Dune is set in the distant future in afeudal interstellar society, descended from terrestrial humans, in which various noble houses control planetaryfiefs. It tells the story of youngPaul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planetArrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source ofmelange, or "spice", a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.
Adaptations of the novel to cinema have been notoriously difficult and complicated. In the 1970s, cult filmmakerAlejandro Jodorowsky attempted to makea film based on the novel. After three years of development, the project was canceled due to a constantly growing budget. In 1984, afilm adaptation directed byDavid Lynch was released to mostly negative responses from critics and failure at the box office, although it later developed acult following. The book was also adapted into the 2000Sci-Fi Channel miniseriesFrank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel,Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (the latter of which combines the events ofDune Messiah andChildren of Dune). A secondfilm adaptation, directed byDenis Villeneuve, was released on October 21, 2021, to positive reviews. It grossed $434 million worldwide and went on to be nominated for tenAcademy Awards, includingBest Picture, ultimately winning six. Villeneuve's film covers roughly the first half of the original novel; asequel, which covers the second half of the story, was released on March 1, 2024, to critical acclaim and has grossed $714.4 million worldwide.
Since 2009, the names of planets from theDune novels have been adopted for the real-life nomenclature of plains and other features onSaturn's moonTitan.
Herbert further drew inspiration fromNative American mentors like "Indian Henry" (as Herbert referred to the man to his son; likely a Henry Martin of theHoh tribe) and Howard Hansen. Both Martin and Hansen grew up on theQuileutereservation near Herbert's hometown. According to historianDaniel Immerwahr, Hansen regularly shared his writing with Herbert. "White men are eating the earth," Hansen told Herbert in 1958, after sharing a piece on the effect of logging on the Quileute reservation. "They're gonna turn this whole planet into a wasteland, just likeNorth Africa." The world could become a "big dune," Herbert responded in agreement.[6]
Herbert was also interested in the idea of thesuperheromystique andmessiahs. He believed thatfeudalism was a natural condition humans fell into, where some led and others gave up the responsibility of making decisions and just followed orders. He found that desert environments have historically given birth to several major religions with messianic impulses. He decided to join his interests together so he could play religious and ecological ideas against each other. In addition, he was influenced by the story ofT. E. Lawrence and the "messianic overtones" in Lawrence's involvement in theArab Revolt duringWorld War I. In an early version ofDune, the hero was actually very similar to Lawrence of Arabia, but Herbert decided the plot was too straightforward and added more layers to his story.[7]
Herbert drew heavy inspiration also fromLesley Blanch'sThe Sabres of Paradise (1960), anarrative history recounting a mid-19th centuryconflict in the Caucasus between rugged caucasian Muslim tribes and the expandingRussian Empire.[8] Language used on both sides of that conflict become terms in Herbert's world—chakobsa, aCaucasian hunting language, becomes a battle language of humans spread across the galaxy;kanly, a word for blood feud in the 19th century Caucasus, represents a feud between Dune's noble Houses;sietch andtabir are both words for camp borrowed fromUkrainian Cossacks (of thePontic–Caspian steppe).[8]
Herbert also borrowed some lines which Blanch stated were Caucasian proverbs."To kill with the point lacked artistry", used by Blanch to describe the Caucasus peoples' love of swordsmanship, becomes in Dune"Killing with the tip lacks artistry", a piece of advice given to a young Paul during his training."Polish comes from the city, wisdom from the hills", a Caucasianaphorism, turns into a desert expression:"Polish comes from the cities, wisdom from the desert".[8]
Another significant source of inspiration forDune was Herbert's experiences withpsilocybin and his hobby of cultivating mushrooms, according tomycologistPaul Stamets's account of meeting Herbert in the 1980s:[9]
Frank went on to tell me that much of the premise ofDune—the magicspice (spores) that allowed the bending of space (tripping), thegiant sand worms (maggots digesting mushrooms), the eyes of theFreman (thecerulean blue ofPsilocybe mushrooms), the mysticism of the female spiritual warriors, theBene Gesserits (influenced by the tales ofMaria Sabina and the sacred mushroom cults of Mexico)—came from his perception of the fungal life cycle, and his imagination was stimulated through his experiences with the use ofmagic mushrooms.
Herbert spent the next five years researching, writing, and revising. He published a three-part serialDune World in the monthlyAnalog, from December 1963 to February 1964. The serial was accompanied by several illustrations that were not published again. After an interval of a year, he published the much slower-paced five-partThe Prophet of Dune in the January–May 1965 issues.[10][11] The first serial became "Book One: Dune" in the final publishedDune novel, and the second serial was divided into "Book Two: Muad'dib" and "Book Three: The Prophet". The serialized version was expanded, reworked, and submitted to more than twenty publishers, each of whom rejected it. The novel,Dune, was finally accepted and published in August 1965 byChilton Books, a printing house better known for publishing auto repair manuals.[12]Sterling Lanier, an editor at Chilton, had seen Herbert's manuscript and had urged his company to take a risk in publishing the book. However, the first printing, priced at$5.95 (equivalent to $59.37 in 2024), did not sell well and was poorly received by critics as being atypical of science fiction at the time. Chilton considered the publication ofDune a write-off and Lanier was fired.[13] Over the course of time, the book gained critical acclaim, and its popularity spread by word-of-mouth to allow Herbert to start working full time on developing the sequels toDune, elements of which were already written alongsideDune.[14]
At first Herbert considered usingMars as setting for his novel, but eventually decided to use a fictional planet instead. His son Brian said that "Readers would have too many preconceived ideas about that planet, due to the number of stories that had been written about it."[15]
Herbert dedicated his work "to the people whose labors go beyond ideas into the realm of 'real materials'—to the dry-landecologists, wherever they may be, in whatever time they work, this effort at prediction is dedicated in humility and admiration."[16]
DukeLeto Atreides ofHouse Atreides, ruler of theocean world Caladan, is assigned by thePadishah EmperorShaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planetArrakis. Although Arrakis is a harsh and inhospitabledesert planet, it is of enormous importance because it is the only planetary source ofmelange, or the "spice", a unique and incredibly valuable substance that extends human youth, vitality and lifespan. It is also through the consumption of spice thatSpacing Guild Navigators are able to effect safe interstellar travel by having limited ability to see the future. The Emperor is jealous of the Duke's rising popularity in theLandsraad, the council of Great Houses, and sees House Atreides as a potential future rival and threat. He conspires withHouse Harkonnen, the former stewards of Arrakis and the longstanding enemies of the Atreides, to destroy Leto and his family after their arrival. Leto is aware his assignment is a trap of some kind but is compelled to obey the Emperor's orders anyway.
