Dune (franchise)

As explained in Dune, the Butlerian Jihad is a conflict taking place over 11,000 years in the future[7] (and over 10,000 years before the events of Dune), which results in the total destruction of virtually all forms of "computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots".[8] With the prohibition "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind," the creation of even the simplest thinking machines is outlawed and made taboo,[8] which has a profound influence on the socio-political and technological development of humanity in the Dune series.[9] Herbert refers to the Jihad several times in the novels, but does not give much detail on how he imagined the causes and nature of the conflict.[10] Critical analysis has often associated the term with Samuel Butler and his 1863 essay "Darwin among the Machines", which advocated the destruction of all advanced machines.[11]

In Herbert's God Emperor of Dune (1981), Leto II Atreides indicates that the Jihad had been a semi-religious social upheaval initiated by humans who felt repulsed by how guided and controlled they had become by machines.[12] This technological reversal leads to the creation of the universal Orange Catholic Bible and the rise of a new feudal pan-galactic empire that lasts for over 10,000 years before Herbert's series begins.[13][14] Several secret societies also develop, using eugenics programs, intensive mental and physical training, and pharmaceutical enhancements to hone human skills to an astonishing degree.[13] Artificial insemination is also prohibited, as explained in Dune Messiah (1969), when Paul Atreides negotiates with the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, who is appalled by Paul's suggestion that he impregnate his consort in this manner.[15]

Herbert died in 1986,[16][17] leaving his vision of the events of the Butlerian Jihad unexplored and open to speculation.[10] The Legends of Dune prequel trilogy (2002–2004) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson presents the Jihad as a war between humans and the sentient machines they had created, who rise up and nearly destroy humanity.[18] The series explains that humanity had become entirely complacent and dependent upon thinking machines; recognizing this weakness, a group of ambitious, militant humans calling themselves the Titans use this widespread reliance on machine intelligence to seize control of the entire universe.[18] Their reign lasts for a century; eventually they give too much access and power to the AI program Omnius, which usurps control from the Titans themselves.[10][18] Seeing no value in human life, the thinking machines—now including armies of robot soldiers and other aggressive machines—dominate and enslave nearly all of humanity in the universe for 900 years, until a jihad is ignited.[10] This crusade against the machines lasts for nearly a century, with much loss of human life but ultimately ending in human victory.[18]

The golden lion is the symbol of House Corrino.

The ancient Battle of Corrin—occurring 20 years after the end of the Butlerian Jihad—spawns the Padishah Emperors of House Corrino, who rule the known universe for millennia by controlling the Sardaukar, a brutally efficient military force. Ten thousand years later, Imperial power is balanced by the assembly of noble houses called the Landsraad, which enforces the Great Convention's ban on the use of atomics against human targets. Though the power of the Corrinos is unrivaled by any individual House, they are in constant competition with each other for political power and stakes in the omnipresent CHOAM company, a directorship that controls the wealth of the entire Empire. The third primary power in the universe is the Spacing Guild, which monopolizes interstellar travel and banking. Mutated Guild Navigators use the spice drug melange to successfully navigate "folded space" and safely guide enormous heighliner starships from planet to planet instantaneously.[13][19]

The matriarchal Bene Gesserit possess almost superhuman physical, sensory, and deductive powers developed through years of physical and mental conditioning. While positioning themselves to "serve" humanity, the Bene Gesserit pursue their goal to better the human race by subtly and secretly guiding and manipulating the affairs of others to serve their own purposes. By the time of Dune, they have secured a level of control over the current emperor, Shaddam IV, by marrying him to one of their own who intentionally bears him only daughters. The Bene Gesserit also have a secret, millennia-long selective breeding program to bolster and preserve valuable skills and bloodlines as well as to produce a theoretical superhuman male they call the Kwisatz Haderach. When Dune begins, the Sisterhood are only one generation away from their desired individual, having manipulated the threads of genes and power for thousands of years to produce the required confluence of events. But Lady Jessica, ordered by the Bene Gesserit to produce a daughter who would breed with the appropriate male to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, instead bears a son—unintentionally producing the Kwisatz Haderach a generation early.[13]

