History Literature / DuneEncyclopedia

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: In the Dune Encyclopedia, under "Atomics", they mentioned the first ever use of the weapons was by House Washington (the USA) in a "provincial conflict."

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The dueling articles on the historicity of Paul Atreides are very clear references to the similar historical controversies about Jesus Christ, with the same kind of arguments employed on the competing sides.

* FamousAncestor: House Atreides claims to have been founded by Atreus, the son of Agamemnon of Myth/GreekMythology, House Harkonnen claims descent from the Romanovs of UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia, and Houses Harkonnen and Corrino claim common descent from the Palaiologos, the last ruling dynasty of the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire.

* FictionalDocument: The basis of the Dune Encyclopedia.

* DarwinistDesire: the Bene Gesserit actually have Darwinist Desire ''Matchmaking.'' They've been secretly manipulating the marriages of all the members of the noble houses to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a being capable of omniscience.

* FasterThanLightTravel: Foldspace

* FanonDiscontinuity: Subject of this a lot, fans tend to fall into three groups.
** Fans that take the Encyclopedia as canon or sub-canon for gaps the books don't cover. Citing that it was published as an authorized companion book and endorsed by Frank Herbert.
** Fans that do not consider it canon, agreeing with the attempted CanonDiscontinuity issued by Brian Herbert and preferring the prequels.
** Fans that only consider the original six books by Frank Herbert as canon and exclude both the encyclopedia and prequels.

''The Dune Encyclopedia'' is written in-universe after the reign of Leto II, based on the work of fictional in-universe archeologist Hadi Benotto. The encyclopedia also references the scholarly work of Bronso of Ix, a historian executed at the beginning of ''Literature/DuneMessiah'' especially in the article for Dr. Yueh. [=McNelly=] uses this in-universe perspective as a pre-emptive explanation as to why information may become inaccurate or dated, since the accuracy of Hadi's source material may be propaganda or otherwise unreliable and subject to historical interpretation.

''The Dune Encyclopedia'' is written in-universe after the reign of Leto II based on the work of fictional in-universe Archeologist Hadi Benotto. The encyclopedia also references the scholarly work of Bronso of Ix, a historian executed at the beginning of ''Literature/DuneMessiah'' especially in the article for Dr. Yueh. [=McNelly=] uses this in-universe perspective as a pre-emptive explanation as to why information may become inaccurate or dated, since the accuracy of Hadi's source material may be propaganda or otherwise unreliable and subject to historical interpretation.

''The Dune Encyclopedia'' is a collection of articles written by multiple authors and compiled/edited by Dr. Willis E. [=McNelly=]. [=McNelly=], a close friend of original Dune author Creator/FrankHerbert, consulted with him throughout the process and was given access to early versions of ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'' in order to further inform the work. ''The Dune Encyclopedia'' was published in 1984 by Berkley Books, an imprint of Putnam, which published the original [[Franchise/{{Dune}} ''Dune Chronicles'']].

''The Dune Encyclopedia'' is a collection of articles written by multiple authors and compiled/edited by Dr. Willis E. [=McNelly=]. [=McNelly=], a close friend of original Dune author Creator/FrankHerbert, consulted with him throughout the process and was given access to early versions of ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'' in order to further inform the work. ''The Dune Encyclopedia'' was published in 1984 by Berkley Books, an imprint of Putnam, which published the original [[Franchise/{{Dune}} Dune Chronicles]].

FanonDiscontinuity has been applied to both ''The Dune Encyclopedia'' and the prequels depending on the individual reader, however hindsight has shown this to be more the case for the prequels as time goes on. While the prequels, particularly the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' books and ''Literature/HuntersOfDune'' and ''Literature/SandwormsOfDune'', are supposed to be based on Creator/FrankHerbert's notes, many fans have come to believe the notes either do not exist or have been ignored in favor of the new author's own ideas. Either way, many fans prefer to continue to use The Dune Encyclopedia as the canonical or quasi-canonical backstory despite the Herbert Limited Partnership's objections.