Leto'sconcubineLady Jessica is an acolyte of theBene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields seeminglysuperhuman physical and mental abilities, such as the ability to control their bodies down to the cellular level, and also decide the sex of their children. Though Jessica was instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear a daughter as part of theirbreeding program, out of love for Leto she bore a son,Paul. From a young age, Paul is trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the elite soldiersDuncan Idaho andGurney Halleck.Thufir Hawat, the Duke'sMentat (human computers, able to store vast amounts of data and perform advanced calculations on demand), has instructed Paul in the ways of political intrigue. Jessica has also trained her son in Bene Gesserit disciplines.
Paul'sprophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, theReverend MotherGaius Helen Mohiam. She subjects Paul to a deadly test. She holds a poisoned needle, thegom jabbar, to his neck, ready to strike should he withdraw his hand from a box which creates extreme pain by nerve induction but causes no physical damage. This is to test Paul's ability to endure the pain so as not to die on the tip of the needle; to confirm that his human strengths can overcome his animal instincts. Paul passes by enduring greater pain than any woman who has ever been subjected to the test.
Paul and his parents travel with their household to occupyArrakeen, the capital on Arrakis formerly held by House Harkonnen. Leto learns of the dangers involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giantsandworms, and seeks to negotiate with the planet's indigenousFremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes. Soon after the Atreides' arrival, Harkonnen forces attack, joined by the Emperor's ferociousSardaukar troops in disguise. Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, theSuk doctorWellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Leto to the BaronVladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat,Piter De Vries.
Yueh, who performed the kidnapping of Leto under duress, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert. Duncan is killed helping them flee, and they are subsequently presumed dead in a sandstorm by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule, hoping Leto can kill the Baron during their encounter. Piter kills Yueh, and the Baron narrowly avoids the gas (due to his defensive shield), which kills Leto, Piter, and the others in the room. The Baron forces Thufir to take over Piter's position by dosing him with a long-lasting, fatal poison and threatening to withhold the regular antidote doses unless he obeys. While he follows the Baron's orders, Thufir works secretly to undermine the Harkonnens.
Having fled into the desert, Paul is exposed to high concentrations of spice and has visions through which he realizes he has significant powers (as a result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme). He foresees potential futures in which he lives among the Fremen before leading them on aholy war across the known universe. Paul reveals that Jessica is the daughter of the Baron, a secret kept from her by the Bene Gesserit.
Paul and Jessica traverse the desert in search of Fremen people. After being captured by a Fremen band, Paul and Jessica agree to teach the Fremen the Bene Gesserit fighting technique known to the Fremen as the "weirding way" and are accepted into the community ofSietch Tabr. Paul proves his manhood by killing a Fremen man named Jamis in a ritualisticcrysknife fight and chooses the Fremen name Muad'Dib, while Jessica opts to undergo a ritual to become a Reverend Mother by drinking the poisonousWater of Life. Pregnant with Leto's daughter, she inadvertently causes the unborn child,Alia, to become infused with the same powers in the womb. Paul takes a Fremen lover,Chani, who bears him a son he names Leto.
Two years pass, and Paul's powerful prescience manifests, which confirms for the Fremen that he is their prophesied "Lisan al-Gaib"messiah, a legend planted by the Bene Gesserit'sMissionaria Protectiva. Paul embraces his father's belief that the Fremen could be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, theirjihad could consume the entire universe. Word of the new Fremen leader reaches both the Baron and the Emperor as spice production falls due to their increasingly destructive raids. The Baron encourages his brutish nephewGlossu "Beast" Rabban to rule with an iron fist, hoping the contrast with his shrewder nephewFeyd-Rautha will make the latter popular among the people of Arrakis when he eventually replaces Rabban. The Emperor, suspecting the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, sends spies to monitor activity on Arrakis. Thufir uses the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt in the Baron about the Emperor's true plans, putting further strain on their alliance.
Gurney, who survived the Harkonnen coup and became a smuggler, reunites with Paul and Jessica after a Fremen raid on his harvester. Believing Jessica to be a traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her but is stopped by Paul. Paul did not foresee Gurney's attack and concludes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which is traditionally fatal to males. Paul falls into unconsciousness for three weeks after drinking the poison, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space: heis theKwisatz Haderach, the ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program.
