Dune: Difference between revisions

{{work|wppage=Dune (novel)}}

{{quote|''"I must not fear.<br />

''Fear is the mind-killer."''|from the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear}}

{{quote|''"Arrakis, Dune, Desert Planet.''|Paul Atreides in the beginning for the first book}}

The first two sequels, ''Dune Messiah'' and ''Children of Dune'', conclude Paul's story as he comes to realize that prescience is a trap - by seeing into the future, one dooms oneself to [[Prescience Is Predictable|live out that vision]]. In spite of Paul's best efforts to prevent it, the war he began on Arrakis has become an interstellar jihad that has sterilized entire planets and left him one of [[Hero Withwith Bad Publicity|history's greatest murderers]].

The final two novels by Frank Herbert, ''Heretics of Dune'' and ''Chapterhouse Dune'', occur 5000 years after that. After the dark ages brought on by Leto's death, there is no Empire anymore. The sandworms have returned to Arrakis, but after thousands of years of research spice has been synthesized in the laboratory, rendering it a backwater once more. The Bene Gesserit sisters, now the dominant power in the galaxy (and whose leaders are now descendants of Duncan and Siona), find themselves in a struggle for their very existence as the legacy of Leto's tyranny comes back to haunt them in the form of the "Honored Matres" - schismatic Bene Gesserits who fled the galaxy as a result of his persecution, and who in the absence of the spice produced an entirely new culture that relies on sex as a weapon and a tool of brainwashing. The sisters' hopes rest in an attempt to recreate Arrakis on their capital world of Chapterhouse and in a new clone of Duncan Idaho who might be a new Kwizatz Haderach, or something even ''more'' powerful and frightening. Herbert died before completing the final story in the "second trilogy" beginning with ''Heretics''.

In the 2000s, Brian Herbert and [[Kevin J. Anderson]] said they used notes from Herbert found in a safety deposit box to write prequels and two sequels to the Dune series. These books comprise ten novels overall - the "Legends of Dune" trilogy which covers the rise of the Empire and the Spacing Guild some 10,000 years prior to the original novel; the "Prelude To Dune" trilogy which follows the conflict between Leto Atreides and Vladimir Harkonnen in the years prior to Paul's birth; ''Hunters of Dune'' and ''Sandworms of Dune'', two sequels which complete the second trilogy started by the elder Herbert; and ''Paul of Dune'' and ''The Winds of Dune'', a pair of [[Interquel|Interquels]]s set between the novels of the original trilogy. Unfortunately, they were not very well received. FHM magazine once speculated that while they may have begun with notes from a deposit box, by the time of the last books they were down to a Post-it Frank left on the fridge saying "NOTE: Write more Dune books". ''[[Penny Arcade]]'''s assessment of these books was rather.... [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/10/15 blunt.]

''Dune'' has been [[The Film of the Book|adapted into movie form]] twicethree times:

* From the early 1970's1970s on, attempts were made to produce a theatrical film. Cult director [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]] (known for incredibly bizarre films such as ''[[El Topo]]'' and ''[[The Holy Mountain]]'' and equally strange or stranger comic books) came to the project after having a bizarre dream almost identical to the broader plot of the first novel and then hearing about a book of almost exactly the same story. Convinced that there was something more here he resolved to make '''a movie based on his dream,''' with bits of the book itself thrown in (that's not hyperbole, that's his stated agenda). Comic artist Moebius and fellow [[Heavy Metal (Music)|Heavy Metal]] writer/artist Dan O'Bannon (also responsible for the concept art and a decent chunk of the screenplay for ''[[Alien]]'') worked on concept art and designs, as well as ''[[Aliens]]'' designer [[HRH. R. Giger]], whose work actually ended up in the final film in small doses. Salvador Dali was cast as the Emperor (which is not nearly as ridiculous as it sounds to non-''Dune'' fans) and [[Pink Floyd]] had agreed to provide the score. [[What Could Have Been|Sadly, and inevitably, it fell apart.]]

* The producers turned to a hot new director who had been considered for ''[[Star Wars|Return of the Jedi]],'' mostly because of George Lucas' [[What Could Have Been|still-intense passion for experimental film]], mostly on the strength of his classic [[Eraserhead|first film]] and a critically and commercially successful [[The Elephant Man|biopic]] that made him a true commodity in the industry. That man's name: [[David Lynch]], who took the project and made it his own to only a slightly lesser extent than Jodorowsky would have. Due to his alien style and the sheer scale of the book, the already-complex narrative became nearly incomprehensible to some viewers; many theaters handed out [[All There in the Manual|printed plot summaries]] to patrons. Ironically, the altered cut made more understandable to be commercially viable for television was ''even longer'' than the existing film, running about '''four hours''' with commercials, and included, among other things, altered narration and a lengthier prologue. Lynch was incensed that the studio had [[Executive Meddling|recut his movie]] behind his back; he had himself credited for director as [[Alan Smithee]] and as ''[[Meaningful Name|Judas Booth]]''<ref>(as in John Wilkes; a name he has signed at least once as an autograph at the request of a fan)</ref> for his screenwriting credit. The 1984 Lynch version of ''Dune'' is the most memorable and notorious for its [[Scenery Porn|elaborate and immersive set design]], and carried some holdovers from the Jodorowsky version, including Giger's designs. Subsequent recut and extended versions have inspired [[Broken Base|varying]] degrees of critical [[Love It or Hate It|reappraisal]]. It was a complete flop at the box office and has become both a [[Cult Classic]], and an example of how ''not'' to make a blockbuster.

* In 2000, the [[SciSyfy]] Fi(then still the "SciFi Channel]]") produced a three-part miniseries adaptation of the novel. This version followed the plot of the book much more closely, but had a ridiculously small budget, [[Ascended Extra|and gave several characters expanded roles]] while paring others down to bare bones or removing them entirely. The Sci-Fi Channel also adapted ''Messiah'' and ''Children'' into a second three-part miniseries in 2003, which was substantially better in some people's opinion (though its ending was much more ambiguous than that of the novel and doesn't provide a suitable lead-in to ''God Emperor''.)

