The Cryptofictional Records Wing: Herbert's "Dune" (1965)

Berkley Medallion 1975, Vincent Di Fate

Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune is widely-regarded as one of the greatest science-fiction novels ever written, and inevitably lands in many "Top 10" sf book lists. Originally published as two serials in Analog magazine (Dec. 1963 to Feb 1964 and Jan 1965 to May 1965), Herbert's epic novel describes a classic "rise of the hero" story which (mostly) takes place on a desert planet named Arrakis (or "Dune"). However, it's narrative is also informed by a prodigious amount of political, cultural and religious "world-building", on par with that found in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings sequence. Like that fantasy classic, the published novel version of Dune even includes "in-world" appendices and encyclopedia extracts, as well as a glossary.

Berkley Trade 1982, Frederic Marvin

Dune's publication also coincided with a fresh public awareness of ecology and the importance of natural conservation. In Herbert's novel, the element of water is more valuable than blood or gold, and the author goes into great detail to describe the extreme practices necessary for the people of Arrakis to survive a harsh desert existence.

Chilton 1965, John Schoenherr

The World of Dune

The novel takes place in a far future (more than 10,000 years ahead of the present) where humanity has colonized several star systems. Each of these star colonies is ruled by political organizations named "Houses". The many Houses conduct relations through a "Landsraad" (legislative assembly), whose most powerful member is the Emperor (from House Corrino). Interstellar travel is enabled by an organization called the Spacing Guild, whose members have extrasensory powers which allow them to move objects from one place to another at faster-than-light speeds. It is through the Spacing Guild's services that the Imperium can exist.

Ace Books 1967 John Schoenherr

Aside from the Imperium and the Guild, a third political group exists as the Bene Gesserit, a quasi-religious sisterhood who have also developed extrasensory powers of telepathy and precognition, and whose members are frequently employed as advisors to the Great Houses. Although the group with the least amount of military power, the Bene Gesserit have been secretly carrying out a selective breeding program amongst royal genealogical lines in order to produce an omniscient "super-being", who they hope to use to lead them to galactic dominance.

Ace Books 1974, Don Punchatz

All of these various entities depend on "melange", an addictive geriatric spice found only on the desert planet Arrakis. The Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit use melange to develop and maintain their extrasensory abilities. In turn, the Houses of the Imperium depend on the flow of spice from Arrakis to maintain interstellar trade and diplomacy.

New English Library 1968, Bruce Pennington

Brief Synopsis

The novel is structured as three main acts.

DUNE: The ruling family of House Atreides prepares to move to Arrakis to take over spice production. However, this new Imperial assignment is actually a trap set by the Emperor and the Atreides' long-time enemies, House Harkonnen, who have obtained the services of a traitor within the Atreides household. Shortly after landing and making tentative contact with the Fremen, the indigenous desert people of Arrakis, the traitor lowers the Atreides' defensive screens, allowing enemy soldiers to attack and kill most of the royal family. However, the Duke's precocious son Paul and his Bene Gesserit mother Lady Jessica manage to escape their captors and flee into the desert.
MUAD'DIB: In the aftermath of the battle Baron Harkonnen consolidates his victory, and the few remaining Atreides forces seek refuge amongst the underworld smugglers of Arrakis. Meanwhile, Paul and Jessica use their skills and knowledge to gain membership into a tribe of Fremen. Jessica eventually finds a way to assume a religious leadership position amongst the Fremen (who believe in religious doctrines embedded long ago by the Bene Gesserit), while Paul's extrasensory powers begin to blossom through his exposure to the spice melange.
THE PROPHET: Two years pass, during which Paul trains the Fremen with Atreides tactics. More importantly, he takes advantage of a Fremen prophecy to ascend to a messianic leadership position among the Fremen. He soon uses his newly-trained Fremen forces to make devastating attacks on Harkonnen spice production facilities, eventually drawing the attention of the Emperor and the Spacing Guild. As Paul takes the final ritual steps to become the "super-being" the Bene Gesserit have been searching for, an armada arrives above Arrakis. When the Emperor and the Harkonnen leadership land on Arrakis, Paul and his Fremen warriors attack using a combination of sandworms, atomic explosives and Fremen desert tactics. After the Imperial forces are defeated, Paul overcomes the Emperor's Harkonnen champion in a final one-on-one duel and becomes ruler of the galaxy.

