The worms.
this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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Unironically this
That doesn't make sense. They don't have an agenda, they're a force of nature. Except maybe one of them who clearly wasn't a "good" guy.
I heard they like rhythm though
Okay, that's enough to convince me. They are the good guys.
It got them. It's gonna get you, too.
The worms are an alien made terraforming tool. The spice is engineered to enslave mankind over and over.
Is that some canon that I'm too not reading Brian Herbert to understand?
It’s covered in the later Frank Herbert books via a trail of various, disparate clues. The worms were created by mankind to produce spice (and are possibly genetically engineered post-humans) and then seeded onto Arrakis with the intent of turning it into a dedicated spice-production planet. Spice and the worms were never natural.
Are you sure you're thinking worms and not tleilaxu axlotl tanks that produce spice later in the timeline?
Yes, the worms. I think Leto II even states it matter-of-fact in God Emperor, but I’d have to find the exact quote.
Yes, either man made or possibly alien made. Leto II confirmed that ancient wandering humans brought the worms to Dune.
My theory is that human beings are used as spice spreaders by the semi sentient drug. Find spice, get addicted, then try and make more spice by taking worms (trout) to a new planet. Thus humans are unwittingly part of the reproductive cycle.
That’s in interesting theory and does make sense given Frank Herberts ecological themes. My theory, that the worms are derived from humans genetically, is largely circumstantial, but the books have such strong post-humanism themes that it also fits. The way spice affects and mutates humans specifically (like guild navigators), the need for non-computer solutions following the Butlerian Jihad and the use by mentats, the fact that worms and spice have never been found anywhere else, the way Tleilaxu use and manipulate humans and create “biological technology” and the mystery of their origins, etc. I also think that one of the risks that Paul & Leto II foresaw was not only the destruction of humanity through death, but through genetic corruption that results in any remaining humans completely losing their humanity.
Yes, the Tleilaxu went way too far. It is really strange that Leto II's Golden Path "steered into" genetic manipulation so hard that it basically created aliens. He anticipated the new species of Tleilaxu facedancer Kwisatz Haderachs, insane space amazons, and cat people, then rather than stopping them he just figured it would all sort itself out.
I love GE, my favorite book of the series by far, don't remember that.
Lot of ominous implications, but I never got that they were human in any way.
If they were it should have bled in through the Reverend mother process, unless it was somehow only keyed to males??
Did you read Chapterhouse? If not ... then yes.
I am absolutely sure that spice is a standin for coffee....
Reject water, return to worm.
The Bene Gesserit probably come the closest to being the "good guys/girls" by the end.
Everything they do is based on the mind numbing insanity that they have due to the fact that they can perceive every horrific action men have ever done to any woman that exists in "other memory".
The Bene Gesserit's sole existence is based upon stopping the evil and violence of men no matter the cost.
Nothing says "good guys" like eugenics.
Eugenics? C'mon! It's not like they were trying to breed some kind of Übermensch, like some kinda Nazis. Get real.
(reads Dune)
Oh. Oh my. Well.
Yes, but to them it's like breeding wolves to make domestic dogs.
Eugenics is getting rid of a race ... the BG are trying to get rid of man's ability to do evil.
Except there are still wolves around...
In Dune? Yes, the evil and brutal houses are still there. Mostly because Jessica messed up the breeding program. She basically made an uncontrollable war god that killed trillions.
Pobody's nerfect!!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The MILF Illuminati.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but they're going to hell regardless.
They've manipulated the free will of people for centuries all in the vein of a prophecy that they cannot understand nor control. They murdered people, forced people to be raped, and did all manner of horrific things to get what they wanted done.
Yeah.... I'm gonna go ahead and say that they're not even close to being the good guys.
Yes, but its Dune. The BG are as "good" as the good guys get. Their Reverend mothers are all batshit crazy. The minute they get access to other memory they experience thousands of lifetimes of rape, war, and murder. Their only goal is to stop mankind from doing it. Everything they do is based on this. You go the whole Dune series thinking the BG are up to some nefarious scheme, when they are really just trying to get men to calm their asses down.
You could say the original Caladan members of the Atriedes Household were kind of the good guys, but the books used them as the victims. Even the Atriedes did some dark stuff, they just made it sound heroic.
I think the point of the meme is being missed here. The point is that Dune has no good guys. They're all horrible people. Some of them have have good intentions but do horrific things to get there, such as the Bene Gesserit. None of them can be argued to be good people or even really close to it, that's why the computer just self-destructs instantly. It's a question without an answer.
the atredes, they are the protagonists /s
jihads have always gone well, and leto 2 took the golden path. they must be the good guys /s
That's one of the things that makes Dune so interesting.... there are not many books from the bad guys point of view, let alone where you are supposed to recognize that the protagonist-- as you so snarkly noted -- isn't the good guy.
<thumbsup.jpg>
I don't want to read a book from Baron Harkonnen's POV.
Actually... if frank had written it... that could be very interesting
Oh man. Maybe we'll get real AI one day that can write that book. It would have been such a good book.
Nobody better fucking tell Brian Herbert this idea.
Linda Hunt.
End of list.
This might be a controversial opinion. I've only read the main book and skimmed a few of the others. Plus I've seen the newer movies.
But I feel like the Fremen just want to be left alone and protect their people. So I'd say they are the good guys. I don't wanna spoil it, but the book version of them was better than the movie.
"The Fremen are the good guys. I've only read book one though."
Me:
Haha 😂 oh no did I overlook something
Let's put it this way. "Dune" was originally supposed to cover the events of "Dune" and "Dune: Messiah", but the publisher said it was too long and needs to be two separate books.
Let's put it another way: if you cut out all the foreshadowing in "Dune" that hasn't paid off by the end, the book could be like 1/3 shorter.
Actually I was surprised it ended with a conventional happy ending (more or less) for our protagonists when I read it the first time.
Wait, what's wrong with the Atreides?
spoiler
Mostly cause they're gone
But, you know, UNTIL then.
Paul's jihad led to upwards of 60 billion deaths in less than a decade.
Pretty good start