''Dune'' also served as the inspiration for several popular video games, most notably ''[[Dune II (Video Game)|Dune II]]: The Building of A Dynasty'' which is the [[Ur Example]] of the modern [[Real Time Strategy]] game.

* [[Accidental Marriage]]: Paul, before adapting to Fremen culture, asks Chani to carry his water tokens for him without realizing that only a betrothed does this for a man, making his offer tantamount to a proposal. Played with in that the only result is a moment of shock and then an embarrassed explanation to Paul of what he just did. Stilgar then orders Chani to carry the water tokens anyway out of survival necessity,<ref>They're on patrol in hostile territory and cannot afford to make any noise, but Paul doesn't yet know how to wrap a bunch of small clinking objects so that they don't jingle when carried, which is the entire reason he asked Chani to do it for him in the first place.</ref> but with the clear pronouncement that it does ''not'' place Chani under any obligation. (Paul later on ''does'' marry Chani, but his proposal in that instance is entirely deliberate.)

* [[Achilles' Heel]]: Leto II, at the end of ''Children of Dune'' [[Biological Mashup|combines his body with a sandworm]] to extend his life by thousands of years and gain immunity to almost every form of physical damage, also inherits the sandworms' [[Kill It Withwith Water|vulnerability to water]]. Of course, this is intentional and part of his plan.

* [[Action Girl]] / [[Action Mom]]:

** Chani.

* [[Aerith and Bob]]: While the first book introduces many distinctly-European names, such as Paul, Jessica, Gurney, and Duncan (even Baron Harkonnen, whose first name is Vladimir), the names get far more exotic as the cast fills out throughout the series. Notable examples include Hasimir Fenring, Hwi Noree, many Fremen, and the Latin-European-Greek full names of the Bene Gesserit.

* [[Aesoptinum]] / [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]] : The Spice. It's one of the few clear-cut allegories in the book - a precious resource absolutely vital to the economy, much like gold in past eras and oil today. To hammer the point home, Herbert even compared the CHOAM company (which oversees the Imperium's commerce, including spice procurement) in one interview to [[Real Life]] international trade organizations, including OPEC. As for the [[Aesop]] : [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|Humans Are Greedy Bastards]] and will often do anything in order to collect as much spice as possible, including armed conflicts, espionage, assasinations, and a great variety of immoral acts, all out of blind wilfulness and greed. Thus, Paul (and later Leto II) act against humanity's immediate desires in order to save it from itself.

* [[Agony Beam]]/[[Hand in Thethe Hole]]/[[Life or Limb Decision]]: The ritual of the gom jabbar is a test employed by the Bene Gesserit, performed by requiring the examinee to put her hand into a box that causes [[Agony Beam|excruciating pain]] by nerve induction. A poison-coated needle -- theneedle—the gom jabbar itself -- isitself—is then held to the "victim's" neck with the threat of instant death should she withdraw her hand without permission. The test is whether the person can master her instinctive desire to flee the pain, thus proving her "humanity". Paul Atreides is one of the few males to be administered the test, and his passing of it is seen as a sign of his future role as the [[The Chosen One|Kwisatz Haderach]].

{{quote| "He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained."}}

* [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot]]

** In addition it's implied that the (3000-year) reign of the Leto II has in effect become a calendar.

* [[Amazon Brigade]]:

* [[A Nazi Byby Any Other Name]]: Frank Herbert stated he based the Harkonnens on the Nazis.

* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: Probably the only exception is Duke Leto. And even then, only maybe. Averted in the prequels -- theprequels—the Atreides are almost always benevolent, and the Ecazi, Richese, and Vernius families are more or less good. Too bad [[Being Good Sucks]]. A few more good ones in the prequels describing the Butlerian Jihad, including some of the Butlers, Tantors, and Porce Bludd (but not his great-uncle Niko Bludd, a complete [[Jerkass]]).

* [[As You Know]]: Literally entire chapters of it. One chapter begins with the villain introducing himself ''by name'' to his henchmen -- "Is it not a magnificent thing that I, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnnen, do?" -- and—and continues with him explaining his plan to the henchman who helped him to devise it. Justified in that (a) they were recapitulating their plan for the benefit of Feyd-Rautha, whose patience and attention span were equally short; and (b) the Baron himself is a ''gloriously [[Large Ham]], and arrogant to boot.

** "Ah-h-h-h-h."

* [[The Battlestar]]: The ''Ballista''-class battleships are the main warships used by the League Armada in the prequels. Besides formidable weaponry, they carry 20 troop transports, 15 shuttles, 50 patrol craft, and 200 ''Kindjal'' [[Space Fighter|Space Fighters]]s. Each one also has a crew of 1500. They are later equipped with [[Deflector Shields]] and Holtzmann drives.

{{quote| The Galacian girls do it for pearls,<br />

And the Arrakeen for water!<br />

But if you desire dames like consuming flames,<br />

* [[Beastly Bloodsports]]: Duke Leto's father was killed in a bullfight. The prequels by Brian Herbert added that the bull that killed him was hopped up on stimulants rather than sedated like it should have been. A tool of assassination. The original didn't attribute any foul play.

* [[Bedouin Rescue Service]]: In ''[[Dune]]'', Jessica and Paul Atreides are rescued by Fremen. They then have to jump through religious hoops and trial by personal combat to prove that they're ''worth'' saving. Of course, they were deliberately seeking out the Fremen, and the Fremen were primed by the religious mythos seeded by the Missionaria Protectiva to look for a Messiah, which Paul and Jessica were trained to exploit. Otherwise they'd have been killed out of hand. Additionally, many Fremen tribes were warned by their leader, Liet, to watch for Jessica and Paul. The novel lays this out clearly through a scene where Liet-Kynes helps them hide from the Harkonnens.

* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: The novels are consistently and deliberately ambiguous about the relative morality of each of the various factions. House Atreides, the most conventionally moral of the Great Houses depicted in the story, is made to pay heavily for its idealism, and even that is called into question by the prequels. Paul slaughters billions under the godhead of the Madhinate, and his son Leto II is the greatest tyrant in history; yet both claimed their actions were necessary to avoid an even greater catastrophe -- thecatastrophe—the complete and total extinction of humanity. The Bene Gesserit are similarly portrayed as scheming witches, yet by the time of ''Heretics of Dune'' and ''Chapterhouse: Dune'', they have inherited the responsibility of safeguarding humanity's future.

* [[Blessed Withwith Suck]]: You can see the future. All of it. Every twist, turn, nook, and cranny. There are no surprises. There is no escape. You will never live something that you have not already foreseen. It's even worse for Alia: she has access to the genetic memory of all her ancestors. Unfortunately, this includes her grandfather, [[Complete Monster|Baron Vladimir Harkonnen]].

* [[Brain In Aa Jar]]: The prequels have brain-jar villains riding around in [[Humongous Mecha|giant war machines]] ([[Rule of Cool|just because they can]]), who cause the [[Robot War|Butlerian Jihad]] through poor programming of their [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|computerized inside "man"]] and wind up as minions/slaves themselves. Besides the Titans ([[Humongous Mecha|giant war machines]] ), are the Cogitors, humans who gave up their bodies to spend millennia contemplating the mysteries of the universe. As a group they have declared themselves neutral in the war where humanity is being exterminated like rats.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: A very disturbing example from ''House Harkonnen'' is the prolonged and violent forced prostitution (and eventual [[Kill the Cutie|murder]]) of Gurney Halleck's gentle younger sister Bheth. First she is kidnapped by the Harkonnens for trying to protect her brother. Then they cut out her larynx so she can't do more than scream wordlessly. Next she is subjected to 6 years (starting at age 17) of sadistic rape and torture by a recorded 4620 Harkonnan soldiers. Rabban finally kills her in retribution of Gurney's attempt on his life.

* [[By the Eyes of Thethe Blind]], [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]]: Siona and her descendants cannot be detected by prescience.

* [[The Caligula]]: The Harkonnens are pretty much an entire family of Caligulas. Gladiatorial death sports, hunting humans as game, [[Perverse Sexual Lust]], murdering random servants, obscenely expensive luxuries, drug addiction, torture as entertainment--theyentertainment—they did it all.

** Mentats as well are "human computers". They are trained to possess photographic memories and deduce perfectly logical conclusions from the barest minimum of information. A Mentat Advisor is one of the most valuable assets that a noble house can have; when he first landed on Arrakis, Paul had just found that he had potential Mentat capabilities himself -- tohimself—to quote Duke Leto, "a Mentat ''Duke'' would be formidable indeed". And, later, a Mentat Kwisatz Haderach. Miles Teg in the later novels is a mentat generalissimo. But just try using one as an iPod.

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: "Princess Irulan," the lady who's writing the [[Encyclopedia Exposita]] about Paul from which the novel's [[Epigraph|Epigraphs]]s come. Even though her name has been on every fifth page of the book, she doesn't show up ''in person'' until the last 20 or so, and we don't learn until the very last page (or, if you prefer, for another two books) just ''why'' she's [[All Love Is Unrequited|so interested in chronicling him]].

* [[Coca -Pepsi, Inc.]]: Perhaps the most famous example in science fiction. Due to thousands of years of space migration, various religions and cultures have merged, split, then re-merged again and again. The Fremen are Zensunni, a combination of Sunni Islam and Zen Buddhism. Though most of this occurred naturally, it eventually was pushed this way by an ecumenical council that produced the "Orange Catholic Bible". The title suggests a reunification of Catholicism and Protestantism (the militant, anti-Catholic Protestant Irish Orangists), although it is actually far more ecumenical, incorporating "Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism and Buddislamic traditions".

* [[ColourColor-Coded for Your Convenience]]: The novels have the Harkonnens in blue, the Atreides in green (presumably referencing Islam), Reverend Mothers in black aba robes, and Spacing Guild representatives in grey, denoting their neutral status.

* [[Con Lang]]: Many of the phrases and terms used throughout the book have some basis in real-world languages. The Fremen speak a clear development of Arabic. Galach, the official language of the Imperium, is described as an Anglo-Slavic hybrid with some other tongues mixed in for good measure -- andmeasure—and it shows... in the rare instances when we get to read some actual untranslated phrases from it.

* [[Cool Chair]]: The Emperor's throne is described as "massive chair carved from a single piece of Hagal quartz". In ''Dune Messiah'' this is changed to "Hagar emerald" (probably a typo).

* [[Cyanide Pill]]: Yueh gives Duke Leto a poison-gas tooth so that he can kill the Baron Harkonnen. This makes Leto something of a kamikaze -- butkamikaze—but an unsuccessful one, as the gas only kills Piter.

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: Yueh, who anticipates the Baron having already killed his wife and planning to kill him [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|once he outlived his usefulness]], devises a plan to [[Taking You Withwith Me|take the Baron with him]]. It doesn't kill him, but it does kill Piter.

* [[Dead Guy Onon Display]]: Paul displays his father's skull in a small memorial.

* [[Death Byby Childbirth]]: {{spoiler|Chani}}

* [[Death Byby Origin Story]]: The prequels reveal that both Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck grew up on Geidi Prime and lost family members to Rabban's ruthlessness, which is how they ended up fleeing to Caladan and signing up with the Atreides (at different times). Duncan's parents were killed by Rabban right in front of him for refusing to be the prey in their [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]. Gurney's little sister was taken by Harkonnen troops, repeatedly [[Rape Asas Drama|raped]] and had her legs amputated. When Gurney attempted to rescue her, Rabban publicly raped and killed her.

