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Dune - Frank Herbert
In the Duniverse, mankind had gone through an apocalyptic war against artificial intelligence and machines - a fight referred to as the Butlerian Jihad. Following the war – the role of machines and artificial intelligence was outlawed for most, and regulated for the few (not unlike nuclear technology today). There are no robots, computers or androids in Dune; and the powers-that-be have agreed to proscribe all things AI and ensure machines never rise up against mankind again. After the Butlerian Jihad, two prominent organisations were came to be – the Bene Gesserit sisterhood and the Space Navigators Guild. The events of Dune begin in 22,000 CE – known as the year 10,191 AG (After Guild) of the imperial calendar. This imperial calendar began when the Navigators Guild established their monopoly on interstellar commerce, travel, communications and banking.
In place of supercomputers the ruling class rely on ‘mentats’ – human computers with tremendous analytical brainpower. Mentat training also addresses moral angles, but mentats are not bound by ethics. The general lack of computers makes the inhabitants of the Duniverse a little smarter, their world a little less globalised, less digital more analogue, with distinct & entrenched cultures. The saga doesn’t take place in a hi-tech world, it unfolds in a world with its own technology (mostly mechanical), medievalism and dystopic elements.
The events of Dune occur under the auspices of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV of House Corrino. The imperium that is made up of several noble houses – three of which are front and centre in the book. House Corrino which presides over the imperium, House Harkonnen which controls the spice trade under the emperor’s mandate and Homerically named House Atreides which is given the mandate to take over the spice trade. The imperial court has its share of intrigue and plots, with houses vying for favour and profit, and the emperor rooting out threats and ambitious courtiers.
The imperium is largely a single product economy focused on the mining and trade of the geriatric spice Melange. The desert planet Arrakis is the only world where Melange naturally occurs on account of it’s ecology; and is also home to the Fremen and sandworms. These giant sandworms attack spice miners, and are intertwined with the natural history of Arrakis. The territorial sandworms are crucial to the Fremen culture, playing a part in establishing leadership roles within Fremen tribes. The sandworms are one of the few alien creatures in the Duniverse, another ‘alien’ species being the highly evolved humans who have become Guild Navigators and whose complete dependence on Melange have given them distinct physiology.
The Fremen people are an old civilization bound by the harsh rules of the desert - their culture, social structure, myths, apparel, and their practice of raiding are all products of the desert’s influence. Their customs and spiritual anchors have also grown out of this unforgiving terrain. The Arab / Persian connect to the Duniverse in general and the Fremen in particular is readily apparent. Words originating in the Arabic and Persian languages like Muad’ib (Mahdi), Arrakis (Iraqis), Padishah (Badshah) and Butlerian Jihad are central to the story; but the Native Americans along the coast of the US also share hunting tactics with the Fremen who use harpoons on the sandworms much like the Natives of Washington State did on whales.
The spice Melange is everywhere on Arrakis – in the desert, water and air. It is an addictive substance with properties that enhance mental capabilities and extend life, and it is also rumoured to unlock precognition. These properties of Melange have made it vital for interstellar travel and the Space Navigators Guild, who run commerce, travel and communication in the Duniverse. The spice trade – like the oil industry, big data (& narcotics) – is too big for the rulers to ignore. Mining and trade in Melange was monopolized by the imperium because of its commercial importance. The indigenous people of Arrakis – the Fremen – receive no material benefit from this spice trade.
The recreational consumption of Melange is also a socially accepted vice like tea, coffee, tobacco or alcohol. Its properties in prolonging life and stimulating the nervous system mirror traditional medicinal systems’ appreciation of herbs & spices. Melange is a superfood of the Duniverse. However, Melange is also addictive leading to dependencies, and regular users have their eyes turn blue from overuse. Heavy users of Melange – like the Space Navigators – have evolved a new physiology because of heavy spice consumption.
The other powerful force of the imperium are the Bene Gesserit. They are a shadowy sisterhood on a multi-generational mission to stabilize the universe through their eugenics programs. Their aim is to create a super-being – the kwisatz-haderach (the shortening of the way), and they do this by arranging marriages among the noble houses of the imperium. Their position in the courts of the imperium allow them unparalleled access to the ruling class; however just two successive generations of recalcitrant royalty undo most of their plan. While on one hand their eugenics program pushes towards the manifestation of the super-being, on the other hand the sisterhood infiltrate local peoples and seed spiritual myths and legends that will make the acceptance of their super-being easier for the common people. The Bene Gesserit want the super-being to be seen as a messiah according to local legends.
