The Big Picture

The Butlerian Jihad origin story provides rich context for events in
Dune
that new audiences may miss.
Frank Herbert avoided predicting future technology, focusing on themes like philosophy and mythology instead.
Including the Butlerian Jihad in the films would enhance its world-building and encourage critical thinking.

When world-building is discussed in science fiction or fantasy stories, Dune isn’t one of the first examples that immediately comes to mind. However, this isn’t to say the world of Arrakis is completely lacking in that area as the novels show a rich history within the narrative. This is especially since there are events that neither of the two Denis Villenuve films touched upon, namely, the Butlerian Jihad. Taking place thousands of years before the main story, this holy war might initially seem like an obvious excuse to avoid tackling the concept of technological evolution in a futuristic story, but it’s so much more.

While this was the original intention, the idea evolved into a prequel story, which details the origins of what would eventually become one of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Excluding this story from the recent films may make some sense, due to the distraction it would pose to the main storyline, but not mentioning it entirely has consequences. Namely, it takes away the point it serves, providing relevant context that helps new audiences understand the world of Arrakis.

Dune: Part Two Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.Release Date March 1, 2024 Director Denis Villeneuve Runtime 166 minutes

Everything in ‘Dune’ Stems From the Butlerian Jihad
Despite the crucial history to the world in which he lives, the Butlerian Jihad is barely mentioned by Paul Atredies (Timothée Chalamet) during the main saga. Instead, it’s used to answer an obvious question regarding the lack of sophisticated technology being developed in the far future. However, while the Butlerian Jihad was never explored in detail during the main Dune saga, author Brian Herbert continued the franchise’s legacy after his father’s death. There have been many prequel novels to the Dune series, but perhaps none have as much of a direct connection to the original book as the three books in Legends of Dune. Over the years, there’s been no shortage of science fiction and fantasy stories depicting an ancient conflict from which the world of the present story originated, from The Rings of Power to House of the Dragon, Dune was among the first to explore this idea. However, the sheer number of prequel books and the fact that the original creator is not involved means that this aspect of the story fell by the wayside. This is a shame because it creates fascinating origin stories for the characters we know in the main saga and their adaptations.

In the Legends of Dune trilogy, the very first in the current timeline, all three great houses from the present story are explained in full detail. Concepts like the Benet Gesserit and Spacing Guild are explored for the first time chronologically and the legendary blood feud between House Atredias and House Harkonnen doesn’t exist yet. Instead, long before Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautista) and Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) led the Harkonnens in battle against Duke Leo Atredies (Oscar Isaac) and his lineage, the two families remain allies for much of the war, and it is only a horrific mix of tragedy and circumstance that they eventually become rivals.

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Most notably, the trilogy concludes with a climatic battle over Corrino and its adoption as the new throne world of the future Padishah Emperors, a dynasty continuing right into Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) and Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) by the time of the original book. Bringing their origins full circle, the Free Men of Arrakis, who aid the resistance against the machines, become the same Fremen tribes that Chani (Zendaya) and Stilgar (Javier Bardem) lead into war thousands of years later. Although somewhat hampered by the nature of the story as a foregone conclusion, the trilogy nevertheless remains an interesting explanation of the Dune universe and the events that created the modern world that we often view with admiration.

The Butlerian Jihad Serves a Clear Narrative Purpose

Writing a science fiction story taking place in the distant future naturally presents clear challenges, namely having to predict that future. Films like Blade Runner or The Terminator show that trying to predict technological advances in the future might appear laughable in retrospect when the actual timeline catches up with you, hence why the distant future is often used. Consequently, you’re often forced to deal with major logistical questions that pesky viewers might reasonably ask. When set in space, this becomes even more problematic, since the scale of an interstellar civilization always makes it difficult to comprehend or portray realistically.

Conceding his inability to predict technological advances, Frank Herbert quite openly didn’t even try. Considering these questions to be just a distraction from the actual story, he created an event meant to explain the absence of intelligent machines. By wiping his hands clean of this problem that so often plagues science fiction writers, Herbertavoided the question of technology and focused more on the themes that he deemed more important, including philosophy and mythology. This helped to create his epic tragedy about the downfall of an ancient imperial family and the dangers of having blind faith in messianic religious figures. If anything, the passage of time since the series was created has vindicated his position, as the technology we’ve developed in the sixty years since then could seem unbelievable, so imagine trying to apply it to a scale of millennia. Even in hard science fiction stories with great quality, that idea can still feel like a nuisance for those trying to create their own world.

‘Dune’ Was Wrong To Avoid Mentioning the Butlerian Jihad
Image via Warner Bros. 

Changes are inevitable in any adaptation, especially for a book on as grand a scale as this one. That being said, exposition like this remains very important for new viewers unfamiliar with the source material. Given that the literal message of the story is to encourage critical thinking and prevent blind faith, the film encourages those who watch it to ask questions and this is undoubtedly one that will come up during conversation. For example, when Paul and Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are lost in the deserts of Arrakis, someone who remains unaware of the absence of computers might wonder why they had no way of contacting the outer universe. Although Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) mentions that no satellites are in orbit over the planet, this brief line does not compensate for the lack of a comprehensive explanation of their absence. In a fan culture known to be obsessed with finding plot holes, this could leave people to wrongly fault the story for a deliberative omission and focus on insignificant elements rather than the quality of the film itself.

Having the Butlerian Jihad briefly mentioned, even in passing with a few lines of dialogue, would also hint to newcomers that this world has a far richer history than it might appear at first glance. Interestingly, this is one thing that other adaptations, including the exquisite original film made by David Lynch forty years ago, have also never referenced. Given that Villeneuve appears to only have one more film in the franchise on the horizon after Dune: Part Two has finished its run, those enchanted with what he has already produced might feel tempted to explore more of the novels. However, if one looks only at what the film has presented, Dune would appear to possess the mythology and philosophy crucial to a fictional world, but also lacking the element of history. Thanks to the unconventional nature of the sequels written by the author himself and the sheer quality of the prequels created by his family, the rest of the series remain significantly less well known and the two films do not help in that regard for those who are looking to find more stories in this universe. For example, many viewers might not even know about the first attempt to adapt the story to the big screen, although that appears to be just fine with Lynch himself.

Although it might have started as nothing more than a pretext for removing undesirable elements from the main story, that does not make the Butlerian Jihad any less interesting or important. In a series that finally managed to get off the ground after one cinematic failure and numerous failed starts over the decades, it remains an unexplored story that could be of great interest to potential readers and even filmmakers. Villenvue might be wrapping up his time on his Arrakis with a trilogy restricted to the main saga, but other prequel stories remain in production. Admittedly, the lore of Dune might not be quite as expansive as other franchises in similar genres, but there is still a lucrative amount to discover for those willing to look.

Dune: Part Two is now playing in theaters in the U.S.

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