Top 10 Unanswered Questions in Dune: Part Two
#10: Where Are All the Computers?
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It seems like our own future will be bound up with AI and robotics - but they’re curiously absent in Dune’s sci-fi setting. That’s because of the Butlerian Jihad, an uprising against ‘thinking machines’ 10,000 years before the events of “Dune” (and over 11,000 years into our own future). It isn’t mentioned in the movies, but the books detail how humans eradicated "computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots". The Orange Catholic Bible prohibited their creation with the commandment "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.” In place of advanced computers came highly trained human replacements - such as Mentats. Speaking of Mentats …
#9: What Happened to Mentat Thufir Hawat?
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2021’s “Dune” introduced us to House Atreides Mentat Thufir Hawat, played by Stephen McKinley Henderson. Hawat has a key role, serving as Leo Atreides’ principal advisor. But he’s nowhere to be seen in “Dune: Part Two”. In the book, Hawat is captured, poisoned, and forced to become Baron Harkonnen’s new Mentat, strategizing against the mysterious Fremen leader Muad'Dib. In secret, Hawat is also plotting against the Baron. When Hawat realizes that Paul is Muad'Dib, he takes his own life. Henderson did film scenes for “Dune: Part Two”, but director Denis Villeneuve ultimately cut them - describing it as a “painful [choice]”.
#8: How Do the Bene Gesserit Do Their ‘Voice’?
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Bene Gesserit abilities seem supernatural. Some even refer to the Sisters as ‘witches’. One of their most incredible talents involves use of ‘the Voice’ to influence and compel people. But it’s not truly magic at all. Like the Mentats - and the Spacing Guild - the Bene Gesserit emerged in the vacuum left by the destruction of thinking machines. Their training includes the “minutiae of observation”, and “conditioning of nerve and muscle” that gives them complete control of their bodies. Together, these allow them to use the tone, timbre, and pitch of their voices to subconsciously manipulate people.
#7: How Does Spice Enable Space Travel?
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In “Dune: Part One”, we learn that the Navigators of the Spacing Guild use Spice to “find safe paths between the stars”. But how does a ‘spice’ assist in interstellar travel? Well, in the Dune universe, spaceships are threaded through “folds of space” in order to traverse vast distances. The Spice Melange is an ‘awareness spectrum narcotic’ that expands consciousness, granting consumers superhuman prescience. Exposed to massive quantities inside tanks of spice gas, the mutated Guild Navigators can see ahead in time, and thus navigate the perils of ‘fold space’.
#6: Why Is There Spice Only on Arrakis?
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If spice is so valuable … why not just ‘grow’ it everywhere? That’s a secret explored in the novel that Denis Villeneuve’s movies just didn’t have time for. The sandworm life cycle begins with tiny sand plankton feeding on the spice. Sand plankton become sandtrout, whose excretions combine with water, producing a ‘pre-spice mass’ underground that builds up and explodes onto the surface. With exposure to air and sun, this ‘mass’ becomes the Spice. After hibernating, the sandtrout eventually emerge as sandworms … who then feed on the sand plankton. The spice is a product of the sandworm life cycle - so in a sense [“The worm is the spice. The spice is the worm.”].
#5: Why Aren’t Atomics Used More in Warfare?
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The futuristic tech in “Dune” has transformed combat. Shields, for example, which make use of the ‘Holtzman Effect’ to nullify gravity, have curtailed the usefulness of traditional ballistic weapons. Other firearms include lasers, or lasguns, but when a lasgun hits a shield, the effects are unpredictable and explosive. The Great Houses also have stockpiles of ‘Atomics’ - i.e. nuclear weapons. So why not just use them to wipe each other out? Well, as on Earth, the result would be Mutually Assured Destruction. A truce called the Great Convention decrees that “use of atomics against humans shall be cause for planetary obliteration”. That’s why in “Part Two” Paul chooses to use them against the Shield Wall, rather than his enemies.
#4: What Will Become of Feyd’s Child?
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In “Dune: Part Two”, the psychotic Feyd-Rautha serves as a foil to Paul, both of them products of the Bene Gesserit breeding program. Lady Margot Fenring seduces Feyd to preserve his genetic material - seeming to foreshadow trouble in the future. But Frank Herbert dropped this thread in his sequels. The fact that Villeneuve included the subplot suggests he might have plans for it if he gets to adapt the next book, “Dune Messiah”. The thread was continued in a book written by Frank Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. Set between the events of “Dune” and “Dune Messiah”, “Paul of Dune” sees Fenring train daughter Marie as an assassin to use against Paul. It’s an element that Villeneuve could easily rework into “Dune Messiah”, if he wished.
#3: Who Is the Next Big Bad?
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“Dune: Part Two” ends with Paul unleashing a holy war against the Great Houses. The Emperor has accepted exile, and all the major villains in House Harkonnen are dead. So who’ll oppose Paul in any film adaptation of “Dune Messiah”? In the books, the Baron does come back, although in a pretty unexpected way. But that isn’t until after “Dune Messiah”. The main antagonists of “Messiah” are conspirators led by Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Mohiam, Spacing Guild Navigator Edric, and Scytale of the Tleilaxu - an isolationist society infamous for their genetic engineering. Scytale is a ‘Face Dancer’, a shapeshifter who can take on other likenesses. Paul also has a band of Fremen rebels coming for him - so yeah, he’ll have his hands full.
#2: What Will Chani Do Now?
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In the closing scene of “Dune: Part Two”, Chani has struck off on her own - unlike in the book, where she’s resigned to becoming Paul’s concubine. So where will she go? Will her and Paul reunite? In the book “Dune Messiah”, even though Paul has married Princess Irulan, it’s Chani who has his children - Leto II and Ghanima. Given the conflict between Chani and Paul in the movie universe, will this still happen? It seems likely, just based on how integral Leto II and Ghanima are in subsequent books. Could Chani also be working against Paul somehow however? Perhaps as part of the rebel plot against him? We’ll have to wait to find out!
#1: What Will Happen with Paul’s Holy War?
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This is a lot easier to answer, so here’s another spoiler alert. Taking place after a 12 year time jump, “Dune Messiah” has Paul sitting on the throne as Emperor of the Known Universe. His holy war has raged across the galaxy, leaving 61 billion people dead. Yeah, no wonder he freaked out when he saw the future. He feels trapped, knowing that there are even worse fates for humanity if he lets go of the wheel. Meanwhile, he’s begun to fulfill his promise to terraform Arrakis, a process that continues through subsequent books - posing an existential threat to the sandworms and thus the spice. The life of a Kwisatz Haderach isn’t simple!
What do YOU think will happen between Paul and Chani? Tell us in the comments!