FanonDiscontinuity has been applied to both The Dune Encyclopedia and the prequels depending on the individual reader, however hindsight has shown this to be more the case for the prequels as time goes on. While the prequels, particularly the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' books and ''Literature/HuntersOfDune'' and ''Literature/SandwormsOfDune'', are supposed to be based on Creator/FrankHerbert's notes, many fans have come to believe the notes either do not exist or have been ignored in favor of the new author's own ideas. Either way, many fans prefer to continue to use The Dune Encyclopedia as the canonical or quasi-canonical backstory despite the Herbert Limited Partnership's objections.

While Herbert himself contradicted the Encyclopedia at times in ''Literature/HereticsOfDune'' and ''Literature/ChapterhouseDune'', it still easily fell within the built-in explanation of the book's in-character reliability. Herbert and [=McNelly=] were planning on writing a Butlerian Jihad prequel using the Encyclopedia as a starting point, prior to [[AuthorExistenceFailure Frank Herbert's death]].

''The Dune Encyclopedia'' gives a rich background to the Franchise/{{Dune}} universe. It included detailed language guides, including Galach and Fremen. It includes detailed character biographies of both main and minor characters; technical articles such as the workings of the Ixian no-rooms and Holtzmann effects; histories of the Great Houses and major schools of the Imperium and historical events such as the Butlerian Jihad. It explores scientific aspects, including the Spice cycle and chemicals/poisons; historical details such as Sardaukar uniforms and awards and even in-universe literary study.

FanonDiscontinuity has been applied to both The Dune Encyclopedia and the prequels depending on the individual reader, however hindsight has shown this to be more the case of the prequels as time goes on. While the prequels, particularly the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' books and ''Literature/HuntersOfDune'' and ''Literature/SandwormsOfDune'', are supposed to be based on Creator/FrankHerbert's notes, many fans have come to believe the notes either do not exist or have been ignored in favor of the new author's own ideas. Either way, many fans prefer to continue to use The Dune Encyclopedia as the canonical or quasi-canonical backstory despite the Herbert Limited Partnership's objections.

* AncientAstronauts[=/=]AllMythsAreTrue: Humans themselves fill this role, with the Bene Gesserit purposely spreading myths based on heroic and religious archetypes throughout fledgling colonies to make use of the people there later.

* SwordFight: Swords and knives are the main weapons used in ground combat: [[DeflectorShields shields]] stop projectile weapons, and [[PhlebotinumOverload explode like nukes]] when attacked with [[EnergyWeapon lasguns]].

* StarfishAliens: The sandworms, which are gigantic (as in up-to-half-kilometer-long) wormlike creatures that live in the desert. They also have a larval form, which begin as microbial "sand plankton" that serve as food to the adults, and grow into a small roughly diamond-shaped form called sandtrout AKA "Little Makers". The sandtrout are later revealed to seal away all the water on the planet, which is highly toxic to the adult form, and secrete the precursors to the addictive and PsychicPowers-granting Spice, which triggers their transformation into the sandworm "Makers".
** They also inhale carbon dioxide and breathe out fresh oxygen, working as a substitute for the nearly non-existant plantlife on Arrakis. This also justifies why such a SingleBiomePlanet can have a breathable atmosphere. The byproducts of the worms are suspiciously Terran-friendly indeed. Various characters {{lampshade|Hanging}} this occasionally, even suggesting the idea that sandworms may be in fact {{Lost|Technology}} OrganicTechnology for terraforming planets ([[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke created]] [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup a long time ago]] by humans, presumably).

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: The ''Dune'' universe is positively riddled with words seemingly inspired by or derived from Arabic and Farsi (most of the future religions have some Islam in them). Even Hebrew shows up once or twice. Amongst other things, ''K'fitzat ha'derekh'' (compare to Dune's ''Kwisatz Haderach'') is a magical ability ascribed to some real-world Chassidic holy men -- specifically, the ability to teleport.

