Every Major Character Death In Dune, Explained

A lot of major characters die over the course of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movie. Here’s every main death explained and compared to the novel.

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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Dune.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune has a phenomenal cast, including some of the biggest franchise players in Hollywood today, but a lot of their characters don’t live to see the end of the movie. That’s in keeping with the story of Frank Herbert’s original sci-fi novel of the same name, but some of the movie’s characters meet their end in a notably different way from how things play out in the book. Because of these changes, and because of the massive amount of narrative content covered throughout Dune, some of the deaths can be a bit confusing the first time through.

The story of Dune is one of betrayal, war, political intrigue, and religious zeal. There are family feuds that go back generations—layers within layers of scheming and backstabbing, and numerous bloody battles between the various clans. With all that drama, expected lifespan isn’t especially long for the characters that populate Dune. In Villeneuve’s movie, which only covers the first half of the original novel its based on, numerous major Dune characters are stabbed, poisoned, or otherwise slain, and it’s just the beginning of Paul Atreides’ long journey.

Because some of the rivalries and secret motivations of characters are brushed over in the Dune movie compared to the more lengthy book, some of the major character deaths can be a bit confusing. However, a greater context for Herbert’s novel and the way the movie changes its story can help shed some light on all the bloodshed. Here’s every major character death in Villeneuve’s Dune movie, explained.

Dr. Wellington Yueh

The first main character to fall in Villeneuve’s Dune is Dr. Wellington Yueh (Chen Chang), the family physician to House Atreides. Though he barely features at all in the movie, Dr. Yueh is a much larger character in Herbert’s version of the Dune timeline, which fully explains how his wife was captured by the Harkonnens and how Yueh chose to betray the Atreides to try to save her. In the book, Yueh is pretty sure from the start that his wife is dead, but he goes against the Duke anyway because he believes it’s the only way to get close enough to Baron Vladimir Harkonnen to kill him. For all his efforts, the doctor still dies at the hands of the Baron’s Mentat advisor Piter de Vries after House Harkonnen takes back Arrakis. In the film, Yueh dies in the same scene, but by the hands of the Baron himself.

Duke Leto Atreides

Shortly after Dr. Yueh, the next major character to die in Dune is Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac), father to Dune protagonist and dream-seer Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and partner to the Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). Leto is given stewardship over the planet Arrakis, known colloquially as Dune, in a veiled attempt by the Emperor to do away with him. In both the novel and the 2021 film adaption, the Duke is betrayed and knocked out by Dr. Yueh as a bargaining chip for his wife’s safety. Yueh replaces Leto’s false tooth with a hidden poison capsule, and when face-to-face with Baron Karkonnen, the Duke bites down on the tooth and fills the room with poisonous gas, killing himself in the process. While many individuals are killed the assassination attempt ultimately fails. The Baron is injured, but is able to survive by activating his body shield and clinging to the ceiling.

Piter De Vries

Another character whose role in Villeneuve’s Dune movie is greatly reduced from the original novel is Piter De Vries (David Dastmalchian), who dies quite unceremoniously. In the original Dune book, Piter is killed by the Duke’s suicidal toxin attack on Baron Harkonnen, as he’s present in the room as are several other prominent figures. The movie doesn’t actually confirm that Piter died from the poison, but given that he was present at the scene, and that the Baron appeared to be the only one to survive, it’s reasonable to assume that he was killed in the same way as in Herbert’s Dune book franchise.

Dr. Liet-Kynes

Much later on in the story of Dune, Dr. Liet-Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) is killed while traversing the treacherous sands of Arrakis. In the movie, Kynes escapes the Sardaukar attack on her Fremen base and almost gets to safety on the back of a sandworm. Unfortunately, before the worm arrives, Kynes is stabbed from behind by one of the enemy soldiers. Before she dies, the worm she summoned with her thumper device arrives, swallowing her and her assailants whole, killing them all. This is a notable change from the story of the Dune novel, in which Kynes is captured by the Harkonnen forces first. Because the doctor is an agent of the emperor—not someone they want to kill directly—the Harkonnens strand Kynes in the desert with no stillsuit. Dehydrated and exhausted, Kynes, who’s a man in the original Dune novel, begins to hallucinate a conversation with his late father. Kynes is then killed by the explosion of a pre-spice mass, part of the growth process of the spice Melange that brings it from underground to the surface.

Duncan Idaho

Perhaps the most epic death scene in the Dune movie belongs to Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), who sacrifices himself in glorious fashion protecting Dr. Kynes, Paul, and Lady Jessica from a Sardaukar attack. The scene is basically the exact same in the movie as it is the book, with Duncan impressively holding the enemies at bay despite being severely outnumbered, while the others make their escape through Kynes’ secret tunnels. If Dune 2 and the other potential sequels follow the plot of Herbert’s novels, however, audiences may not have seen the last of Momoa’s Duncan Idaho.

Fremen Jamis

The final major character death of Villeneuve’s film occurs near the very end of Dune, when Paul kills the Fremen Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) in a ritual duel to the death. The scene is basically the same in both versions, with Jamis being outraged at Paul and Lady Jessica’s ability to overcome him and his fellow Fremen in a scuffle, challenging the boy to a duel to prove his superiority to the off-worlder. In the book, the battle takes place a little later on, after Paul has already been accepted into the Fremen society, as opposed to the movie, where he effectively earns his spot in the tribe by killing Jamis. Either way, the result is the same, earning the young Lord the respect of the Fremen and setting up their alliance in the next installment of Dune.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/dune-movie-2021-characters-deaths-explained/