God Emperor of Dune是沙丘系列中最不受读者喜欢的一本。实在是艰涩难懂。第一次看的时候还是高中，根本无法理解为什么Frank Herbert会浪费一整本书去写Leto II。就算我跳过这本，Heretics of Dune和Chapterhouse Dune还是连贯清晰。而且Leo II在God Emperor of Dune里绝对不是一个讨喜的主角。
直到10年后的今天，我才能真正开始理解(start to grasp)Frank Herbert在沙丘系列里所要表达的各种主题。
Leto II是沙丘里最强大的英雄和最邪恶的反面人物。
Frank Herbert写沙丘的主要一个主题是"I had this idea that superheros were disastrous for humans. " （我有了一个关于'超人'对于人类来说是灾难的灵感。）而Leto II就是这个主题的中心。Leto II的父亲, Paul, 想唤醒人类，他失败了。因为在第一本书(Dune)中，Paul已经是英雄，无论他做什么，只能让别人更加崇拜他而已(Dune Messiah)。而Leto II想让人类入睡，压迫他们到极端，直到他们自己成熟觉醒。他决定让自己成为人类的最大敌人。
在Children of Dune里, Leto II和Paul的一段对话:
Tears slipped from the sightless eyes and Paul released his grip, dropped his hand to his side.
"If I'd chosen your way, I'd have become the bicouros of shaitan. What will you become?"
"For a time they'll call me the missionary of shaitan, too," Leto said.
"Then they'll begin to wonder and, finally, they'll understand. You didn't take your vision far enough, father. Your hands did good things and evil."
"But the evil was known after the event!"
"Which is the way of many great evils," Leto said. "You crossed over only into a part of my vision. Was your strength not enough?"
"You know I couldn't stay there. I could never do an evil act which was known before the act. I'm not Jacurutu." He clambered to his feet. "Do you think me one of those who laughs alone at night?"
"It is sad that you were never really Fremen," Leto said. "We Fremen know how to commission the arifa. Our judges can choose between evils. It's always been that way for us."
我想Paul永远无法按Leto的方法去做，那是因为他是成长之后才成为Kwisatz Haderach的。作为人，作为尤其是军人家族出生的公爵，他无法做到抛弃对他忠诚的人们。而Leto和Paul的妹妹Alia一样，是在出生前就被唤醒的。Leto实际上也从来没有成为过真正的“人”。 无论是应为他的'超人'能力还是他是在成人之前就开始改造自己的基因，准备用几千年的时间把自己改造成sand worm。
而在God Emperor of Dune写的Leto II，就是经过了3,500多年的孤独和痛苦之后God Emperor。3,500年，真是无法想象，想想我自己未来还要活35年所要经历的孤独和痛苦都几乎能让人失去生存的勇气。而Leto就那样sufer了3,500年完完全全地孤独。他能预见所有人类的一切一切。每天对他来说就好像是已经知道所有细节的电影，毫无惊喜可言。他在这漫长的日子里把自己一点一点地改造成sand worm，已经没有'脚'可以走路，没有手可以拥抱。他知道自己什么时候死亡，而身体死亡之后，他的意识会被分成无数"无意识"在所有的未来sand worm里，他永远无法得到真正的死亡。这样的经历绝对是无法造出讨喜的角色性格的。God Emperor of Dune里对他的一次刺杀行为居然对他来说是非常难得的一次惊喜以及纯粹的快乐。
沙丘系列的前三部是为了引出Leto II这个中心人物，后三部则是描写有了他之后的后果。无论是书内的人物还是读者，结论往往是End does not adjustify the Means。能真正理解他的只有他的双胞胎Sheena, 以及制造了他父亲的Bene Gesserit吧。所以唯一能在God Emperor of Dune稍微得到照顾的就是Bene Gesserit。Leto是悲剧势的英雄，但是他永远不会被承认，永远不会被原谅，而他也知道。
那么就以他的话来作为这篇文章的结尾吧。
"You cannot understand history unless you understand its flowings, its currents and the ways leaders move within such forces. A leader tries to perpetuate the conditions which demand his leadership. Thus, the leader requires the outsider. I caution you to examine my career with care. I am both leader and outsider. Do not make the mistake of assuming that I only created the Church which was the State. That was my function as leader and I had many historical models to use a pattern. For a clue to my role as outsider, look at the arts of my time. The arts are barbaric. The favorite poetry? The Epic. The popular dramatic ideal? Heroism. Dances? Wildly abandoned. From Moneo's viewpoint, he is correct in describing this as dangerous. It stimulates the imagination. It makes people feel the lack of that which I have taken from them. What did I take from them? The right to participate in history. "
-The Stolen Journals
然而我的疑问是如果这样迫使Human as a whole成熟是唯一的方法的话，那么应该是看着Human自然自我毁灭呢，还是这样的Evil是neccessary?
