Animatic Of The Opening Scene From Jodorowsky's Dune (unmade)

dune is about the forces that humanity lives at the mercy of, both natural and man-made. it's about how power exerts itself upon the powerful, how they're controlled by it as just as much as they control it. it's about how people become locked into a process of history that they as individuals are nearly powerless to control, so much so that even being able to see the future only serves to show how trapped you really are. it's about all of this more than it is about any individual characters and this is something that no adaptation so far has gotten right

Emmi Rabban and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, mother and son

Dune: House Harkonnen by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson | "Mother" by Tori Amos | Frederick Christiansen | Homeric Hymn to Demeter | A Viking Mother by Frank Stick (1929) | A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin | The Young King of the Black Isles by Maxfield Parrish (1906) | Dune by Frank Herbert

Lady Jessica + outfits

DUNE (2021) dir. Denis Villeneuve Costume Design by Jacqueline West and Bb Mrgan.

Dune Production illustrations 1983, Ron Miller

I think people don't really understand why Baron was always supposed to be a ridiculous kind of villain and he was meant to die almost on accident, with no bang whatsoever.

There is a reason why Paul wasn't the one that killed him in the books. Baron was a shadow of a pawn and by the end of the story, Paul is so far above him, that he really couldn't care less. When he hears about his death, he doesn't give a single fuck.

He doesn't even care enough to kill Mohiam. He is beyond Guild's control, not to mention Emperor's or Jessica's.

They should all fear him. They can't do anything to stop him.

And Baron? This dude wouldn't even be able to bring down Leto, if it wasn't for Peter and him breaking an imperial conditioning for doctor Yueh.

What the movies fail greatly to present is how much the scale shifts over the story. What the message behind it all means. Because Harkonnes are the easiest kind of villains to spot, but in the end, maybe they are not the worst.

Maybe Paul himself is the worst.

Plans within plans don't exist in new Dune movies. It's as simple as that.

Even Feyd doesn't die because he's a Harkonnen. That's what Gurney thinks, that's what Fremen and even Emperor believe is happening. But Feyd dies because Feyd is almost Paul himself.

Baron is only as important as far Alia's story goes.

He was always her villain. Not Paul's.

The entire weight of her arc in Messiah shifts now, and I honestly hate it.

We’re Harkonnens. So this is how we’ll survive, by being Harkonnens.

Dune: Part Two (2024) dir. Denis Villeneuve

I never wanted to be a god......

“She sought to divert him, lowered her hands and said: ‘We’ll find a place among the Fremen?’ ‘The Fremen have a saying they credit to Shai-hulud, Old Father Eternity,’ he said. ‘They say: “Be prepared to appreciate what you meet.”’ And he thought: Yes, mother mine – among the Fremen. You’ll acquire the blue eyes and a callus beside your lovely nose from the filter tube to your stillsuit … and you’ll bear my sister: St Alia of the Knife.”

Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica in Dune (2021) dir. Denis Villeneuve

Dune (1984)

“They’re not mad. They’re trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”

— Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah