this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2024
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[–] mlg@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago (4 children)

This central idea is why I hate dune.

Having a so called prophesied savior capable of insane things coming from a distant royal family of some space empire is too stupid to believe in.

You can't be both the underdog and the king at the same time, especially when your own supporters treat themselves as expendable.

[–] Emoba@discuss.tchncs.de 45 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Have you ever actually read it? The prophecies were deliberately spread over the universe by the Bene Gesserit. The department that does that is called the Missionaria Protectiva, they do that all over the universe so their members can manipulate the locals to be safe wherever they end up. This isn't supposed to glorify those prophecies, it's demystifying them to the point where religion as a whole is showcased as a mere tool to control the masses in later books. It's supposed to criticise the thing you're criticising.

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago

OP is why we can't have nice things. Because people will ignore things that should be obvious. So we're left with everything softball pitched to the lowest common denominator

[–] BedbugCutlefish@lemmy.world 33 points 6 months ago

I mean, that's the point of Dune? The 'prophesies' aren't real, they're seeded by the Bene Gesserit, the same group that spent millennia breeding the 'savior'. And, he's not meant to really be a savior, but their catspaw.

But also, he's definitely not actually a savior, on account of all the death he brings. It's complicated, but overall a deconstruction of white savior narratives and similar stories.

[–] Seasm0ke@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Wasnt he like a test tube baby bred specifically to be the Messiah tho.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 6 months ago

The tail end of a selective breeding program, but yes. The Bene Gesserit were (according to some internal hypotheses) belived to have been manipulated to expect the outcome later down the line, featuring an Atraides--Harkonnen child. But they were wrong.