Berkley Windhover 1978, John Schoenherr

Synopsis

BOOK ONE: DUNE: On the planet Caladan, House Atreides (ruled by Duke Leto) prepares to move their operations to the desert planet Arrakis ("Dune"), where they will take control of the planet and its harvesting operations for the spice melange. One evening, Duke Leto's concubine, Lady Jessica, introduces her son Paul to a strange, elderly woman from the Bene Gesserit, a mysterious school of female mystics (of whom Jessica is a member). Paul passes a test involving a pain inducer and a poison needle (the "gom jabbar"), which the woman, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, uses to determine if Paul is "human" (satisfies the criteria for their politically-driven breeding plan). Due to Paul's natural-born abilities, the Reverend Mother suspects that Paul may be the "Kwisatz Haderach", a near-omnsiscient Bene Gesserit superman prophesied to be able to look into the race memories of his ancestors.
On the planet Giedi Prime, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, his "Mentat" (an advisor trained to think like a computer) Piter and the Baron's nephew Feyd-Rautha go over their nefarious plans for the Atreides on Arrakis. After Duke Leto's forces settle on the desert planet, the Baron's agent, Doctor Yueh (the Atreides' personal physician), will deactivate the Atreides defenses, allowing the Baron's forces to attack, thus destroying the Atreides. The Emperor will also aid the Baron by providing the Baron with Imperial Sardaukar (shock stormtroopers), because he fears the growing popularity of House Atreides.
At Castle Caladan, the Reverend Mother chastises Jessica for bearing a son rather than a daughter (as per her orders to follow the Bene Gesserit selective breeding program). Nonetheless, open to the possibility of Paul being the Kwisatz Haderach, she advises Jessica to continue teaching Paul how to use the Bene Gesserit "Voice" (a secret vocal technique which forces the listener to do the speaker's bidding).
A week after the Reverend Mother's visit, Duke Leto's Mentat, Thufir Hawat ("Master of Assassins"), advises Paul on the dangers awaiting them on Arrakis. He suspects a political conspiracy, but the Atreides have no choice but to follow the Emperor's orders. However, he hopes that the desert people of Arrakis, the Fremen, may help their cause. Later, the troubadour-mercenary Gurney Halleck gives Paul some dueling practice, and tries to instill in him the seriousness of the venture.
Paul is next visited by Dr. Yueh, who gives the young lord a copy of the Orange Catholic Bible (a religious document used throughout the galaxy) and tells him of the giant sandworms on Arrakis. Internally, Yueh feels great guilt, knowing that he will soon cause the downfall of the Atreides.
Duke Leto visits his son, and tells him that, although he knows Arrakis is a trap, it will help expose his enemies among the Landsraad (galactic political council). Additionally, he hopes to mold the Fremen into a fighting force equal to the Emperor's Sardaukar troops. With that in mind, his swordmaster Duncan Idaho has been sent ahead to forge a relationship with these desert people. Leto also tells Paul that over the past years he has been raising him to become a Mentat, which would make him a formidable future ruler.
Presses Pocket 2009, Sparth
After landing on Arrakis and moving into their new home in the city of Arrakeen, Leto tells Jessica that a village Fremen woman named the Shadout Mapes will be her servant. Due to the "Missionaria Protectiva" (the Bene Gesserit's galaxy-wide propaganda campaign), the Fremen already hold members of the sisterhood as mythic figures. Jessica uses her knowledge of the Bene Gesserit's religious doctrine to gain the Fremen woman's trust (as well as a "crysknife", a holy knife made from the tooth of a sandworm).
When Jessica runs into Yueh, they have a heart-to-heart talk about the dangers facing them on Arrakis (which almost prompts Yueh to confess his deceit). Jessica also wonders why water basins on Arrakis soon dry up after they are discovered, as if an outside agency were at work.
In his bedroom, Paul is targeted by a Hunter-Seeker (an airborne drone) operated by an unseen enemy. When the Shadout Mapes opens his door, Paul disables the distracted drone. In return for saving her life, the Shadout Mapes tells Paul that the Fremen know that there is a traitor among the Atreides.
Jessica discovers a greenhouse left behind by the previous owner of the house, Lady Fenring, also a Bene Gesserit sister. A note warns her of a traitor in the house. Paul enters and tells his mother about the Hunter-Seeker and Mapes' warning. They are informed by a guard that the unidentified drone operator has been killed. Outside, Jessica sees strange signal lights in the mountains.
Leto greets Gurney Halleck as the mercenary arrives with Atreides troops. He orders Gurney to try and convince more of the departing spice workers to stay, fearing that the ones who have already elected to remain are actually Harkonnen sleepers.
