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Introduction: The Kwisatz Haderach
- from "Manual of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul.
It was a warm night at Castle Caladan, and the ancient pile of stone that had served the Atreides family as home for twenty-six generations bore that cooled-sweat feeling it acquired before a change in the
weather.
The old woman was let in by the side door down the vaulted passage by Paul's room and she was allowed a moment to peer in at him where he lay in his bed.
By the half-light of a suspensor lamp, dimmed and hanging near the floor, the awakened boy could see a bulky female shape at his door, standing one step ahead of his mother. The old woman was a witch shadow - hair like matted spiderwebs, hooded 'round darkness of features, eyes like glittering jewels.
"Is he not small for his age, Jessica?" the old woman asked. Her voice wheezed and twanged like an
untuned baliset.
Paul's mother answered in her soft contralto: "The Atreides are known to start late getting their growth, Your Reverence."
"So I've heard, so I've heard," wheezed the old woman. "Yet he's already fifteen."
"Yes, Your Reverence."
"He's awake and listening to us," said the old woman. "Sly little rascal." She chuckled. "But royalty has
need of slyness. And if he's really the Kwisatz Haderach . . . well . . ."
Within the shadows of his bed, Paul held his eyes open to mere slits. Two bird-bright ovals - the eyes of
the old woman - seemed to expand and glow as they stared into his.
"Sleep well, you sly little rascal," said the old woman. "Tomorrow you'll need all your faculties to meet my gom jabbar."
And she was gone, pushing his mother out, closing the door with a solid thump.
Paul lay awake wondering: What's a gom jabbar?
In all the upset during this time of change, the old woman was the strangest thing he had seen.
Your Reverence .
And the way she called his mother Jessica like a common serving wench instead of what she was - a Bene Gesserit Lady, a duke's concubine and mother of the ducal heir.
Is a gom jabbar something of Arrakis I must know before we go there? he wondered.
He mouthed her strange words: Gom jabbar . . . Kwisatz Haderach .
There had been so many things to learn. Arrakis would be a place so different from Caladan that Paul's mind whirled with the new knowledge. Arrakis - Dune - Desert Planet .
Thufir Hawat, his father's Master of Assassins, had explained it: their mortal enemies, the Harkonnens, had been on Arrakis eighty years, holding the planet in quasi-fief under a CHOAM Company contract to
mine the geriatric spice, melange. Now the Harkonnens were leaving to be replaced by the House of
Atreides in fief-complete - an apparent victory for the Duke Leto. Yet, Hawat had said, this appearance
contained the deadliest peril, for the Duke Leto was popular among the Great Houses of the Landsraad.
"A popular man arouses the jealousy of the powerful," Hawat had said.
Arrakis - Dune - Desert Planet .
Paul fell asleep to dream of an Arrakeen cavern, silent people all around him moving in the dim light of
glowglobes. It was solemn there and like a cathedral as he listened to a faint sound - the drip-drip-drip of
water. Even while he remained in the dream, Paul knew he would remember it upon awakening. He always remembered the dreams that were predictions.
The dream faded.
Paul awoke to feel himself in the warmth of his bed - thinking . . . thinking. This world of Castle Caladan, without play or companions his own age, perhaps did not deserve sadness in farewell. Dr. Yueh, his teacher, had hinted that the faufreluches class system was not rigidly guarded on Arrakis. The planet
sheltered people who lived at the desert edge without caid or bashar to command them: will-o'-the-sand people called Fremen, marked down on no census of the Imperial Regate.
Arrakis - Dune - Desert Planet .
Paul sensed his own tensions, decided to practice one of the mind-body lessons his mother had taught him. Three quick breaths triggered the responses: he fell into the floating awareness . . . focusing the consciousness . . . aortal dilation . . . avoiding the unfocused mechanism of consciousness . . . to be conscious by choice . . . blood enriched and swift-flooding the overload regions . . . one does not obtain food-safety-freedom by instinct alone . . . animal consciousness does not extend beyond the given moment nor into the idea that its victims may become extinct . . . the animal destroys and does not produce . . . animal pleasures remain close to sensation levels and avoid the perceptual . . . the human requires a background grid through which to see his universe . . . focused consciousness by choice, this forms your grid . . . bodily integrity follows nerve-blood flow according to the deepest awareness of cell needs . . . all things/cells/beings are impermanent . . . strive for flow-permanence within . . .
Over and over and over within Paul's floating awareness the lesson rolled.
When dawn touched Paul's window sill with yellow light, he sensed it through closed eyelids, opened
them, hearing then the renewed bustle and hurry in the castle, seeing the familiar patterned beams of his bedroom ceiling.
The hall door opened and his mother peered in, hair like shaded bronze held with a black ribbon at the crown, her oval face emotionless and green eyes staring solemnly.
"You're awake," she said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes."
He studied the tallness of her, saw the hint of tension in her shoulders as she chose clothing for him from the closet racks. Another might have missed the tension, but she had trained him in the Bene Gesserit Way - in the minutiae of observation. She turned, holding a semiformal jacket for him. It carried the red Atreides hawk crest above the breast pocket.
"Hurry and dress," she said. "Reverend Mother is waiting."
"I dreamed of her once," Paul said. "Who is she?"
"She was my teacher at the Bene Gesserit school. Now, she's the Emperor's Truthsayer. And Paul . . . " She hesitated. "You must tell her about your dreams."
"I will. Is she the reason we got Arrakis?"
"We did not get Arrakis." Jessica flicked dust from a pair of trousers, hung them with the jacket on the dressing stand beside his bed. "Don't keep Reverend Mother waiting."
