Highlights
- The saga of Denis Villeneuve’s
Dune
continues with
Dune Part 2’s
box office success & announcement of
Dune 3. - In
Dune: Messiah,
expect love, intrigue, survival, giant worms, and pivotal plot points to unfold post
Dune Part 2. - Irulan vs. Chani over the Atreides bloodline, the birth of twins, the return of Duncan Idaho, Paul’s blindness, Chani’s death, and Empress Alia’s path all shape the
Dune
series storyline.
The saga of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation continues, with Dune Part 2 making an impressive box-office impact and the production of Dune 3 just recently announced. Officially known by the same name as the novel, Dune: Messiah, this is the second in Frank Herbert’s series and tells the story of Paul’s first few years as the Emperor of the known universe.
Dune is already a tumultuous story of love, tragedy, court intrigue, desert survival, and gigantic worms, and present as always is the spice. Dune: Messiah as an adaptation is expected to pick up where Dune Part 2 left off, and hopefully it will include a few important plot points that aren’t just essential to the story’s resolution, but also fascinating to watch.
The following events take place in the first two books of the Dune series, Dune and Dune: Messiah.Major spoiler warning ahead for those who have not read the books or seen the SyFy miniseries.
6 Irulan And Chani
Imperial Wife Versus Bound Concubine
- An imperial plot to determine the future bloodline of the ruling family
There was a pivotal scene between Chani and Paul at the end of the book that wasn’t present in the movie. He pledges to her that his imperial union will be in name only, and Irulan will have no more of him than his title. It’s an important scene because it sets up a conflict between Chani and Irulan, the former of whom has been instructed by her Bene Gesserit superiors to continue the Atreides bloodline.
Considering the events of Dune Part 2, this conversation is yet to happen, but when it does, Irulan and her Bene Gesserit allies form a plot to drug Chani’s food to keep her from getting pregnant. Her unknown bloodline doesn’t fit in with their plans.
Chani’s discovery of this plan leads to a chilling confrontation between a Fremen warrior and an imperial princess. Chani then leaves the court to retreat to her Seitch and get away from the royal kitchens.
5 The Birth Of The Twins
Paul Did Not Forsee His Son
- Muad’Dib saw Ghamina in his visions, but not Leto II
Paul always knew that there would be children, as he also told Chani, but he was only partly right. After Chani left the palace, she adopted a new diet heavy in pure Arrakis spice that would make her more likely to conceive. This wasn’t the same as Jessica imbibing the Water of Life while pregnant with Alia, but any children born to Chani would have similar abilities when it came to ancestral memory and clairvoyance.
She gave birth to twins, Ghanima and Leto II, and it is somewhat ironic that it was Irulan who was most responsible for their care and upbringing. Despite her royal machinations, Irulan raised the twins as her own, and was a more effective nurturer than their aunt, Alia.
4 The Return Of Duncan Idaho
The Ultimate Death Retcon
- The introduction of the Ghola, which helps rebuild House Atreides
The Denis Villeneuve Dune adaptations have left out some of the more problematic and abstract parts of Frank Herbert’s universe, such as the Navigators, for example, but it would be even more awkward to leave the Ghola out of a version of Dune: Messiah. One of the first gifts Paul received from his allies was a Ghola of Duncan Idaho, named Hayt.
A Ghola is a clone, and it was about the time that Paul took the imperial throne that the technology had reached a point where the clones would have the memories of the person they were cloned from, whereas previously, they were only copies. Hayt had many of Duncan Idaho’s original memories, and was loyal to the Atreides family as a result.
3 Paul Is Blinded
Who Knew That Nukes Could Have A Downside
- He can still see because of the spice, prompts his retreat into the desert, the final chapter of the prophecy
Paul’s first few years as Emperor are tumultuous, and most of it consists of defending his claim from the other royal houses that refuse to recognize his right to the throne, despite his marriage to Irulan. He has his family’s collection of atomic weapons, but his enemies have similar caches, and Paul is blinded when he gets caught too close to a blast.
His physical vision is destroyed, but instead, he uses his third eye to see, which has been opened by years of spice exposure. This ability is connected to his emotional well-being, however, and after a traumatic experience from which he can’t recover, his eyesight fades completely. He abdicates the throne to Alia and disappears into the desert.
2 Chani Dies
Paul Retreats To The Desert
- A Fedaken Warrior, Seyadeena, and the bound concubine of Emperor Paul Atreides
The use of a spice diet to encourage fertility had some drawbacks. It accelerated the rate of Chani’s pregnancy and presented even more inherent risk to the mother, and Chani was already in physical danger because of the drugs Irulan had been giving her.
Chani gave birth to the twins after only five months of pregnancy, and the stress was too much for her body. By the time Paul arrived to meet his children, she was dead. This prompted his total loss of vision, abdicating the throne, and retreating into exile in the desert.
1 Empress Alia
The Path Of The Abomination
- Only appears as a “pre-born” entity to Jessica and Paul in Dune Part 2
Alia is Paul’s younger sister, the daughter that Jessica was supposed to have instead of a son, and imbibed the Water of Life while still in the womb. The powers that she gained in utero eventually proved to be too great to resist or control, and Alia would eventually succumb to the path of the Abomination.
The Atreides bloodline also includes some Harkonnen ancestry, with Jessica secretly being the daughter of the Baron. Without the guidance of her mother, who is isolated by her duties out in the desert, or another benevolent ancestor, Alia falls victim to the whims of her maternal grandfather’s voice as a haunting presence. The Atreides family almost loses the throne because of it.
Leave a Reply