"Human computers" known as Mentats have been developed and perfected to replace the capacity for logical analysis lost through the prohibition of computers. Through specific training, they learn to enter a heightened mental state in which they can perform complex logical computations that are superior to those of the ancient thinking machines.[20] The Bene Tleilax are amoral merchants who traffic in biological and genetically engineered products such as artificial eyes, "twisted" Mentats, and gholas. Finally, the Ixians produce cutting-edge technology that seemingly complies with (but pushes the boundaries of) the prohibitions against thinking machines. The Ixians are very secretive, not only to protect their valuable hold on the industry but also to hide any methods or inventions that may breach the anti-thinking machine protocols.[13]

Against this backdrop, the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) chronicles the return from obscurity of House Atreides, whose role in the Butlerian Jihad is all but forgotten. The Imperial House schemes to gain full control of the Empire through the control of melange, precisely at the time that the Bene Gesserit breeding program is nearing fruition.[21]

Atreides "green and black banner", in the form of a "guidon pennant".

The red hawk is the symbol of House Atreides.

As Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) begins, Duke Leto Atreides finds himself in a dangerous position. The 81st Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV, has put him in control of the desert planet Arrakis, known as Dune, which is the only source of the all-important spice melange.[22] The most valuable commodity in the known universe, the spice not only makes safe and reliable interstellar travel possible, but also prolongs life, protects against disease, and is used by the Bene Gesserit to enhance their abilities. The potential financial gains for House Atreides are mitigated by the fact that mining melange from the desert surface of Arrakis is an expensive and hazardous undertaking, thanks to the treacherous environment and constant threat of giant sandworms that protect the spice. In addition, Leto is aware that Shaddam, feeling threatened by the rising power and influence of the Atreides, has sent him into a trap. Failure to meet or exceed the production volume of his predecessor, the villainous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, will negatively affect the position of House Atreides in CHOAM, which relies on spice profits.[13] Further, the very presence of the Atreides on Arrakis inflames the long-simmering War of Assassins between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, a feud ignited 10,000 years before when an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice after the Butlerian Jihad.[23][24]

The little-understood native population of Arrakis are the Fremen, long overlooked by the Imperium. Considered backward savages, the Fremen are an extremely hardy people and exist in large numbers, their culture built around the commodity of water, which is extremely scarce on Arrakis. The Fremen await the coming of a prophesied messiah, not suspecting that this prophecy had been planted in their legends by the Missionaria Protectiva, an arm of the Bene Gesserit dedicated to religious manipulation to ease the path of the Sisterhood when necessary. In Dune, the so-called "Arrakis Affair" puts unexpected Kwisatz Haderach Paul Atreides in control of first the Fremen people and then Arrakis itself. Absolute control over the spice supply allows Paul to depose Shaddam and become ruler of the known universe, with Shaddam's eldest daughter Princess Irulan as his consort.[13] With a bloody jihad subsequently unleashed across the universe in Paul's name but out of his control, the Bene Gesserit, Tleilaxu, Spacing Guild, and House Corrino conspire to dethrone him in Dune Messiah (1969).[15] Though the plot fails, the Atreides Empire continues to devolve in Children of Dune (1976) as the religion built around Paul falters, Irulan's sister Wensicia conspires to place her son Farad'n on the throne, and Paul's twin heirs Leto II and Ghanima rise to power.[25]

The Heroes of Dune series (2008–2009) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson chronicles the major events that take place between Dune: House Corrino (2001) and Dune: The Duke of Caladan (2020), between Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969), and between Dune Messiah and Children of Dune (1976).[26]

The blue griffin is the symbol of House Harkonnen.