Paul sat up, hugged his knees. "What's a gom jabbar?"
Again, the training she had given him exposed her almost invisible hesitation, a nervous betrayal he felt as fear.
Jessica crossed to the window, flung wide the draperies, stared across the river orchards toward Mount Syubi . "You'll learn about . . . the gom jabbar soon enough," she said.
He heard the fear in her voice and wondered at it.
Jessica spoke without turning. "Reverend Mother is waiting in my morning room. Please hurry."
The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam sat in a tapestried chair watching mother and son approach. Windows on each side of her overlooked the curving southern bend of the river and the green farmlands of the Atreides family holding, but the Reverend Mother ignored the view. She was feeling her age this
morning, more than a little petulant. She blamed it on space travel and association with that abominable
Spacing Guild and its secretive ways. But here was a mission that required personal attention from a Bene Gesserit-with-the-Sight. Even the Padishah Emperor's Truthsayer couldn't evade that responsibility
when the duty call came.
Damn that Jessica! the Reverend Mother thought. If only she'd borne us a girl as she was ordered to do!
Jessica stopped three paces from the chair, dropped a small curtsy, a gentle flick of left hand along the line of her skirt. Paul gave the short bow his dancing master had taught - the one used "when in doubt of
another's station."
The nuances of Paul's greeting were not lost on the Reverend Mother. She said: "He's a cautious one, Jessica."
Jessica's hand went to Paul's shoulder, tightened there. For a heartbeat, fear pulsed through her palm. Then she had herself under control. "Thus he has been taught, Your Reverence."
What does she fear? Paul wondered.
The old woman studied Paul in one gestalten flicker: face oval like Jessica's, but strong bones . . . hair: the Duke's black-black but with browline of the maternal grandfather who cannot be named, and that thin, disdainful nose; shape of directly staring green eyes: like the old Duke, the paternal grandfather who is
dead.
Now, there was a man who appreciated the power of bravura - even in death , the Reverend Mother thought.
"Teaching is one thing," she said, "the basic ingredient is another. We shall see." The old eyes darted a hard glance at Jessica. "Leave us. I enjoin you to practice the meditation of peace."
Jessica took her hand from Paul's shoulder. "Your Reverence, I - "
"Jessica, you know it must be done."
Paul looked up at his mother, puzzled.
Jessica straightened. "Yes . . . of course."
Paul looked back at the Reverend Mother. Politeness and his mother's obvious awe of this old woman
argued caution. Yet he felt an angry apprehension at the fear he sensed radiating from his mother.
"Paul . . . " Jessica took a deep breath. ". . . this test you're about to receive . . . it's important to me."
"Test?" He looked up at her.
"Remember that you're a duke's son, "Jessica said. She whirled and strode from the room in a dry swishing of skirt. The door closed solidly behind her.
Paul faced the old woman, holding anger in check. "Does one dismiss the Lady Jessica as though she were a serving wench?"
A smile flicked the corners of the wrinkled old mouth. "The Lady Jessica was my serving wench, lad, for fourteen years at school." She nodded. "And a good one, too. Now, you come here!"
The command whipped out at him. Paul found himself obeying before he could think about it. Using the Voice on me , he thought. He stopped at her gesture, standing beside her knees.
"See this?" she asked. From the folds of her gown, she lifted a green metal cube about fifteen centimeters on a side. She turned it and Paul saw that one side was open - black and oddly frightening. No light
penetrated that open blackness.
"Put your right hand in the box," she said.
Fear shot through Paul. He started to back away, but the old woman said: "Is this how you obey your mother?"
He looked up into bird-bright eyes.
Slowly, feeling the compulsions and unable to inhibit them, Paul put his hand into the box. He felt first a sense of cold as the blackness closed around his hand, then slick metal against his fingers and a prickling as though his hand were asleep.
A predatory look filled the old woman's features. She lifted her right hand away from the box and poised the hand close to the side of Paul's neck. He saw a glint of metal there and started to turn toward. . .
"Stop!" she snapped.
Using the Voice again! He swung his attention back to her face.
"I hold at your neck the gom jabbar," she said. "The gom jabbar, the high-handed enemy. It's a needle with a drop of poison on its tip. Ah-ah! Don't pull away or you'll feel that poison."
Paul tried to swallow in a dry throat. He could not take his attention from the seamed old face, the
glistening eyes, the pale gums around silvery metal teeth that flashed as she spoke.
"A duke's son must know about poisons," she said. "It's the way of our times, eh? Musky, to be poisoned in your drink. Aumas, to be poisoned in your food. The quick ones and the slow ones and the ones in between. Here's a new one for you: the gom jabbar. It kills only animals."
Pride overcame Paul's fear. "You dare suggest a duke's son is an animal?" he demanded.
"Let us say I suggest you may be human," she said. "Steady! I warn you not to try jerking away. I am old, but my hand can drive this needle into your neck before you escape me."
"Who are you?" he whispered. "How did you trick my mother into leaving me alone with you? Are you from the Harkonnens?"
"The Harkonnens? Bless us, no! Now, be silent." A dry finger touched his neck and he stilled the
involuntary urge to leap away.
"Good," she said. "You pass the first test. Now, here's the way of the rest of it: If you withdraw your hand from the box you die. This is the only rule. Keep your hand in the box and live. Withdraw it and die."
Paul took a deep breath to still his trembling. "If I call out there'll be servants on you in seconds and you'll die."
"Servants will not pass your mother who stands guard outside that door. Depend on it. Your mother survived this test. Now it's your turn. Be honored. We seldom administer this to men-children."
