Dune Movie Glossary & Terminology Guide

Dune features some of the most lavish world-building in the history of science-fiction – here’s a complete Dune glossary of terms you need to know.

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Like Frank Herbert’s book before it, the Dune movie terminology can be difficult to understand given the sheer number of new words viewers have to learn. In 1965, science-fiction writer Frank Herbert introduced readers to the world of Dune. The world’s best-selling sci-fi novel, Dune is set in a future where different families vie for control of the galaxy, but where the galaxy’s fate will actually be decided on the inhospitable wasteland of Arakkis.

The key to Dune’s success as a book lay in its lavish world-building, with Herbert creating an incredibly intricate galaxy; he envisioned a future in which humanity had spread across the stars, and the galaxy was ruled by rival families, with the future of the galaxy to be decided on the barren and hostile world of Arakkis. Unfortunately, the complexity of Herbert’s world-building can also make Dune quite intimidating, because it naturally means the books include a wide range of terms people won’t be familiar with. Some of these ideas will be familiar to modern audiences simply because they’ve become typical to the entire genre, but others will be pretty surprising.

Here’s a glossary of key terms readers and viewers will encounter in the Dune movie. Some may choose to check this out ahead of watching Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi spectacle, so this will be as spoiler-light as possible; others may want to look in afterwards, to clarify what some of the words and ideas they encountered were.

The Planets of Dune

The story of Dune is centered upon the harsh desert-world of Arakkis, an inhospitable planet far from the populated worlds and their trade routes. It is often referred to as “Dune” simply because of its inhospitable climate, although there are vast reservoirs of water deep beneath the world’s mountains; windtraps harvest what little water vapor exists in the atmosphere to help the humans who live on Arakkis survive. Arakkis has little natural life, with only a few plants that have evolved to survive on as little water as possible. Still, there are sandtrouts and the giant sandworms, as well as the desert mouse, a kangaroo-mouse known by Arakkis’ inhabitants as the Muad’Dib. Arakkis may be harsh and remote, but it is also vital as the only source of spice melange, explaining why this unlikely world becomes of pivotal galactic importance. Arakkeen is the planet’s capital city, which becomes the seat of government for the Atreides Empire.

The Fremen are the inhabitants of Arakkis, descended from colonists who arrived on the planet millennia ago. Their culture is centered upon the fight for survival in the harsh, inhospitable conditions of Arakkis, and historically the Fremen have successfully driven off far more advanced armies due to their warlike ways. They view the sandworms of Arakkis as a physical manifestation of their god – calling them Shai-Hulud – and consume spice melange as a core part of their diet. The Freman of Arakkis have prophecies of a “Mahdi,” or Messiah, who would save them from their foes. The word translates as “The one who will lead us to paradise,” and according to Freman prophecies it will be an off-worlder who is the child of a Bene Gesseret. Many Fremen began to believe Paul Atreides was the foretold Mahdi.

Other key worlds include:

• Caladan, the ancestral home of the Atreides family, a lush waterworld orbiting the star Delta Pavonis. The Atreides family rule Caladan with a strong standing army, and the local economy flourishes through fishing, orchards, and exports of rice and fine wines.
• Giedi Prime is historically the homeworld of House Harkonnen, a heavily industrialized world orbiting the star Ophiuchi B. The population of Giedi Prime live under harsh poverty conditions due to the brutality of the Harkonnen regime, many natives are used as slave labor, and the Harkonnen recruited soldiers by conscription.
• Salusa Secundus, a harsh prison planet.

Precious Substances From Arakkis in Dune

In Dune, Spice melange is the most important resource in the galaxy, and one briefcase of spice is said to be enough to purchase an entire planet. It forms only on Arakkis, where it is created when the fungus excreted by a sandtrouts is exposed to the inhospitable surface environment of the harsh desert world. Spice melange allows navigators to safely travel through warp space, while the health benefits associated with consuming spice mean wealthy people tend to hoard it; it can extend lives threefold. Unfortunately spice is an addictive narcotic, and addicts can be recognized by their blue-stained eyes (known as the Eyes of Ibad).

