Gom jabbar

Gom jabbar
Alia's gom jabbar from the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune
Plot element from the Dune franchise
First appearance	Dune (1965)
Created by	Frank Herbert
Genre	Science fiction
In-story information
Type	Weapon
Function	Used in the death-alternative test of human awareness
Specific traits & abilities	Needle tipped with meta-cyanide
Affiliation	Bene Gesserit House Atreides

The gom jabbar is a fictional weapon from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, appearing in his 1965 novel Dune and its adaptations. It is a poison needle tipped with "meta-cyanide" that is used by Bene Gesserit Proctors in their death-alternative test of human awareness.

In Dune, Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam uses a gom jabbar to test Paul Atreides just prior to his departure to Arrakis. This "humanity test" is carried out with a box that produces pain by "nerve induction", causing intense and severe pain without inflicting any physical damage. Only a human is considered to be able to possess the self-discipline to withstand this pain and resist the urge to take their hand out of the box. A person who withdraws their hand is stung with the gom jabbar, causing instant death.

“	Stop! I hold at your neck the gom jabbar ... the high-handed enemy. It's a needle with a drop of poison on its tip ... It kills only animals.	”
	— Mohiam to Paul, Dune (1965), Frank Herbert

Later in the novel, Paul's sister Alia uses a gom jabbar to kill the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Paul next uses the gom jabbar as a pointed analogy when he tells Mohiam, "I remember your gom jabbar, you remember mine. I can kill you with a word."