Dune Chronicles — Chani Kynes.

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

concept art by Moebius, for Jodorowsky’s Dune

anya taylor joy as alia atreides

Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis) White dress w/dark trim.. Dune (1984).. Costume by Bob Ringwood.

Book Chani meets Movie Chani

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

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear’s path, and only I will remain.” | Dune (1984)

“Once I put myself in their skin, and get rid of all the onion skins, the levels between the inside and the outside, I feel I can then help create the bridge from the actor to the character. I did psychological studies on each of these characters. Lady Jessica is basically a concubine but a very intelligent one and a highly trained Benne Gesserit. Not only does she have a mystical side but she also has an intelligent, old soul side. I wanted her outfits to be both compellingly nun-like, but also appropriate for a courtesan, which is also what she is. I had to embody all of those somewhat contradictory things in her costumes.

So I went to Goya, who is one of my favorite painters. I’ve always felt there are two painters from the past who would be filmmakers if they lived today. One is Goya and the other is Giotto. I took from both of them — Giotto more for the nun-like Benne Gesserit; and more Goya for Lady Jessica, because there’s a deep, Spanish romanticism in his paintings, especially The Clothed Maja. That’s where I got the idea for the laced dress for her. I didn’t use Spanish lace, but I had a lace made that looked very much like the future, but with a real romantic touch from the past.” - Jacqueline West, Costume Designer on Dune

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

Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan Corrino in Dune: Part 2

dune: part two // the lovers - rene magritte

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?