Curiosity reduced Paul's fear to a manageable level. He heard truth in the old woman's voice, no denying it. If his mother stood guard out there . . . if this were truly a test . . . And whatever it was, he knew himself caught in it, trapped by that hand at his neck: the gom jabbar. He recalled the response from the Litany against Fear as his mother had taught him out of the Bene Gesserit rite.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain ."
He felt calmness return, said: "Get on with it, old woman."
"Old woman!" she snapped. "You've courage, and that can't be denied. Well, we shall see, sirra." She bent close, lowered her voice almost to a whisper. "You will feel pain in this hand within the box. Pain. But! Withdraw the hand and I'll touch your neck with my gom jabbar - the death so swift it's like the fall of the headsman's axe. Withdraw your hand and the gom jabbar takes you. Understand?"
"What's in the box?"
"Pain."
He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch.
The old woman said; "You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap? There's an animal kind of trick. A human would remain in the trap, endure the pain, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind."
The itch became the faintest burning. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded.
"To determine if you're human. Be silent."
Paul clenched his left hand into a fist as the burning sensation increased in the other hand. It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat . . . upon heat. He felt the fingernails of his free hand biting the palm. He tried to flex the fingers of the burning hand, but couldn't move them.
"It burns," he whispered.
"Silence!"
Pain throbbed up his arm. Sweat stood out on his forehead. Every fiber cried out to withdraw the hand from that burning pit . . . but . . . the gom jabbar. Without turning his head, he tried to move his eyes to see that terrible needle poised beside his neck. He sensed that he was breathing in gasps, tried to slow his breaths and couldn't.
Pain!
His world emptied of everything except that hand immersed in agony, the ancient face inches away staring at him.
His lips were so dry he had difficulty separating them.
The burning! The burning!
He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained.
It stopped!
As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped.
Paul felt his right arm trembling, felt sweat bathing his body.
"Enough," the old woman muttered. "Kull wahad! No woman child ever withstood that much. I must've wanted you to fail." She leaned back, withdrawing the gom jabbar from the side of his neck. "Take your hand from the box, young human, and look at it."
He fought down an aching shiver, stared at the lightless void where his hand seemed to remain of its own volition. Memory of pain inhibited every movement. Reason told him he would withdraw a blackened stump from that box.
"Do it!" she snapped.
He jerked his hand from the box, stared at it astonished. Not a mark. No sign of agony on the flesh. He held up the hand, turned it, flexed the fingers.
"Pain by nerve induction," she said. "Can't go around maiming potential humans. There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though." She slipped it into the folds of her gown.
"But the pain - " he said.
"Pain," she sniffed. "A human can override any nerve in the body."
Paul felt his left hand aching, uncurled the clenched fingers, looked at four bloody marks where fingernails had bitten his palm. He dropped the hand to his side, looked at the old woman. "You did that to my mother once?"
"Ever sift sand through a screen?" she asked.
The tangential slash of her question shocked his mind into a higher awareness: Sand through a screen , he nodded.
"We Bene Gesserit sift people to find the humans."
He lifted his right hand, willing the memory of the pain. "And that's all there is to it - pain?"
"I observed you in pain, lad. Pain's merely the axis of the test. Your mother's told you about our ways of observing. I see the signs of her teaching in you. Our test is crisis and observation."
He heard the confirmation in her voice, said: "It's truth!"
She stared at him. He senses truth! Could he be the one? Could he truly be the one? She extinguished the excitement, reminding herself: "Hope clouds observation ."
"You know when people believe what they say," she said.
"I know it."
The harmonics of ability confirmed by repeated test were in his voice. She heard them, said: "Perhaps you are the Kwisatz Haderach. Sit down, little brother, here at my feet."
"I prefer to stand."
"Your mother sat at my feet once."
"I'm not my mother."
"You hate us a little, eh?" She looked toward the door, called out: "Jessica!"
The door flew open and Jessica stood there staring hard-eyed into the room. Hardness melted from her as she saw Paul. She managed a faint smile.
"Jessica, have you ever stopped hating me?" the old woman asked.
"I both love and hate you," Jessica said. "The hate - that's from pains I must never forget. The love - that's . . . "
"Just the basic fact," the old woman said, but her voice was gentle. "You may come in now, but remain silent. Close that door and mind it that no one interrupts us."
Jessica stepped into the room, closed the door and stood with her back to it. My son lives , she thought. My son lives and is . . . human. I knew he was . . . but . . . he lives. Now, I can go on living . The door felt hard and real against her back. Everything in the room was immediate and pressing against her senses.
My son lives .
Paul looked at his mother. She told the truth . He wanted to get away alone and think this experience
through, but knew he could not leave until he was dismissed. The old woman had gained a power over him. They spoke truth . His mother had undergone this test. There must be terrible purpose in it . . . the pain and fear had been terrible. He understood terrible purposes. They drove against all odds. They were their own necessity. Paul felt that he had been infected with terrible purpose. He did not know yet what the terrible purpose was.
"Some day, lad," the old woman said, "you, too, may have to stand outside a door like that. It takes a
measure of doing."
Paul looked down at the hand that had known pain, then up to the Reverend Mother. The sound of her
voice had contained a difference then from any other voice in his experience. The words were outlined in brilliance. There was an edge to them. He felt that any question he might ask her would bring an answer
that could lift him out of his flesh-world into something greater.
"Why do you test for humans?" he asked.
"To set you free."
"Free?"
"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."
"'Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind,' " Paul quoted.
"Right out of the Butlerian Jihad and the Orange Catholic Bible," she said. "But what the O.C. Bible
should've said is: 'Thou shalt not make a machine to counterfeit a human mind.' Have you studied the
Mentat in your service?"
"I've studied with Thufir Hawat."
"The Great Revolt took away a crutch," she said. "It forced human minds to develop. Schools were started to train human talents."
"Bene Gesserit schools?"
She nodded. "We have two chief survivors of those ancient schools: the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing
Guild. The Guild, so we think, emphasizes almost pure mathematics. Bene Gesserit performs another
function."
"Politics," he said.
"Kull wahad!" the old woman said. She sent a hard glance at Jessica.
"I've not told him. Your Reverence," Jessica said.
The Reverend Mother returned her attention to Paul. "You did that on remarkably few clues," she said.
"Politics indeed. The original Bene Gesserit school was directed by those who saw the need of a thread of continuity in human affairs. They saw there could be no such continuity without separating human stock from animal stock - for breeding purposes."
The old woman's words abruptly lost their special sharpness for Paul. He felt an offense against what his mother called his instinct for rightness . It wasn't that Reverend Mother lied to him. She obviously believed what she said. It was something deeper, something tied to his terrible purpose.
He said: "But my mother tells me many Bene Gesserit of the schools don't know their ancestry."
"The genetic lines are always in our records," she said. "Your mother knows that either she's of Bene
Gesserit descent or her stock was acceptable in itself."
"Then why couldn't she know who her parents are?"
"Some do . . . Many don't. We might, for example, have wanted to breed her to a close relative to set up a dominant in some genetic trait. We have many reasons."
Again, Paul felt the offense against rightness. He said: "You take a lot on yourselves."
The Reverend Mother stared at him, wondering: Did I hear criticism in his voice? "We carry a heavy
burden," she said.
Paul felt himself coming more and more out of the shock of the test. He leveled a measuring stare at her, said: "You say maybe I'm the . . . Kwisatz Haderach. What's that, a human gom jabbar?"
"Paul," Jessica said. "You mustn't take that tone with - "
"I'll handle this, Jessica," the old woman said. "Now, lad, do you know about the Truthsayer drug?"
"You take it to improve your ability to detect falsehood," he said. "My mother's told me."
"Have you ever seen truthtrance?"
He shook his head. "No."
"The drug's dangerous," she said, "but it gives insight. When a Truthsayer's gifted by the drug, she can look many places in her memory - in her body's memory. We look down so many avenues of the past . . . but only feminine avenues." Her voice took on a note of sadness. "Yet, there's a place where no Truthsayer can see. We are repelled by it, terrorized. It is said a man will come one day and find in the gift of the drug his inward eye. He will look where we cannot - into both feminine and masculine pasts."
"Your Kwisatz Haderach?"
"Yes, the one who can be many places at once: the Kwisatz Haderach. Many men have tried the drug . . . so many, but none has succeeded."
"They tried and failed, all of them?"
"Oh, no." She shook her head.
. . . "They tried and died."
"To attempt an understanding of Muad'Dib without understanding his mortal enemies, the Harkonnens, is to attempt seeing Truth without knowing Falsehood. It is the attempt to see the Light without knowing Darkness. It cannot be."
- from "Manual of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
I have seen them yielding under my command
One day the universe will be cleansed
One day my father's death will be avenged"
- Star One
Chapter One: Stories of Dune
- Paul Atreides
correlation between "Star Wars" (and other films, books, mythology and philosophies) and the novel
"Dune".
As I got older, hearing it was a must read for many in college and university, a friend in highschool was the first to recommend the reading, as he talked about the "Fremen" and their Blue within blue eyes that came from their intake of "Melange" or Spice. And the Sandworms, the use (or not, for an explosive reason) of
laser weapons, and the constant "inner thoughts" - characters speaking to themselves to be alert,
evaluating, and observant to all that surrounded them. Something about that stuck, and I guess I became
more alert and keen, anticipating what was around the corner wherever I am, while discerning each person
I'd meet - watching their body language and behavior while having a conversation with them and in my head. But for some reason I didn't seek out the book. I'm sure it would have inspired a lot of drawings if I had back then.
In 1983, I purchased my first Iron Maiden album "Piece of Mind" (being exposed to more Maiden on the now long gone AOR FM station 94.7 KMET in Los Angeles, especially on the Metal program "The Metal Shop" where I 1st learned of the many underground bands that are now classics). When I had gotten
toward the end of the album, the last track "To Tame a Land", I had no idea what I was headed for, I
deciphered the "story" and then realized that it was based on Dune, along with their "Acknowledgment to
Frank Herbert" on the album's credits.
Maiden and Dune have an interesting but contentious background:
"Based on the science fiction novel Dune, which was later made into a movie. Author Frank Herbert refused to allow the band to call this song "Dune." The band originally sent a letter to Herbert's agent for permission. The response read as follows: "No. Because Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially rock bands like Iron Maiden."
Songwriter Steve Harris tried to convince Herbert that the song would be a good promo for the book, but he still refused. Note: I have personally seen and heard that it was because of Maiden, many had sought out the
Book and became fans, as well as other Books, Movies and historical events because of many Maiden
songs. Including my younger Brother who based a history assignment on "Alexander the Great" when he was in highschool.
It would be years later (circa 1982-84) while working at Barro's Pizza in Diamond Bar California, in the back kitchen making Pizza Dough, Dj "Cynthia Fox" perked-up my ears on KMET with a short segment ("Off the Record" possibly?) where she interviewed, of all people, Frank Herbert! She knew about the "story" of To Tame a Land and Herbert's management, and actually asked Mr. Herbert if he had ever heard the song? He seemed much more open to hear it - maybe under duress (and I believe, had him look at the lyric sheet from the album "Piece of Mind") - so she played it, and afterwards he was quite surprised and was "Impressed"! Unfortunately its a crying shame no one seems to have this segment as I scoured the internet and YOUtube for any evidence I could show on this -that it actually happened, and that I'm not imagining what I heard :(.
