PALGRAVE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY: A NEW CANON

Frank Herbert’s
Dune
A Critical Companion
Kara Kennedy
Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon

Series Editors
Sean Guynes
Independent Scholar
Ann Arbor, USA

Keren Omry
Department of English
University of Haifa
Haifa, Israel
Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon provides short intro-
ductions to key works of science fiction and fantasy (SFF) speaking to why
a text, trilogy, or series matters to SFF as a genre as well as to readers,
scholars, and fans. These books aim to serve as a go-to resource for think-
ing on specific texts and series and for prompting further inquiry. Each
book will be less than 30,000 words and structured similarly to facilitate
classroom use. Focusing specifically on literature, the books will also
address film and TV adaptations of the texts as relevant. Beginning with
background and context on the text’s place in the field, the author and
how this text fits in their oeuvre, and the socio-historical reception of the
text, the books will provide an understanding of how students, readers,
and scholars can think dynamically about a given text. Each book will
describe the major approaches to the text and how the critical engage-
ments with the text have shaped SFF. Engaging with classic works as well
as recent books that have been taken up by SFF fans and scholars, the goal
of the series is not to be the arbiters of canonical importance, but to show
how sustained critical analysis of these texts might bring about a new
canon. In addition to their suitability for undergraduate courses, the books
will appeal to fans of SFF.
 Kara Kennedy

Frank Herbert’s
Dune
A Critical Companion
Kara Kennedy
Auckland, New Zealand

ISSN 2662-8562     ISSN 2662-8570 (electronic)

Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon
ISBN 978-3-031-13934-5    ISBN 978-3-031-13935-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13935-2

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

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To all those who have gladly lost themselves in another world
 Series Editor’s Preface

The infinite worlds of science fiction and fantasy (SFF) dance along the
borders between the possible and the impossible, the familiar and the
strange, the immediate and the ever-approaching horizon. Speculative fic-
tion in all its forms has been considered a genre, a medium, a mode, a
practice, a compilation of themes or a web of assertions. With this in mind,
Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon offers an expansive
and dynamic approach to thinking SFF, destabilizing notions of the canon,
so long associated with privilege, power, class, and hegemony. We take
canon not as a singular and unchallenged authority but as shifting and
thoughtful consensus among an always-growing collective of readers,
scholars, and writers.
The cultural practice and production of speculation has encompassed
novels, stories, plays, games, music, comics, and other media, with a lin-
eage dating back at least to the nineteenth-century precursors through to
the most recent publications. Existing scholarship has considered some of
these media extensively, often with particular focus on film and TV. It is
for this reason that Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy will forgo the
cinematic and televisual, aspiring to direct critical attention at the other
nodes of SFF expression.
Each volume in the series introduces, contextualizes, and analyzes a
single work of SFF that ranges from the acknowledged “classic” to the
should-be-classic, and asks two basic, but provocative questions: Why does
this text matter to SFF? and Why does (or should) this text matter to SFF read-
ers, scholars, and fans? Thus, the series joins into conversation with both
scholars and students of the field to examine the parameters of SFF studies

vii
viii Series Editor’s Preface

and the changing valences of fundamental categories like genre, medium,

and canon. By emphasizing the critical approaches and major questions
each text inspires, the series aims to offer “go-to” books for thinking about,
writing on, and teaching major works of SFF.

Haifa, Israel Karen Omry

Ann Arbor, MI Sean Gynes
 Contents

1 Introduction  1
Place in Science Fiction   3
Cultural Impact   5
Herbert’s Life   6
Herbert’s Other Works   9
Historical Context  11
References  15

2 P
 ower, Politics, and Religion 19
Feudalism  20
Imperialism  21
Machiavellianism  24
Religion  27
Political Systems  31
References  32

3 E
 cology and the Environment 35
The Science of Ecology  36
The Environment and People  38
The Ecologist  40
The Hero  44
Ecological Science Fiction  45
References  46

ix
x Contents

4 M
 ind and Consciousness 49
Characterization  50
Human Potential  52
Soft Science Fiction  60
References  61

5 H
 eroes and Masculinity 63
Archetypal Hero  64
Departure from the Archetype  68
Limitations of the Hero  70
Criticism of Heroes  72
Complex Heroes  74
References  76

6 W
 omen’s Influence and Control 77
Religious Agency  78
Embodied Agency  81
Political Agency  84
The Hero’s Debt  87
Feminist Speculation  87
References  88

7 A
 Complex World 89
References  95

Bibliography97

Index109
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Paul and Chani in the desert with the Atreides green and black
banner and Fremen followers. Reproduced with permission from
illustrator Arthur Whelan13
Fig. 2.1 Baron Vladimir Harkonnen fleeing from the poison released by
his prisoner, Duke Leto Atreides. Reproduced with permission
from illustrator Arthur Whelan25
Fig. 3.1 Fremen planting grasses on dunes. Reproduced with permission
from illustrator Arthur Whelan42
Fig. 4.1 Fremen riding the giant sandworm using maker hooks.
Reproduced with permission from illustrator Arthur Whelan59
Fig. 5.1 Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Paul Atreides face-off in
a knife fight. Reproduced with permission from illustrator
Arthur Whelan66
Fig. 6.1 A Bene Gesserit woman using the Voice. Reproduced with
permission from illustrator Arthur Whelan83

xi
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Abstract This chapter describes Dune’s place in science fiction as a liter-

ary work of art with classic themes, a memorable desert landscape, and
messages about ecology that remain interesting and relevant. It explains
how the book was part of a shift in the genre of science fiction and had a
large impact due to its commercial success and its influence on many sto-
ries that followed, including Star Wars. The chapter also provides an over-
view of Herbert’s influences and interests and draws comparisons between
Dune and his other works to show that he developed similar themes before
and after his masterpiece. It ends with a brief discussion of the historical
context, providing a background that is helpful in unpacking the com-
plexities in this multi-layered novel.

Keywords Science fiction • Frank Herbert • Fantasy • Ecology •

Environment • Mid-twentieth century fiction

Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune (1965) has long been acknowl-
edged as a literary work of art [1–3]. It marks the birth of the modern
period of science fiction when stories became more sophisticated [4,
p. 20]. Its density and complexity demand careful attention [4, p. 316]. It
has been called a major work in league with Shakespeare’s tragedies, with
richness, coherence, and an imaginative vision [5, p. 340].

1
2 K. KENNEDY

Since selling millions of copies and becoming the best-selling science

fiction book of all time, Dune has maintained its popularity. It still speaks
to us today because of its classic themes, such as love, family, loyalty,
betrayal, leadership, power, ambition, and culture clashes. It explores con-
cerns about the future, humans’ place in the environment, and the fate of
civilization. It also makes allusions to ancient mythology, which links it
with the epic tradition. For example, House Atreides headed by Duke
Leto alludes to the cursed House of Atreus and Leto, the mother of the
twins Artemis and Apollo, from Greek mythology [6, 7]. In addition,
there are parallels with historical issues that continue to impact us, includ-
ing tensions between East and West, conflicts over oil, drug usage, human
rights, and religion. The book builds a fantastical world that seems believ-
able because it is based on familiar events and landscapes. Dune has also
avoided becoming dated in part through its focus on humans rather than
technology. It gives us characters that are based on classic archetypes but
become three-dimensional when we see how they think and what they
feel. It offers layers of meaning that reward multiple readings—we can still
make surprising discoveries and experience the world in new ways when
we return to it. These add the kind of complexity that elevates the book’s
literary importance. Dune has withstood the test of time for many reasons.
In this study, we will explore some of the major themes, perspectives, and
context that have helped it achieve the status of a masterpiece.
Dune is probably best known for its setting—the desert world of
Arrakis, also known as Dune—and for its environmental themes. This
harsh, arid landscape filled with giant sandworms captures the imagina-
tion. Underpinning the story is the idea that everything is interconnected,
which is the basic principle of ecology—the study of interactions between
creatures and their environment. The book’s publication was timely. The
pioneer of the modern environmental movement, biologist Rachel Carson,
had recently published Silent Spring (1962), and the American public
were opening their eyes to the destruction that humans were causing to
the planet. It was a prime moment for an epic tale told of a world where
the locals who live in harmony with the environment are threatened by
greedy off-worlders who care only to mine the planet for a precious
resource. In Dune, there is a character explicitly named as an ecologist,
who leads a secret terraforming project with the locals’ assistance to con-
vert the desert into a water-filled paradise. Yet even this scientist neglects
to foresee the unintended consequences of such a radical change to the
ecosystem. With these elements, both obvious and subtle, Dune became a
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

pioneer in ecological science fiction and is credited for helping spur the
modern environmental movement.
The U.S. counterculture claimed Dune as its own when a book review
was published in the Whole Earth Catalog in 1968. Now known as the
magnum opus of the counterculture, the catalog introduced ideas like
organic farming, alternative energy sources, and computers to a main-
stream audience [8]. It called Dune “rich re-readable fantasy with clear
portrayal of the fierce environment it takes to cohere a community. […]
The metaphor is ecology. The theme revolution” [9, p. 41]. Here was a
book that could guide people’s thinking and warn them of the conse-
quences of humanity’s interference with Mother Earth. Herbert com-
mented that he chose the title deliberately to echo the sound of ‘doom’
[10, p. 249]. Dune was hitting the right notes about the environment at
the right moment.
It was also discovered by university staff and students, who helped
launch it to success. Like J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
(1954–1955) and Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (1961),
Dune became a campus book, consumed by hundreds of thousands of
students as a countercultural statement [5, p. 337]. Its ecological message
and inclusion of a hallucinogenic drug certainly helped fuel its popularity.
Some staff adopted it as textbook material for their courses, and by 1974
it was considered one of the most popular books to introduce students to
the genre of science fiction [1, 11]. It was also recommended for use in
high school English courses [11, pp. 74–75]. Cliffs Notes on Herbert’s
Dune and Other Works was published in 1975, giving further evidence that
the book was used enough in education to warrant a study guide. Science
fiction was going mainstream, and Dune benefited from the trend of this
genre moving beyond a dedicated niche of fans [5, p. 337].

Place in Science Fiction

Dune was published during a time of transition for the relatively young
genre of science fiction. The 1950s saw science fiction expanding to reach
a broader audience interested in learning about discoveries and technolo-
gies such as space exploration and atomic energy [12, p. 80]. Sometimes
described as Golden Age science fiction, many stories during the period
1940–1960 featured ideas grounded in recognizable science, linear story-
lines, and problem-solving heroes [5, p. 287]. Influential writers included
Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, who wrote stories that engaged with
4 K. KENNEDY

big ideas and speculated about the potential of technology to create a

brighter future, though there were cautionary science fiction tales as well.
Another influential figure was John W. Campbell, editor of the science
fiction magazine Astounding, later renamed Analog. He saw the potential
in Herbert’s lengthy story and published it in serialized form as “Dune
World” (three parts) and “The Prophet of Dune” (five parts) in issues
from December 1963 to May 1965. Campbell had strong opinions about
what made a good science fiction story, and there is a connection between
his personal tastes and the characteristics of Golden Age stories [5, p. 287].
He shaped how authors revised their work for publication, thus making a
mark on the path the genre would take. We can see from his correspon-
dence with Herbert that he had a clear idea about how to handle super-
men in science fiction, and he believed Herbert was setting up Paul to be
too powerful and hard to defeat [10, p. 112]. Herbert disagreed that the
story needed a major rewrite, though, and instead made minor changes on
other aspects not involving Paul’s powers [13, p. 174]. Years later,
Campbell would turn down Herbert’s submission of a sequel story, Dune
Messiah, because the editor did not have an interest in showing the hero,
Paul, turning into an anti-hero [10, p. 109]. Nonetheless, Campbell vali-
dated Herbert’s talent, even as Herbert had difficulty finding a book pub-
lisher who would take a chance on his long story. Eventually he secured an
agreement with Chilton, known for its auto repair manuals, for a hardback
edition and then Ace Books, a science fiction publisher, for a paperback.
But it still took several years for Dune to become a bestseller.
Dune became notable for its world-building and has been held up as a
masterpiece alongside Tolkien’s fantasy series The Lord of the Rings [14,
p. 123]. Both develop a variety of new terms, cultures, and factions, as
well as the sense that the world expands beyond the borders of the time
and space presented in the main storyline. Dune proved that science fic-
tion could, like fantasy, take the time to carefully construct a believable
world that readers would want to immerse themselves in. A story could be
lengthy and include historical context, maps, and appendices that pro-
vided additional information without clogging up the storyline. It could
leave things unexplained and let the reader fill in the gaps using their
imagination [15]. Soon after its publication as a novel, Dune won both of
the top science fiction awards: it won the Nebula Award for best novel in
1965, given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and
shared the Hugo Award for best novel in 1966, given by the World Science
Fiction Society.
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

Dune was something unique in science fiction. In some ways it resem-

bled stories of the Golden Age; it had elements of more traditional or
‘hard’ science fiction, such as space travel and explanations of how the
science would work on another planet. But it also featured significant
interest in humans and human consciousness, which were characteristics
of ‘soft’ science fiction. This was part of the turn that writers such as
J.G. Ballard were making toward the exploration of ‘inner space,’ or
human potentiality, and away from a focus on outer space and technologi-
cal gadgetry. Stories with these types of characteristics were part of the
New Wave, the period of the 1960s and 1970s that had some science fic-
tion writers engaging in more experimentation with style and content and
explicit language or sexual references [16, p. 103]. With its mixture of
styles and themes, Dune did not fit neatly into Golden Age or New Wave
categories. It explored the role of a messiah in human culture, as did other
important 1960s texts such as Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, but
its hero lacked control over his future path. Some consider Dune to be a
direct response to Asimov’s 1950s Foundation series: a critique of its faith
in science and the idea that intelligent scientists could predict the future
and guide things toward a better state of affairs [5, 17]. Yet what really
made Dune stand out from the science fiction that had gone before was its
attention to detail and its sheer scale [1, 18]. Therefore, Dune can best be
described as a bridge-builder between different types of science fiction
that heralded the maturation of the genre.

Cultural Impact
Part of Dune’s legacy is the impact it had as an inspiration for many stories
that followed it. These include science fiction—such as Kim Stanley
Robinson’s Mars trilogy (1992–1996) and Joan Slonczewski’s A Door
into Ocean (1986); fantasy—such as Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time
series (1990–2013); and anime—such as Carl Macek’s Robotech television
series (1985). The massively influential Star Wars franchise owes Dune a
significant debt. There are undeniable similarities between Dune and Star
Wars: A New Hope (1977) by director George Lucas, including the desert
planet and its inhabitants, character names and characteristics, and phi-
losophies about balance and nature. Herbert and other writers who saw
their work in Lucas’ film even jokingly created a loose organization called
the We’re Too Big to Sue George Lucas Society [13, p. 288]. A big con-
cern was the challenge of trying to adapt Dune when key concepts had
6 K. KENNEDY

already been used in Star Wars. Any screen adaptation might appear to be
a mere copy.
Eventually Dune would be adapted into film—first by director David
Lynch in 1984, and again by director Denis Villeneuve in 2021. The first
three novels were also adapted into two television miniseries—Frank
Herbert’s Dune and Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune—directed by John
Harrison and Greg Yaitanes, respectively, in 2000 and 2003. Although
these adaptations did not spawn the billion-dollar franchise of Star Wars,
they reinvigorated interest in Herbert’s story and introduced it to new
generations. After Lynch’s film, Dune reached number one on The
New York Times bestseller list, and after Villeneuve’s adaptation, it once
again became a bestseller [13, p. 474]. Even the 1970s film adaptation
that was never made, involving director Alejandro Jodorowsky, prompted
a creative outpouring that spilled over into other projects, including Ridley
Scott’s award-winning Alien (1979) film [19]. There have also been
games, comics, and other books set in the Dune universe that draw on the
characters and themes from the original book.
Through its threads of influence, Dune has played a pivotal role in
shaping science fiction during its massive growth in the latter half of the
twentieth century and beyond. Its epic nature, depth, and breadth encour-
aged other writers to pursue more complexity than they might have oth-
erwise [4, pp. 399–400]. In addition, its commercial success paved the
way for larger advances, more printings, and higher sales for other science
fiction novels, leading to more bestsellers for the genre [20, p. 353]. The
book brought awareness of ecology to the center of the genre and shaped
the ecological science fiction stories that followed [12, p. 87]. It also ele-
vated world-building and characterization to worthy pursuits in a genre
that was often looked down on as not worthy of serious consideration.
Decades ago, Dune signaled a major shift in science fiction, and it still has
a lot left to offer us as a work of literature.

Herbert’s Life
Herbert’s wide range of interests played an important role in shaping the
content and complexity of what would become Dune. Born in Tacoma,
Washington, on October 8, 1920, Herbert grew up in a rural area, which
helped give him the do-it-yourself mentality and respect for the natural
environment that is threaded throughout Dune. He spent his formative
years outdoors on the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas of northwest
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

Washington surrounded by forests and water [1, 13, 21]. Although his
father was agnostic, his mother was from a Catholic family and her ten
sisters insisted Herbert receive Catholic training, which was delivered by
Jesuits. We can see reflections of his aunts in the influential women of the
Bene Gesserit, who maintain political influence and power in an otherwise
male-dominated society. Herbert even described the characters as female
Jesuits and gave them a similar-sounding name [13, 21, 22].
As a journalist, Herbert gained skills in research and writing that would
come in handy during the years of study he spent in preparation to write
his masterpiece. He entered journalism as a teenager at the Glendale Star
and went on to work for other West Coast newspapers, including the
Oregon Journal, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and San Francisco Examiner.
He spent some time in higher education, taking courses on mathematics,
psychology, and English at the University of Washington, where he met
his second spouse, Beverly Stuart, in a creative writing class [13, p. 56].
He was especially interested in psychology and dabbled some in psycho-
analysis. His friendship with psychologists Ralph and Irene Slattery
exposed him to Freudian and Jungian theories, as well as Zen Buddhism
and the emerging science of nonverbal communication, that would make
their way into Dune [21, pp. 18–19]. Jungian conceptions of archetypes,
the collective unconscious, and masculine and feminine energies can be
seen in multiple characters, especially Jessica and Paul.
Herbert’s political views are hard to locate on the conventional political
spectrum, but what comes across in his writing is his skepticism of govern-
ments and bureaucracies. He was not against them completely but was
critical of their inefficiencies and tendency to self-perpetuate in a kind of
feudal system based on loyalty. Working behind the scenes in politics also
helped fuel Herbert’s criticisms regarding the inner mechanisms of gov-
ernment, including the tactics politicians use to influence others. In the
1950s he worked on the staff of several Republican candidates for office in
Oregon and Washington, including Senator Guy Cordon. As part of his
role as a researcher and political speechwriter for Cordon, Herbert trav-
eled to the U.S. Senate’s Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 and saw first-
hand the inquiry into Americans suspected of communist sympathies.
Herbert himself was a distant cousin of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the
leader of the campaign, and saw where the obsession with security and
control could lead [21, p. 35]. As a writer, he was well aware of the power
of language to shape people’s thinking, and in Dune he includes several
politically savvy characters who leverage language to play politics and
8 K. KENNEDY

influence those around them. His interest in language was also influenced
by his work in general semantics, a linguistics philosophy concerned with
the need for more scientific and careful use of language and communica-
tion. He studied it in San Francisco around the same time as writing Dune,
and worked as a ghostwriter for the popular general semantics advocate
S.I. Hayakawa [21, pp. 59–60]. General semantics finds its way into the
Bene Gesserit’s operations and philosophy and the broader theme of the
power of language to manipulate others.
Although Herbert later gained fame for his environmentalist work, this
came after the success of Dune. The book shows us the seeds of his interest
in ecology and humans’ impact on nature. In his telling, the inspiration for
Dune originated when he was tasked with writing a story about the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s work to control the sand dunes in
Oregon through a natural method of planting grass rather than building a
wall [21, p. 39]. This then provided an idea for a story merging ecology
with a major theme he had been pondering: people’s tendency to follow
leaders or messiahs, who had historically often emerged from a desert
environment.
Herbert’s emerging skepticism of Westerners’ impact on the environ-
ment was likely influenced by his friendships with two men who had lived
on the Native American reservation of the Quileute Nation in Washington:
Henry Martin and Howard Hansen [23]. A member of the Hoh, a small
group of Quileute people, Martin was a fisher who found himself dis-
placed due to outside pressures and sometime in his forties met a young
Herbert who was out fishing [23, p. 195]. They became friends and
Martin taught Herbert valuable skills related to hunting, fishing, and liv-
ing off the land [13, p. 31]. We can see this influence in several of Herbert’s
stories that feature “whites, usually boys, befriending Native men,” such
as happens with Paul and Stilgar in Dune [23, p. 197]. Hansen had also
lived on the Quileute reservation, although he was not an officially enrolled
member. He was a teenager when he met Herbert just after World War II,
and they became best friends. As an emerging writer and environmentalist,
Hansen warned of the planet being turned into a wasteland by white men
[23]. Both Martin and Hansen provided Herbert with an alternate view of
imperialism and modernization and ideas for what would become his eco-
logical warning to the world.
Also integral to Herbert’s work was his spouse, Beverly, whom he mar-
ried after his first brief marriage to Flora Parkinson, with whom he had a
daughter, Penny. A fellow writer, Beverly worked as an advertising copy-
writer and supported Herbert’s interest in writing science fiction. She
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

took on the role of breadwinner when he took breaks from journalism to

pursue his writing career, and he would take care of their sons, Brian and
Bruce, and the house [21, p. 17]. As with many writing couples, we can-
not know the full extent to which they worked together and assisted each
other in the writing process. But Brian has acknowledged her pivotal role
in editing Herbert’s manuscripts, making suggestions, and helping with
plot and characterization, especially the motivation of female characters
[13, p. 138, 170]. Beverly was Herbert’s partner for almost four decades,
and we can see from Herbert’s words—“She’s the best thing that ever
happened to me”—and the dedications in the later Dune novels that she
was deeply loved and valued by him, and her passing from cancer in 1984
affected him greatly [21, p. 17]. Combined with the influence from his
mother and ten maternal aunts, women’s impact was strong in Herbert’s
life and arguably one reason for the presence of feminist themes in Dune
before the second-wave feminist movement had gained momentum
[24, p. 3].

Herbert’s Other Works

Dune is Herbert’s masterpiece, but it is not the only science fiction story
he wrote and published. In his earlier works, we can see him working out
some of the themes that would make their way into Dune in more fully
fleshed form.
We can find several similarities between Herbert’s second novel, Dune,
and his first novel, The Dragon in the Sea (1956), also known as 21st
Century Sub or Under Pressure. In this submarine thriller, Herbert explores
the psychological workings of a crew of four as they try to uncover an
enemy sleeper agent in their midst and avoid being sabotaged and killed
like the previous twenty expeditions. The story highlights the psychologi-
cal adaptations that humans make to their living conditions and larger
social conditions [25, p. 72]. Herbert uses italicized text to show the
internal mental workings of several characters, just as he does in Dune. He
switches between the third-person narrator, characters’ thoughts, and dia-
logue to give different perspectives on events and how humans process
them. He also mentions concepts that appear in Dune, including Jungian
psychology and ecology. On a broader level, the Cold War concern
between East and West appears with the crew being Americans and the
enemy being the Eastern Powers, which includes Russia. There is a
resource scarcity regarding oil, and each nation is prepared to invest
10 K. KENNEDY

significant resources to obtain and secure it. Since its setting is largely lim-
ited to the submarine, though, The Dragon in the Sea does not offer the
same wide cast of characters, including female ones, or expansive world
development that features in Dune.
Herbert’s strong interest in psychology underpins many of his works.
This is arguably one reason stories such as Dune have withstood the test of
time. We continue to be interested in ourselves and how we think, even as
the gadgets and technology change around us. Themes surrounding the
mind and awareness, Jungian concepts of memory and the unconscious,
and psi powers, including prescience, appear in many of Herbert’s stories,
including Dune. One story, “The Priests of Psi” (1960), has parallels with
Dune in that it features a man being tested by religious leaders interested
in his psychic powers, just as Paul Atreides is tested by the Bene Gesserit.
Lewis Orne encounters psi awareness, prescient warnings, and a psi
machine not unlike the Bene Gesserit’s black box of pain. He must prac-
tice focus and calming regimes as Paul does, and he learns about the sci-
ence of religion and how the priests find and educate prophets in the hope
of containing or redirecting religion’s explosive energy. This is similar to
what the Bene Gesserit attempt, though it is less explicitly stated in Dune.
Herbert expanded upon Orne’s story in The Godmakers (1972), which has
the hero’s journey, an organization of women with skills in politics and
reproductive control, and the messianic impulse that all appear in Dune
[25, p. 62, 72]. In these as well as other works, Herbert examines the
nature of gods and how they are created, and the consequences for the
universe, such as religious-inspired violence, when a human takes on such
a powerful role [25, p. 62].
Another common feature in Herbert’s stories is concealment [3, p. 81].
Characters may hide information or have hidden powers, traitors or sabo-
teurs may be unknown, and communities may hold secrets. There are also
often ideas relating to ecology and the adaptation to new environments in
Herbert’s works. A frequent theme revolves around humans’ reactions to
different kinds of change in their world [25, p. 17]. Herbert looks at
humans’ place in the ecosystem, showing that they are not set apart and
need to be cautious about trying to change systems. He also examines the
process of getting along with others who are different, whether they be
people, artificial intelligence, or insects [25, p. 27]. A major theme that
appears throughout his works is the use of power, particularly how govern-
ments use it, and ways to subvert that power or limit its effects [25, p. 22].
Reproduction and genetic manipulation play a role in this theme as well.
 1 INTRODUCTION 11

Despite similarities in themes, however, none of Herbert’s other works

meets the scope or reaches the level of complexity of Dune. This is his
literary masterpiece that brings together many threads and interweaves
them into a multi-layered and interesting blend of storytelling, lessons,
and warnings. Herbert went on to write five sequels to Dune—Dune
Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1976), God Emperor of Dune (1981),
Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)—making a six-­
book saga that spans around 3500 years in that universe. These gave him
the space to explore the world he set up in the first book and move the
storyline in new directions. Themes developed further in the sequels
include the nature of humanity, evolution and genetics, prescience in
relation to the Atreides line, the influence of the Bene Gesserit, tyranny
and subservience, religious fervor, and the environment. Throughout the
series, Herbert is increasingly explicit in his critique of heroes and shows
Paul forced to come to terms with the negative consequences of his
actions in Dune. There are new enemies to replace Baron Harkonnen and
Emperor Shaddam IV, new settings, and new challenges, but much of the
story still revolves around the planet Dune and who holds the reins
of power.

