DUNE (1984) Dir. DAVID LYNCH

Returning to my Dune fanart posting >:)c

Sister portraits of Feyd-Rautha with my two different designs for him. The longer haired one being Feyd as he is in the beginning of the book, gloomy and completely oppressed by the Baron. The shorter haired one being Feyd as he is by the end of the book, older and cockier but far less free from the Baron’s influence than he seems to think he is.

Process pics under the cut

DUNE (2021) DIR. DENIS VILLENEUVE

Paul could have fallen on his knife at any time.

The books, and the most recent movies, present Paul's descent from 'somewhat innocent son of Atreides' to 'dark Messiah' as something he had no control over, to an extent--the power of the prophecies, of the Bene Gesserit manipulations, of the political forces at work, and of eventually the actions of specifically Jessica were just too powerful and too inescapable. It is presented as a tragedy, with all of the inescapability that entails. There is no choice.

But there is always a choice. There always has to be a choice. These machinations only work if they have the right tool. So what do you do when you want to escape being the figurehead, the spark that lights the fire that is the Jihad? You must take away that spark. Permanently.

But that's the thing, isn't it? The only way out was so drastic Paul would never have taken it. To fall on his knife would be to leave behind his mother and his growing sister and Chani, it would be to betray Stilgar, it would be to end the male line of House Atreides (remember how gender works in this world, remember how women cannot hold power outside of religion) and betray his father, it would be to give in to the Harkonnens.

But to fall on his sword would also be to deprive the machinations of the Bene Gesserit of their Kwisatz Haderach, the corrupted fundamentalist faith of the Fremen their Messiah, the looming Jihad its figurehead and focal point. Perhaps it wouldn't be enough, perhaps the focus would have simply shifted to Jessica or even Alia, gender roles notwithstanding, but it's still a powerful act, a powerful message to send--that one would rather die than act to cause death.

Or perhaps the route the galaxy would go without the Jihad would be worse in the long run. Perhaps the Fremen would stay an oppressed people; but I want to believe that Chani (specifically Chani in the recent movies) is correct, that the Fremen need no outside Messiah and would have freed themselves. That maybe the galaxy wouldn't get better, but it certainly wouldn't have gotten worse.

And isn't that awful? For a non-tragic ending to require such a tragic choice?

Book Chani meets Movie Chani

movie chani is going through all the horrors imaginable while book chani dgaf

“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

Rebecca Ferguson: Any scene with Jason Momoa makes me smile. He is the most kind, humble, warm and caring teddy bear.

Jason Momoa: Rebecca I love dearly and I think we all had a lot of fun that captures what’s like off set.

REBECCA FERGUSON and JASON MOMOA behind the scenes on set of “DUNE” (2021)

Sting as Feyd-Rautha - Dune (1984)

Golden days

Brad Dourif in Dune (1984)

Abomination