Frank Herbert’s Dune is a Science Fiction masterpiece. Essential to the genre are the worlds where these stories take place. The world that Herbert brings to life is genius for several reasons. He creates a large setting that stays intimate because of the focus on people. Although he presents an entire planet over several years, the reader never loses that personal connection. The tension that drives the story is the pull between an exotic elixir that exists only on the planet Dune, a desolate, water barren planet. The book rests on the physical back of this tension. Another important world building feature is the characters themselves. The inhabitants of Dune are true science fiction creations, but stay believable and the reader can relate to their struggles. Dune is a masterpiece for what it does not have. There are no computers or robots. On Dune, thoughts reigns supreme making for an unpredictable journey. Move over Middle Earth and a Galaxy Far Far Away, Dune comes out on top in world building.
A hallmark of sci-fi is a large scale, and while Dune is no different, the story is told at the human level. The setting contains three big powers. First is the Imperial Household, ruled by Emperor Shaddam IV. The emperor enforces his rule through his legions of feared super soldiers, the Imperial Sardaukar. Second is the Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad. Each feudal great house rules over a planet. They uphold a ban on using nuclear weapons against humans, although each house has their “family atomics”. The last pillar is the Spacers Guild. They are the only group with access to faster than light travel and make the others pay for their services. The conflict of these three powers is important, but not the focus of Dune.
The text focuses on moments between characters caught up in the larger plot. This is a limit of being only words. The lack of visuals means large-scale battles don’t work as well compared to movies and TV shows. But Dune’s story focuses on the struggle of people. To avoid the book being super long, time sometimes jumps forward between chapters, skipping past entire battles in a page. This can get confusing but is not unique to Dune. Battles in The Lord of the Rings novels are only a few pages long, just like Dune. And as The Lord of the Rings centers on Frodo, Dune does so around Paul.
A key to great worldbuilding is embedding a central tension deep in the setting. An example is the world of The Lord of the Rings, one of the most popular fictional places ever created. The tension here is the One Ring. The good guys want to destroy it. The bad guys want it. There’s no The Lord of the Rings without the One Ring. In Dune, the tension focuses around the drug Melange, called The Spice. This drug, found on Dune (also called Arrakis), is an essential parts of this world and each of the three big powers need it. The emperor's truth sensing adviser gets her foresight through the Spice. Without computers, the Spacer’s Guild navigators use The Spice to see far in front of their Faster than Light starships and make sure they get places in one piece. And House Harkonnen, the rulers of Arrakis, profit from selling the drug. Not to mention gargantuan sand worms hundreds of feet long roam the deserts of Dune. When mining The Spice, aerial spotters look for “worm signs”, mining the valuable drug as long as possible before the worm arrives. Massive helicopters carry out the mining platform to avoid destruction. And to top it off shields attract worms, so turning one on is suicide in the open desert. These factors make the Spice a priceless commodity, making those who mine it rich and centering the entire plot around the planet Arrakis.
Creating masterful civilizations where the readers care about the inhabitants is paramount to successful sci-fi worldbuilding. The cultures in Dune are the best part of the book. Each of the various Houses have their own unique characteristics. The good Atreides, house of the protagonist Paul, have noble virtues and rule their people through compassion. The evil Harkonnens rule the people of Arrakis with an iron fist, using them to exploit the spice.
The best society in the book is the people native to Arrakis: the Fremen. They are a religious, tribal people, and this helps Paul many times. Since they live in a desert world, water is precious. Water backs their currency like the gold or silver standards that existed in our own world. They sleep during the hot days and go out on the dunes at night. They wear suits with breathing apparatuses that recycle all but a thimble’s worth of water a day. The tribe extracts the water from their dead for use among the people. This way of life is difficult for Paul and his mother, Jessica, as the planet they grew up on was like earth. The Fremen are in disbelief when they hear stories of rain, oceans and great ships that ride the waves. Their culture is militaristic, but is necessary for their survival in such a harsh climate. This discipline makes Fremen formidable fighters, and for part of the book get hunted by the super soldier Imperial Sardaukar for sport. It makes the Fremen the perfect standing army for the dethroned duke Paul.
When a reader picks up a sci-fi novel, they expect computers, such as Orwell’s 1984, or robots, such as Asimov’s I, Robot. Yet Dune is missing these big sci-fi staples along with aspects like laser gun battles. But this makes the story so interesting. Years ago, humans destroyed the “Thinking Machines” in an uprising, leaving a human centric world. To make up for this, they train select people from birth to be mental supercomputers, meeting and even surpassing the computing power of the old “thinking machines”. These people, called Mentats, dot the world and often find themselves at the side of rulers. Paul Atreides learns mid way through that his mother raised him with Mentat training, and these skills are essential in his journey. Because of a focus on human thinking, Dune is a place where religion is central to life. While other sci-fi series have religious aspects, like the Jedi in Star Wars, it takes a backseat. In Dune its front and center being integral to the people living on Arrakis.
Great battles with laser weapons, a staple of sci-fi from Star Wars to Star Trek, are absent. Not that laser weapons don’t exist. Lasguns, as they're called in the book, shoot “white-hot beams of disruptive light could cut through any known substance, provided that substance was not shielded” (Dune). But shields are everywhere, ranging in size from personal to city-guarding. Lasguns, when they shoot a shield, vaporize both the attacker and defender and create nuclear fallout. To avoid these problems, fights are close up with swords and knives. Only a slow blade will pierce a shield, making combat difficult if untrained. Here, Herbert uses the Catch 22 of weapons escalation to explain why weapons of mass destruction are not the answer.
Frank Herbert’s Dune is the quintessential sci-fi world. It is a big world that focuses on the story of Paul. The tension between the planet and the Spice drives the story forward without stopping. It is a fascinating exploration of exotic cultures that are relatable. And it’s not your typical sci-fi story, as it does not center on bots or blasters. It is one of the best.
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