God Emperor of Dune

God Emperor of Dune is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert published in 1981, the fourth in his Dune series of six novels. It was ranked as the #11 hardcover fiction best seller of 1981 by Publishers Weekly.

Plot

3,500 years following his decision in Children of Dune to merge his human body with sandtrout, the haploid phase of the giant sandworms of Arrakis, Leto Atreides II continues to rule the remnants of the Imperium. The acquisition of sandworm biology has extended his life span, but also transformed him into a "pre-worm": a being with a human head and arms, but the body of a worm. These features give him near-invulnerability, but also leave him prone to instinct-driven bouts of violence when provoked to anger. As a result, his rule is one of religious awe and despotic fear, giving him the title of God Emperor. The death of the sandworms has given him sole control over melange, and he has disbanded the Landsraad to all but a few Great Houses; the remaining powers defer to his authority, although they individually conspire against him in secret. The Fremen have long since lost their identity and true spirit and their military might have been replaced with the Fish Speakers: an all-female army who obey Leto without question. He has rendered the human population into a state of trans-galactic stagnation; space travel is non-existent to most people in his Empire, which he has deliberately kept to near-medieval level of technological sophistication. All of this he has done in accordance with a prophecy divined through precognition that will establish an enforced peace preventing humanity from destroying itself through aggressive behavior, but at the cost of his reputation and ultimately his life; it is explained that Leto II has "never looked" at the moment of his own death by way of his prescient vision.

Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by either wind or water flow. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack. A "dune field" is an area covered by extensive sand dunes.

Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach. In most cases, the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea. Although the most widely distributed dunes are those associated with coastal regions, the largest complexes of dunes are found inland in dry regions and associated with ancient lake or sea beds.

Dunes can form under the action of water flow (fluvial processes), and on sand or gravel beds of rivers, estuaries and the sea-bed.

The modern word "dune" came into English from French circa 1790.

Dune (film)

Dune is a 1984 American epic science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan as young nobleman Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City and included a soundtrack by the rock band Toto and Brian Eno. The plot, set twenty one thousand years in the future, concerns the conflict between rival noble families as they battle for control of the planet Arrakis (also known as "Dune"), which is the only planet that possesses the drug melange—also called "the spice"—which is the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe.

After the success of the novel, attempts to adapt Dune as a film began as early as 1971. A lengthy process of development followed throughout the 1970s, during which Arthur P. Jacobs, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott unsuccessfully tried to bring their visions to the screen. In 1981, executive producer Dino De Laurentiis hired Lynch as director.

Arrakis

Arrakis (/əˈrækᵻs/;Arabic: الراقص‎, ar-rāqiṣ, "the dancer") — informally known as Dune and later called Rakis — is a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. Herbert's first novel in the series, 1965's Dune, is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and it is sometimes cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history.

In Dune, the planet is the home of the Fremen (Zensunni wanderers), and subsequently is the Imperial Capital of the Atreides Empire. Arrakis is the third planet orbiting the star Canopus, and it in turn is orbited by two moons, one of which has the image of the desert kangaroo mouse, Muad'Dib, on it; the other moon possesses the image of a human hand.

Environment and the spice

A desert planet with no natural precipitation, in Dune it is established that Arrakis had been "His Imperial Majesty's Desert Botanical Testing Station" before the discovery of melange, for which it is the only natural source in the universe. Melange (or, "the spice") is the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe, as it extends life and makes safe interstellar travel possible (among other uses). The planet has no surface water bodies, but open canals called qanats are used "for carrying irrigation water under controlled conditions" through the desert. The Fremen collect water in underground reservoirs to fulfill their dream of someday terraforming the planet, and pay the Spacing Guild exorbitant fees in melange to keep the skies over Arrakis free of any satellites which might observe their efforts. As indicated by its large salt flats, Arrakis once had lakes and oceans; Lady Jessica also notes in Dune that wells drilled in the sinks and basins initially produce a "trickle" of water which soon stops, as if "something plugs it."

Malky

Malky may refer to: