Dune (novel)

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.[27][28] In his descriptions of the Fremen culture and language, Herbert uses both authentic Arabic words and Arabic-sounding words.[29][30] For example, one of the names for the sandworm, Shai-hulud, is derived from Arabic: شيء خلود, romanized: šayʾ ḫulūd, lit. 'immortal thing' or Arabic: شيخ خلود, romanized: šayḫ ḫulūd, lit. 'old man of eternity'.[31][30] The title of the Fremen housekeeper, the Shadout Mapes, is borrowed from the Arabic: شادوف‎, romanized: šādūf, the Egyptian term for a device used to raise water.[30] In particular, words related to the messianic religion of the Fremen, first implanted by the Bene Gesserit, are taken from Arabic, including Muad'Dib (from Arabic: مؤدب, romanized: muʾaddib, lit. 'educator'), Usul (from Arabic: أصول, romanized: ʾuṣūl, lit. 'fundamental principles'), Shari-a (from Arabic: شريعة, romanized: šarīʿa, lit. 'sharia; path'), Shaitan (from Arabic: شيطان, romanized: šayṭān, lit. 'Shaitan; devil; fiend', and jinn (from Arabic: جن, romanized: ǧinn, lit. 'jinn; spirit; demon; mythical being').[27] It is likely Herbert relied on second-hand resources such as phrasebooks and desert adventure stories to find these Arabic words and phrases for the Fremen.[30] They are meaningful and carefully chosen, and help create an "imagined desert culture that resonates with exotic sounds, enigmas, and pseudo-Islamic references" and has a distinctly Bedouin aesthetic.[30]

As a foreigner who adopts the ways of a desert-dwelling people and then leads them in a military capacity, Paul Atreides bears many similarities to the historical T. E. Lawrence.[32] His 1962 biopic Lawrence of Arabia has also been identified as a potential influence.[33] The Sabres of Paradise (1960) has also been identified as a potential 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.[6]

The environment of the desert planet Arrakis was primarily inspired by the environments of the Middle East. Similarly Arrakis as a bioregion is presented as a particular kind of political site. Herbert has made it resemble a desertified petrostate area.[34] The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes of Arabia, and the Mahdi prophecy originates from Islamic eschatology.[35] Inspiration is also adopted from medieval historian Ibn Khaldun's cyclical history and his dynastic concept in North Africa, hinted at by Herbert's reference to Khaldun's book Kitāb al-ʿibar ("The Book of Lessons"). The fictionalized version of the "Kitab al-ibar" in Dune is a combination of a Fremen religious manual and a desert survival book.[36][37]

In addition to Arabic, Dune derives words and names from a variety of other languages, including Hebrew, Navajo, Latin, Dutch (“Landsraad”), Chakobsa, the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, Greek, Persian, Sanskrit (“prana bindu”, “prajna”), Russian, Turkish, Finnish, and Old English.[38] Bene Gesserit is derived from the Latin meaning "it will have been well borne" symbolizing their doctrine in the story.[39]

Through the inspiration from The Sabres of Paradise, there are also allusions to the tsarist-era Russian nobility and Cossacks.[40] 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.[41][42]

Dune has been called the "first planetary ecology novel on a grand scale".[43] Herbert hoped it would be seen as an "environmental awareness handbook" and said the title was meant to "echo the sound of 'doom'".[44] It was reviewed in the best selling countercultural Whole Earth Catalog in 1968 as a "rich re-readable fantasy with clear portrayal of the fierce environment it takes to cohere a community”.[45]

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 Arrakis life, from giant sandworms (for whom water is deadly) to smaller, mouse-like life forms adapted to live with limited water. Dune was followed in its creation of complex and unique ecologies by other science fiction books such as A Door into Ocean (1986) and Red Mars (1992).[43] 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.[46]

While the genre of climate fiction was popularized in the 2010s in response to real global climate change, Dune as well as other early science fiction works from authors like J. G. Ballard (e.g. The Drowned World (1962)) and Kim Stanley Robinson (the Mars trilogy (1992–1996)) have retroactively been considered pioneering examples of the genre.[47][48]

