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lya-dustin · 7 months ago

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The Last Wolf of Lankiveil

Part 2 of Queen of Light, King of Darkness ft the poll thanks to @jennathearcher @lady-phasma for the idea of the were-feyd fic

Taglist: @avidreader73 @emilykaldwen @cljordan-imperium @beebeechaos @dunefandomhub

Cw: murder, blood, lycanthropy

For all his reputation as a Beast and Count of Lankiveil, Glossu Rabban had not inherited their mother’s true nature thanks to their father’s wretched human blood.

Feyd Rautha had inherited more than just Onir Rautha's name, he had inherited his lycanthropy.

A true Beast, like those who ruled Lankiveil's icy lands before the Harkonnen's hunted them to extinction.

A shame his mother had to die to keep his true nature a mystery from his beloved uncle. As his mother’s son, Feyd will make sure her death wasn’t in vain.

The universe will be ruled by the last Wolf of Lankiveil.

And for that to happen, Paul Atreides and his wife, Feyd’s own sister-in-law had to die. He’d done away with Atreides’ pet and the bastard in her belly, and you deserved a gift as magnificent as the one you gave him that morning in Arrakis.

“We were hoping you could join us for a hunt in my son’s honor.” Feyd gives no indication of what he has planned for the Muad’Dib and the wife he refuses to even touch.

It is not that difficult; his wolf form could not be sensed, and he had received enough training to hone the abilities that would have created the Kwisatz Haderach. He can hide from their visions and escape their control completely.

“I am sure my wife longs to see her sister and our nephew again. We will be there, cousin.” Paul’s eyes hold some suspicion, but their alliance has chipped away at most of it. As far as his cousin knows, Feyd is a simple man with simple pleasures. Give him something to respect in you and a weapon in his hands and he will massacre entire planets in your name.

But the young baron is a father now and his perfect little heir can’t aspire to be his uncle’s heir when his lady mother is far more deserving of the Throne.

You, his Queen of Light, his Nurbanu, deserved the universe.

There is something other about him. Something related to his violent nature and the moon.

You had heard the rumors of the lycanthropy that plagued House Rabban, but one thing was hearing stories about the wolves of Lankiveil and another one was seeing her husband leave for a hunt on a full moon and hear a wolf’s howl unlike aby you’ve ever heard.

Irulan and Paul would be visiting some village across the forest that had myths of the Kwisatz Haderach they wanted to take advantage of.

You weren’t supposed to follow, you were supposed to stay home with Murad who would turn one year old tomorrow. But you wanted to confirm your suspicions.

You arrive at the village to find it in chaos. It had been destroyed as if something ravaged it and its people. Like a one man army.

“The Wolf of Lankiveil!” they shout in fear and adoration. “The Kwisatz Haderach has been destroyed!”

Contrary to popular belief, you didn’t hate your sister. She annoyed you and stood between you and your throne, but you didn’t hate her. And while you knew this day would come, you knew you would feel terrible for murdering her.

Feyd didn’t understand that part, he didn’t have a single positive memory of his brother nor any chance to be a friend to anyone.

You find the wolf at the edge of the village and you smile at the sight of him.

Your guards beg you to keep away, fearing what would happen if the wolf carried you off.

None recognize the blue human eyes in the wolf.

Your Feyd, your husband.

You believed yourself immune to him, that his violence would keep you from ever falling in love with him, but in the end he grew on you. Like mold on rotten fruit.

“So this is where you went off to, dear husband?” you ask the man beast covered in the blood of innocents.

Come with me.

No need to tell you twice. In a fluid movement you’ve gotten on his back and he takes off at breakneck speeds.

It is thrilling, to feel the icy wind around you as you use all your abilities to remain in place. You can hear his laugh echo in yours as you ride through the woods.

Not long after the wolf begins to shift, the fur thinning, the canine body losing its structure in favor of something human like and soon you arrive to his hideout clutching his back. You must look ridiculous piggybacking a bloody and very naked Feyd.

“Did you like your gift, wife?” his black teeth still have blood from where he tore apart his victims and the red staining his snow like skin paints a beautiful picture.

“How could I not, my baron?” you kiss his bloody mouth and show how much you love his gift, how much you love him.

