This event appeared to be a significant catalyst for the events that would befall the universe for the next several thousand years. It was when he was fifteen years of age that the Bene Gesserit sent a Reverend Mother to test Paul's prescience and his training in the Bene Gesserit ways. It seemed fairly certain from early in Paul's life that he would in fact be the Kwisatz Haderach, since he showed an ability to see into the future. However, because of her love for Duke Leto, the Lady Jessica disobeyed her fellow Bene Gesserit and gave birth to a son instead of a daughter, to give him an heir, Paul. This plan would have seen the end of the centuries-old feud between the Great Houses Atreides and House Harkonnen and placed a prescient, Bene Gesserit-controlled male on the Golden Lion Throne. This was to be the culmination of more than 10,000 years of careful breeding. The initial Bene Gesserit plan was to breed the daughter of Duke Leto Atreides to a Harkonnen male, which would produce the Kwisatz Haderach. He would be Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, Mentat, and Guild Navigator, all in one.

The Bene Gesserit desire access to this knowledge and associated powers, driving them to initiate a long-running breeding program to produce such a being. A Kwisatz Haderach would be a male Bene Gesserit who would have access to the memories of both his male and female ancestors as well as an ability to bridge space and time with prescient ability. The masculine side of their ancestry represented a place in their consciousness that repelled and terrorized them. The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam tells Paul when she first meets him that the spice melange allowed the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother to unlock genetic memory, but only that of their female ancestors.

I have lived a thousand years quizlet