Dune is a movie with giant sandworms, mysterious witches, and Timothee
Chalamet tripping balls in the desert. There’s spaceships and spice and Zendaya with blue
eyes, and almost none of it is explained. Even Dune’s characters have to watch YouTube videos to
understand the story. So what’s going on in Dune? The movie is based on a book that was written
by Frank Herbert in the 60s. There have been many attempts to adapt this book to movies
and TV and most of them.. aren’t very good. Dune has been called “unfilmable” because the book
is so.. weird and complicated. The writing is full of internal monologue and thoughts instead of
action and dialogue. The plot is layered with heaps of secret plans and hidden motivations. Its
worldbuilding is richly detailed with hundreds of words for its languages, cultures and religions.
Dune explores big ideas about consciousness, politics, and philosophy. And the Dune sequel
books get increasingly strange and cerebral. The new movie is a.. pretty close adaptation of
the first half of the first book. But it still leaves out a lot of important plotlines and
details. So how does the book compare to the movie – what’s the real story of Dune? This
video has spoilers for the 2021 Dune movie, and for the first half of the first book. It has
no big spoilers for the next Dune movie or for the sequel books, but it does mention some small
lore details and quotes from the sequel books. So Dune is set thousands of years in the future.
Humans live on many planets across the universe. And they’re ruled by the Emperor, Shaddam the
Fourth – we see the Emperor’s Herald in the movie, but we don’t see Shaddam himself. Beneath
the Emperor are the Great Houses, like House Atreides and House Harkonnen – powerful political
dynasties who rule planets with armies and wealth. The Houses meet in a congress called the
Landsraad, which balances against the power of the Emperor. The other big political power is
the Spacing Guild – cause the Guild controls all interstellar spaceflight. Guild navigators use
a drug called spice that lets them see into the future – which is the only way to guide spaceships
safely across the stars. In the movie, these big Guild spaceships, called Heighliners, look like
tunnels that you can pass through to instantly reach a distant planet – you can see another world
through this ship, it’s like a wormhole. The later Dune books describe this as folding space.
The Guild is “secretive” and mysterious – it’s hinted that Guild navigators have “mutated” and
“don’t look … human anymore”. So everyone kinda hates the Guild for being creepy extortionate
space weirdos, but everyone needs them to travel. So for thousands of years, the universe has
been ruled by this balance of the Emperor, Houses and Guild. They’re bound together
by a Great Convention, which has rules banning the use of nuclear weapons. But a cheeky
bit of assassination and warfare is allowed within limits. Politics in Dune is a deadly game. Every
noble family watches their back for assassins, and tests their food for poison. The
Houses rule their planets under a strict feudal class system – slavery, oppression, and
exploitation are common – this is an unfair, unequal universe. The Houses have shares in
the CHOAM Company, which controls trade in the universe. It’s kinda like the Dutch East
India Company, or Amazon in space. CHOAM means money, and all the Houses fight for a slice. In
this struggle, a tiny shift in interest rates can “change the ownership of an entire planet”.
Science and technology is limited in Dune. Like, there are giant spaceships and laser guns, but
there are strictly no computers, or robots, or AI. Cause thousands of years in the past,
people did rely on “thinking machines”, but then some people used those machines to take
over the world and enslave people, and it sucked. So then there was a religious crusade called the
Butlerian Jihad that destroyed all the computers and banned them forever. In the Orange Catholic
Bible it is written “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man’s mind”. The idea is
that thinking and making our own decisions is what makes us human. Letting machines think for us
makes us less free, less conscious – so that’s why the machines were destroyed. Ever since, humans
have had to learn to think for themselves. They founded schools to train the human mind and body
to its full potential. So now there are people called Mentats – “Human computers” who can think
super logically. They process data, calculate probabilities, and perceive peoples’ motives. The
Mentat Thufir Hawat works as a strategic advisor to House Atreides. In the books, Mentats take a
drug called sapho to make themselves smarter, and the drug stains their lips red. In the new movie,
Mentats just have tattoos on their lips instead. Like the Mentats, the Navigators of the
Spacing Guild have trained their brains to calculate the mathematics of spaceflight.
And the other important school is the Bene Gesserit, an ancient mystical order of
women with highly trained minds and bodies. Their practice is influenced by Zen Buddhism,
with meditation and contemplation to achieve inner balance. Bene Gesserit can precisely control
all their muscles and nerves, even their body’s biochemistry and their reproductive systems.
They have powerful memories and perception, they can read peoples’ feelings through their
words and body language. They can control people with their Voice, they can fight in the weirding
way, they’re basically.. ninja nuns. The Bene Gesserit are named after the Jesuits, a real-world
Catholic order. Like the Jesuits, the Bene Gesserit do missionary work in distant places. And
they have political ambitions. The Bene Gesserit work with the Emperor and Houses, and they say
they live to serve. But the Bene Gesserit have their own plans – for centuries, these witches
have manipulated the universe from the shadows. So Dune is about a galactic empire with
medieval politics. It’s a sci fi future that rejects technology, and instead focusses on
the power of the human mind. The author of Dune Frank Herbert was fascinated with thinking,
learning, and language. How we can expand our consciousness to better see the universe
– sometimes with the help of psychedelics. Characters in Dune are constantly getting high,
expanding their minds and arguing about philosophy like college undergrads. So Dune is basically
like Game of Thrones, in space, on drugs. And the most important drug is spice. Cause spice
not only makes spaceflight possible and can give visions of the future – spice also makes people
live longer, extending lifespans by decades. Many people are addicted to spice, and if they
stop taking it, they’ll die. It’s an addictive, psychic, mind-expanding, life-extending,
spaceship-flying drug, and it tastes like cinnamon, so naturally spice is the most valuable
substance in the universe. And spice only comes from one place – the desert planet Arrakis, also
called Dune. On Arrakis are giant sandworms whose life cycle makes spice. Humans harvest the spice
and sell it, so whoever controls Arrakis becomes rich. The conflicts for resources in
the deserts of Arrakis are comparable to conflicts for oil in the Middle East.
For the last eighty years, Arrakis was ruled by the brutal House Harkonnen, led by the Baron
Vladimir. The Harkonnens come from the planet Giedi Prime – “the oil-soaked, blood-soaked
hell hole of the Imperium”. The movie imagines this planet as being totally industrialised –
exploited and polluted until nature is gone, and smog blackens the skies. The Harkonnens exploit
their people, too – they have slave labourers, sex slaves, and gladiator slaves to kill for sport.
The Harkonnens use and consume everything to feed their endless appetites for power and pleasure
– the Harkonnens are a mouth that swallows all. The Baron Vladimir is a ruthless political
schemer, who constantly indulges his desires for food and sex. He’s too fat to support his
own weight, so he uses suspensor technology which lets him levitate. To rule Arrakis, the
Baron installed his nephew Rabban, who is called “the Beast” for his brutality. Rabban is not known
for his intelligence – the Baron thinks of Rabban as “A muscle-minded tank-brain”. The
Harkonnens are advised by Piter de Vries, a “Mentat-Assassin” who loves torture and poison.
Piter is addicted to spice, and this expensive habit forces him to stay loyal to the Baron. The
Baron uses peoples’ weaknesses to control them. In the movie, the Harkonnens have a freaky
human-spider-thing as a “pet”, which is not in the books, but according to interviews it’s
meant to be a messed-up science “experiment”, this was a human who was made into a monster. In
the books there is a faction called the Tleilexu, who do weird biology experiments, so maybe
they made this spider. Some fans theorise that this spider is Yueh’s captive wife Wanna, made
into a monster to torture her. But that’s just horrifying speculation and is not in the books.
Point is, the Harkonnens are dicks and the spice on Arrakis made them rich. But at the start of the
story, the Emperor orders the Harkonnens to leave, and he gives control of the planet to House
Atreides, led by Duke Leto. The Atreides have a reputation for honour and integrity. They
protect their people and inspire loyalty in return. The Atreides are descended from
Atreus and Agamemnon of ancient Greece. And they rule the planet Caladan – a world
of oceans and jungles, farming and fishing. The Atreides aren’t very rich, but Leto is popular
and influential among the houses of the Landsraad. And the Emperor hates that – he sees Leto’s
popularity as a threat. So when Shaddam gives them Arrakis, that seems like a good thing for
the Atreides. But really, Arrakis is a trap – the Emperor and the Harkonnens secretly plan to
destroy the Atreides – with an army of Sardaukar. Sardaukar are the Emperor’s elite soldiers.
