With Dune Part 2 releasing, this nearly 60 year old novel has some new light shone upon it. There are two aspects of the novel (and ensuing series) that are important to understand. First, it was published in 1965 (serialized in 1963) and the character context is from that period. Namely, that women empowerment had not been accepted, that widespread experimental drug use was common, and that religion was still core to most world powers. Second, the novels are a clear critique of following a messiah who’s entire construct is manufactured by a shadow party.

Paul Atreides is a very interesting character. He is officially groomed to be the Duke of his noble house, one that has relatively “good” values, or perhaps more relatable ones. He is unofficially designed to be a pawn in a galactic power struggle. It is clear that the Arrakis culture has been structure with religion and promises of a future messiah, a hope that today’s pain will be rewarded with future miracles. (Sound familiar?)

The difference here is that while Paul is thrust into the role, one he doesn’t want to start, he simply keeps walking forward as a matter of survival / revenge. Once he drinks the spiced water and gains prescience (the ability to see the future), he quickly pivots to fully embrace the messianic role. It takes time in the novels to explore what that future portrays (the Golden Path), but across them each of the protagonists knows that their are taking actions where the ends justify the means. This is the philosophical dilemma that Dune truly presents to the reader.

In today’s world context (or woke-ness), people may think that Paul is a white savior, or that people lack empathy, or a dozen other aspects that ignore the actual purpose of the story. Paul knows that his actions are evil, that each step forward has a tremendous cost to people he loves, but he takes it anyway, convinced that the results are worth it. It may not be “mustache twirling” evil here, but there was a multi-billion dollar film franchise where the villain thought killing half the universe’s population was a good idea – clearly, math was not Thanos’ strong suit. Paul is evil because he knows his actions are wrong and takes them anyway, effectively becoming a pawn along the Golden Path. This is a different approach, and bleaker, than say Foundation, where Harry Seldon uses math to dramatically reduce overall human suffering.

This is not a complaint about Dune, quite the opposite. The book is FULL of evil people in charge, and Paul is the LEAST evil of the bunch. The entire concept behind the series it that a population’s stated desire for peace is in direct opposition for its need of conflict. Humanity cannot grow while in Eden – and you cannot truly appreciate something until you no longer have it. In that context, Paul (and much more his son Leto) embrace the villain’s garb in order to force humanity to evolve past its limits. And more specifically, that humanity learn to be self-sufficient and not put all their trust into any oracle.

Which, if I look at the news today, seems like we still have lessons to learn.