Historical Context
As with many science fiction authors, Herbert responded to the issues of
his time by adapting and projecting them into a new, fantastical environ-
ment to both entertain readers and prompt them to consider their world
in a new light. Part of what keeps Dune relevant is that many of the his-
torical issues present during the 1950s and 1960s remain issues today.
Although we can certainly enjoy the book without knowing much about
these issues, being more aware of the social and historical context in which
it was written can help deepen our understanding and appreciation of the
many facets of this science fiction classic.
The post-World War II period saw the U.S. benefit from its position of
global leadership and take a greater interest in international relations and
affairs. High on its victory over the Axis nations, the country rebounded
from the Great Depression and entered a period of economic prosperity
and growth. But the threat of fascism was soon replaced with the per-
ceived threat of communism, which had spread after the October
Revolution in Russia in 1917 and the establishment of the Soviet Union
12 K. KENNEDY

five years later. Tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S. escalated
in what would become known as the Cold War, a nuclear stand-off that
dominated global politics for nearly fifty years and was fought in proxy
wars across the globe, including in Korea and Vietnam. These tensions
appeared in various forms of popular culture. Villains were often coded as
Russian, as Baron Harkonnen in Dune is through his first name, Vladimir,
and nuclear weapons were used in fictional military maneuvers, as when
Paul deploys the family atomics against the Shield Wall.
During this time, the Middle East grew in importance as oil became an
increasingly valuable substance for industrialized nations. This petroleum-­
rich region became a strategic battleground between the Democratic West
and Communist East. The Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957 pledged the
U.S. to send armed forces there to protect nations against communist
aggression. Foreign companies had controlled a majority of petroleum
production and distribution in the region, but locals began seeking a
larger percentage of the profits. In 1960, the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)—initially comprising Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and Venezuela—was founded to gain more
control over oil prices. There would be many parallels with this situation
in Herbert’s depiction of the deserts of Arrakis and conflict over the valu-
able resource of spice.
Otherwise, the Middle East was still often perceived as an exotic place
in a far-away desert populated by tent-dwelling Arabs, as depicted in the
award-winning film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). This immensely popular
film showed British officer T.E. Lawrence helping lead the Arabs against
the Ottoman Turks, who were allied with Germany and the other Central
Powers during World War I. The story was based on Lawrence’s war mem-
oir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926), which Herbert read before writing
Dune [13, p. 141]. In general, popular culture portrayed Arabs as stereo-
typically violent and uncivilized outsiders who were to be feared or
defeated [26]. Basing his Fremen characters off of Bedouin Arabs as well
as other cultures, Herbert offered a more nuanced and complex portrayal
of desert dwellers who faced intrusion from outsiders in their lands (see
Fig. 1.1).
Another charismatic leader who was popular at this time was John
F. Kennedy, who rose through the political ranks as a New England con-
gressperson to be elected president of the U.S. in the November 1960
election. Many Americans fell in love with President Kennedy and the
romantic glamor and Camelot-type aura he brought to the White House,
 1 INTRODUCTION 13

Fig. 1.1 Paul and Chani in the desert with the Atreides green and black banner
and Fremen followers. Reproduced with permission from illustrator Arthur Whelan

with his stylish spouse, Jacqueline, and charming young children in tow.
As the youngest elected president and first Roman Catholic, he repre-
sented youthful optimism and hope for change, and his programs were
associated with the idea of a New Frontier. This made it all the more dev-
astating for the country when he was assassinated just three years later.
Herbert was critical of such charismatic figures, and he specifically named
Kennedy as an example of someone who took on a larger-than-life, mythic
status that convinced people to give up their decision-making capacity
[10, p. 98]. Echoes of the Kennedy Presidency can be seen in the charac-
terization of House Atreides and Herbert’s attempt to warn readers
against falling for these heroic figures [27, p. 124].
The postwar period was also a time of massive cultural and social
upheaval. The 1950s saw the emergence of the civil rights movement in
which many Black Americans and their allies fought against
14 K. KENNEDY

discrimination, persecution, and the ever-present threat of being lynched

through a range of tactics, including boycotts, sit-ins, and demonstrations.
Meanwhile, influenced by key texts such as French philosopher Simone de
Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (translated in 1953) and American journalist
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963), many women were gearing
up for a large-scale push for equal rights that in the late 1960s would
become known as the women’s liberation movement, or second-wave
feminism. The contraceptive pill was approved by the Food and Drug
Administration in 1960, signaling a change in sexual behaviors and paving
the way for the sexual revolution. Even the long-standing Catholic Church
was undergoing significant changes. The Second Vatican Council (Vatican
II) brought together thousands of bishops and other members of the
Church between 1962 and 1965 to make decisions about necessary
updates to Catholicism.
These conditions contributed to an atmosphere of change and disrup-
tion that likely had an influence on Herbert as he was researching for and
writing Dune. The book highlights clashes between classes and cultures
more so than racial tensions, but it taps into the longing of marginalized
groups for freedom from oppression and brutality. It draws on Catholic
traditions and beliefs for the all-female Bene Gesserit order, and shows
these women having significant control and influence. Yet although some
postwar issues are noticeably reflected in Dune, in other respects the book
is predictive science fiction. Issues such as the popular use of hallucino-
genic drugs, insatiable demand for a valuable resource found in the desert
sands, environmental threats, conflict and religious tensions in the Middle
East, and concerns over advanced technologies had yet to fully emerge.
Herbert also incorporated elements that were still on the edge of becom-
ing widely known or researched in the U.S., including biofeedback, non-
verbal communication, altered states of consciousness, and Eastern
disciplines such as Zen Buddhism and Yoga [21, pp. 60–61].
When we encounter Dune today, informed by our own historical con-
text, we bring a different perspective to these issues. But we can still rec-
ognize their continued relevance. The Cold War may be over, but tensions
between Western and Eastern nations continue to rise or fall depending on
changes in leadership, foreign policies, and economic conditions. Conflict
in the Middle East has been a mainstay of the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries, and terrorism has become an everyday word and ever-present
threat. The U.S. and other Western countries have spent significant
resources engaging in wars or providing assistance to other governments
 1 INTRODUCTION 15

in the region. Concerns over climate change have so far not dampened the
demand for oil. The struggle for equal rights and equity for women, peo-
ple of color, and other marginalized groups continues, with both gains
and setbacks. Drugs and their effect on the human mind remain a topic of
interest [28]. Hallucinogens such as LSD and psilocybin are again being
studied for therapeutic treatment and used in certain circles, and mari-
juana has been legalized in many places in the U.S. for medical or recre-
ational purposes. The Catholic Church remains influential as the largest
religious institution in the U.S., though it has been rocked by priest abuse
scandals and coverups that have impacted its reputation. Polls suggest
many Catholics would like to see the church relax restrictions on policies
such as the ban on birth control, priests not being allowed to marry, and
women not being ordained as priests [29]. Technology may have advanced
since Dune’s publication, but humans are still wrestling with age-old con-
cerns about the future and their fate in the world.
The following chapters unpack some of the many layers of complexity
in Dune by looking at five different ways of understanding this science fic-
tion classic. Chapter 2 covers power, politics, and the treatment of reli-
gion. This includes an exploration of feudalism, imperialism,
Machiavellianism, and religion. Chapter 3 covers ecology and the environ-
ment, and humans’ attempt to control nature rather than conserve it.
Chapter 4 explores the themes of the human mind and consciousness. It
examines the development of complex and three-dimensional characters
who have psychological depth. Chapter 5 looks at the hero archetype in
relation to Paul and stereotypical characteristics of masculinity. This covers
his strengths and limitations and his role in the book’s critique of heroes
and messianic figures. Chapter 6 examines the complexity of the represen-
tation of women and how they are shown having control and influence. It
focuses on religious, embodied, and political avenues of control for
women. Chapter 7 concludes by reviewing other ways of interpreting
Dune and giving food for thought on new avenues for study.

References
1. Touponce, William. Frank Herbert. Twayne Publishers, 1988.
2. Ower, John. “Idea and Imagery in Herbert’s Dune.” Extrapolation, vol. 15,
no. 2, 1974, pp. 129-139.
3. Manlove, C.N. “Frank Herbert, Dune (1965).” Science Fiction: Ten
Explorations. Macmillan Press, 1986, pp. 79–99.
16 K. KENNEDY

4. Aldiss, Brian, and David Wingrove. Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science
Fiction. Atheneum, 1986.
5. Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. 2nd ed., Palgrave
Macmillan, 2016.
6. Rogers, Brett M. “‘Now Harkonnen Shall Kill Harkonnen’: Aeschylus,
Dynastic Violence, and Twofold Tragedies in Frank Herbert’s Dune.” Brill’s
Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus, edited by Rebecca Futo Kennedy,
Brill, 2018, pp. 553-581.
7. Sloan, Russell. Evolution, The Messianic Hero, and Ecology in Frank Herbert’s
Dune Sequence. 2010. University of Ulster, PhD dissertation.
8. Cadwalladr, Carole. “Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog, the Book that
Changed the World.” The Observer, 5 May 2013. https://www.theguardian.
com/books/2013/may/05/stewart-­brand-­whole-­earth-­catalog
9. Brand, Stewart. Whole Earth Catalog. Fall 1968.
10. Herbert, Frank. Maker of Dune, edited by Tim O’Reilly, Berkley Books, 1987.
11. Calkins, Elizabeth, and Barry McGhan. A Handbook of Science Fiction for
Teachers. Pflaum/Standard, 1972.
12. Latham, Rob. “Biotic Invasions: Ecological Imperialism in New Wave Science
Fiction.” Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction, edited by Gerry Canavan
and Kim Stanley Robinson, Wesleyan University Press, 2014, pp. 77-95.
13. Herbert, Brian. Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert. Tom
Doherty Associates, 2003.
14. Pierce, John J. Foundations of Science Fiction: A Study in Imagination and
Evolution. Greenwood Press, 1987.
15. Wolf, Mark J.P. Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of
Subcreation. Routledge, 2012.
16. Merrick, Helen. “Fiction, 1964–1979.” The Routledge Companion to Science
Fiction, edited by Mark Bould, Andrew Butler, Adam Roberts, and Sherryl
Vint, Routledge, 2009, pp. 102–111.
17. Grigsby, John L. “Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ Trilogy and Herbert’s ‘Dune’
Trilogy: A Vision Reversed.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, 1981,
pp. 149–155.
18. Aldiss, Brian. Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction.
Doubleday, 1973.
19. Jodorowsky’s Dune. Directed by Frank Pavich, Sony Pictures, 2013.
20. McNelly, Willis E. “In Memoriam: Frank Herbert, 1920–1986.” Extrapolation,
vol. 27, no. 4, 1986, pp. 352–355.
21. O’Reilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar, 1981.
22. Kennedy, Kara. “Epic World-Building: Names and Cultures in Dune.” Names,
vol. 64, no. 2, 2016, pp. 99–108.
23. Immerwahr, Daniel. “The Quileute Dune: Frank Herbert, Indigeneity, and
Empire.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 56, no. 2, 2022, pp. 191–216.
 1 INTRODUCTION 17

24. Kennedy, Kara. Women’s Agency in the Dune Universe: Tracing Women’s
Liberation through Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
25. Allen, David L. Cliffs Notes on Herbert’s Dune and Other Works. Cliffs
Notes, 1975.
26. Shaheen, Jack G. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. Olive
Branch Press, 2001.
27. Liddell, Elisabeth, and Michael Liddell. “Dune: A Tale of Two Texts.” Cinema
and Fiction: New Modes of Adapting, 1950–1990, edited by John Orr and
Colin Nicholson, Edinburgh University Press, 1992, pp. 122–139.
28. Pollan, Michael. How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics.
Allen Lane, 2018.
29. Pew Research Center. “Expectations of the Church.” 2 Sept. 2015, https://
w w w. p e w f o r u m . o r g / 2 0 1 5 / 0 9 / 0 2 / c h a p t e r-­4 -­e x p e c t a t i o n s -­o f -­
the-­church/#catholic-­desires-­for-­change
 CHAPTER 2

Power, Politics, and Religion

Abstract This chapter discusses issues of power, politics, and religion in

Dune, with a focus on the interplay between feudalism, imperialism, and
Machiavellianism. It shows how these features are important in the devel-
opment of a universe that focuses on humans rather than technology,
which allows Herbert to highlight the corruption in the strategies of
groups seeking control. The chapter also examines the Catholic, Islamic,
and Arabic influences on the depiction of religion and the characterization
of the Bene Gesserit and Fremen in the book. It discusses these in relation
to Herbert’s criticism of the potential for religion to be used as a politi-
cal tool.

Keywords Science fiction • Frank Herbert • Politics • Religion •

Catholicism • Islam

Dune invites us to a future that is much like the past. A classical feudal
system with dukes and barons in service to an emperor, who must keep the
economy running to satisfy the guild and trade organizations while also
appeasing the church. An age based on medieval Europe where advanced
technology is banned, treachery is accomplished through poison or deceit-
ful household staff, and combat is largely limited to hand-to-hand fights.
An exotic land with rich resources and a tribal people who spark curiosity

19
20 K. KENNEDY

and fear in outsiders. What draws us into this future is the world that
Herbert builds around these familiar features. We enter it just as the politi-
cal tides are shifting, so we want to see how the tensions resolve. In this
chapter, we look at the features of power, politics, and religion. We exam-
ine the interplay between feudalism, imperialism, and Machiavellianism.
And we explore how Dune combines real-world political systems and reli-
gions in a science fictional context in order to help us reflect on their
operations and at-times corruptive influences.

Feudalism
The use of a feudal framework in Dune makes the lines of power clear and
recognizable [1]. Feudalism also highlights the interconnections between
the various factions and how they feed back to each other, which ties into
the larger ecological theme. We become aware early on in Dune about the
major factions and balance of power in the Imperium. This immediately
focuses our attention on politics and establishes our understanding of the
political ecosystem that is about to become severely disrupted. We learn of
the “three-point civilization: the Imperial Household balanced against the
Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad, and between them, the Guild”
and “feudal trade culture which turns its back on most science” [2, p. 23].
The Imperial Household is comprised of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam
IV of House Corrino and his five daughters. His title includes the Persian
padishah, meaning ‘master king,’ and links him with the historic Persian
rulers and Ottoman sultans [3]. The Landsraad consists of noble houses
headed by leaders such as Duke Leto of House Atreides and Baron
Vladimir of House Harkonnen. Its Scandinavian name, meaning
Parliament or Land Council, reminds us that land is essential to being part
of the nobility and having access to decision-making power [4, p. 121].
The Spacing Guild maintains a monopoly on interstellar space travel
through its navigators’ special ability to pilot ships with the aid of spice.
The Guild’s name and operations echo the medieval trade associations and
unions that regulated commerce and provided protection for merchants.
The description of feudal trade implies that it is backward, creating the
sense that society cannot move past the old ways. Overall, the balance of
power between the three groups revolves around land, military forces, and
economic profits.
Bound together in a feudal structure, these factions are dependent on
one another. A change in fortunes for one creates ripple effects for the
 2 POWER, POLITICS, AND RELIGION 21

others. This is a universe with the rigid faufreluches class system, where
everyone is kept in their place. It is not a world where people value or
strive for equality. It also does not seem like a particularly science fictional
world, aside from the concept of interstellar travel. The political set-up is
historically based and familiar, requiring few details for us to grasp how it
operates. Rather than spending time explaining a new political structure,
Herbert maps his story onto pre-existing concepts so he can focus on the
consequences to a change in the system.
There is another important faction that sits alongside the feudal order and
operates more subtly: the Bene Gesserit. This all-female organization acts as
a quasi-religious order that inserts itself at all levels of society by deploying
women as wives, concubines, missionaries, and Truthsayers. It fulfills the his-
toric role of the Catholic Church in not holding traditional monarchical
positions yet still exerting significant influence on affairs of state as advisors,
confessors, and leaders of religious and educational institutions.
Herbert also makes a crucial decision to remove advanced technology
as a significant political factor by creating the backdrop of the Butlerian
Jihad, “the crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious
robots” [2, p. 521]. The Jihad represents a pivotal moment in the histori-
cal context of Dune because it put a halt to technological advancement
and forced a focus on human development [5, p. 311, 313; 6]. The name
signals an intertextual connection with Samuel Butler’s satirical novel
Erewhon (1872), in which mechanical inventions had been deemed too
dangerous and were destroyed and their re-creation was forbidden. The
context of the Jihad helps explain the existence of a feudal society in the
future, but also narrows the scope of science fiction elements to enable
Herbert to focus on humans rather than technology. It is additionally
important for explaining the extreme importance of Arrakis and its spice
melange: because humans need this substance to gain extraordinary abili-
ties in the absence of advanced technology.

Imperialism
With a feudal system making the lines of power visible, Herbert can more
readily show us the corruptive nature of the imperialist and Machiavellian
strategies of the groups jockeying for control. Through the characteriza-
tion of the decadent and power-hungry Emperor and House Harkonnen,
we can see the careless and exploitative nature of imperialism and
colonialism.
22 K. KENNEDY

As a key symbol of imperialism in Dune, the Emperor is associated with

jealousy, treachery, and decadence. It is suggested he is greedy for profits
from Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles (CHOAM)—the
universal development corporation controlled by himself and the Great
Houses—and jealous of his own distant cousin Duke Leto’s popularity
among the Great Houses. His bargain with House Harkonnen to secretly
provide Sardaukar troops to go after Leto signals his willingness to under-
mine the feudal order by betraying those who have pledged fealty to him.
The vocabulary of decadence is used to show the Emperor’s weakness as a
ruler and link with classic portrayals of the decadent Byzantine court [7,
p. 273; 8]. When he comes to Arrakis to see an end to the Harkonnen’s
mismanagement, he complains about having to delay or cancel court func-
tions and affairs of the state. He brings a large entourage of “fringe para-
sites of the Court”: pages, court lackeys, and women and their hairdressers
and designers [2, p. 458]. Content with the five legions of Sardaukar he
has brought, the Emperor has little understanding of the coup that Paul
will soon initiate. He is also oblivious to the state of his troops. Weakened
over time by overconfidence and cynicism, the Sardaukar find themselves
overwhelmed by Fremen fighters, including women and children.
Furthermore, the Emperor’s compact with the Bene Gesserit has resulted
in him having no legal sons, which places him in a vulnerable position in a
society that prefers male succession. His line is poised to come to an end,
to be replaced by Paul’s, and the decadent Imperium is about to be over-
run by the vigorous desert-dwelling Fremen population [7, p. 279].
Essentially, the Imperium is being disassembled by Paul and the Fremen,
to be replaced by a new empire containing components of Fremen culture
and military power, reflecting fourteenth-century historian Ibn Khaldun’s
theory that nomadic outsiders are well positioned to conquer wealthy
urban civilizations due to their higher levels of solidarity and survival skills
[9, p. 47, 49]. Yet the Emperor cannot envision a scenario in which he is
not profiting from unlimited imperial wealth and encouraging the steady
colonial extraction of spice on which his reign depends.
Meanwhile, the Harkonnen are portrayed as ruthless and selfish colo-
nizers. Eighty years mining the spice on the fief of Arrakis to fulfill a
CHOAM contract and enrich themselves is not enough to quell Harkonnen
ambitions. The Harkonnen represent new money, having received their
titles “out of the CHOAM pocketbook,” and begrudge Leto’s pedigree as
the Emperor’s cousin, however distant [2, p. 64]. They covet more than
their present position, with the Baron aiming for his family to ascend to
 2 POWER, POLITICS, AND RELIGION 23

the imperial throne someday. Having stockpiled spice for twenty years,
they have positioned themselves to benefit when Leto fails to meet the
status quo level of spice production on his new fief. They are selfish rulers
as well, and the few descriptions of their colonial regime are not flattering.
Since the Harkonnen’s only concern is spice, they make no pretense at
being benevolent rulers or making improvements. Their system is full of
bribery, and they spend as little as possible on providing for the local pop-
ulace and outright hunt the Fremen for sport. Their approach to gover-
nance can be summed up with the Baron’s instructions to his nephew
Rabban: “You must squeeze […] Don’t waste the population, merely
drive them into utter submission. You must be the carnivore, my boy” [2,
pp. 239–240]. Their desire for more power and wealth drives them to
inhumane behavior, suggesting that imperialist and colonial expansionism
knows no bounds.
The Emperor and House Harkonnen’s careless attitude toward the
people under their rule and concern with power and profit above all else
showcase their moral bankruptcy and unfitness to lead. Their embrace of
imperialism and colonialism at all costs signals the corruptive nature of
these systems. There are echoes of real-world colonialism, wherein Western
nations established colonial outposts to expand their empires and gain
access to valuable resources such as spices, jewels, and precious metals.
Colonized peoples faced varying degrees of oppression and exploitation
once their lands fell under imperialist control, and the legacies of colonial
influence have remained long after the formal ending of colonial rule. Yet
Herbert does not necessarily present decolonization as the answer, given
that Paul keeps the structures of the Imperium, and the author hints that
the Fremen might have been better working toward land rights and
autonomy rather than seizing control of the government of their oppres-
sors [10, p. 206].
There is also a clear parallel with economic imperialism in the Middle
East. During the twentieth century, Western interest in the lands of the
Middle East increased dramatically as oil became one of the most valuable
resources. Backed by governmental support, Western businesses pursued
contracts to secure a hold on petroleum reserves. Their concern was profit,
not local populations or economies. In fact, there are several other ele-
ments that strengthen this connection in Dune: Arrakis as Iraq, spice as
oil, and CHOAM as OPEC or other groups seeking to extract as much
profit out of the sands as possible. When we examine the Emperor and
House Harkonnen, we see they are driven by jealousy and a hunger for
24 K. KENNEDY

power, rather than the needs of their people. They view the Fremen dis-
dainfully as barbarians or mongrels getting in their way. They even risk the
political stability of the Imperium through their schemes on Arrakis [7,
p. 278]. As the main representatives of imperial and colonial systems, the
Emperor and House Harkonnen as villains signal the corruptive nature of
these systems.

