Der Wanderer über Dem Nebelmeer (1818) - Caspar David Friedrich // Paul Atreides On Caladan - Dune (2021)

regarding Dune Part 2: i am obsessed with its consistent visual theme of self-destruction. the shot of paul surrounded by his new followers seems triumphant - until the viewer remembers that each crysknife is made from a tooth of shai-hulud, and paul is standing in a circle of them, in the allegorical mouth of the worm. he orders a missile strike, and the viewer sees them fly directly through his head. every victory for the prophecy is a blow to paul himself; he's killing himself with every step he takes towards his destiny, and we know that already, and the film is screaming it, but it's a hell of a thing to watch it happen, isn't it?..

“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

Let Paul and Chani fight each other in Dune Messiah. Let Paul start by trying to convince Chani to join him and then get angry when she refuses. Let them forget the memories of their love for just one moment, long enough to hurt each other.

Storyboards by Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud for Jodorowsky’s Dune (1974-75)

page 184 of dune messiah by frank herbert

Illustrations by John Schoenherr for The Illustrated Dune, 1978 by Frank Herbert. 🐛🐛

“Your habits always come hunting after you. The self you construct will haunt you. A ghost wandering around in search of your body, eager to possess you. We are addicted to the self we construct. Slaves to what we have done.”

— Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune

Rebecca Ferguson modelling the headpiece that was made for her costume as Lady Jessica for DUNE (2021) by Hungarian designer Virag Kerenyi via kerenyivirag on Instagram

A Dune thought I was having recently is about when Leto II bonds with the sandtrout in Children of Dune. I was thinking about the role of the sandtrout in the sandworm's lifecycle, as larva, but how it cordons off water so the worm can flourish. When the sandtrout bonds to Leto II, it's like it would cordon off the water in his body so it can begin to flourish.

So he's watered and unwatered, human and sandworm, male and female, ancient and of the future, merciful and notoriously without mercy, Tyrant and redeemer... and like where the Fremen take the dead to sap their water, he's a living deathstill. It's good, it's very good.

frank herbert // dune messiah