Renowned for being brutal and merciless, they’re said to be the deadliest soldiers in the
universe. The Sardaukar come from Salusa Secundus, a prison planet for the worst criminals in
the universe. Salusa is a “hell world” where only the strongest survive – and it’s this harsh
environment that makes the Sardaukar so powerful. The Emperor doesn’t want the other houses
to know that he’s attacking the Atreides, so in the book, his Sardaukar are
disguised in Harkonnen uniforms. He and the Harkonnens want the
Atreides to “die in the dark”. The story begins with Paul Atreides – son of
the Duke Leto and Lady Jessica. Paul is just fifteen years old in the book, and as the heir to
House Atreides, there’s a lot of pressure on him. He has no friends his own age because of the
dangers of assassination. He’s highly trained in politics, and in combat, and in the book
he’s trained as a Mentat – to have a powerful logical mind like Thufir. Jessica trains Paul in
the way of the Bene Gesserit, to focus his mind and body, his perception and memory, and to
use the power of the Voice to control people. It might seem unrealistic to control someone
with your Voice. But author Frank Herbert said we do it “all the time” – like, it’s
easy to make someone angry with an insult, or happy with a compliment. And with
practice, you can control people in more subtle and powerful ways – like politicians
and advertisers do. You’ve just gotta know your audience, use the right words and
tone. Like and subscribe to Alt Shift X. So Paul is young, but he’s a politician and a
warrior with a powerful highly-trained mind. Leto visits the grave of his father, the Old
Duke. The Old Duke used to fight bulls for sport, as a matador. Until he was killed by a bull in the
ring. The Atreides family keep the head of this bull, with the Old Duke’s blood still preserved
on its horns. So the bull head represents facing danger, putting yourself at risk. Just like Leto
is putting himself in danger by coming to Arrakis. Leto knows that the Emperor and the Harkonnens
plan to attack him. But he takes the risk anyway, because he believes he can win. Leto plans to
use the “desert power” of Arrakis, by making an alliance with the Fremen, the local desert people.
In the book, Leto believes that the Fremen will be great soldiers specifically because they live in
the harsh environment of Arrakis – just like the Sardaukar are powerful because of the harshness
of Salusa Secundus. Author Frank Herbert was very interested in how environments affect people,
and how people affect their environment. So Leto bets everything on this plan to make
the Fremen his army to beat the Sardaukar. In the movie, Paul says he doesn’t want to exploit
or oppress the Fremen like the Harkonnens did. But in the book, the Atreides don’t care about the
Fremen like that – their goal is to exploit them. The Atreides may seem like heroic good guys,
like House Stark in space, but throughout the book they use immoral manipulative
strategies, and we’re invited to question their morality. In the movie, Chani
asks “who will our next oppressors be?” In the movie, Paul complains that he doesn’t get
to take risks and have adventures. He questions whether he even wants to be a duke and to lead the
Atreides. Leto is understanding, and says he loves Paul no matter what. It’s a touching moment
of unconditional love between father and son. But in the book, we don’t see this kind of
softness. The Atreides are more formal and distant and serious, book-Paul does not question his duty
to their house. The Atreides in the book are an ancient dynasty in a deadly planetary conflict,
and they are not fucking around. While the movie humanises the Atreides, and makes them feel more
like a normal relatable family, showing affection, having breakfast, practicing mind control.
The Atreides get a visit from Gaius Helen Mohiam. Gaius is a Reverend Mother, a
special high-ranking Bene Gesserit who has expanded her mind using drugs. Reverend Mothers
have access to the memories of their ancestors and of other Reverend Mothers. Gaius was Jessica’s
teacher back at the Bene Gesserit school. And now she’s the personal Truthsayer of the Emperor
– he uses her for her ability to detect lies. So Gaius is a powerful, important person
and she has complicated loyalties to the Emperor and to Jessica and to the Bene Gesserit.
Gaius gives Paul a test. Paul puts his hand in a box that causes terrible pain – but if he moves
his hand, Gaius will kill him with a needle called the gom jabbar. So this is a test of self-control.
Someone without self-control, like an animal, will instinctively move away from the pain and will
die. To survive, you have to withstand the pain, control your body and mind, master your fear and
your instincts. The Bene Gesserit believe that this ability to act consciously, and choose, to
think long-term not just in the moment, is what separates humans from animals. They give this test
to everyone they train, so that only responsible conscious humans gain the power of the Bene
Gesserit. Anyone who fails this test, they kill. Before the test, we see the Atreides
bull head – cause like the Old Duke with the bull, and Leto with Arrakis,
Paul faces deadly danger in this test. When Jessica was trained as a Bene Gesserit,
she took this test too. So she knows the pain Paul is feeling and is terrified he might die.
To calm herself, she recites the Litany Against Fear – “Fear is the mind-killer”, but the
fear will pass through me and I will remain. The Bene Gesserit train to calm their emotions
and focus their mind. And Jessica’s training helps Paul pass this test. Paul is “human”,
he has self-control, so he withstands the pain and lives. In the movie, he also has fiery
visions of the upcoming Harkonnen attack. Then we learn about the Bene Gesserits’
secret plan. For thousands of years, the Bene Gesserit have manipulated the genetic
lines of noble families like the Atreides. They breed certain people with other people,
often by marriage to Bene Gesserits like Jessica. Even the Emperor has a Bene Gesserit
wife controlling his reproduction. They select and combine certain genes, trying to
produce a superhuman called the Kwisatz Haderach. This chosen one will be able see into the
future and past better than any Bene Gesserit. Cause Reverend Mothers like Gaius can only
access the memories of their female ancestors. The Kwisatz Haderach will access all memories.
He’ll be a male Reverend Mother whose powerful mind will guide humanity. The name Kwisatz
Haderach is borrowed from a real Hebrew term meaning to “shorten the way” between two places.
So the Bene Gesserit want to create the Chosen One. But Jessica has messed with their
plan. Cause the Bene Gesserit wanted Jessica to have a daughter, not a son. That
daughter was gonna marry a Harkonnen, and their child would’ve been the Kwisatz Haderach.
But Jessica, with her Bene Gesserit body control, chose to have a son, Paul, instead, because Leto
wanted a son and Jessica wanted to make him happy. She chose her family over her duty to the
Bene Gesserit. Jessica hopes that Paul will be the Kwisatz Haderach instead, but Gaius is
doubtful – their ancient plan is now uncertain. So Paul might be the Chosen One, and he’s..
not happy about it. It feels weird and gross that he’s the product of the Bene Gesserit’s human
breeding program, their manipulative eugenic plan. In the book he feels an “offense” against his
“instinct for rightness”. He questions Gaius, thinks she’s a “fatuous old witch” full of
meaningless “platitudes”. In other sci fi stories, the hero’s magical mentors are good and wise
and pure like Obi-Wan and Gandalf the White. But Gaius is a creepy witch in a black robe who works
for the Emperor who’s trying to kill Paul’s dad. The Bene Gesserit are a shadowy political cult.
And their plan to artificially create the chosen one seems sinister and dark. In the book, Paul
feels that he is “infected” with a “terrible purpose” that he doesn’t understand. So what
is Paul’s destiny, and it really a good thing? Dune is about questioning the whole idea of
heroes, religions, politicians, predictions and plans. It’s about the danger of anything
that reduces our ability to think for ourselves. One of Paul’s teachers is Gurney Halleck.
Gurney is a legendary fighter, like one of the best in the universe. He’s also a musician
and a poet – a “minstrel-warrior” who plays an instrument called a baliset. They did film a
baliset scene for the movie, but it was cut. In the book, Gurney often sings, and quotes poetry
and wise scripture and dirty lyrics. His charming words and music help the Atreides win allies and
influence people. Gurney is described as an “ugly lump of a man”. He's got a big red scar across his
face – and a burning hatred for the Harkonnens. Cause in the book, Gurney was once a slave
of the Harkonnens. The Beast Rabban killed Gurney’s family, and gave him his scar –
so Gurney wants revenge. Gurney says in the movie that the Harkonnens are so brutal
that they’re “not human”. The Harkonnens are often described as animals or beasts ruled
by their impulses – which contrasts with the idea of humans with conscious self-control.
Paul and Gurney train at fighting using shields. Shields are force fields that can stop any
fast-moving object, but a slow blade can get through. Guns and explosives are useless
against shields, so that’s why soldiers in Dune fight with swords and knives instead.