Machiavellianism
However, if we see the Emperor and House Harkonnen as the bad guys
and House Atreides as the good guys coming in to save the day, we have
fallen for a trap that Herbert sets. There is more to this simplistic opposi-
tion of political factions than meets the eye. There are clues in Dune warn-
ing us that the Atreides have much in common with the Harkonnen, and
in fact are just more effective at using Machiavellian strategies to maintain
leadership and power.
Machiavellianism refers to a type of political philosophy based on the
ideas of the sixteenth-century Italian political theorist and diplomat
Niccolò Machiavelli. In his work The Prince (1532), Machiavelli explained
how leaders could rule more effectively and advised that it was better to be
feared than loved, and it was justifiable to be unscrupulous or amoral at
times. His name came to be associated with political craftiness and the use
of strategic manipulation, and the term Machiavellian is almost always a
negative one, applied to characters or people who are cunning, manipula-
tive, and power-hungry.
The Baron in particular represents an extreme version of the stereotypi-
cal Machiavellian villain, who enjoys evil and seeks to utterly destroy their
enemies. Such a figure was popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama,
exemplified by characters such as Shakespeare’s Richard III and Iago [11,
p. 26]. Their tools include betrayal, poison, and backstabbing, along with
elaborately crafted plots that provide entertainment for the audience.
Through the alternating perspective chapters in Dune, we see the Baron at
work, gloating over his own craftiness. With the help of his Mentat, Piter
de Vries, the Baron enacts a complex scheme to reclaim Arrakis, involving
a traitor in the Atreides household, covert assistance from the Emperor,
and a plan to use one nephew against the other. This plan to pressure
Rabban into extracting large amounts of spice from Arrakis in a brutal
regime, then to bring in Feyd-Rautha as a savior figure, can be found in
Machiavelli’s recounting of a similar scheme by Italian nobleman Cesare
 2 POWER, POLITICS, AND RELIGION 25

Borgia in The Prince [11, p. 24–25]. We also see the Baron narrowly
escape from the consequences of his plotting as his victims try but fail to
take revenge (see Fig. 2.1). Overall, the Baron is a character who cares
only for money and power, and without children of his own (to his knowl-
edge) he schemes for himself and for his nephew in the hope of having the
latter inherit the imperial throne.
On the other hand are the Atreides, the ostensible heroes of the story
who possess everything the Harkonnen do not: self-control, honor, and
respect for human life. Yet there is a disturbing similarity between the two
[11, p. 25]. The Atreides also desire power and wealth for themselves and
their noble house. Leto drags his family from their safe seat on Caladan to
a dangerous desert planet at the bequest of the Emperor, but also in hopes
of securing a larger fighting force and spice profits. Like the Baron, he

Fig. 2.1 Baron Vladimir Harkonnen fleeing from the poison released by his pris-
oner, Duke Leto Atreides. Reproduced with permission from illustrator
Arthur Whelan
26 K. KENNEDY

wants to see his family line continue to rule and is willing to do what is
necessary to ensure this. Neither questions the colonizing of Arrakis or the
manipulation of others to achieve their goals, whether that be the Emperor
and his troops or the Fremen. Both the Baron and Paul also are good at
planning surprises in order to win. The Baron succeeds in turning Dr.
Wellington Yueh traitor, while Paul uses atomics on the Shield Wall and a
sandworm attack to force the Emperor to abdicate. Ultimately, though
they perish before seeing it, both the Baron and Leto get what they want:
a male heir (via Jessica) who becomes a ruler.
If we see the Harkonnen as bad and the Atreides as good, we overlook
how both arrogantly believe they are best suited to controlling everyone
around them [12, p. 45]. Granted, the Atreides have more self-control
than the Harkonnen, but nevertheless they use and abuse people as
needed to secure power and authority. In revealing the plot twist that the
Atreides actually share a kinship with the Harkonnen, Herbert further
points us toward the idea that these are birds of the same feather. Leto
dies before he is completely corrupted, but Paul is set to become the next
tyrant who unleashes a destructive jihad, even as he masks his hunger for
power under the guise of helping the Fremen [11, p. 30]. In comparing
the two, we can arguably conclude that the Atreides are “the genuine fol-
lowers of Machiavelli—the ones really to fear” [11, p. 28]. Herbert
warned against falling for the admirable nature of the Atreides as part of
his critique of the superhero: “But don’t lose sight of the fact that House
Atreides acts with the same arrogance toward ‘common folk’ as do their
enemies. … I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own
participation in it” [12, p. 45]. How effectively Herbert conveyed his
message is up for debate, since so many readers see no reason not to cel-
ebrate Paul’s rise to power, having spent the book identifying with his
perspective and following him on his journey. Herbert’s critique is largely
unformulated, lying in pieces that we must put together to see the larger
picture [13, p. 29]. But for those who notice it (or continue reading the
series), the message is to beware those seeking after power, no matter
how good or well-intentioned they may seem. Though we do not see the
full cost of the looming jihad in Dune, noticing the similarities between
the heroes and villains should prompt us to be more skeptical of whoever
seems to be the ‘good guys.’
 2 POWER, POLITICS, AND RELIGION 27

Religion
Religion and religious manipulation are also significant features of the
political landscape in Dune, for politics and religion go hand in hand.
Herbert imagines that “elements of most ancient religions, including the
Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism and
Buddislamic traditions” have been brought together in one scripture,
called the Orange Catholic Bible [2, p. 525]. Yet this does not mean
everyone has become a faithful follower of one religion or deity. Some rely
on quotes from the O.C. Bible in times of crisis but do not worship a
higher power, while others like the Fremen follow a mixture of their own
religious beliefs and Bene Gesserit propaganda. The religious influences in
Dune create a unique blend of terminology, traditions, and beliefs based
on real-world religions and philosophies—including Catholicism, Islam,
Buddhism, and Taoism—with this section focusing on elements from the
first two. Together, religious elements help focus our attention on the
complexities of human cultures and prompt us to consider how religion
can serve as a powerful political tool.
Elements from Catholicism provide a solid religious context for the
workings of the Bene Gesserit, whose organization highlights the nature
of religious manipulation in action. The name and characterization of the
Bene Gesserit point to them being like Jesuits and nuns, though without
need of male oversight. They wear black hooded garments, take on titles
such as Sister Superior and Reverend Mother, and value service and educa-
tion. They essentially cloak themselves in the guise of religion as an effec-
tive way to operate with more secrecy and secure authority. Like the
Jesuits, they engage in missionary activities to spread their reach. Through
their Missionaria Protectiva, they sow various myths, including that a Bene
Gesserit woman will arrive whose child will emerge as a savior figure with
extraordinary powers. This messianic myth appears to be a stock-standard
concept, something that is flexible enough to be used by anyone, which is
part of what makes it so attractive yet dangerous. On Arrakis, Jessica soon
discovers how deeply the Fremen absorbed the propaganda, even to the
point of using the same terminology such as Reverend Mother. And Paul
discovers that the people are already shouting the name Mahdi, referring
to a messianic figure, at him when he rides through the streets of Arrakeen,
recalling the image of Jesus being welcomed and praised on his way into
Jerusalem by a crowd with palm branches.
28 K. KENNEDY

This set-up enables Herbert to show religious manipulation as an added

dimension of the Atreides’ political ambition. Both Jessica and Paul
quickly become entrapped by this religious web as they exploit the
Fremen’s beliefs. Jessica banters words with the Fremen housekeeper, the
Shadout Mapes, which causes Mapes to believe Jessica is the one foretold
in the legends and spread the word among the Fremen. As we see this
explicit manipulation of Mapes’ beliefs, we also see Jessica acknowledge
that even she cannot help following this path: she wonders, “Why do I play
out this sham? But the Bene Gesserit ways were devious and compelling”
[2, p. 53]. After Paul impresses Liet-Kynes, the ecologist tells the Fremen
to find the exiled child and protect him, essentially becoming a John the
Baptist figure who paves the way for Paul to gain acceptance as the
Fremen’s messiah. Following in the footsteps of the Bene Gesserit, Paul
has little choice but to grasp religion as a political tool to secure authority,
even as it entraps him into the path that leads to the jihad. Herein lies a
message about the power of religion to mold human thinking and cultures
beyond any individual’s capacity to control them, discussed further in
Chap. 5.
Herbert develops a more complex picture of religion as a part of human
culture in the Fremen, even as he criticizes their susceptibility to dogma,
superstitions, and control by the imperialists. The Fremen’s characteriza-
tion and storyline have strong Islamic and Arabic influences. The use of
terminology and cultural aspects from the Middle East is a significant
component of Herbert’s world-building efforts, and helps provide a real-­
world link and contextual depth to the characterization of the Fremen as
a people. Many of the terms used by the Fremen are either taken directly
from Arabic or are modified versions. The great sandworm is called Shai-­
hulud, a name based on Arabic words that may mean either ‘immortal
thing’ or the “old man of eternity” [14, p. 102; 15, pp. 117–118]. Arabic
terms that pre-date Islam are also used: for instance, the term for the sun,
Al-Lat, comes from the name for a pre-Islamic Arabian deity, Al-lāt [15,
p. 120]. References to the Fremen’s messianic religion are terms associ-
ated with Islam, such as Muad’Dib, Shari-a, tahaddi al-bushan, and
Sayaddin [14, p. 103, 105; 16, p. 39]. Muad’Dib means teacher and
resembles Mahdi, meaning ‘rightly guided one’ and referring to a Muslim
religious leader or messianic figure; Shari’a refers to religious law [14,
p. 103, 105; 15, p. 114; 17, p. 182]. In the Twelver Shi’a sect of Islam, it
is believed the Mahdi, or Hidden Imam, will return and bring the Day of
Judgement to the world. Furthermore, the general plot outline of Dune is
 2 POWER, POLITICS, AND RELIGION 29

similar to the spread of Islam in the seventh century and the more recent
rise of Arab power due to petroleum demand [17, p. 182]. There is also a
connection with the nineteenth-century Islamic holy war against Russian
imperialism in the Caucasus detailed by Lesley Blanch in The Sabres of
Paradise (1960), from which Herbert borrowed terms such as kanly and
kindjal as well as Naibs, the leaders of the Muslim tribesmen involved in
the conflict [18]. “Appendix II: The Religion of Dune” contains a variety
of references to Muslim histories, practices, and beliefs, including the
Kitab al-Ibar, the title of fourteenth-century historian Ibn Khaldun’s
book; the Azhar Book, a likely reference to Al-Azhar University founded
in 972; and a Muad’Dib proverb that seems to be a paraphrase of a
Qur’anic verse [19]. In Herbert’s vision of the future, religion has not
gone away but remains a powerful motivating force for human beliefs and
behavior. Yet the Fremen’s openness to religion is what leaves them par-
ticularly vulnerable to manipulation by outsiders, first the Bene Gesserit
and then the Atreides. Through them, we see the role religion can play as
a catalyst for political movements.
The question is whether the Arabic and Islamic influences are used
merely to create an exotic, romanticized backdrop for a thorough critique
of religion. Indeed, there is disagreement as to how generously to inter-
pret the depiction of the Fremen. One perspective is that the fact that the
Fremen have been seeded with the myths and legends of the Bene
Gesserit’s Missionaria Protectiva indicates that they are gullible and open
to religious exploitation. This can be viewed as perpetuating Orientalist
stereotypes of Arabic peoples being “simple, easily manipulated, religious,
fanatical, and in need of leadership, usually provided by the west” [17,
p. 183]. The similarities between Paul and Lawrence of Arabia suggest
that the Atreides are content to help the desert-dwellers as long as this also
works toward the family’s larger imperialist goals, and there are elements
of a white savior narrative in Paul’s appearance as the liberator of the
Fremen [20; 21, p. 104]. The Atreides are depicted as politically savvy,
and religion provides a handy mechanism for winning over a people they
need as military allies. As readers, we see behind Jessica and Paul’s façade
to gain the Fremen’s trust. Like them, we know the messianic myths have
been artificially planted and they are not truly converting; they are just
capitalizing on religion as an opportunity for survival.
However, we may also consider that Herbert’s criticism is not necessar-
ily related to one particular culture, per se, but related to the potential of
any religion to be used as a political tool of indoctrination and
30 K. KENNEDY

exploitation. In this case, it is a Catholic-like group seeding religious

myths to an Islamic-like people, and it is the hope for a messiah to save
them from harsh living conditions that makes the Fremen susceptible to
Jessica and Paul’s influence. Their worship of the sandworm as Shai-hulud,
for instance, is not presented in a negative light, but rather as a sign of
their respect for their environment and the living creatures they share it
with. Paul himself becomes trapped in the messianic myths surrounding
him, just as he becomes trapped by his prescient visions. We see that his
character does not seem to fully grasp the implications of his actions, such
as when he labels the Fremen’s religion as simple and practical and Jessica
insists, “Nothing about religion is simple” [2, p. 383]. Jessica is fully
aware of the power of religion as a tool of manipulation and myth-making,
and that the Fremen are just one of many peoples who have been visited
by the Bene Gesserit’s missionaries. This points to a criticism broader than
one focused on any specific religion out of the Middle East.
Another view is that the depiction of the Fremen and their culture is a
welcome part of the science fiction genre. For some readers, especially
those more familiar with the terms and cultural backgrounds on which the
Fremen are based, the book takes on an additional layer of meaning that
showcases a world of Arab Futurism, where Arab culture and language
have survived and thrived to become part of the language of the world
[22]. There is support for the idea that “Muslimness is embedded in its
underlying structure and themes,” and that Herbert appears interested in
using science fiction to explore how Islamic traditions might have shifted
over time and influenced the development of society alongside other reli-
gious traditions [19]. Numerous examples in the book show that Herbert
was thoughtful in choosing and adapting terms from Arabic and from
Islamic history, and he reshaped them as he saw fit to create the imaginary
content of his new world and a rich intertextuality [15, pp. 109–110]. In
addition, Herbert shows both Jessica and Paul becoming part of the
Fremen, with their identities being fundamentally altered by their deeper
understanding and embracing of this new culture [14, p. 106]. Paul takes
on multiple new roles and names based on Arabic words—Muad’Dib,
Usul, and Lisan al-Gaib; Jessica becomes a respected religious leader
among the Fremen as a Reverend Mother and births a daughter she names
Alia, a feminine Arabic name [14, p. 106; 15, p. 115]. Liet-Kynes, too,
represents a hybrid figure with a foot in both camps who reveals his faith
when he murmurs a prayer while passing over a sandworm. Even though
these characters’ intentions are not pure, they nonetheless adopt the
 2 POWER, POLITICS, AND RELIGION 31

Fremen’s rituals and ways of life. This suggests that the depiction of the
Fremen and their religion in relation to the imperialists is nuanced and
complex. Yet the warning remains of how susceptible people are to reli-
gious indoctrination, and how it can lead to disastrous results, such as the
jihad that Paul foresees. The lure of the messiah who promises paradise is
seductive, Herbert tells us, but needs to be examined critically.

Political Systems
Like Tolkien, Herbert used a feudal, medieval-type setting for his epic
story, though the authors vary in the degree to which they critique the
trappings of feudalism. Some consider Dune more akin to epic fantasy
than science fiction due to this setting, numerous Gothic elements, and
the lack of emphasis on technology. It has a familiar, historical feel to it,
more so than a futuristic one. It leans on readers’ general understanding
of historical events and cultures to reflect on power and vehicles of power
from a distance. At the time of publication, it offered a more fully fleshed-­
out political-historical canvas and impression of complexity than existed in
science fiction [23, p. 341]. It continues to be a work against which other
science fiction stories that tackle an expansive scope with large themes are
measured [24, p. 113]. Dune was also part of a shift in science fiction away
from optimism in science and technology and toward a more pessimistic
view: that even with interstellar travel and various gadgets, humans were
still susceptible to the same pressures that they had always faced. Progress
was not inevitable. Humans might even decide to revolt against technol-
ogy and revert to feudalism as a way to order their world.
Dune’s treatment of power, politics, and religion remains relevant at a
time when technological advancements abound while other parts of
human societies stay relatively unchanged. The political ecosystem
described in the book may at first seem far removed from the twenty-first
century, but in fact can map onto present-day systems in nations and busi-
ness. Consider organizational hierarchies, monopolies, coups, take-overs,
corporate colonialism, and boardroom politics. When an upset in the bal-
ance occurs, the players shift in response, generally to secure their own
claims to wealth and power. Although there have been declines in reli-
gious affiliation in certain countries, religion has not gone away and
remains a powerful motivating force for human beliefs and behavior.
Herbert’s depiction of a complicated relationship between different
32 K. KENNEDY

cultures and the rise of religious fanaticism has only become more poi-
gnant, with a pressing need for more robust cross-cultural communication
and inter-religious dialogue. Where other authors offer clear-cut portray-
als of the enemy to be defeated, Herbert craftily sets up his hero to act
more and more like the villain as they both seek more authority and power.
He suggests that we cannot easily judge on the outside who is good or
bad, and even the good guys can lead us astray. Dune shows us people’s
tendency to blindly follow leaders who promise to solve their problems,
whether they come from a religious context or not. It challenges us to
confront our own complicity in political and religious systems that we may
be better guarded against their pitfalls in the real world.

References
1. Herbert, Frank and Beverly. Interview by Willis E. McNelly. 3 Feb. 1969.
2. Herbert, Frank. Dune. 1965. Berkley, 1984.
3. Daniels, Joseph M. The Stars and Planets of Frank Herbert’s Dune: A
Gazetteer. 1999.
4. Dunbar, M.J. “Greenland During and Since the Second World War.”
International Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, 1950, pp. 121-140.
5. DiTommaso, Lorenzo. “History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert’s
‘Dune.’” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 19, no. 3, 1992, pp. 311-325.
6. Kennedy, Kara. “The Softer Side of Dune: The Impact of the Social Sciences
on World-Building.” Exploring Imaginary Worlds: Essays on Media, Structure,
and Subcreation, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf, Routledge, 2020, pp. 159–174.
7. DiTommaso, Lorenzo. “The Articulation of Imperial Decadence and Decline
in Epic Science Fiction.” Extrapolation, vol. 48, no. 2, 2007, pp. 267–291.
8. Lau, Maximilian. “Frank Herbert’s Byzantium: Medieval-Futurism and the
Princess Historians Irulan and Anna Komnene.” Discovering Dune: Essays on
Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga, edited by Dominic J. Nardi and N. Trevor Brierly,
McFarland, forthcoming.
9. Rudd, Amanda. “Paul’s Empire: Imperialism and Assemblage Theory in Frank
Herbert’s Dune.” MOSF Journal of Science Fiction, vol. 1, no. 1, 2016,
pp. 45–57.
10. Immerwahr, Daniel. “The Quileute Dune: Frank Herbert, Indigeneity, and
Empire.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 56, no. 2, 2022, pp. 191–216.
11. Mulcahy, Kevin. “The Prince on Arrakis: Frank Herbert’s Dialogue with
Machiavelli.” Extrapolation, vol. 37, no. 1, 1996, pp. 22–36.
12. O’Reilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar, 1981.
13. Touponce, William. Frank Herbert. Twayne Publishers, 1988.
 2 POWER, POLITICS, AND RELIGION 33

14. Kennedy, Kara. “Epic World-Building: Names and Cultures in Dune.” Names,
vol. 64, no. 2, 2016, pp. 99–108.
15. Ryding, Karin Christina. “The Arabic of Dune: Language and Landscape.”
Language in Place: Stylistic Perspectives on Landscape, Place and Environment,
edited by Daniela Francesca Virdis, Elisabetta Zurru, and Ernestine Lahey,
John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2021, pp. 105–123.
16. Csicsery-Ronay, Jr, Istvan. The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction. Wesleyan
University Press, 2008.
17. Zaki, Hoda M. “Orientalism in Science Fiction.” Food for Our Grandmothers:
Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists, edited by Joanna
Kadi, South End Press, 1994, pp. 181–187.
18. Collins, Will. “The Secret History of Dune.” Los Angeles Review of Books, 16
Sept. 2017. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-­secret-­history-­of-­dune
19. Durrani, Haris. “The Muslimness of Dune: A Close Reading of ‘Appendix II:
The Religion of Dune.’” Tor.com, 18 Oct. 2021. https://www.tor.
com/2021/10/18/the-­muslimness-­of-­dune-­a-­close-­reading-­of-­appendix-­ii-­
the-­religion-­of-­dune/
20. Kennedy, Kara. “Lawrence of Arabia, Paul Atreides, and the Roots of Frank
Herbert’s Dune.” Tor.com, 2 June 2021. https://www.tor.com/2021/06/02/
lawrence-­of-­arabia-­paul-­atreides-­and-­the-­roots-­of-­frank-­herberts-­dune/
21. Jacob, Frank. The Orientalist Semiotics of Dune: Religious and Historical
References within Frank Herbert’s Universe. Büchner-Verlag, 2022.
22. Ali, R. “Beside the Sand Dunes: Arab Futurism, Faith, and the Fremen of
Dune.” Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga, edited by
Dominic J. Nardi and N. Trevor Brierly, McFarland, forthcoming.
23. Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. 2nd ed., Palgrave
Macmillan, 2016.
24. Riggs, Don. “Future and ‘Progress’ in Foundation and Dune.” Spectrum of the
Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Sixth International Conference on the
Fantastic in the Arts, edited by Donald Palumbo, Greenwood Press, 1988,
pp. 113–117.
 CHAPTER 3

Ecology and the Environment

Abstract This chapter focuses on the depiction of the environment and

people of the planet Arrakis, otherwise known as Dune. It explains the
origins of Herbert’s story in his research on the control of sand dunes in
Oregon, and how the book tapped into the emerging movements of eco-
logical awareness and environmentalism in the wake of ecologist Rachel
Carson’s revolutionary book Silent Spring. The chapter discusses the role
of the ecologist, Dr. Liet-Kynes, in explaining scientific principles to read-
ers even as he overlooks the consequences of his terraforming project and
his trust in a hero figure. It recognizes the pivotal role of Dune in offering
detailed world-building and an important environmental message about
humans’ disruption of ecosystems.

Keywords Science fiction • Frank Herbert • Ecology • Environment •

Science • Terraforming

Dune is a novel born out of the natural environment. Dedicated to dry-­

land ecologists, it invites us to see how everything is interconnected:
humans, animals, plants, resources, and human-made structures of poli-
tics, religion, and economics. It is a story in which some characters live in
harmony with nature and build their society accordingly, and others seek

35
36 K. KENNEDY

only to extract riches from the sand. And yet both sides are guilty of dis-
rupting the desert planet’s ecosystem toward selfish ends. In this chapter,
we discuss the environment and people of the planet Dune. We explore
the role of the ecologist in explaining scientific principles to readers even
as he overlooks the adverse consequences of his terraforming project and
his trust in a hero figure. We also examine Herbert’s criticism of humans’
desire to control and exploit nature rather than conserve it, which helps
reveal the features that make Dune an influential work of ecological sci-
ence fiction.

The Science of Ecology

The science fictional basis and one of the primary themes of Dune is the
science of ecology [1, p. 648; 2, p. 12]. According to Herbert, the idea for
Dune originated in his research for an article about the control of sand
dunes in Florence, Oregon, by the U.S. Forest Service, an agency under
the U.S. Department of Agriculture [3, p. 102]. He became fascinated
with the concept of controlling the dunes by treating them like waves. But
he also saw beyond the seemingly simple outcome of changing a ‘bad’
situation of sand covering the highway to a ‘good’ situation. To him, the
project linked with Western culture’s tendency to inflict itself on the envi-
ronment and view it as a collection of mechanical things that enough data
could overcome and subdue. In this case, the government was finding
great success in employing an ecological approach (planting grasses)
instead of an engineering one (building a wall) [4, p. 39]. However, it was
still seeking control of nature, order, and stability. From this starting point,
Herbert drew together research on deserts, their peoples, and their reli-
gions, and created an entire planet of sand dunes where humans have
adapted to the extreme environment but an ecologist seeks to transform it
[4, p. 39].
In tapping into the emerging movements of ecological awareness and
environmentalism, Dune helped popularize interest in humans’ under-
standing of the natural world and their place in it, as well as their respon-
sibility to conserve the precious resources it provided for them. Preceding
it was ecologist Rachel Carson’s revolutionary non-fiction book Silent
Spring (1962). Carson sought to warn people about the threat to the bal-
ance of nature caused by poisonous pesticides, and her book “has contin-
ued to be a central text in the contemporary environmental movement
 3 ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 37

worldwide” [5, p. 45]. It stands as a “fundamental social critique of a

gospel of technological progress” and scientists’ “irresolute carelessness of
the natural world,” themes which appear in Dune as well [6, p. 429]. In a
sense, Carson’s opening scene is science fictional—an imaginary town
experiences “a strange blight” followed by sickness and death, and the
twist is that the people have poisoned themselves [7, p. 2]. Like Carson,
Herbert could write in a style that appealed to a popular audience. They
both found a way to embed their messages about ecology and the environ-
ment through an insightful blend of storytelling and scientific ideas.
On this point, it should be noted that ecology is sometimes considered
to be synonymous with the environment, but they are different terms.
Ecology is the “study of the relationships between organisms and their
environment” [8]. It recognizes the interconnectedness and interdepen-
dence of life. The environment refers to “the complex of physical, chemi-
cal, and biotic factors that act upon an organism or an ecological
community and ultimately determine its form and survival” [9]. Ecological
systems, or ecosystems, are created through the relationships between
organisms and their environment. Feedback loops are an important fea-
ture of ecosystems. They occur when a change in one part of the system
affects other parts, and then that change ‘feeds back’ to affect the original
part. Feedback can be negative (balancing out the change and keeping the
system in balance) or positive (intensifying the change and leading to
greater change). For a basic example, if an animal population in an area
increases, the animals will consume more food, but any predators of those
animals will also have more food. The predators will then reduce the rate
of the animal population increase and keep the system in balance. If there
are no predators, though, the animal population will continue to increase
until the food supply runs out. The terms ‘ecology’ and ‘ecosystem’ first
appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century and experienced a
sharp increase in usage between 1963 and 1973 [10]. This tracks with
these topics’ entrance into American literature and culture, in part due to
the popularity of ecology-focused works such as Silent Spring and Dune.
Dune can be considered ecological science fiction for several reasons. It
emphasizes the natural world through its focus on a desert environment
and the adaptations humans and animals have made to survive there. It
shows the interconnected webs of relationships of people and factions in
the Imperium and the way everything centers on one resource. It also
reveals the shifts in the balance of power as each faction struggles to gain
38 K. KENNEDY

more for itself, and the feedback loops that happen when a hero or mes-
siah or scientist is introduced into an ecosystem. It is environmental sci-
ence fiction because it offers a critique of the human tendency to control
and exploit nature in an unsustainable way.