** It's mentioned during Paul's fight with Gurney that the air was becoming stale because it couldn't be exchanged. (A deflector shield which keeps out fast-moving objects would isolate the wearer from things like, well, oxygen -- individualoxygen—individual molecules of which drift around at [[wikipedia:Kinetic theory|several hundred metres a second]] even at room temperature.)

* [[Deconstructor Fleet]]: For [[The Chosen One]], the [[Messianic Archetype]], and [[The Hero|hero]] tropes in general.

* [[Deus Est Machina]]: The backstory suggests humanity once created machines so advanced that life became incredibly easy and comfortable. It is implied that humans (or at least a large number of [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|fanatics]]) became so abhorred by their perceived over-reliance on intelligent machines (and advanced computer technology in general) that they initiated the Butlerian Jihad, a violent purge of all Artificial Intelligence and advanced computers. When the Jihad ended, it became a crime by religious and secular law to create advanced computers (the chief commandment resulting from this war is that "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind"), with all of their functions in calculation and space travel adopted by specialized humans (who arguably become a human form of this trope). The prequel novels which detail the Butlerian Jihad as a more straightforward [[Robot War]] against oppressive ruler [[A Is]] did, of course, piss off the fans most mightily.

{{quote| "Did you think that I, who have given my life to the service of the Atreides, would give them less now?"}}

* [[Doing It for Thethe Art]]: ''Dune'' contains a sprawling universe adorned with myriad details and complicated histories, economics, and ecology. Frank Herbert loved to [[Shown Their Work|show his work]], as detailed below. It began as work for a newspaper article ("They Stopped the Moving Sands"), but he became so enthralled that it became a passionate epic. He never even got around to finishing that article.

* [[The Dragon]]: Subverted with both Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Hasimir Fenring. Feyd-Rautha fought Paul Atreides on behalf of the Emperor, but only because he saw killing Paul as a stepping-stone to the throne; and Fenring was such a deadly fighter that the Emperor knew he could kill an exhausted Paul after his previous fight with Feyd -- onlyFeyd—only for Fenring to realize that he and Paul are [[Not So Different]].

* [[Dragon Withwith an Agenda]]: {{spoiler|Logno manages to slip poison into Dama's drink in order to assume the role of Great Honored Matre toward the end of ''Chapterhouse''.}} Not that it does her much good.

* [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]]: The Bene Gesserit stress emotional control at all times as both proof of humanity and a basic survival tool with the [[Survival Mantra|Litany Against Fear]]. Unlike [[Star Trek (Franchise)|Vulcans]], they're more than happy to use emotion as a tool to manipulate others - their emphasis is control, not denial. And it later turns out to be a weakness that Odrade (and {{spoiler|Murbella}}) must reverse.

** The [[Brain In Aa Jar|cymek]] [[Humongous Mecha|titans]] from the prequels, who were philosopher kings and scientists, particularly ones that dealt with robotics, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence.

* [[Precious Puppy]]: Tleilaxu [[Call a Smeerp Aa Rabbit|chairdogs]]! They bleed and squeak when Honored Matres abuse them.

* [[Evil Matriarch]]: In the prequels, Duke Leto Atreides' mother, Helena, is generally a thorn in the side of the Atreides household, {{spoiler|and hatches a plot to kill her husband, the Old Duke Paulus. She is eventually exiled to the Sisters in Isolation to spend the rest of her life.}} She is also a Bible-thumper and hates the Ixians supposedly due to their (alleged) violations of the no-AI rule, but mostly because House Vernius (the rulers of Ix) beat her own House Richese in the technological and economic game. Anything bad that happens to the Ixians is God's will in her mind.<br /><br />When Paul shows up on the doorstep of the Sisters retreat, Helena at first wants nothing to do with her grandson, even though he is being hunted by assassins.

* [[Fantastic Slur]]: After becoming "cymeks", the Titans began to view normal humans as inferior creatures and invented an insulting term for them - "hrethgir". When [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|Omnius]] took power from the Titans, he shared the Titans' view of humans and kept using the term. His final defense against the Army of Humanity is a group of cargo ships filled with millions of human slaves and rigged to blow if the human fleet passes a certain threshold. He calls it the Bridge of Hrethgir.

* [[Fantasy Gun Control]]: Firearms exist in large numbers but they have been rendered as secondary weapons due to the prevalence of personal [[Deflector Shields|force shields]]. Force shields can, however, be penetrated by close combat techniques, so those are the dominant means of warfare. Laser weapons are also highly limited since a laser beam hitting a force shield cause both the gun and the shield generator to explode with enormous power. Which means that some uses of shields are only practical because shooting them with lasers is physically equivalent to using nukes.<br /><br />[[Subverted Trope|Subverted]], however, when it turns out that using personal force shields on Arrakis attracts sandworms. One of the common Fremen weapons is the "maula pistol", essentially a spring-loaded slugthrower. And also when Baron Harkonnen uses old-fashioned artillery to trap the retreating Atreides soldiers in caves.

* [[Feuding Families]]: Feuding families are so prevalent in the Dune universe that it has evolved into an art form. There's "Kanly", which is an officially sanctioned House-to-House vendetta, and the all-out War of Assassins, which is just what it sounds like. The rules are codified in the Great Convention, which sets out exactly who are the acceptable targets and what weapons or poisons are permitted. Noble families in the Dune universe accept the fact that you can be knifed in the back at any time as just another hazard of the job.

* [[Feudal Future]]: [[The Empire]] is intentionally set up this way. The novels themselves are considered to be the [[Trope Codifier]].

** Dr. Yueh's wife, Wanna, is revealed by [[Epistolary]] to be dead long before she, or he, ''or'' [[I Have Your Wife|the nature of their relationship]], is even introduced.

** In ''Dune Messiah'', the conclusion is hinted at in the second chapter, and by halfway through the novel, the protagonist has a prescient dream in which he foresees the entire rest of the story. The vision guides him even after his eyes get burned out by nuclear radiation. By twenty pages before the climax (a substantial portion of the just 200-page book) it's a definite [[Foregone Conclusion]], except for the [[Plot Twist]] in which Paul foresees only the birth of his daughter, and not her far more significant twin brother -- becausebrother—because he's the one who will ultimately take the reins of prophecy from Paul.

* [[Gender Incompetence]]: In ''Dune'', it seems to be something of a theme to have an all-female society with strange and terrible powers suddenly have to deal with a man with those exact same powers, only several jillion times stronger. According to certain throwaway lines regarding Norma Cenva in ''God-Emperor Of Dune'', there have been genderswapped variants of this in the past as well.<br /><br />It's stated that the limit of the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers was that their training to particularly feminine/maternal instincts meant that they couldn't access their male ancestry in their Other Memory. The Kwisatz Haderach was intended to overcome this weakness (as well as having other capabilities), which would require a male trained in Bene Gesserit ways. Note the fact that the Gesserit ''wanted'' to have a Kwisatz Haderach, but he ended up coming a generation too early for their plans -- and then refusing to go along with them.

* [[Gender -Restricted Ability]]: Only women could be Bene Gesserit. They had a long standing breeding program to try and create a male Bene Gesserit.

* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: The ''Dune'' universe is positively riddled with words seemingly inspired by or derived from Arabic and Farsi (most of the future religions have some Islam in them). Even Hebrew shows up once or twice. Amongst other things, ''K'fitzat ha'derekh'' (compare to Dune's ''Kwisatz Haderach'') is a magical ability ascribed to some real-world Chassidic holy men -- specificallymen—specifically, the ability to teleport. The twins speak French, because it's a dead language at this time, so nobody else could possibly understand them.<br /><br />The name of the hunting-language Chakobsa just might be the only time a [[wikipedia:Circassian language|Circassian]] language has ever been used in Western fiction of any genre. It's taken from the Adyghe word ''Ch'ak'webze'' or ''Ch'ak'obze'', "hunter's language", which refers to a special language register used in the course of a hunting expedition.

{{quote| The form Patrin's loyalty would take had been clear to Lucilla then. How could Teg have been so blind? ''Love!'' That long, trusting bond between the two men. Schwangyu would act swiftly and brutally. Patrin knew it. Teg had not examined his own certain knowledge.<br />

* [[Hundred-Percent100% Adoration Rating]]: House Atreides is portrayed as having this on their native Caladan in the prequels, and have for generations. This more or less contradicts the original series.

* [[I Am X, Son of Y]]: Paul NEVER makes anyone forget that, before being Usul of the Fremen, before being Muad'dib, before being the awaited Mahdi, before being the Kwisatz Haderach, he is Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto Atreides. In fact, the closest thing Paul has to a [[Berserk Button|berserk button]] is someone belittling the memory of his father or the Atreides name.

* [[Ice Cream Koan]]: The phrases of the Zensunni sect from ''Dune'' are said to intended to be [[Ice Cream Koan|Ice Cream Koans]]s, similar to Zen as mentioned above. Instead of providing enlightenment though bypassing rational thought and accepting paradox; they're intended to teach the student to recognize nonsense and obfuscation, regardless of how logically-constructed and reasonable it may appear, and to see through to the "true" underlying reality. Zen emphasizes acceptance of the irrational. The Zensunni philosophy underlying most schools of thought in ''Dune'' emphasizes the extremes of rationality and mental development (eg. the Mentat human computers, and Bene Gesserit observation techniques).

* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: Frank Herbert's original ''Dune'' novels all contain the word "Dune", and three out of six follow the formula "X of Dune".

** The Turkish translations were particularly bad. While the first four books had decent translations, the last two were terrible despite the fact that the entire series was released by the same publisher. To put it in context, the books would sometimes keep certain terms (such as Axlotl Tanks) in their original English forms and sometimes use a translated term for it ''over the course of the same book!''. It was as if the translator was thinking "You know, I think I should have used a different term for Axlotl Tanks. Oh well. That's what I will do without editing the previous bits for cohesion".

* [[Instant Oracle, Just Add Water]]: The Guild Navigators adapted to life in a spice-filled environment which granted them precognition and the ability to navigate at FTL speeds. They spend most of their lives inside of zero gravity tubes filled with spice laden air rather than a tub of water, but same concept.

* [[Kill and Replace]]: A favorite tactic of Tleilaxu Face Dancer [[Shape Shifter|Shape Shifters]]s.

* [[Kill It Withwith Water]]: Aside from extreme old age or ''atomic explosions'', the only way to kill a sandworm is by completely drowning them in water. Good luck finding any on a planet called ''Dune''. This, of course, comes full circle in ''God Emperor of Dune'', where {{spoiler|Leto II ''must'' be killed in water for the sandworm cycle to continue}}.

* [[Lonely Atat the Top]]: Both Paul and his son Leto II at the height of their power have no one to truly understand them. For Paul, his love Chani, dies in childbirth and for Leto II {{spoiler|Hwi Noree. Leto and her both die before their wedding}}.

* [[Mad Lib Thriller Title]]: ''Dune...'' or ''...of Dune''

* [[Mad Scientist]]:

* [[The Man in Thethe Moon]]: The second moon of Arrakis has the shape of a kangaroo mouse, from which Paul takes his Fremen name: Muad'dib.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Ghanima, Leto II's twin sister. Her name means "spoils of war," because despite his seeing-the-future-vision, he'd never realized his wife was having twins. "Ghanima" also comes with added connotations of an object that is no longer being used for its real purpose-- orpurpose—or for any meaningful purpose at all, in fact. Paul was in a weird mood when he named her: he'd just been blinded, and she'd just killed his concubine via [[Death Byby Childbirth]].