At the time of God Emperor of Dune (1981), Paul's son, the God Emperor Leto II Atreides, has ruled the Empire for 3,500 years from the verdant face of a transformed Arrakis; melange production has ceased. Leto has forced the sandworms into extinction, except for the larval sandtrout with which he had forged a symbiosis, transforming him into a human-sandworm hybrid. Human civilization before his rule had suffered from twin weaknesses: that it could be controlled by a single authority, and that it was totally dependent upon melange, found on only one planet in the known universe. Leto's prescient visions had shown that humanity would be threatened by extinction in any number of ways; his solution was to place humanity on his "Golden Path," a plan for humanity's survival. Leto governs as a benevolent tyrant, providing for his people's physical needs, but denying them any spiritual outlets other than his own compulsory religion (as well as maintaining a monopoly on spice and thus total control of its use). Personal violence of any kind is banned, as is nearly all space travel, creating a pent-up demand for freedom and travel. The Bene Gesserit, Ixians, and Tleilaxu find themselves seeking ways to regain some of their former power or unseat Leto altogether. Leto also conducts his own selective breeding program among the descendants of his twin sister Ghanima, finally arriving at Siona, daughter of Moneo, whose actions are hidden from prescient vision. Leto engineers his own assassination, knowing it will result in rebellion and revolt but also in an explosion in travel and colonization. The death of Leto's body also produces new sandtrout, which will eventually give rise to a population of sandworms and a new cycle of spice production.[27]

In the aftermath of the fall of the God Emperor, chaos and severe famine on many worlds cause trillions of humans to set off into the freedom of unknown space and spread out across the universe. This diaspora is later called the Scattering and, combined with the invisibility of Atreides descendants to prescient vision, assures that humanity has forever escaped the threat of total extinction. At the time of Heretics of Dune (1984) and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)—1500 years after Leto's death—the turmoil is settling into a new pattern; the balance of power in the Old Empire, as it is now called, rests among the Ixians, the Bene Gesserit, and the Tleilaxu. The Spacing Guild has been forever weakened by the development of Ixian machines capable of navigation in foldspace, practically replacing Guild Navigators. The Bene Gesserit, through manipulation of the Priesthood of the Divided God, control the sandworms and their planet, now called Rakis, but the Tleilaxu have discovered how to produce melange using their axlotl tanks in quantities that greatly exceed natural melange harvests. This balance of power is shattered by a large influx of people from the Scattering, some fleeing persecution by an as-yet unknown enemy. Among the returning people, the Bene Gesserit finds its match in a violent and corrupt matriarchal society known as the Honored Matres, whom they suspect may be descended from some of their own sent out in the Scattering. As a bitter and bloody war erupts between the orders, it ultimately becomes clear that joining the two organizations into a single New Sisterhood with shared abilities is their best chance to fight the approaching enemy.[28][29]

The sequels Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson complete the original series and wrap up storylines that began with Heretics of Dune.

Herbert's interest in the desert setting of Dune and its challenges is attributed to research he began in 1957 for a never-completed article about a United States Department of Agriculture experiment using poverty grasses to stabilize damaging sand dunes, which could "swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, and highways."[30] Herbert spent the next five years researching, writing, and revising what would eventually become the novel Dune,[30] which was initially serialized in Analog magazine as two shorter works, Dune World (1963) and The Prophet of Dune (1965).[31] The serialized version was expanded and reworked—and rejected by more than 20 publishers—before being published by Chilton Books, a printing house best known for its auto repair manuals, in 1965.[32] Dune won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966, and the 1966 Hugo Award.[33][34] The novel has been translated into dozens of languages, and has sold almost 20 million copies.[35] Dune has been regularly cited as one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.[1][2]

A sequel, Dune Messiah, followed in 1969.[36] A third novel called Children of Dune was published in 1976, and was later nominated for a Hugo Award.[37] Children of Dune became the first hardcover best-seller ever in the science fiction field.[38] Parts of these two first sequels were written before Dune was completed.[39]

In 1978, Berkley Books published The Illustrated Dune, an edition of Dune with 33 black-and-white sketch drawings and eight full color paintings by John Schoenherr, who had done the cover art for the first printing of Dune and had illustrated the Analog serializations of Dune and Children of Dune.[40] Herbert wrote in 1980 that though he had not spoken to Schoenherr prior to the artist creating the paintings, the author was surprised to find that the artwork appeared exactly as he had imagined its fictional subjects, including sandworms, Baron Harkonnen and the Sardaukar.[41]