The Environment and People

Part of Dune’s staying power is that, decades after publication, the book
still captures readers with its imaginative desert landscape. The planet
Arrakis, or Dune, looms large as a place that is both known and unfamiliar,
resembling the sandy landscapes of the Middle East but with fantastical,
magnificent sandworms. We are introduced to Dune through the eyes of
the fifteen-year-old Paul Atreides. Born into privilege and highly edu-
cated, Paul is curious about his family’s move from the water-covered
Caladan to the punishing climate of this desert wasteland. He asks his
teachers about the people there, the lifestyles, and the reason they are
going. His interest spurs ours. It sounds dangerous and intriguing. After
his arrival, he continues piecing together various snippets of information,
building up a picture in our minds of this new world before he has even
set foot on the sand.
The endless desert with its shifting sand dunes is the dominant environ-
mental feature of Dune, barren yet teeming with life in certain areas. By
creating a world with one dominant ecosystem, as other science fiction
writers have done, Herbert draws attention to the desert and the adapta-
tions that life must make to survive in such a place. Most relate to mois-
ture conservation. Whether native or introduced, the flora and fauna must
adapt. Many of the birds live without water by drinking blood. The desert
“climate demands a special attitude toward water. You are aware of water
at all times. You waste nothing that contains moisture” [11, p. 113]. In a
strange twist, the giant sandworms that stand out as the most memorable
creatures find water poisonous. The Appendix implies that they were
responsible for the formation of the deserts in the first place. Thus, the
sandworms and the desert go hand in hand—these titans need the arid
environment to produce the precious spice, melange, which is part of a
circular relationship that involves little sandworms, pre-spice masses, fully
developed sandworms, and sand plankton.
 3 ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 39

Spice also highlights the ecological principle of interconnectedness. It

is a key feature of many other relationships in the Imperium and acts as a
way for Herbert to tie together various threads in his world, including:
“Fremen and the desert, the Great Houses and Arrakis, the Emperor and
his throne, the Guild and interstellar travel, the Bene Gesserit and their
abilities, and Paul Atreides and prescience” [12, p. 448]. Because every-
thing is dependent on this one resource, we see the consequences when its
supply is threatened or disrupted.
The environment is so prominent in the story that the planet Dune can
be considered a protagonist in its own right [13, p. 16]. Not only is the
novel named after it, but the active features of its desert help make it seem
alive. Sandstorms roll in and force characters to fight their way through or
wait them out. They disrupt communications equipment and cause heavy
wear to other equipment such as spice mining machinery. Sandworms also
represent an ever-present threat to anyone traveling through the open
desert on foot. These exist in addition to the general heat and lack of
water. The desert easily overrides human technology such as shields, las-
guns, and communication devices. It demands that humans respond to it
with caution and respect.
Though not originally from Dune, the Fremen are a people who have
successfully adapted to and now live harmoniously within their environ-
ment. They provide a clear contrast to other groups that do not know or
care about moving according to the rhythms of nature. Based on some-
what romanticized images of Native Americans, Bedouins, and other
desert-­dwelling populations, the Fremen survive on Dune by adhering to
a strict ‘water discipline’ and working with the potential hazards rather
than against them. They live in the coolness of caverns, and rest during the
day and move in the dark. They have developed superior technology to
conserve moisture, namely the stillsuits, and their bodies have ultrafast
blood coagulation to reduce pointless moisture loss. They control and ride
the sandworms using thumpers and hooks while harvesting the spice and
using the poisoned water from drowned worms in their ceremonies and
rituals. They also craft the infamous crysknife weapons from the sand-
worms’ teeth. And they do not suffer outsiders but are fiercely loyal to
their own. The Fremen are a strong and hardy people by necessity, and
they function efficiently and safely in the desert except when being raided
by outsiders such as the Harkonnen and Sardaukar.
40 K. KENNEDY

The Ecologist
Part of how Herbert makes the environment and associated ideas about
ecology understandable to readers is by providing a guide in the form of a
planetary ecologist named Dr. Liet-Kynes. Kynes was originally set to be
the novel’s hero, a kind of ecological prophet [2, p. 13; 4, p. 44]. However,
Herbert decided to make him a significant supporting character instead
and avoid having readers think that the book had all the answers [2, p. 13].
Kynes is the Imperial Planetologist, tasked with following in the steps of
his late father, Pardot Kynes, First Planetologist of Arrakis, and perform-
ing scientific research as a servant of the Emperor. Kynes is a man with
conflicted loyalties, for he belongs to an educated class like Paul and is
supposed to be following Imperial orders, yet he is also revered among the
Fremen. In fact, he is Fremen, born of a Fremen mother and raised in their
community. Kynes thus represents a bridge between the two worlds that
Paul will soon inhabit, as well as a John the Baptist figure who paves the
way for Paul’s acceptance among the Fremen. As a scientist, Kynes is justi-
fied in explaining to other characters, and thus to us, the science behind
how ecosystems work and remain in balance. And as a Fremen, he can
impress upon others a respect for the ecosystem of Dune.
His dual roles help make Kynes believable as the mouthpiece of eco-
logical principles throughout the first part of Dune. Through exchanges
such as those in the dinner party scene—where we see the Atreides inter-
acting with several key political players on their new planet—Herbert
embeds important messages to develop our awareness about the interac-
tions between living things. In a conversation about whether blood-­
drinking carrion-eating birds on Dune are cannibals, Paul remarks that a
young organism can find its worst competition from its own kind because
they are “eating from the same bowl”; Kynes endorses his understanding
of this “rule of ecology,” that the “struggle between life elements is the
struggle for the free energy of a system” [11, p. 137]. This opens the way
for Kynes to knock down another guest’s derogatory comment about the
Fremen drinking the blood of their dead. Actually, he explains, the truth
is that the Fremen reclaim the water of their dead because it is so precious
and the dead do not need it anymore. Here, Kynes serves as a vehicle for
relaying information about both ecology and the Fremen’s practices in an
objective, scientific fashion. Through his eyes, practices that could be
framed as repulsive or primitive gain scientific validation and acceptability
to the new rulers, the Atreides, and by extension us. Paul’s own
 3 ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 41

understanding of ecology and his application of whole-systems thinking to

human affairs also gain validation from Kynes: “Paul picks up the ecologi-
cal ‘charisma’ by a kind of resonance in the mind of the reader” [4, p. 71].
Kynes also helps to highlight Dune’s critique of Western society’s ten-
dency to control and exploit nature rather than conserve it. On the sur-
face, this criticism is about the colonizers and their treatment of Arrakis.
The Harkonnen’s interest in the planet is only to stockpile the spice and
enrich themselves. They are brutal oppressors who do not care about any-
one outside their immediate family and sometimes not even them. The
Atreides are more honorable, but they also continue spice mining and
hope to fortify their family’s standing. Neither family questions the need
to feed the Imperium’s insatiable desire for this resource, regardless of the
potential consequences of spice extraction on the environment or the
locals. Kynes vocalizes disgust at the narrowmindedness of this obsession
with the colonial extraction of spice. He tells Leto, “Arrakis could be an
Eden if its rulers would look up from grubbing for spice!” and later says
to Paul, “[T]he Imperium sends here only its trained hatchetmen, its seek-
ers after the spice!” [11, p. 113, 222]. In fact, the Atreides not only seek
to mine the spice, but presume to ask the Fremen to put their bodies on
the line for them as fighters to help prop up their noble house. Regardless
of the colonizer, the planet and the Fremen face disruption due to the
demand for spice. For readers who make the comparison with oil and the
Middle East, the critique of foreigners seeking to exploit the natural world
to gain access to a precious resource takes on an added dimension. Some
consider Dune one of the best allegorizations of U.S. energy policy and
Middle East imperialism in the genre of science fiction [14, pp. 266–267].
Everything centers on spice, and Jessica and Paul generally only express
care about the Fremen’s interests when they align with their own.
Seemingly no one in the novel wants to conserve the environment, for
even Kynes and the Fremen are secretly working toward large-scale change.
The more subtle critique of Western culture is related to the science-­
driven terraforming project, which seems like the opposite of the exploit-
ative colonial enterprise. Following in his father’s footsteps, Kynes too sees
the planet as a machine that can be reshaped to fit humankind’s needs and
the Fremen as the ecological tool to do so, guided by his scientific hand.
When the Fremen are promised a paradise on Dune—“Open water and
tall green plants and people walking freely without stillsuits”—they revere
Kynes and his father as holy men and readily assist with the transformation
process [11, p. 291]. Their planting of grasses to control the dunes may
42 K. KENNEDY

Fig. 3.1 Fremen planting grasses on dunes. Reproduced with permission from
illustrator Arthur Whelan

remind us of the U.S. Forest Service’s project in Oregon that sparked

Herbert’s interest in ecology (see Fig. 3.1).
But as with Paul, Kynes is a deceptively sympathetic character who may
not appear malicious but can still initiate destructive forces. One feature
that gives Dune its complexity is the use of such morally ambiguous char-
acters who can prompt us to reconsider their motives. We want to believe
that Kynes is doing good, that the Fremen’s dream can come true. But if
we do, we are placing too much faith in scientists who mistakenly think
they have all the answers. Kynes’ father rightly predicts that humans can
alter the feedback systems and create a self-sustaining cycle to change the
face of the planet. When he supposes that making a three percent change
to the plants will start a cycle to transform the planet away from being an
arid desert, he is viewing the ecosystem as one that can be radically changed
if a key part of the system is shifted to cause a chain reaction [15, p. 56].
What both Pardot and Liet-Kynes fail to understand, however, is that
despite knowing that “the highest function of ecology is the
 3 ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 43

understanding of consequences,” even an ecologist can never anticipate all

of the consequences of such a project [11, p. 498].
Though both the scientists and the Fremen might seem to be working
toward a positive end, the novel foreshadows that their disruption of the
environment will have severe consequences for themselves and the uni-
verse. One sign revealed in the Appendix is that their first report on the
plantings shows that sand plankton is being poisoned, poisonous water is
forming that other lifeforms avoid, and a barren zone is spreading that
even the sandworms will not invade. Pardot Kynes delights in this “gift
from Arrakis” that has created a richer bed for plant life, but the terms
“poisoned,” “incompatibility,” “poisonous,” and “barren” sound omi-
nous [11, p. 499]. Having just read that water is poisonous to the sand-
worms, and that they depend on sand plankton for food, we wonder how
their survival will be managed. Then we learn that the sandworms are the
main source of oxygen in the absence of plant cover, meaning that limiting
their habitat may prompt an oxygen catastrophe [16, p. 354]. An even
more obvious sign in the main storyline is the death of Liet-Kynes. Kynes’
death in a spice blow after assisting Jessica and Paul serves as a warning
against the idea that scientists have everything in hand. The image of
Kynes is that of a person reduced to rags, without a stillsuit or water in the
open desert. Yet still he serves as the voice of reason and explanation, as
does his father, who appears to him in his delirium. But as Pardot drones
on about their timetable of changing the planet, Liet has a sudden flash of
clarity about a different future for Arrakis than his father had seen. We are
left to wonder what this might be, and Kynes’ final thought is that “his
father and all the other scientists were wrong, that the most persistent
principles of the universe were accident and error” [11, p. 277].
As Herbert and his spouse Beverly once discussed in an interview,
Kynes’ death is an important turning point that reveals one of the main
purposes of the story: to show the “consequences of inflicting yourself
upon a planet, upon your environment” [17]. Kynes represents a person
from Western culture who has “lived out of rhythm” with the planet and
as a consequence become swept up in its forces [17]. He is blinded by a
belief that humanity can manipulate and control nature using data while
somehow standing outside ecological processes. His parting thoughts
thus suggest that it is false pride on the part of scientists to believe that
they can fully understand the consequences of their actions and calmly
separate themselves as creatures of the environment. This idea is echoed in
the depiction of the Bene Gesserit, who also fail to control the outcome of
44 K. KENNEDY

their breeding program despite generations of planning. The death of the

ecologist, the mouthpiece of science and reason, by a natural feature of the
desert on Dune undercuts the idea that science has all of the answers, that
enough data or technology can save humans from their destructive tam-
pering. In its role as a protagonist, “[Liet-Kynes’] planet killed him” with-
out care for his knowledge or intentions [11, p. 277]. Nature refused to
be reduced to neat variables on a graph.
This undercutting of the scientist presents a cautionary message about
the scientist’s role in society. Rather than associating science with either
the forces of the Imperium or the native peoples, Herbert offers a scientist
character who belongs to both worlds yet still fails to grasp the nature of
ecology. This places blame on both sides: the Imperium wants scientific
knowledge about the planet since it is the only location of the precious
spice, and the desert-dwelling Fremen want scientific knowledge to work
toward making a more comfortable life for themselves. The message about
science is ambiguous and asks that we consider its role in human affairs
more carefully.

The Hero
Herbert’s critique of heroes runs as an undercurrent in Dune. This cri-
tique takes on an added ecological dimension through the characters of
both Kynes and Paul as they leverage the terraforming project to gain
control over the Fremen. Although they do not appear to have had much
choice in their life path, neither turns away from the power his leadership
position grants him. By following his father’s lead, Kynes inflicts himself
and his scientific vision onto the environment of Dune, drawing in others
to follow him. The Fremen who once lived harmoniously with the desert
and had adapted well now believe as the scientists do: that it is better to
subdue nature and transform it to human desires. The Fremen revere
Kynes so much that he eclipses tribal boundaries and is the only one who
“speaks for all Fremen” [11, p. 283]. This status is essential to the story,
for Kynes prepares the way for another heroic figure to swoop in and take
advantage of the situation, directing followers on yet another path, that of
the jihad that Paul foresees. Once Kynes decides to lend his support to
Paul, this sets in motion a chain of events that will affect the planet and the
entire universe. With Kynes gone, there is no one to challenge this course
of action, this rapid acceleration of the project by a new hero; no one to
speak the value of a slow, low-impact, natural evolution. Instead, the
 3 ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 45

terraforming project is set to become an ecological disaster, spiraling

beyond nature’s ability to self-correct [4, p. 72]. With an increase in water
and a retreating desert, it will be difficult to maintain a corner for the
sandworms and spice. The great irony at the heart of Dune is that the
ecologist actually helps set in motion the most significant disruption to the
planetary ecosystem through leading the terraforming project and falling
for the charisma of a young hero.

Ecological Science Fiction

In creating this expansive desert ecosystem with its resilient local inhabit-
ants, Herbert pioneered the development of detailed world-building in
science fiction. Like Tolkien, he offered readers a world that is memorable
and immersive, inviting them to return and experience it again. He also set
the stage for an important environmental message: that we should be criti-
cal of the colonizers as well as the scientists who seek control at the expense
of the planet and its people. They hold responsibility for the ecological
disruptions that will transform not only the planet, but the universe.
Dune thus stands as a very influential ecological novel that has shaped
not only popular culture but the treatment of ecology in the genre of sci-
ence fiction [18, p. 118]. Though present in various ways previously, eco-
logical awareness and themes were brought to the center of the genre by
this book [19, p. 87]. It brought a holistic view of the role of humans in
terraforming and linked the local with the global and nature with culture,
though the full consequences of the terraforming project would not be
seen until the sequels [18, pp. 118–120]. Other terraforming texts in the
mid-twentieth century include Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World Is
Forest (1972) and The Dispossessed (1974), which like Dune use planetary
changes as a way to explore issues of politics and culture [18, p. 116].
Since these decades, ecological and environmental themes have come to
form a more visible subgenre within science fiction. Notable texts include
the Mars trilogy (1992–1996) by Kim Stanley Robinson, who acknowl-
edged the influence of reading Dune as “an ecological primer on desert
survival” [20, p. 253].
Dune does not offer us straightforward answers about how to live in
balance with the environment and avoid ecological disaster. No person or
group is perfect or fully understands their role in the bigger picture. What
seems like a positive terraforming project includes a criticism of the desire
to bend nature to human will regardless of the consequences. But the
46 K. KENNEDY

book does educate us about ecology and provide hints about what to
avoid. It teaches us about the interconnectedness of living things and their
environment, and how one change can have ripple effects in many direc-
tions. It suggests that a certain humility is needed when humans confront
their place in the world. The Fremen have great respect for the sandworm
and acknowledge their smallness in the face of the immense, moisture-­
starved desert they call home. Meanwhile, the colonizers see the sand-
worm as a dangerous beast that should be destroyed or avoided, and view
the desert as a punishing wasteland that makes spice extraction costly.
Although the ecologist respects the sandworms, he naively believes he can
somehow relegate them to a corner of the planet and take the rest of the
world for humans. We can map these viewpoints onto groups in our own
world as we examine our relationship with the environment and how eager
we are to shape it according to our selfish preferences rather than living in
harmony with its rhythms. We can maintain skepticism when scientific or
technological solutions are held out as a cure-all for a problem, especially
when a charismatic personality is offering them. Perhaps most importantly,
we can accept that no one is able to anticipate all of the consequences of a
particular course of action, so we need to remain adaptable and open
to change.

References
1. McNelly, Willis E. and Timothy O’Reilly. “Dune.” Survey of Science Fiction
Literature, vol. 2, edited by Frank N. Magill, Salem Press, 1979, pp. 647–658.
2. Touponce, William. Frank Herbert. Twayne Publishers, 1988.
3. Herbert, Frank. Maker of Dune, edited by Tim O’Reilly, Berkley Books, 1987.
4. O’Reilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar, 1981.
5. Detweiler, Jane. “Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962).” Literature and the
Environment, edited by George Hart and Scott Slovic, Greenwood Press,
2004, pp. 39–51.
6. Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. Henry Holt and
Company, 1997.
7. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton, 1962.
8. Smith, Robert Leo, and Stuart L. Pimm. “Ecology.” Encyclopedia Britannica,
7 Feb. 2019. https://www.britannica.com/science/ecology
9. “Environment.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jan. 2020. https://www.britan-
nica.com/science/environment
10. GoogleBooks Ngram Viewer. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?con
tent=ecology%2C+ecosystem&year_start=1860&year_end=2019&corpus=26
 3 ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 47

&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cecology%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cec
osystem%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cecology%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2
Cecosystem%3B%2Cc0
11. Herbert, Frank. Dune. 1965. Berkley, 1984.
12. Kennedy, Kara. “Spice and Ecology in Herbert’s Dune: Altering the Mind and
the Planet.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 48, no. 3, 2021, pp. 444–461.
13. Kincaid, Paul. “The Great Dune Trilogy: A Review.” Vector, 93 supplement,
1979, pp. 15–17.
14. Canavan, Gerry. “Of Further Interest.” Green Planets: Ecology and Science
Fiction, edited by Gerry Canavan and Kim Stanley Robinson, Wesleyan
University Press, 2014, pp. 261–279.
15. Palumbo, Donald. “‘Plots within Plots…Patterns within Patterns’: Chaos-­
Theory Concepts and Structures in Frank Herbert’s Dune Novels.” Journal of
the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 8, no. 1, 1997, pp. 55–77.
16. McNelly, Willis E. “In Memoriam: Frank Herbert, 1920–1986.” Extrapolation,
vol. 27, no. 4, 1986, pp. 352–355.
17. Herbert, Frank and Beverly. Interview by Willis E. McNelly. 3 Feb. 1969.
18. Pak, Chris. Terraforming: Ecopolitical Transformations and Environmentalism
in Science Fiction. Liverpool University Press, 2016.
19. Latham, Rob. “Biotic Invasions: Ecological Imperialism in New Wave Science
Fiction.” Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction, edited by Gerry Canavan
and Kim Stanley Robinson, Wesleyan University Press, 2014, pp. 77–95.
20. Canavan, Gerry, and Kim Stanley Robinson. “Afterword: Still, I’m Reluctant
to Call This Pessimism.” Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction, edited by
Gerry Canavan and Kim Stanley Robinson, Wesleyan University Press, 2014,
pp. 243–260.
 CHAPTER 4

Mind and Consciousness

Abstract This chapter discusses how Dune was groundbreaking in terms

of its characters not because it gave them superhuman abilities, but because
it made them three-dimensional and focused on the power of their minds.
It looks at Herbert’s intense interest in the nature of human consciousness
and his use of different narration styles to make characters seem like real
people struggling to survive on an alien planet. The chapter examines the
complexity of the characterization of the Bene Gesserit with their extraor-
dinary abilities based on Eastern philosophical traditions such as Zen
Buddhism and Yoga. It also explores Paul Atreides as a superhuman figure
who takes the reader on his journey of expanding awareness and points to
the possibilities of the human mind.

Keywords Science fiction • Frank Herbert • Consciousness •

Psychology • Mind • Eastern philosophy

Dune was not unique in science fiction for giving characters superhuman
abilities or the status of a messiah. Nor was it special for using the arche-
type of the hero or including a psychoactive drug. What made it ground-
breaking was the three-dimensional nature of its characters and its intensive
attention to the power of the human mind. The hero and his mother seem

49
50 K. KENNEDY

like real people with a range of motivations, struggles, and emotional

complexities. There is also a strong dose of Eastern philosophies that show
alternative ways of thinking and being. In this chapter, we explore Dune’s
focus on the human mind and consciousness. We look at how this con-
nects with the development of complex characters with psychological
depth who pull us into the world. We also examine the enhanced abilities
of key characters and how these prompt us to consider the potential in
altered states of awareness.

