Spotlight on Fandoms: SciFi's Children of Dune (miniseries)

Jan 25, 2009 23:07

Children of Dune
Fandom Spotlight!

By Leto II and Ghanima Atreides
(AKA: future_sandworm and atreideslioness Had Too Much Sugar This Week.)



A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your study of the life of Muad'Dib, then take care that you first place him in his time: born in the 57th year of the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV. And take the most special care that you locate Muad'Dib in his place: the planet Arrakis. Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Caladan and lived his first fifteen years there. Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, is forever his place.

-- from Manual of Muad'Dib by the Princess Irulan

Leto: And for our readers who are unfamiliar with the name of Muad'Dib perhaps we should start even further back, before he became Muad'Dib. Our father was the son of Duke Leto Atreides of Caladan and his Bene Gesserit concubine the Lady Jessica. The Bene Gesserits are not supposed to love, but she did love her duke and gave him the son he dearly wished for instead of the daughter she had been ordered to give birth to by the sisterhood.

Ghanima: Needless to say, her superiors in the order were not pleased. Jessica, and by extent her children, were the product of a centuries-old breeding program. An attempt to create a male Bene Gesserit, the Kwisatz Haderach, the one who can be many places at once. If Jessica had done as she was told, her daughter would have been wed to the Harkonnen heir. Stopping the feud between the Great Houses, and giving the Bene Gesserit their treasured male. Luckily for us, our grandmother is a complicated woman.

Leto: She is. She also trained her son, Paul, in the way of the Bene Gesserit, and he also received the training of a Mentat. Then, when our father was fifteen, the Duke Leto I was given Arrakis as a fief by the Emperor Shaddam IV. It was a trap, of course. The Emperor had begun to fear House Atreides, but in order to avoid a direct attack he used the feud between the Atreides and House Harkonnen.

Mohiam: Of course he used the feud between Atreides and Harkonnen. He should have done it sooner, and kept a tighter leash on his Harkonnen dogs.

Ghanima: You would know all about Harkonnen dogs, wouldn't you?

Mohiam: I should, considering that your grandmother, is one of their whelps. It's no wonder she betrayed us all; having a son, training your father as a Bene Gesserit, obeying the Duke Leto over the Sisterhood...

Ghanima: Is she being loud at you, Leto, or just me?

Leto: The Reverend Mother Mohiam always knows how to make her opinions heard, don't you think?

Mohiam: Abominations! You should not be allowed to live, and neither should your aunt.

Leto: Yes, we will get to that in a bit. But first we need to tell our readers about how Paul Atreides became Muad'Dib.

Ghanima: Your manners are lacking, and Irulan would be appalled. First, we introduce the players.

Leto: Our stepmother is frequently appalled, but more by our sense of humour than of our manners. Then again, that is a matter of definition. But we could still start with our father.





Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib
As mentioned, Paul Atreides was the son of Duke Leto Atreides and the Lady Jessica. He was accepted as one of the Fremen, and lived with the Fremen woman Chani. After having undergone the Spice Agony, it was revealed that he truly was the Kwisatz Haderach, and he challenged first the Harkonnens and then the Padishah Emperor himself. He married the old emperor's daughter, Irulan Corrino, and ascended the throne. For the Fremen he was their Lisan-al-Ghaib, their prophet who would make Dune a green planet. He became Muad'Dib, who is both Emperor and founder of a religion, and who ruled by prescient vision. After an assassination attempt he was left blind, but his visions gave him a different kind of sight. This disappeared after Chani's death, however, and he walked into the desert to die, as is the Fremen custom for someone who has lost their sight.



Chani
The daughter of planetologist Liet Kynes, Chani were among the first Fremen who met Paul and Jessica in the desert. She and Paul fell in love and despite Paul's marriage to Irulan, Chani was the one he cared about. Irulan secretly administered a contraceptive however, ordered to do so by the Bene Gesserit who wanted to keep control of their breeding program. When this was discovered, Chani changed to an ancient Fremen diet for promoting pregnancy which involved consuming large quantities of spice. She got pregnant, and died giving birth to twins.



Lady Jessica Atreides
A Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica also underwent the Spice Agony among the Fremen, shortly after their arrival. She became their Reverend Mother, receiving the memories of her Fremen predecessor. This was done while she was pregnant with Paul's younger sister Alia, however, making the daughter a Pre-Born. After Paul ascended the throne she returned to Caladan.