The trick to shield fighting is to out-smart, out-manoeuvre, and distract your opponent
so you can kill with a sneaky slow attack. So like everything in Dune, even the sword fights
are smart and strategic, like a chess game. Paul says that he’s not in the mood for fighting,
but Gurney says you must always be ready, no matter how you feel. So just like
with the gom jabbar test, this is about self-control. To survive the deadly blade,
you must master your emotions, your body and mind. In the book, Gurney fights Paul so
aggressively that for a moment Paul thinks he might be really be trying to kill him. Gurney is
warning Paul to be ready for anything on Arrakis]. One of Paul’s other teachers is Duncan Idaho, who
is also a legendary fighter. He’s a “Swordmaster of the Ginaz”, a “military genius”, he’s super
hot, and is fiercely loyal to the Atreides. Duncan is a close friend to Paul, almost like
a big brother. In the movie, Paul tells Duncan about the dreams he’s been having of the future
– of this Fremen girl Chani, and of Duncan dying on Arrakis. These prescient visions are part of
Paul’s power as the potential Kwisatz Haderach. In the movie, Duncan tells Paul not to focus too
much on dreams – he says “everything important happens when we're awake”. Cause Dune is about the
power of thoughts and visions, but it also warns us not to get too sucked in to our own minds, our
assumptions and plans. “the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience”
– the deepest truths, and the joy and meaning in life, come from living in the present.
Before he leaves his homeworld, Paul walks a Caladan beach. Caladan is a planet
of water to contrast the harsh dry deserts of Arrakis. Caladan is beautiful, plentiful, a
“paradise”. But the book says that the comforts of Caladan made the Atreides go soft. Life
was too easy, they got undisciplined. Dune says that people need adversity and hard times
in order to grow and achieve our potential. And Arrakis is the ultimate challenge. It’s a
test, like the gom jabbar, like the bull. Now Paul goes “into the fire”. Will Arrakis forge him
stronger, like the Fremen? Or will Paul burn? The Atreides arrive on Arrakis,
and this guy blasts a bagpipe solo. When the people of Arrakis see Paul and
Jessica, they shout “Lisan al-Gaib”, which means “the Voice from the Outer World”.
Because there’s a prophecy on Arrakis that there will come a leader, the child of a Bene
Gesserit, who will lead Arrakis to freedom. Paul and Jessica seem to fit this prophecy.
But thing is, this prophecy is a lie – it was made up by the Bene Gesserit. The Bene Gesserit
have a whole system called the Missionaria Protectiva – for thousands of years, they have
spread specific religious ideas or “infectious superstitions” all over the universe. Particular
signs and sayings are planted in local cultures, so if a Bene Gesserit is ever on one of these
planets, they can use those signs and sayings to gain power over people – by fulfilling the
prophecies that they invented. Dune author Frank Herbert said this was inspired by missionaries
in the real world, who use religion to manipulate and exploit other cultures. So the people of
Arrakis hope that Paul and Jessica are the chosen ones who will free them. But really,
the Lisan al-Gaib prophecy is a cynical tool used by the Bene Gesserit to control people.
The Atreides move into their new home in the city of Arrakeen. And Jessica hires a Fremen
woman called Mapes to be a housekeeper. Not all the people of Arrakis are Fremen.
Like, the people of the cities and villages aren’t Fremen. The Fremen are their own specific
culture who live out in the desert – a “renegade” “will-o’-the-sand” people who live outside the
control of the Imperium. Fremen all have blue eyes because their environment is saturated with
spice – and spice is coloured blue in the books. Fremen have a reputation for being “fierce”
and “dangerous” – “They compose poems to their knives”. The Harkonnens and the Emperor
see the Fremen as “scum” and “barbarians” who “aren’t worth considering”. They think there
are only a few thousand Fremen living on the edge of the desert. But the Atreides
think there could be lots more Fremen, and that they could be more powerful than they
seem. So the Fremen are mystery at the start of the book, and we gradually learn more about them.
Mapes has the honorary title Shadout, which means “well-dipper” – cause water is super
important in the Fremen desert culture. And Mapes isn’t just here for a job interview. She
came to test Jessica, to see if she really fits the prophecy of the Lisan al-Gaib. So Mapes shows
Jessica a crysknife, a blade made from the tooth of a sandworm. And she asks Jessica what is the
meaning of the knife. Jessica says it’s a “maker”, and Mapes gets all excited, because the
Fremen call sandworms “makers”. So this shows that Jessica must know the secrets of Fremen
religion – she and Paul must be the Lisan al-Gaib. But thing is, in the book, Jessica is bullshitting
Mapes. Jessica doesn’t know the religious meaning of the crysknife. She was gonna say that the
knife is a “maker of death”, to mean it’s, just, a weapon, but Mapes interrupted Jessica
once she heard what she wanted to hear. Jessica then plays along and acts like she knows
this Fremen religious stuff, using signs and sayings from the Missionaria Protectiva, but
inside Jessica knows this is a “sham”. Jessica exploits Mapes’ religion to manipulate her and win
her loyalty. Dune is about the danger of religion, how it can warp our thinking and control us.
But this isn’t just about the Atreides using the Fremen. In the book, after Jessica leaves,
Mapes says to herself that Jessica is “the One”, “Poor thing”. Mapes pities Jessica, and knows
things about her future. It’s hinted that just as the Atreides use the Fremen, the Fremen
may be using the Atreides for their own goals. Paul is attacked by a hunter-seeker – a weapon of
assassination. It’s like a flying remote-control needle – a “ravening sliver of metal” that
can burrow into flesh to strike the heart. The hunter-seeker is controlled remotely by a
Harkonnen assassin. The camera on the seeker is bad, so it relies on motion to find its target.
So to survive, Paul has to stand perfectly still while the deadly needle points at his face. So
this is just like the gom jabbar test – Paul faces a deadly needle, and to survive he has
to stay still, mastering his fear and his body. Meanwhile, in the book, Jessica explores her new
home and she finds a mysterious door locked with a palm reader – which is a lock that only opens
to the shape of a particular person’s hand. So Jessica picks the lock by subtly
changing the shape of her own palm using her Bene Gesserit muscle control.
In other sci fi stories, characters might use hacking or magic or raw strength to break a
lock. But Dune is about the power of the mind, so that’s how Jessica opens the door.
Inside, Jessica finds a conservatory. A place full of lush plants and water on this
dry desert world. It’s beautiful, but it’s a terrible waste. This much water could sustain
a thousand lives on Arrakis, but instead it’s used for the pleasure of the rich and powerful.
In the movie, there’s a scene with these palm trees, which are also a waste of precious water.
The gardener says that the waste is okay because these trees are “sacred”. But in the book, these
trees aren’t sacred. The people of Arrakis look on the trees with “envy” and “hate” for the waste of
water. The trees represent inequality in the book. But the movie takes away that moral complication,
and instead emphasises the mystical connection between Arrakis’ people and its environment.
Anyway in the conservatory, Jessica finds a hidden message from another Bene Gesserit. A
message so secret it’s written on a leaf in braille. And it warns her that there’s a traitor
among the Atreides, working for the Harkonnens. In the book, Thufir also gets a message warning
of the traitor. This message was planted by the Harkonnens, and they deliberately trick Thufir
into thinking that Jessica is the traitor. The Harkonnens divide the Atreides, turn them against
each other, to distract from the real traitor, Doctor Yueh, who is working for the Harkonnens.
When Thufir tells Leto, Leto doesn’t believe that his beloved Jessica is plotting against him.
But he decides to pretend that he thinks Jessica is the traitor, to make the Harkonnens think they
tricked him, while he looks for the real traitor. So the plot quickly gets complicated in the
book. Dune is full of these “plans within plans” and “plots within plots”. The story is
a chess game where only the best minds survive. And there’s a sense from the start of the
book that Leto is doomed to fail. That he’s “a man snared by Destiny”, caught in an
inescapable trap. Leto has “death thoughts”, thinking about how he’ll die. And Paul is
shocked to see this vulnerability in his father. Paul sees that Leto makes mistakes, and he
realises that his dad won’t be around forever. Part of Paul growing up and becoming a man is
seeing the flaws and the mortality in his father. The Atreides takeover of Arrakis doesn’t go well.