The Imperium in Dune contains features of various empires in Europe and the near East, including the Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empire, and Ottoman Empire.[49][31][50] Lorenzo DiTommaso compared Dune's portrayal of the downfall of a galactic empire to Edward Gibbon's 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 "The Articulation of Imperial Decadence and Decline in Epic Science Fiction" (2007), DiTommaso outlines similarities between the two works by highlighting the excesses of the Emperor on his home planet of Kaitain and of the Baron Harkonnen in his palace. The Emperor loses his effectiveness as a ruler through an excess of ceremony and pomp. The hairdressers and attendants he brings with him to Arrakis are even referred to as "parasites". The Baron Harkonnen is similarly corrupt and materially indulgent. Gibbon'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. The Emperor's Sardaukar fighters are little match for the Fremen of Dune not only because of the Sardaukar's overconfidence and the fact that Jessica and Paul have trained the Fremen in their battle tactics, but because of the Fremen's capacity for self-sacrifice. The Fremen put the community before themselves in every instance, while the world outside wallows in luxury at the expense of others.[51]

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 Frank Herbert as depicting "war as a collective orgasm" (drawing on Norman Walter's 1950 The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare),[52][53] themes that would reappear in God Emperor of Dune's Scattering and Leto II's all-female Fish Speaker army.

Gender dynamics are complex in Dune. Within the Fremen sietch communities, women have almost full equality. They carry weapons and travel in raiding parties with men, fighting when necessary alongside the men. They can take positions of leadership as a Sayyadina or as a Reverend Mother (if she can survive the ritual of ingesting the Water of Life.) Both of these sietch religious leaders are routinely consulted by the all-male Council and can have a decisive voice in all matters of sietch life, security and internal politics. They are also protected by the entire community. Due to the high mortality rate among their men, women outnumber men in most sietches. Polygamy is common, and sexual relationships are voluntary and consensual; as Stilgar says to Jessica, “women among us are not taken against their will.”

In contrast, the Imperial aristocracy leaves young women of noble birth very little agency. Frequently trained by the Bene Gesserit, they are raised to eventually marry other aristocrats. Marriages between Major and Minor Houses are political tools to forge alliances or heal old feuds; women are given very little say in the matter. Many such marriages are quietly maneuvered by the Bene Gesserit to produce offspring with some genetic characteristics needed by the sisterhood’s human-breeding program. In addition, such highly-placed sisters were in a position to subtly influence their husbands’ actions in ways that could move the politics of the Imperium toward Bene Gesserit goals.

The gom jabbar test of humanity is administered by the female Bene Gesserit order but rarely to males.[54] The Bene Gesserit have seemingly mastered the unconscious and can play on the unconscious weaknesses of others using the Voice, yet their breeding program seeks after a male Kwisatz Haderach.[32] Their plan is to produce a male who can “possess complete racial memory, both male and female,” and look into the black hole in the collective unconscious that they fear.[55] A central theme of the book is the connection, in Jessica's son, of this female aspect with his male aspect. This aligns with concepts in Jungian psychology, which features conscious/unconscious and taking/giving roles associated with males and females, as well as the idea of the collective unconscious.[56] Paul's approach to power consistently requires his upbringing under the matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who operate as a long-dominating shadow government behind all of the great houses and their marriages or divisions.[55] He is trained by Jessica in the Bene Gesserit Way, which includes prana-bindu training in nerve and muscle control and precise perception.[57] Paul also receives Mentat training, thus helping prepare him to be a type of androgynous Kwisatz Haderach, a male Reverend Mother.[55]

In a Bene Gesserit test early in the book, it is implied that people are generally "inhuman" in that they irrationally place desire over self-interest and reason. This applies Herbert's philosophy that humans are not created equal, while equal justice and equal opportunity are higher ideals than mental, physical, or moral equality.[58]

I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it.

— Frank Herbert[59]

Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to many stories describing the birth of a hero.[60] He has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him. After a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale.[61][62] 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.[63] Eventually, Paul Atreides gains a level of omniscience which allows him to take over the planet and the galaxy, and causes the Fremen of Arrakis to worship him like a god. Author Frank Herbert said in 1979, "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better [to] rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes."[64] 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."[65]

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, Ginaz swordsmen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Spacing Guild Navigators).[66]

