Honored Matres

Honored Matres
Plot element from the Dune franchise
First appearance	Heretics of Dune (1984)
Created by	Frank Herbert
Genre	Science fiction
In-story information
Type	Organization
Specific traits and abilities	Superior fighting and sexual domination skills

The Honored Matres are a fictional matriarchal organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. They are described as an aggressive cult obsessed with power, violence, and sexual domination. For this reason they are often described as "whores", especially by their enemies, the Bene Gesserit.

The Honored Matres are first introduced in Herbert's Heretics of Dune (1984) and play a continued role in his final Dune novel, Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). They also appear in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), novels by Herbert's son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson that conclude the original series. The sequels are based on Frank Herbert's notes for his planned seventh novel in the series.

After the death of the tyrant Leto II Atreides in God Emperor of Dune (1981), trillions of people of the Old Empire take to the stars in a diaspora known as the Scattering. Representatives from each major race and order of the Empire spread out beyond the known universe in fleets of no-ships, beginning the journey along Leto II's Golden Path to save mankind from destruction.

The Honored Matres develop during this Scattering; in Heretics of Dune, they return to the Old Empire, wreaking havoc and leaving destruction in their wake. Tleilaxu Master Waff notes that they are "Far more terrible than Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit." It is ultimately indicated in Chapterhouse Dune that they are fleeing a powerful, "unknown enemy" who had conquered their own massive empire out in the Scattering.

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