The Harkonnens left behind broken equipment, so the Atreides can’t harvest much spice
yet. And they’re still expecting an attack from the Emperor’s Sardaukar and the
Harkonnens. Leto’s great hope is the Fremen. Leto sent Duncan to try to make an alliance with
the Fremen. Originally, the Dune movie started with a scene of Duncan landing on Arrakis. So
Duncan meets the Fremen, and he learns that Fremen live in caves called sietches. There are millions
of Fremen living deep in the desert, way more than the Harkonnens and Emperor realise. The Fremen
are also technologically advanced – manufacturing devices to help them survive in the desert. Duncan
also learns the Fremen are deadly in combat. So the Harkonnens and the Emperor are too arrogant
and prejudiced to see the potential of the Fremen. But the Atreides are open-minded and willing
to learn, which opens up new possibilities. So the Atreides meet Stilgar,
the leader of a Fremen sietch. The book emphasises Stilgar’s “aura of power”, and
his commanding voice – he’s an impressive figure. Unlike the arrogant Harkonnens, Leto shows
respect for Stilgar and his people. So Stilgar shows respect for Leto by spitting on the table –
because in Fremen desert culture, giving moisture from the body is a sign of respect. Fremen
culture is shaped by their dry desert environment. In the book, Duncan helped the Fremen fight some
Harkonnens. So Stilgar invites Duncan to join his Fremen while also serving Leto – representing an
alliance between Stilgar and the Atreides. Stilgar gives Duncan a crysknife, the sacred maker’s
blade, and it’s mentioned that the Harkonnens are offering a huge bounty to anyone who can
bring them a crysknife. Because anyone who has a crysknife and has spice-blue eyes would appear
to be a Fremen – they could infiltrate any sietch. And in the book, the Harkonnen Mentat-Assassin
Piter has blue eyes because of his spice addiction. So it seems that the Harkonnens want a
crysknife so that Piter can infiltrate the Fremen, so that he can kill the Atreides if the Atreides
hide with the Fremen. So this is another deadly subplot hidden within the story.
But the meeting with Stilgar goes well, so there’s hope for a larger alliance
between the Atreides and the Fremen. The Atreides meet Liet-Kynes. Kynes is an
ecologist, or planetologist, working for the Emperor to study the environment of Arrakis.
She’s also the Judge of the Change – meaning it’s her job to make sure everyone follows the
rules when the Harkonnens leave Arrakis and the Atreides take over. But secretly, the Emperor
has ordered Kynes to help betray the Atreides, and to let the Harkonnens attack them. But Kynes’
loyalties are even more complicated than that. In the book, Liet-Kynes is a man. Kynes’ father
was Pardot Kynes, the previous Imperial ecologist. And Liet-Kynes’s mother was a Fremen woman. So
Liet-Kynes was raised as a Fremen on Arrakis. Liet-Kynes married a Fremen, and they had a
child called Chani. Chani is Kynes’ daughter in the movie as well as in the book. So Kynes
works for the Emperor, but Kynes is really loyal to the Fremen. Kynes leads the Fremen under the
name Liet. In the book, “Liet” and “Kynes” seem to be two different people at first. The Atreides
think the mysterious Liet might be the name of a Fremen god. It’s only later that we find out that
Liet the Fremen leader and Kynes the planetologist are the same person. So there are two sides
to Kynes’ identity – Imperial, and Fremen. Outsider, and native. Scientist, and leader.
Kynes gives the Atreides stillsuits. Stillsuits are special outfits for the desert that cool the
body and stop it from losing moisture. All of your sweat, pee and poop, is captured by the suit
and reprocessed back into drinking water. Cause without a stillsuit, in the desert’s heat, you’ll
soon lose your moisture and die. The book goes into lots of detail on the different technologies
people use to adapt to Arrakis’ environment. Kynes shows the Atreides how to wear their
stillsuits properly – it’s a difficult, technical thing for someone who’s never used one before. But
Paul somehow already knows how to wear a stillsuit properly. And that shocks Kynes, because it fits
part of the prophecy of the Lisan al-Gaib – “He shall know your ways as though born to them”.
Paul’s personality and his words also fit the prophecy. In the book, Kynes thinks of himself
as a rational sceptical scientist who doesn’t believe in superstitions. But Paul does fit the
prophecy. So it seems like there might be some truth in the prophecy of the Lisan al-Gaib mixed
in with the Bene Gesserit’s lies and manipulation. The Atreides fly out to the desert to learn
about spice harvesting. These flying machines are called ornithopters, which is a real
word for flying machines with flapping wings. The book describes ’thopters as looking
like birds with feathered wings. Harvester machines extract spice from
the sand using centrifuges. In the book, they look like giant beetles with snouts and
leglike tracks. The movie uses a simple industrial look for its technology, but the books have a
more fantastical and colourful 60s scifi vibe. The vibrations from spice harvesting always
attract sandworms. So when a worm comes, harvesters are flown to safety by a carry-all.
But this time, the carry-all breaks. In the book, it doesn’t turn up at all because of Harkonnen
sabotage. So Duke Leto heroically risks his life to save the workers from the sandworm. This shows
that Leto genuinely cares about protecting people. Human life matters more to him than money, and
that’s what makes him different to the Harkonnens. But Leto isn’t totally selfless – he is a
politician. So in the book, he and Gurney give the workers a bonus payment, and he says it’s
for “public relations”, to make people like Leto. Kynes points out that Leto floods Arrakis with
propaganda, telling people to “Love the good Duke”. And Leto admits that his propaganda
is a big part of why his men are so loyal. His image as a heroic leader is partly an act, a
“mask” for political advantage. So the Atreides do show some real heroism, but that image is partly
a cynical tool that they use to control people. In the book, the Atreides host a dinner party
with important people on Arrakis – businessmen, politicians, smugglers – it gives the sense of
a larger world on Arrakis – this is a planet, with lots of different players with
their own plans and motivations. When the Harkonnens were in charge here, they had
a custom where they’d deliberately waste water, dumping it onto towels on the ground, then
allowing poor people to beg for drops of moisture. It was cruel, and demeaning. So Leto stops
this custom and gives beggars water instead. And Jessica declares that the conservatory,
that wastes so much water, will now be held in trust for all the people of Arrakis. So again,
the Atreides do good for people, with gestures of respect and generosity. Leto says he’s gonna
change things on Arrakis. Butdoes he really make any meaningful changes? Like sure, he gives
water to a few beggars, but he does nothing change this fundamentally unfair feudal political
system. Right after banning the water custom, Leto just does a different water-wasting ritual
instead. So maybe these gestures are just more propaganda to make the Atreides look good.
Dune is critical of politicians who appear liberal and progressive, but are really just
aristocrats protecting their own power. Author Frank Herbert said the Atreides are “admirable”,
but they act “with the same arrogance toward "common folk" as do their enemies”.
While the Atreides act honest and honourable in public, they do some sneaky
bullshit on the downlow. Like, the Atreides forge signatures to take property and evict the
families of people who worked for the Harkonnens. The Atreides use Thufir, who is a “Master of
Assassins” whose ruthless methods bring “death and deceit” wherever he goes. And Leto’s whole
plan here is to “exploit” the Fremen as his army and exploit the land for spice. Leto says that
he makes moral compromises for political gain. He says the honourable Atreides banner
“could come to mean many evil things”. So the Atreides are more moral than the
brutal Harkonnens. But their power is still fundamentally based on coercion and force.
Like, this dinner party is fancy and glamourous, but it’s also very tense – people are nervous
about getting poisoned – so inside a chandelier, there’s a hidden snooper device to detect
poison. The Atreides use secret hand signals to ready their soldiers during dinner.
This shows the fakeness of political power. Behind the formality and glamour there
is always the deadly threat of violence. Some of the most powerful people at the party
are the those who control water on Arrakis. Cause everyone needs water to live, and on this planet
there’s barely any of it. Paul has to explain to someone what drowning is, and what boats are –
cause there’s isn’t enough water on Arrakis for anyone to ever drown or use a boat. So alongside
spice, water is a precious resource here. Author Frank Herbert said the value of water on Arrakis
is equivalent to oil. And the way this natural resource shapes politics and culture shows
the overarching, constant importance of the environment. No one is completely separated from
natural forces like water scarcity. Not the poor begging for drops of moisture, nor the politicians
who compete to control it. One of the most important characters in Dune is the planet itself.
So everyone eats, and makes small talk, and secretly plots to destroy each other.
