What's with all the false "uncles" in "Children of Dune"?

[machinor]

Re-reading "Children of Dune" it kind of seemed to me that FH got his genealogy mixed up.
Leto twice talks about his "uncle" Stilgar. While that could be explained with him talking out of his OM (although that seems still a bit strange), later Farad'n thinks about his "uncle" Shaddam IV who actually is his grandfather.

So what's up with all those false uncles? Maybe KJA should write a trilogy "Uncles of Dune" to solve that riddle!

[Freakzilla]

Re-reading "Children of Dune" it kind of seemed to me that FH got his genealogy mixed up.
Leto twice talks about his "uncle" Stilgar. While that could be explained with him talking out of his OM (although that seems still a bit strange), later Farad'n thinks about his "uncle" Shaddam IV who actually is his grandfather.

So what's up with all those false uncles? Maybe KJA should write a trilogy "Uncles of Dune" to solve that riddle!

Chani was Stilgar's niece. I don't remember the reference to Shaddam.

[ᴶᵛᵀᴬ]

I don't remember the reference to Shaddam.

chapter 44

... and all she [Ghanima] could think about was how much Farad'n resembled his uncle, the late Shaddam IV.

[Ghanima to Irulan]"I owe you a water debt. For that, I'll guard your life. But your cousin's forfeit [Farad'n]. Say no more of that."

[Freakzilla]

I don't remember the reference to Shaddam.

chapter 44

... and all she [Ghanima] could think about was how much Farad'n resembled his uncle, the late Shaddam IV.

[Ghanima to Irulan]"I owe you a water debt. For that, I'll guard your life. But your cousin's forfeit [Farad'n]. Say no more of that."

Yeah, that's weird. Should have been grandfather.

[georgiedenbro]

I've come up with a possible explanation, excluding for the moment the possibility that this is just another FH error. If Shaddam had a sibling, and that sibling had a son, and that son married one of Shaddam's daughters, the son of those two (Shaddam's daughter and Shaddam's nephew) would be Shaddam's grandchild and great-nephew at the same time. If that child was Farad'n, whose father was Shaddam's nephew, Shaddam would be his great-uncle in addition to being his grandfather by direct lineage through his mother (who is Shaddam's daughter). This scenario is the only possibility to make sense of it since we know that Shaddam only had daughters. Funny things can happen when a family tree becomes cross-pollinated with itself

[Omphalos]

Or they could actually be from the Dirty South.

"Hey, Ya'all, I'd like you to meet my sister and my wife." *Points to one woman*