The Lore Of 'Dune'

TV & Film

Jul 26

Widely considered one of the classics of science fiction, Dune is almost always recommended as required reading for those getting into the genre.

The problem with that, though, is it’s dense. Dune is packed with lore and world-building and politics, so much so that it almost always requires a reread to really grasp the scope.

RELATED:

Featured

Timothée Chalamet Upset At Lack Of Awards And Is Not Interested In Making TV Shows

Let’s dive into the workings of this foundational novel and universe to have a better understanding if you’re about to get into it, or as a refresher.

When

One of the first things to understand about Dune is that it takes place far into the future. We’re talking like 20,000 years into the future. If that’s a staggering amount of time to contemplate, know that it is, but also, development is rather stagnated at this time. Humanity has spread out among the stars at this point, and Earth is all but forgotten. The technology is a weird combination of incredibly advanced, so much so that it’s almost natural, but also regressive. This is because at a point before the novel’s timeline starts (called After Guild), a couple hundred years prior to the start of that calendar, there was an epic war against “thinking machines,” what we could call the classic AI uprising trope in science fiction.

Humanity won out, but at great cost, and a strict outlawing of any thinking technology. So even though the story takes place 10,000 years after that, it’s been 10,000 years without AI. There’s other advances in there though, some technological, but also evolutionary, which we’ll get to in a minute. People use personal shields that are velocity based, so bullets and fast traveling projectiles slow down as they try to make it through. This forces infantry to resort to using blades more often than any kind of projectile or distance weapon. Also, the shield technology is…allergic to other advanced technology like lasers. They react violently, almost atomically so, to each other, and so lasers are also kind of “outlawed.”

I mentioned evolution, and at this point in the human timeline, and part of the theme of the book, explores genetic tampering through selective breeding and trait building. As a result of the AI war, humans had to figure out how to do complex calculations that AI could for them, but they could no longer rely on. Therefore, they develop a class of people known as Mentats. They’re basically human computers. They do incredibly complex mathematical computations in their head through intense training and centuries of breeding and training programs. They’re employed by the “houses” of the galaxy to plan and maneuver. Computers are still used to do basic things like moving ships and light houses and stuff like that, but the Mentats do the real legwork that AI used to do.

Speaking of breeding, genetic purity and control is a central theme of the book and the way of life in the galaxy of Dune. Like with the Mentats, think of it as Darwinian control of human direction. They couldn’t use AI anymore, so they had to develop humans who could do the work. It goes further than that though. There’s the Bene Gesserit to talk about, but we’ll go into more detail on them in a bit, and there’s the Navigators. These guys were like Mentats but for space navigation. If you remember from A New Hope, hyperspace ain’t like dustin crops. To traverse the expanse of space, navigators are humans who have consumed a massive amount of the Spice (melange), in a zero-gravity environment. It physically transforms them into almost a human with fish-like features. This transformation, maintained by an environment of the Spice in gas form, gives them a prescient ability that allows them to navigate the chaotic nature of space and the dangers that interstellar travel presents.

Politics

Hoo boy, if you don’t grasp politics well, then Dune might take more than one reading. So, where do we start?

For one, there’s an Emperor, but before you think about him being an all powerful autocrat, we need to understand power. Many people think power is absolute, In reality, power is on a spectrum, and it’s strength is only based on how much those who follow you continue to allow you to do so, and whether those who are loyal to you continue to see you as beneficial to their survival. Even kings were at the mercy of the noble families they were socially above. If those families thought they would be better served by someone else, or one of their own on the throne, they damn well would maneuver to remove the monarch and install their own.

With that understanding, the closest historical example that can frame the imperial system of Dune is the Holy Roman Empire. While there was an emperor, and they technically had the most power, they were elected, and they were elected by a system of nobles from powerful families. In the Dune universe, that system of noble families is known as the Landsraad. They all seek to get the power of the throne themselves, making their own schemes and plots, but the Emperor is not an idiot. He maintains control through two main channels: Spice and the Sardukar.