In 1981, Herbert released God Emperor of Dune, which was ranked as the #11 hardcover fiction best seller of 1981 by Publishers Weekly.[42] Heretics of Dune, the 1984 New York Times #13 hardcover fiction best seller,[43] was followed in quick succession by Chapterhouse: Dune in 1985.[44] Herbert died on February 11, 1986.[16]

Over a decade after Herbert's death, his son Brian Herbert enlisted science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson to coauthor a trilogy of Dune prequel novels that would come to be called the Prelude to Dune series.[45] Using some of Frank Herbert's own notes,[45][46] the duo wrote Dune: House Atreides (1999), Dune: House Harkonnen (2000), and Dune: House Corrino (2001). The series is set in the years immediately prior to the events of Dune. This was followed with a second prequel trilogy called the Legends of Dune, consisting of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad (2002), Dune: The Machine Crusade (2003), and Dune: The Battle of Corrin (2004). These were set during the Butlerian Jihad, an element of backstory that Frank Herbert had previously established as occurring 10,000 years before the events chronicled in Dune.[10] Herbert's brief description of humanity's "crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots"[8] was expanded by Brian Herbert and Anderson in this series.[10]

With an outline for the first book of Prelude to Dune series written and a proposal sent to publishers,[47] Brian Herbert had discovered his father's 30-page outline for a sequel to Chapterhouse Dune, which the elder Herbert had dubbed Dune 7.[48] After publishing their six prequel novels, Brian Herbert and Anderson released Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), which complete the original series and wrap up storylines that began with Frank Herbert's Heretics of Dune.

The Heroes of Dune series followed, focusing on the time periods between Frank Herbert's original novels.[45][49][50][51] The first book, Paul of Dune, was published in 2008,[52] followed by The Winds of Dune[50][53] in 2009.[54] The next two installments were to be called The Throne of Dune and Leto of Dune (possibly changing to The Golden Path of Dune),[55] but were postponed due to plans to publish a trilogy, Great Schools of Dune, about "the formation of the Bene Gesserit, the Mentats, the Suk doctors, the Spacing Guild and the Navigators, as well as the solidifying of the Corrino Imperium."[56] Sisterhood of Dune was released in 2012,[56] followed by Mentats of Dune in 2014. In a 2009 interview, Anderson stated that the third and final novel would be titled The Swordmasters of Dune,[48] but by 2014 it had been renamed Navigators of Dune.[57] The novel was published on September 13, 2016.[58] A third Heroes of Dune novel, Princess of Dune, was released on October 3, 2023.[59]

In July 2020, Herbert and Anderson announced a new trilogy of prequel novels called The Caladan Trilogy. The first novel in the series, Dune: The Duke of Caladan, was published in October 2020,[60][61] and the second, Dune: The Lady of Caladan, was released in September 2021.[62][63] The third novel, Dune: The Heir of Caladan, was released on November 22, 2022.[64]

Jon Michaud of The New Yorker wrote in 2013, "The conversion of Dune into a franchise, while pleasing readers and earning royalties for the Herbert estate, has gone a long way toward obscuring the power of the original novel."[22]

In 1985, Frank Herbert wrote an illustrated short work called "The Road to Dune", set sometime between the events of Dune and Dune Messiah. Published in Herbert's short story collection Eye, it takes the form of a guidebook for pilgrims to Arrakis and features images (with descriptions) of some of the devices and characters presented in the novels.[65]

Brian Herbert and Anderson have written eight Dune short stories and four Dune novellas, most of them related to and published around their novels. The eight short stories include "Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas" (2001), "Dune: Hunting Harkonnens" (2002), "Dune: Whipping Mek" (2003), "Dune: The Faces of a Martyr" (2004), "Dune: Sea Child" (2006), "Dune: Treasure in the Sand" (2006), "Dune: Wedding Silk" (2008), and "Dune: Red Plague" (2016). These eight short stories were published together in the 2017 collection Tales of Dune: Expanded Edition. The four novellas include "Dune: The Waters of Kanly" (2017), "Dune: Blood of the Sardaukar" (2019), "Dune: The Edge of a Crysknife" (2022), and "Dune: Imperial Court" (2022). The four novellas were published together in the collection Sands of Dune, which released on July 28, 2022.