Early in his newspaper career, Herbert was introduced to Zen by two Jungian psychologists, Ralph and Irene Slattery, who "gave a crucial boost to his thinking".[67] Zen teachings ultimately had "a profound and continuing influence on [Herbert's] work".[67] Throughout the Dune series and particularly in Dune, Herbert employs concepts and forms borrowed from Zen Buddhism.[67][68] The Fremen are Zensunni adherents, and many of Herbert's epigraphs are Zen-spirited.[69] In "Dune Genesis", Frank Herbert wrote:

What especially pleases me is to see the interwoven themes, the fugue like relationships of images that exactly replay the way Dune took shape. As in an Escher lithograph, I involved myself with recurrent themes that turn into paradox. The central paradox concerns the human vision of time. What about Paul's gift of prescience - 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. It's like the Cretan Epimenides saying, "All Cretans are liars."[58]

Brian Herbert called the Dune universe "a spiritual melting pot", noting that his father incorporated elements of a variety of religions, including Buddhism, Sufi mysticism and other Islamic belief systems, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Hinduism.[70] He added that Frank Herbert's fictional future in which "religious beliefs have combined into interesting forms" represents the author's solution to eliminating arguments between religions, each of which claimed to have "the one and only revelation."[70][71]

Tim O'Reilly suggests that Herbert also wrote Dune as a counterpoint to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. In his monograph on Frank Herbert, O'Reilly wrote that "Dune is clearly a commentary on the Foundation trilogy. Herbert has taken a look at the same imaginative situation that provoked Asimov's classic—the decay of a galactic empire—and restated it in a way that draws on different assumptions and suggests radically different conclusions. The twist he has introduced into Dune is that the Mule, not the Foundation, is his hero."[72] According to O'Reilly, Herbert bases the Bene Gesserit on the scientific shamans of the Foundation, though they use biological rather than statistical science.[72] In contrast to the Foundation series and its praise of science and rationality, Dune proposes that the unconscious and unexpected are actually what are needed for humanity.[72]

However, both works contain a similar theme of the restoration of civilization[73] and seem to make the fundamental assumption that “political maneuvering, the need to control material resources, and friendship or mating bonds will be fundamentally the same in the future as they are now.”[74]

In 1971, the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed by Arthur P. Jacobs) optioned the rights to film Dune. As Jacobs was busy with other projects, such as the sequel to Planet of the Apes, Dune was delayed for another year. Jacobs' first choice for director was David Lean, but he turned down the offer. Charles Jarrott was also considered to direct. Work was also under way on a script while the hunt for a director continued. Initially, the first treatment had been handled by Robert Greenhut, the producer who had lobbied Jacobs to make the movie in the first place, but subsequently Rospo Pallenberg was approached to write the script, with shooting scheduled to begin in 1974. However, Jacobs died in 1973.[96]

Pre-release flyer for Jodorowsky's Dune

In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights from APJ, with Alejandro Jodorowsky set to direct.[97] In 1975, Jodorowsky planned to film the story as a 10-hour feature, set to star 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. It was at first proposed to score the film with original music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Henry Cow, and Magma; later on, the soundtrack was to be provided by Pink Floyd.[98] Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction periodicals, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Metal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger.[97] Moebius began designing creatures and characters for the film, while Foss was brought in to design the film's space ships and hardware.[97] Giger began designing the Harkonnen Castle based on Moebius's storyboards. Dan O'Bannon was to head the special effects department.[97]

Dalí was cast as the Emperor.[97] Dalí later demanded to be paid $100,000 per hour; Jodorowsky agreed, but tailored Dalí's part to be filmed in one hour, drafting plans for other scenes of the emperor to use a mechanical mannequin as substitute for Dalí.[97] According to Giger, Dalí was "later invited to leave the film because of his pro-Franco statements".[99] Just as the storyboards, designs, and script were finished, the financial backing dried up. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phone book", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. Jodorowsky said in 1985 that he found the Dune story mythical and had intended to recreate it rather than adapt the novel; though he had an "enthusiastic admiration" for Herbert, Jodorowsky said he had done everything possible to distance the author and his input from the project.[97] Although Jodorowsky was embittered by the experience, he said the Dune project changed his life, and some of the ideas were used in his and Moebius's The Incal.[100] O'Bannon entered a psychiatric hospital after the production failed, then worked on 13 scripts, the last of which became Alien.[97] A 2013 documentary, Jodorowsky's Dune, was made about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at an adaptation.

