/r/dune

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Dune is a landmark science fiction novel first published in 1965 and the first in a 6-book saga penned by author Frank Herbert. Widely considered one of the greatest works within the sci-fi genre, Dune has been the subject of various film and TV adaptations, including the Academy Award winning 2021 film Dune directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Dune: Part Two opened on March 1, 2024.

Dune is a landmark science fiction novel first published in 1965 and the first in a 6-book saga penned by author Frank Herbert. Widely considered one of the greatest works within the sci-fi genre, Dune has been the subject of various film and TV adaptations, including the Academy Award winning 2021 film Dune directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Dune: Part Two opened on March 1, 2024.


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Posting Guidelines

  • Tag your spoilers! - Always tag your spoilers. (See Spoiler Guidelines below) Exceptions being in threads where the scope of discussion is clear. [Spoilers All] for instance. If you see un-tagged spoilers do not hesitate to hit 'report'.
  • Please flair your posts, but remember that flairs aren't spoiler tags, they're only meant to denote the scope of your discussion.
  • Be excellent to each other, and practice good reddiquette.
  • Low effort posts will be subject to removal. Ask yourself "Will this promote good discussion?" If the answer is no, prepare to have your post removed. Feel free to share your memes at r/dunememes or on the discord.

Spoiler Guidelines:

  • No spoilers in post titles. See Reddit's spoiler functionality for posts. Comment spoiler code does not work in post titles.
  • Mark them in your comments. The new spoiler functionality now works pretty much everywhere, as long as it's followed correctly. Be sure not to put any space between the text you want to hide and the beginning and end spoiler tags. Here's an example: **Spoiler Scope** >!Spoilery Text!< will show up as Spoiler Scope Spoilery Text in post bodies and comments.
  • Indicate the scope of your spoiler by changing the "Spoiler Scope" to something that best indicates what your spoiler is about, like a book or film title.
  • Bans will be issued at moderator discretion.

/r/dune

595,770 Subscribers

11

Impressions on jihad and imperial policy

Reading the beginning of Messiah, did you also have a little difficulty understanding the dimension of Paul's Jihad and how the Known Universe began to function after this event? Was it intentional that FH didn't focus much on this?

4 Comments
2025/01/15
13:09 UTC

1

Why Did The Atreides Give-Up Caladan Before Moving To Arrakis?

The Harkonnen's held on Geidi Prime even when they were extracting billions from Arrakis each year.

The entire reason behind the fall of the Atreides was because they moved everything they had to a new planet which they were not used to.

They could not have been defeated in such a manner if they had still kept a bulk of their troops on their home planet, and focused only on spice production on Arrakis.

3 Comments
2025/01/15
10:12 UTC

12

Will Dune: Part Three be about the Holy War?

Just finished watching parts one and two and wow I love this series, I plan on getting the books now and digging deeper into the world, I’m curious though, will the central point of the next film be about the holy war?

50 Comments
2025/01/15
07:07 UTC

107

Why did the Reverend Mother asked the Baron not to kill Paul (and Jessica) if she knew he was a threat?

I still don’t get this. Later on, in the second movie, she says that the Kwisatz Haderach is the ultimate power, and aims to stop it.

So why didn’t she take the opportunity of getting rid of Paul when the Baron was going to wipe the Atreides house?

72 Comments
2025/01/15
03:49 UTC

22

Taraza's plan

I've just finished Heretics of Dune and really enjoyed it way more than I thought I would but I was a bit confused at the end when it was revealed that Tarazas plan was to destroy the sandworms because they were controlling the movement of events and I was just very confused as to how they do this and how she knew and then why she did it knowing the destruction the Honored Matres would cause. Or should I just continue reading onto Chapterhouse for more answers?

7 Comments
2025/01/15
00:06 UTC

328

Paul by Veronika at Black Tattoo in Bratislava

6 Comments
2025/01/14
21:14 UTC

50

WMDs other than Atomics

So the prohibition on nuclear weapons ("Atomics") is clear, but are others weapons of mass destruction like biological weapons, chemical agents or radiological/dirty bombs allowed?

38 Comments
2025/01/14
20:42 UTC

206

What is the one thing you think Villeneuve version overdelivered ?

Hello ! I asked you a few days ago what scene/phrase/moment you wish was included in Villeneuve version and it was great to read ALL of your comments

It seems the Spacing Guild, The Diner, Thufir, all the spy business, Jamis relationship and burial were the one thing that came up the most. (If you think about items that did not make into the film) But I really loved the description of the voice you gave too. There are also other miss opportunities with Jessica, Chani, Gurney, Kynes... Makes me want to read the books even more in the end !