Characterization
Some might consider Herbert obsessed with the nature of human con-
sciousness [1, p. 29]. It is infused throughout Dune and is one of the
novel’s major strengths [2, p. 653]. Herbert gives us characters who are
“incredibly awake” and do not let life pass them by [2, p. 653]. He care-
fully sets up his main character to be hyperaware from the moment we
meet him. Things do not just happen to Paul—he notes them, evaluates
them, and responds to them [3, p. 63]. We gain access to his mental pro-
cesses as his awareness expands, and we learn that his mother’s Bene
Gesserit lessons are part of why he behaves as he does. Although certain
readers may find the first scene overwhelming due to the amount of detail,
this opening is very significant: “Everything is in capsule, evocative, a seed
for later pearls to crust upon” [2, p. 653].
To keep pace with such characters, we need to pay attention, to be
aware ourselves. The entire book can be seen as an attempt by Herbert to
broaden the consciousness of his readers under the pretense of following
a hero’s journey. Herbert is like a Zen master, asking us to question our
assumptions and logical habits [4, p. 10; 5]. Readers are likely to feel their
own consciousness expanding, as they not only learn about new objects
such as ornithopters and stillsuits but also understand more about the
awareness of characters such as Jessica and Paul [4, p. 24]. Jessica and Paul
frequently showcase their ability to be hyperaware. Even though we see
that they are not always in control and that their awareness has flaws, it
bestows a kind of god-like status on them as they move through the world.
And because the heightened awareness that characters experience is
grounded in real perceptive abilities, we may feel that we could also achieve
them, rather than write them off as fantastical [2, p. 654].
One way Herbert makes this all possible is by merging the usual pattern
of a third-person narrator telling the story with a first-person inner
 4 MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 51

perspective, making us feel like we are participating in events from the

inside [2, p. 654]. He develops characters’ thoughts and feelings in a com-
plex way by layering the narrator’s viewpoint alongside certain characters’
internal thoughts and other characters’ dialogue [4, p. 19]. The opening
chapter sets the precedent for this technique. The narrator describes an
old woman and the mother of a boy looking in on him in his bed and hav-
ing a brief conversation about him. As soon as the narrator indicates the
women have gone, we move to the boy’s perspective: “Paul lay awake
wondering: What’s a gom jabbar?” [6, p. 4]. The italicization signals our
direct access to his in-the-moment thoughts. And this leads us to identify
with his perspective, since we too are wondering what the gom jabbar is.
For the next few paragraphs, the narrator’s description of Paul is inter-
rupted by these italicized thoughts, which reinforce the sense that Paul is
carefully considering his circumstances before his family’s move to a new
planet. We feel that we know this character better because we can see his
mental processing. His thoughts show an uncertainty and vulnerability
that make him seem relatably human.
This technique is subsequently used with the two women in this chap-
ter—Lady Jessica and Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam—and then
other characters throughout the book. It slows down the action, focusing
our attention on how characters perceive and respond to their world. The
dinner party scene gives us a prime example of Paul and Jessica’s hyper-
awareness in the presence of other characters. Their Bene Gesserit skills in
perception make them aware of and able to read a significant degree of
body language. They constantly scan their environment and the people in
it, analyzing important details rather than just existing in the moment. In
this scene, the book goes back and forth on showing us the narrator’s
descriptions of Paul and Jessica’s behavior, the characters’ thoughts as they
play the game of politics at the table, and their dialogue with their guests
[4, p. 23]. We cannot help but see how much insight they gain. Certainly,
other characters are also aware of how to play politics, but we gravitate to
admiring Jessica and Paul’s skills because we are seeing the scene play out
through their consciousness. Each time we see Jessica and Paul perceiving
and analyzing their environment, this adds to the sense of how important
it is to be consciously aware.
Seeing how characters process the events in their lives adds layers of
psychological depth to their personas. It builds out from their archetypal
bases to make them more multi-dimensional. Paul is more than a stereo-
typical hero—he seems like a young man who is both eager to make his
52 K. KENNEDY

mark on the world and concerned about his future. Jessica is more than a
stereotypical mother—she seems like a woman with conflicted feelings
about the decisions she has made for her son and what will happen to her
family. Through his characterization techniques, Herbert gives the illusion
of psychological interiority, that characters are real people who think and
feel just as we do. By inviting us to identify with Paul and Jessica, the nar-
rative takes us along on their journey of awareness. Having access to their
internal consciousness is essential to giving them a three-dimensionality
and humanness that make them interesting and memorable.

Human Potential
Unlike science fiction stories that explore the nature of consciousness
through non-humans such as robots or androids, Dune looks at it through
different groups and training methods that expand human awareness.
These include the Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, and Mentats, each of
which has mastered its own specialization. The reason given for the focus
on the human mind is the Butlerian Jihad, the ancient crusade against
advanced technology that forced humans to develop themselves rather
than rely on thinking machines. Herbert uses these groups to explore
human potential and add meaning and depth to his characters and their
abilities. He has both of his main characters receive training in the Way of
the Bene Gesserit. Thus, Jessica and Paul have gained their enhanced
awareness not on their own, but through the group most concerned with
the power of the human mind and consciousness.

The Bene Gesserit

Herbert draws on multiple influences in his creation of the Bene Gesserit,
giving the order a richness and complexity not found in the other groups.
In addition to Catholicism, discussed in Chap. 2, another important influ-
ence comes from Eastern philosophies about the mind and body and
altered states of consciousness, which contrast with those in a Western
framework. In the Western philosophical tradition, the mind and body are
considered separate things, a legacy of philosopher René Descartes’ theory
about a mind–body split. The mind is often seen to be superior to the
body since it does the thinking and rationalizing. Descartes’ famous state-
ment “I think, therefore I am” refers to the idea that thinking is how we
know we exist, so the mind is important as the source of our
 4 MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 53

consciousness. But this view downplays the role the body plays in our
existence in the world. It prioritizes conscious thought and reason and
skirts over the fact that we often act without thinking and let our bodily
needs and desires guide our behavior. Experiences or states of conscious-
ness which do not have rational explanations or fit into neat boxes may be
dismissed or mocked, including out-of-body experiences, drug trips, hyp-
nosis, and dream states.
In contrast, Eastern philosophies have tended to have a more holistic
view of mind and body that understands them as intertwined and mutually
important. For instance, in Indian philosophy, the interconnectedness of
mind and body can be considered a way of obtaining knowledge, with the
mind actively involved in obtaining and coordinating the body’s percep-
tions and sensations [7, p. 83]. In fact, some Indian philosophical tradi-
tions consider the human body to be a continuum that includes various
physical and psychic components, which avoids the mind–body problem
[8, p. 347]. Eastern civilizations have also given more acknowledgment
and validity to altered states of consciousness in their religions and cul-
tures [9, p. 139]. Traditions such as Yoga, Vedanta, and Buddhism, par-
ticularly Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Zen Buddhism, emphasize
the use of meditation and recognize different levels of mind and higher
states of consciousness [9, p. 139]. Meditation becomes the basis for a
state of enlightenment, and corresponding reductions in metabolic activ-
ity and even a suspension of breathing [9, p. 141]. In the U.S., the 1950s
marked the beginning of a trend toward widespread awareness of
Buddhism, Hinduism, and other Asian spiritual traditions, helped along
by cultural shifts and the mass media [10, p. 4]. Zen Buddhism, in par-
ticular, gained notoriety in large part to the efforts of Japanese scholar
D.T. Suzuki and his impact on influential figures such as the Beat poets
and Alan Watts. Translated into Western culture, Eastern philosophies and
associated practices such as Zen meditation and Yoga were valued as an
alternative to Western rationality that could potentially help restore bal-
ance to a troubled modern world [10, p. 55].
Believing in self-development in a Zen sense himself, Herbert tapped
into this emerging wave of interest in Eastern philosophies, as interpreted
in the West, to give the Bene Gesserit a depth that makes the order and its
abilities seem more realistic. Through the Bene Gesserit Way, they embrace
a more holistic view of the mind and body and instill the kind of discipline
that allows them to be more aware and in control. Their prana-bindu
training lets them control their breath and survive an incredible expansion
54 K. KENNEDY

of consciousness through the spice drug ritual, detailed below. Indeed, the
terms prana and bindu are Sanskrit and link with Indian notions of breath
and meditation [11, p. 39]. The Bene Gesserit certainly see the benefits in
accessing and understanding layers of consciousness beyond the ordinary.
Despite their skills seeming almost magical to uninformed outsiders, some
are very similar to what seasoned practitioners in the real world have mas-
tered throughout history. Dune thus draws on beliefs about consciousness
held by various peoples and cultures to enrich its character development.
The Bene Gesserit’s preoccupation with the mind and consciousness is
shown through their test of humanness, training regimen, use of the
Voice, and access to Other Memory. The Bene Gesserit are the ones in the
book most visibly concerned with what makes someone human, which
they define as a person’s ability to control their animal instincts. When
Reverend Mother Mohiam has Paul put his hand into her black box and
holds the poisonous gom jabbar needle at his neck, this tests Paul’s ability
to override his instinctual urge to pull his hand out and instead endure the
painful sensations. Reverend Mother Mohiam casually tells Paul that a
human can override any nerve in the body, as if it were a sensation that
could easily be turned off when needed. The test of humanness prompts
us to think about humans more deeply: What differentiates us from ani-
mals, if anything? How much control do we have over our nervous sys-
tem? Would we be able to withstand the pain and pass the test? In the
Bene Gesserit’s eyes, a human must have a certain level of conscious con-
trol over their behavior, lest they fall prey to thinking machines again.
The Bene Gesserit have, therefore, developed a comprehensive training
regimen to help people rise above their base instincts and live in a state of
higher awareness. Such training is specifically designed to foster a high
level of control over mind and body. The first hint at Bene Gesserit train-
ing we see is when Paul clears his tensions by practicing one of Jessica’s
mind–body lessons and finding “focused consciousness by choice” [6,
p. 5]. As the story continues, we discover Jessica and Paul are extremely
perceptive and can pick up on the smallest details in their environment.
Prana-bindu training gives them complete control over their body’s mus-
cles (prana-musculature) and nerves (bindu-nervature). With this train-
ing, Jessica can control pregnancy and put herself into a hibernative state
by stilling her breath, and both she and Paul can fight and win in unarmed
combat. Another Bene Gesserit, Lady Margot Fenring, discusses how she
plans to plant prana-bindu phrases in the unconscious mind of Feyd-­
Rautha Harkonnen in case he needs to be controlled at a future date. All
 4 MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 55

of these abilities show how the Bene Gesserit have harnessed the power of
the mind and body to be more fully aware and in control as they move
through the world.
They also teach the Litany against Fear as a way of calming the mind in
times of distress or peril: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the
little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear” [6, p. 8]. Paul
recalls the litany as he faces the test of humanness and the fight with Jamis,
Jessica and Paul rely on it when caught in the 700–800-kilometer-per-­
hour winds while flying the ornithopter, and Jessica uses it when undergo-
ing the dangerous Water of Life ceremony. The litany represents a type of
prayer or mantra that helps the Bene Gesserit overcome a potentially over-
whelming emotional response. It is a useful tool in their arsenal of con-
scious control that prevents them from acting on instinct.
Another ability of the Bene Gesserit, the Voice, highlights how they can
control others at a level below conscious awareness. They understand that
people often act without thinking and capitalize on this knowledge. When
a Bene Gesserit uses the Voice, she adapts the tone and pitch of her voice
to speak to someone in a way that compels them to obey. Reverend Mother
Mohiam uses the Voice on Paul to command him to come near her for the
test of humanness, though he is aware of the technique since he has been
trained by his mother. Jessica uses it on Thufir Hawat to show him a
glimpse of her extraordinary abilities. Once Paul has mastered it, he uses
it several times, including on Reverend Mother Mohiam to show how his
skills have matured beyond hers. The Voice reveals how easily some people
can be led into behaving without consciously thinking about their actions
[3, p. 47]. It reminds us that we may not be as rational and thoughtful as
we have been led to believe.
Through the process of ingesting and neutralizing a large dose of the
spice drug, the Bene Gesserit are able to enlarge their consciousness to
include their ancestors’ memories. This draws our attention to the limits
and possibilities of expanding the human mind, as well as the capacity to
experience events through someone else’s perspective. Jessica’s experience
during the Water of Life ceremony shows us a brilliant example of human
consciousness dying, expanding, and awakening. With the aid of the spice
drug, the dying Fremen Reverend Mother Ramallo pours her memories
into Jessica as her physical body collapses. Because the book gives us a
look at the process from the inside, as the two women dialogue and Jessica
describes her experience, we see Jessica’s consciousness transformed—we
know she has changed. In fact, we get more detail of Jessica’s experience
56 K. KENNEDY

than of Paul’s when he later takes the Water of Life, even though he is the
one on the hero’s journey. There is also a birth of consciousness when the
fetus Jessica is carrying, the future Alia Atreides, is awakened to awareness.
It is only later that we see the consequences of this procedure: Alia may
have the body of a child, but her mind is that of an adult who is also
already a Reverend Mother. The fact that she never had time to develop
her own personality and consciousness haunts her later in life.
There are parallels here with Carl Jung’s concept of the collective
unconscious, but Herbert makes these ideas more concrete [4, p. 10].
Jung describes the collective unconscious as the part of the human psyche
that is universal, impersonal, and identical in all individuals [12, p. 43]. In
contrast to the personal unconscious, which develops uniquely in each
person, the collective unconscious is inherited and made up of pre-existing
forms that Jung calls archetypes. Although the Bene Gesserit’s form of
ancestral memory does not identically match this concept, it shares the
notion that parts of the psyche can be inherited or passed down, either
through a special ceremony or through the genes. Jessica’s memory trans-
fer heightens our awareness of things such as history, traditions, and ritu-
als, and how individuals become a people and a culture. It also suggests
that a person’s consciousness can live on past death, in this case by hitch-
ing a ride in another person’s mind.
Through the depiction of the extraordinary abilities of the Bene
Gesserit, Dune embraces a more expansive view of consciousness and
human potential. We learn about what it might look like if humans had a
much higher level of conscious control over the mind and body and used
it to their advantage, and the role of drugs in this process. But in Herbert’s
borrowing from various non-Western traditions, there is the possibility
that these threads become a problematic way of exoticizing the story or
characters. Other science fiction authors including Philip K. Dick and
Ursula K. Le Guin used Eastern elements for the purpose of critiquing
Western concepts of reality and progress [13, p. 25]. The line between
cultural appropriation and respectful borrowing is debatable, particularly
when Eastern traditions are dehistoricized and placed in front of readers
who may have little to no understanding of their sources. The Bene
Gesserit do have a mystical feeling about them, which serves the purpose
of making the order mysterious and different from other groups. Words
such as the Way and prana-bindu are based on Taoist, Buddhist, and
Sanskrit terms and lend an exotic flavor to the order. The Bene Gesserit
are also feared by others, some of whom label them as witches because of
 4 MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 57

their powerful abilities. However, on the whole, the Eastern philosophies

underpinning their order appear to be used cautiously and respectfully to
help speculate on human potential. A key component of the Bene Gesserit’s
influence and success is their willingness to embrace a more holistic under-
standing of the human. This is a credit to the positive value of Eastern
philosophies. The superhuman figure of Paul embraces a greater balance
on his hero’s journey, rather than rejecting it, which provides additional
credibility to the potential in non-Western ways of thinking.

Guild Navigators, Mentats, and Suk Physicians

Although other groups are not developed with the same level of detail as
the Bene Gesserit, their specialties also focus our attention on the power
of the human mind. Not much detail is given about the Spacing Guild or
its secretive navigators, but they too have pushed their limits and achieved
a higher level of consciousness with the aid of the spice drug. They have a
form of prescience that they use to safely guide spaceships through space,
enabling them to maintain their monopoly on interstellar transport.
Mentats take the place of computers in the Dune universe and are trained
to assemble bits of logic and information to make predictions and perform
calculations. They are very much focused on the mind and its ability to
process data. Although this makes them vulnerable to faulty data and
errors in their computations, they are considered useful for their projec-
tions of logic. The Suk Medical School produces physicians who undergo
Imperial Conditioning to prevent them from harming patients, presum-
ably making them trustworthy enough for the highest nobility. However,
the Atreides’ physician, Dr. Wellington Yueh, manages to overcome his
conditioning and betray the family in his attempt to discover the fate of his
Bene Gesserit spouse, Wanna Marcus, who has been tortured by the
Harkonnen. Yueh’s traitorous act emphasizes the ability of the conscious
mind to go against previous training, and that there are no certainties if
there is a powerful enough reason pushing someone to act. The character-
ization of these groups, while limited, reinforces Dune’s concern with the
mind and its capabilities, showing how humans have attempted to fill the
gap left by the banning of advanced technology.
58 K. KENNEDY

Paul, the Superhuman

Paul’s skillset goes beyond that of other groups—namely the Bene
Gesserit, Guild, and Mentats—because his character combines their abili-
ties into one person. As the protagonist of Dune, he takes us on his jour-
ney of expanding awareness and showcases different aspects of the human
mind and consciousness along the way.
Paul’s unique experience of consciousness is specifically linked with his
genes. He represents the culmination of the Bene Gesserit’s ninety-­
generation-­long breeding program to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a
figure who can bridge space and time and tap into male ancestral memory
as well as visions of the future. His consciousness is therefore genetically
primed to expand beyond that of normal humans, and even of the women
of the Bene Gesserit. As a hero figure, he is special, a person to watch as
he matures into his destiny. However, rather than being a superhuman
who magically stumbles upon extraordinary abilities, he has to grow them
by undergoing rigorous training [14, p. 67]. We see brief glimpses of his
training with his mother and his tutors, and can imagine how much effort
has gone into molding this young man. This helps provide depth and
believability to his character. His obsession with his growing abilities inter-
ests us and keeps pointing our attention to the nature of human con-
sciousness and how it becomes expanded but also distorted in his person.
Paul’s expansion of consciousness is also inextricably linked with spice,
which is one of the most memorable substances in science fiction. Herbert’s
creation of spice as a type of psychedelic allows him to explore the possi-
bilities of the human mind in a realistic way. Although spice is fictional, it
has several connections to real-world drugs that help make its effects
familiar and meaningful to readers [15]. Dreams usually remain confined
to the unconscious realm, but in Dune, they break into Paul’s waking
consciousness as he matures and ingests higher concentrations of spice,
which is produced as part of the lifecycle of the giant sandworm (see
Fig. 4.1). Each time Paul dreams or envisions something, it reminds us of
the power of the mind. It interrupts the action, letting us watch a person
contemplate and consider, rather than impulsively act. Paul’s drive to not
be left in the dark about the future makes him seek more and more aware-
ness and eventually more of the spice drug. Spice opens up new mental
pathways for Paul, and he gains a greater understanding of himself. For
instance, he discovers his Harkonnen heritage, which undermines his
identity as an Atreides. Without a substance such as spice, Paul’s
 4 MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 59

Fig. 4.1 Fremen riding the giant sandworm using maker hooks. Reproduced
with permission from illustrator Arthur Whelan

experiences and visions might appear to be the workings of a madman.

Having a prominent drug in the story helps make his abilities seem like a
speculation on higher mental states of awareness, and helps keep us as
readers focused on the possibilities of the human mind.
However, Herbert includes a warning that there can be such a thing as
too much consciousness or awareness of the past and future. If we pay
attention, we see that as Paul’s awareness expands and he embraces the full
extent of his special abilities, his humanity contracts. He begins losing
touch with his emotions and his family’s values, such as having a concern
for human life. His young son’s death seems to have no impact on him,
and he expresses more concern for lost equipment than lost troop lives.
He moves into a distant space, trapped to follow the path of his visions and
his need for control and power. We as readers cannot identify with him to
the same extent as we could at the beginning of the book. The expansion
60 K. KENNEDY

of consciousness has clear consequences for his character and suggests

there is a cost to his superhuman abilities.

Soft Science Fiction

Dune played a critical role in proving to readers beyond science fiction fans
that a novel could be both science fiction and literature. At a time when
the science fiction genre was struggling to move beyond underdeveloped
or stereotypical characters and cliched scientific and technological inven-
tions, Dune appeared as a lengthy book with multiple layers of complexity
and thematic depth. It featured three-dimensional male and female char-
acters who were interesting and memorable. It lived up to the growing
expectation that writers should try to raise the literary and stylistic quality
of science fiction [16, p. 335]. As one of the first science fiction bestsellers
alongside Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Dune
also proved that a story focused on the so-called soft sciences such as psy-
chology, perception, and linguistics could be very successful [17]. Like
other stories emerging in the 1960s as part of the New Wave of science
fiction, Dune was concerned more with ‘inner space,’ the realm of the
human mind and psychological concerns, than outer space, the domain of
spaceships and technologies. This focus enabled Herbert to flesh out his
characters and examine different aspects of consciousness, something that
has long been of interest to humanity.
The book’s focus on human potential is certainly an important reason
for its success and has prevented it from becoming outdated. Interest in
psychology has only increased since the 1960s. There are now many sub-
branches of scientists who study the human mind, which in many ways
remains a mystery, and many people are eager to study this topic to learn
more about themselves and others. Dune raises the notion that there is
much more to explore and understand about human consciousness than
what rational-focused Western science has found so far. The popularity of
yoga, mindfulness, and meditation signals a shift in Western culture toward
a desire to create a more harmonious relationship between mind and body.
This is complemented by a growing awareness and respect for the role the
mind plays in overall wellbeing. In addition, although Dune does not offer
a wholesale endorsement of drugs, it does suggest that there can be ben-
efits to their ability to change human awareness. This idea is being vali-
dated with new waves of trials with psychoactive substances such as
psilocybin and LSD for therapeutic treatment. It is likely that humans will
 4 MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 61

always be fascinated by themselves and how they think and behave, so this
places Dune in a good position to continue to influence readers for gen-
erations to come.

References
1. Miller, David. Frank Herbert. Starmont House, 1980.
2. McNelly, Willis E., and Timothy O’Reilly. “Dune.” Survey of Science Fiction
Literature, vol. 2, edited by Frank N. Magill, Salem Press, 1979, pp. 647–658.
3. O’Reilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar, 1981.
4. Touponce, William. Frank Herbert. Twayne Publishers, 1988.
5. Smith, Tara B.M. “The Tangled Bank and the Ox’s Tail: Reading Dune as a
Zen Koan.” 2017. University of Sydney, BA Honours Thesis.
6. Herbert, Frank. Dune. 1965. Berkley, 1984.
7. Chennakesavan, Sarasvati. The Concept of Mind in Indian Philosophy. Asia
Publishing House, 1960.
8. Holdrege, Barbara A. “Body Connections: Hindu Discourses of the Body
and the Study of Religion.” International Journal of Hindu Studies, vol. 2,
no. 3, 1998, pp. 341–386.
9. Shear, Jonathan. “Eastern Approaches to Altered States of Consciousness.”
Altering Consciousness: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Etzel Cardeña
and Michael J. Winkelman, ABC-CLIO, 2011, pp. 139–158.
10. Iwamura, Jane. Virtual Orientalism: Asian Religions and American Popular
Culture. Oxford University Press, 2011.
11. Kennedy, Kara. Women’s Agency in the Dune Universe: Tracing Women’s
Liberation through Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
12. Jung, Carl. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Pantheon
Books, 1959.
13. Huang, Betsy. “Premodern Orientalist Science Fictions.” MELUS, vol. 33,
no. 4, 2008, pp. 23–43.
14. Prieto-Pablos, Juan A. “The Ambivalent Hero of Contemporary Fantasy and
Science Fiction.” Extrapolation, vol. 32, no. 1, 1991, pp. 64–80.
15. Kennedy, Kara. “Spice and Ecology in Herbert’s Dune: Altering the Mind
and the Planet.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 48, no. 3, 2021, pp. 444–461.
16. Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. 2nd ed., Palgrave
Macmillan, 2016.
17. Kennedy, Kara. “The Softer Side of Dune: The Impact of the Social Sciences
on World-Building.” Exploring Imaginary Worlds: Essays on Media, Structure,
and Subcreation, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf, Routledge, 2020, pp. 159–174.
 CHAPTER 5

Heroes and Masculinity

Abstract This chapter explores the complexity of the protagonist Paul

Atreides and the ways he does and does not align with the hero archetype
and stereotypical characteristics of masculinity. It looks at how his path
often aligns with the traditional hero’s journey, but how unusual it is that
he shares much of it with his mother, Jessica. It examines him as a coura-
geous and skilled fighter, as well as someone who possesses both masculine
and feminine traits due to his genetics and training. The chapter also dis-
cusses how Paul appears as a cautious thinker and savior figure who faces
numerous limitations, and that his failure to prevent the jihad he foresees
points to Herbert’s larger warning about the dangers of charismatic heroes.

Keywords Science fiction • Frank Herbert • Hero • Masculinity •

Archetype • Jihad

On the surface, Dune is a heroic adventure story of an extraordinary

young man who must face his destiny and claim his rightful place in the
world. We watch as he encounters challenges, grows in knowledge, and
matures into a leader. He is honorable and loyal, sympathetic to the plight
of the oppressed, and willing to help others achieve their goals while he
pursues his own. But he is also more complex than most traditional heroes.
He embraces a combination of masculine and feminine traits and shares

63
64 K. KENNEDY

his journey with his influential mother. Rather than raising up humanity,
he uses religious manipulation to position himself as a messiah which then
ushers in the coming of a destructive war. He is the most capable, the most
gifted, and the most powerful character, but also the one to upset the bal-
ance of the universe rather than restore it. In this chapter, we explore some
of the ways Paul Atreides does and does not align with the hero archetype
and stereotypical characteristics of masculinity. We look at his strengths
and limitations, and how he is often not in control of his journey or his
gifts in spite of his growing power. We also look at the role Paul’s character
plays in Herbert’s critique of heroes and messianic figures.