** House Atreides is named after [[Classical Mythology|House Atreus]], and are even implied to be the [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|same family]].

* [[Mind Rape]]: In the Bulterian Jihad Trilogy the cymeks take brains from their human bodies (literal mind rape?), stick them in [[Brain In Aa Jar|jars]] and turn the "thoughtrode" settings to make the minds feel pain. And then they are [[A Fate Worse Than Death|left on a shelf]] in their own little [[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream|silent]] hell ... for centuries.

** "Have you not considered how much easier it is to control a walking population?"

* [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]]: Miles Teg's exposure to a [[Mind Probe|T-Probe]] gives him {{spoiler|[[Super Speed]]}} just in time to save his life, though the T-Probe was meant to ''kill'' him.

* [[Noble Savage]]: The Fremen, backed up by a number of quotes in the [[Encyclopedia Exposita]], are intentionally set up to be perceived this way. Even their essential cruelty is explained as the cold necessity of survival in a harsh environment, combined with a carefully nurtured desire for revenge against their oppressors. This is reinforced by the decline of the Fremen culture in later novels; as they lose touch with the desert and become "civilized", their power and nobility decline.

* [[No Such Thing Asas Wizard Jesus]]: An entry in the Dune Encyclopedia claims the Bene Gesserit existed millennia before humanity developed spaceflight, and more-or-less specifically stated that Jesus was nothing more than a premature -- andpremature—and, therefore, failed -- Kwisatzfailed—Kwisatz Haderach.

* [[No Transhumanism Allowed]]: Both subverted and played straight. Deliberate breeding programs are used to create humans with intelligence, reflexes, lifespan, capacity higher consciousness and physical capabilities far beyond those of current-day humans, but a religious taboo is kept in place on genetically engineering anything recognizably inhuman or unable to interbreed back into the larger human population. Thus, the characters and societies remain human while simultaneously having greater advancements over modern man than modern man has over homo erectus. The Tleilaxu, however, have no religious taboo on inhumanity and gleefully make a living selling inhuman humans genetically-engineered for specific purposes.

{{quote| ''Never count a human dead unless you've [[Never Found the Body|seen the body]]. And even then you can make a mistake.''}}

* [[Old Retainer]]: Paul has not one, but three Old Retainers -- GurneyRetainers—Gurney Halleck, Duncan Idaho (though he's not so old), and Thufir Hawat.

{{quote| "Remember, we speak now of the Muad'Dib who ordered battle drums made from his enemies' skins, the Muad'Dib who denied the conventions of his ducal past with a [[Hand Wave|wave of the hand]], saying merely: "I am [[The Chosen One|the Kwisatz Haderach]]. [[Omniscient Morality License|That is reason enough]]."<br />

* [[One Product Planet]]: Perhaps the [[Trope Codifier]], with the major worlds known for producing a major product. Dune itself is the only source of Spice, Giedi Prime a Factory world, Ix and Richese are Science worlds, Telixau as a Underworld (selling taboo technology), Caladan is a Farm world, Kaitain is the Capital, Salusa Secundus is ostensibly a Penal colony but really a Military world. Tupile is a Service world, providing protection for exiled families.

* [[Painting the Medium]]: Some words like "SPICE" and "VOICE" tend to be printed in capital block letters to give them a sort of mystical echo (see above for DEATH in the Discworld novels). However, there are no capital letters in the Hebrew language, so the Hebrew translation has these words printed in bold and in a larger typeface than the rest of the sentence. This method makes them even more creepy and resonant than the original, if at all possible.

** When fighting gladiators, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen was allowed to use a short knife with a poisoned blade. During his hundredth bout, he secretly put the poison on his long knife instead, which allowed him to win the match.

* [[Prequel in Thethe Lost Age]]: Some of the prequel novels cover the ancient history where machines ruled the galaxy.

{{quote| '''Leto II''': "It has occurred to me more than once that holy boredom is good and sufficient reason for the invention of free will."}}

* [[The Promised Land]]: The Fremen believe they can turn Arrakis into this with some ecological engineering.

* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: The Fremen, deliberately contrasted with the Sardaukar who are more of a [[Praetorian Guard]]. Both in turn start out [[Badass]] but end up succumbing to arrogance and pleasure, allowing them to be overcome by a superior force -- Fremenforce—Fremen for the Sardukaur, and, well, ''Leto II'' for the Fremen.

* [[Reality Warper]]: Norma Cenva, being not only a Navigator but also a powerful [[Mind Over Matter|Sorceress of Rossak]], learns to fold space with pinpoint accuracy without a Holtzman engine. {{spoiler|She uses her powers to basically become God, and eventually kills Omnius with them.}}

* [[Required Secondary Powers]]: ''Heretics of Dune'' sees {{spoiler|Miles Teg}} gain [[Super Speed]], but needs to become a [[Big Eater]] to compensate (Several characters lampshade his Big Eating). He also gets his hands badly bruised and torn from hitting his enemies at such speeds.

* [[Retcon]]: In the first novel, the Reverend Mother power of "other memory" was bestowed by a kind of "download" of all the memories of another Reverend Mother -- onlyMother—only that Reverend Mother's memories, or the memories of previous Reverend Mothers she'd downloaded, were accessible. By the time of ''Children of Dune'', "other memory" was a genetic phenomenon that allowed its possessor access to the memories of anybody in his or her past, male or female.

* [[Rewarded Asas a Traitor Deserves]]: Dr. Wellington Yueh betrays the House Atreides for the sake of freeing [[I Have Your Wife|his wife]] from Harkonnen [[Cold-Blooded Torture|tortures]]. Yueh is an interesting case in that he walks into it with his eyes mostly open -- heopen—he strongly suspects that Wanna has been [[Released to Elsewhere]] and is betraying everyone just to make ''sure''. He knows he'll only be killed for his troubles once he's [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outlived his usefulness]], and he does everything in his power to help House Atreides survive his betrayal. Hell, he even sets up a trap of his own to kill Baron Harkonnen in retaliation, and it almost succeeds.