But now I need to ask in which conditions you watched the Dune movies and which aspect made you think "Oh ye alright, that's what we're talking about !" !

So, cinema, IMAX, 4D, home ? And most importantly what little thing made you shivers with nostalgia and made you think Villeneuve understood this single aspect of the book above all else ?

222 Comments
2025/01/14
18:08 UTC

221

The Bene Gesserit Coda

8 Comments
2025/01/14
17:23 UTC

8

Differences between the movie, the book, and the memory (contains spoilers spoilers)

Hello all, it's been over a decade since I read the first Dune book, but the recent movies caught my interest, and I was pleased to see how many similarities there were and how well the presentation and tone of the world was adapted for the screen. This post isn't about that, however. This relates to something that I thought was a glaring inconsistency (frankly, for the better), but may in fact just be an extremely strong false memory.

I have a distinct memory of not liking the first Dune book, particularly the ending, for a very specific reason. In my memory, there was a time skip at some point when Paul lives among the Fremen. In that time, he marries Chani and has at least one child with her. At the end, around the time of the siege of Arrakeen, their sietch was attacked, and Chani and their child were killed as a result, leaving Paul free to marry the princess. With this possibly false memory as a basis, I thought the movie gave the character of Chani a significantly better treatment, but after looking it up, I might just be entirely out of my gourd? I can't find reference to such an event anywhere on the internet.

Are there multiple versions of Dune, or am I just severely misremembering a significant detail of the first book?

18 Comments
2025/01/14
16:02 UTC

52

The original Leto II

The first born son of Paul and Chani, let's call him the original Leto II, was killed shortly before Paul's final attack on the Emporer.

What might have happened if this boy survived?

Would he have come to the same conclusion as the later Leto II and followed his own version of the Golden Path?

Or would the influence of growing up while his father was still in power have lead to him making a different decision and dooming humanity?

14 Comments
2025/01/14
16:00 UTC

127

In the messiah movie when do you think it would be appropriate for Paul and chani to reconnect and how would it affect chani’s character?

I’m assuming Paul and chani do reconnect in the movies given they kinda sorta need to have kids. ( joking I know they have to) Where would you think an appropriate time would be for that in the 12 year time skip?

Do you think it’d be during the time skip or after?

Also how would it happen without betraying movie chani’s character? The problem with making her whole character an active refusal of the BG fake messiah Paul stuff is when she reverts back to being with him it’s gonna be like your bf committed big big death counts and your ok with it? But using fake messiah propaganda as a tool is what pisses you off.

Not because I feel chani is a moral character or anything but idk how you do this revert back and drop her into mom of kids in one movie? Seems a bit quick. Plus how would the Irulan poisen plot work and chanis death work if they wait for reconnection after the time skip? Idk it’s been a while since I read messiah but I’m curious how p3 will work now

142 Comments
2025/01/14
10:04 UTC

35

Dune: Part Two | "SILENCE!" Script to Screen Clip (Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya)

👋 Hello there! Ahead of the Oscar Noms here's a script to screen from DUNE: PART TWO

You can watch it here 👉 https://youtu.be/paF25FvLjHw

https://preview.redd.it/5yhs2epjdyce1.png?width=3840&format=png&auto=webp&s=b50e2ce22b7d6d13eda918325627f06bf9742631

2 Comments
2025/01/14
12:28 UTC

120

Is Dune basically esoteric fiction?

Hi,

I know nothing about Dune, including the movies, but someone recommended the series to me. They said it was a sci-fi novels but actually more about philosophy, mysticism and esotercism.

What do you think?

Is Dune that weird and esoteric?

Thanks.

86 Comments
2025/01/13
22:34 UTC

43

Should I watch the movies or read the book first?

I bought the book in June, read it a bit then life got busy and I ended up choosing video games/movies instead of it. Will watching first make it easier to read or will it spoil it and make me not want to read the book? Thanks!

146 Comments
2025/01/13
21:43 UTC

38

Have there been any Mentats that have survived the Agony?

I’m only to the beginning of the first chapter in the No-Globe on Gammu in HoD, so no spoilers past that please!

While reading through the series I was wondering why there’s no push from the Bene Gesserit to have Reverend Mother Mentats? In my mind, a Mentat with Other Memory would be supremely powerful, able to sift through her ancestral memories and apply enhanced logical thinking at a very fast level.