Alia Atreides, St. Alia of the Knife, Holy Regent.
Our aunt, and Pre-Born like us, Alia became regent after Paul's death. She struggled with the burden of the Other Memories and with ruling the empire without the visions over her brother. Seeking those prescient visions, she frequently entered Spice Trance, risking Abomination.



Princess Irulan Corrino
The daughter of the Padishah Emperor and his Bene Gesserit wife, Irulan was married to Paul Atreides for political reasons. She truly loved him though, and saw it as her right to bear the royal heir. To Paul she was only a political tool, and he cared only about his concubine Chani. Ordered by the Bene Gesserit, Irulan secretly gave Chani a contraceptive for many years, until she was found out. After Chani's death and Paul's disappearance, she took it upon herself to be parent and teacher of their children.

And she cares deeply about us, even when we drive her mad.



Leto II and Ghanima Atreides
And that is of course us. As our mother consumed large amounts of spice during her pregnancy, we are Pre-Born, like our aunt. Unlike our aunt, we carefully stay away from the Spice Trance, to avoid being possessed by one of our ancestors. That is called Abomination, and is the threat for all Pre-Born. We take that risk seriously. Our stepmother is responsible for us, and we love her dearly, which doesn't mean we don't tease her constantly.



Stilgar
An old Fremen and naib of Sietch Tabr, Stilgar was one of our father's oldest friend on Arrakis. He too is always concerned about our safety.



Princess Wensicia Corrino
Irulan's sister wanted to restore the throne to House Corrino. She raised her son Farad'n for this very purpose, but forgot that children don't always do as their parents expect.



Farad'n Corrino
A tool. A pawn of his mother, a weapon shaped by our grandmother, and, eventually, his own man. Forever overshadowed by Leto. Always prince, never emperor. A lover, but not husband. But he is our Harq al-Ada, the breaking of the habit, and it is a role that none but him can fill.



Leto: There are others of course, but we shouldn't bore you with too many names. Returning to the story now: Our grandfather Duke Leto was assassinated soon after his arrival on Arrakis, and Lady Jessica and Paul fled into the desert. They survived and found a new home among the Fremen, where some suspected they had come to fulfill a prophecy, where a prophet and a Reverend Mother would arrive, and bring water and plant life to Arrakis. Although she hadn't told anyone, Lady Jessica was pregnant with her dead duke's child, and when she had to undergo the Spice Agony to become a Reverend Mother - which would stengthen their position among the Fremen, her daughter Alia recieved all the memories herself, before birth.

Paul trained the Fremen warriors, and when he finally underwent the Spice Agony and received prescient vision, he led them to overthrow the Harkonnen rule. He became both Emperor and Muad'Dib, founder of a new religion, and unleashed a Jihad across the universe. Billions died, but he had seen the alternative and it would have been worse. Then, in an attempt at his life, Muad'Dib is made blind. Among the Fremen a blind person is left in the desert for the great worms, but through his visions, Paul Muad'Dib can still see. He only loses that ability when Chani dies in childbirth, and then he walks alone into the desert, leaving his sister Alia to rule until his children comes of age.


Ghanima: Out. Now I get to talk about things you aren't allowed to hear yet. Virgin ears, and all that.

Leto: You know you're making me very curious now. But I won't argue with you on this. *leaves*

Ghanima: Curiosity killed the cat, and I would rather not kill my twin, or give you Very Stupid Ideas. OUT, Leto.

Ahem.

Five years ago, my brother and I ascended the throne. How we got there has become a legend that threatens to eclipse even our father's story.

As with many things, you could say it started with our grandmother.

The Lady Jessica arrived on Arrakis, ostensibly to visit her grandchildren, after deserting all of us years prior to nurse her wounds on Caladan. Alia feared that her mother had resumed her allegiance to the Bene Gesserit and was plotting against her. To an extent, she was correct. Jessica had come not only to gauge Alia's level of Abomination, but to test my brother and I as well.

What Jessica did not know was that Alia had already fallen prey to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, to the point that he influenced her every action. Despite all of her Bene Gesserit knowledge and training, she could not control even her most basic actions, even degenerating to arguing with our stepmother and grandmother in public.