* AncientConspiracy: Although they are more visible than most ancient conspiracies, the Bene Gesserit definitely count: they have manipulated practically all existing religions in the ''Dune'' universe to be tools for their purposes, to the point a Bene Gesserit can basically go to any planet and detect different cues and codes within the local religion's tenets to know exactly what to say and do to present herself as a paragon, prophet or even messiah of the local religion. This is how Lady Jessica insinuates herself and Paul into the Fremen culture. Of course, Jessica had no way of knowing Paul would become an ACTUAL messiah.
** The encyclopedia takes it further with the Bene Gesserit going back to ancient Earth antiquity and Jesus being a failed Kwisatz Haderach.

* FrickinLaserBeams: A lasgun shot hitting a shield is highly unpredictable, and can cause either a nuclear-level explosion or only destroy both shooter and shootee. Also, lasguns are presented unusually realistically for sci-fi (except for the universe-physics-specific shield bit). In Leto II's future, lasguns have come back into general use after he banned shields, leading to a massive arms race after [[spoiler:his death]].

FanonDiscontinuity has been applied to both The Dune Encyclopedia and the prequels depending on the individual reader, however hindsight has shown this to be more the case of the prequels as time goes on. While the prequels, particularly the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' books and ''Literature/HuntersSandwormsOfDune'', are supposed to be based on Creator/FrankHerbert's notes, many fans have come to believe the notes either do not exist or have been ignored in favor of the new author's own ideas. Either way, many fans prefer to continue to use The Dune Encyclopedia as the canonical or quasi-canonical backstory despite the Herbert Limited Partnership's objections.

FanonDiscontinuity has been applied to both The Dune Encyclopedia and the prequels depending on the individual reader, however hindsight has shown this to be more the case of the prequels as time goes on. While the prequels, particularly the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' books and ''Literature/HuntersSandwormsOfDune'', are supposed to be based on Creator/FrankHerbert's notes, many fans have come to believe the notes either do not exist or have been ignored in favor of the new authror's own ideas. Either way, many fans prefer to continue to use The Dune Encyclopedia as the canonical or quasi-canonical backstory despite the Herbert Limited Partnership's objections.

Ironically, one of the few areas in which the [[PreludeToDune prequels]] followed the encyclopedia is in making Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam into the Lady Jessica's mother; which was, according to [=McNelly=], one of the few things Frank Herbert did not like and the biggest topic of debate in their meetings.

* AbsentAliens: Unless you count the Sandworms, and their [[{{Precursors}} implied creators]]. Even then, the sentience was added after the fact, by Leto II.
** Plenty of non-sentient species are also mentioned in passing. There's a lot of ''life'' in the universe, but none of it talks back.

* ActionGirl / ActionMom: The Encyclopedia expands on many of the story’s characters including these.

* AncientAstronauts[=/=]AllMythsAreTrue: A variant in that humans themselves fill this role, with the Bene Gesserit purposely spreading myths based on heroic and religious archetypes throughout fledgling colonies to make use of the people there later.

* CoolButInefficient: A lot of the tech, [[JustifiedTrope justifying]] the FeudalFuture / PunkPunk feel of TheVerse. Much of this is deliberate due to prohibitions against thinking machines and the dominance of shields in warfare.

* CulturedBadass: Pretty much ''everyone''.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Only useful without DeflectorShields, which are ubiquitous, so almost a subversion/aversion. (A lasgun shot hitting a shield is highly unpredictable, and can cause either a nuclear-level explosion or only destroy both shooter and shootee). Also, lasguns are presented unusually realistically for sci-fi (except for the universe-physics-specific shield bit). In Leto II's future, lasguns have come back into general use after he banned shields, leading to a massive arms race after [[spoiler:his death]].

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: The ''Dune'' universe is positively riddled with words seemingly inspired by or derived from Arabic and Farsi (most of the future religions have some Islam in them). Even Hebrew shows up once or twice. Amongst other things, ''K'fitzat ha'derekh'' (compare to Dune's ''Kwisatz Haderach'') is a magical ability ascribed to some real-world Chassidic holy men -- specifically, the ability to teleport. The twins speak French, because it's a dead language at this time, so nobody else could possibly understand them.