{{quote| "You think... you have defeated me? You think I did not know... what I bought... for my Wanna?"}}

** And then he tries to right his wrongs in the sequels, to disastrous results (he does finally get it right at the end, however, to the point where the reborn Atreides have forgiven him).

* [[Robot War]]: The "Butlerian Jihad," which is referenced in the very first book but wasn't fleshed out in any detail, [[Fanon Discontinuity|certainly not by the prequels]]. Led to a core tenet of civilization: "[[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind]]"-- by—by which we mean, No Computers Allowed. Various schools of mental training, such as the Mentats and the Bene Gesserit, were founded to produce humans who can do what Pentiums did (and eventually went far beyond that).

** Of course it's never made clear (in the original series, which predates widespread computer use in [[Real Life]] anyway) how advanced the computer has to be before it's forbidden, nor really what precisely it is that Mentats do most of the time.

** Played even straighter with tidal dust basins, basins of dust so deep they have tides, which an unwary traveler can wander into and die.

* [[Scry vs. Scry]]: A few times in ''[[Dune]]''. Bonus points for the foresight itself being a trap; seeing a future locks it in among all the possible futures, so it's avoidable ''unless'' you know it's coming.

* [[Send in Thethe Clones]]: {{spoiler|Duncan Idaho dies in the first novel, only to return over and over again first as a ghola, then as a ghola-clone. ''God-Emperor of Dune'' even has several Duncan gholas throughout the story, though all but one were played with through flashbacks and mentions}}.

** There are at least two to [[Poul Anderson]]: an appendix to ''Dune'' mentions a biography of Alia written by "Pander Oulson"; and in ''God Emperor of Dune'', Leto II asks Hwi Noree if she's familiar with the philosophy of Noah Arkwright,<ref>a [[Meaningful Name]], when you consider that "-wright" means "maker" or "builder."</ref>, a philosopher/explorer mentioned (but apparently never actually appearing) in several of Anderson's stories.

* [[Single Biome Planet]]: [[Justified Trope|Justified]], as Dune became a desert planet thanks to the sandworms/sandtrout species basically [[Terraform|terraformingterraform]]ing it.

* [[Space Opera]]: Exactly.

* [[The Spartan Way]]/[[Training Fromfrom Hell]]: The Emperor's Sardaukar. To a certain extent the Fremen also - their culture is more survivalist than purely martial, but on a man-for-man level it seems to yield a superior result.

* [[Stalker Withwith a Test Tube]]: This is basically the Modus Operandi of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood - breeding together people with the right genes in order to produce the Kwizatch Haderach... whether that means matchmaking, blackmail, or outright rape is of little concern to them as long as the right children result.

* [[Standard Sci Fi History]]: The background history of the Imperium tends to follow this trend. The Buterlian Jihad serves the role of World War III by resetting the political and technological situation. The Corrino-led Imperium serves as the First Empire, and the Paul/Leto II regimes as the Second Empire. It's one of the few examples in which the Second Empire follows up the first without an Interregnum. There is an Interregnum (referred to as "The Scattering"), but it occurs only after the collapse of the Second Empire.

** They also inhale carbon dioxide and breathe out fresh oxygen, working as a substitute for the nearly non-existant plantlife on Arrakis. This also [[Justified Trope|justifies]] why such a [[Single Biome Planet]] can have a breathable atmosphere. The byproducts of the worms are suspiciously Terran-friendly indeed. Various characters [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade this]] occasionally, even suggesting the idea that sandworms may be in fact [[Lost Technology|Lost]][[Organic Technology]] for terraforming planets ([[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|created]] [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|a long time ago]] by humans, presumably).

* [[Super -Detailed Fight Narration]]

* [[Super Speed]]: In ''Heretics of Dune'', {{spoiler|Miles Teg}} gets this power as a result of a botched interrogation -- impliedinterrogation—implied to be a result of the [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum|unique mechanics]] of the interrogation device unlocking a latent genetic talent. His speed also includes accelerated reflexes, [[Time Stands Still|slowed time perception]], a form of [[Super Senses]] (explained as an amplification of his Mentat training), and massive boosts to his metabolic rate and the oxygen storage capacity of his blood to handle the increased energy demands. The effect also turns him into a [[Big Eater]], which is played for both drama and laughs. Fortunately, he can turn the ability on or off at will.

* [[Taking You Withwith Me]]: Duke Leto tries to kill both himself and Baron Harkonnen with a poison gas-filled tooth. The Baron, however, managed to survive; not only did he have his shield turned on, he was standing right in front of a convenient emergency door. Leto at least took down the Baron's Mentat and several others.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: The head of the ecumenical council is taken in by Emperor Julius Corrino after the release of the Orange Catholic Bible causes mass rioting and hunting of said council. Then the Emperor's daughter catches the guy [[Rape Asas Drama|violating the Empress]] in the palace gardens. As a result, the entire council is publicly executed by the Emperor. Somehow, the guy himself manages to slip away in the confusion, although it's hinted that it was actually consentual, and that the Empress (whom the Emperor never invited to his bedchamber) helped him escape.

* [[To Win Without Fighting]]: In Heretics. In the [[Backstory]], Miles Teg was a famous Bene Gesserit military commander.

{{quote| Teg's reputation was an almost universal thing throughout human society of this age. At the Battle of Markon, it had been enough for the enemy to know that Teg was there opposite them in person. They sued for terms.}}

* [[Unto Us a Son Andand Daughter Are Born]]: Leto II and Ghanima

{{quote| "CHEOPS: pyramid chess; nine-level chess with the double object of putting your queen at the apex and the opponent's king in check."}}

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: The universe features wheels-within-wheels plots and dense mythology, although the poetic descriptions can make the book enjoyable even to those who fail to understand it.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: The Baron during his POV segments. You ''so'' want him dead for his crimes and perversions, but while waiting for his comeuppance, you can't help but admire his brilliant political maneuvering and epic-level [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastardy]]y.

