Dune: Prophecy [ep.5] - 5 things right out of the books

B is for Bashar, who strikes in the night; O is for Omnius, whose virus brings blight; A is for Abomination, a terror in sight; And we'll cover two more - so sit tight.

Since we finished episode 4 on a Face Dancer-sized cliffhanger, I would’ve expected that somewhere in episode 5 we’d get some face dancing. No such luck.

What we did get instead was a lot of lore referencing - in order of appearance:

• Bashar

• Imprinting

• Omnius virus

• Abomination

• Fremen wisdom

• +1: Shield (covered plot armor)

Here’s what we know from the books.

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SPOILER WARNING — SPOILER WARNING — SPOILER WARNING
for Dune: Prophecy, the Dune books and the Dune prequels

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Bashar

Finally, someone took pity and gave Desmond Hart a new set of clothes. What’s more, they came with a fat promotion: he’s now a Bashar of the Imperial House.

What’s that? The original Dune’s appendix, the Terminology of the Imperium explains:

BASHAR (often Colonel Bashar): an officer of the Sardaukar a fractional point above Colonel in the standardized military classification. Rank created for military ruler of a planetary subdistrict. (Bashar of the Corps is a title reserved strictly for military use.)

So he certainly jumped to a leadership position - but despite having the ear of the Emperor, he’s not top brass.

There are two ranks higher:

• Caid (a military governor, mostly dealing with civilians) and

• Burseg (a commanding general).

And from Princess Irulan’s description of Shaddam IV we can conclude that there was nothing above that:

He seldom appeared in public wearing other than a Sardaukar uniform and a Burseg’s black helmet with the Imperial lion in gold upon its crest.

Although the later books introduced “Supreme Bashar,” outranking everyone.

Imprinting

Valya describes the art of imprinting as “making an impression so strong, it alters the course of someone’s life. It is an emotional and physical bond that never breaks.”

When it comes to the book, this one’s a bit of a retcon even within the core canon.

Knowing what we know about imprinting now, many fans argue that Lady Jessica has imprinted on Duke Leto. Lady Margot Fenring was almost certainly an Imprinter, just based on her various activities - some shown in Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation as well.

And yet, there’s no mention of imprinting in the original Dune.

In fact, the first time we encounter the term is in the fifth book - Heretics of Dune -, where Reverend Mother Lucilla, an “official” Imprinter of the Bene Gesserit, is ordered to sexually bind someone.

But wait. There’s more.

While imprinting is relatively subtle, as it results in an unconscious attraction that the imprinted wouldn’t be able to shake, the Honored Matres, the evil twin version of the Bene Gesserit in book 5, have further developed the technique to the point where they’d usually show up with literal sex slaves. I mean sexually enslaved men.

Yes, Dune gets really weird.

Omnius virus

I might be splitting hairs here, but one would think that the Omnius Plague was the name of the pathogen, yet Dune: Prophecy gives us this weird description: “During the Omnius Plague, the machines designed a pathogen that incubated in the human body, releasing an enzyme that infected the liver.”

(Warning for the purists: this is EU, not from the original canon.)

In the prequel books the Omnius Scourge (not plague) was set upon humanity in the last few decades of the Butlerian Jihad. It was named after Omnius, the robot AI overlord and main villain of (some of) the books.

The retrovirus - that indeed attacked the liver - had an infection rate of about 70% and a mortality rate of about 40-50%. In the early stages it caused weight loss and yellowing of the eyes, then paranoia and aggression, and in the end, debilitating diarrhea, coma, and death.

It was devastating. 20 years into the Scourge, killing billions upon billions, only about 1/3 of the original human population survived.

Sidenote: interest in Spice grew, because it slowed the effects of the virus and in some cases could even help cure the disease, increasing the importance of Arrakis way before the Spacing Guild or the Bene Gesserit relied on the substance.

Abomination

Another quasi-retcon, if you ask me.

The original book refers only to Alia, Muad’Dib’s sister as an abomination.

For context: she experienced the Spice Agony in-utero and as such was awakened to all of her Other Memories even before she was born. Coming from Reverend Mother Mohaim, I always read this literally: Alia was a thing that caused disgust or loathing.

Having said that, the term indeed grew into a specific category in the later books: someone who is no longer in control of her body and is possessed by someone else from her Other Memory.

Just like Alia was in the end, and just like Sister Lila was in this episode.

Fremen sayings

God created Arrakis to train the faithful.

Although it’s really memorable, it only appears twice in the original Dune, and only one other time in the following five books.

The first time as a quote from “The Wisdom of Muad’Dib” by the Princess Irulan, prefacing the chapter dealing with Jamis’ funeral.

The second time on the very last pages of the book, when Paul is explaining what will happen now that he’s Emperor. Specifically, what will happen to Arrakis:

There will be flowing water here open to the sky and green oases rich with good things. But we have the spice to think of, too. Thus, there will always be desert on Arrakis … and fierce winds, and trials to toughen a man. We Fremen have a saying: ‘God created Arrakis to train the faithful.’ One cannot go against the word of God.

So I found it cool when Mikaela followed it up with “I live here.” As in, not on Arrakis.

We then had Natalya Corrino say something very Fremen-sounding too: “Each man must face his own conscience and his own testing. Shai-Hulud makes the final choice.”

Now this one I didn’t find cool at all. Not only because it’s not in any of the books, but also because it just didn’t make any sense.

Why is this woman so versed in Fremen sayings anyway? And what’s her obsession with Shai-Hulud?

+1 Shield (covered plot armor)

I said it once and I’ll say it again: the Holtzman field (and the Holtzman generator) is the best thing in Dune. It’s the one thingamajig that explains any and all sci-fi tech in this universe.

• Space travel? Holtzman

• Personal shields? Holtzman

• Glowglobes? Holtzman

• Perfectly toasted bread? You guessed it. Holtzman (probably)

You can call it lazy writing… but you shouldn’t. Because despite all of this, the one thing it can’t do is save a man from this kind of explosion:

That’s plot armor.

So while I applaud Desmond’s quick thinking, there are multiple things that should’ve killed him - despite the shield.