Into this setting fall the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica and her son Paul Atreides. Jessica is concubine to Duke Leto Atreides of Caladan. Jessica bears him a son against the instructions from the sisterhood, and the story starts with the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam coming to examine the fifteen-year-old Paul. She takes a measure of him with a painful test called the Gom Jabbar (the high-handed enemy), in order to determine his control, stamina and awareness. Paul has been trained to thrive as a feudal ruler from a young age, by members of his father’s war council. Thufir Hawat is Master of Assassins and a mentat – who sharpens Paul’s mind. Paul is trained in the physical martial arts by Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck – both active members of the Duke’s council who are at the forefront of the Arrakis mission. Jessica for her part had trained Paul in the ways of the Bene Gesserit.
The Atreides mandate over Arrakis at the cost of House Harkonnen by the Emperor’s own dictum doesn’t sit well with Duke Leto. The Duke suspects a plot and danger, but honour and protocol don’t allow him to turn down the emperor. He sends diplomatic missions to Arrakis on his own initiative and makes contact with the Fremen, attempting to reduce hostilities with the locals. In the fluid situation during the changing of the guard on Arrakis, the enemy strikes deep.
The Atriedes leadership is decimated, and Paul and Jessica are stranded in the desert, where he undergoes a metamorphosis and begins to manifest as the very thing the Bene Gesserit feared. However, the manifestation would not have been completed without his acceptance into a Fremen tribe. Paul adopts their ways – leading raids, fighting to live, and taking a Fremen as concubine. Eventually even Paul defies the Bene Gesserit mating instructions, choosing his Fremen concubine Chani and refusing to mate with his Bene Gesserit bride from House Corrino.
Dune has soft science fiction themes and begins like a fantasy story with feudal lords, mysterious sisterhoods and imperial mandates. Sci-fi themes in Dune include ecology, planetology, eugenics, and the evolution of religions. Fantasy themes include feudal settings, mysticism, messiahs and empires. There is an appendix on ecology, and another on religion; and the backstory of the Dune entrenches the reader deeper into the universe. Mixing elements of fantasy and science has worked for Dune, making it one of the most enduring sci-fi novels today. Fans of the Duniverse have their own theories and they argue over the white-saviour complex, similarities with Lawrence of Arabia, if Paul Atreides is actually the hero of Dune, and how much of Dune inspired the Star Wars story.
Dune Messiah (Dune 2) - Frank Herbert
Dune Messiah
Dune Messiah is the second book in Frank Herbert's Dune saga. The events take place 12 years after the end of Dune; and where Dune was an adventure in a political setting Dune Messiah is a political adventure. Dune had a large cast across planets like Arrakis and Caladan. Dune Messiah takes place on Arrakis, where Paul Atreides - the Muad'dib is firmly entrenched having won wars, massacred billions and become a deity. He has adopted the ways of the natives of Arrakis - the Fremen - and they have accepted him as their own - hordes of Fremen come as pilgrims and pay homage to him. But his own power over the Fremen leaves Paul uneasy, and in his prescience he sees the destruction his 'jihad' will wreak upon humanity in the future.
Paul Muad'dib and his Fremen concubine Chani have been trying to have a child for some time, however Chani is being secretly administered a contraceptive by Paul's wife Princess Irulan on instruction from here Bene Gesserit sisterhood. The Bene Gesserit sisterhood is focused on their breeding program in order to bring about the birth of a 'super being' known as the Kwisatz-Haderach. Their plan was thrown into chaos by the actions of Paul's mother Lady Jessica, who defied the Bene Gesserit command to bear only daughters to Paul's father Duke Leto. The birth of Paul and his manifestation as the Kwisatz-Haderach have forced the sisterhood to re-examine their plans in order to bring the 'super-being' under their influence.
The Fremen army of Paul Muad'dib on Arrakis / Dune.
Stepping into the conspiracy and representing the Tleilax is Scytale - a 'face dancer' (genetically engineered subjects able to mimic humans), and standing in for the Spacing Guild is the Navigator Edric. The conspirators set in motion a plan to destabilize Paul, influence him to impregnate Irulan so as to bring his bloodline under the control of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood.
The Tleilaxu penetrate the Paul's inner circle by inserting a resurrected and reprogrammed Duncan Idaho into his court. Scytale and Edric seek an audience with Paul and present him with the Ghola - Duncan Idaho, not known as Hayt. Duncan is a Frankenstein type creature - the body is from his own corpse and he is self-aware. He knows he has had memories but the Tleilaxu have biologically programmed him to their own end. The Tleilaxu purpose is to throw Paul Muad'dib off balance, to make him question his actions, judgment and reality, and allow the conspiracy to flourish.
The plot Dune Messiah revolves around a struggle between the old guard and the new. At the head of an empire built on war, Paul Muad'dib sees unending destruction for mankind at the hands of his armies. He agonizes over how to change the course of the future towards a more sustainable future, preferably one not built on too many dead bodies. But despite his temporal and prescient powers Paul Muad'dib is still subject to the the forces of the old guard who push to bring back some of the feudal system in which their agency was more intact.
The stark landscape of the planet Arrakis - also known as Dune.
However one of the most powerful influences limiting Paul Muad'dib's choices are his own adopted people - the Fremen. He admires and practices their hard but practical customs and rituals, which have bound him to the Fremen people and serve as powerful propaganda. But Paul is also wary of the nature of the beast he has unleashed among them. After having spent generations under the thumb of the previous Corrino Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, the Space Guild and other houses the Fremen are now at the top of the food chain. Paul's relation with them is symbiotic and they feed off each other materially and intellectually.
Add the spice Melange that controls the levers of the universe and over which the Fremen occupants of the planet Arrakis / Dune exercises a natural and exacting monopoly and you get a mental picture of a young and bloodied sovereign trying to pull his subjects away from inevitably brutalizing their way into a doomed future for humanity.
On of the toughest problems Paul Muad'dib struggles with is how to avert the destructive future he sees without losing his people.
Blue eyes - telltale signs of Melange use.
The Ghola & Frankenstein
The Bene Tlelax are a powerful, bigoted and self-sequestered society in the Dune universe. Their speciality is the manipulation of biology & DNA to create extreme versions of mentats (the human computers of the Dune universe), shape shifters called face dancers, and clones of the dead - some of which are more organic than others - called gholas. Gholas are not zombies but they can be described as Frankenstein-like creatures who are raised from the dead, and under some influence of the Tleilax.
The comparison with Frankenstein is noteworthy. Mary Shelley's book is one of the earliest if not the first science fiction story. It is centered around Victor Frankenstein's experiments in creating artificial life from corpses; Dune on the other hand is one of the most influential science fiction stories. The parallel between the Tleilax ghola and Frankenstein's monster doesn't end the similarity; the origins of the Dune saga are also heavily dependent on the Bene Gesserit's experiment to create the 'super being', known as the Kwisatz-Haderach, and the chaos that follows that plan.
The first ghola in the saga is Hayt, raised from the corpse of the Atreides warrior Duncan Idaho. Hayt is synthesized from a corpse and the connection is supposed to have ended at physical similarities but something more seems to have gone through to the Ghola.
Frankenstein - illustrated by Theodor von Holst, from the 1831 edition.
Renunciation of War
The events of Dune Messiah take place 12 years after Dune ends. Paul Atreides is now the Muad'dib (kanganroo-mouse, in the Fremen tongue), Kwisatz-Haderach (super being, according to the Bene Gesserit) and Lisan al-Gaib (Voice from the outer world). He is also emperor and exercises dominion over the known universe after unleashing a deadly war that costs 61 billion lives. Paul is gifted with prescience which allows him to see many futures, and he sees the destruction of man if the course of his Fremen is not changed. Paul's struggle with this future has led to a pause in his war machine as he works out his moves and options.
Much like the Maurya king Ashoka who ruled over much of India in the third century BC. Ashoka inherited the throne from his father Bindusara (son of the founder of the Maurya Empire - Chandragupta), and won a bloody war at Kalinga (260 BC) where a hundred thousand were killed, many more died and still more were displaced. The all encompassing destructive aftermath of war deeply affected Ashoka who gave up warring. Ashoka adopted and promoted the peaceful practices Buddhism and the edicts of Ashoka are found across the length and breadth of India proclaiming his message of dhamma (peace).
A relief showing Ashoka on his Chariot, from the first century BC.