Your daughter ,Asena Rautha, conceived that night, is born a wolf.

Just like her father.

#feyd rautha x reader #feyd x reader #feyd rautha x oc #space!nurbanu x feyd rautha #nurbanu corrino

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alaynes-writings · 3 years ago

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Fate

Summary: The reader is a Bene Gesserit, assigned to help Paul with his abilities. He is distant at first, but over the course of time they learn to trust each other. This trust leads to them falling in love with each other and when the reader finds out she is pregnant, she has to face the Reverend mother again.

Pairing: Paul Atreides x Bene Gesserit!reader (female)

Request: The plot was requested by anon + the prompt “Make sure you come back to me”

A/N: So much for just writing a short blurb, this is over 4k words long! Anyway this is the first piece I have written for Paul that is that long, I hope y’all like it. Enjoy!

---

As a Bene Gesserit you knew that some tasks had to be done, however unpleasant they may be. But what the Reverend mother wanted of you now was more than just unpleasant. When you had accompanied her to Caladan, to test the Atreides boy, you didn’t expect her to order you to stay and help him learn to understand his powers. You also didn’t understand what she meant when she said that there was some sort of connection between you and the boy.

The truth was you felt left behind by her. The Atreides family didn’t trust you and you understood that, why should they? You were a stranger, an intruder almost, thrown into their lives without warning. Paul showed no interest in learning from you at all, which made your task almost impossible. In the beginning it annoyed you. But maybe it also could have been worse.

Most of the young lords you had met were either cruel or stupid. Paul was neither of those things. You had watched him for weeks, observed how he treated the people around him, how he spoke to the guards and servants, how he behaved around his teachers, how he acted around his parents. He was a kind young man and he may have not trusted you and ignored you most of the time, but he treated you with respect.

After a month of barely speaking to one another you had chosen that you had to make the first step to improve this nonexistent relationship between you two. The Revered mother had been clear, Paul had to learn to control his abilities. And it was your job to make sure he would learn quickly.

Fate seemed to be in your favor because that night one of the maids stormed into your chambers, informing you that Lady Jessica needed you immediately. You hurried after her, wondering what was so urgent that your presence was requested in the middle of the night and to your confusion she didn’t led you to Jessica’s chambers, but to Paul’s.

His mother was already waiting for you and you noticed her hands shaking slightly, even though she tried to hide it.

“You wanted to see me.”

She nodded, guiding you inside. You heard a voice from behind the door that led to Paul’s bedroom, identifying it as Dr. Yue.

“It’s Paul.” Jessica said. “He had another dream, another vision but… he keeps seeing things. Different futures I suppose. I can’t get him out of it.”

You could see the worry in her eyes, a mother’s worry and you wondered what kind of love that must be. How much a mother must love her own child, so much she was willing to trust a stranger to help them. You knew Jessica mistrusted you as much as her son, but it was clear why you were here now. She didn’t have any other options.

“Help him.” she whispered and you nodded. She moved aside and you opened the door to Paul’s bedroom. Dr. Yue stood there, bend over his medicine, searching for something, but he seemed helpless. Paul was lying on his bed, huddled like a child, shaking, mumbling to himself.

It was painful to see him like this. Even though your abilities were nothing compared to his - if he really was the Kwisatz Haderach - you remembered the first time you were unable to get out of a vision. It had taken hours, you had cried and screamed but no one had lifted a finger to help you. You didn’t want Paul to go through the same experience. But what were you supposed to do? If his mother and Dr. Yue couldn’t help him, what did Jessica think you could do what they hadn’t already tried?

Slowly you sank down on the bed next to him and suddenly you felt calm, like your body knew exactly what to do.

Without thinking you carefully reached out to touch his face.

“Paul, it’s me.”

Your voice was soft and low, but he flinched, his eyes wide open, but not really seeing what was around him.

“You need to come back. Whatever it is that you are seeing right now, it’s not real.”

Slowly you moved your fingers over his forehead, his temple, his cheek.

“Come back to us Paul.” you whispered.

You felt a strange tingle in your fingertips and for a second images flashed before your eyes, too fast for you to really see anything but you were sure these were glimpses of Paul’s visions. Was this what the Reverend mother had meant when he mentioned a connection?