Archetypal Hero
In many ways, Paul can be considered an archetypal hero, as described by
Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).
Campbell believed there was a monomyth, or one universal myth, that
appeared in different forms in folk tales, legends, and stories across the
world. Also known as the hero’s journey, the monomyth includes a set of
standard features. The hero generally goes on a quest or adventure, under-
goes various tests and trials, and returns with something to benefit their
community. At each phase of the hero’s adventure—departure, initiation,
and return—there are typical incidents that occur, such as receiving the
call to adventure, acquiring a boon, and recrossing the threshold. Paul’s
departure from Caladan, initiation into the Fremen’s culture, and return
to become emperor mirror this hero’s journey [1, p. 563].
There are also common characteristics of the hero, including a special
birth, exile or orphaning as a child, possession of special gifts, and desire
to make an impact. Paul is the unexpected Kwisatz Haderach of the Bene
Gesserit’s long-term breeding program, is exiled from Caladan to Arrakis
and partially orphaned when his father is killed, gains access to prescience,
and desires to reclaim his dukedom and free the Fremen from their oppres-
sors [2, p. 32]. We know from the beginning of the book that Paul is
destined for something great. Not only do we see him withstand more
pain in Reverend Mother Mohiam’s test of humanness than any girl, we
have Princess Irulan’s opening epigraph which describes Paul in a legend-
ary way as someone who has already been studied and written about,
though under a different name: Muad’Dib. This provides a sense that he
has already become a legend and that we are going back to learn about his
journey.
 5 HEROES AND MASCULINITY 65

Like most heroes throughout history and literature, Paul is male and
showcases several stereotypical characteristics of masculinity from the cul-
ture he represents. When we think about the traits traditionally associated
with masculinity in Western culture, for example, we might list bravery,
courage, strength, honor, and toughness. Masculinity is defined in opposi-
tion to femininity, creating sets of opposite traits such as hard/soft, think-
ing/feeling, and rational/irrational. These stereotypes can make it difficult
for authors to develop well-rounded characters who show a range of traits
and emotions, since male characters who have too many traits of feminin-
ity may be seen in negative terms as effeminate or weak. Part of what
makes Paul a more complex heroic character is that sometimes he is very
aligned to the archetypal hero and traditional masculinity, but at other
times he breaks the mold. This supports Herbert’s interest in showing us
as readers a more nuanced and critical view of heroes, if we are paying
attention.
The most obvious way Paul fulfills an ideal of traditional masculinity is
through becoming a skilled fighter and leveraging that to gain power and
leadership. Paul is “a fighting machine born and trained to it from infancy”
[3, p. 304]. Under the guidance of his weapons master, Duncan Idaho,
and Gurney Halleck, he learns how to fight with weapons and shields. He
also learns the ‘weirding way’ of the Bene Gesserit from his mother, which
includes techniques for engaging in unarmed combat. These prepare him
to engage in single-hand combat to the death with the Fremen man Jamis,
and his victory begins his successful initiation into the tribe. Although
Jessica attempts to prevent him from growing to enjoy killing by speaking
harshly to him, hoping for him to associate it with something shameful, it
is not long before Paul engages in regular killing as he continues on the
hero’s journey and steps into the shoes of a leader. On his raids with the
Fremen, Paul adds guerrilla warfare to his skillset and amasses a following
of death commandos, called Fedaykin, and a reputation as a fierce warrior.
In many ways, Paul becomes a Lawrence of Arabia type of leader—an out-
sider who gains insider status and imparts his knowledge to help an
oppressed people fight while maintaining his allegiance to an impe-
rial power. His transformation moves him away from the image of an inno-
cent young man burdened by killing a stranger, and toward a strategic
leader hardened to the realities of struggling against another military
power. His insistence on responding to Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen’s chal-
lenge himself also creates a final showdown between the two young noble-
men that highlights the physical nature of conflict in Herbert’s universe
(see Fig. 5.1).
66 K. KENNEDY

Fig. 5.1 Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Paul Atreides face off in a knife fight.
Reproduced with permission from illustrator Arthur Whelan

However, there is also a notable example of the book both perpetuating

and critiquing the idea of the courageous fighter, almost simultaneously.
As Paul fills the vacuum left by Liet-Kynes and gains acceptance as the
leader of the Fremen, this threatens the very man who has helped him
reach this achievement, Stilgar. According to Fremen tradition, Paul
should challenge Stilgar’s leadership through single combat. But Paul
makes room for an alternative view by suggesting that this tradition is
flawed for weakening the Fremen in the face of their enemies. Instead of
following this tradition, he dramatically puts on his father’s ducal ring,
which he swore to only do when he was ready to reclaim his dukedom,
and asks Stilgar to kneel and pledge his loyalty to Paul as the Duke. Paul’s
action thus critiques the cult of masculinity that demands men fight each
other to see who is the strongest, but still reinforces his male claim to be
the ruler of a planet within a patriarchal hierarchy.
Paul’s courage and skill in fighting are important features of his charac-
ter, but his overriding characteristic is being a cautious thinker who
 5 HEROES AND MASCULINITY 67

carefully considers his actions. When we first meet him, he is lying awake
in bed, his mind whirling with new knowledge as he considers the strange
words he has overhead from Reverend Mother Mohiam. Throughout the
rest of the story, we see him continue this behavior of analyzing things
around him and wondering about his environment, his dreams, his visions,
and his future. For instance, when the hunter-seeker appears in his room,
his mind flashes with knowledge of its limitations before he determines
how to react. When his father says Paul must decide whether to continue
with Mentat training, Paul sees an omen of death in Leto’s smile and feels
the terrible purpose reawaken within him. As discussed in Chap. 4, the
nature of Herbert’s narrative style means we often have access to Paul’s
internal thoughts and can watch him wrestling with decisions and think-
ing anxiously about the future. He is a hyperconscious character, like his
mother. This focuses our attention on him as a thinker, a cerebral hero
who relies on the strength of his mind in addition to his body. At its heart,
Dune is centered on the mind and the development of Paul’s mental pow-
ers [4, p. 87]. The physical skills are a means to an end.
Paul is also depicted as having a consensual, monogamous relationship,
which showcases his honorable nature and sets him apart from the villain-
ous Harkonnen. Aside from their physical appearance, one of the key dif-
ferences between the Baron and Paul relates to their sexuality. Paul appears
to be a model young man who gains an intimate female partner in Chani
and treats her with respect and love. They become life partners who care
for and support one another even though they are from very different
cultures. Chani acts as his confidante and advisor, in addition to bearing
and raising their young son. We see Paul’s strong devotion shine through
when he vows that he will not allow his political marriage with another
woman, Princess Irulan, to affect his relationship with Chani, though he
also appears to be motivated by a desire to keep closer control of his lin-
eage. Like his father, he remains committed to his concubine even while
using marriage or the prospect of marriage for political purposes. This
depiction of the hero’s love for one woman demonstrates he is an honor-
able and trustworthy man.
In contrast, the Baron is portrayed as a pedophile who rapes young,
drugged, slave boys and has no interest in women. He frequently com-
ments on the lovely nature of boys’ bodies, including Paul’s and Feyd-­
Rautha’s, which adds an element of incest into the picture. His sexual
hunger appears limitless, like his physical hunger. The “crudely worked-­
through homophobia” and Otherness in the Baron’s characterization date
68 K. KENNEDY

the book, though it can be argued it is the non-consensual nature of the

Baron’s sexual desires that truly make him a villain [5, p. 42]. His dislike
of women was not an insurmountable problem for the Bene Gesserit and
their breeding program, for they somehow managed to seduce him in
order to obtain a child with his genetic material. However, aside from this
instance, the Baron disavows the Bene Gesserit, which places him at a
large disadvantage because he cannot benefit from their advice or training
as the Atreides do. Meanwhile, Feyd-Rautha is a promiscuous young man
who keeps a pleasure house full of slave women, whom he is forced to
slaughter as punishment for his assassination attempt on the Baron.
Neither man seems to want or be able to have sexual relationships free
from slavery or coercion. Their mode of operation is to use and abuse oth-
ers, sexually and otherwise, which makes Paul stand out even further as an
honorable character.

Departure from the Archetype

There are several important ways in which Paul does not completely align
with the hero archetype, however. For one, he receives significant support
and guidance from his mother. In this way, Herbert changes the structure
of the heroic journey by having a woman share in the hero’s role and par-
ticipate in much of the adventure along with the hero [2, p. 31; 6, p. 174].
We can see that Jessica is actively engaged in Paul’s adventure at almost
every step. She allows him to undergo the test of humanness and have
discussions with Reverend Mother Mohiam. She helps pave the way for
him to be viewed as the Fremen’s savior figure. She continues training him
in the Bene Gesserit Way and prana-bindu on Arrakis. And they both train
the Fremen in the Bene Gesserit way of combat so they can take on the
Harkonnen and then Sardaukar forces. She is not a mere background
character but a full participant helping to drive the story. Her critical role
must be considered when discussing Paul’s journey as a heroic figure, for
he is by no means a self-made young man.
Another interesting feature of Paul is that he possesses both masculine
and feminine traits. Part of this is due to the combination of training he
receives. On the one hand, he receives intensive training in the Bene
Gesserit Way and learns how to master consciousness and abilities such as
the Voice. On the other hand, he receives Mentat training that helps him
process data quickly and efficiently. These trainings are not necessarily
feminine or masculine in and of themselves. However, because the Bene
 5 HEROES AND MASCULINITY 69

Gesserit are a female order and only men are shown as Mentats, the train-
ings can be viewed as representing different types of education that
together make a more powerful whole. Paul combines Mentat calculation
abilities with Bene Gesserit sensitivities to minute details, with the added
layer of the spice drug, to achieve his extraordinary prescient awareness
[7, p. 73].
The more important explanation for Paul’s nature is the uniqueness of
his genes. As the end-product of the Bene Gesserit’s breeding program,
Paul as the Kwisatz Haderach was intended to be a hybrid figure—a male
Bene Gesserit who could see into the past and the future. In this way, he
would combine the masculine and feminine elements of the psyche that
were theorized by psychologist Carl Jung. Jung’s influence appears clearly
in the language Paul uses after coming out of his weeks-long spice-­
induced coma:

There is in each of us an ancient force that takes and an ancient force that
gives. A man finds little difficulty facing that place within himself where the
taking force dwells, but it’s almost impossible for him to see into the giving
force without changing into something other than man. For a woman, the
situation is reversed. [3, p. 445]

When Jessica asks him whether he is the giver or taker, he replies, “I’m
at the fulcrum,” signaling that he has found a psychic balance with his
newfound awareness [3, p. 445]. Paul is thus positioned as a hero who
merges the dualities of masculine and feminine. Rather than rejecting the
feminine element, he embraces it and gains strength as a result.
But the Jungian connection becomes problematic in terms of its divi-
sion of masculine and feminine capabilities. Although Jungian scholars
may note that these are not absolutely limited to males and females, this is
the impression given in Dune. Paul is special because as a male he can
access both masculine and feminine sides of the psyche. Certainly, we can
see that Paul appears to have more power than the Bene Gesserit since he
can go into the dark space in the unconscious that repels and terrorizes
them. He can look where the Bene Gesserit cannot—“into both feminine
and masculine pasts” [3, p. 13]. Yet although there are gendered aspects
to consider in the abilities of the hero as compared to those of other char-
acters, these are not as straightforward as they might seem. The book is
inconsistent with regard to the division of male and female in terms of
psychic strength or special prescient abilities. Reverend Mother Ramallo’s
70 K. KENNEDY

indication that only females are strong enough to withstand the psychic
pairing in the Water of Life ceremony makes them appear to be stronger
and more capable than males. Both Reverend Mother Mohiam and Alia
appear to have some kind of abilities related to the future, but with no
explanations given, we remain in the dark about their full extent. This adds
to the mystery of the Bene Gesserit but may also make us question why
they cannot or do not have the kind of prescience they hope to find
through their breeding program.

Limitations of the Hero

Like some heroes, Paul faces limitations because he has already been set on
a pre-determined path. But if we look closely, we see just how few choices
he actually has. Bene Gesserit breeding, training, and missionary work
have set up Paul to become not only the Kwisatz Haderach but a full mes-
sianic figure. He is primed to have his consciousness invaded by visions
and have the people of Arrakis revere him as a kind of savior. Mentat train-
ing has set Paul up to handle large amounts of information and continually
process and analyze it at a higher level than ordinary people. As a Mentat,
he cannot help seeing the world through calculations and logical probabil-
ities. Meanwhile, both his parents encourage him to capitalize on the
Fremen’s belief in order to protect himself and recruit troops. Their politi-
cal savviness becomes his, almost as a matter of course. Finally, the spice
unlocks more visions of the future to the point that he lives life according
to his time-vision and has trouble distinguishing dream from reality. His
frustration with imperfect prescience drives him to the dangerous decision
to take the Water of Life like his mother, thus fulfilling his destiny to
become a male Bene Gesserit. His prescience turns him into a superhu-
man, but it becomes a curse from which he cannot escape [8, p. 70]. Thus,
Paul is not often in control of his journey or his gifts. All of his hard work
in training his mind and body and striving to live up to his parents’ hopes
for him serve to further lock him into a journey that he foresees will end
in an uncontrollable jihad.
A complex topic about doctrines and practices relating to both internal
and external struggles across the span of Islamic history, jihad has become
a more loaded term since the time of Dune’s publication. In the book, the
term is used to refer to both the crusade against computers in the distant
past and a religious war yet to come, and Paul’s inability to prevent the
latter demonstrates a severe limitation of his character as a hero and a
 5 HEROES AND MASCULINITY 71

messiah. Throughout his journey we see Paul wrestle with the knowledge
that one of the paths he could take leads to a jihad that sweeps across the
universe. In the stilltent with his mother, he sees two main branchings:
one leading to him confronting Baron Harkonnen and the other leading
to a warrior religion spreading across the universe. He labels the latter a
jihad, the ancient way of renewing humanity’s bloodlines, but thinks,
“Surely, I cannot choose that way” [3, p. 199]. After killing Jamis, he again
has a vision of a future with “the jihad’s bloody swords and fanatic legions”
[3, p. 309]. He even blames the Fremen for trying to ensnare him in “the
wild jihad, the religious war he felt he should avoid at any cost” [3, p. 347].
Yet “[t]he more he resisted his terrible purpose and fought against the
coming of the jihad, the greater the turmoil that wove through his pre-
science” [3, p. 388].
The jihad is presented as an inevitable result of Paul taking up the man-
tle of the messiah of the Fremen and deliberately using religion as a tool
to unify his forces. Just as Liet-Kynes secures the Fremen’s loyalty through
convincing them to believe in a dream of Dune as a paradise, Paul gains
their loyalty through styling himself as the most skilled fighter and their
long-awaited messiah. While both characters rely on the power of a shared
vision, Paul benefits from drumming up religious fervor to ensure he has
access to a cohesive fighting force. His use of religion and the allusion to
a looming jihad, in particular, link the circumstances in Dune with historic
events when the concept of a jihad or holy war was used to unite people
toward a shared goal. For instance, in the early years of Islam, the emerg-
ing doctrine of jihad was used as a way of maintaining unity among Arab
tribes, and in the fight against Russian imperialists in the 1800s, holy war
was used by the Islamic brotherhood known as the Murīdīs to unite dis-
senting mountain tribes [9, p. 28; 10]. In November 1914, after the start
of World War I, Ottoman Sultan-Caliph Mehmed v Reshad proclaimed a
jihad, calling upon the Muslim subjects of Russia, Britain, and France to
resist their oppressors and not join in the war against the Ottoman state
[11, p. 14].
Part of Herbert’s critique of religion, the jihad then represents the dan-
ger when politics and religion combine to become an unstoppable, disrup-
tive force. Through Paul and the Fremen, Herbert highlights the incredible
ability of religion to shape human beliefs and behaviors, while also show-
ing its destructive side and the difficulty in keeping it under control.
Despite arrogantly believing he alone can prevent this catastrophe, Paul
finds himself swept along in the path of consequences triggered by other
72 K. KENNEDY

people’s decisions and desires. Unlike other heroes who are convinced
they are right, Paul is a reluctant hero who in the end realizes he is fallible
and unable to control the outcomes of his actions as a leader [8, p. 73]. It
is only before his fight with Feyd-Rautha at the end of the book that Paul
accepts that his efforts were futile, and that he was the one to show the
Fremen the way and give them the mastery over the Guild they would
need to leave Arrakis and unleash the jihad.
It is a tragic irony that Paul is so powerful yet helpless in the face of the
jihad. This is one signal that the hero’s journey in Dune is more of a trag-
edy than a success story. The parallels with Greek tragedy further confirm
this reading. Paul belongs to House Atreides, whose name alludes to the
Greek myth of the House of Atreus, which was cursed with intergenera-
tional dynastic violence [1, p. 561]. There are several family killings in
Dune: the Baron kills Leto (partner to his granddaughter), Alia kills the
Baron (her grandfather), and Paul kills Feyd-Rautha (his cousin).
Furthermore, Leto’s name links him with the goddess Leto, mother of
Apollo and Artemis. Thus, we may view Paul as an Apollo figure who
gains abilities in prophecy and combat, but can also bring plague upon his
enemies, as Apollo does in the Iliad [1, pp. 570–571]. In Paul’s case,
though, he brings about a type of plague upon the whole universe. His
grasping of psychological and political power solves nothing for humanity,
which is denied the ability to control its own destiny [12, p. 11]. The
parallels between the stories in Dune and Greek drama, particular
Aeschylus’ tragedy, Oresteia, suggest that Paul does not bring a boon back
to his community at the end of his journey, but a curse in the form of the
jihad [1, p. 571].

Criticism of Heroes
Whether or not readers pick up on Paul’s anxiety about the jihad or the
allusions to Greek myths, they can find other subtle critiques of heroes and
messianic figures throughout Dune. Paul’s shift from a naïve young noble-
man into a battle-hardened guerrilla fighter demonstrates the corruptive
effect of seeking power. When Duke Leto tries to explain to Paul how he
wins loyalty as a leader through cultivating an air of bravura and having a
robust propaganda program, Paul protests at his father’s cynical attitude
to governing. Paul wants to believe men follow his father willingly out of
love. It appears Paul has not accepted his despondent father’s belief, that
“Power and fear” are the “tools of statecraft” [3, p. 105]. However, over
 5 HEROES AND MASCULINITY 73

the course of the novel, we see this idealistic young man gradually come to
accept his father’s advice about training in guerrilla fighting. His raids with
the Fremen help build him up to be a legendary leader who supposedly
orders battle drums to be made from the skins of his enemies. Paul’s shift
to becoming an inspirational guerrilla warrior signals his development into
a leader who accepts the view that to rule means to seize power and instill
fear when necessary. As discussed in Chap. 4, Paul also gradually loses
touch with his emotions and discards his father’s value of human life.
Paul’s insistence on cultivating a religious bravura to take hold of and
maintain power presents a cautionary message about the role of messianic
figures. Paul follows both of his parents’ advice in capitalizing on the peo-
ple’s belief that he is their Mahdi, their Lisan al-Gaib. He relies on his
prescient visions and special training to help deliberately style himself as
their long-awaited messiah. Yet eventually even Jessica becomes fearful of
Paul’s indoctrination of the Fremen to unite the forces under himself as a
religious leader and cautions him of the danger in this path. Coming from
the perspective of not only his mother, but a Bene Gesserit who is very
aware of the power of religious indoctrination, this warning should hold
significant weight. However, Paul brushes aside her concern by noting
that she taught him this way of operating. It is what he sees as the pathway
to leadership on Arrakis and he will not be dissuaded. Close to his final
victory over his enemies, Paul realizes “how Stilgar had been transformed
from the Fremen naib to a creature of the Lisan al-Gaib, a receptacle for
awe and obedience. It was a lessening of the man” [3, p. 469]. A signifi-
cant consequence of Paul’s religious indoctrination has been that the
Fremen have become worshippers rather than friends, beholden to the
messianic myth rather than seeing and reasoning clearly. He has lessened
their status as individuals and as a people in the name of his quest to
reclaim power.
There is also a warning message in the ecologist Liet-Kynes seeming to
regret his part in enabling Paul to become a hero figure among the
Fremen. As a John the Baptist figure, Liet-Kynes plays a key role in paving
the way for Paul’s acceptance among the Fremen. He carefully evaluates
Paul and is swayed by his personality and pledge of loyalty, as well as vari-
ous signs that Paul is the one foretold in the messianic legends. Yet as he
is left for dead in the desert after helping Paul and Jessica escape the
Harkonnen, Kynes hallucinates his father saying: “No more terrible disas-
ter could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero”
[3, p. 276]. Liet-Kynes then reflects on how he has already put out a
74 K. KENNEDY

command for the Fremen to find and protect Paul, and this may have set
in motion a completely different potential than the one he and his father
had been working toward. His dying thoughts offer a poignant warning to
the reader that there is danger brewing with Paul, though he is but a boy.
“Appendix I: The Ecology of Dune”, too, ends on an ominous note: “The
course had been set by this time, the Ecological-Fremen were aimed along
their way. Liet-Kynes had only to watch and nudge and spy upon the
Harkonnens … until the day his planet was afflicted by a Hero” [3,
p. 500]. The explicit use of the term Hero (with a capital H) shows that
Herbert as an author is fully aware of Paul being set up as the hero arche-
type and at the same time is critical of this concept. The words “terrible
disaster” and “afflicted” clearly indicate some kind of threat to the usual
order. Here, Paul is treated like a thing that will negatively impact the
Fremen and the ecological project, rather than a person who will hero-
ically save them.

Complex Heroes
The archetypal hero figure in Dune is not what he at first seems, and the
multi-faceted nature of his character helped pave the way for more com-
plex heroes in science fiction. In Paul, Herbert offers a twist on the hero
we expect to find. He is bred and trained to be a duke’s heir, but also a
male Bene Gesserit with special prescient powers. He embodies traditional
characteristics of masculinity such as being courageous and a strong
fighter, but also embraces the Bene Gesserit Way and the feminine side of
the psyche. He has various male tutors and companions, yet takes the
hero’s journey with his mother at his side. Importantly, though, despite all
of his special abilities, he is a hero who is not in full control of them and
ultimately fails to prevent the destructive jihad he foresees. Paul shows
that the good guy can get it wrong [8, p. 71]. Emerging in the postwar
period of the U.S., he reflects a shattering of hope in righteous and ideal
heroes who save the innocent [8, p. 73]. Complex heroes would become
more prominent in science fiction as well as fantasy in the following
decades. Authors placed more uncertainty and ambivalence in their heroes,
showed behavior that was not always heroic, and demonstrated the some-
times negative consequences of their intervention in the world [8, p. 79].
This increase in sophistication has enabled heroes to continue to appeal to
modern audiences, and the hunger for these kinds of characters shows no
sign of diminishing.
 5 HEROES AND MASCULINITY 75

Another significant feature of Dune is the emphasis on Paul spending so

much time thinking and processing as opposed to using physical abilities
or technologies. This reflects part of the shift toward ‘soft’ science fiction
happening in the genre during the mid-twentieth century, as discussed in
Chap. 4. Herbert expanded on the concept of the cerebral superhero that
authors such as A.E. Van Vogt were writing about and proved that mental
and psychic strength could be just as interesting as physical strength [13,
pp. 171–172]. Herbert also innovated on the origins of these strengths,
making characters work for their superhuman abilities rather than be given
them [8, p. 67].
Dune’s critique of heroes and messianic leaders remains relevant today.
Communication channels may change, manipulation tactics may become
murkier, but people seeking power continue to appear. The fact that we
may miss the warning signs, as many do with Paul, indicates how easy it is
to fall for the charisma of these figures. If we look at the Fremen, we may
see some of ourselves—wanting someone to make life easier for us but
unaware of the high price we will pay. Dune suggests there are no easy
answers to the problem of charismatic leaders and heroes. They will spring
up in fertile soil and try to manipulate and control those around them.
Even if their intentions are noble, they will become corrupt as they gain
more power.
Though Paul is by no means a feminine figure, his incorporation of
feminine elements through his Bene Gesserit training and his genes points
to the positive potential of a less restrictive view of masculinity. Notions of
masculinity in Western societies have undergone some shifts since the mid-­
twentieth century, but many restrictive norms continue to exist. In Dune,
Paul is able to become more powerful than other highly skilled characters
because he has been birthed by a Bene Gesserit woman as part of a special
breeding program, trained by her in mind–body control and skills such as
the Voice, and guided by her as he matures from boy to man. His rejection
of the Bene Gesserit’s control is not a rejection of women, nor of their
training—he does not appear to be threatened by his Bene Gesserit influ-
ence. His characterization thus opens rather than closes the possibility that
a broader view of masculinity is preferable.
76 K. KENNEDY

References
1. Rogers, Brett M. “‘Now Harkonnen Shall Kill Harkonnen’: Aeschylus,
Dynastic Violence, and Twofold Tragedies in Frank Herbert’s Dune.” Brill’s
Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus, edited by Rebecca Futo Kennedy,
Brill, 2018, pp. 553–581.
2. Palumbo, Donald E. A Dune Companion: Characters, Places and Terms in
Frank Herbert’s Original Six Novels. McFarland, 2018.
3. Herbert, Frank. Dune. 1965. Berkley, 1984.
4. Manlove, C.N. “Frank Herbert, Dune (1965).” Science Fiction: Ten
Explorations. Macmillan Press, 1986, pp. 79–99.
5. Roberts, Adam. “Case Study: Frank Herbert, Dune (1965).” Science Fiction.
Routledge, 2000, pp. 36–46.
6. Hourihan, Margery. Deconstructing the Hero: Literary Theory and Children’s
Literature. Routledge, 1997.
7. O’Reilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar, 1981.
8. Prieto-Pablos, Juan A. “The Ambivalent Hero of Contemporary Fantasy and
Science Fiction.” Extrapolation, vol. 32, no. 1, 1991, pp. 64–80.
9. Armstrong, Karen. Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s
World. Macmillan, 1988.
10. Blanch, Lesley. The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the
Caucasus. John Murray, 1960.
11. Zürcher, Erik-Jan. “Introduction: The Ottoman Jihad, the German Jihad
and the Sacralization of War.” Jihad and Islam in World War I: Studies on the
Ottoman Jihad on the Centenary of Snouck Hurgronje’s “Holy War Made in
Germany,” edited by Erik-Jan Zürcher, Leiden University Press, 2016,
pp. 13–27.
12. Klein, Gérard, D. Suvin, and Leila Lecorps. “Discontent in American Science
Fiction.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, 1977, pp. 3–13.
13. Ashley, Mike. Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines
from 1950 to 1970. Liverpool University Press, 2005.
 CHAPTER 6

Women’s Influence and Control

Abstract This chapter examines the depiction of women in Dune and

the amount of agency or control they have. It focuses on three key ave-
nues of agency—religious, embodied, and political—as the most promi-
nently featured for female characters operating in a feudal, male-dominated
universe. The chapter looks at how the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood is mod-
eled after the Catholic Church and uses religion as a tool, and how the
Fremen grant religious authority to women. It discusses Bene Gesserit
women’s high level of bodily control, seen through their many abilities
like the Voice, and their avenues of political control as they seek to shape
the future. It also discusses the role of Jessica as a strong mother figure
alongside Paul.