Spice runs everything in the Dune universe. Prior to its widespread use and creation of the Navigators, interstellar travel was done by computers, and that led to the AI war described above. Now, it’s so essential to the function of the empire, that it’s become part of the power struggle that exists between the Imperium and the Landsraad. Spice is only found on Arrakis, the eponymous Dune. Therefore control of the planet is central to power dynamics in the political structure of the universe of Dune. The Emperor grants control of the planet to a political family, like the Harkonnen or the Atreides. This is a gamble, as we see in the books, as it gives unprecedented wealth accumulation to that particular family, however, if they have any schemes of usurping their position to control the throne, the rest of the Landsraad would unite to put them in check. They all rely on it as well as everyone else, and will act swiftly to stop any sort of power grab from occurring that threatens their reliance on it.

Furthermore, the Emperor has a private army called the Sardukar. They are an elite force of fighters, raised from an early age in an intense and unforgiving environment, and they are sworn to service for the Emperor. They are zealously devoted to the Emperor, and their training is so intense, that more than half of them die in the process. This process has created a force that outmatches any other house’s own military, and only rivaled by the Fremen.

Who

Alongside the political complexities of the universe, there’s some major players that people need to know about.

We’ve already mentioned the Landsraad. It's basically a confederation of major houses, meaning noble lords and their retinue, that are in a loose alliance to maintain functionality. It doesn’t mean they don’t fight, as you’ll read below, but they maintain power through political maneuvering, marriages, and military action. The largest houses, as people learn in the books, are the Corrino, the house the Emperor hails from, the Atreides, which Paul is from, and the Harkonnen, their mortal enemies.

There are also third party forces that further complicate the political structure of the Imperium. The guilds, and particularly the Spacing Guild, maintain monopolies within the Imperium’s economic system that are fiercely protected. The Spacing Guild being particularly the strongest, as they are comprised of the Navigators, and control all transportation through the galaxy. No one travels between systems without the use of the Spacing Guild. They’re expensive, so any action that utilizes their ships, including military, is taken with great consideration. They remain neutral, as a result, and if conflict erupts between houses, they will transport fighters of both, as long as their fees are paid.

Behind all of this, there’s the Bene Gesserit. In keeping with the theme of evolution and genetic control, they are a cult comprised entirely of women who are secretive, seem to be witches, and control the direction of politics in the Imperium. They have developed through training the ability to use vocal sounds, known as the Voice, to compel people to do their bidding, usually without them realizing. Furthermore, they train their members to infiltrate, seducing members of the houses into taking them on as concubines or wives, to produce heirs according to their designs.

This is all due to their fanatical, fascistic, and eugenic designs to bring about the Kwisatz Haderach. This is a prophesied person who, through centuries of planning and plotting, would be born through the genetic tampering through selective breeding, would be born and have access to the entire Bene Gesserit genetic memory and control the galaxy. They could do so through foresight and genetic hindsight. They could literally see all futures, and know their collective past, as well as have abilities similar to the Spacing Guild, to basically be a superhuman, and take control of the direction of the galaxy. For they have been able to control their evolutionary track to give them the ability to use their body and control their ability to give birth, transform toxic substances to survive consumption, and as mentioned above, manipulate others with their voice. All of this is possible because of the use of the Spice.

Last but not least, there’s the Fremen. They are long descended from Muslims on Earth, and by spacefaring age they wandered the stars, seeking freedom from persecution. Over generations, they settled on Arrakis, and for so long they resided there, they accommodated to the harsh environment and it’s primary product of the Spice, their consumption of which gave them their characteristic blue eyes. The harshness of the planet and their spirituality made them fierce fighters, and rivaled only by the Sardaukar. Their secretive ways and nature made their full numbers unknown, but when Paul works to avenge the betrayal of his family, he builds a relationship and works within the superstition of the Fremen to utilize their untapped power, and when they believe him to be their messiah, a concept planted by the Bene Gesserit long ago, they use the political chokehold that Arrakis has on the galaxy to launch a crusade in Paul’s name, slaughtering billions.

READ NEXT:

Featured