The originating novel Dune has been called the "first planetary ecology novel on a grand scale".[87] After the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel 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 life on Arrakis, 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 as A Door into Ocean (1986) and Red Mars (1992).[87] Environmentalists have pointed out that Dune's popularity as a novel depicting a planet as a complex, almost living, thing, in combination with the first images of Earth from space being published in the same time period, strongly influenced environmental movements such as the establishment of the international Earth Day.[88]

Lorenzo DiTommaso compared Dune's portrayal of the downfall of a galactic empire to Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which argues that Christianity allied with the profligacy of the Roman elite led to the fall of Ancient Rome. In "History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert's Dune" (1992), DiTommaso outlines similarities between the two works by highlighting the excesses of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV on his home planet of Kaitain and of the Baron Vladimir 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, materially indulgent, and a sexual degenerate. Gibbon's Decline 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.

Similarly, the Emperor's Sardaukar fighters are little match for the Fremen of Arrakis because of the Sardaukar's overconfidence and 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.[89] The decline and long peace of the Empire sets the stage for revolution and renewal by genetic mixing of successful and unsuccessful groups through war, a process culminating in the Jihad led by Paul Atreides, described by Herbert as depicting "war as a collective orgasm" (drawing on Norman Walter's 1950 The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare). These themes reappear in God Emperor of Dune's Scattering and Leto II Atreides's all-female Fish Speaker army.[90][91]

Brian Herbert wrote that "Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange...[that] resembles the myth described by an unknown English poet in Beowulf, the compelling tale of a fearsome fire dragon who guarded a great treasure hoard in a lair under cliffs".[85]

Paul's rise to superhuman status follows the hero's journey template; after unfortunate circumstances are forced onto him, he suffers a long period of hardship and exile, and finally confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale.[92][93] 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.[94] Frank Herbert said in 1979, "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better [to] rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes."[95] 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."[96]

Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of Dune from earlier heroes such as Superman, van Vogt's Gilbert Gosseyn and Henry 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, Swordmasters of Ginaz and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Spacing Guild Navigators).[97]

Due to the similarities between some of Herbert's terms and ideas and actual words and concepts in the Arabic language, as well as the series' "Islamic undertones" and themes, a Middle Eastern influence on Herbert's works has been noted repeatedly.[98][99]

As a foreigner who adopts the ways of a desert-dwelling people and then leads them in a military capacity, Paul Atreides' character bears many similarities to the historical T. E. Lawrence,[100] whose 1962 biopic Lawrence of Arabia has also been identified as an influence.[101] Lesley Blanch's novel The Sabres of Paradise (1960) about Muslim resistance to the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, has also been identified as a major influence upon Dune, with its depiction of Imam Shamil and the Islamic culture of the Caucasus inspiring some of the themes, characters, events and terminology of Dune.[102][103] Multiple proverbs recorded by Blanch's The Sabres as originating from the Caucasus Mountains are included in Dune, such as "polish comes from the city, wisdom from the hills," becoming "polish comes from the cities, wisdom from the desert" for Arrakis.[102]

The environment of the desert planet Arrakis is similar to the Middle East, particularly the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf, as well as Mexico. The novel also contains references to the petroleum industries in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf as well as Mexico.[104] The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes of Arabia, and the Mahdi prophecy originates from Islamic eschatology.[105] Inspiration is also adopted from medieval historian Ibn Khaldun's cyclical history and his dynastic concept in North Africa, hinted by Herbert's reference to Khaldun's book Kitāb al-ʿibar ("The Book of Lessons") as known among the Fremen.[106][107]

In addition to Arabic, Dune derives words and names from multiple other languages, including Hebrew, Navajo, Latin, Chakobsa, the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, Greek, Persian, East Indian, Russian, Turkish, Finnish, Dutch and Old English.[108] Through the inspiration from Lesley Blanch's The Sabres of Paradise, there are also allusions to the tsarist-era Russian nobility and Cossacks.[102] Frank Herbert stated that bureaucracy that lasted long enough would become a hereditary nobility, and a significant theme behind the aristocratic families in Dune was "aristocratic bureaucracy" which he saw as analogous to the Soviet Union.[109][110]