In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis acquired the rights from Gibon's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired director Ridley Scott in 1979, with Rudy Wurlitzer writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production; Scott and Giger had also just worked together on the film Alien, after O'Bannon recommended the artist.[101][102] Scott intended to split the novel into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, using The Battle of Algiers as a point of reference, before moving on to direct another science fiction film, Blade Runner (1982). As he recalls, the pre-production process was slow, and finishing the project would have been even more time-intensive:

But after seven months I dropped out of Dune, by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's. But I also realised Dune was going to take a lot more work—at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my older brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him the Dune script was his.

—From Ridley Scott: The Making of his Movies by Paul M. Sammon

In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis re-negotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the Dune sequels (written and unwritten). After seeing The Elephant Man, De Laurentiis' daughter Raffaella decided that David Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time Lynch received several other directing offers, including Return of the Jedi. He agreed to direct Dune and write the screenplay even though he had not read the book, was not familiar with the story, or even been interested in science fiction.[103] Lynch worked on the script for six months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script before it split over creative differences. Lynch would subsequently work on five more drafts. Production of the work was troubled by problems at the Mexican studio and hampering the film's timeline.[104] Lynch ended up producing a nearly three-hour long film, but at demands from Universal Pictures, the film's distributor, he cut it back to about two hours, hastily filming additional scenes to make up for some of the cut footage.[105]

This first film of Dune, directed by Lynch, was released in 1984, nearly 20 years after the book's publication. Though Herbert said the book's depth and symbolism seemed to intimidate many filmmakers, he was pleased with the film, saying that "They've got it. It begins as Dune does. And I hear my dialogue all the way through. There are some interpretations and liberties, but you're gonna come out knowing you've seen Dune."[106] Reviews of the film were negative, saying that it was incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the book, and that fans would be disappointed by the way it strayed from the book's plot.[107][108][109][93][110] Upon release for television and other forms of home media, Universal opted to reintroduce much of the footage that Lynch had cut, creating an over-three-hour long version with extensive monologue exposition. Lynch was extremely displeased with this move, and demanded that Universal replace his name on these cuts with the pseudonym "Alan Smithee", and has generally distanced himself from the film since.[105]

In 2000, John Harrison adapted the novel into Frank Herbert's Dune, a miniseries which premiered on American Sci-Fi Channel.[15] As of 2004, the miniseries was one of the three highest-rated programs broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel.[111]

In 2008, Paramount Pictures announced that they would produce a new film based on the book, with Peter Berg attached to direct.[112] Producer Kevin Misher, who spent a year securing the rights from the Herbert estate, was to be joined by Richard Rubinstein and John Harrison (of both Sci Fi Channel miniseries) as well as Sarah Aubrey and Mike Messina.[112] The producers stated that they were going for a "faithful adaptation" of the novel, and considered "its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely."[112] Science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert, who had together written multiple Dune sequels and prequels since 1999, were attached to the project as technical advisors.[113] In October 2009, Berg dropped out of the project, later saying that it "for a variety of reasons wasn't the right thing" for him.[114] Subsequently, with a script draft by Joshua Zetumer, Paramount reportedly sought a new director who could do the film for under $175 million.[115] In 2010, Pierre Morel was signed on to direct, with screenwriter Chase Palmer incorporating Morel's vision of the project into Zetumer's original draft.[116][117] By November 2010, Morel left the project.[118] Paramount finally dropped plans for a remake in March 2011.[119]

In November 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and TV rights for Dune.[120][121] Variety reported in December 2016 that Denis Villeneuve was in negotiations to direct the project,[122] which was confirmed in February 2017.[123] In April 2017, Legendary announced that Eric Roth would write the screenplay.[124] Villeneuve explained in March 2018 that his adaptation will be split into two films, with the first installment scheduled to begin production in 2019.[125] Casting includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides,[126] Dave Bautista as Rabban, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen,[127] Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica,[128] Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam,[129] Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides,[130] Zendaya as Chani,[131] Javier Bardem as Stilgar,[132] Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck,[133] Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho,[134] David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries,[135] Chang Chen as Dr. Yueh,[136] and Stephen Henderson as Thufir Hawat.[137] Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film, which had its initial premiere on September 3, 2021, at the Venice Film Festival,[138] and wide release in both theaters and streaming on HBO Max on October 21, 2021, as part of Warner Bros.'s approach to handling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry.[139][140] The film received "generally favorable reviews" on Metacritic.[141] It has gone on to win multiple awards and was named by the National Board of Review as one of the 10 best films of 2021, as well as the American Film Institute in their annual top 10 list.[142] The film went on to be nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning six, the most wins of the night for any film in contention.[143]

A sequel, Dune: Part Two, is scheduled for release in October 2023.[144]

In 1993, Recorded Books Inc. released a 20-disc audiobook narrated by George Guidall. In 2007, Audio Renaissance released an audio book narrated by Simon Vance with some parts performed by Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, and other performers.