In December of 1984 - I went to the Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood to see David Lynch's "Dune" and loved it! It was weird (and a bit unnecessary with Baron Harkonnen and his ridiculous "sores" - yuck!), quirky but very entertaining. I even remember the awful reviews it got by Siskel & Ebert (I loved and hated them, they hated or "partial thumbs down" 5 of my fave films; Excalibur, Empire Strikes Back, The Keep, Dune and Aliens). I'm not the brightest bulb, or have a college education, but the things they "observed" in Dune were ridiculous.
I would see the movie a thousand times more on VHS, and eventually tape the KTLA Channel 5, "Director's Cut" (Alan Smithee version) of the film and memorize every line.
This finally led me to seek out the Novel (and purchased "The Dune Encyclopedia" - also see pdf) which the 1st volume was given to me by that high school friend, Glen, his own set that he gave as a gift. So I finally was able to read the actual story. I could see why many were angry about the movie, but I still enjoyed both. It was hard not to think of most of the actors in the film as the characters, but I thought they fit their personalities/acting abilities. I think the only thing that really bothered me (other than the Baron) was the designs of the Ships, but I'm super critical as I collect many Sci-Fi Art of books and have made my living as a Conceptual Designer (now part-time).
I would collect as many magazines I could find on the films, and especially the infamous issue by
"Cinemafantastique". This in-turn would lead me to Alejandro Jodorowsky version that I wouldn't
understand the scope of his vision till many years later, and then the proposed Ridley Scott version that would eventually become "ALIEN".
Funny that I missed out purchasing a very strange licensed product from Lynch's Dune - a "Party Favors Set" that I had seen at a Discount Department Store!
Actually, if you look closer at the art, instead of featuring the heroic Fremen, they have the Harkonnens representing the "good times" . . . what were these people thinking?
It's one of my BIGGEST regrets not buying this and the "Children's Coloring and Activity Books"! I don't know if this is hilarious or completely creepy. What child wouldn't want to color the Baron's sores? D:
Though I was able to get a poster at a great memorabilia store in Hollywood, off of Sunset Blvd. and Wilcox called "Cinema Collectors" which sadly isn't around anymore (though apparently they are now in
Henderson Nevada) . . .
more fantasy faire after. Alejandro's vision would come too late. But he had an incredible amount of
beautiful conceptual designs including the film fully storyboarded! Which you can see here:
http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowskys-dune-uncovered - ASTOUNDING!
(Also see Presskit for the documentary). More Dune information can be found here at this great website.
His "Super Group" Art team would then be picked-up by Ridley Scott and eventually design "Alien".
being one of the weirdest EPICS ever made.
Personally I think the art would have been the best thing out of the film, who were among my all time fave artist; H.R. Giger, Chris Foss, Jean "Mobieus" Giraud, and Ron Cobb. I can picture it being very esoteric but
lost on most movie goers (which would weed out the weak, like Andrei Tarkovsky "Solaris" in the
theatres), I may have been one of them, yet the visuals would be stunning.
Though many fans of the novel (and the film, or the Mini-series) should realise that Alejandro at first, had no intention of doing an "adaption" in the true sense, as he did not read the book at its onset.
I have seen my share of weird movies, but the "plots" and meanings get lost on me at times, so maybe I am not the strongest gauge to judge such a movie. But maybe appreciate its visual impact.
But something that can NOT be taken away from this man, he has a HUGE heart, and believed in the art
of filmmaking and creativity for the sake of creation in general, which I can only praise, and just maybe, look at my own art, scrutinize it, and wonder why I can not get myself motivated to create again. But words and enthusiasm like Alejandro's, make you want to conquer the world. As I watch it again, it definitely
sparks a fire, so maybe the sleeper will awaken sooner than later.
I'll also have to re-read "Children of Dune" and finish the 1st series of books. Then eventually read Frank Herbert's Sons books (Brian Herbert). "Dune Messiah" I can remember was a hard read those many years ago, so I'll have to read with much wiser eyes.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/1/14471312/dune-movie-adaptation-director-denis-villeneuve
Playlist: Part 1
To stop the raging war
I've to choose now
I will leave
My body and seek
And time will stand still
When I've to leave
My body and find
A way back to the world I love
When I'm a million miles from home"
- Blind Guardian
- Naib: Stilgar
"I am the messenger from Muad'dib. Poor Emperor, I'm afraid my brother won't be very pleased with you."
- Alia of the Knife
And then the foe yes, they'll be cut down
You'll see he'll be the best that there's been
Messiah supreme, true leader of men"
- Iron Maiden
The list is definitely open for more tracks that I hope to find in the near future. Please enjoy and I hope your mind is open for the various types of music (many are a bit extreme, but the genres are also posted). Lyrics are linked to the Titles, or information as they are available.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8B242207B04DA3B2
Click on Dune Logo for "Fanedit Extended" version of Lynch's Dune Film.
Chapter I - D U N E / Director's Cut Intro
Toto/Dune soundtrack OST - Main title
Blind Guardian - Traveler In Time; Prog-Powermetal
Domine - True leader of men; Powermetal
Golem - Departure; Death Metal
Dune; "Shai Hulud!"