Paul senses the Emperor and the Baron are amassing fleets around Arrakis to quell the Fremen rebellion, and prepares the Fremen for a major offensive against the Harkonnen troops. The Emperor arrives with the Baron on Arrakis. The Sardaukar seize a Fremen outpost, killing many including young Leto, while Alia is captured and taken to the Emperor. Under cover of an electric storm, which shorts out the Sardaukar's defensive shields, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, destroy the capital's natural rock fortifications withatomics and attack, while Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. The Fremen quickly defeat both the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops, killing Rabban in the process. Thufir is coerced to assassinate Paul, who, out of gratitude for the Mentat's service, gives him the opportunity to take anything that Thufir wishes of him. Thufir chooses to succumb to the poison instead.
Paul faces the Emperor, threatening to destroy spice production forever unless Shaddam abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha attempts to stop Paul by challenging him to a ritualistic knife fight, during which he attempts to cheat and kill Paul with a poison spur in his belt. Paul gains the upper hand and kills him. The Emperor reluctantly cedes the throne to Paul and promises his daughterPrincess Irulan's hand in marriage. As Paul takes control of the Empire, he realizes that while he has achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain.
Esmar Tuek, a powerful smuggler and the father of Staban Tuek
Staban Tuek, the son of Esmar Tuek and a powerful smuggler who befriends and takes in Gurney Halleck and his surviving men after the attack on the Atreides
TheDune series is a landmark ofscience fiction. Herbert deliberately suppressed technology in hisDune universe so he could address the politics of humanity, rather than the future of humanity's technology. For example, a key pre-history event to the novel's present is the "Butlerian Jihad", in which all robots and computers were destroyed, eliminating these common elements to science fiction from the novel as to allow focus on humanity.[14]Dune considers the way humans and their institutions might change over time.[1] DirectorJohn Harrison, who adaptedDune forSyfy's2000 miniseries, called the novel a universal and timeless reflection of "the human condition and its moral dilemmas", and said:
A lot of people refer toDune as science fiction. I never do. I consider it an epic adventure in the classic storytelling tradition, a story of myth and legend not unlike theMorte d'Arthur or any messiah story. It just happens to be set in the future ... The story is actually more relevant today than when Herbert wrote it. In the 1960s, there were just these two colossal superpowers duking it out. Today we're living in a more feudal, corporatized world more akin to Herbert's universe of separate families, power centers and business interests, all interrelated and kept together by the one commodity necessary to all.[17]
ButDune has also been called a mix ofsoft andhard science fiction since "the attention to ecology is hard, the anthropology and the psychic abilities are soft."[18] Hard elements include the ecology of Arrakis, suspensor technology, weapon systems, and ornithopters, while soft elements include issues relating to religion, physical and mental training, cultures, politics, and psychology.[19]
Herbert said Paul's messiah figure was inspired by theArthurian legend,[20] and that thescarcity of water on Arrakis was a metaphor foroil, as well as air and water itself, and for the shortages of resources caused byoverpopulation.[21] NovelistBrian Herbert, his son and biographer, wrote:
Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange, the geriatric spice that represents, among other things, the finite resource of oil. The planet Arrakis features immense, ferocious worms that are like dragons of lore, with "great teeth" and a "bellows breath of cinnamon." This resembles the myth described by an unknown English poet inBeowulf, the compelling tale of a fearsome fire dragon who guarded a great treasure hoard in a lair under cliffs, at the edge of the sea. The desert of Frank Herbert's classic novel is a vast ocean of sand, with giant worms diving into the depths, the mysterious and unrevealed domain of Shai-hulud. Dune tops are like the crests of waves, and there are powerful sandstorms out there, creating extreme danger. On Arrakis, life is said to emanate from the Maker (Shai-hulud) in the desert-sea; similarly all life on Earth is believed to have evolved from our oceans. Frank Herbert drew parallels, used spectacular metaphors, and extrapolated present conditions into world systems that seem entirely alien at first blush. But close examination reveals they aren't so different from systems we know … and the book characters of his imagination are not so different from people familiar to us.[22]
Each chapter ofDune begins with anepigraph excerpted from the fictional writings of the character Princess Irulan. In forms such as diary entries, historical commentary, biography, quotations and philosophy, these writings set tone and provide exposition, context and other details intended to enhance understanding of Herbert's complex fictional universe and themes.[23][24][25] They act as foreshadowing and invite the reader to keep reading to close the gap between what the epigraph says and what is happening in the main narrative.[26] The epigraphs also give the reader the feeling that the world they are reading about is epically distanced, since Irulan writes about an idealized image of Paul as if he had already passed into memory.[27] Brian Herbert wrote: "Dad told me that you could follow any of the novel's layers as you read it, and then start the book all over again, focusing on an entirely different layer. At the end of the book, he intentionally left loose ends and said he did this to send the readers spinning out of the story with bits and pieces of it still clinging to them, so that they would want to go back and read it again."[28]