* [[War for Fun Andand Profit]]: The Atreides and Harkonnen feud erupts into this when Arrakis becomes involved, all over production of the spice. For the Harkonnens, it's just as fun as it is profitable.

{{quote| Duke Leto: "Someday I'll catch that man without a quotation and he'll look undressed."}}

* [[We Will Use Manual Labor in Thethe Future]]: Justified in that after the Butlerian Jihad, complex autonomous machines are forbidden for millennia. Even regular old calculators are replaced by (highly-paid) people known as Mentats.

{{quote| What is this Love that so many speak of with such apparent familiarity? Do they truly comprehend how unattainable it is? Are there not as many definitions of Love as there are stars in the universe?}}

** The Bene Gesserit are also big on the Xanatos Gambling Circuit, manipulating individuals, societies, governments, religions, and bloodlines to produce their [[Chosen One|Kwisatz Haderach]]-- and—and then having to start over from scratch when they get one too soon.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen [[I Have Your Wife|has Yueh's wife kidnapped]] to coerce him into betraying the house of Atreides, then [[I Gave My Word|fulfills his promise]] to [[Released to Elsewhere|"reunite"]] [[Rewarded Asas a Traitor Deserves|the two of them]].

* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: In the original ''Dune'' book, Duncan Idaho sacrifices himself to hold off a flood of Imperial Sardaukar elite troopers, while Paul Atreides makes good his escape. In the sequel, it's revealed that while he did indeed die, the surviving Sardaukar were so impressed with his [[Implausible Fencing Powers]] that they preserved his body, later having it resurrected as a "[[Cloning Blues|Ghola]]"... and that, as it turns out, has some [[For Want of a Nail|extremely far-reaching effects]] on the ''Dune'' universe.<br /><br />It is later revealed in ''Children of Dune'' that during his last stand in ''Dune'' Idaho slew ''nineteen'' Sardaukar -- and at the height of their power and training, a single Sardaukar was reportedly a match for ten ordinary house regulars and even a Bene Gesserit adept.

* [[You Said You Would Let Them Go]]: Yueh makes a deal with the Baron for the return of his wife, Wanna, but she was already dead. Luckily, he [[Genre Savvy|saw it coming]] and [[Taking You Withwith Me|prepared accordingly]]. {{spoiler|That he largely fails is a stroke of terribly bad luck.}}

{{quote| It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.<br />

It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed, <br />

the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. <br />

* [[ColourColor-Coded for Your Convenience]]: The Sci-Fi Channel's miniseries portrays the Harkonnens in red, the Imperial Corrinos are purple and gold (likely a reference to the purple togas worn by Roman emperors), the Atreides primarily in tan and white, Fremen in brown and dark orange, and Spacing Guild members in black.

* [[Deleted Scene]]: Several scenes were cut from the theatrical release of the 1984 film and later restored to the extended versions, which is part of why they're so much longer. Of these, one of the most significant is the death of Thufir Hawat, a powerful scene in which Paul separates Thufir from the captured Harkonnen and offers him his life, only for Thufir to commit suicide rather than kill Paul. This omission creates something of a [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]] moment in the original cut, as Thufir--oneThufir—one of the film's more important characters--cancharacters—can clearly be seen standing among the prisoners (between the Emperor and Gaius Mohiam) in one shot, and simply vanishes in the next; his disappearance is never explained.

{{quote| '''Thufir Hawat''': [He turns to Feyd and the Emperor]... Did you actually believe, even for a moment, that I would fail my Duke ''twice''? [He commits suicide]}}

* [[Fisher King]]: Lynch's '84 film has Paul Atreides taking up his place as the Kwisatz Haderach, at which point Arrakis, a planet defined by its absurd dearth of water, is consumed by a torrential downpour of rain. In the book, it took years of [[Terraform|Terraforming]]ing.

{{quote| '''''I'M ALIVE!!!! I'M ALIVE!!!!! [[Evil Laugh|BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA]]!'''''}}

{{quote| '''''I WILL KILL HIM!!!!!'''''}}

{{quote| ''Not in the mood''? Mood's a thing for cattle and loveplay, not fighting!}}

{{quote| ''Atreides is DEAD! And Harkonnen LIVES!''}}

{{quote| ''Then I SAY unto you, send MEN. to summon. WORRRMS!}}

* [[Nice Hat]]: In the [[Sci Fi ChannelSyfy]]'s production of ''[[Dune]]'' there were several [[Nice Hat|Nice Hats]]s, mostly notably the Bene Gesserit, [[wikipedia:Image:Ghm.jpg|seen here]] (the hat is the thing extending back from her head).

* [[Non -Actor Vehicle]]: [[The Movie]] by [[David Lynch]], with Sting.

* [[Re CutRecut]]: The 1984 theatrical version was not direct or [[David Lynch]]'s Director's Cut--theCut—the producers not only made him cut a lot of material from his script, they also cut a lot of scenes that had been shot out as well--butwell—but it's the only one he's very happy with. Then in 1988, an Extended Cut was made to be shown on TV, referred to as The [[Alan Smithee]] Cut. It used deleted scenes, but reused more footage than ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. David Lynch hated it, demanding his name be removed from the writer and director credit. ''Then'', in 1992, a San Francisco TV station made a mix of a cut between the original theatrical version of the movie and the Alan Smithee cut, which kept the new scenes but also put the violence back in. Finally, a cut known as the Extended Edition came out on DVD, which was a 177-minute edit of the Alan Smithee version. David Lynch is now a bitter arthouse director. Go figure.

* [[Truer to Thethe Text]]: The 2000 miniseries takes some liberties with Frank Herbert's book, but compared to the 1984 David Lynch movie, its fidelity is nigh-slavish.