A Beginner’s Introduction To The Dune Universe

Reading a beginner’s introduction to the Dune universe will have you ready to read the book and/or watch the movie!

Frank Herbert started the Dune saga by publishing the first science fiction novel in 1965. You can read more background below:

Overview

Dune is widely agreed to be one of the most influential and successful science fiction novels of all time, winning both the Hugo and Nebula awards (the highest accolades possible for science fiction books). To put in perspective just how influential the novel is, George Lucas borrowed heavily from Dune when creating the Star Wars franchise (see How Dune Influenced Star Wars – It’s Crazy). Considering how popular Star Wars has become, that should be enough said. Multiple movies, video games, and board games have also been based on Dune (the 2021 movie won 6 Oscars and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars over the first few weeks).

Herbert spent over a decade researching and gathering concepts for the novel. He was deeply interested in ecology and desert environments but also the idea of religion and messiahs. This combination cultivated his vision for a novel with these themes and how these issues react when intertwined with politics. (see The Themes of Dune)

Setting/Backdrop of the Universe

The Dune series is set thousands of years in humanity’s future. Faster-than-light travel has been developed and humans have colonized a vast number of worlds.

By the time the events of Dune take place, humanity has formed a feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, made up of many “Great Houses” that each oversee various planets. The most well-known of these Great Houses are the Atreides and the Harkonnens. In turn, all of these Houses owe allegiance to the Emperor and his family, Imperial House Corrino.

The focal point of the universe is the desert planet Arrakis, known simply as “Dune.” Despite its harsh environment, Arrakis is the only planet where the addictive but life-extending drug melange, or “spice,” can be found. Melange enhances mental abilities and is necessary for the survival of the Imperium, explained below.

Society and Spice

Thousands of years before Dune takes place, humans destroyed all robots, computers, and other electronics that could have any kind of artificial intelligence. Because of this, humans are needed to replace the functions of computers. How can a human brain hope to compete with the processing power of a computer? With the drug “spice.”

Ingesting spice allows Spacing Guild pilots to navigate spaceships through space-time.

When under the influence, human computers called Mentats can perform complex calculations without any machine.

Finally, a mysterious and all-female political organization called the Bene Gesserit uses spice to enhance mental and physical abilities to where they receive premonitions of the future.

Without the drug, all these activities are impossible and an interstellar empire would not be able to function. Since Arrakis is the only planet with spice, you can imagine how important it is to control. As Princess Irulan best summarizes:

“The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel.”

Check out more Dune posts!