He winced and finally the glassy look in his eyes disappeared, heavy breaths escaping him. He looked around, recognizing his surroundings, his eyes finding yours. His feelings were all written over his face; fear, confusion, relief.

His mother came rushing to the bed, Dr. Yue right behind her.

“It’s alright.” you said, even though you didn’t fully understand what had just happened. “It’s alright.”

---

Things had changed after that night. Gradually and slowly, but what had happened had been the first step towards some sort of trust between you and Paul.

The next day he came looking for you, finding you outside the castle watching the beach from atop the hills. The distant sound of the waves crashing into the shore again and again had a calming effect on you.

He stopped a few steps behind you and cleared his throat to get your attention. You turned around, smiling as you greeted him.

“I wanted to thank you for what you did.” He kept his voice and expression neutral and you wondered how he felt about what happened, if it bothered him that you had seen him in that state.

“I’m glad I was able to help.” you simply answered.

He hesitated for a moment before he spoke again.

“How did you know what to do?”

“I have some experience myself.”

It was the best answer you could think of in that moment. You still didn’t know what exactly had happened, how you had known what to do or why you were the one who was able to bring him back. But that was something he didn’t need to know.

Your answer seemed to spark his interest nonetheless, his eyes widening slightly in surprise.

“You got stuck in a vision once too? Who helped you?” he asked curiously.

You realized it must be very difficult for him, all alone with those strange abilities with no one to really understand or to guide him. Except for you now.

“No one.”

For a second he seemed shocked to hear that, but he quickly put on a neutral expression again. He didn’t say anything for a while and you wondered what was going on in his mind. His mother had trained him well, he was difficult to read and good at hiding his emotions, even at his young age.

“If you’re still willing to help me understand my abilities, I’d gladly accept your help.” he said eventually and now you were to one trying to hide your surprise.

“Of course.”

---

That Paul was willing to accept your help didn’t mean he fully trusted you. He didn’t ignore you, like he did in the beginning and he talked to you about his visions, but he refused to train the use of the Voice with you and he rarely talked to you about anything else than his dreams, as if he was trying not to show too much of himself to you. You learned quickly that the only way to gain his trust was to open up yourself, to trust him first.

The first time you talked more openly and in detail about the time you got stuck in a vision, he listened to you attentively, noticing that it was difficult for you to talk about it. But he seemed to appreciate your honesty and after that he spoke more freely around you, he was willing to share more of his feelings and thoughts about the things he saw in his visions and you tried your best to help him make sense of it.

With your help he was able to get more control of what he saw and he didn’t get stuck again, which seemed to be one of his greatest fears.

As Paul was finally opening up to you, you noticed that you liked spending time with him. You enjoyed his company, you enjoyed talking to him and sometimes you thought that he maybe was the closest thing to a friend you ever had. You had spent your whole life in the order, you had always been a Bene Gesserit, you had always been trained to serve a certain purpose.

A few weeks later he was finally ready to let you help him with the Voice. His mother had also talked to you about it, how it was difficult for him to find the right tone and how much he struggled with it. That was how you ended up in his chambers, spending the last two hours with training, but you felt like something was blocking him.

His mother had been right, he couldn’t find the right tone. You could tell he was nervous and you had tried everything to clear his mind, to make him feel relaxed, you had even meditated with him for half an hour, but it wasn’t working. Paul was getting frustrated, you could see it, but you weren’t willing to end this training session when he was feeling so discouraged.

“It’s useless.”, he muttered, sinking down on the edge of his bed.

“I didn’t think you were the type to give up so easily.” you teased.

“I’m not giving up, I’m just tired.”

Carefully you approached him, sitting down on the bed beside him.

“I had troubles with the voice too.” you admitted. “It’s not an easy skill to learn.”

“But you mastered it. And my mother did it too.”

You nodded.

“But it took me longer than everyone else. I think-” you paused for a moment, trying to find the right words.

“I think the key to using the voice is really wanting it. You need to be willing to exert control over another human being. To make them do what you want. When you give an order it has to be something you want too.”

You looked at him, but his gaze was fixated on the floor, his hands fidgeting and you noticed a slight frown on his face. So you were right. That was his problem.

You reached out to touch his arm and his gaze flickered back to you.

“I trust you Paul. We’re just practicing. You’re not gonna hurt anybody.”