Leto holds a staff meeting where Duncan Idaho introduces a Fremen leader named Stilgar. The meeting goes well and Leto allows Duncan to act as an "ambassador" to the Fremen. Leto also orders Gurney to try and make alliances with Arrakis' local smugglers (who move melange off-world outside of Imperial control). However, Paul feels that the meeting ends with a sense of desperation.
Thufir Hawat tells Leto that a partial message from a dead Harkonnen spy indicates that Jessica may be the traitor planted in their midst. He also tells Leto that some of the Fremen townspeople look upon Paul as the possible "messiah" figure from their prophecies, due to his Bene Gesserit parentage.
Analog, John Schoenherr
Leto tells Paul that he will try to smoke out the real traitor by pretending to believe that Jessica is the traitor. He also advises Paul to capitalize on the Fremen's beliefs in him as their "promised one". Paul notes that his father has become very fatalistic.
The Imperial Planetologist, Dr. Kynes, arrives to officiate the transfer of power from the Harkonnens to the Atreides. Leto notices that Kynes lives more like a Fremen than an Imperial scientist. Although he also knows of the plot to destroy the Atreides, Kynes begins to wonder if Paul may indeed be the Fremen messiah figure. On a trip to inspect some spice harvesters, a sandworm is spotted approaching the ground vehicle. When the "carryall" (an aerial carrier designed to lift the harvester away when worms attack) fails to appear, Leto risks his own ship to rescue the harvester crew, impressing Kynes further. Paul notices that one of the workers addresses Kynes as "Liet", a name associated with the leadership of the Fremen.
During an Atreides dinner party, Leto, Jessica and Paul get a sense of the varying loyalties split amongst their guests: a Guild banker, Dr. Kynes, a smuggler named Tuek, and a "water-shipper" magnate named Bewt. Leto is informed that a Harkonnen agent has been discovered to be responsible for the missing carryall during the worm attack. He also learns that Harkonnens have been shipping in lasguns to the region.
When a drunk Duncan lets out to Jessica that she is suspected of being the Atreides traitor, she summonses Thufir to clear the air. She uses her Bene Gesserit Voice to prove to Thufir that she could kill him at any time, and assures him that she is not the traitor.
John Schoenherr (from The Illustrated Dune)
Two days later, Yueh deactivates the house shield generator and ambushes Leto with a paralysis dart gun. He then asks Leto to use a poison gas-filled tooth on Baron Harkonnen when he is later brought before the Baron. In return, Yueh will find a way to save the lives of Paul and Jessica.
Jessica and Paul wake up from sleeping pills given to them by Yueh. After Baron Harkonnen and Piter gloat over their captives, the Baron orders them sent into the desert to die as wormfood. However, after the ornithopter carrying them lands at a remote spot, Jessica and Paul use their Bene Gesserit Voices to turn the pilots against each other and escape.
After Yueh delivers Leto's unconscious form to the Sardaukar, he secretly plants a Fremkit (Fremen survival kit) in the ornithopter assigned to carry Paul and Jessica into the desert, along with the Duke's signet ring.
Baron Harkonnen uses "old-fashioned" artillery to bury the remaining Atreides forces in caves below the Shield Wall. He states that he will give Piter control of Arrakis, and then later have him replaced by Feyd-Rautha when the people begin to hate the Mentat. When Yueh soon enters, Piter knifes him in the back. Then, when Leto is brought in, the Duke overhears that Paul and Jessica are missing. He soon employs Yueh's poison tooth, killing everyone in the room except for the Baron himself, who somehow escapes with the help of his body shield (personal force field).
Duncan Idaho finds Paul and Jessica and helps them obtain shelter under a Fremen tent packed into their Fremkits, after which he leaves to seek out the remaining Atreides resistance forces. In the tent, Paul experiences an inner awakening, in which he can see paths of the future, including one which leads to a galactic jihad. Between his mother's Bene Gesserit training, his father's Mentat training, and his exposure to the melange of Arrakis, Paul has become something unforeseen by the Bene Gesserit, beyond their Kwisatz Haderach. He also tells his mother that he knows about her unborn daughter, and that she is the daughter of Baron Harkonnen himself.
The Folio Society 2015, Sam Weber
BOOK TWO: MUAD'DIB: Jessica and Paul abandon their Fremen survival tent after they spot Harkonnen ornithopters searching the desert for them.