I know Paul had Mentat training so he technically was a proto-Mentat as well as being a Kwisatz Haderach, but have there been others throughout history?

35 Comments
2025/01/13
20:24 UTC

119

Why did the fremen tried to kill paul and jessica when they first met them?

In dune part one the fremen were about to kill them before they realized who paul was. My question is why did the fremen tried to kill a innocent women and a boy that did nothing to them? I understand killing the harkonnens for their water but why target innocent people? Why not just let them go?

55 Comments
2025/01/13
19:43 UTC

65

[possible CoD spoiler] Does this fandom wiki synopsis about Messiah contain a spoiler for CoD?

Link

Second paragraph talks of the synopsis section about how he (possible Messiah and/or CoD Spoiler)>!sees the Golden Path to ensure humanity avoids extinction indefinitely!< but doesn't commit to it, instead (possible Messiah and/or CoD spoiler)>!"refusing to sacrifice his own mythology and humanity by tightening a brutal grip on humanity over the course of thousands of years".!<

I found this strange, as I just finished Messiah and didn't recall any mentions of the phrase >!"Golden Path"!<, or any explicit descriptions of Paul not committing to it, so I posted here to see if I could get clarification - but the post got deleted because it said the answer would be a spoiler for CoD.

If it is in fact a spoiler, whelp, too late for me already, but kind of shitty that the site has left the synopsis that way for everyone else to see.

20 Comments
2025/01/13
19:04 UTC

9

Audiobooks

Have you listened to all of the Dune audiobooks? I’m just starting them in audible and so excited about it.

13 Comments
2025/01/13
09:04 UTC

0

The spice itself does not prolong life

While reading the first book again a thought came to me (not sure if this has been said before or is common sense). My thought was that the spice may actually not prolong life and health directly, these benefits may just be a side effect. Maybe the spice is really only expanding consciousness to such a degree that the user gains some small benefits such as the Bene Gesserit internal chemistry manipulation or some form of foresight. It could also be that the increased awareness and consciousness affect how the user perceives his environment and actions, i.e. what foods to consume, how to move and not get injured and other small positive nudges that compound in the long term. Additionally it could also increase awareness to latent diseases, that can then be treated. So maybe the spice itself is not what prolongs life..

Edit: why so many downvotes?

11 Comments
2025/01/12
22:40 UTC

182

What is the one thing you wish you had in Villeneuve version ?

Obviously there still the third movie, and I would ask you to be careful on spoil territory on the book... What phrase or moment you enjoyed so much in the original material that you were very disapointed in Villeneuve version ?

I've not read the books but if my favorite fantasy book was adapted in any way, I wish to see some very specific moments in some very specific way... What are yours ?

I'll take the opportunity I loved both movies and I'm glad it introduced me to the Dune universe !

453 Comments
2025/01/12
22:07 UTC

5

Spice inhalers

I’m looking for a model of the inhalers used in club in dune prophecy, but after researching for a while I was unable to even find a picture of it. Any ideas as to what they’re called or a reference picture would be most welcomed.

5 Comments
2025/01/12
22:22 UTC

36

Frank Herbert's 1970 Earth Day Speech

Herbert famously spoke at the first ever Earth Day in 1970, in Philadelphia. I've seen the speech quoted, but I've had no luck finding a transcript.

Does anyone know if a transcript or recording of the speech exists?

Thanks!

2 Comments
2025/01/12
19:10 UTC

111

Lessons from Leto II, by me, Sketchbook app on iPad

She questions him after seeing "it" in her vision.

14 Comments
2025/01/12
18:24 UTC

102

Where are the mentats in later books?

I have read up to children of dune and the only mentat in the book (except Book 1, Dune) is Duncan Idaho (Hayt). In Book 1 (Dune) the scenarios are briefed and consulted with mentats but later in the books they aren’t. Did the prescience of Paul, Alia, Leto II and Ghanima made them obsolete?

P.S. I really enjoyed when Duncan deduced that Alia was possessed after seeing Alia and observing her behaviors.

28 Comments
2025/01/12
17:31 UTC

97

Has the Golden Path been discovered by the Bene Gesserit before??

If the BG had known of the Kwisatz Haderach in Dune and it was supposed to be their version of the pseudo-Lisan al-Gaib, a person who knew all possible futures, wouldn't they have any kind of way to know who is the kwisatz haderach long before the child can undergo the Gom Jabbar or any other kind of test or feat? Seeing this wouldn't they have set the golden path and not the House of Atreides?

35 Comments
2025/01/12
16:10 UTC

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