He sighed and stood up, starting to pace back and forth. You let him think about what you had said for a few moments before you spoke again.

“Try it one more time. Just once. I promise we’re done for today then.”

You tried to give him an encouraging smile and he took a deep breath, collecting himself.

When he spoke again, your body moved without your control, your mind blank for a few seconds as you just reacted to his command.

“Come here.”

You hated the feeling. Even during your own training with the Bene Gesserit you had hated it. But you had meant what you had said, you trusted Paul. When you had control over your body again you blinked, now standing right in front of him, so close you could see the little freckles on his nose.

“It worked.” he said almost breathless, surprise in his eyes, but there was a small smile on his lips.

“I knew you could do it.” you replied gently, mirroring his smile.

“I think you were right about… the wanting.”

The last two words came out hoarse and he visibly swallowed, but his eyes never left yours. He looked at you like he never had done before, there was something in his gaze you couldn’t quite place, but it made your heart race and your pulse quicken. Suddenly you were overly aware of his presence, how close you truly were to him, chests almost touching, the heat radiating from his body.

Quickly you took a step back and cleared your throat.

“You did well. I see you tomorrow then.”

---

After that day it became more difficult to be around Paul. Not because you felt uncomfortable around him, but because being around him confused you. It made you feel things you weren’t supposed to feel.

Suddenly being close to him during training was hard, staying concentrated around him was hard, your mind constantly wandering off. It made you nervous when he was too close to you and whenever he touched you, whether it was by choice or by accident, it made your heart race in your chest. One time you almost slipped on the wet stairs to the castle and Paul caught you before you could fall, but you couldn’t stop thinking about the way his hands had felt on your body for hours.

You started noticing things about him that were irrelevant before, like how beautiful the color of his eyes was, the way he smiled or how good he looked when his hair was disheveled after a training lesson with Duncan.

It also didn’t help that you felt like Paul was also behaving differently. You didn’t know if your mind was playing tricks on you, but you felt like he looked at you differently, that he was distracted by your presence too and that his hands sometimes lingered a second longer than necessary whenever he touched you.

No amount of meditating could help to get him or those thoughts out of your head and you were getting frustrated with yourself. You were a Bene Gesserit. You had to get your feelings under control. And you were still sure you could do that. Until that one night.

---

You couldn’t fully remember how you ended up here, in your chambers with Paul late at night, on your bed, way too close to each other. You remembered that he had been banging on your door, completely disturbed by the vision he had just had. Something about Duncan, about his death and it had been difficult to calm him down, to reassure him that Duncan would be fine, that you would figure out together what that potential danger in the future was, so you could keep him safe.

You remembered that you had hugged him, offering him the comfort he needed in that moment. You remembered that you had sat down on the bed, both tired and when he lifted his head to look at you, you had noticed the way his gaze had flickered to your lips, lingering for a moment before he looked into your eyes again, the unspoken question hanging between you. That was where you were now, the room only dimly lit by the lamp on your nightstand, casting your shadows on the wall.

You realized that your own gaze kept flickering to his lips as you fought the desire to just kiss him, but the want in his own eyes only made it more difficult. It was hard to breathe and the logical part of your brain was urging you to get out of this situation. But you couldn’t move.

“We cannot do this.”, you whispered. “We both know my time here is limited and I’m not free to live as I please. If we go further it would only break your heart, it would haunt you.”

“Haunt me, then.” he whispered.

“Haunt me for the rest of my life. If that’s my fate, I’ll gladly accept it. I’d rather take this memory of us than nothing at all.”

You were speechless. Never before had anyone made you feel like that, never before had anyone felt that way for you, wanted you that way. You were a Bene Gesserit, you weren’t meant to be affected by things like that.

Paul lifted his hands to cup your face, his own so close to yours, you could feel his breath on your skin.

“Tell me to leave and I will. I will never speak of it again, if that’s your wish.”

Your mind was racing. Never before had you felt so conflicted. But as you looked into his eyes, you knew your heart had already made the decision. Those eyes you had come to love were looking down at you, waiting, full of admiration, full of love, only for you.

“Stay.” you whispered. Part of you knew that this wasn’t the decision you were supposed to make, but you didn’t care, not when Paul's lips touched yours and you realized there was so much more to life than the purpose you had been serving all those years.