* IntrinsicVow: Gholas. ...All of them.

* NumberedHomeworld: The planet Ix (pronounced as spelled) developed from millennia of language-development to the point that the original prefix was lost, and Ix came to be pronounced as a word rather than as "IX", or 9 in Roman numerals. Before

** They also inhale carbon dioxide and breathe out fresh oxygen, working as a substitute for the nearly non-existant plantlife on Arrakis. This also {{justifie|dTrope}}s why such a SingleBiomePlanet can have a breathable atmosphere. The byproducts of the worms are suspiciously Terran-friendly indeed. Various characters {{lampshade|Hanging}} this occasionally, even suggesting the idea that sandworms may be in fact {{Lost|Technology}} OrganicTechnology for terraforming planets ([[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke created]] [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup a long time ago]] by humans, presumably).
* SwordFight: Swords and knives are the main weapons used in ground combat. {{Justified|Trope}}: [[DeflectorShields shields]] stop projectile weapons, and [[PhlebotinumOverload explode like nukes]] when attacked with [[EnergyWeapon lasguns]].

** This is inverted during and after Leto II's reign, as he bans shields within the Empire in order to force warfare to start evolving again.

-->''Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, `I am not the kind of person I want to be.' It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.''

''The Dune Encyclopedia'' gives a rich background to the Franchise/{{Dune}} universe. It included detailed language guides, including Galach and Fremen. It includes detailed character biographies of both main and minor characters; technical articles such as the workings of the Ixian no-rooms and Holtzman effects; histories of the Great Houses and major schools of the Imperium and historical events such as the Butlerian Jihad. It explores scientic aspects, including the Spice cycle and chemicals/poisons; historical details such as Sardaukar uniforms and awards and even in-universe literary study.

FanonDiscontinuity has been applied to both The Dune Encyclopedia and the prequels depending on the individual reader, however hindsight has shown this to be more the case of the prequels as time goes on. While the prequels, particularly the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' books and ''Literature/HuntersSandwormsOfDune'', are supposed to be based on Creator/FrankHerbert's notes, many fans have come to believe the notes either do not exist or have been ignored in favor of the new authror's own ideas. Either way, many fans prefer to continue to use The Dune Encyclopedia as the cononical or quasi-canonical backstory despite the Herbert Limited Partnership's objections.

* FictionalDocument: The basis of the Dune Encyclopedia

* FutureImperfect: According to the pseudo-canon encyclopedia, House Atreides claims to have been founded by Atreus, the son of Agamemnon of Myth/GreekMythology, House Harkonnen claims descent from the Romanovs of tsarist Russia, Alexander the Great is considered to have been the first Galactic Emperor, and members of the "House Of Washington" (i.e., America) were the first historical users of atomic weapons. Averted in some cases, as the Bene Gesserit (and some Atreides) possess GeneticMemory telling them exactly who their ancestors were and covering the entire scope of human history. Also, whereas in the book series it's mentioned that the origin of the planet Ix's name is obscure, the Encyclopedia explains that it means [[NumberedHomeworld "nine", from its position in its own solar system]].
* GalacticSuperpower: The Empire that reigned from the Butlerian Jihad to Leto II's planned Scattering.

* JunkieProphet: Detailed studies of Paul, Leto II and the Spacing Guild

* KingBobTheNth: The Dune Encyclopedia has a list of every Emperor of the Known Universe (since 88 B.G.) along with the dates of their reigns. Shaddam IV's immediate predecessors were Fredhrick XIX, Corrin XXV and Elrood IX. Shaddam III reigned 4200 years before Shaddam IV, Shaddam II was some 3000 years before that, and Shaddam I reigned 2400 years before him. Shaddam IV was the 81st "Padishah" Emperor, but the 370th Emperor of the Known Universe. The Empire supposedly originated with Alexander the Great, so it isn't supposed to be an accurate list.
* LanguageDrift: A section on the history of the Fremen language notes how someone discovered that over the millennia their supposedly "pure" language had changed to the point of unrecognisability, beginning a campaign to restore it to the Arabic spoken 16,000 years earlier.

