“Dune Messiah” creates the path for the sequel novels in Frank Herbert’s science fiction masterpiece. It showed that heroes are mortals, and when people begin seeing them as Gods, an inevitable road to doom and destruction forms, a path that leaves a scar on the sands of time.
Themes
“Dune Messiah” uses themes like the fall of heroism, the dangers of religion, and regret to tell a gloomy story of Paul’s fall from grace after he rose to become Emperor.
The Failure of Heroism
“Dune Messiah’s” importance was ending Paul Atreides’s story. The book focuses on the failures of heroism. In “Dune,” Paul was a young boy who led a revolution against the tyranny of the Padishah Empire. However, when he ascended the throne as Emperor, a jihad was unleashed in his name, leading to the death of 61 billion people.
Though Paul was the hero of “Dune,” he became the failed hero of “Dune Messiah,” and was drenched in the stench of his failure as Emperor. Frank Herbert used “Dune Messiah” to highlight the failure of heroism. In his opinion, heroes who fail to recognize their humanity fall into an abyss of desolation forged from the failures they encounter once realism dawns on them.
The Dangers of Religion
Religion is one of the main themes in the story of “Dune Messiah.” Now seen as a savior by the Fremen, a jihad is launched on humanity in Paul’s name; this conflict leads to the death of billions of people. “Dune Messiah” shows how deadly religion becomes when it has a cause to fuel it.
From the novel, Paul admitted that even if he were to disappear or cease to be the Muad’Dib, it would barely affect the jihad because his name was no longer associated with a messiah figure but with a God figure. Frank Herbert used “Dune Messiah” to portray the negative effect of religious indoctrination on people’s minds and highlight the dangers of religion if people become fanatically inclined to it.
Regret
“Dune Messiah” is a sad, depressing story of how a once-powerful hero fell under the weight of his success. Throughout the entire novel, the predominant feeling of regret courses through everyone. The story shows the regret of a failed hero and messiah, whose name became a tool for destruction. After defeating his enemies, Paul regretted ascending the throne as he detested the jihad unleashed in his name.
In his statement to Chani, Paul admitted that he failed in setting humanity on the right path, and even with his prescience, he ended up a blind man walking into the desert filled with regret.
Fate
Fate is something Paul understood he could not eliminate. In the novel, he desperately tries to prevent certain events from happening. However, the will of fate overpowered his prescience. Fate became Paul’s greatest enemy, and it made him watch his entire world crumble, from him getting blind to the death of Chani and him losing his prescience.
Key Moments
- Twelve years after Paul Atreides’s ascension as Emperor, the death toll of the jihad unleashed in his name peaks at 61 billion people.
- Paul gains total control of Melange’s production, making him the most powerful Emperor ever.
- Using his prescience, Paul tries to create the right path for humanity. He learns of this through his visions of the future.
- The Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, and Tleilaxu come together to plot a plan for Paul’s dethroning. They plotted because they wanted to end his reign over Melange’s control.
- Reverend Mother Gaius recruits Princess Irulan, Paul’s consort, to work on the inside, and she does so by adding contraceptives into Chani’s food, preventing her from conceiving for Paul.
- Scytale, the face dancer from the Tleilaxu, brings Paul a gift of Duncan Idaho’s ghola: Hayt. Paul’s acceptance of Hayt creates a rift between him and the Fremen.
- Chani gets pregnant after using a Fremen fertility diet, and Paul learns of a Fremen plot to kill him and confronts his opposition; this would be a trap.
- A Stone Burner blinds Paul, but he continues seeing by using his prescience. He tries saving Chani by suggesting artificially inseminate Princess Irulan
- Chani dies in childbirth, and Hayt is ordered to attack Paul but recovers his former self. Bijaz is tasked with ensuring Hayt completes the mission of killing Paul.
- Paul kills Scytale and loses his prescience. Idaho kills Bijaz.
- Paul leaves his new twin babies, Leto and Ghanima, in Alia’s care and walks into the desert following Fremen tradition.
- Alia orders the execution of Paul’s enemies, including Reverend Mother Gaius and Edric. However, she spares Princess Irulan.
Style, Tone, and Figurative Language
“Dune Messiah” tells its story using many thematic and figurative elements. It shows readers a world of regret and uses a gloomy tone to portray the image of a failed hero after his rise to victory.
Style
Using the third-person perspective, “Dune Messiah” is a novel crafted with near-perfect fluidness and vivid expressionism. The third-person point of view employed by Herbert ensures an accurate description of events that make the conspiracy against Paul Atreides unfold subtly. With the characters’ thoughts in italics, Frank Herbert created a nostalgic environment for the novel’s characters’ interactions. Nostalgia is also present when some events and places are featured.
Though it is a great story, “Dune Messiah’s” writing style falls short compared to its predecessor. The writing was much clearer than in “Dune,” but the overall style lacked the literary weight the first novel possessed.
Tone
One thing “Dune Messiah” excelled at was its tone, as the novel had a more dreadful and gloomy voice than its predecessor. Frank always wanted to warn readers of the dangers of heroes, and he successfully pulled it off with “Dune Messiah’s” tone. Paul’s regret, pain, and disillusionment at every step of the story hits the reader like a reality check. It forces them to realize that clairvoyance across space and time is a curse no one should suffer from.
Figurative Language
For figurative language, Frank Herbert used similes and metaphors to explain events in the novel. From The Reverend Mother describing Paul’s idea of artificially inseminating Princess Irulan as an animal way of breeding to Paul comparing himself to Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler, “Dune Messiah” used the comparison to create a detailed emotional picture of each character.
Symbols
The symbols of “Dune Messiah” represent the drive for freedom and show how the struggle for power leads to only destruction. They also portray the fall of heroism and show how religious indoctrination destroys peace.
Spice
Melange (spice) is the most crucial commodity in the “Dune” series. Being a substance that granted its taker youth and enhanced mental abilities, Melange became a commodity that powers fought to get. Paul’s total control over Melange’s production made him the most powerful person in the known universe. Spice represents an addictive element of power that causes conflict.
Hayt
Hayt was a ghola given to Paul by Scytale. He was Duncan Idaho, a man who Paul held in high reverence. Though Hayt was to lead Paul’s downfall, he regained his memories and fought for Paul. Hayt symbolizes the lack of free will but the willingness to do right.
Stone Burner
When Paul learned of a Fremen conspiracy against him, he took his men to quell any possible rebellion. However, he had an accident that caused him to become blind. The Stone Burner destroyed Paul’s powers, but it was also a blessing that enabled him to escape a life of constriction. The Stone Burner symbolizes a painful escape from one’s regret.
Sight
Sight is a crucial aspect of living, and “Dune Messiah” focuses on the uniqueness of seeing. Paul was gifted the ability to see the future, but he realized the gift was a burden. He learned that sight could be a curse if one could peer farther than anyone. Paul chose to lose sight and be a blind man, as it would rid him of the responsibility of saving the human race. Sight represents the curse of leadership.
Water
The entire premise of the Fremen leaving Arrakis centered around water. Though many wanted to spread their religion, they also wanted to leave their desert planet. Water symbolizes freedom, and many Fremen must have felt they could be free if they left Arrakis.
“Dune Messiah” is a more gloomy sequel to Frank Herbert’s “Dune.” Everything about the story was sad. It makes me feel for Paul Atreides. Yes, he became the Emperor, but was that what he wanted? Paul’s life is nothing but a compilation of sad events. He had no friends and became an adult from a very young age. He had to become the messiah for the Fremen to survive against houses out to get him, and he became Emperor of a war-ridden universe. Frank used him to show that politics, power, and religious control are deadly tools of destruction.
