FridgeLogic in ''Franchise/{{Dune}}''.
----

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Fridge Brilliance ]]


* Why does rhythm anger the Sandworms? Standing Waves! Have you ever walked with an over-full drink in your hand and tried not to spill it? Ever notice that you have to walk without rhythm in order to keep it from sloshing out? This is because walking at a regular pace adds energy to the moving water and causes it to slosh. The sandworms depend on the water encapsulated by sand trout to stay that way--as wet soil is lethal to them, so rhythmic motion on the surface could produce waves in the encapsulated water and potentially cause the water in these packets to burst free. This would be dangerous to the Sandworms, and that's why they treat anything producing rhythm as a threat.
* The Kwisatz Haderach can look into both the ancestral memory of both male and females. Why? Simple genetics! Females got XX chromosomes, while males got both X and Y chromosomes. This is why females are more limited in their ability to access other memory.
** Since one of those two X chromosomes comes from the father, we'd need to look a little closer for an explanation.
* The book's real life inspiration:
** Spice is Oil. It's the only thing that enables long-distance travel, you get it from a desert where the natives are a civilization of badass warriors; the only major difference is if you drink a gallon of oil, you won't see visions of the future.
** The 1960's were when the colonial holdings of the European powers in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East finally started gaining independence. But of course the European powers were still trying to manipulate local politics so they could continue to maintain influence and access to the resources they wanted from those colonies to begin with. Dune wasn't so much prophecy as it was RippedFromTheHeadlines at the time. Frank Herbert was especially perspicacious in anticipating the role of religion as a unifying factor against colonialism/mercantilism.
*** A prime example of this RippedFromTheHeadlines aspect was pointed out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjC5JLNFczY by Matt Colville in this video]] that, while the term "Mahdi" is an ancient aspect of Islam, that wasn't the Mahdi that Herbert was referring to in the novel - he was wanting the reader to think of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdist_War Mahdist War]] from the 1880s.
** Read Dune, then go watch ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'', or read about the real Major Lawrence. Lawrence goes into the desert where the war between great world powers is being waged, and harnesses the incredible overlooked strength of the native badasses to swing the outcome, and is (at least in the movie) revered and almost worshiped by his fighters. T. E. Lawrence was born out of wedlock (and in a time period, when it was considered a big deal). Paul is the son of Leto's relationship with his concubine Jessica. Exposure to the Spice turn your eyes blue. The bluer Paul's eyes grew, the more GoingNative he had become. Creator/PeterOToole, who played Lawrence in the movie [[https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/peter-otoole-lawrence-of-arabia.jpg?w=670&h=377&crop=1 had the bluest eyes I have ever seen.]] Herbert specifically calls this out in the author's note.
* ''Literature/ChapterhouseDune'' - With the [[DiedDuringProduction death of Frank Herbert]] the future of the Dune Universe is hidden from the viewers, which is a perfect analogy for the Golden Path, however unintended it may be.
* In the first book and it's adaptations, I wondered how all that fighting never attracted {{Sand Worm}}s - the Fremen not only know how to avoid the worms, they ''ride'' them. They'd attack the Harkonen spice operations and get a ride home via SandWorm!
* The first ''Dune'' book puts various quotations from in-universe documents as epigraphs for the chapters, which often cryptically foreshadow things that happen later in the book. Thus, the quotes sort of work the same way Paul's visions of the future do, and the reader is given a small taste of experiencing the novel as he experiences his life: You know something in advance about later plot points, but often don't have the context to work out their significance yet. In addition, all those chapter quotes are from books written by Irulan. Which as you're reading, makes you think that Irulan survived the story and became a great expert on Mau'dib/Paul - maybe even indicating that Paul never succeeded in his aim to topple the Emperor. Then at the end of the book when Chani is upset that Paul must marry Irulan for the sake of politics, Jessica consoles her by saying that she hears Irulan has aspirations to be a writer - a good thing as she will need something to fill her time, given that Paul will never, ever be a real husband to her. And suddenly you realise that what those chapter quotes really prove is that Jessica was right, and Irulan lived a meaningless life as a trophy bride for Paul.
* Mohiam says that a human caught in a trap will feign death so that he can kill the trapper -- and this is exactly what Paul does over the course of the first novel. Arrakis is a trap set by the Baron and the Emperor Paul doesn't "gnaw off his own leg" by fleeing the planet when the trap is sprung. Instead, he lets his enemies think him dead while he builds strength until he can overthrow them.


[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fridge Horror ]]


* The ''gom jabbar'' ordeal wasn't intended to weed out candidates who couldn't master their animal impulses, as Reverend Mother Mohiam suggests. It was meant to weed out the ''disobedient''. Bene Gesserit leaders expect absolute obedience from initiates, even in matters as intimate as relationships, marriage, sex, and motherhood. Thus, they use the ''gom jabbar'' test to eliminate candidates who disobey and select candidates who obey a command under extreme suffering.
** In some ways, Bene Gesserit has shaped humans to become more robot-like in absence of computing machines.
* As if the introductory scene of the Harkonnens wasn't disturbing enough, it's all but stated that the Baron wants to capture ''and rape'' the fifteen-year-old Paul. Then when he decides to go bed at the end of the scene, he says to his nephew, Feyd-Rautha, "We're having an early night." Feyd later recommends a slave as a sex partner for his uncle. The slave has a poisoned dart in his flank, on the exact place where Harkonnen lays his hand. ''How would Feyd know?''
* Lady Jessica sees Piter and immediately deduces that he is profoundly dangerous, damaged and disturbed. He also really seems to have it in for his boss, to the point that at times he seems to actually be restraining himself from killing him. Jessica wonders what Baron Harkonnen could possibly have done to make his Mentat like this. Later on in the book, Feyd asks the Baron why he never purchased a Bene Gesserit Truthsayer and he answers "You know my tastes." ...
----