Jessica realises a Spacing Guild guy is working with the Harkonnens. We learn that the
Harkonnens are smuggling lasguns to Arrakis. Women try to seduce Paul. A water-seller bickers
with Kynes. We get a sense of mysterious power from Kynes, connected to Kynes’ relationship with
the Fremen. The Atreides talk about changing the environment of Arrakis to give it more water and
plants, and Kynes acts weird and secretive about whether this is possible. And this whole time
Leto is pretending to think Jessica is a traitor, and he’s super stressed about it. So at
this party, the plots thicken, the tension rises, there’s a growing sense of danger to the
Atreides. All night, the bull head looms above, with Atreides blood on its horns.
Later, in the book, Duncan gets drunk. He’s stressed, and homesick on this
dangerous alien world. So he gets wasted, and complains, and he reveals to Jessica that
Thufir thinks she’s a traitor. So Jessica finally understands why Leto has been acting weird and
distant with her, pretending to suspect her. So Jessica confronts Thufir. She says she’s not a
traitor, and she criticises Thufir’s Mentat logic, saying he is good at analysing the world around
him, but he fails to analyse his own thoughts and feelings – she says he’s biased against her for
being a Bene Gesserit, and that he’s jealous of her closeness with Leto. She brags about her
power and uses her Voice on him – and Thufir is shocked to witness the true hidden power
of the Bene Gesserit. Thufir gets angry too, and considers killing Jessica. This in-fighting
is exactly what the Harkonnens want, and Jessica realises that. But they fail to work together
because of their emotions and their differences. Jessica and Thufir are a Bene Gesserit and
a Mentat – both highly trained intelligent superhumans. But no matter how smart you are,
everyone has human weaknesses – pride, jealousy, anger, fear, biases. Their emotions
overwhelm their rational minds. And so Jessica and Thufir fail to find the real
traitor, and fail to save their family. Leto finds out about this fight between Jessica
and Thufir. And he feels bad about acting suspicious of the woman he loves. He regrets
that he never married Jessica. Cause technically, Jessica is Leto’s concubine, not his wife. Leto
stays unmarried because it’s politically useful to seem like he’s available for a marriage alliance.
But really he loves Jessica, and wouldn’t marry anyone else. Leto goes to tell Jessica the truth
and to apologise about pretending to suspect her – but tragically, before he can tell her,
Leto is attacked by the real traitor – Yueh. So Yueh is the doctor for the Atreides family. And
in the book, the Atreides think it’s impossible for him to be a traitor – because Yueh is a
Suk School doctor, with Imperial Conditioning. Imperial Conditioning is a kind of mental
training that supposedly makes it impossible for a Suk doctor to kill or betray their masters.
This diamond tattoo on Yueh’s forehead is the mark of a Suk doctor. But the Harkonnens broke
Yueh’s conditioning – they captured Yueh’s wife, Wanna, and they tortured her, to blackmail Yueh
into obeying them. So Yueh betrays the Atreides, but he does it to protect his wife. Yueh doesn’t
want to hurt the Atreides – he loves them. So throughout the book, Yueh feels conflicted,
guilty, and stressed keeping his secret. Yueh thinks that after betraying Leto, he’ll
be remembered by history as a terrible villain. And he’s right. Each chapter of the Dune
book starts with a quote or excerpt from an in-universe history book written years after the
events of the story. They give us glimpses of how future historians think about these characters.
And in these books, Yueh is remembered as “a name black in treachery”. “A Child’s History” says
“A million deaths were not enough for Yueh!”. So this shows how history doesn’t capture the
full story of peoples’ lives. Yueh is a traitor, but he’s not some one-dimensional
villain – he’s a complex layered character with his own feelings and perspective.
Earlier in the book, Yueh gives Paul an Orange Catholic Bible. He thinks he gives Paul the
gift of religion before he betrays Paul – so, Yueh thinks, Paul will now go where Yueh cannot
go – meaning that Paul will go to heaven, but Yueh thinks himself damned to hell.
Yueh talks with Jessica, which is very dangerous for Yueh. Because as a Bene Gesserit,
Jessica can read peoples’ feelings and detect lies. So Yueh has to carefully control his words
and emotions to hide that he’s a traitor. He masks his secret by expressing his real grief
for his wife Wanna. Jessica opens up too, and they really connect emotionally. So much that
Yueh almost decides to tell Jessica the truth that he’s working for the Harkonnens. Jessica sees
that Yueh is hiding something from her, but she decides not to investigate because Yueh is such
a good friend and she feels she should trust him. So this tragic, heartfelt scene makes us
feel sorry for Yueh before his betrayal. Yueh kills Mapes. He hits Leto with a paralysing
dart. He gives Paul and Jessica sleeping drugs so they can be captured. And Yueh turns off the
Atreides house shields, so the Harkonnens and Sardaukar can attack. But Yueh also betrays
the Harkonnens. He installs a fake tooth into Leto’s mouth – a weapon filled with poison
gas. He tells Leto to use it to kill the Baron, to get revenge for the torture of Wanna.
So the Harkonnens and Sardaukar attack. And the Atreides are shocked by how many soldiers
arrive. The Baron paid the Spacing Guild a huge amount of money for troop transport. Like,
sixty years worth of Arrakis’ entire income. The Baron has been planning this for a long time,
and he takes no chances to crush the Atreides. In the movie, the Harkonnens use these “slow
bombs” which decelerate so they can penetrate shields. While in the book, the Harkonnens use
old-fashioned explosive artillery against Atreides men hiding in caves – it’s a surprise secret
weapon to use such ancient technology. They kill or scatter all Atreides on the planet,
and stamp out resistance by “cutting up the desert” with lasguns. The Harkonnens want
“total extermination” of the Atreides. In the book, there’s a scene where the Baron and
Piter have Jessica captive. The Baron had promised to give Jessica to Piter as his prisoner or slave
– which is terrifying, because Piter is a sadistic torturer and killer. Piter is “a twisted Mentat”
– the Baron and the Tleilaxu have corrupted him, made him “an animal” with violent selfish desires,
which makes Piter a less rational, less effective thinker. Like, the Baron convinces Piter not to
take Jessica, and instead promises him control of Arrakis – and Jessica sees that the Baron is
lying and manipulating Piter, but with his twisted Mentat mind, Piter doesn’t see this. And the
Baron fails to see how dangerous Piter is to him. So the Baron and Piter are both smart, dangerous
people, and this is their moment of victory. But Jessica sees that they’re kind of incompetent.
The Harkonnens’ minds are clouded and distracted by their emotions and arrogance and greed.
They’re not focussed and disciplined like Jessica and Paul with their powerful human minds.
The Baron wants Duke Leto and all his family dead. The Emperor and the Bene Gesserit are okay with
Leto dying. But they don’t want Jessica and Paul killed as well. Cause Jessica and Paul are
important to the Bene Gesserit breeding plan and under the rules of warfare in Dune, murdering
entire noble families is.. generally frowned upon. So the Baron can’t kill Jessica and Paul directly
– cause the Truthsayer Gaius could interrogate him and learn the truth. So instead, the Baron tries
to kill Jessica and Paul indirectly – he suggests that Piter may choose to dump Jessica and Paul in
the desert, so the desert will kill them – so then the Baron can they say truthfully that he didn’t
kill Jessica and Paul. The Baron twists the truth with word trickery. Dune explores how words and
language can be deceptive, and can limit our thinking. So some of the most talkative characters
in Dune are the bad guys. Like, in the new movie, the Baron doesn’t say much. But in the book, the
Baron never shuts up, he’s constantly indulging in theatrical, self-aggrandizing speeches.
While the heroic Atreides are men of few words. In Dune, the deepest truths are not expressed
with words, but must be experienced first-hand. So Paul and Jessica are sent to the desert to die.
One of the guards is deaf, and Jessica is gagged, so she can’t use her Voice power to control the
men. Paul is not as good at the Voice as Jessica is, but he manages to command the men to ungag
Jessica, so she can use her Voice to control and kill them. In the movie, Paul does some
cute footwork to trip a guy, while in the book he kicks the dude so hard his heart stops. We
see Yueh’s diamond symbol here on the thopter. Because Yueh has pulled some strings to help
Paul and Jessica escape. He hides a Fremen desert survival kit in the thopter. And he arranges
for Duncan to find them in the desert. So Yueh is forced to betray the Atreides, but he also does
everything he can to help save Paul and Jessica. Yueh faces the Baron. The deal was that Yueh
would help the Baron defeat the Atreides, then the Baron would free Yueh’s wife Wanna,
let him join her. But the Baron just kills Yueh, so he and Wanna can “join” each other in
death – again the Baron twists the truth with word trickery. So in the movie, it seems like Yueh
just failed, the Baron beat him – but in the book, it’s different. Cause Yueh never really believed
that the Baron would give his wife back. He thought she was probably already dead. But
he needed to know for certain that Wanna is free from her suffering. Wanna was a Bene Gesserit,
and she taught Yueh some truthsense skills. So by facing the Baron in person, and
reading his face, Yueh learns that yes, Wanna is definitely dead, she’s free from
Harkonnen torture, and with that knowledge, Yueh can die satisfied. Yueh also succeeds in
helping Paul and Jessica escape. And gives Leto the poison tooth to attack the Baron. Yueh thinks
that Leto was gonna die anyway, with the Emperor and Harkonnens against him, so at least Yueh gives
Leto a chance to bring the Baron down with him. So Yueh feels that he succeeded – he outsmarted
the Baron and helped the Atreides – so with his final breath, he is defiant and triumphant.
History remembers Yueh as an evil villain, but in a way his death is a heroic self-sacrifice
– dying for his Wanna, and for the Atreides. The Baron faces Leto helpless before him. He’s
wanted this for a long time. House Harkonnen and House Atreides have hated each other for ten
thousand years – ever since an Atreides banished a Harkonnen for cowardice after a battle.
Now the Baron can finally destroy his ancient enemies. But in the book, the Baron’s victory
feels sour. He’s disturbed by Yueh’s defiance. And he finds out that Paul and Jessica have
escaped. He feels frustrated and uncertain, so he seeks comfort in food. Dune is about the
importance of self-control, mastering your mind and body. So the villain, the Baron, is someone
who’s totally controlled by his body’s desires. The Baron constantly eats, he is “always
hungry and thirsty”. He has evil sexual desires – in the book, the Baron drugs and
rapes slave boys. The Baron is so ruled by his urges he can’t even control the movements
of his body – the Baron’s hands are constantly touching and fiddling compulsively. The Baron is
a beast full of hunger and lust, he’s the opposite of the Bene Gesserit ideal of human self-control.
But while the Baron can’t control himself, he does control others. He treats people like objects
to be used and exploited. He uses Yueh, he uses Rabban. He plans to kill Piter when he ‘outlives
his usefulness’. He thinks of the people of Arrakis as “slaves”, no more than a “labor pool”.
He thinks of his men and of his enemies as “bees” and “rabbits”, or as sheep and chickens, and of
himself as a “carnivore”. The Baron reduces people to animals and objects, he dehumanises everyone
around him – and that’s what makes him the ultimate evil in a story about the human spirit.
In Leto’s last moments, he remembers happy days with his family on Caladan. His last
thought is “The day the flesh shapes and the flesh the day shapes”, which suggests that our
experiences and environment make us who we are, and that we make our experiences and
our environment in return. Leto feels interconnected with the universe when he dies –
there is a legend that in the instant he died, a meteor streaked through the sky on Caladan.
Leto uses his poison tooth to try to kill the Baron. The gas kills Piter, but the Baron
survives cause he has his shield on. In the movie, he’s still hurt by the gas, so he needs to have
a medical black goo bath at a day spa to recover. The black goo isn’t in the book. But it is in
the old David Lynch Dune movie, so maybe it’s a reference to that. Or it could be a reference to
this shot in Apocalypse Now. Or maybe a reference to this bit in It’s Always Sunny, who knows.
Paul and Jessica take shelter in a stilltent. And Paul’s consciousness expands. The effects
of the spice, of his training, the shock of his father’s death, it all comes together to unlock
a powerful new awareness. His mind now perceives every detail of the world around him – he
processes and computes vast data – like a Mentat, but more. Paul has visions of the future not just
in dreams, but in waking awareness – the veil is “ripped away to reveal naked time”. He doesn’t see
just one certain future, he sees many different possibilities – branching paths ever changing
and undulating like ocean waves. He doesn’t see everything, much of the future is hidden to
him. But Paul sees many things, like that Jessica is pregnant, and that her daughter will be “St.
Alia of the Knife”. Paul and Jessica will stay on Arrakis and their eyes will turn blue from
exposure to spice. Jessica thinks Paul must be the Kwisatz Haderach of the Bene Gesserit plan.
But Paul says he’s something else, “something unexpected”, “a seed” – and he again feels his
sense of “terrible purpose”. Paul sees a future of religious war – of fanatical legions spreading
violence across the universe in the Atreides name, with him as their messianic leader. The book calls
this war a “jihad” or “crusade”, and connects it to a primordial human need to spread our genes
across the universe – to evolve and diversify the species through chaos and upheaval. It's “war as
a collective orgasm”. Paul wants to prevent this terrible violent future. And in the book, he’s
horrified by how own mind has changed. All this knowledge and cold logic separates Paul from
his emotions. His father is dead, and he wants to grieve, but he feels nothing. His transcendence
takes away some of his humanity. Paul feels he’s “a monster” and “A freak”, and he blames Jessica,
cause Jessica’s training is part of what caused this change in him. Jessica suddenly feels afraid
of this powerful mind that she helped create. In the book, Paul considers joining the Spacing
Guild, cause they would appreciate his powerful prescient mind. But he decides not to, because
those guys are weird and gross. Instead, he says he and Jessica will join the Fremen, and they will
call him “Muad’Dib”, “The One Who Points the Way”. Muad’Dib is the name of this kangaroo-mouse which
Paul sees in the movie a couple times. The mouse is well adapted to survive in the deserts of
Arrakis. And the mouse has special meaning in Fremen mythology because one of Arrakis’ two moons
has markings that look like the Muad’Dib mouse. So Paul emerges from the womb of the tent reborn.
He has transformed and expanded his mind. And he is no longer a child but as a man, the new Duke
Atreides. Now, at last, Paul can mourn his father. Paul and Jessica meet up with Duncan, and
they take refuge with Kynes. The Emperor ordered Kynes to help destroy the Atreides, so
Kynes is taking a huge risk by protecting them. But Kynes saw Leto’s heroism and leadership.
Kynes saw that Paul fits the Fremen prophecies. And Kynes saw that the Atreides are
interested in changing Arrakis’ environment. Kynes takes the Atreides to an old ecological
station – a science lab to study the environment of Arrakis. The book explains that Kynes’ father,
Pardot, taught the Fremen about ecology – the systems of life, climate, water, animals. Pardot
and the Fremen made a plan to transform the environment of Arrakis, to make it a green planet
full of water and plants. After Pardot died, Liet-Kynes and the Fremen have continued to change
Arrakis – they’ve been planting vegetation in the desert, feeding it moisture harvested from the
wind, starting oases of life and water, to reshape the desert. And they’re doing this secretly. The
Fremen have been bribing the Spacing Guild with spice to hide Fremen activity from satellites.
Paul tells Kynes he could help transform Arrakis – if Paul becomes Emperor of the universe.
With his new consciousness and confidence, Paul plans a play for the throne. If Paul can prove
to other Houses of the Landsraad that the Emperor attacked the Atreides, everyone would turn
against the Emperor. That’s the whole point of the Landsraad – it limits the Emperor’s power,
to protect the Houses. So Paul plans to blackmail the Emperor, and marry one of the Emperor’s
daughters, to take the throne himself. Then Paul could help Kynes change Arrakis.
So Paul shows confidence and authority. But in the book, he also shows humility and loyalty to Kynes
– he says he’d give his life for Kynes – showing that Atreides heroism that makes them compelling
leaders. And so Kynes becomes loyal to Paul. Then the Sardaukar attack, coming to capture or
kill the Atreides. In the movie, the Sardaukar cut through a door with a lasgun. Lasguns are powerful
laser weapons, but they’re also super dangerous. Cause if a laser beam touches a shield, the
shield and the lasgun explode. Like, a huge nuclear explosion, which kills the lasgun user
as well as their target. Earlier in the book, Duncan leaves a shield as a trap to blow up
a bunch of Sardaukar. So because of that, the Sardaukar avoid using lasguns here, cause
they’re scared of hitting a shield again. To give Paul and Jessica time to escape,
Duncan heroically holds off the Sardaukar and is killed. Just like in Paul’s dream earlier.