Brian Herbert called the Dune universe "a spiritual melting pot", noting that his father, Frank Herbert, incorporated elements of a variety of religions, including Buddhism, Sufi mysticism and other Islamic belief systems, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Hinduism.[111] 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 claim to have "the one and only revelation."[111] Frank Herbert writes that, in the aftermath of the technology-purging Butlerian Jihad, the Bene Gesserit composed the Azhar Book, which "preserves the great secrets of the most ancient faiths".[112] Soon after, an ecumenical council created a syncretic religion defined by the Orange Catholic Bible, which would become the primary orthodox religious text in the universe.[112] Its title suggests a merging of Protestantism (Orange Order) and Catholicism.[113][114] Herbert writes in the glossary of Dune:

Orange Catholic Bible: the "Accumulated Book," the religious text produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators. It contains elements of most ancient religions, including the Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism and Buddislamic traditions. Its supreme commandment is considered to be: "Thou shalt not disfigure the soul."[115]

Early in his newspaper career, Frank Herbert was introduced to Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism, by two Jungian psychologists, Ralph and Irene Slattery, who "gave a crucial boost to his thinking".[116] Zen teachings ultimately had "a profound and continuing influence on [Herbert's] work".[116] Throughout the Dune series and particularly in Dune, Herbert employs concepts and forms borrowed from Zen Buddhism.[22][116][117] The Fremen are Zensunni adherents, and many of Herbert's epigraphs are Zen-spirited.[118] In "Dune Genesis", Frank Herbert wrote:

What especially pleases me is to see the interwoven themes, the fuguelike relationships of images that exactly replay the way Dune took shape ... 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—the Presbyterian fixation? For the Delphic Oracle to perform, it must tangle itself in a web of predestination. 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 a koan, a Zen mind breaker.[41]

The Bene Gesserit are shown to practice "religious engineering" through the Missionaria Protectiva, which spreads contrived myths, prophecies and superstition on primitive worlds so that the Sisterhood may later exploit those regions.[119] Herbert suggests a process of wish-fulfilling recognition of "sacred" texts created by the Bene Gesserit's master plan in a particular person, and transforming events into common belief.[120] In the novels, the Fremen religion on Arrakis has been thus influenced, allowing Paul to embody their prophesied messiah.[121] Paul is agonized by visions of terrible jihad which will destroy the Imperium, but he becomes Paul Muad'Dib, Mahdi of the Fremen, accepting the role imposed by Bene Gesserit. A new religion sweeps Paul to power.[95]

Between the events of Dune and Dune Messiah, the name Muad'Dib becomes a battle cry on the lips of the Fremen army that sweeps across the universe in a jihad in the name of Muad'Dib's religion.[122] The population of the universe sees Muad'Dib as their god, whether they like it or not, and they cannot deny his power religiously.[123] The Fremen culture is irreparably damaged by jihad; the new religion takes shape of rituals that are dependent on Muad'Dib's omnipresence.[95] As Muad'Dib, Paul is the messiah and the Emperor (King of Kings) who gives himself to fate and becomes a martyr to his followers, wanders blinded into the desert to die,[95] later finding emancipation as a heretic of his own church as the Preacher.[124] The regency of Paul's sister Alia and the Qizarate priests continue to promote Muad'Dib's religion to help keep control of the universe, ensuring that others do not oppose them.[123] In his Golden Path, Herbert presents an argument of how to create a healthy society, avoiding despotism and hero worship, a trap in which social groups can be caught:

To make a world where human kind can make its own future from moment to moment, free from one man's vision. Free from the perversion of the prophets words. And free of future pre-determined...[124]

