What is the Agony ritual in Dune: Prophecy? Explained

Dune: Prophecy, a six-part series, is based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune, published in 2012. The story serves as a prequel to the events in Dune (2021), the first of the two-part movie. Set 10,000 years before the time of Paul Atreides, the show gives fans more information about the Agony ritual.

Members of the Bene Gesserit undertake Agony, a painful ritual to access their genetic memory. This ritual helps those who have undergone it access their ancestors' experiences and wisdom. All Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit have gone through this ritual, drawing on the knowledge of their female ancestors. This inherited wisdom makes them formidable and knowledgeable.

However, completing the ritual isn't easy—the acolytes of the Bene Gesserit must be able to change the awareness spectrum narcotic at a molecular level and neutralize its toxic effects on their body before accessing every female ancestor's memories.

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How the Agony works in Dune: Prophecy

Acolytes of the Bene Gesserit undergo intense physical and emotional training to help them survive the fatal mind-altering poison. Changing this poison on a molecular level neutralizes its toxic effects. On Arrakis, the poison used during the Agony is called the Water of Life. It is derived from the exhalation of a drowning small sandworm in water.

The idea of accessing genetic memory stems from the belief that individuals inherit their ancestors' memories in their cells at birth. Their lives and knowledge get imprinted into one's cells during conception. However, in the Dune world, this genetic memory (also called Other Memory) can be accessed only by undergoing the Agony ritual.

In episode 2 of Dune: Prophecy, Lila goes through this gruesome ritual. Tula, who raised her like her own child, is initially reluctant as Lila's training is yet to be completed. However, Valya insists on proceeding since she wants to stop Tiran-Arafel, an impending reckoning by a tyrannical force that threatens the Sisterhood.

Valya believes that by contacting Raquella and accessing her ancestral line's Other Memory through Lila, she could avert the Tiran-Arafel.

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Lila's Agony Ritual

Lila's Agony ritual was shown in episode 2 of Dune: Prophecy (Image via YouTube/Max)

Watching Lila undergo the ritual depicts how challenging it is physically and mentally. In episode 2 of Dune: Prophecy, Tula coaxes Lila to follow the light when she appears lost in the spiritual realm of her entire ancestral line. During this journey, Lila discovers that Valya killed her grandmother, Dorotea, using The Voice.

Dorotea was Valya's rival and a Mother Superior hopeful. She channels Raquella, the first person to survive the Agony, who warns the Sisterhood about the key to the reckoning being:

"One born twice. Once in blood, once in spice. A revenant full of scars. A weapon born of war on a path too short."

While Raquella helps her descendant go to the light so that she may complete the ritual, a vengeful Dorotea possesses her granddaughter. As Dorotea, Lila says she intends to take the Bene Gesserit's hope. Viewers of Dune: Prophecy know that Lila was considered one of the star pupils and acolytes of the Sisterhood. With Dorotea taking Lila's life, she essentially kills the Sisterhood's "hope."

Eventually, Lila gets overwhelmed by the ritual and dies in episode 2.

Fans now wonder what consequences Lila's death will have on the Sisterhood and if they will get more information on the reckoning soon.

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Episode 3 of Dune: Prophecy airs on HBO and Max on December 1, 2024, at 9 pm ET.