While visiting an outlying village, Thufir Hawat escapes the Harkonnen attack on the Atreides base at Arrakeen. Afterwards, he and a few surviving Atreides men try to bargain for aid from a Fremen warrior. He is amazed to learn that the Fremen seem to be able to hold Imperial Sardaukar troops at bay. However, the Sardaukar eventually ambush them and take them prisoner.
Duncan Idaho finds Paul and Jessica and brings them to an abandoned Imperial ecological station where Paul learns that Dr. Kynes is also Liet, the Fremen leader. As the Sardaukar close in, Duncan is killed. Kynes sends Paul and Jessica off to a hidden ornithopter, which they fly into a sandstorm in order to lose their pursuers.
Baron Harkonnen tells his new commander, Nefud, that he has decided to turn the captured Thufir Hawat into Piter's Mentat replacement. He also restores Rabban, the former Harkonnen ruler of Arrakis to his former position, and orders him to spare no effort in exploiting the planet and its people for spice profits.
After Paul lands his ornithopter, he and his mother take to the rocks as a sandworm consumes their vehicle. Although a sandslide nearly kills Jessica, Paul rescues her and retrieves their Fremkit with some clever use of their paracompass.
With House Atreides in ruins, Gurney Halleck and his remaining Atreides forces strike a deal to work for the smugglers living on Arrakis.
Paul and Jessica cross to another rocky region but are pursued by a sandworm. After a Fremen thumper draws the worm away from them, Fremen warriors approach the two wanderers, intending to kill them for their water.
While Liet Kynes wanders in the desert, abandoned there by the Harkonnens, he imagines hearing his father's voice. Eventually a "pre-spice mass" erupts, and Kynes is consumes by the sand.
At Tuono Basin, Stilgar soon realizes Paul's worth and decides to accept him into his Fremen tribe. Jessica also attracts his attention when she demonstrates her use of the Voice and puts him at knife-point. At the end of a brief standoff, Paul also meets Chani, Kynes' daughter.
Analog, John Schoenherr
At the Cave of the Ridges, Jessica learns that the Fremen have been paying off the Guild with spice to prevent anyone learning of Fremen efforts to terraform the planet. She uses her knowledge of the Missionaria Protectiva to take advantage of the Fremen's beliefs in order to gain their respect. After Paul eats a spice-soaked snack, his visions of the future expand.
When a Fremen named Jamis challenges Paul to a duel, he defeats (and kills) the hot-headed rival, gaining even more respect from Stilgar and the others. He is given the Fremen name Paul Muad'Dib.
In a mourning ritual, Paul is given Jamis' belongings and water ownings. Later, Paul and Jessica are shown a massive water reservoir which Stilgar explains will be used to one day make Arrakis into a garden planet. After Paul sings a love song to Chani, he begins to fear that the jihad he does not want may come through his mother.
On Geidi Prime, the Emperor's friends Count and Countess Fenring attend a gladiator duel in which Feyd-Rautha fights and kills an Atreides slave. Count Fenring dislikes the Harkonnens and conspires with his Bene Gesserit wife to have the Harkonnen bloodline carried through his wife's womb (after she later seduces Feyd-Rautha).
After Paul and Jessica are taken to Stilgar's "sietch" (desert warren), Paul is partnered with Jamis' widow Harah and her children. Harah describes some of the customs of the Fremen to Paul.
In a ritual attended by 20,000 Fremen, Jessica is given the Water of Life, a poison distilled from a drowned sandworm which also makes her into the sietch's new Reverend Mother, giving her access to memories from the former sietch Mother's lineage. After Jessica uses her Bene Gesserit powers to remove the toxic elements of the poison, the rest of the Fremen drink as well. When Paul drinks it, his senses are opened up even further and he sees his future with Chani.
Ace Hardcover 2019, Matt Griffin
BOOK THREE: THE PROPHET: Two years after the attack on Arrakis, Feyd-Rautha begins making attempts on his uncle's life (which fail due to Thufir Hawat's interference). Baron Harkonnen makes a bargain with his ambitious nephew, but also punishes him for his impulsiveness.
Thufir Hawat tells Baron Harkonnen that the Emperor uses the prison planet Salusa Secundus to create his Sardaukar warriors. He also believes that the Emperor might come to fear the Harkonnens of using Arrakis for the same purposes. In order to quell these fears, he advises the Baron to reduce support to Rabban's efforts on Arrakis, thus setting him up for a fall (after which Feyd-Rautha would take over).
Now age 18, Paul Maud'Dib is a respected figure among the Fremen (who are now commanded by Stilgar, taking Liet-Kynes' place) and frequently experiences visions of the past and the future. In order to elude the Harkonnens' pogrom, the Fremen women and children (including Chani, their son Leto II and Paul's sister Alia "the Strange") have been sent to the southern hemisphere, hidden from Guild satellites. In order to become a true Fremen, Paul attempts to call and mount his first sandworm.