* NumberedHomeworld: The planet Ix (pronounced as spelled) developed from millennia of language-development to the point that the original prefix was lost, and Ix came to be pronounced as a word rather than as "IX", or 9 in Roman numerals.

* WorldBuilding: The Encyclopedia adds even more detail to the already rich world of Dune.
* UnreliableNarrator: The Encyclopedia is very much an example of this. It is framed as an encyclopedia within the ''Dune'' universe, purportedly 5,000 years after the events of the first novel and after the historical record has been greatly altered or lost. Several of the entries either contradict or give a different perspective on the events of the novels. It is up to the reader to determine what account, if any, "really" happened.

** Fans that do not consider it canon, agreeing with the attempted CanonDiscontinuity issued by Brian Herbert and prefering the prequels.

* StandardTimeUnits: According to the encyclopedia, standard time units are based on the orbital parameters of the planet Kaitian, where one year is 360 days and 3.56 seconds. The standard year is divided into twelve 30-day months, each consisting of five six-day weeks, while the standard day is divided into standard hours, minutes and seconds in the traditional manner.

* UnreliableNarrator: ''The Dune Encyclopedia'' is very much an example of this. It is framed as an encyclopedia within the ''Dune'' universe, purportedly 5,000 years after the events of the first novel and after the historical record has been greatly altered or lost. Several of the entries either contradict or give a different perspective on the events of the novels. It is up to the reader to determine what account, if any, "really" happened.

* ConLang: Many of the phrases and terms used throughout the book have some basis in real-world languages. The Fremen speak a clear development of Arabic. Galach, the official language of the Imperium, is described as an Anglo-Slavic hybrid with some other tongues mixed in for good measure -- and it shows... in the rare instances when we get to read some actual untranslated phrases from it.
** The Encyclopedia gives detailed studies, including alphabet and pronunciation for both Galach and Fremen.

* FutureImperfect: According to the pseudo-canon encyclopedia, House Atreides claims to have been founded by Atreus, the son of Agamemnon of Myth/GreekMythology, House Harkonnen claims descent from the Romanovs of tsarist Russia, Alexander the Great is considered to have been the first Galactic Emperor, and members of the "House Of Washington" (i.e., America) were the first historical users of atomic weapons. Averted in some cases, as the Bene Gesserit (and some Atreides) possess GeneticMemory telling them exactly who their ancestors were and covering the entire scope of human history. It's also mentioned that the origin of the planet Ix's name is obscure. Turns out it means [[NumberedHomeworld "nine", from its position in its own solar system]].

* KingBobTheNth: It's the year 10,191 of the Galactic Empire, and the current monarch is Shaddam IV, 81st Padishah Emperor. It's never explained within the original novel who exactly the previous three Shaddams were.
** The Dune Encyclopedia has a list of every Emperor along with the dates of their reigns. Shaddam IV's immediate predecessors were Fredhrick XIX, Corrin XXV and Elrood IX. Shaddam III reigned 4200 years before Shaddam IV, Shaddam II was some 3000 years before that, and Shaddam I reigned 2400 years before him. Shaddam IV was the 81st "Padishah" Emperor, but the 370th Emperor of the Known Universe. The Empire supposedly originated with Alexander the Great, so it isn't supposed to be an accurate list.

* StandardTimeUnits: Years are known as "Standard years", or SY, and are described as being about 20 hours less than the "so-called primitive year".

** The "Crompton Ruins" were the fragmentary remains of a kilometer-wide building discovered well after the reign of Leto II on a previously unexplored planet; they were held up as possible evidence of intelligent non-human life for over a thousand years until an almost identical underground complex used by Leto II to store his crystal-paper journals was discovered on Arrakis.

** In the out of print [[AllThereInTheManual Encyclopedia of Dune]] the Natives of Caladan are sentient: morons by human standards and around Stone Age level of technology, but sentient all the same. They are mentioned maybe once in the series proper though. Mind you, the Encyclopedia is not fully {{Canon}}.