Due to the similarities between some of Herbert's terms and ideas and actual words and concepts in theArabic language, as well as the series' "Islamicundertones" and themes, aMiddle-Eastern influence on Herbert's works has been noted repeatedly.[29][30] In his descriptions of the Fremen culture and language, Herbert uses both authentic Arabic words and Arabic-sounding words.[31][32] For example, one of the names for the sandworm, Shai-hulud, is derived fromArabic:شيء خلود,romanized: šayʾ ḫulūd,lit. 'immortal thing' orArabic:شيخ خلود,romanized: šayḫ ḫulūd,lit. 'old man of eternity'.[33][32] The title of the Fremen housekeeper, the Shadout Mapes, is borrowed from theArabic:شادوف,romanized: šādūf, theEgyptian term fora device used to raise water.[32] In particular, words related to the messianic religion of the Fremen, first implanted by the Bene Gesserit, are taken from Arabic, including Muad'Dib (fromArabic:مؤدب,romanized: muʾaddib,lit. 'educator'), Lisan al-Gaib (fromArabic:لسان الغيب,romanized: lisān al-ġayb,lit. 'voice of the unseen') Usul (fromArabic:أصول,romanized: ʾuṣūl,lit. 'fundamental principles'), Shari-a (fromArabic:شريعة,romanized: šarīʿa,lit. 'sharia; path'), Shaitan (fromArabic:شيطان,romanized: šayṭān,lit. 'Shaitan; devil; fiend'), and jinn (fromArabic:جن,romanized: ǧinn,lit. 'jinn; spirit; demon; mythical being').[29] It is likely Herbert relied on second-hand resources such as phrasebooks and desert adventure stories to find these Arabic words and phrases for the Fremen.[32] They are meaningful and carefully chosen, and help create an "imagined desert culture that resonates with exotic sounds, enigmas, and pseudo-Islamic references" and has a distinctlyBedouin aesthetic.[32]
As a foreigner who adopts the ways of a desert-dwelling people and then leads them in a military capacity, Paul Atreides bears many similarities to the historicalT. E. Lawrence.[34] His 1962 biopicLawrence of Arabia has also been identified as a potential influence.[35]The Sabres of Paradise (1960) has also been identified as a potential influence uponDune, with its depiction ofImam Shamil and the Islamic culture of theCaucasus inspiring some of the themes, characters, events and terminology ofDune.[8]
The environment of the desert planet Arrakis was primarily inspired by the environments of theMiddle East. Similarly Arrakis as a bioregion is presented as a particular kind of political site. Herbert has made it resemble a desertifiedpetrostate area.[36] The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes ofArabia, and theMahdi prophecy originates fromIslamic eschatology.[37] Inspiration is also adopted from medieval historianIbn Khaldun's cyclical history and hisdynastic concept inNorth Africa, hinted at by Herbert's reference to Khaldun's bookKitāb al-ʿibar ("The Book of Lessons"). The fictionalized version of the "Kitab al-ibar" inDune is a combination of a Fremen religious manual and a desert survival book.[38][39]
In addition to Arabic,Dune derives words and names from a variety of other languages, includingNavajo,Latin,Dutch ("Landsraad"),Romani,Hebrew ("Kefitzat haderech", in Hebrew "קפיצת הדרך", meaning contracting of the path),Serbo-Croatian,Nahuatl,Greek,Persian,Sanskrit ("prana bindu", "prajna"),Russian,Turkish,Finnish, andOld English.[40][41]Bene Gesserit is part of the Latin legal phrasequamdiu se bene gesserit "as long as he shall behave himself well" seen in grants of certain offices (such as judgeships) meaning that the appointee shall remain in office so long as he shall not be guilty of abusing it. Some critics miss the connotation of the phrase, misled by the Latin future perfectgesserit, taking it over-literally (and adding an unwarranted passive) to mean "it will have been well borne", an interpretation which is not well supported by the Bene Gesserit doctrine in the story.[42][original research?]
Through the inspiration fromThe Sabres of Paradise, there are also allusions to the tsarist-eraRussian nobility andCossacks.[43] Frank Herbert stated that bureaucracy that lasted long enough would become a hereditary nobility, and a significant theme behind thearistocratic families inDune was "aristocratic bureaucracy" which he saw as analogous to theSoviet Union.[44][45]
Dune has been called the "first planetaryecology novel on a grand scale".[46] Herbert hoped it would be seen as an "environmental awareness handbook" and said the title was meant to "echo the sound of 'doom'".[47] It was reviewed in the best selling counterculturalWhole Earth Catalog in 1968 as a "rich re-readable fantasy with clear portrayal of the fierce environment it takes to cohere a community".[48]
After the publication ofSilent Spring byRachel Carson in 1962, science fiction writers began treating the subject of ecological change and its consequences.Dune responded in 1965 with its complex descriptions of Arrakis life, from giant sandworms (for whom water is deadly) to smaller, mouse-like life-forms adapted to live with limited water.Dune was followed in its creation of complex and unique ecologies by other science fiction books such asA Door into Ocean (1986) andRed Mars (1992).[46] Environmentalists have pointed out thatDune's popularity as a novel depicting a planet as a complex—almost living—thing, in combination with thefirst images of Earth from space being published in the same time period, strongly influenced environmental movements such as the establishment of the internationalEarth Day.[49]
The Imperium inDune contains features of various empires in Europe and theNear East, including theRoman Empire,Holy Roman Empire, andOttoman Empire.[52][33][53] Lorenzo DiTommaso comparedDune's portrayal of the downfall of a galactic empire toEdward Gibbon'sDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which argues thatChristianity allied with the profligacy of the Roman elite led to the fall ofAncient Rome. In "The Articulation of Imperial Decadence and Decline in Epic Science Fiction" (2007), DiTommaso outlines similarities between the two works by highlighting the excesses of the Emperor on his home planet of Kaitain and of the Baron Harkonnen in his palace. The Emperor loses his effectiveness as a ruler through an excess of ceremony and pomp. The hairdressers and attendants he brings with him to Arrakis are even referred to as "parasites". The Baron Harkonnen is similarly corrupt and materially indulgent. Gibbon'sDecline and Fall partly blames the fall of Rome on the rise of Christianity. Gibbon claimed that this exotic import from a conquered province weakened the soldiers of Rome and left it open to attack. The Emperor's Sardaukar fighters are little match for the Fremen of Dune not only because of the Sardaukar's overconfidence and the fact that Jessica and Paul have trained the Fremen in their battle tactics, but because of the Fremen's capacity for self-sacrifice. The Fremen put the community before themselves in every instance, while the world outside wallows in luxury at the expense of others.[54]
The decline and long peace of the Empire sets the stage for revolution and renewal bygenetic mixing of successful and unsuccessful groups through war, a process culminating in the Jihad led by Paul Atreides, described by Frank Herbert as depicting "war as a collective orgasm" (drawing on Norman Walter's 1950The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare),[55][56] themes that would reappear inGod Emperor of Dune'sScattering and Leto II's all-femaleFish Speaker army.