So this shows that Paul’s prescient visions can come true. Will the holy war come true as well?
Kynes Paul and Jessica escape through a secret exit. In the book, they go through a
whole maze with lights that guide the way but then extinguish, so that
the Sardaukar can’t follow them. In the movie, Kynes heads to the desert and uses
a device called a thumper to attract a sandworm. With these maker hooks, Kynes plans to mount
and ride a sandworm to travel, which is one of the great secrets of Fremen power. But Kynes is
attacked by Sardaukar – because Kynes disobeyed the Emperor. Kynes defiantly says that her
true master is Shai-Hulud – which is the Fremen religious name for the sandworms – “Old Father
Eternity”. Kynes pounds the sand like a thumper, so that she and the Sardaukar are eaten by her
god. It’s.. extremely badass, and demonstrates the power of the Fremen and the sandworms.
But in the book, and in the old TV miniseries, Kynes’ death is very different. The Harkonnens
leave Kynes to die in the desert. He becomes delirious, and has hallucinations of his father
Pardot. Pardot lectures Liet-Kynes about their plan to change Arrakis, with all these endless
scientific facts and theories to control the environment. But while Kynes thinks about
controlling the environment, the environment is killing him – he’s burning in the sun, birds
circle above to eat him. And in the end, Kynes is killed by a spiceblow – which is the explosive
chemical reaction that creates spice on Arrakis. So Kynes and his father spent their lives
trying to master this planet. But Kynes gets killed by the planet he tried to control.
His knowledge and his science can’t save him. This shows the limits of human knowledge
and plans. Environmental forces, the complex ever-changing machinations of the universe,
are bigger and more chaotic than any person can control. No plan or science can tame the
universe – nature always has the last word. Paul and Jessica escape by flying into
a storm. Arrakis dust-storms are deadly, with winds that can “cut metal like butter” and
strip flesh to bone. It should be certain death. But with Paul’s new consciousness, in
the book, he can perceive the forces of the storm – the turbulence, the vortexes, all the
tiny gusts and fronts. He feels all these forces, and sees the right path to fly to safety.
In the movie, Paul has a vision of this Fremen man Jamis. Jamis says to understand a process,
you must flow with it. This is basically Dune’s philosophy of how to think – the world is
complicated, everything’s interconnected, ever changing. So you can’t just focus on one
perspective or one set of data. You can’t rely on one narrow plan like Kynes did. Your thinking
needs to continually evolve with the changing flow of reality. And that’s how Paul and Jessica
survive the storm, by seeing and moving with its flow. Just as Jessica and Paul master their
fear by allowing it to flow through them. In the movie, Paul hears the voices of
Bene Gesserits telling him to “let go”, and so he lets go of the thopter controls,
and loses consciousness and somehow survives, it’s like an act of faith in the movie.
But the Dune book is not about faith, it’s not about losing consciousness. It’s
about awareness and choice, and so that’s how Paul and Jessica fly to safety in the book.
The Harkonnens think Paul and Jessica died in the storm, and that their victory is finally
complete. So the Baron puts Rabban back in charge of Arrakis, and he tells him to “squeeze” – to
exploit and oppress the people of Arrakis to make as much money as possible, to make back the money
they spent on their attack. The “Beast” Rabban is happy to be a brutal dictator again. In the book
he enthusiastically suggests exterminating every person on Arrakis, and asks which weapons he’s
allowed to use on the population. The Baron just orders Rabban to kill all the Fremen. In the book,
it’s the Sardaukar who do that. But in the book, Rabban says it might not be easy to kill the
Fremen. In the book, we see the Fremen kick the Sardaukar’s ass a couple times, and characters
are shocked by how deadly the Fremen are. But the Baron doesn’t listen, and arrogantly
dismisses the Fremen as an irrelevant rabble. Rabban is afraid of the Baron – the book says
the Baron usually won’t kill family members, but he does inflict “painful”
punishments. So Rabban obeys. In the book, there’s a lot more
going on in the Harkonnen plotline, with other important characters, which
we should see in the next Dune movie. Paul and Jessica travel the desert. Living
off their own water in stillsuits, they begin a true Arrakeen existence. The rhythm of
the environment shapes their movements, changes when they sleep, changes how they think.
They get a feel for the textures of the desert, all the different kinds of sand – pea sand,
drum sand, flour and grit and dust and powder. The desert looks like an “ocean”, “full of
moon-silvered waves”. Author Frank Herbert got the idea for Dune when he was researching sand dunes
in Oregon. He learned that dunes move and flow like water, just slower. That began his research
into environments, and history and religions and linguistics that led to Dune.
Paul starts to like Arrakis. But Jessica just misses Caladan, and misses Leto.
In the book, Jessica gets buried under a sand slide. So she uses her Bene Gesserit training to
hold her body in a coma so she doesn’t suffocate, while Paul uses his powerful mind to figure out
where she’s buried, and saves her. He does a cute chemistry experiment, mixing battery acid with
spice to make a foam to hold back the sand. It’s a fun little science-fiction problem-solving scene,
using Paul’s mind and simple tools to survive. To find the Fremen, Paul and Jessica have
to cross an expanse of open sand. Which is super dangerous because of the deadly worms.
Sandworms swim these sands like sharks in the sea. But Paul and Jessica face this danger just like
the Old Duke faced the bull. Author Frank Herbert said sandworms are like the bull in the arena, or
the archetypal dragon in the cave, guarding the treasure of spice – the worm is the monster that
the hero must face. To avoid attracting a worm, they have to “walk without rhythm” – a sandwalk
that imitates the natural sounds of the desert. In the book, they also set a thumper to distract
the worms. And it turns out it’s very difficult to walk without rhythm while you can hear the
rhythm of the thumper. It’s yet another test of control over the body and mind. Paul accidentally
steps on drum sand, which makes louds vibrations, and it summons a worm, so they’ve gotta leg
it to the safety of rock. Paul and Jessica are shocked by the size of the worm. In the book,
its mouth is eighty metres or 260 feet across, with crystal teeth glimmering the moonlight, and
breath that smells like cinnamon from the spice. Paul wonders about the mystery of exactly
how spice and sandworms are connected. The book mentions that sandworms’ bodies create
oxygen which is how the air is breathable on Arrakis without many plants making oxygen
like on Earth. But they survive the worm, and then they face Stilgar and his Fremen. And
we start to learn more about Fremen culture. In the book, Stilgar asks if Paul and Jessica are
“jinn”, which is an Arabic word for supernatural spirits. Stilgar mentions “Istislah”, an Islamic
term relating to the common good. Jessica thinks the Fremen speak “the language of Ilm and Fiqh”
– which are Arabic words for knowledge and law. Cause the Fremen and their language are loosely
inspired by real Arabic and Islamic cultures. Author Frank Herbert was particularly influenced
by a book called The Sabres of Paradise about Muslims in the Caucasus – it describes a religious
warrior people who speak a “Chakobsa” language, and fight against imperial “Padishah” invaders,
who live in a “Sietch” or “tabr”. There are entire lines in Dune that are taken from this book.
Frank was also inspired by Lawrence of Arabia, a Western man who joined with Bedouin
desert tribes in their fight against the Ottoman Empire. Stilgar says the Fremen are “the
Ichwan Bedwine”, which sounds like “Bedouin”. Frank was also inspired by the people of the
Kalahari desert, and their careful use of water. As well as indigenous American groups. So
many different real cultures inspired the Fremen. In-universe, the Dune book says that
Fremen are descended from Sunni Muslims in Egypt – “Misr” is Arabic for Egypt, and
“Nilotic al-Ourouba”, suggests the Nile and Arabia. Over thousands of years, this peoples’
religion changed into the Zensunni tradition – a combination of Zen Buddhism with Sunni Islam.
The Zensunni Wanderers suffered millennia of persecution and displacement, including nine
generations of slavery on Selusa Secundus. Eventually they settled on Arrakis, and developed
the unique Fremen culture, adapted to life in the desert, and hardened by their suffering.