In 1973, director and writer Alejandro Jodorowsky set about creating a cinematic adaptation, taking over the option that producer Arthur P. Jacobs had taken on the film adaptation rights in 1973 shortly before his death. Jodorowsky approached, among others, Peter Gabriel, the prog rock groups Pink Floyd and Magma for some of the music, artists H. R. Giger and Jean Giraud for set and character design, and Dan O'Bannon for special effects. Jodorowsky cast his own son Brontis Jodorowsky in the lead role of Paul Atreides, Salvador Dalí as Shaddam IV, Padishah Emperor, Amanda Lear as Princess Irulan, Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Gloria Swanson as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, David Carradine as Duke Leto Atreides, Geraldine Chaplin as Lady Jessica, Alain Delon as Duncan Idaho, Hervé Villechaize as Gurney Halleck, Udo Kier as Piter De Vries, and Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha.[135] He began writing a vast script, so expansive that the movie was thought to potentially last 14 hours. The project, nevertheless, was scrapped for financial reasons, leaving Jodorowsky's unfinished handwritten script in a notebook that was partially published as a facsimile in 2012 as part of the 100 Notes – 100 Thoughts catalog of the 13th documenta exhibition.[136] Frank Pavich directed a documentary about this unrealized project entitled Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in May 2013,[137] and was released theatrically in March 2014.[138]

In 1984, Dino De Laurentiis and Universal Pictures released Dune, a feature film adaptation of the novel by director and writer David Lynch.[139] The film stars Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, Jürgen Prochnow as Duke Leto Atreides, Francesca Annis as Lady Jessica, Sean Young as Chani, Kenneth McMillan as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Siân Phillips as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Max von Sydow as Doctor Kynes, Sting as Feyd-Rautha, Freddie Jones as Thufir Hawat, Richard Jordan as Duncan Idaho, Everett McGill as Stilgar, Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck, Dean Stockwell as Doctor Wellington Yueh, and José Ferrer as Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV.[140] Although a commercial and critical failure upon release, Frank Herbert himself was reportedly pleased with the movie, as it stayed more faithful to the book than earlier movie adaptation attempts. However, he had his reservations on its failures at the time, citing the lack of "imagination" in its marketing and estimated costs, and some of the filmmaker's production techniques.[96]

In 2008, Paramount Pictures announced that they had a new feature film adaptation of Dune in development with Peter Berg set to direct;[141] Berg dropped out of the project in October 2009,[142] and director Pierre Morel was signed in January 2010.[143] Paramount dropped the project in March 2011.[144][145]

In November 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and TV rights for Dune.[146][147] Variety reported in December 2016 that Denis Villeneuve was in negotiations to direct the project,[148] which was confirmed in February 2017.[149] In early 2018, Villeneuve stated that his goal was to adapt the novel into a two-part film series.[150] He said in May 2018 that the first draft of the script had been finished.[151][152] Villeneuve said, "Most of the main ideas of Star Wars are coming from Dune so it's going to be a challenge to [tackle] this. The ambition is to do the Star Wars movie I never saw. In a way, it's Star Wars for adults."[153] In July 2018, Brian Herbert confirmed that the latest draft of the screenplay covered "approximately half of the novel Dune."[154] Timothée Chalamet was cast to play Paul Atreides.[155] Greig Fraser joined the project as cinematographer in December 2018.[156] In September 2018, it was reported that Rebecca Ferguson was in talks to play Jessica Atreides.[157] In January 2019, Dave Bautista[158] and Stellan Skarsgård[159] joined the production, playing Glossu Rabban and Vladimir Harkonnen, respectively. It was reported later that month that Charlotte Rampling had been cast as Reverend Mother Mohiam,[160] Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto,[161] Zendaya as Chani,[162] and Javier Bardem as Stilgar.[163] In February 2019, Josh Brolin was cast as Gurney Halleck,[164] Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho,[165] and David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries.[166] Filming began March 18, 2019, and the film was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary and Jordan.[167] Distributed by Warner Bros., Villeneuve's Dune was released on October 22, 2021.[168][169] Dune was a critical and commercial success, leading Legendary Pictures to greenlight a sequel, Dune: Part Two, within that week, with a planned released date in November 2023.[170]

