The Bene Gesserit of Frank Herbert's Dune, published in August of 1965, are an ancient sororal organization that has explored the limits of human evolutionary potential with great success. Through arduous physical and mental discipline, they have attained levels of martial and psychic prowess that border on the supernatural. One of their abilities, the Voice, endows the listener with an irresistible compulsion to perform a task that has been described to them.
At a distance, their oratorical craft bears a striking similarity to the mind tricks employed by Jedi on the weak-minded, but the differences are important, many of which are rooted in the traditions and belief systems of the organizations themselves. Ultimately this asymmetry will influence which form of persuasion is more powerful.
Where Did the Dune Voice Power Come From?
The historical context of Dune takes place 20,000 years in Earth's future, wherein man has conquered the means of intergalactic travel, made possible by the Spacing Guild's technological monopoly, which is made possible due to their addiction to the spice melange. The spice, among other things, heightens mental acuity and enables the Guild's navigators to chart incomprehensible distances with infinite variables and perfect accuracy. This has created a galactic empire ruled by an Emperor and governed by regional feudal powers. The Bene Gesserit serve as advisors to these powers, or Great Houses, in a spiritual and diplomatic capacity.
Unknown to their powerful allies however, the Sisterhood is loyal only to themselves and the culmination of a breeding program funneled through tens of thousands of human generations. Ultimately, their goal is to produce a perfectly evolved male capable of being all places at once, possessing perfect knowledge of the past and visions of the future, with the mandate of shepherding the next era of humanity into a prophesied golden age.
What Does the Dune Voice Actually Do - and Are There Other Powers?
Like the Guild and a handful of other organizations or powerful individuals, the Sisterhood also uses the spice to similarly enhance their minds and the advancements they've made with their bodies are byproducts of those enhancements. A fully capable Bene Gesserit can instruct every cell of her body with micro specificity, up to and including determining the sex of a fetus that is growing within her womb, a vital component of their secret agenda.
It also allows for the Sisters to control pitch and "selected tone shadings" within their vocal register to trigger obedience receptors in others. Though there is a prerequisite of physical training that includes perfecting a meditative wakefulness wherein the mind rests in perfect calm awareness, it is a skill that can be learned by anyone.
Jessica Atreides, Paul's mother and a Bene Gesserit adept, commanded an enemy soldier to kill one of his brothers in arms in Denis Villeneuve's 2021 film adaptation, which differs significantly from the book. In the original source material, she used a combination of suggestive body positioning along with the Voice to convince them that they should fight one another, albeit with the same overall results.
Star Wars' Jedi Mind Trick Vs. Dune's Voice: Which One Is More Powerful?
Most often used to compel individuals in a very direct manner, it can also be applied in feathery notes amongst a crowd, to divert their passions toward a destination of the adept's liking. Paul Atreides, who had been trained since birth in the Bene Gesserit arts, used it in this manner to convince the Fremen to abandon some of their most hallowed traditions. In the novel the Arakeen natives believe leadership must pass from one to another via lethal combat, however Paul knew the value of his Sietch leader, Stilgar, and did not want to waste his talents and designed an oratory to convince his adopted people to allow his ascension through other means.
The Voice is not an artifact of morality like the Force abilities taught to the Jedi. Light side disciples could not use their abilities in the same efficiently brutal manner as the Bene Gesserit without risking a step down the slippery slope towards darkness. Motivated by integrating with the fabric of the universe, a deeper understanding of the self and acting as peacekeepers in a galaxy fraught with imbalance, the Jedi's core motivations lead them to a very different skillset and crafts a suggestive almost non invasive manner of persuasion than something as ferocious as the Voice of the Sisterhood.
Dark side devotees however could summon more dire compulsions. Canonically both Darth Maul and Starkiller have used versions of coercive mind control. The former used it to keep the Trade Federation leadership in line prior to the siege of Naboo and the latter could use his mastery of the Force to compel his enemies to fight one another. Though not technically a Jedi mind trick, these instances demonstrate what a Force compulsion is capable of when applied ruthlessly. In Legends lore powerful masters like Yarael Poof, remarkably skilled in Force persuasion and once a member of the Jedi High Council, was capable of creating elaborate illusions in the minds of his adversaries, something the Bene Gesserit don't seem capable of through Voice alone.
A connection to the Force is necessary to use any Jedi art, along with years and years of dedicated training. While both take inordinate amounts of discipline to master the Voice is available to anyone who undergoes that training and can afford spice. This may be a small number of individuals but potentially more than the amount of beings born with a mystical rapport with all living things otherwise known as Force sensitives.
Most persuasively is the evidence from the novel describing how the Voice could be used to sway crowds. A Jedi's mind trick only affects individuals one at a time for the most part, though when that individual is in a group they do not seem to notice the manipulations they also do not seem to be directly affected by them. When taken in concert the Bene Gesserit seem to have a more versatile and potent form of exhortation.