Meanwhile the Water of Life is a poisonous blue liquid, used by the Bene Gesserit as part of the rituals a sister undergoes to become a Reverend Mother. Like spice melange, it can only be found on Arakkis; its origin is different, however, because it begins as the bile of a sandworm as it is drowned in water. It is tremendously toxic, and a sister in the Bene Gesserit undergoes strict training to control her body’s reaction to the poison in order to survive the dose. Traditionally men never survive exposure to the Water of Life, but Paul Atreides – as the Kwisatz Haderach – may prove to be an exception.

Galactic Culture in Dune

The Bene Gesserit are an ancient order who seek to direct human society towards stability. To ascend through the ranks of the Bene Gesserit, sisters undergo years of training and then are exposed to the poison known as the Water of Life, which – if they survive – grants them access to the genetic memories of all their female ancestors. These sisters are then declared Reverend Mothers, numbering among the leaders of the Bene Gesserit, benefiting from the genetic memories (referred to as the “Other Memory”) when making decisions. The Reverend Mother Superior, the highest member of the Bene Gesserit, is chosen from among the ranks of the Reverend Mothers. The Bene Gesserit eagerly seek to enhance their knowledge by finding a way to access all memories of their male ancestors as well. To this end, they’ve been conducting an intensive genetic engineering program that involves creating a being they call the “Kwisatz Haderach,” who will possess this ability. The Bene Gesserit hope is the Kwisatz Haderach will unlock the true Golden Path, the precise steps that need to be taken to navigate the future; “Kwisatz Haderach” literally means “Shortening of the Way,” referring to the hope his knowledge will help speed human development towards perfection.

Some Bene Gesserit develop a truthsense that allows them to perceive deception; they are called Truthsayers. There are, however, other individuals who are born with this innate talent, with Paul Atreides being an example.

Other key groups include:

• The Mentats: Sophisticated computers and artificial intelligences are outlawed in the Dune universe after a cosmic war called the Butlerian Jihad, and as a result some people have trained as Mentats – the deepest of thinkers, the best of advisers, the most celebrated of guides.
• The Spacing Guild use spice melange to evolve humans into Navigators, who can use a form of prescience to navigate space in their Heighliners. Navigators’ bodies are atrophied and mutated, with withered bodies nd extended heads; the Navigators are extremely secretive, and not even their own agents ever see them.
• Suk Doctors, graduates of the Suk School who have trained as physicians. It is believed their mental conditioning means they are unable to take a life, or to betray a patient.

Key Examples of Dune Technology

• The Cone of Silence is traditionally a small area where sound is distorted so discussions within it cannot be overheard or recorded.
• A crysknife is a sacred knife made from the teeth of a dead sandworm. It is venerated by the Fremen of Arakkis; if drawn, a crysknife cannot be sheathed until it has drawn blood. The blade must not be seen by anyone outside the Fremen clan, or else they must die by it. Unfixed crysknives disintegrate if they leave a human body’s electrical field, while fixed ones have been treated to prevent this.
• A cyanide-poisoned needle that sits upon a needle, the Gom Jabbar can be attached to a person’s fingertip. All the noble houses keep a Gom Jabbar to use against their enemies under the right circumstances, and the Bene Gesserit use it as part of a so-called “Test of Humanity” to see if a person’s awareness was stronger than their instincts; a person pricked with a Gom Jabbar instinctively pulls away, resulting in great pain, but an individual who has greater self-control is able to resist that impulse.
• The Holtzman shield is a field that makes energy and projectile weapons ineffective.
• A stillsuit is a full-body suit worn on Arakkis to help preserve your body’s moisture.
• A Thopter – short for an ornithopter – is used to travel across Arakkis, looking for the threat of sandworms.
• The Voice is a neural control mechanism triggered by the words of a Bene Gesserit, allowing them to control people who are not protected from such technology.

Other Key Terms & Ideas in Dune

• A Heighliner is a massive starship used to transport people and goods across space. They are flown by Navigators, who have become able to handle this experience due to their exposure to spice melange.
• A common exclamation in Dune, “Kull Wahad” means “I am profoundly stirred!“

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/dune-movie-2021-glossary-terms-word-meaning-guide/