Julia Ecklar - Shai Hulud
Emperor: Battle for Dune OST - Ride the Worm
Dune: Riding the Worm
Star One - Sandrider; Prog Metal
Dune: Sandworm Attack (1984)
Sacred Oath - Sandrider; Thrash/Death Metal
Golem - The Shortening of the Way
Arrakis - Coriolis Storm; Death Metal w/no vocals (in process/demo)
Toto/Dune OST - Big battle
Dune 2000 OST - Harkonnen Battle
Dune: The Wyrding Way
Prototype - Mind In Motion; Tech-Thrash/Tech-Prog Metal
Astra - The Weirding; Post-Prog Metal/Rock
Brian Eno/Dune OST - Prophecy Theme
Dune: "The Sleeper has awaken!!!"
Celldweller - Through the Gates; Prog Metal-Techno? (instrumental)
Arrakis - The Sleeper Has Awakened; Death Metal (no vocals as of yet)
Savage Circus - Legend Of Leto II; Powermetal
Sandrider - Crysknife; Aggro/Groove Metal, Sludge
(semi-vocaled/instrumental)
Dune: The Prophecy/Scenes
Golem - God Emperor; Death Metal
Emperor: Battle For Dune OST - Defenders of Arrakis
Serenity - Canopus 3; Prog Metal
Buffalo - Dune Messiah; Post-Metal, Doom Metal/Sludge (1974)
No lyrics at this time :( Possibly one of the earliest Rock inspired Dune based pieces.
Dune: Deleted Scene - Original Introduction/Reverend Mother
Scholl - Dune Theme (Metal Cover: Instrumental)
Dune: Extended / Alternate Ending
Iron Maiden - To Tame a Land; Heavy Metal/Powermetal
Dune End Credits: Toto/Dune OST - Take my hand
Golem - the 2nd Moon; Death Metal (Instrumental)
Kurt Stenzel - Jodorowsky's Dune Soundtrack (proposed OST, in its entirety)
To be continued . . .
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound"
- America
Playlist: Part 2
Stars shined like diamonds around a bright moon of chrome.
The soft wind of night was tickling my face,
made me feel alright, erased all my trace."
- Myrath
Epilogue: Sounds of the desert
weather, which means I get to see her in bikini's (WOO HOO!) :D.
But it makes me think of the "Desert" and many songs I have gathered from my old cassettes and then my compilation CD's. With topics of the deserts in North America, Africa, Persia and South Asia, The Middle
East, including Pharaohs, Kings, Prophets and Messiahs, History and more filling my mind with
indigenous musics.
There will be plenty of songs to add I'm sure, so keep checking in from time to time, maybe even suggest songs/music to add and I'll check them out :D. Hope you all enjOy :).
My presence fills the desert, my spirit never dies
As the world awakens me so hard, my values have been changed
I make a promise to myself: Never again
A dusty godforsaken path, endless to my dismay
I know these are the badlands, somehow I'll find my way"
- Metal Church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypul7nPcMII&list=PL8B242207B04DA3B2&index=32
And lie beneath the palms and the sky
Spend the night, a silver moon set
The rising sun in the eagles eye"
- MSG
Metal, Soundtrack scores and even a combination - as the photos and art convey, a trip throughout the
desert landscapes. I hope you will enjoy the caravan of music, just don't forget to take plenty of water or
other cool refreshments for your journey :).
BTW - want to participate? Please let me know of any other tracks you think would fit and I'll take a listen!
. . . from the blink of a match. Chapter 2: "Desert Songs"
Maurice Jarre/Lawrence of Arabia OST - Main Theme
Camel - Lawrence (Excellent Fan-made Video); Progressive Rock
Santana - Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation
My fave Santana album :)
Tony Macalpine - Tears of Sahara (Instrumental); Neo-Classical Metal
M.S.G (Michael Schenker Group) -Desert Song; Metal
Judas Priest - Desert Plains; Metal
Metal Church - Badlands; Thrash Metal
Wrathchild America - Desert Grins; Tech-Thrash Metal
Pestilence - Dehydrated; Death Metal
Cacophony - Desert Island; Tech-Thrash/Math Metal
King Crimson - Sartori In Tangier (Live); Progressive Rock
Myrath - Tales of the Sands; Prog Metal
Agora - Dunas De Mar; Prog Metal
Harry Gregson-Williams/Kingdom of Heaven OST - Ibelin
Orphaned land - The Path Part I: treading through darkness; Prog Metal/Folk
Le Orme - India (Amico di ieri); Progressive Rock
Shadowfax - New Electric India; New Age
Sting - Desert Rose
Page & Plant - Yallah
Santana - La Fuente del Ritmo; Rock/Progressive Rock
Al Di Meola - Alien Chase on Arabian Desert; Jazz/Fusion
Eric Johnson - Desert Rose; Fusion
