autonomously.

A Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother stationed on Buzzell who brings crucial intelligence about the Futars and the Honored Matres' weaknesses back to Chapterhouse. She dies at Junction.

A Senior Dame of the Honored Matres on Junction who escorts Murbella to Great Honored Matre; killed by Murbella after she murders Odrade.

Orchard Mistress at Pondrille, a weathered Reverend Mother who voices the gardeners' complaints about the failing climate to Odrade.

The acolyte from Buzzell whom Dortujla trusted with her escape message; later elevated to Reverend Mother by Bellonda.

A senior Bene Gesserit Proctor who leads the dissident faction opposed to Odrade's plans. She ultimately joins Sheeana's escape aboard the no-ship, taking a group of like-minded sisters with her.