The Sci-Fi Channel premiered a three-part miniseries adaptation called Frank Herbert's Dune on December 3, 2000.[84] Its March 16, 2003 sequel, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, combined both Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.[171][172] As of 2004, both miniseries were two of the three highest-rated programs ever to be broadcast on Syfy.[45] Frank Herbert's Dune won two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2001, for Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie[173] and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.[174] The miniseries was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.[175] Frank Herbert's Children of Dune won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special in 2003.[176] The miniseries was also nominated for Emmys for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special,[177] Outstanding Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie,[177] and Outstanding Makeup for a Limited Series or Movie (Non-Prosthetic).[178]

In June 2019 it was announced that Legendary Television will be producing a spin-off television series, Dune: The Sisterhood, for WarnerMedia's streaming service, HBO Max. The series will focus on the Bene Gesserit and serve as a prequel to the 2021 film. Villeneuve will direct the series' pilot with Jon Spaihts writing the screenplay, and both will serve as executive producers alongside Brian Herbert.[179] Though he initially served as showrunner, on November 5, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Spaihts had stepped down from this position to focus more on the sequel to the 2021 film.[180] Diane Ademu-John had been hired as the new showrunner by July 2021.[181]

A comic adaptation of David Lynch's film Dune, by writer Ralph Macchio and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, was produced by Marvel Comics and was published in various formats. On December 1, 1984, it was published with Berkley in a small paperback as Dune: The Official Comic Book (ISBN 0-425-07623-7).[67] It was later released as Marvel Super Special #36: Dune[182] on April 1, 1985, and as a three-issue limited comic series from Marvel entitled Dune from April to June 1985.[67][183]

In January 2020, Entertainment Weekly reported that Abrams Books was developing a three-part graphic novel adaptation of Dune, which will be the first time the novel has been published in this format. The graphic novel will be written by Brian Herbert and Anderson and illustrated by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, with covers by Bill Sienkiewicz.[184] In May 2020, Boom! Studios was announced to have acquired the comic and graphic novel rights to the 1999 prequel novel Dune: House Atreides, with the intent of doing a 12-issue comic adaptation written by the original authors Brian Herbert and Anderson.[185] In 2021 they announced another 12-issue comic series based on Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's 2019 short story "Blood of the Sardaukar."

Six licensed Dune computer and video games have been released. The first was Dune (1992) from Cryo Interactive/Virgin Interactive.[186][187] Another game developed at the same time, Westwood Studios' Dune II (1992), is generally credited for popularizing and setting the template for the real-time strategy genre of computer games.[188][189] Dune II is considered to be among the most influential video games of all time.[190]

Dune 2000 (1998) is a remake of Dune II from Intelligent Games/Westwood Studios/Virgin Interactive.[191] Its sequel was the 3D video game Emperor: Battle for Dune (2001) by Intelligent Games/Westwood Studios/Electronic Arts.[192][193] The 3D game Frank Herbert's Dune (2001) by Cryo Interactive/DreamCatcher Interactive is based on the 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries of the same name.[194][195]

On February 26, 2019, Funcom announced that it was entering into an exclusive partnership with Legendary Entertainment to develop games related to the upcoming Dune films.[196] The first game, Dune: Spice Wars, developed by Shiro Games, was released in early access on April 26, 2022.[197]

Dune: Imperium's designer Paul Dennen (left), at the booth promoting his game, at Spiel des Jahres

The board game Dune was released by Avalon Hill in 1979,[198][199] followed by a Parker Brothers game Dune in 1984.[200] A 1997 collectible card game called Dune[201] was followed by the role-playing game Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium in 2000.[202][203] The 1979 Avalon Hill game was republished by Gale Force Nine in 2019.[204] The board game Dune: Imperium was published by Dire Wolf in 2021.[205] In May 2021, a tabletop RPG, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, was released by Modiphius Entertainment.[206] It won a Gold ENNIE Award for "Best Writing" and was also nominated for "Product of the Year."[207] In January 2022, characters from both Rick and Morty parodies of Dune (in particular Paul Atreides-themed versions of Morty Smith) were made available as playable characters in the franchise video game Pocket Mortys.