Fearing for our safety, Irulan and Jessica concocted a plan to spirit us out of the palace and to the safety of Tabr and neutral territory. Of course, Leto and I had our own plans, for we had accepted the duty our father had abandoned. Once at Tabr, we set out for Jacarutu, to find the Golden Path. Once out in the desert, however, we were waylaid by Laza Tigers, sent by Wensicia, and trained to kill us. I was knocked out during the battle, and Leto killed both animals and used the situation to fake his own death, to protect me from what he was about to do.

I do not think I will ever forgive him for that

Stuck in the middle of a brewing civil war, Alia has to deal not only with the external pressure of rebel Fremen, but the internal pressures of the ever-strengthening consciousness of Baron Harkonnen; Jessica allying with the Corrinos to arrange a match between myself and Prince Farad'n, Duncan dead after provoking Stilgar, the Naibs in open rebellion, and Leto assumed dead. It is no wonder she was losing the battle for her soul.

I agreed to go forward with the wedding, with the sole intent of murdering Farad'n as repayment for Leto's death. I am more Fremen than I am Atreides, and the blood of a brother cannot be washed away. Every single Fremen in the Imperium laughed, knowing I lured him to a trap, and still they came.

When Princess Wensicia and Farad'n arrived on Dune for the wedding, however, things did not go as planned. My grandmother had trained Farad'n well, making him a Bene Gesserit in his own right, and a worthy match for me, and he betrayed his bitter mother by revealing that she was in fact the instigator behind Leto's apparent death. Alia ordered all of House Corrino imprisoned, but I intervened on behalf of Farad'n, theoretically out of appreciation for his honesty.

To be perfectly honest, it was merely so I could still kill him myself. He had known, and not acted. To me, that was guilt enough.

The only thing that saved him from my knife was Leto's return from the desert. He survived the Spice Trance, and stepped upon the Golden Path. He chose the path that our father was not strong enough to take, absorbing several sandtrout into his spice saturated body as part of a destined transformation into something that could lead humanity along the Golden Path and prevent humanity's destruction. The sandtrout slowly transform his skin, causing his metamorphosis into something that transcends humanity. In addition to his already-superhuman prescience and Bene Gesserit-like abilities, my brother was now near-immortal.

All that was left was for us to interrupt my own wedding, and confront Alia. We forced the awareness of what Leto had become upon the Imperium, and challenged Alia for our throne. Alia won her battle for her selfdom, but not for her life. Leto and I were now the co-rulers of the Imperium.

In the end, the Lady Jessica decided to return to Caladan, and invited Irulan to accompany her, but Irulan declined. "I have no home but here. Besides, there will be children again and they will need me."

Irulan, being ever the optimist, refers to my children. As I told Farad'n, however, "As my mother was not wife, so will you never be husband." The wedding will not go forward, due to politics. Leto has taken over the Bene Gesserit breeding program, however, and Farad'n has been chosen as my mate. I am fond enough of Farad'n, but not that fond, and he can wait. I have no desire to start breeding an empire for my brother quite yet.

Especially since canon says I have seven children, omg. I am not a baby farm.



Why You Should Watch Our Canon

Ghanima: Well, Leto is shirtless most of the time...

Leto: But you get to wear some of the funny hats! I don't.

Ghanima: They aren't funny hats! They're quite dignified.

Leto: Whatever they are, I don't get to wear them for some reason. I have to compensate with shirtlessness. Besides, we are funny.

Ahdari: Ahem. 'Scuse me, but I feel compelled to point something out. Before there was Sam and Dean Winchester, before the Petrelli brothers, there was Leto II and Ghanima. What Frank Herbert wrote as So-Not-Subtext, James McAvoy and Jessica Brooks totally made TEXTOMG.

Yes, boys and girls, they went there. It's pretty.



Canon-Links!

Official website for the miniseries. (Where our two come from).
Wikipedia entry for the miniseries
Clip: James McAvoy on Children of Dune

Trivia: DID YOU KNOW...?

The music from CoD has been used in movie trailers many times. The most recent examples are the Golden Compass, Indiana Jones, and the new Star Trek previews that were shown in theaters.

Also, because we provide you with the shinies! (Follow the link to the f-locked post for more goodies!)

And that concludes today's Children of Dune Spotlight! We hope you enjoyed the trip, and please stop by again!

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