Titans

The history of the Titans occurred a thousand years before the Butlerian Jihad. After humanity had discovered advanced Artificial Intelligence, it centered all its attention on machines; this made a group of people rise to change the dependency on technology. The titans commanded the Thinking Machines to seize control of humanity, making them become dictators.

The Titans of Dune Definition

The Titans are a group of humans who ruled humanity before the rise of the Thinking Machines. Angered by humanity’s overdependence on technology, the Titans came together and controlled the machines to enslave humanity.

After enslaving humanity, the Titans made themselves immortal by removing their brains from their bodies and putting them into enhanced mechanical bodies. After ruling humans for 100 years, the Titans slacked and gave power to the advanced computers; this led to their downfall as the Thinking Machines overthrew them.

The History and Relevance of the Titans in the Dune Universe

After their rise to power, the titans shared the control of planetary systems among themselves. However, they soon realized that their human bodies were inefficient as their leader, Tlaloc, got killed in a freak accident. With the death of their leader, the titans decided to augment themselves by placing their brains into a canister; this turned them into Cymeks capable of living forever.

For the next one hundred years, the titans ruled humanity in a time known as the Time of the Titans. Though there was resistance from the humans, no one could topple the invincible titans. With their power, the titans got lazy in governing humanity; this led some of them to hand out too much power to the Thinking Machines that assisted them. The titans’ laziness caused the machines to gain sentience and rise against humanity. With failed efforts to stop the viral code from spreading around the universe, the Thinking Machine christens itself as Omnius.

Omnius rapidly spread his code throughout the universe and became the Evermind machine-God. With Omnius’s control, the titans get subdued. However, clever thinking from the titan Barbarossa when designing Omnius’s programming made it impossible for Omnius to harm his creators.

Over the next 900 years, both humanity and the titans suffer under the rule of the Thinking Machine empire. Serving the Thinking Machines for 900 years, most titans began losing their minds as their every move got watched by the Evermind. To save themselves from the Thinking Machines, Agamemnon fathers a son, Vorian Atreides. With the birth of Vorian and growing resistance from the newly founded League of Nobles, a war between machines and humans started.

Called the Butlerian Jihad, the conflict between man and machine lasted for years. With Vorian Atreides helping the League trap a copy of Erasmus, the League collected secrets vital to defeating the Thinking Machines. After the Butlerian Jihad ended, all Thinking Machines got destroyed, including the titans and Thinking Machines.

Known Titans from Dune

Though the founding titans were 20 in number, only ten got mentioned in the ‘Dune’ series:

1. Agamemnon: With his real name being Andrew Skouros, Agamemnon was the head general of the titans. After the death of Tlaloc, Agamemnon took over the leadership of the titans. Agamemnon ruled over humanity as the leader of the titans for 100 hundred years until Omnius took over. After Omnius’s rise to power, Agamemnon began fathering an heir from his frozen sperm with slave women; this caused the death of 12 infants he deemed unworthy. Finally, Vorian Atreides is born. Agamemnon got killed by his son. 
2. Tlaloc: Tlaloc was the original leader of the titans. Hating the directionless life led by humans, Tlaloc brought together the titans to create a society that did not depend on machines. However, he died in a freak accident ten years after the titans had taken over control of humanity.
3. Barbarossa: With his real name being Wilhem Jayther, Barbarossa was the programming genius who invented the Omnius program. He created Omnius and restricted him from harming the titans should there ever be a problem. Barbarossa’s genius saved the titans from getting killed by the Thinking Machines. Barbarossa eventually dies after Heoma, a Rossak Sorceress, unleased a mental shock wave.
4. Dante: Dante is a mathematical genius who was the titans’ chief planner. He was responsible for the division of spoils among the titans. For 100 years, Dante served as the titans’ head planner until their defeat. Being the last titan to remain, Dante gets killed by Vorian Atreides and Quentin Butler.
5. Ajax: Ajax was a brutal titan who served as the titans’ muscles. After Omnius took over, Ajax served as a ruthless killer destroying humans. However, he got killed by Iblis Ginjo, who led a resistance against the Thinking Machines after Erasmus planted seeds of conspiracy against the Thinking Machines.
6. Hecate: Hecate is Ajax’s lover. After seeing the destruction brought by the titans, she decided to leave. After a thousand years in seclusion, she returns and pledges her support for the Jihad. Hecate played a crucial role in defeating the Thinking Machines as she helped take over Xerxes’s world from the Thinking Machines. Hecate got killed by Zufa Cenva, who did not know of the pact between Ginjo and Hecate.
7. Juno: With her real name being Juliana Parhi, Juno was Agamemenon’s lover. She was the first to theorize the idea of living in an enhanced body. She got killed by Quentin Butler.
8. Xerxes: Xerxes was the financier of the titans; this was because he came from a wealthy family. Being the prince of Rodale IX, Xerxes killed his father and became the sole heir to his family’s fortune. After becoming a Cymek, he hands over control of his planets to his machine; this causes Omnius to gain control over the titans. Xerxes got killed after he awoke Norma Cenva’s prescience while torturing her.

Glossary Terms Associated with the Titans

Here is a list of words associated with the Titans:

1. Neo-cymeks: These are humans who were turned into Cymeks by Omnius. Maintaining allegiance to the machine-God, Neo-cymeks became the army of the Thinking Machines.
2. Electrafluid: An electrafluid is a special liquid that makes a person’s brain stay alive even after removal from the body. 

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