Gender dynamics are complex inDune. Herbert offers a multi-layered portrayal of gender roles within the context of a feudal, hierarchical society, particularly through the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. Although the Bene Gesserit tend to hold roles that are traditionally associated with women, such as wives, concubines, and mothers, their characters transcend stereotypes as they play politics and pursue long-term strategic goals. Full gender equality is not depicted inDune, but the Bene Gesserit use specialized training and access to high-ranking men to gain agency and power within the constraints of their environment. Their training in prana-bindu allows them to exert control over their minds and bodies, including over pregnancy, and they are skilled in hand-to-hand combat and use of the Voice to command others. Jessica's disobedience in bearing a son instead of daughter and training him in the Bene Gesserit Way is a major plot point that sets in motion the events of the novel.[57][58] By setting up certain women with leaders of certain Houses in the Imperium, the Bene Gesserit can control bloodlines across generations through their secret breeding program.[59] Even within the male-dominated Imperium, then, the Bene Gesserit wield reproductive power and choose which genetic markers to continue into the future.[60]
Reverend Mother Mohiam uses skills in Truthsaying to act as the Emperor's official Truthsayer and advisor. Her role can be considered similar to that ofabbesses in the medieval Church. Before Princess Irulan appears as a character who agrees to a political marriage with Paul, she acts as a historian who shapes the reader's interpretation of the story and Paul's legacy due to the excerpts from her writing that frame each chapter.[57][58]
Among the Fremen, women have roles as mothers and wives and also exercise agency through combat and religious authority. Fremen women and children have a reputation for being just as violent and dangerous as Fremen men. Chani travels with Stilgar in his military party, armed like the others. After becoming Paul's concubine, she kills one of the men who comes to challenge him. Alia leads an attack against the Emperor's Sardaukar and kills Baron Harkonnen with a gom jabbar. Women also take on the role of religious leaders. Chani is a Sayyadina who presides over tribal rituals such as Paul's worm-riding test, and Reverend Mother Ramallo carries the tribe's memories and passes them along to Jessica through theWater of Life ceremony. Within the male-led sietches, Fremen women find different avenues of authority.[61]
The gom jabbar test of humanity is administered by the female Bene Gesserit order but rarely to males.[62] The Bene Gesserit have seemingly mastered the unconscious and can play on the unconscious weaknesses of others using the Voice, yet their breeding program seeks after a male Kwisatz Haderach.[34] Their plan is to produce a male who can "possess complete racial memory, both male and female," and look into the black hole in the collective unconscious that they fear.[63] A central theme of the book is the connection, in Jessica's son, of this female aspect with his male aspect. This aligns with concepts inJungian psychology, which features conscious/unconscious and taking/giving roles associated with males and females, as well as the idea of the collective unconscious.[64] Paul's approach to power consistently requires his upbringing under the matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who operate as a long-dominatingshadow government behind all of the great houses and their marriages or divisions.[63] He is trained by Jessica in the Bene Gesserit Way, which includes prana-bindu training in nerve and muscle control and precise perception.[58] Paul also receives Mentat training, thus helping prepare him to be a type of androgynous Kwisatz Haderach, a male Reverend Mother.[63]
In a Bene Gesserit test early in the book, it is implied that people are generally "inhuman" in that they irrationally place desire over self-interest and reason.[citation needed] This applies Herbert's philosophy that humans are not created equal, while equal justice and equal opportunity are higher ideals than mental, physical, or moral equality.[65]
Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to manystories describing the birth of a hero.[67] He has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him. After a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale.[68][69] As such,Dune is representative of a general trend beginning in 1960s American science fiction in that it features a character who attains godlike status through scientific means.[70] Eventually, Paul Atreides gains a level of omniscience which allows him to take over the planet and the galaxy, and causes the Fremen of Arrakis to worship him like a god. Author Frank Herbert said in 1979, "The bottom line of theDune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better to rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes."[71] He wrote in 1985, "Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question."[72]
Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes ofDune from earlier heroes such asSuperman,van Vogt'sGilbert Gosseyn andHenry Kuttner's telepaths. Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress." And unlike other superheroes of the 1960s—who are the exception among ordinary people in their respective worlds—Herbert's characters grow their powers through "the application of mystical philosophies and techniques." For Herbert, the ordinary person can develop incredible fighting skills (Fremen, Ginaz swordsmen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Spacing Guild Navigators).[73]
Early in his newspaper career, Herbert was introduced toZen by twoJungian psychologists, Ralph and Irene Slattery, who "gave a crucial boost to his thinking".[74] Zen teachings ultimately had "a profound and continuing influence on [Herbert's] work".[74] Throughout theDune series and particularly inDune, Herbert employs concepts and forms borrowed fromZen Buddhism.[74][75] The Fremen are referred to asZensunni adherents, and many of Herbert's epigraphs are Zen-spirited.[76] In "Dune Genesis", Frank Herbert wrote:
What especially pleases me is to see the interwoven themes, the fugue like relationships of images that exactly replay the wayDune took shape. As in anEscher lithograph, I involved myself with recurrent themes that turn into paradox. The central paradox concerns the human vision of time. What about Paul's gift of prescience - thePresbyterian fixation? For theDelphic Oracle to perform, it must tangle itself in a web ofpredestination. Yet predestination negates surprises and, in fact, sets up a mathematically enclosed universe whose limits are always inconsistent, always encountering the unprovable. It's like akoan, a Zen mind breaker. It's like theCretanEpimenides saying, "All Cretans are liars."[65]
Brian Herbert called theDune universe "a spiritual melting pot", noting that his father incorporated elements of a variety of religions, includingBuddhism,Sufi mysticism and other Islamic belief systems,Catholicism,Protestantism,Judaism, andHinduism.[77] He added that Frank Herbert's fictional future in which "religious beliefs have combined into interesting forms" represents the author's solution to eliminating arguments between religions, each of which claimed to have "the one and only revelation."[77][78]
Tim O'Reilly suggests that Herbert also wroteDune as a counterpoint toIsaac Asimov'sFoundation series. In hismonograph on Frank Herbert, O'Reilly wrote that "Dune is clearly a commentary on theFoundation trilogy. Herbert has taken a look at the same imaginative situation that provoked Asimov's classic—the decay of a galactic empire—and restated it in a way that draws on different assumptions and suggests radically different conclusions. The twist he has introduced intoDune is thatthe Mule, not the Foundation, is his hero."[79] According to O'Reilly, Herbert bases the Bene Gesserit on the scientific shamans of the Foundation, though they use biological rather than statistical science.[79] In contrast to theFoundation series and its praise of science and rationality,Dune proposes that the unconscious and unexpected are actually what are needed for humanity.[79]
Both Herbert and Asimov explore the implications of prescience (i.e., visions of the future) both psychologically and socially. TheFoundation series deploys a broadly determinist approach to prescient vision rooted in mathematical reasoning on a macroscopic social level.Dune, by contrast, invents a biologically rooted power of prescience that becomes determinist when the user actively relies on it to navigate past an undefined threshold of detail. Herbert's eugenically produced and spice-enhanced prescience is also personalized to individual actors whose roles in later books constrain each other's visions, rendering the future more or less mutable as time progresses. In what might be a comment onFoundation, Herbert's most powerfully prescient being inGod Emperor of Dune laments the boredom engendered by prescience, and values surprises, especially regarding one's death, as a psychological necessity.[citation needed]
However, both works contain a similar theme of the restoration of civilization[80] and seem to make the fundamental assumption that "political maneuvering, the need to control material resources, and friendship or mating bonds will be fundamentally the same in the future as they are now."[81]
Dune tied withRoger Zelazny'sThis Immortal for theHugo Award in 1966[82] and won the inauguralNebula Award for Best Novel.[83] Reviews of the novel have been largely positive, andDune is considered by some critics to be the best science fiction book ever written.[84] The novel has been translated into dozens of languages, and has sold almost 20 million copies.[85]Dune has been regularly cited as one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.[86][3]
Arthur C. Clarke describedDune as "unique" and wrote, "I know nothing comparable to it exceptThe Lord of the Rings."[87]Robert A. Heinlein described the novel as "powerful, convincing, and most ingenious."[87][88] It was described as "one of the monuments of modern science fiction" by theChicago Tribune,[87] andP. Schuyler Miller calledDune "one of the landmarks of modern science fiction ... an amazing feat of creation."[88]The Washington Post described it as "a portrayal of an alien society more complete and deeply detailed than any other author in the field has managed ... a story absorbing equally for its action and philosophical vistas ... An astonishing science fiction phenomenon."[87][88]Algis Budrys praisedDune for the vividness of its imagined setting, saying "The time lives. It breathes, it speaks, and Herbert has smelt it in his nostrils". He found that the novel, however, "turns flat and tails off at the end. ... [T]ruly effective villains simply simper and melt; fierce men and cunning statesmen and seeresses all bend before this new Messiah". Budrys faulted in particular Herbert's decision to kill Paul's infant son offstage, with no apparent emotional impact, saying "you cannot be so busy saving a world that you cannot hear an infant shriek".[89] After criticizing unrealistic science fiction,Carl Sagan in 1978 listedDune as among stories "that are so tautly constructed, so rich in the accommodating details of an unfamiliar society that they sweep me along before I have even a chance to be critical".[90]