Survival on Arrakis can require brutal decisions for the good of the group – so Stilgar’s
Fremen threaten to kill Jessica to take her water. So Jessica uses her Bene Gesserit fighting skills
to kick Stilgar’s arse. And Paul beats up the Fremen man Jamis. So Jessica proves that she has
useful skills, and Stilgar agrees to keep her. In the book, he has some fun dialogue calling one
of his men a “wormfaced, crawling, sand-brained piece of lizard turd!”. Stilgar is charismatic,
and a powerful leader, dedicated to protecting his tribe. He’s also very intelligent, and willing
to adapt to change. He asks Jessica to teach his Fremen how to fight in her “weirding way”. And
the Fremen will teach Jessica and Paul to survive in the desert. It will be “a good exchange of
teachings” – Dune values knowledge and learning. In the book, Jessica does more of her Missionaria
Protectiva manipulations, trying to convince the Fremen that she and Paul fit the Lisan al-Gaib
prophecy. Jessica brings up Sietch Tabr, Stilgar’s home, as though she has some mystical knowledge of
the place – but really she just read the name on a map once – “If only he knew the tricks we use!”,
she thinks. Jessica feels a “cynical bitterness” at her manipulation. But she’s determined to use
the Fremen as an army to help Paul retake Arrakis. Paul meets Chani, and he’s shocked to recognise
her from his visions. In the books she has an “elfin face”, a laughing voice, the grace
of a gazelle, and she has “red hair”. Paul feels embarrassed that she caught him with a
gun, and he immediately has a crush on her. Jamis is angry that Paul beat him up. So Jamis
challenges Paul, invoking the amtal rule. Amtal means to test something until it breaks,
to learn someone’s true nature by pushing them to their limits, like the gom jabbar – Jamis
will fight Paul to the death. In the book, Jamis says this will test whether Paul and
Jessica are the Lisan al-Gaib. He argues that Jessica might be making “a false way among us”,
trying to deceive the Fremen to fit the prophecy, which.. she is. In the book, Jessica uses
the Voice on Jamis, and threatens him, but the Fremen realise she’s manipulating him and
order her to be silent. So Paul faces Jamis alone. Paul has seen possible futures from this
moment, and in most of them, Paul dies. He is at the centre of a nexus in time, a storm
of possibilities, where the slightest mistake could change the future dramatically. There are
too many branching possibilities for Paul to see a clear path to victory. The only way to survive
this is with his skills, his mind, and his knife. In the book, Chani gives Paul
advice on how to beat Jamis, warning him about Jamis’ fighting style. But in
the movie, Chani says she doesn’t believe in Paul and that he’s gonna die. Which is a fun
change – making Chani more sceptical of Paul. In the movie, Chani gives Paul a crysknife
– and this is the same knife that Paul kept seeing in visions. Paul saw Chani stabbing him
with this knife. Will this vision come true? Paul salutes Jamis in the same way that Duncan
saluted earlier – an echo of his fallen friend. And they prepare to fight. In the book, Paul and Jamis fight wearing just loincloths.
But in the movie they wear their stillsuits, so we don’t get to see Timothee
Chalamet in just his “fighting trunks”. In the movie, Paul hears the voices of
Bene Gesserit telling him not to be afraid, not to resist, to fulfil his destiny as the
Kwisatz Haderach. But in the book, Paul doesn’t rely on destiny – he focusses on his training. On
the advice of Jessica, Duncan and Gurney. On his Bene Gesserit mastery of his body and mind. Paul
is “a fighting machine” trained from infancy by some of the best warriors in the universe.
But in the book, Paul’s training gives him a disadvantage. Cause Paul is trained for
shield-fighting. He learned to attack slowly, so his blade can penetrate shields. But Jamis
has no shield. The Fremen don’t use shields, because shields attract sandworms. So Paul
keeps attacking Jamis too slowly. While Jamis, who isn’t trained with shields, attacks
faster than Paul is used to. So Paul has to change his fighting style. Sometimes to
survive, you have to unlearn old assumptions. So Paul kills Jamis, winning the respect of
the Fremen. Jessica is relieved that her son survived. But in the book, she does something
interesting. Jessica immediately comes up and calls Paul a killer, her voice harsh and full
of scorn. She deliberately makes Paul feel bad about killing Jamis. Because Paul gets a lot
of attention and validation for this victory, including from the girl of his dreams, Chani.
Jessica doesn’t want Paul to learn to enjoy killing. So she applies some emotional
conditioning to keep Paul’s morality in line. In the movie, there’s a sadness to Jamis’
death. Cause earlier, Paul had visions of Jamis being a “friend”, someone who taught Paul
about the desert. But because of Paul’s choices, and chance – that vision didn’t come true, and
Paul had to kill the man who could have been his friend. So Paul’s visions aren’t guaranteed, just
possibilities. They’re like predictions, plans, hopes and fears in the real world – they can
guide us to achieve our goals, but they can also limit our thinking. Dune explores the power
and the danger of predictions and dreams. In the book, Paul cries for Jamis, and the
Fremen see crying as a profound sacred act, because of how precious water is in the desert.
Paul says that Jamis was his friend, that Jamis taught him that killing has a price. So maybe,
in a way, Paul’s vision of Jamis as a friend, who taught him, did come true after all.
The Fremen wrap up Jamis’ body and take it with them. Because when a Fremen dies,
the water is drained from their body in a “deathstill” and reclaimed for the Fremen
to use. “The flesh belongs to the person, but his water belongs to the tribe”.
In the movie, Paul gives a confident heroic speech. He says he sees his future,
and he chooses to be with the Fremen. It’s an uplifting and optimistic end to the movie. But
at this point in the book, the vibe is darker and uncertain. Paul and Jessica are unsure about the
Fremen, but feel forced to use them to survive. Paul doesn’t see his future clearly – he feels
he is ‘plunged into the abyss’. He’s afraid of his visions of the bloody Jihad, and desperately
hopes to prevent it. Paul’s destiny is dangerous. We see a Fremen riding a sandworm to travel –
there’s much more to learn about the power of the Fremen and their desert. Chani says “This
is only the beginning”, and it really is. This movie only covers the first half
of the first book in the Dune trilogy. Which itself is just the beginning of a larger
series. There is so much more to this story. Frank Herbert said that the first Dune book has a
“coital” rhythm. Meaning the pacing of the story is like sex – it starts slow, and speeds
up, then suddenly climactically ends. So by ending this movie halfway through the
first book, Denis Villeneuve stops mid-coitus, leaving us with waiting, without a
climax, until Dune Part Two comes out. This movie is a mostly faithful adaptation of
the first half of the first book. It introduces the worlds and politics of the Imperium, the
mysterious Spacing Guild, the scheming Bene Gesserit. The evil Harkonnens defeat the Atreides,
Paul and Jessica escape to the Fremen, and they start to learn the ways of the desert. We see
Paul’s complicated destiny and ambiguous visions, and hints of the dangers of the messiah. The
movie introduces ideas of the environment and religion and political exploitation and the
power of the mind. But the movie leaves out some important scenes like the dinner party, and the
traitor subplot. It doesn’t capture the tragedy of Doctor Yueh, the meaning of Kynes’ death, or
the darker manipulative side of Leto and Jessica. It removes some of the Arabic references from
the Fremen, and it skips plotlines with the Harkonnens and with Thufir. Hopefully
we’ll get this in the next Dune movie. But to understand the meaning of Paul’s story,
and the message of Dune, we’ve got to talk about the other books. So we’ve got a new video
called the Philosophy of Dune, coming out soon. We’ve also got a Podcast episode out now talking
about Dune with Quinn, from Quinn’s Ideas. We’re also doing a Q&A livestream about Dune on
this channel in 24 hours. And for some reason, professional shitposter Alt Schwift X has
released a rap about Dune. So check out all that Dune content linked below. We will make more
Dune videos in the future. And we’re covering more Song of Ice and Fire, and the upcoming Game of
Thrones prequel TV show House of the Dragon. House of the Dragon is based
on a book called Fire & Blood. You can get Fire & Blood or Dune as an audiobook
for free right now, at audible.com/asx. Sign up for a Premium Plus trial membership,
and you get an audiobook to keep, even if you cancel the trial. You could get any Game of
Thrones or Dune or Expanse audiobook. Membership also includes unlimited access to thousands of
audiobooks and shows in the Audible Plus Catalog. Sign up at audible.com/asx, or text asx
to 500-500. And make sure you choose the Premium Plus trial membership for the free
audiobook. Thank you to the artists and essays linked below. And thanks to the Patrons,
including Kevin Wharton, Trish Ledoux, The360archangel, Stan, Tor, Paul, Luke, Master_A,
Steve Norum, Annie, Claire, and joe snow. Cheers.