Nothing else mattered suddenly, nothing but the way he kissed you, his body close to yours, his hands on your skin, the way he held you. In that moment you realized why love was such a dangerous thing. Why it could change people, why someone would be ready to give up anything else, why people died for it. You would have died for him in that moment too. That realization frightened you. It was terrifying and wonderful all at once, realizing that you loved Paul. You couldn’t deny it anymore. You loved him.

As you accepted that you were finally able to kiss him back, to wrap your arms around him and pull him close. What started out as a soft kiss, slow and innocent, quickly became more heated, more desperate.

He pushed you on your back, his lips never leaving yours as his hands roamed over your body. Your own hands were buried in his hair, in those locks that felt as soft as you had imagined.

When the need to breathe became too overwhelming Paul pulled away, only slightly, his eyes roaming over your face. You liked seeing him like this, breathless, flustered, lips swollen, messy hair.

“God, you have no idea how much I wanted this.”

His voice sounded darker than you had ever heard it before and it sent shivers down your spine.

“Guess you just couldn’t resist my charm, hm?” you joked, even though you felt you were the one who had fallen under his spell.

He chuckled.

“No I suppose I couldn’t. I was infatuated with you from the beginning.”

“You hated me.” you laughed, but he shook his head, suddenly very serious.

“I never hated you. I didn’t trust you, there’s a difference.”

He paused for a moment and lifted his hand to stroke your cheek.

“It was your voice that brought me back from my vision. I think… I think that was the moment I felt like there was a special connection between us. I think that was the moment when I knew it would be you, even if I didn’t want to admit it. When I looked into your eyes that night, I was already yours.”

Your heart skipped a beat at his confession. You never knew that he had felt it too that night, that spark between you, even though this probably wasn’t the kind of connection the Reverend mother had in mind when she had mentioned it to you.

But that didn’t matter now. You pulled him back down, your lips crashing into his and he eagerly reciprocated. He didn’t leave your bed that night and it was only the first of many nights you would spent together.

---

Weeks had passed since your first night with Paul. It felt like you had lived another life since then, a life you never knew before. You had spent almost every minute with Paul, it was like you couldn’t breathe without him, you missed him whenever he had to leave and all your duties as a Bene Gesserit were long forgotten. You knew this had to end at some point, that you would have to wake up from this beautiful daydream. Maybe that point was now. You had to stop yourself from pacing around like a nervous animal as you waited for Paul in your chambers.

When he finally opened your door the smile on his face immediately faltered at your expression. You had tried your best to look neutral, but Paul had gotten better at reading you, at figuring out what you were thinking and now he knew exactly that something was wrong.

“Are you alright, love?”

He sat down next to you on the bed, taking your hands in his, a concerned frown on his face.

“I’m pregnant.”

You said it without warning, the words just slipping out, like you had held them in for too long, even though it had only been a few hours. It was strange, knowing there was a life growing inside you, that you were responsible for protecting that little human being. You had known the moment you found out that you wanted this child, that you would keep it safe. But the truth was you were scared how Paul would react. It was a kind of fear you had never felt before. What if he didn’t want it?

“You’re pregnant?”, he repeated, clearly not having expected that, shock and surprise mixed on his face.

You nodded.

“I’m going to be a father?” He still sounded surprised, but this time it felt like he was talking more to himself than to you. You answered nonetheless.

“Yes.”

You watched the emotions on his face change, the surprise turning into pure happiness. He smiled at you, his eyes brighter than you had ever seen them as he cupped your face and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“That’s wonderful.” he whispered, but his expression faltered as he looked at you, not showing the same enthusiasm as he did.

“What do you think about it?” he asked softly and only then you realized that your reaction must have confused him.

“I was scared that maybe you didn’t want it.” you admitted. “But I want to be a mother.”

Now that you knew he wanted it too you felt relief washing over you and you were finally able to really breathe again. You were still scared, still worried about what it would mean for you as a Bene Gesserit. Could you even be a good mother?

Paul could see the thoughts in your head racing and reached for your hands again, squeezing them reassuringly.

“I want this child with you. If that’s what you want too. I don’t care what anyone else says. I love you.”