The Louisville Times wrote, "Herbert's creation of this universe, with its intricate development and analysis of ecology, religion, politics, and philosophy, remains one of the supreme and seminal achievements in science fiction."[88] Writing forThe New Yorker, Jon Michaud praised Herbert's "clever authorial decision" to exclude robots and computers ("two staples of the genre") from his fictional universe, but suggested that this may be one explanation whyDune lacks "true fandom among science-fiction fans" to the extent that it "has not penetrated popular culture in the way thatThe Lord of the Rings andStar Wars have".[14] Tamara I. Hladik wrote that the story "crafts a universe where lesser novels promulgate excuses for sequels. All its rich elements are in balance and plausible—not the patchwork confederacy of made-up languages, contrived customs, and meaningless histories that are the hallmark of so many other, lesser novels."[91]
J. R. R. Tolkien refused to reviewDune, on the grounds that he disliked it "with some intensity" and thus felt it would be unfair to Herbert, another working author, if he gave an honest review of the book.[93]
Thefirst edition ofDune is one of the most valuable in science fictionbook collecting. Copies have been sold for more than $20,000 at auction.[94]
California State University, Fullerton's Pollak Library has several of Herbert's draft manuscripts ofDune and other works, with the author's notes, in their Frank Herbert Archives.[95]
AfterDune proved to be a critical and financial success for Herbert, he was able to devote himself full time to writing additional novels in the series. He had already drafted parts of the second and third while writingDune.[14] The series includedDune Messiah (1969),Children of Dune (1976),God Emperor of Dune (1981),Heretics of Dune (1984), andChapterhouse: Dune (1985), each sequentially continuing on the narrative fromDune. Herbert died on February 11, 1986.[96]
Herbert's son,Brian Herbert, had found several thousand pages of notes left by his father that outlined ideas for other narratives related toDune. Brian Herbert enlisted authorKevin J. Anderson to help build outprequel novels to the events ofDune. Brian Herbert's and Anderson'sDune prequels first started publication in 1999, and have led to additional stories that take place between those of Frank Herbert's books.[97] The notes for what would have beenDune 7 also enabled them to publishHunters of Dune (2006) andSandworms of Dune (2007), sequels to Frank Herbert's final novelChapterhouse: Dune, which complete the chronological progression of his original series, and wrap up storylines that began inHeretics of Dune.
Dune has been considered an "unfilmable" and "uncontainable" work to adapt from novel to film or other visual medium.[98] Described byWired, "It has four appendices and a glossary of its own gibberish, and its action takes place on two planets, one of which is a desert overrun by worms the size of airport runways. Lots of important people die or try to kill each other, and they're all tethered to about eight entangled subplots."[99] There have been several attempts to achieve this difficult conversion with various degrees of success.[100]
In 1971, the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed byArthur P. Jacobs) optioned therights to filmDune. As Jacobs was busy with other projects, such as the sequel toPlanet of the Apes,Dune was delayed for another year. Jacobs' first choice for director wasDavid Lean, but he turned down the offer.Charles Jarrott was also considered to direct. Work was also under way on a script while the hunt for a director continued. Initially, the first treatment had been handled byRobert Greenhut, the producer who had lobbied Jacobs to make the movie in the first place, but subsequentlyRospo Pallenberg was approached to write the script, with shooting scheduled to begin in 1974. However, Jacobs died in 1973.[101]
Dalí was cast as the Emperor.[102] Dalí later demanded to be paid $100,000 per hour; Jodorowsky agreed, but tailored Dalí's part to be filmed in one hour, drafting plans for other scenes of the emperor to use a mechanical mannequin as substitute for Dalí.[102] According to Giger, Dalí was "later invited to leave the film because of his pro-Franco statements".[104] Just as the storyboards, designs, and script were finished, the financial backing dried up. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phone book", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. Jodorowsky said in 1985 that he found theDune story mythical and had intended to re-create it rather than adapt the novel; though he had an "enthusiastic admiration" for Herbert, Jodorowsky said he had done everything possible to distance the author and his input from the project.[102] Although Jodorowsky was embittered by the experience, he said theDune project changed his life, and some of the ideas were used in his and Moebius'sThe Incal.[105] O'Bannon entered a psychiatric hospital after the production failed, then worked on 13 scripts, the last of which becameAlien.[102] A 2013 documentary,Jodorowsky's Dune, was made about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at an adaptation.
In 1976,Dino De Laurentiis acquired the rights from Gibon's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired directorRidley Scott in 1979, withRudy Wurlitzer writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production; Scott and Giger had also just worked together on the filmAlien, after O'Bannon recommended the artist.[106][107] Scott intended to split the novel into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, usingThe Battle of Algiers as a point of reference, before moving on to direct another science fiction film,Blade Runner (1982). As he recalls, the pre-production process was slow, and finishing the project would have been even more time-intensive:
But after seven months I dropped out ofDune, by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's. But I also realisedDune was going to take a lot more work—at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my older brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him theDune script was his.