Camel - Rajaz
Allan Holdsworth - Sand; Fusion
America - Horse with no Name; Rock
Peter Gabriel/Last Temptation of Christ OST (Passion)- Sandstorm
Myrath - Desert Call; Prog Metal
The Silver Chalice (1954): Simon fly's
Rainbow - Stargazer; Metal/Pre-Prog Metal
Jason Becker - Eleven Blue Egyptians; Metal/Fusion
Featuring Marty Friedman :D
Al Di Meola - Egyptian Danza; Fusion
The Police - Tea In The Sahara
Camel- Sahara
Nightwing - Sahara; Pre-Prog Metal/Metal
Santana - Stone Flower
Primus - Behind my Camel; Alternative-Prog Metal
Their version of the Police instrumental :D
Anubis Gate - Yiri; Prog Metal
Acrassicauda - House of Dust; Thrash/Metal
Peter Gabriel/Last Temptation of Christ OST (Passion)- Stigmata
Ayreon - Isis and Osiris; Prog Rock/Metal
Pagan's Mind - Through Osiris Eyes: Tech-Prog/Powermetal
Caamora - She/Rescue; Prog Rock
Symphony X - Egypt; Prog/Powermetal
Tad Morose - Anubis (Video); Prog-Powermetal
NILE - Unas slayer of the Gods; Death Metal
Scarab - Serpents of the Nile; Death Metal
Shadowsphere - Damnation (The Desert of Hamunaptra): Melodic Death Metal
Exmortus - Entombed with the Pharaoh's; Death Metal
Kotipelto - Chosen By Re; Prog/Powermetal
Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force - Valley Of Kings; Neo-Classical Metal
Blue Murder - Valley Of The Kings; Heavy Metal
Saxon - Valley Of The Kings; Metal
HSAS - Valley Of The Kings / Giza; Rock/Metal
Alcatrazz - Desert Diamond; Prog Metal
Black Sabbath/Tony Iommi - Sphinx (The Guardian)/Seventh Star
Therion - In the Desert of Set; Symphonic Prog Metal
Mercyful Fate - Egypt; Thrash/Metal
The Mummy / Boris Karloff
Dream Theater - The Dark Eternal Night; Prog Metal
Iced Earth - Im-Ho-Tep (Pharaoh's Curse); Thrash/Powermetal
Iron Maiden - Powerslave; Metal/Prog Metal
Stargate Scene: "The History of Ra"
Star One - The Eye of Ra; Prog Metal
Pagan's Mind - Entrance: Stargate; Tech-Prog/Powermetal
Nocturnus AD - Apotheosis
Gamma Ray - Valley of the Kings; Powermetal
Anubis Gate - Pyramids; Prog Metal
Orphaned Land - The Kiss Of Babylon (the Sins)
Celtic Frost - Babylon Fell (Jade Serpent); Early-Black Metal/Doom
Simus - The Golden Pedulum of Babylon; Alternative-Prog Metal
Iced Earth - Plagues Of Babylon; Thrash/U.S. Powermetal
Yngwie J. Malmsteen - How Many Miles To Babylon
Rainbow - Gates Of Babylon; Metal/Pre-Prog Metal
Byzantium - Kansas; Progressive Rock
Dixie Dregs - Calcutta (Instrumental); Fusion/Progressive Rock
Arryan Path - Cassiopeia; Prog Metal
Led Zeppelin - Kashmir; Rock/Prog Rock
Arsames - Persepolis; Death Metal
Astral Doors - Ocean Of Sand; Prog/Powermetal
Acrassicauda - Amongst Kings And Men; Thrash/Metal
No lyrics as of yet :(
Brainstorm - Maharaja's Palace; Prog-Powermetal/Thrash
Kamelot - Alexandria; Prog Metal/Powermetal
Iron Maiden - Alexander The Great (Fan Vid); Metal
Arsames - Cyrus the Great; Death Metal
Gilgamesh - Slaying in the Name of Ishtar; Death Metal
Acrassicauda - Gilgamesh: Quest For Eternity
No lyrics available :(
Dream Theater - Lost Not Forgotten; Prog Metal
An excellent homemade vid :D
Derek Sherinian - TrOjan Horse. Prog Metal
(Former Dream Theater Keyboardist :).
Realm - Theseus and the Minotaur; Tech-Thrash Metal
No lyrics :(
Therion - Land of Canaan; Prog Metal/Folk Metal
Narnia - Desert Land; Powermetal
Dio - Egypt (The Chains Are On); Metal
Mercyful Fate - Curse of the Pharaohs [2009 Re-Recording]
The Vision Bleak - The Black Pharaoh Trilogy: Introduction I
Part II: The Shining Trapezohedron
Part III: The Vault of Nephren-Ka
Scarab - Calling Forth the Ancient Spirits of Kemet (Instrumental); Extreme Death Metal
Scarab - Funeral Pharaoh
Maat - El-Enh-Aa; Death Metal
No lyrics as of yet :(
Nile - Lashed to the Slave Stick; Extreme Tech-Death Metal
Crescent - Pyramid Slaves; Death Metal
Pagan's Mind - Osiris' Triumphant Return
Edguy - The Pharaoh; Prog-Powermetal
Symphony X - Pharaoh; Prog Metal/U.S. Powermetal
Amaseffer - Ten Plagues; Prog Metal
Metallica - Creeping Death; Thrash Metal
Mind Odyssey - Slaves Of The Desert; Prog Metal/Powermetal
Amaseffer - Pillar of Fire
no lyrics :(
Kansas - Magnum Opus
- a. "Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat"
- b. "Howling at the Moon"
- c. "Man Overboard"
- d. "Industry on Parade"
- e. "Release the Beavers!"
- f. "Gnat Attack"
on the previous tracks ;).