Keywords Science fiction • Frank Herbert • Women • Feminism •

Religion • Female body

The men in Dune have power and control, but so do the women. Theirs
is just often through different channels. Women rely on ways they have
often used to be influential in male-dominated cultures. They use religion
as a means of claiming wisdom and authority. They embrace their role in
child-bearing and mothering. They insert themselves into the levels of

77
78 K. KENNEDY

official hierarchies so they are well-positioned to dispense advice and make

changes favorable to themselves and other women. Everything is a poten-
tial political opportunity to be leveraged toward their ultimate goals.
Although the women of Dune may be situated in traditional roles as moth-
ers, partners, and advisors, they are playing the long game. In this chapter,
we explore features of women’s agency, defined as their ability to choose
what they do, accomplish tasks, and actively influence the outcomes of
events. Agency is about having control. We look at three key avenues of
agency for women: religious, embodied, and political. We also examine
the complexity of the representation of women and see how the use of
traditional roles does not have to limit the depiction of women as capable
and authoritative figures.

Religious Agency
An important aspect of female authority and power in Dune revolves
around religion. While men have dominated mainstream religions
throughout recorded history, there have been successful attempts by
women to gain some measure of status through religion. For instance,
women in Catholicism historically led communities of religious followers
and presided over convents, though the Church increasingly restricted
women’s movements and pressed for more oversight by male leaders.
Even while men have justified their religious superiority by pointing to
male personifications of deities, male prophets, and male-dominated holy
texts, women have continued to clamor for positions of religious authority
that acknowledge their right to participate meaningfully in religion, with
or without male approval.
Thus, it seems logical that Herbert models the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood
in a religious fashion, considering that women gathering together so
deliberately for other reasons might not fit within his feudal universe of
emperors and male-controlled guilds. Herbert also infuses his book with
the Islamic-based religious beliefs of the Fremen, discussed in Chap. 2,
and places women at the top of this religious hierarchy. In fact, virtually no
man asserts any religious claim to authority until the Fremen recognize
Paul as their messiah, and then he is only able to lead because the Bene
Gesserit planted a messianic myth among the Fremen centuries earlier.
Excluding Paul’s special case, then, religion is the dominion of women.
The Bene Gesserit use it to hide their imperialist political project, Jessica
self-consciously performs its customs to secure safety in a foreign land, and
 6 WOMEN’S INFLUENCE AND CONTROL 79

Chani ritualistically follows it to carry on her tribe’s communal traditions.

Herbert gives these female characters religion as a means to assert author-
ity in a socially acceptable manner, giving them an avenue to assume
agency and power in a feudal society.
The entire set-up of the Sisterhood is a twist on what women could
traditionally achieve in a feudal society. Herbert provides women with
their own organization which is free to operate as it wishes and pursue
political projects without male oversight. Rather than openly announce
their aspirations for power, the Bene Gesserit cloak themselves in religion
as a convenient method of secrecy. It remains doubtful whether or not the
Sisterhood even constitutes a religious organization, for outsiders and we
as readers learn little of what beliefs and teachings actually exist at its
schools. “Appendix II: The Religion of Dune” describes the sisters as
members “who privately denied they were a religious order, but who oper-
ated behind an almost impenetrable screen of ritual mysticism, and whose
training, whose symbolism, organization, and internal teaching methods
were almost wholly religious” [1, pp. 500–501]. The Bene Gesserit seem
to have latched onto religious mysticism because it enables them to appear
non-­threatening to outsiders and efficiently train women. According to
the small pieces of information given on their schools, they compare with
Catholic convents where women are set apart from men, donning dark
habits and learning to submit themselves to their studies [2, p. 15]. Unlike
convents, though, the schools and indeed the whole organization are
completely populated and managed by women. No male overseers make
restrictions or hand down orders; the Bene Gesserit dictate their own
agenda to their members.
What constitutes the Sisterhood’s mission is not the worship of a deity
but the creation of their own god-like figure. The Bene Gesserit are
devoted to conducting their breeding program and an ambiguous goal of
improving humankind. Their motto—“I am Bene Gesserit: I exist only to
serve”—correctly describes the loyalty demanded of members, but it
obscures the fact that members are essentially serving a secret political
cause rather than a religious movement [1, p. 23]. They hope to produce
a male Bene Gesserit, or Kwisatz Haderach, who can gain access to both
feminine and masculine memories and bridge space and time through pre-
scient visions. It can be inferred that the Sisterhood plans to train this man
to become as loyal as any female member and leverage his abilities for their
own ends. They clearly grant themselves a great deal of authority by aspir-
ing to better humanity through their genetic maneuvers; they aim to act
80 K. KENNEDY

like a god rather than worship one. The Bene Gesserit bide their time for
centuries under the guise of religion, all the while covertly preparing for
the day when they can assert more overt power through their genetic
superhuman.
Through their missionary work, the Bene Gesserit enable members
such as Jessica to use religion as a tool to secure safety and gain authority.
We see her easily slip into an authoritative religious position granted by the
Missionaria Protectiva’s work when she faces her first dangerous encoun-
ter with the Fremen housekeeper, the Shadout Mapes, on Dune. After
encountering Stilgar’s tribe, she inspires the Fremen to chant along with
her. She clearly knows the sayings and patterns of the Missionaria Protectiva
well enough to adapt them to any situation and is well-aware of her
manipulation [2, p. 155]. When Stilgar honors her with the title given to
holy women, Sayyadina, she muses, “If only he knew the tricks we use! She
must’ve been good, that Bene Gesserit of the Missionaria Protectiva. These
Fremen are beautifully prepared to believe in us” [1, p. 284].
What solidifies Jessica and Paul’s acceptance into the Fremen tribe is
her undertaking of the dangerous Water of Life ceremony which proves
that she is capable of taking on the highest religious position as a Reverend
Mother. In spite of their religion’s similarity with Islam, which in most
cases denies women positions of leadership, the Fremen wholeheartedly
accept women as strong, capable religious leaders. It is therefore testament
to Jessica’s strong religious performance that, as an outsider, she is allowed
the chance to become such an integral member of the Fremen’s religion.
Like an abbess of a convent, Jessica utilizes her position to gain authority
and respect in her new domain. She is consulted as an advisor in major
decisions and maintains a network of Sayyadina spies to provide her with
information. But perhaps the greatest example of her religious power
comes when she prevents the Fremen, including Paul’s loyal Fedaykin
death commandos, from pronouncing her son dead and taking his water
in the death ritual after he goes into a coma upon secretly ingesting the
poisonous Water of Life.
Chani also showcases the religious authority granted to women among
the Fremen. Before Jessica undergoes the ritual, Chani is consecrated as a
Sayyadina in the event that Jessica fails. This situation helps clarify the dif-
ference in religious positions: the Sayyadina are religious women who hold
authority and preside over certain tribal rituals but have not taken the
Water of Life. Thus, Sayyadina Chani guides Jessica through the danger-
ous ceremony and retains a religious position herself even after Jessica
 6 WOMEN’S INFLUENCE AND CONTROL 81

succeeds. Stilgar demonstrates his awe for the religious Fremen women
when he tells Jessica, “‘the Sayyadina, when they are not the formal lead-
ers, hold a special place of honor. They teach. They maintain the strength
of God here.’ He touched his breast” [1, p. 293]. Chani also presides over
another ritual, that of Paul’s worm-riding test, indicating that women
maintain a role in important affairs even if they are not themselves partici-
pating in them. Chani’s religious authority gives her character more
dimension than if she had solely been Paul’s concubine. Both Chani and
Jessica serve as examples of women in Dune finding authority through a
religious avenue.

Embodied Agency
Embodied agency is another significant feature of the representation of
women in Dune. The women of the Bene Gesserit actually have a level of
bodily control unparalleled by any man. Inwardly, they can control things
such as pregnancy and can neutralize poisons in their body. Outwardly,
they can use the Voice to control people and use combat skills to take out
their enemies. Fremen women, too, have fierce fighting skills, which are
enhanced once they receive additional combat training from Jessica and
Paul. Although many characters in the book seem to be largely unaware of
women’s skills, we as readers can piece together the full picture of the
embodied agency that Herbert gives them.
Historically, women were largely responsible for issues regarding preg-
nancy and birth, enlisting the help of midwives for advice and labor assis-
tance. But with the introduction of the male-dominated medical
establishment and the increasing use of medical technology, many women
found their knowledge and experience dismissed. Writing in the 1960s,
when reproductive technology was still in its infancy, Herbert envisions a
universe where women are in complete control. But the Bene Gesserit’s
control over reproduction is so understated that many readers overlook it
and its significance. It is only through subtle hints that we can speculate
that Bene Gesserit women can choose both when to become pregnant and
what sex of child to conceive [2, p. 76]. This is first implied when Reverend
Mother Mohiam considers Jessica’s disobedience: “If only she’d borne us a
girl as she was ordered to do!” [1, p. 6]. Later, during her second pregnancy,
Jessica thinks to herself that her unborn daughter was “conceived out of
instinct and not out of obedience” [1, p. 190]. This shows that even though
neither of her children is born according to the Sisterhood’s orders, she
82 K. KENNEDY

had the ability to exert control over her pregnancies. The ability is further
implied when Princess Irulan discloses that her mother only bore daugh-
ters to the Emperor due to orders from her Sister Superiors, and when
Lady Margot Fenring plans to become pregnant via Feyd-Rautha
Harkonnen to secure his bloodline for the Sisterhood. The Bene Gesserit
enable women to take responsibility for their own bodies, including repro-
ductive capabilities, with no outside interference.
One critical perspective on the Bene Gesserit is that they are overly
focused on reproduction and reinforce a degrading view of women as
‘breeders’ only useful for producing offspring. Certainly, reproductive
control is portrayed as an essential part of their overall plan for humanity,
and they embrace women’s ability to create new life. Bene Gesserit women
are subject to the demands of the Sisterhood, and their choices are largely
shaped by the necessities of the genetic breeding program. For them, the
good of the group outweighs individual desires. This tension would be
mirrored in the real-life women’s movement, as women formed collectives
and faced the notion of sacrificing their personal preferences to make
political statements and advance the cause of women’s rights [2, p. 82].
However, women are not shown as being resentful of their participation
in the long-term Bene Gesserit plan. They seem to have a solid sense of
solidarity and loyalty to the organization. Furthermore, women still decide
when to conceive and, ultimately, like Jessica, can disobey orders and
choose whichever sex of child they want. The Bene Gesserit could be criti-
cized if they only saw women’s worth in reproduction regulated by men’s
technology and men’s desires. But they are shown using reproductive
power to control lineage and further their own larger agenda for human-
ity, often without men even being aware of it. Women are also shown
using abilities in several areas unrelated to reproduction, as discussed below.
The Bene Gesserit’s skills in using the Voice and engaging in unarmed
combat are more pronounced aspects of their embodied agency. These
reverse the stereotype linking men with strength and command, and
women with weakness and submission (see Fig. 6.1). Through the Voice,
women can control others with nothing more than their speech. For
example, as mentioned in Chap. 4, when Thufir Hawat, one of Duke
Leto’s closest advisors, accuses Jessica of being the traitor in the Atreides’
household, she uses the Voice to shock him and show how much latent
power she has. Hawat’s thoughts reveal his awe at her skill: “To do what
she had done spoke of […] a depth of control he had not dreamed possi-
ble” [1, p. 156]. The Voice removes the element of choice from those
 6 WOMEN’S INFLUENCE AND CONTROL 83

Fig. 6.1 A Bene Gesserit woman using the Voice. Reproduced with permission
from illustrator Arthur Whelan

commanded. All human agency in this encounter is placed with the one
using the Voice. Jessica voluntarily divulges the technique of the Voice to
Paul; otherwise, only Bene Gesserit women hold the power to command
people in such a way.
If there is no alternative but to fight for survival, the Bene Gesserit are
also fully trained in hand-to-hand combat, what the Fremen call the weird-
ing ability of battle. The extent of Jessica’s combat prowess becomes clear
in her encounter with the Fremen [2, p. 52]. After she realizes the military
party intends to kill her and Paul for their water, her “muscles overrode all
fatigue, flowed into maximum readiness without external betrayal” [1,
p. 270]. Her faultless preparation in the face of danger is contrasted with
Paul’s hesitance; he is “less conditioned to emergency response than his
mother” and must force himself to fall into “the arrested whipsnap of
muscles that can slash in any direction” [1, p. 270]. Stilgar is caught off-­
guard by her skills: “a slash of her arm, a whirling of mingled robes, and
84 K. KENNEDY

she was against the rocks with the man helpless in front of her” [1, p. 281].
Besting the strongest man in the tribe even while unarmed convinces the
Fremen of Jessica’s value, and Stilgar openly states his admiration at her
superior fighting ability and that he covets it for his people. For a woman’s
fighting skills to be so admired by the fierce warrior culture of the Fremen
speaks volumes.
The Fremen offer another example of women exerting agency through
combat. Fremen women and children have reputations off-world as being
violent and dangerous like their men. We see young Chani traveling with
Stilgar’s military party, aiming a projectile weapon at Paul and clearly pre-
pared for violence. Her initial disdain later gives way to affection, but in
this first encounter Herbert shows that Fremen women are indeed strong
and fierce from childhood. Even after Chani becomes Paul’s concubine
and respects his authority in certain matters, she still acts according to her
own will. Over Paul’s protests, Chani defends her decision to slay one of
his challengers without consulting him. She considers herself a capable
fighter and one who knows what is best for Paul, despite his prideful belief
that only he should combat his challengers. Paul’s young sister, Alia, also
behaves in the fierce Fremen way. She assumes leadership of an attack
group of Fremen women, children, and old men that almost overwhelms
the Emperor’s Sardaukar forces. Alia thus asserts an extraordinary level of
combat agency for both a female and a child, and she shows no fear when
in the captivity of the Emperor and Baron Harkonnen. In fact, she pro-
ceeds to kill the Baron with a gom jabbar, taking this act of revenge for
herself and precluding Paul from it. Though the Fremen still consist of a
society with male sietch leaders, their culture has adapted to desert condi-
tions and oppression by cultivating battle-readiness among all members,
whether man, woman, or child.

Political Agency
Although the political system in Dune is depicted as feudal, with men
holding the official positions of power as emperors, barons, and dukes,
women are still shown playing politics behind the scenes, which they have
done in many civilizations. Women have historically made use of the
resources at their disposal to become valuable to those in seats of power.
They have often had to assert authority in covert ways to avoid being con-
sidered a threat to the patriarchal establishment. They have also played
significant roles in organizing political movements and revolutions, despite
 6 WOMEN’S INFLUENCE AND CONTROL 85

being overlooked by historians. Even though they have rarely ruled in

their own right and continue to lack leadership parity with men, this does
not mean women lack political motivation, influence, and power. In Dune,
the Bene Gesserit are the ones who most illustrate this concept. Appearing
to believe that power is a corruptive force best handled at a distance, they
find alternative avenues of political control as they seek to maneuver peo-
ple and shape the future. Jessica also grasps a significant amount of politi-
cal control when she acts like a regent for her son.
Herbert suggests that the Sisterhood is one of the major players in the
Dune universe, but he does not explain how it came to acquire such status,
especially being the only female group. He does, however, give some indi-
cations of how members use their status to gain political influence. The
Bene Gesserit intentionally make women available as partners to high-­
ranking officials in order to infiltrate the households of powerful figures
[2, p. 154]. Presumably, part of their strategy is to present women as well-­
educated and useful for noble families. Jessica herself wonders whether her
business training might have played a role in Duke Leto’s interest in her.
Bene Gesserit women present a contrast with Mentats, who also appear to
serve at the pleasure of noble households but lack the type of intimate
relationship that allows for different forms of persuasion and influence.
The Bene Gesserit also take advantage of the tradition of arranged mar-
riages to secure bloodlines and the line of succession while maintaining
secrecy around their ability to control reproduction. Duke Leto does not
realize that Jessica is selected for him because of his Atreides genes, nor
does he know that she is only supposed to bear daughters as part of a long-­
term breeding program. He is one of presumably many heads of noble
families whose Bene Gesserit partners have certain reproductive orders. It
is implied that the Bene Gesserit’s goal is to produce a superhuman not
merely for the improvement of the human race, but for the potential to
place him on the imperial throne. Their endgame is politically motivated.
What hints at the Bene Gesserit’s desired political result is their severe
restriction on the Emperor’s progeny. The Sisterhood essentially traps the
Emperor by instructing his late Bene Gesserit wife, Anirul, to bear only
daughters. Their refusal to grant him a male heir aligns with their design
to place their future Kwisatz Haderach on the throne [3, p. 315].
Ultimately, the Bene Gesserit’s breeding program is a deeply political
project.
Furthermore, by the time of Dune’s events, the Bene Gesserit have
become invaluable by providing the Emperor with his own personal
86 K. KENNEDY

Truthsayer, a Bene Gesserit who can detect whether people believe what
they are saying or not. Reverend Mother Mohiam is feared by anyone
seeking to deceive the Emperor. This justifies a major plot point in which
Jessica and Paul are able to escape because the Baron does not order them
to be outright killed [2, p. 122]. He “fears the questioning of a Truthsayer”
and wants “no blood” on his hands [1, p. 165]. During the tense confron-
tation at the end of the book involving the Baron and Atreides family, it
also becomes clear that Reverend Mother Mohiam is not merely a lie-­
detecting instrument, but actually the Emperor’s key advisor. She takes up
a position behind his throne, resting her hand on it in a signal that she
holds the real power as she looms over him. When Paul’s attacking forces
invade the room, the Emperor retreats to a sealed chamber and turns to
Reverend Mother Mohiam in desperation. It is she who issues the com-
mand to bring forth their weapon of last resort, Count Hasimir Fenring.
She is also the one to persuade the Emperor to allow his daughter, Princess
Irulan, to marry Paul, and remind him of the Bene Gesserit agreement
with him to place one of their members on the throne. Thus, while the
Emperor holds the official position of power and the authority to accede
to Paul’s demands, Reverend Mother Mohiam holds a notable amount of
political power and influence herself.
As a Bene Gesserit, Jessica is understandably portrayed as a politically
savvy woman as well. So it follows that when she and Paul are forced into
exile after the Harkonnen attack, she takes up a position akin to a regent,
someone who will advise and guide Paul toward reclaiming his dukedom
one day. As the concubine of Duke Leto, she might be viewed as only
receiving status based on her association with a high-ranking male.
However, the Duke dies a third of the way into the book. Jessica takes the
opportunity to secure a foothold among the Fremen as a good regent
would secure a partnership with an influential ally for future stability. She
initiates a pact with Stilgar to teach his tribe the weirding way of battle in
exchange for safe haven. She advises Paul to accept Jamis’ water after his
death so that the tribe will not be offended. Then she undertakes the dan-
gerous ceremony to become a Reverend Mother. Since the Fremen view
their loyalty to Jessica and Paul not as submission but as obedience to their
religious prophecy, this enables Jessica to safely pave the way for Paul to
gain both religious and political legitimacy because he must arrive as the
offspring of a Bene Gesserit to truly be the Fremen’s long-awaited savior.
Every step of the way, Jessica displays her skills in political strategy and
diplomacy.
 6 WOMEN’S INFLUENCE AND CONTROL 87

The Hero’s Debt

The various religious, embodied, and political agencies asserted by women
can be viewed as part of a subversive theme complementing Herbert’s
critique of the masculine hero ideal, discussed in Chap. 5. Rather than
position Paul as a self-made man, Herbert shows how his image and skill-
set have been constructed through an all-female organization’s genetic
control, training regime, and missionary project. It is through becoming a
male Bene Gesserit that Paul secures the prescience and authority needed
to succeed in the hero’s journey. Herbert also places a strong mother fig-
ure at Paul’s side, reminding us that women’s guidance is a significant part
of his development and growth. Even once Paul has emerged as the
Kwisatz Haderach, poised to take the path of religious and political domi-
nance of Dune and the Imperium, Jessica continues to act as the wise
advisor who feels free to rebuke her disciple when he attempts a haughty
air of superiority over her: “‘I see the signs!’ Jessica snapped. ‘My question
was meant to remind you that you should not try to teach me in those
matters in which I instructed you’” [1, p. 479]. Notably, Herbert refrains
from ending his epic adventure story with a grand speech or coronation of
Paul as the new emperor. Rather, he shows Paul intently conversing with
Jessica and Chani, asking them to negotiate with the Emperor for him and
assuring them that their desires will be met. It is Jessica’s speech which
concludes Dune, with her declaration that she and Chani will be so revered
as concubines that history will honor them as wives without them needing
such formal status. Truly this ending points to the fact that the women of
Dune have an influential role in the story and multiple forms of agency.

Feminist Speculation
The representation of women in Dune was part of a shift in science fiction
toward more three-dimensional characterization for female characters as
well as male ones. Unlike Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land
(1961)—another bestseller of the 1960s which features a male messianic
figure—Dune devoted substantial textual space and authority to its
women. It demonstrated that women did not necessarily need to be shown
in radically altered roles for an author to give them complex characteriza-
tion and multiple pathways to agency and control over their lives. Whereas
other science fiction outsourced reproduction to male scientists or techno-
logical gadgetry or avoided it as a topic altogether, Dune kept it as an
88 K. KENNEDY

important part of women’s experience. It also showed that a science fic-

tion story could be successful with a leading mother figure at the side of
the hero. In speculating about the future for women, it offered a seem-
ingly simple concept: what if women were in control of their bodies and
used religious and political influence to their advantage while still operat-
ing in a male-dominated society. In this way, Dune is a book that deals
with feminist themes and helped shape the genre ahead of the flourishing
of feminist science fiction in the 1970s when the second-wave women’s
movement reached its height.
In spite of social and cultural upheavals that have opened new doors for
many women, gender norms, power dynamics, and societal expectations
continue to play a large part in constraining women’s bodies and lives.
The expressions of women’s agency in Dune are sometimes subtle, but
perhaps they offer us a more realistic view of future progress than other
science fiction stories. The likelihood is that changes in women’s roles,
levels of control, and influence in the real world will take place in small
increments, through traditional pathways, rather than suddenly being
overturned. There are more women taking up senior political positions,
but they remain a small minority. There have been advances in reproduc-
tive technology, but for the foreseeable future many women will continue
to bear children. There have been only limited reforms in some religions
enabling women to access previously off-limits roles. Dune prompts us to
consider how to recognize women’s influence, leadership, and authority
within the constraints of an unequal society.

References
1. Herbert, Frank. Dune. 1965. Berkley, 1984.
2. Kennedy, Kara. Women’s Agency in the Dune Universe: Tracing Women’s
Liberation through Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
3. DiTommaso, Lorenzo. “History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert’s
‘Dune.’” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 19, no. 3, 1992, pp. 311–325.
 CHAPTER 7

A Complex World

Abstract This concluding chapter provides an overview of other interest-

ing avenues of interpretation of Dune, some of which have not yet been
well-explored in the scholarship. Perspectives that have received some
attention include those from philosophy, classical studies, and comparative
literature, while emerging areas of study include world-building, linguis-
tics, translation studies, postcolonialism, and posthumanism. The chapter
concludes by discussing Dune’s ambiguity and openness to multiple inter-
pretations, which make it ripe for new critical perspectives and debates.