• In 1978, French electronic musician Richard Pinhas released the nine-track Dune-inspired album Chronolyse, which includes the seven-part Variations sur le thème des Bene Gesserit.[154]
• In 1979, German electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze released an LP titled Dune featuring motifs and lyrics inspired by the novel.[155]
• A similar musical project, Visions of Dune, was released also in 1979 by Zed (a pseudonym of French electronic musician Bernard Sjazner).[156]
• Heavy metal band Iron Maiden wrote the song "To Tame a Land" based on the Dune story. It appears as the closing track to their 1983 album Piece of Mind. The original working title of the song was "Dune"; however, the band was denied permission to use it, with Frank Herbert's agents stating "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden".[157]
• Dune inspired the German happy hardcore band Dune, who have released several albums with space travel-themed songs.
• The progressive hardcore band Shai Hulud took their name from Dune.[158]
• "Traveller in Time", from the 1991 Blind Guardian album Tales from the Twilight World, is based mostly on Paul Atreides' visions of future and past.[159][160]
• The title of the 1993 Fear Factory album Fear is The Mindkiller is a quote from the "litany against fear".[161]
• The song "Near Fantastica", from the Matthew Good album Avalanche, makes reference to the "litany against fear", repeating "can't feel fear, fear's the mind killer" through a section of the song.[162]
• In the Fatboy Slim song "Weapon of Choice", the line "If you walk without rhythm/You won't attract the worm" is a near quotation from the sections of novel in which Stilgar teaches Paul to ride sandworms.
• Dune also inspired the 1999 album The 2nd Moon by the German death metal band Golem, which is a concept album about the series.[163]
• Dune influenced Thirty Seconds to Mars on their self-titled debut album.[164]
• The Youngblood Brass Band's song "Is an Elegy" on Center:Level:Roar references "Muad'Dib", "Arrakis" and other elements from the novel.[165]
• The debut album of Canadian musician Grimes, called Geidi Primes, is a concept album based on Dune.[166][167]
• Japanese singer Kenshi Yonezu, released a song titled "Dune", also known as "Sand Planet". The song was released on 2017, and it was created using the voice synthesizer Hatsune Miku for her 10th anniversary.[168]
• "Fear is the Mind Killer", a song released in 2018 by Zheani (an Australian rapper) uses a quote from Dune.[169]
• "Litany Against Fear" is a spoken track released in 2018 under the 'Eight' album by Zheani. She recites an extract from Dune.[170]
• Sleep's 2018 album The Sciences features a song, Giza Butler, that references several aspects of Dune.[171]
• Tool's 2019 album Fear Inoculum has a song entitled "Litanie contre la peur (Litany against fear)".[172]
• "Rare to Wake", from Shannon Lay's album Geist (2019), is inspired by Dune.[173]
• Heavy Metal band Diamond Head based the song "The Sleeper" and its prelude, both off the album The Coffin Train, on the series.

There have been a number of games based on the book, starting with the strategy–adventure game Dune (1992). The most important game adaptation is Dune II (1992), which established the conventions of modern real-time strategy games and is considered to be among the most influential video games of all time.[174]

The online game Lost Souls includes Dune-derived elements, including sandworms and melange—addiction to which can produce psychic talents.[175] The 2016 game Enter the Gungeon features the spice melange as a random item which gives the player progressively stronger abilities and penalties with repeated uses, mirroring the long-term effects melange has on users.[176]

Rick Priestley cites Dune as a major influence on his 1987 wargame, Warhammer 40,000.[177]

The Apollo 15 astronauts named a small crater on Earth's Moon after the novel during the 1971 mission,[178] and the name was formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1973.[179] Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-world nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan, like Arrakis Planitia.[180][181][182]