DUNE: A Novel Summarized

========================= DUNE: A Novel Summarized (By SimoTheFinlandized - 2021 CE) ========================== PROLOGUE OF DUNE: A Foreword By SimoTheFinlandized (2021 CE) ========================= The DUNE saga by Frank Herbert is set many tens of thousands of years into humanity's far-flung future. Faster-than-light travel has been developed, alongside many other typical stellar fusion-age technologies, and humans have colonized a vast number of worlds, but a great reactionary movement against technology has resulted in a ban on any kind of “thinking machine”, with creation or possession punished by immediate death. Despite this major technological prohibition, humanity continues to develop and advance other branches of technology, including ESP and instruments-of-war. At the time of the first book's setting, about 24,000 years from now, humanity has formed a vast advanced fusion-age feudal interstellar empire known as the Galactic Padishah Imperium, run by several great & extremely powerful Great Houses that oversee various planets & star systems, who are in turn led by the near-omnipotent & immensely wealthy & prestigious Galactic Emperor of House Corrino. Of great key interest is the planet Arrakis, known as "Dune". Entirely a desert planet with nearly no precipitation, it is the only planet where a special life-extending drug, melange or "the spice", can be found. In addition to its great life-extension, melange greatly enhances the mental capacity of humans: it enables a class of specially hyper-intelligent humans known as the Mentats to perform without any fail extremely complex calculations without the aid of any type of computer & to also retain vast stores of highly-important information, allows for the mutated Spacing Guild pilots to fold space and travel the distances between planets on their enormous heighliners (gigantic cylindrical starships), and creates the quasi-magical visions, abilities, and potent powers of the Bene Gesserit, a very mysterious matriarchal religious group that secretly seeks to control the direction humanity takes. Melange is difficult to acquire not only due to the harsh environment of Arrakis, but also the presence of giant sandworms that are drawn towards any movement on the sands of the planet, in addition to the planet's native population of desert-dwelling tribal humans, known collectively as the Fremen, who have since long ago rebelled against the Imperium. Control of Arrakis, its spice production, and the impact the said spice has on humanity's development become the centerpoints of a thousands-year long conflict that develops through the series. ========================== DUNE (Novel): By Frank Herbert ========================= Duke Leto Atreides of the House Atreides, ruler of the ocean planet Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planet Arrakis. Arrakis is a harsh and inhospitable desert planet, and the only source of melange, or "the spice", an extremely rare and valuable substance that extends human life and enhances mental capabilities. Shaddam sees House Atreides as a rival, and conspires with House Harkonnen, the longstanding enemies of House Atreides among the other Great Houses in the Landsraad, to destroy Leto once he arrives on Arrakis. Leto is aware his assignment is a trap of some kind, but cannot refuse. ========================= Leto's concubine Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields superhuman physical powers. Though Jessica was instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear a daughter as part of their breeding program, out of love for Leto she bore a son, Paul. Paul is trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the Mentat assassin Thufir Hawat and elite soldiers Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck, to prepare for Arrakis. Jessica has also trained Paul in what Bene Gesserit disciplines she can. His prophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. She subjects Paul to the gom jabbar, a deadly test which causes blinding pain as part of an assessment of the subject's humanity. To her surprise, Paul manages to pass. ========================== Leto, Jessica and Paul travel with their household to occupy Arrakeen, the stronghold on Arrakis formerly held by House Harkonnen. Leto learns of the dangers involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giant sandworms, and negotiates with the planet's native Fremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes. Soon after the Atreides' arrival, Harkonnen forces attack, joined by the Emperor's ferocious Sardaukar troops in disguise. Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Leto to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries. Yueh, however, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert, where they are presumed dead by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison capsule, hoping Leto can kill the Baron during their encounter. Yueh is murdered by De Vries upon delivering Leto, while the Baron narrowly avoids the gas, which instead kills Leto and De Vries. The Baron forces Hawat to take over De Vries' position. While he follows the Baron's orders, Hawat works to undermine the Harkonnens. ========================= After fleeing into the desert, Paul realizes he has significant powers as an accidental result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme, inadvertently caused by Jessica bearing a son. He foresees futures in which he lives among the planet's native Fremen, and has a vision where he is informed of the addictive qualities of the spice. It is also revealed Jessica is the daughter of Baron Harkonnen, a secret kept from her by the Bene Gesserit. Paul and Jessica are accepted into the Fremen community of Sietch Tabr, and teach the Fremen the Bene Gesserit fighting technique known as the "weirding way". Paul proves his manhood and chooses the Fremen name Muad'Dib, while Jessica opts to undergo a ritual to become a Reverend Mother by drinking the poisonous Water of Life. Pregnant with Leto's daughter, she inadvertently causes the unborn child, Alia, to become infused with the same powers in the womb. Paul takes a Fremen lover, Chani, and has a son with her, Leto II. ======================== Two years pass, and Paul's powerful prescience abilities manifest, which lead the Fremen to consider him their messiah. Paul recognizes that the Fremen could be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, their jihad could consume the entire universe. Word of the new Fremen leader reaches both Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor as spice production falls due to their increasingly destructive raids. The Baron decides to replace his brutish nephew Glossu Rabban with his shrewder nephew Feyd-Rautha, hoping to gain favor with the Fremen. The Emperor, suspecting the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, sends spies to monitor activity on Arrakis. Hawat uses the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt in the Baron about the Emperor's true plans, putting further strain on their alliance. ====================== Gurney Halleck, having survived the Harkonnen coup, reunites with Paul and Jessica. Believing Jessica to be a traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her, but is stopped by Paul. Paul did not foresee Gurney's attack, and concludes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which is fatal to men. Paul falls into unconsciousness for several weeks after drinking the Water, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space: he is the Kwisatz Haderach, ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program. ========================= Paul senses the Emperor and Baron are amassing fleets around Arrakis to quell the Fremen rebellion, and prepares the Fremen for a major offensive against the Harkonnen troops. The Emperor arrives with the Baron on Arrakis; their combined troops seize a Fremen outpost, killing many including Leto II, while Alia is captured and taken to the Baron. She remains defiant, putting her trust in her brother. Under cover of an electric storm which shorts out the Emperor's troops' defensive shields, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, assault the capital while Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. The Fremen quickly defeat both the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops. ========================= Paul faces the Emperor, threatening to destroy spice production forever unless the Emperor abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha attempts to stop Paul by challenging him to a ritualistic knife fight, during which he attempts to cheat and kill Paul with a poison spur in his belt. Paul gains the upper hand and kills him. The Emperor reluctantly cedes the throne to Paul and promises his daughter Princess Irulan's hand in marriage. As Paul takes control of the Empire, he realizes that while he has achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain. ==========================