—FromRidley Scott: The Making of his Movies by Paul M. Sammon
A draft of the screenplay for the Scott version was discovered in 2024 in theWheaton College archives.[108]
In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis re-negotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to theDune sequels (written and unwritten). After seeingThe Elephant Man, De Laurentiis' daughterRaffaella decided thatDavid Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time Lynch received several other directing offers, includingReturn of the Jedi. He agreed to directDune and write the screenplay even though he had not read the book, was not familiar with the story, or even been interested in science fiction.[109] Lynch worked on the script for six months withEric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script before it split over creative differences. Lynch would subsequently work on five more drafts. Production of the work was troubled by problems at the Mexican studio and hampering the film's timeline.[110] Lynch ended up producing a nearly three-hour long film, but at demands fromUniversal Pictures, the film's distributor, he cut it back to about two hours, hastily filming additional scenes to make up for some of the cut footage.[111]
Thisfirst film ofDune, directed by Lynch, was released in 1984, nearly 20 years after the book's publication. Though Herbert said the book's depth and symbolism seemed to intimidate many filmmakers, he was pleased with the film, saying that "They've got it. It begins asDune does. And I hear my dialogue all the way through. There are some interpretations and liberties, but you're gonna come out knowing you've seenDune."[112] Reviews of the film were negative, saying that it was incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the book, and that fans would be disappointed by the way it strayed from the book's plot.[113][114][115][98][116] Upon release for television and other forms of home media, Universal opted to reintroduce much of the footage that Lynch had cut, creating an over-three-hour long version with extensive monologue exposition. Lynch was extremely displeased with this move, and demanded that Universal replace his name on these cuts with the pseudonym "Alan Smithee", and has generally distanced himself from the film since.[111]
In 2008,Paramount Pictures announced that they would produce a new film based on the book, withPeter Berg attached to direct.[118] ProducerKevin Misher, who spent a year securing the rights from the Herbert estate, was to be joined by Richard Rubinstein and John Harrison (of both Sci-Fi Channel miniseries) as well as Sarah Aubrey and Mike Messina.[118] The producers stated that they were going for a "faithful adaptation" of the novel and considered "its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely".[118] Science fiction authorKevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert's sonBrian Herbert, who had together written multipleDunesequels andprequels since 1999, were attached to the project as technical advisors.[119] In October 2009, Berg dropped out of the project, later saying that it "for a variety of reasons wasn't the right thing" for him.[120] Subsequently, with a script draft by Joshua Zetumer, Paramount reportedly sought a new director who could do the film for under $175 million.[121] In 2010,Pierre Morel was signed on to direct, with screenwriter Chase Palmer incorporating Morel's vision of the project into Zetumer's original draft.[122][123] By November 2010, Morel left the project.[124] Paramount finally dropped plans for a remake in March 2011.[125]
A sequel,Dune: Part Two, was scheduled for release on November 3, 2023,[150] but was released on March 1, 2024, due to the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[151] It had its world premiere at theOdeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, on February 15, 2024, and opened in the United States on March 1. It received critical acclaim especially for its visual effects and has grossed over $711 million worldwide, making it thefourth-highest-grossing film of 2024.
In 1977,David Matthews became one of the first artists to dedicate an entire composition toDune, publishing an album of the same name onCTI Records.[161]
In 1978, Frenchelectronic musicianRichard Pinhas released the nine-trackDune-inspired albumChronolyse, which includes the seven-partVariations sur le thème des Bene Gesserit.[162]
In 1979, German electronic music pioneerKlaus Schulze released an LP titledDune featuring motifs and lyrics inspired by the novel.[163]
A similar musical project,Visions of Dune, was released also in 1979 by Zed (a pseudonym of French electronic musician Bernard Sjazner).[164]
1981 Frenchzeuhl bandDün released their albumEros which was inspired by the Dune novel, also their band nameDün was a short form from their temporary nameDune.[165]
Heavy metal bandIron Maiden wrote the song "To Tame a Land" based on theDune story. It appears as the closing track to their 1983 albumPiece of Mind. The original working title of the song was "Dune"; however, the band was denied permission to use it, with Frank Herbert's agents stating "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden".[166]
The song "Near Fantastica", from the Matthew Good albumAvalanche, makes reference to the "litany against fear", repeating "can't feel fear, fear's the mind killer" through a section of the song.[172]
In the Fatboy Slim song "Weapon of Choice", the line "If you walk without rhythm/You won't attract the worm" is a near quotation from the sections of novel in which Stilgar teaches Paul to ride sandworms.Christopher Walken, who would later star inDune: Part Two as Emperor Shaddam IV, appears in the music video.[173]
Dune also inspired the 1999 albumThe 2nd Moon by the German death metal bandGolem, which is aconcept album about the series.[174]
The song "The Eyes of Ibad" fromPanchiko's 2000 EPD>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, takes its name fromDune, referencing the blue-in-blue eyes of the Fremen.
In 2015, the Baltimore-based band Tendrills released a psych rock album called10,191. The album's title, sound, emotionality, and some of its lyrics were inspired by the Dune novels.[179]
Japanese singerKenshi Yonezu, released a song titled "Dune", also known as "Sand Planet". The song was released on 2017, and it was created using the voice synthesizerHatsune Miku for her 10th anniversary.[180]
Sleep's 2018 albumThe Sciences features a song, Giza Butler, that references several aspects ofDune.[181]
Tool's 2019 albumFear Inoculum has a song entitled "Litanie contre la peur (Litany against fear)".[182]
"Rare to Wake", fromShannon Lay's albumGeist (2019), is inspired byDune.[183]
Heavy Metal bandDiamond Head based the song "The Sleeper" and its prelude, both off the album The Coffin Train, on the series.
The online gameLost Souls includesDune-derived elements, including sandworms and melange—addiction to which can produce psychic talents.[185] The 2016 gameEnter the Gungeon features the spice melange as a random item which gives the player progressively stronger abilities and penalties with repeated uses, mirroring the long-term effects melange has on users.[186]
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^The Road to Dune, p. 272."...Frank Herbert toyed with the story about a desert world full of hazards and riches. He plotted a short adventure novel,Spice Planet, but he set that outline aside when his concept grew into something much more ambitious."
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^Herbert, Frank (February 3, 1969)."Interview with Dr. Willis E. McNelly". Sinanvural.com.Archived from the original on February 13, 2002. RetrievedJanuary 26, 2010.During my studies of deserts, of course, and previous studies of religions, we all know that many religions began in a desert atmosphere, so I decided to put the two together because I don't think that any one story should have any one thread. I build on a layer technique, and of course putting in religion and religious ideas you can play one against the other.
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