Welcome. Let me spit at your feet. It is a gift of my body’s water to you.
I’m sure that seems weird. It’s weird to Duke Leto, Gurney Halleck, and Duncan Idaho.
But Paul Atreides? He knows what it means.
That’s the trick about young Paul, he knows things that he shouldn’t know. He’s been trained by his mother, the Lady Jessica, in a variety of Bene Gesserit techniques. Paul has also studied under his mentors, learning every style of combat, every kind of vile plot, every way to calculate what the future has in store.
With that little bit, I’ve thrown you the intersection of cultures, touched on a hint of ecology, and taken a firm scoop of the philosophy of power and control featured in Dune.
Let me approach it another way. How does a normal person in the twenty-first century become a Jedi? I firmly believe there is no Star Wars without first having Dune, so this is a fair question.
Oh, you don’t want to be a Jedi? Fine, you can be—
Well, if you’re not the pinnacle of your field of study in Dune, you’re doomed. Someone will stab you in the back or use you in a scheme against some greater foe.
In the Imperium of Dune, you need to be the wisest Bene Gesserit, the most calculating Mentat, have the greatest skill with a sword, the cunning of the bravest pirate—you need something to give you a superior advantage.
Got that? Good, you might survive.
Young Paul has a series of vast problems, the most immediate being he dreams of things that haven’t happened. He’s a mistake, a boy of unknown limits and boundaries, a child born of love rather than precise breeding.
That’s one of Paul’s many problems. To take them on, he must use his training and wisdom in every possible art. It starts with understanding other cultures; it ends with providing a worthy leader.
This is vague on my part, but I’m just basking in the joy of seeing so many people cheering for my favorite book. For now, I invite you to sit at the table of knowledge and feast. Let us all join together, debate, and question. Who, if anyone, should walk The Golden Path?