It wasn’t the first time he said those three words to you, but it had never made you happier than now. You couldn’t believe that this wonderful man had chosen you, had chosen to love you and now he was choosing to have a child with you.

“I love you too.”

“You know-” he started, “-sometimes I think it was fate. That the Revered mother chose you to stay here. When I think about that first time I felt this connection between us, it feels like we were destined to be together.”

“Maybe we are.”, you replied, smiling softly. “Even though I am grateful that the Reverend mother ordered me to stay here, I fear she might be our greatest opponent now.”

How would she react to your pregnancy? You had helped Paul with his abilities, but this hadn’t exactly been part of the plan.

“We will face her together.” Paul said, pressing a kiss to the back of your hand. “I will do everything to protect you and our child.”

---

A few weeks later the day had come, the Reverend mother was here. You had known for a while, of course she would come to check on your progress with Paul, but you had dreaded the day anyway. For now your pregnancy wasn’t visible, but soon you wouldn’t be able to hide it anymore. And you knew better than to keep secrets from the old woman.

“I have to go. I shouldn’t let her wait.” you said and Paul nodded. He hadn’t left your side the whole day, trying to take away some of your nervousness, but he was as concerned as you were.

He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close, holding you like he was afraid this could be the last time he saw you. You were scared too. But you were also determined to not let the Reverend mother decide your fate.

“Make sure you come back to me. Promise it.” he whispered into your hair.

“I promise I won’t let her take me or the child away from you.”

You knew that this was his biggest concern. That she could decide to force you to leave Caladan, to leave him and that he would never see you or his child again. But you wouldn’t let that happen.

“I’ll be right outside.”

You nodded as he squeezed your hands reassuringly and took a deep breath to collect yourself.

You opened the door and stepped inside, feeling like you had just opened the gates to hell. The Reverend mother was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, still and intimidating as she had always been.

“Now, is there anything new you can report?”

One look in her face told you that she already knew. Of course she did. But she wanted you to say it out loud, to admit it.

“I’m pregnant.”

In a strange way it felt relieving to say it. You had chosen your path. You had chosen Paul. You weren’t ashamed of that. And whatever the Reverend mother had to say about this now didn’t matter. You would go back to Paul. Whatever it would cost. Maybe it was fate after all.

#paul atreides x reader #paul atreides imagine #dune fanfiction #dune imagine

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alittlefrenchtree · 3 years ago

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Here it iiiis! Not the tiny horse but the last chapter of the first book of the first book (it makes sense somehow). The One and Holy ⚡️

✨Chapter 22✨

This is a chapter I’ve been waiting for since I’ve started the book, which means the build of the story is really well made for me. Even the setting, Paul sitting with his mother but not feeling very different than if he was alone, since he’s mentally so far away, with the hutment, the desert and the night…. so perfect. Reading it I was so impatient to just turn to the next page, I purposely take a break so sit with this first part and digest it as it should and deserve to be digested.

Let’s start by saying I have a lot (a looooot) of expectations and crazy high ones with how this whole chapter is going to be convert on screen. The ambiance of the setting is so good and since most of the "action" is happening inside Paul’s head it’s not going to be easy, both with how it’s going to be filmed and how Timmy is going to act. This is not something we’ve seen him done before and I wonder if he has it in him. It’s definitely going to be an interesting challenge, one of the kind that doesn’t come very often in life (if not ever) and I’m already very proud of him for trying. And I can’t wait to hear him talk about it, and how he did it. I hope lots of people are going to make him ramble about this particular scene (Josh please, 3hrs of podcast are required here. Thank you.).

There are a few images I particularly want to see on screen, such as:

and this:

and this: (i mean is it p💛rn? because it sounds like p💛rn to me.)

and this, even if it has less to do with how Timmy is going to act and more about how it'll be shown on screen:

I'm actually delighted because Paul is giving me stuff I was expecting from the character. When he's looking for sorrow inside him as it's expected from him and finding nothing, or finding that he can stop it and put it aside to examine it later... It's something I find very relatable and that I would have found even more relatable when I was Paul's age. I'm not sure how it works exactly for him though. Because of these two parts:

and

(yes I'm also triggered but the typo but let's ignore it)

My guess is that something shifted at some point through the chapter and allow him to access this mourning phase but I'm not sure I can pinpoint it (yet?). It'll be something interesting to study and to make theories about.