Keywords Science fiction • Dune • Frank Herbert • World-building

Dune is undoubtedly a complex book. Published in the 1960s, it has

proved its continuing relevance with classic themes and considerable depth
underlying the main storyline of a young hero seeking to reclaim his title.
This study has examined several key features and approaches that elevate it
to a literary masterpiece, but there are many more. This final chapter
touches on other interesting avenues of interpretation, only some of which
have been explored in the scholarship.

89
90 K. KENNEDY

World-building is an emerging area of study well-suited to Dune and

the fictional world it and its sequels have created. World-building theory
looks at characteristics of imagined worlds, particularly those in science
fiction and fantasy. It examines how authors create immersive worlds that
readers want to explore, how they give the illusion that a fantastical place
could really exist. Considered by many to represent the pinnacle of world-­
building in science fiction, Dune has a memorable desert planet with giant
sandworms but also much more than that. Herbert creates a clash of cul-
tures through the depiction of the Atreides family and the Fremen, and he
uses names as a key part of his strategy. Thus, Jessica and Paul Atreides
have names associated with Western culture, mythology, and Christianity,
and the Fremen use names derived from Arabic and Islam [1]. The inven-
tion of the substance of spice is another tool of world-building. By center-
ing the universe on this one precious resource, found only in a desert
environment closely resembling that of the Middle East, Herbert makes
crucial connections with real-world analogies in the spice trade and oil
industry and focuses our attention on ecological disruptions at an indi-
vidual and societal level [2]. Drawing on his understanding of social sci-
ences such as psychology, linguistics, and sociology, he develops a world
focused more on humans than technology [3]. All of these elements com-
bine to make the world seem familiar yet new and engage our attention in
the first and subsequent readings.
Materials outside of the main storyline also can be studied for the con-
tribution they make to the development of the world. Herbert’s use of
epigraphs that are excerpts from the fictional writings of Princess Irulan
provides a different feel to the book than if he had merely included the
main story. Her first epigraph opens Dune in the epic tradition by identify-
ing the hero, the time of the story’s events, and the location [4, p. 136].
Irulan thus crafts an image of Paul as a mythic, legendary figure from the
beginning. She uses the name Muad’Dib, which he will not take on for
many chapters. We have the sense that everything has already happened.
Through the epigraphs, Herbert foreshadows the events of the chapter
and alters readers’ perspectives on them. We learn about people before we
see them, just as Paul does with his visions. We gain insights into palace life
before meeting the Emperor and his court at the end of the book. Through
the epigraphs, Irulan’s knowledge plays against our ignorance until we
finish each chapter [5, p. 89]. There are also four appendices that provide
additional context and historical explanations for character and group
behaviors: The Ecology of Dune, The Religion of Dune, Report on Bene
 7 A COMPLEX WORLD 91

Gesserit Motives and Purposes, and The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected

Excerpts of the Noble Houses). Following them is a glossary that acknowl-
edges there are many unfamiliar terms in the book and proposes to help
increase understanding by providing short definitions. Finally, there are
cartographic notes and a map that help us visualize what the author had in
mind for his world. These extra features assist with the world-building by
giving us the sense that the world extends beyond the time and events
described within, and that Dune could be a real planet.
The frequent sprinkling of words from languages other than English
offers fruitful opportunities for linguistic analysis. As the bestselling sci-
ence fiction novel, Dune has been translated into many non-English lan-
guages and offers a worthwhile case for translation studies. Translators are
presented with numerous challenges: they must determine how to trans-
late invented terms such as crysknife or baliset—an issue with many trans-
lations of science fiction—but they must also look at Herbert’s complex
use of loanwords, or words that already are taken directly from other lan-
guages such as Arabic. Loanwords present a complication in that they do
not always line up exactly with their real-life meaning, since Herbert uses
them to create a certain context and color for his imagined world [6,
p. 183]. For example, the Arabic names Ikhwan (fraternity) and Bedouin
(Arabic-speaking nomadic peoples of Middle Eastern deserts) are turned
into the loanwords ‘Ichwan Bedwine,’ defined in Dune as the brother-
hood of all Fremen. A French translation study has found differences in
spelling, capitalization, and use of hyphens when Arabic loanwords in
Dune have been translated [6, p. 193]. El-Sayal becomes El sayal, and
baklawa becomes baklava, for instance. This signals the flexibility and cre-
ativity that translators employ to try to keep the foreign feel of Arabic
while adapting some of the words to suit readers of non-English languages.
Looking at Dune through a postcolonial lens raises questions about the
characterization of the Fremen and their position as a colonized and mar-
ginalized people on Arrakis. The Fremen are essential to the storyline and
the larger ecological messages underpinning the book. They are often
overlooked in favor of a focus on Paul or dismissed as victims of religious
manipulation. Yet they are constructed with a rich base from a variety of
real-world cultures and offer more than a simple black-and-white case of
oppressed peoples. Herbert is not faultless in his depiction, but his rela-
tionships with friends from the Native American Quileute community in
Washington had a noticeable impact on his understanding and sympathy
toward the plight of marginalized groups [7]. Herbert does more than
92 K. KENNEDY

copy the Lawrence of Arabia story in his treatment of the locals [8]. The
Fremen merit a more comprehensive study that covers the characteriza-
tion of their past, their struggles, their triumphs, and their approach to
their desert habitat.
For those who enjoy exploring the meaning of imagery and symbols in
literature, Dune contains a wealth of potential. Sand is probably the most
obvious image. Sand dunes are echoed in the book’s title and appear on
most book covers. Key events revolve around this prominent feature of the
desert environment, including characters having to walk on the sand with-
out attracting sandworms, and Paul coming to greater awareness while
staying in the stilltent buried in the sand with his mother on their flight
into the desert. Sand is traditionally linked with the passage of time, as in
hourglasses, and the sense of an uncountable vastness. In the book, it is
bound up with the images of the sandworm and spice. The sandworm can
symbolize divine energy and as the ‘maker’ suggests eternity [9, p. 132].
Spice also has connections with transcendence and the eternal, as well as
prophecy and history due to its role in unlocking prescient powers [9,
p. 132]. Water is another important image. The arid desert environment
emphasizes the importance of this life-sustaining substance, as does the
characterization of the Fremen. Their culture is centered on water: the
Water of Life ceremony illustrates their special relationship with spice-­
infused liquid, their courtship rituals involve water rings, and spitting or
shedding tears for the dead marks the ultimate gift of the body’s moisture.
Water is also associated with the flow of time as well as spiritual dimensions
[9, p. 131]. Other types of imagery include religious images, archetypal
images, fractal images, Gothic symbols, and the blue eyes of those addicted
to spice.
A psychological reading of Dune might look at Freudian or Jungian
themes and imagery. There are several examples of Paul being ‘birthed’
into a new environment. For instance, he goes from the wet world of
Caladan to the desert world of Dune [10, p. 18]. He also experiences a
birth upon emerging from the stilltent with a fuller sense of his identity.
This is when he discovers that the Baron is his maternal grandfather, which
is a situation ripe for Freudian analysis. Oedipal conflict can be seen in
Paul’s relationship with his father and mother, with potential incest taboos,
unconscious guilt, and fear of the feminine shaping the young hero’s life
[11, p. 151]. There are also other examples of familial conflict: Feyd-­
Rautha tries to poison his uncle, the Baron, Irulan suspects that her father
has tried to murder her and her mother and sisters, and Alia succeeds in
 7 A COMPLEX WORLD 93

killing the Baron just as he is attempting to kill her [11, p. 152]. Reverend
Mother Mohiam’s mysterious black box of pain may be viewed as an image
of castration anxiety, especially since she admits that she wanted Paul to
fail and subjected him to a higher level than anyone else had withstood
[11, p. 154]. Phallic imagery includes sandworms and Paul’s test of riding
them as a passage to manhood. In terms of Jungian concepts, there is a
parallel between the collective unconscious and the Bene Gesserit’s ances-
tral memory. There are also Jungian archetypes and character develop-
ment using concepts of extroversion–introversion, thinking–feeling, and
sensing–intuition [12, p. 11]. The way the Voice works on the level of
people’s unconscious may also be viewed from a psychological
perspective.
A comparative literary approach takes into consideration other works of
science fiction that are either similar to or juxtaposed with Dune. Some
view Dune as a critical response to Isaac Asimov’s epic Foundation trilogy
(1951–1953), which features a group of psychohistorians who seek to
shape the future through scientific predictions and mathematical calcula-
tions. In this view, Herbert has replaced Hari Seldon and his mathematics
with Paul Muad’Dib and his wild unconscious, and order and civilization
with anarchy and nature [5, p. 79]. Herbert turns the male scientists into
the female Bene Gesserit and exposes the shortcomings of their attempt to
control the future through their breeding program. Both deal with the
theme of the decline of a dying empire and the emergence of a new, vital
population [13, p. 269]. There is a similar move from a place representing
a stagnant civilization to a primitive world, which becomes the launching
point for a new and better civilization [14, p. 151]. While in Foundation
missionaries are sent to create a religion of science, in Dune Bene Gesserit
missionaries are sent to insert new dogma for exploitation by future Bene
Gesserit. Yet both stories present religion as a construct designed to pave
the way for outsiders to gain power [14, p. 151]. They also offer a type of
future prediction or prescience to characters in order to explore how
knowledge of what is ahead affects humanity, for better or worse [14,
p. 152].
Another approach is to compare Dune with classical works and the epic
tradition. Epics in the Western tradition include Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
and John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667), all of which have had significant
and long-lasting impacts on literature. Dune has many of the characteris-
tics associated with epics: it concerns itself with great events, features great
figures, and has military battles like those in heroic poetry [15,
94 K. KENNEDY

pp. 205–206]. It is centered on Paul as a heroic man who has superior

abilities, like Odysseus or Achilles, and whose actions have large-scale con-
sequences that alter history [4, pp. 132–133]. The final showdown
includes ships from throughout the Imperium orbiting the planet, elevat-
ing the confrontation to epic heights. Dune also relies heavily on the con-
ventions around prophets and prophecies to create a strong sense of epic
suspense and destiny [15, p. 206]. Paul represents the realization of the
Bene Gesserit’s plan to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a figure who can
look into the past and the future like Tiresias, the blind prophet from
Greek mythology. Paul’s prescient visions are similar to the godly prophe-
cies in classical epics, but remain subjective and so leave open the possibil-
ity for events to occur differently than how he predicts they will [15,
pp. 210–211]. The many parallels with the epic tradition in the book’s
characters and events provide the kind of depth that helps elevate the
book’s literary status.
A posthumanist study of Dune might look at the different aspects of
human advancement and augmentation and how they relate to the evolu-
tion of humanity. Posthumanism in science fiction can refer to changes
made to the human body, a world not centered on humans, or the conse-
quences of the march toward a future dominated by technoscientific con-
trol [16]. Dune is somewhat unusual in that Herbert specifically sets up a
historical context in which advanced technology has been banned after the
Butlerian Jihad. This results in human enhancement largely coming from
rigorous training or the ingesting of spice, or a combination of both. Most
characters have some level of special training or development, whether
they be Mentats, fighters, doctors, or scientists. We see Paul curious about
the deformation and mutation of Guild navigators before his own trans-
formation into a spice-fueled prescient being. We see Jessica expand her
psyche to include a line of female ancestors, and her unborn daughter
taken along for the ride and also turned into a Reverend Mother. Although
these changes are fantastical, they raise questions about the adaptations or
special abilities humans may take on in the future.
From a philosophical perspective, Dune offers rich material for explora-
tion. Characters’ ability to see into the future raises questions about the
nature of free will and determinism. On the one hand, Paul seems to have
visions of possible futures rather than one predetermined future. This
avoids the paradox of foreknowledge, in which someone can see the future
but cannot change it [17, p. 37]. On the other hand, Paul is unable to
avoid the coming jihad, much as he might try, which suggests that his
 7 A COMPLEX WORLD 95

ability to choose a different future is limited. The book is also open to

questions of ethics. We might consider the ethics of the Kynes’ environ-
mental project, the Bene Gesserit’s eugenics-driven breeding program,
Paul and Jessica’s exploitation of the Missionaria Protectiva, or the
Fremen’s moral code. Herbert avoids creating situations and behaviors
that are clearly good or bad, forcing us to come to our own conclusions.
It is also possible to use various philosophers’ theories as a lens to examine
the book. For instance, Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the Overman and
the will to power can be applied to Paul’s character [18, 19]. René
Descartes’ concept of the separation between mind and body and Simone
de Beauvoir’s refutation of such dualistic thinking can be used to compare
the training of the Bene Gesserit and the Mentats [20]. Existential phi-
losophies from Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers offer pathways to
understanding the nature of human existence as presented in the book.
With Dune so focused on the nature of humans, it provides many avenues
for philosophical discovery and analysis.
Frank Herbert’s Dune is a masterwork of science fiction with a body of
scholarship that has really only scratched the surface of its many layers. Its
deceptively simple storyline rests on a mountain of historical and philo-
sophical contexts and influences that provide a richness of development
which continues to attract readers. Its ambiguity and openness to multiple
interpretations make it ripe for new critical perspectives and debates. And
its complexity and themes have helped turn it into a classic, a work of lit-
erature that stands poised to continue appealing to audiences into
the future.

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 Index

A Atreides, Paul, 4, 8, 10–12, 22, 23,

Ace Books, 4 26–30, 38, 40, 41, 44, 50–52,
Achilles, 94 54, 55, 57–59, 64–74, 78, 80,
Adaptations, 6 81, 83, 84, 86, 87, 90–95
Aeschylus, 72
Al-Azhar University, 29
Alien, 6 B
Analog, 4 Ballard, J.G., 5
Anirul, 85 Beat poets, 53
Apollo, 2, 72 Beauvoir, Simone de, 14, 95
Appendix, 4, 29, 38, 43, 74, 79, 90 Bedouin, 12, 39, 91
Arabic language, 28, 30, 90, 91 Bene Gesserit, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 21,
Arabs, 12, 28, 29, 71 22, 27–30, 43, 51–58, 64, 65,
Archetypes, 7, 51, 56, 64, 65, 68–70, 73, 75, 78, 79, 81, 82,
68, 74, 93 85, 86, 93–95
Army-McCarthy hearings, 7 Blanch, Lesley, 29
Arrakis, see Dune (planet) Breeding program, 44, 58,
Artemis, 2, 72 64, 68–70, 75, 79, 82,
Asimov, Isaac, 3, 5, 93 85, 93, 95
Astounding, 4 Buddhism, 27, 53, 56
Atreides, Alia, 30, 56, 70, 72, Mahayana, 53
84, 92, 94 Theravada, 53
Atreides, Duke Leto, 2, 20, 25, 67, Vajrayana, 53
72, 85, 86 Zen, 14, 50, 53

109
110 INDEX

Butler, Samuel, 21 E
Butlerian Jihad, 21, 52, 70, 94 East, 2, 9, 12, 14
Eastern philosophies, 52, 53, 56
Ecologist, 2, 36, 40, 43–46, 73
C Ecology, 2, 6, 8–10, 36, 37, 39–46,
Caladan, 25, 38, 64, 92 74, 90, 91
Campbell, John W., 4 Ecosystem, 37, 38, 40, 42, 45
Campbell, Joseph, 64 Emperor Shaddam IV, 20, 22, 25, 82,
Carson, Rachel, 2, 36 84, 85, 87, 90
Catholicism, 7, 14, 15, 21, 27, 78, 79 Environment, 11, 14, 37, 41,
Chani, 67, 79, 80, 84, 87 43–46, 90, 92
Chapterhouse: Dune, 11 Environmentalism, 2, 36, 45
Children of Dune, 11 Epic tradition, 2, 72, 93, 94
Chilton, 4 Epigraphs, 64, 90
CHOAM, see Combine Honnete Ober Erewhon, 21
Advancer Mercantiles
Christianity, 90
Civil rights movement, 13 F
Cold War, 9, 12, 14 Fedaykin, 65, 80
Collective unconscious, 7, 56, 93 The Feminine Mystique, 14
Colonialism, 22, 23, 41 Feminism, 14, 82, 88
Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Fenring, Count Hasimir, 86
Mercantiles (CHOAM), 22, 23 Fenring, Lady Margot, 54, 82
Consciousness, 50, 52–60, 68, 70 Feudal, 20, 31, 78, 79, 84
altered states of, 14, 53 Foundation series, 5, 93
Cordon, Guy, 7 Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune, 6
Counterculture, 3 Frank Herbert’s Dune, 6
Crysknife, 39 Fremen, 22, 23, 27–30, 39–41,
43, 44, 64–66, 68, 70, 71,
73, 78, 80, 81, 83, 84, 86,
D 90–92, 95
Descartes, René, 52, 95 Friedan, Betty, 14
Desert, 2, 8, 12, 37–39, 44–46, 90–92
Dick, Philip K., 56
Dinner party, 40, 51 G
The Dispossessed, 45 General semantics, 8
A Door into Ocean, 5 Genetics, 11, 56, 58, 68, 69, 75, 79,
The Dragon in the Sea, 9 82, 85, 87
Drugs, 2, 14, 15, 53, 55–58, 60, 69 God Emperor of Dune, 11
Dune (planet), 2, 25, 38, 39, 43, The Godmakers, 10
44, 71, 92 Gom jabbar, 51, 54, 84
Dune Messiah, 4, 11 Greek mythology, 2, 72, 94
“Dune World,” 4 Guild, Spacing, 20, 57, 72, 94
 INDEX 111

H J
Halleck, Gurney, 65 Jamis, 65, 71, 86
Hansen, Howard, 8 Jaspers, Karl, 95
Harkonnen, Baron Vladimir, 12, 20, Jessica, 26–30, 41, 50, 52, 54–56, 65,
22, 24, 26, 57, 67, 71, 72, 84, 68, 69, 71, 73, 78, 80–83,
86, 92, 93 85–87, 90, 92, 94, 95
Harkonnen, Feyd-Rautha, 24, 54, 65, Jesuits, 7, 27
68, 72, 82, 92 Jesus, 27
Harkonnen, Rabban, 23, 24 Jihad, 26, 28, 31, 44, 70–72, 94
Harrison, John, 6 Jodorowsky, Alejandro, 6
Hawat, Thufir, 55, 82 John the Baptist, 28, 40, 73
Hayakawa, S.I., 8 Jordan, Robert, 5
Heidegger, Martin, 95 Jung, Carl, 56, 69
Heinlein, Robert, 3, 5, 60, 87
Herbert, Beverly (Stuart), 7, 8
Herbert, Brian, 9 K
Herbert, Bruce, 9 Kennedy, John F., 12
Herbert, Penny, 8 Kwisatz Haderach, 58, 64, 69, 70, 79,
Heretics of Dune, 11 85, 87, 94
Hero, 3–5, 13, 25, 38, 40, 44, 45, 51, Kynes, Pardot, 40, 42, 43, 73
58, 64, 65, 67–70, 72–75, 87,
88, 90, 92, 94
criticism of the, 11, 26, 44 L
journey of the, 10, 50, 56, 57, 64, Lady Jessica, see Jessica
65, 68, 72, 87 Landsraad, 20
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 64 Language, 7
Hinduism, 53 Lawrence of Arabia, see Lawrence, T.E.
Hoh, see Quileute Nation Lawrence of Arabia (film), 12
House of Atreus, 2, 72 Lawrence, T.E., 12
Hugo Award, 4 Le Guin, Ursula K., 45, 56
Leto (of Greek mythology), 2, 72
Liet-Kynes, 28, 30, 40–44, 66,
I 71, 73, 95
Ibn Khaldun, 22, 29 Lisan al-Gaib, 30, 73
Idaho, Duncan, 65 Litany against Fear, 55
Iliad, 72, 93 The Lord of the Rings, 3, 4
Imagery, 92 Lucas, George, 5
Imperialism, 22, 23, 41 Lynch, David, 6
Irulan, Princess, 64, 67, 82, 86,
90, 92
Islam, 27, 28, 30, 70, 71, 78, M
80, 90 Macek, Carl, 5
112 INDEX

Machiavelli, Niccolò, 24 Organization of the Petroleum

Machiavellianism, 24, 26 Exporting Countries
Mahdi, 27, 28, 73 (OPEC), 12, 23
Marcus, Wanna, 57 Orientalism, 29
Mars trilogy, 5, 45 Ottoman Sultan-Caliph Mehmed v
Martin, Henry, 8 Reshad, 71
Masculinity, 65, 66, 75, 87
McCarthy, Joseph, 7
Meditation, 53 P
Mentats, 57, 67, 68, 70, 85, 94, 95 Paradise Lost, 93
Messiah, 5, 8, 10, 27–31, 38, 70–73, Parkinson, Flora, 8
75, 78, 86, 87 Planetologist, Imperial, see Liet-Kynes
Middle East, 12, 14, 23, 28, 30, 38, Postcolonialism, 91
41, 90, 91 Posthumanism, 94
Milton, John, 93 Prana-bindu, 53, 54, 56, 68
Missionaria Protectiva, 27, 29, 30, 80, Prescience, 10, 11, 57, 64, 69, 70, 73,
87, 93, 95 87, 93, 94
Mohiam, Reverend Mother Gaius “The Priests of Psi,” 10
Helen, 51, 54, 55, 64, 67, 68, 70, The Prince, 24, 25
81, 86, 93 “The Prophet of Dune,” 4
Monomyth, see Hero Psychology, 60, 92
Muad’Dib, 28, 30, 64, 90 Freudian, 7, 92
Murīdīs, 71 Jungian, 7, 9, 10, 92, 93

N Q
Narrator, 50, 51 Quileute Nation, 8, 91
Native Americans, 8, 39, 91 Qur’anic verse, 29
Nebula Award, 4
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 95
Nuns, 27, 79 R
Ramallo, Reverend Mother, 55, 69
Religion, 2, 11, 27–29, 31, 71, 73,
O 78–80, 91, 93
Odysseus, 94 Reproduction, 81, 82, 85, 87
Odyssey, 93 Robinson, Kim Stanley, 5, 45
Oil, 2, 9, 12, 14, 15, 23, 29, Robotech series, 5
41, 90
OPEC, see Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries S
Orange Catholic Bible, 27 The Sabres of Paradise, 29
Oresteia, 72 Sand dunes, 8, 36, 38, 41, 92
 INDEX 113

Sandworms, 2, 26, 28, 30, 38, 39, 43, 21st Century Sub, see The Dragon
45, 46, 58, 90, 92, 93 in the Sea
Sanskrit, 54, 56
Sardaukar, 22, 39, 68, 84
Sayyadina, 80 U
Science fiction Unconscious, 10, 54, 56, 58,
Golden Age, 3–5 69, 93
hard, 5 Under Pressure, see The Dragon
New Wave, 5, 60 in the Sea
soft, 5, 60, 75 Usul, 30
Scott, Ridley, 6
The Second Sex, 14
Second Vatican Council, 14 V
Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 12 Van Vogt, A.E., 75
Shadout Mapes, 28, 80 Vedanta, 53
Shakespeare, 1, 24 Villeneuve, Denis, 6
Silent Spring, 2, 36, 37 Voice, 55, 68, 75, 81, 82, 93
Slattery, Ralph and Irene, 7 Vries, Piter de, 24
Slonczewski, Joan, 5
Spice, 12, 21–25, 38, 39, 41, 44–46,
53, 55, 57, 58, 69, 70, 90, 92, 94 W
Star Wars, 5 Water, 2, 7, 38–41, 43, 45, 80,
Stilgar, 8, 66, 73, 80, 81, 83, 84, 86 83, 86, 92
Stillsuits, 39 Water of Life, 55, 70, 80, 86, 92
Stranger in a Strange Land, 3, Watts, Alan, 53
5, 60, 87 Weirding way, 65, 83, 86
Suk Medical School, 57 West, 2, 9, 12, 14
Suzuki, D.T., 53 Western philosophies, 52, 53
Symbols, 92 The Wheel of Time series, 5
Whole Earth Catalog, 3
World-building, 4, 6, 45, 90, 91
T The Word for World Is Forest, 45
Taoism, 27, 56
Terraforming, 2, 41, 42, 44, 45
Tiresias, 94 Y
Tolkien, J.R.R., 3, 4, 31, 45 Yaitanes, Greg, 6
Translations, 91 Yoga, 14, 53
Truthsayer, 21, 86 Yueh, Dr. Wellington, 26, 57