Gholas are technically blank replicas of the people from whom they were created. They begin without distinct memories, essentially as a rebooted version of the original individual. In Dune Messiah, however, that separation between one life and the next begins to collapse through Duncan Idaho’s ghola, Hayt.
When Hayt first encounters Paul, hearing the voice of his former master awakens a vague sense of recognition. He says the sound brings him pleasure and explains, “This is a sign, say the Bene Tleilax, that I have heard the voice … before.” Officially, Hayt has no memories of his previous life. Yet he believes his genetic makeup contains “niches” where familiar experiences can settle: “There are voices, places, foods, faces, sounds, actions — a sword in my hand, the controls of a ‘thopter…”
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Frank Herbert makes clear that these early echoes of Duncan’s personality are unreliable. He describes them as “a loose, concealing garment of personality which moved in a way different from whatever the Tleilaxu had hidden here.” A ghola can therefore be trained to imitate its predecessor, while genetic tendencies may produce familiar mannerisms and instincts. At least initially, Hayt appears to be shaped primarily by the Bene Tleilaxu who created him.
By the conclusion of Dune Messiah, Hayt’s subconscious conditioning to assassinate Paul Atreides begins to break down, clearing the way for him to reclaim Duncan Idaho’s memories. The fusion of those memories with a resurrected body effectively restores Duncan as the person he once was, complete with his experiences and identity, although in a repaired form. As the Dune saga continues, this restoration of memory becomes an increasingly familiar aspect of ghola existence.