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What do you want to know about? (Ie, tell us what you want info on specifically)
Otherwise, if its still up there was a good summary by someone called 'thug's notes' (if I remember it right)
Spice is a substance only found on one world (Dune) that when processed allows certain people/beings to bend space, allowing space travel. So it's basically the most valuable substance in the galaxy.
Blue eyes are a result of imbibing spice in some form.
The suits are "Still-suits". They recycle the body's water. Dune has little/no water so every ounce is precious.
What's going on: Different ruling houses are vying for control of Dune and the Spice. So naturally that involves political shenanigans up to and including assassinations and warfare.
The original book is centered on a young duke named Paul of House Atreides.
Oh, and generally there hasn't been a movie or tv show that can do a great job of telling the actual story from the original book. The book is huge and there is a massive amount of internal dialogue by the characters. That doesn't mean they aren't good, just that the book is a very heavy read.
Oh, and there are more than one book, but they are continuances. The first book is fine stand-alone.
But if you just want to know what's important in the story of Dune, it's a book about politics and revenge.
Spice/Melange - Only appears on a single planet in the entire Universe. Contrary to the above post, it does NOT allow someone to bend space. What spice does is act on the mind like a drug and allow people to experience a limited form of prescience, ie they can see the future. Spacing Guild Navigators use the spice to plot a course when they warp their ships across space so they don't run into a star or planet or something.
Arrakis/Dune - The aforementioned planet where the spice grows/appears. It is a world devoid of open water and is almost entirely open desert, with only tiny ice caps at each of the poles and the only places people can live safely are either in caves surrounded by rock, or within rock formations that provide sheltered areas that the sandworms can't get into. The native human population of Arrakis (Dune is the informal name of the planet) are known as the Fremen.
Sandworms/Shai-Hulud - Giant sandworms that roam the open deserts of the planet. They can detect non-natural vibration through the sand from miles away and will always respond to those sounds by eating whatever they can find at the source. The Fremen have devised a way to mount and ride the sandworms and use them to travel deep into the desert where they have secret bases.
Atreides/Harkonnen - Rival ruling houses that have a blood fued between them that is millennia old. The royal houses in this universe often control entire planets. Broadly speaking, Harkonnen are bad guys and Atreides are good guys. At the start of the story, the Harkonnen are losing control of Arrakis due to an order or command from the Emperor, and the Atreides are taking over custody of Arrakis. This is a great win for Atreides as they will get a huge amount of income, power, and influence from controlling the sole source of spice in the galaxy. The Harkonnen, who already hate the Atreides, make plans to defeat the Atreides so they can retain this advantage.
Bene Gesserit - An ancient clan or group of women that train their minds and bodies for supreme control over both. Their mastery of themselves gives them great power over other people as well and accomplished Bene Gesserit can even control other people using a personal tone of voice that forces them to act without thinking. They have developed a genetic memory that they can all access, but only through the women's perspective. They are unable to access the genetic memory of the male parts of their genes (this stuff is weird and I can't explain it well), and this genetic memory further adds to their power by letting them recall things they shouldn't know and basically have infinite knowledge. Bene Gesserit can control when they get pregnant and even choose the sex of their children. This is relevant because for thousands of years they have been breeding a specific genetic line in order to produce a male who can see both the female and male genetic memories and thus become some kind of ultimate being.
Mentat - Due to events in the distance past, all 'thinking machines' are taboo in the universe that Dune is set on. To get around this loss of computers, some humans train their minds to be superhuman and take their place as advisors to important figures. These people are known as mentats.
Paul Atreides - The heir to the dukedom, Paul is the result of his mother ignoring the commands from the Bene Gesserit sisterhood to have a daughter with Duke Leto Atreides for the purpose of producing the Kwisatz Haderach further down the line. His mother has trained him in the Bene Gesserit ways of control. He also has the ability to train as a Mentat. When he first ingests spice, he sees the future and realizes that he has the potential to become the Kwisatz Haderach.
Fremen - Natives of Arrakis, they live in the deep desert and have completely adapted to the impossibly tough world they live on. As a result they are incredible fighters, able to easily defeat the Harkonnen and even the Emperor's special forces, the Saurdukar, in battle. After the events that kill Paul's father play out, Paul and his mother Jessica join up with the Fremen.
There's so much more, and honestly the audiobook is a spectacular rendition of the story, with multiple readers for the various characters. I highly recommend checking it out of the library or something if you can, because, while the rest of the series gets a little weird even compared to the first book, DUNE is a great read by itself and you'll get a lot more out of any games or movies if you have read/listened to it.
however, once you start using it, you cannot stop.
its also worth a fortune, even when there was a decent amount being harvested. Great Houses use it as a form of currency (the Barron Harkonnen skims a little here and there whenever he can from the shipments he has to make, while he is running the fiefdom. so if you find secret cache's in Harkonnen areas don't feel bad, take that stuff, he can't go crying to the Emperor that its been nicked XD)
i found the thug notes. its still around in youtube.
search for "Dune - Thug Notes Summary and Analysis" and you will get a 5 and a half min long TL:DR lol, with some of the funniest explanations i have seen.
its 8 years old now lol. (the vid, not the books heh heh)
The gift to house Atreides of Arrakis was a trap to get them all killed and force the Harkonnens to bankrupt themselves to do it, taking out 2 strong houses that could overthrow the Emperor
The Sega Genesis RTS game of Dune was actually really fun back in its day (i highly doubt it would stand the test of time now since we're talking so many years and it was basic early days of RTS)
This has always bothered me, because in the books, the Atreides are actually red and the Harkonnen, blue.
Ordos doesn't even exist, it was made up for the games. They're like a weird mix of Tleilaxi and a couple other houses from the books.
Plus, there is the flag issue.
House Atreides flag is black and green. House Harkonnen is orange and white (from what I can tell. Only have a pennant flag from the fighting arena where the Barron has to signal a fete to calm the people down after Feyd Rautha wins to go by XD)
There is a House Ordos listed in the encyclopaedia, but the snake style icon belongs to another house entirely iirc,
Sci Fi made a mini series about the 1st 2 books in 2000. maybe you can watch that to get more familiar with the lore. These are also much closer to the books. Also there's a youtube channel called Quinn's Ideas which covers dune quite good and gives short run downs of each book.
You can sure tell that series was made on a tight budget yes. Eye candy it is not. I also agree nothing beats the books. Especially the later ones as only there the real story develops.
Tho i do think the sci fi series tell the story better than either the lynch or the movie from 2021. If you can stumach painted backdrops and out of place acting. I do think the new one is quite good and i hope they continue the series!