Emerson Lake And Palmer - Jerusalem
Jerusalem Within These Walls | National Geographic
Harry Gregson-Williams/Kingdom of Heaven OST - To Jerusalem
Arkan - Leaving Us; Prog Metal/Death Metal/Folk Metal
Kingdom of Heaven; "I am . . . Salahuddin"
Orphaned Land - New Jerusalem; Prog Metal/Folk Metal
Shadowfax - Above The Wailing Wall; New Age/Fusion
GPS - New Jerusalem; Prog Rock/Metal
Avalon - Save the Holy Land; Prog Metal/Powermetal
Theocracy - New Jerusalem; Powermetal
Crescent - Jerusalem; Death Metal
No lyrics at this time :(
Arkan - Jerusalem: Sufferpolis
Jon Butcher Axis - Holy War; Rock
Metal Church - Sand Kings
Arch / Matheos - Stained Glass Sky; Tech-Prog Metal
Orphaned Land - Disciples of the sacred oath II
Blackfield - Cloudy Now; Alternative/Prog Rock
Magnum - How Far Jerusalem; Metal/Pre-Prog Metal
Blind Guardian - Precious Jerusalem; Powermetal
Affector - New Jerusalem; Prog Metal
Bruce Dickinson - Jerusalem; Metal/Heavy Rock
Arkan - Origins
Virus - Dead Cities of Syria; Experimental Metal/Avant-Garde
Prototype - Dead Of Jericho; Prog Metal
Call to Prayer: Adhan أَذَان
Manitou - Desert Storm; Tech-Prog Metal
No lyrics available :(
Eric Johnson - Desert Song; Rock/Fusion (Acoustic Instrumental)
The Eagles - Hotel California; Rock
Jethro Tull - Budapest; Progressive Rock
Okay so this City isn't in a Desert, but damn, it conjures up such on a scene on a hot summer night
. . . in Budapest ;)
Steve Hackett - Last Train To Istanbul; Progressive Rock
Steve Vai - Bangkok; Fusion/Guitar Shred
Again, not in the desert, but the music reminds me of the desert orient :)
Rush - A Passage To Bangkok (Live In The UK / 1980); Progressive Rock
A tour of the Orient; "We only stop for the best".
ZZ Top - Sheik; Rock
Jason Becker - Temple Of The Absurd
(also featuring Marty Friedman)
Kamelot - Desert Reign/Nights of Arabia; Prog Powermetal
The Vision Bleak - Curse of Arabia; Doom
Vengeance - Arabia; Metal
Zebra - Arabian Nights; Rock
Khepri - Rusted Desert; Folk Metal
Kerry Livgren - Colonnade Gardens; Fusion
Steve Vai - Fire Garden Suite; Fusion/Guitar Shred
The Tea Party - The Halcyon Days; Dark Prog Metal/Metal
Steve Hackett - The two faces of Cairo; Prog Rock/Fusion
The Guitar excellence' of early Genesis fame
Stanley Clarke - Desert Song; Jazz/Fusion
Santana - Just in Time to See the Sun Part I
Santana - Song of the Wind Part II
Artension - Song Of The Desert; Prog Metal/Powermetal
Therion - The Quiet Desert; Prog Metal/Symphonic/Folk Metal
Dead Can Dance - Song Of The Nile
Arsames - Gates Of Persia (Instrumental); Death Metal
Arsames - Testament of the King
Melechesh - The Scribes Of Kur (Instrumental); Death Metal
Melechesh - Ghouls Of Nineveh
Narjahanam - Ahlu Al Quboor; Death Metal
No lyrics found :(
Acrassicauda - Shamhat (Instrumental)
Acrassicauda - The Cost Of Everything & The Value Of Nothing; Thrash/Metal
No lyrics found :(
NILE - Call to Destruction
Orphaned Land - Codeword: Uprising
Arkan - Deus vult (feat. Kobi Farhi of Orphaned Land)
Virus - Red Desert Sand (Instrumental)
ACYL - Gibraltar; Thrash/Death Metal
Lyrics on Video
Nasib - The Mawarannahr
Nawather - Daret Layem; Prog Metal/Folk Metal
No lyrics available :(
Khepri - Duat (Part 1 & 2); Prog Metal
Myrath - Duat
Santana - Future Primitive Part I
Santana - Every Step of the Way Part II
ZZ Top - Asleep in the Desert (Instrumental); Rock
Shadowfax - Oasis
Jean-Luc Ponty - Mirage; Fusion
The Gentle Storm - Shores of India; Prog Rock/Metal
Blue Murder - Ptolemy; Metal
Arkan - March of Sorrow
Orphaned Land - Children
Theocracy - Bethlehem; Prog Metal
Affector - Salvation; Prog Metal
Magnum - The Teacher
Narnia - The Man From Nazareth; Prog Metal/Powermetal
Kansas - Glimpse of Home
Peter Gabriel/Last Temptation of Christ OST (Passion) - It Is Accomplished; (. . . It is finished :') Hosanna in excelsis!)
Kerry Livgren - To live for the King (w/Ronnie James Dio)
Stimmgewalt & Kobi Farhi (Orphaned Land) - Hallelujah
Riverside - Vale Of Tears; Prog Metal/Progressive Rock
Santana - Waves Within
Loreena McKennitt - Caravanserai; Folk Rock
Robin Trower - Caravan to Midnight (Instrumental); Rock
Rush - Caravan
Iron Maiden - The Nomad
Sepultura - Nomad; Thrash/Death Metal/Aggro
Amaseffer - Land of the Dead
While Heaven Wept - To wander the void; Prog Metal/Doom
Fates Warning - Exodus; Early Prog Metal/Early U.S. Powermetal
Harry Gregson-Williams/Kingdom of Heaven OST - Light of Life (Ibelin Reprise)
Toto/Dune OST - Take my hand (Dune End Credits)
To be continued . . .
*Hidden tracks etc. as per usual.
Thanks for listening, be sure to support these Bands, musicians and obscure albums by purchasing their albums or MP3's :D. And go see them when in your town!
With the wrong side of a knife
Feel it blowing from the side fills
Feel like you were playing for your life
(If not the money) . . ."
- Jethro Tull
All is well, the search is over, let the truth be known
Let it be shown (give me a glimpse of home)"
- Kansas