In the south (now partially green due to the Fremen's terraforming efforts), Jessica worries about Paul's sandrider test. Harah arrives and tells her that many Fremen women fear Alia's strange precociousness (which comes from her inborn connection to the racial memories of the Reverend Mothers of the past). Tharthar, Stilgar's wife, warns them that the Fremen will soon expect Paul to challenge Stilgar for leadership of the Fremen.
Paul successfully mounts a gigantic sandworm. When a smuggler's ornithopter is spotted, Muad-Dib decides that the Fremen should teach the smugglers a lesson.
When the smugglers are ambushed by Paul's Fremen forces, Paul is reunited with Gurney Halleck, leader of the expedition. After exposing and disarming a few Imperial Sardaukar assassins hidden in Halleck's crew, Muad-Dib then convinces Stilgar to retain control of the Fremen without having to fight him to the death.
Paul addresses the Fremen and tells them that he will not duel Stilgar for leadership, but will still be their leader. Later, when Gurney is reunited with Jessica, he tries to kill her in the false assumption that she was Leto's traitor. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, Paul realizes that his visions of the future are not yet complete, as he had not foreseen this attack on his mother. He decides that he must take the Water of Life to fully transform into the Kwisatz Haderach.
John Schoenherr (from The Illustrated Dune)
After tasting the Water of Life, Muad-Dib goes into a death-like state for three weeks, after which Chani is summoned to his side by Jessica. Using additional drops of the Water of Life, Chani revives her lover. Using his newfound powers, Paul senses an Imperial fleet above Arrakis, along with forces representing the Great Houses and the Spacing Guild. The Guild have collected this armada above Arrakis because they sense that Paul threatens the spice they need to survive.
Paul decides to use hidden Atreides atomics to blow open a cavity in the Shield Wall protecting the Harkonnen and Sardaukar ships. This will allowing a massive storm to render their shields inoperable. However, he also learns that the Sardaukar have captured Alia and killed his son.
In the Imperial landing pavilion at Arrakeen, Alia is brought before Emperor Shaddam IV and Baron Harkonnen. The Emperor's Truthsayer, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, recoils in fear when she recognizes Alia as a Reverend Mother "abomination" (due to her embryonic exposure to the Water of Life). When Muad'Dib's atomics destroy the Shield Wall, the massive storm hits. Fremen artillery then blows a hole in the outer barricade and Fremen mounted on sandworms attack shocked Sardaukar troops. In the confusion, Alia kills Baron Harkonnen with a slash from her gom jabbar.
After Paul's Fremen forces retake Arrakeen (and thus, Arrakis), he orders the captured Emperor to appear before him. Thufir Hawat also arrives with the Emperor's entourage, but defies the Emperor's orders to assassinate his former student (although with this last act of Atreides loyalty, he finally dies from a long-gestating Harkonnen poison). Paul then bends the Guild representatives to his will by convincing them of his willingness to destroy the spice of Arrakis. In order to seal his victory over the Emperor, Paul challenges and then defeats Feyd-Rautha, the last Harkonnen amongst Emperor Shaddam's supporters. Afterwards, he gives himself a majority share of the Emperor's CHOAM company holdings and then takes the Emperor's daughter Irulan as his political wife, making Paul-Muad'Dib the most powerful person in the galaxy.
John Schoenherr (from The Illustrated Dune)

APPENDIX I: THE ECOLOGY OF DUNE: An Imperial Planetologist named Pardot Kynes arrives on Arrakis and dreams of turning the desert planet into a more livable ecosphere through targeted plant growth. He soon befriends the Fremen and infects them with his dream. When Kynes is killed in an accident, his son Liet (born from a Fremen wife) takes over his long-term project.
APPENDIX II: THE RELIGION OF DUNE: The religious beliefs of the galaxy were eventually compiled into the Orange Catholic Bible, which sought to synthesize a new belief system acceptable to all. Much of Muad'Dib's teachings drew from this document.
APPENDIX III: REPORT ON BENE GESSERIT MOTIVES AND PURPOSES: In the Kwisatz Haderach, the Bene Gesserit sought to create a Mentat with the prescient powers of the Guild navigators. There is no explanation for why the Bene Gesserit failed to detect the rise of Paul Muad'Dib on Arrakis, unless an unknown third party was at work in some way

Dune Wiki
Frank Herbert on the origins of Dune (1969)
Atlas of the Imperium: Star Maps of Dune

Vincent Di Fate

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Herbert's "Dune" (1965)