He's extremely touching in this chapter. There are a couple of lines that made me go aaaw Paul 😭❤️ Like this one:

Paul heard his mother's grief and felt the emptiness within himself. I have no grief thought. Why? Why? He felt the inability to grieve as a terrible flaw.

You know I like to think of every piece of art/creativity as part of a gigantic conversation through time and I feel like this part of Paul is somehow in a conversation with Elio and his father in his home office. They're both in this distress state regarding of grieving, one being overwhelmed with too much of it and not knowing what to do with it, and the other one needing it and not knowing where or how to find it. It's cute, imagine the both of them talking about it.

This one as well:

And now he saw that he had a wealth of data few such minds ever before had encompassed. But this made the empty place within him no easier to bear. He felt that something must shatter.

My poor baby boy 💔

The chapter is so difficult to take in when you're trying to connect with Paul's feelings and mood. He has these very hard words towards himself like freak and monster and he panics, not understanding what's going on, and at the same time knowing his mother was aware to some extend of what he was supposed to become and he's mad at her and at the same same time there is all this infinite knowledge pouring on him and drastically changing him second by second. And then the mindset in which he ends up is so interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about him being something else (thank you Oliver Queen), because I liked the Kwisatz Haderach concept very much but there are too many sentences for me to not be hyped right away. Paul's answering to Jessica's thoughts as she was saying them out loud is 💦, saying stuff like "They thought they were reaching for me. But I'm not what they expected, and I've arrived before my time. And they don't know it." and like "I'm something unexpected." and "You couldn't possibly know. You won't believe it until you see it." is 💦💦 but, mostly, mostly, the image of the seed. I love it so much. I'm a seed. I don't receive it as something necessarily positive. Like all the futures he's able to see, the seed can grow into anything, good or bad or both. Totally something tattoo material 🖤

About the little sister... Still not convinced. Obviously she exists enough to have a name but it doesn't mean much since Paul can see all versions of all futures now. Who knows in which one we will walk. He could very much know the name of a never born child who happened to exists in another version of reality. Still not sure what part she'll take if she does exists. A Knife apparently?

First part general notes:

I liked it a lot. It's a good introduction for the universe and for an epic tale. If anything, it gets me even more expectations for the rest. I guess I could ask for even for details? More pages, slower narration? I wouldn't mind at all. With an universe of that richness, I want to bask so much in it that I would want to throw my money for overpriced merchandising reproduction without blinking twice. Maybe I miss a bit of that for now. Otherwise, I like what I'm seeing right now. I'm just crossing fingers for the plot to remain good all the way through and for the characters to stay interesting. But my god do I have crazy, crazy high expectations for the movie now. Tbh, I'm not sure they'll even be met, since movies rarely match books and books are mostly highly superior. But I'm keeping faith and trust and hopefully we'll end up with something good, or good enough. Even if we take the Timmy factor aside, I'm loving this Dune journey so far. Can't wait to see what's next 🌔💛

#DUNE FIRST READ

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tanadrin · 8 months ago

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In the film, doesn’t Paul go south and take the water of life because of the attack on Sietch Tabr, and the fear he can’t win the war without doing it? In the books he’s already pretty prescient by this point but he fails to foresee Guerney Halleck trying to kill his mother (it’s complicated), and this disturbs him enough to take the Water of Life, though I don’t think he has to go south to do it.

The book sets up a slightly more complicated final confrontation: shields don’t work on Arrakis because they attract sand worms and the static electricity of sandstorms disabled them (not sure if the movie mentions the second thing). A hole has to be blasted in the shield wall to disable the shields protecting the Emperor, who is on Arrakis to try to figure out why spice production is in the toilet. When the shields are disabled, the Fremen attackers use lasguns to disable the Emperor’s ships, allowing Paul to capture him. There’s this whole plot line that’s been developed about the Fremen plan to terraform Arrakis, which has already begun far away in the south, and the origins of the sandworms: sandworms grow from something called a pre-spice mass, when dozens of sandtrout (creatures responsible for sequestering away all the water on the planet and making it a desert) come together in the second stage of their life cycle. This transformation is what produces the spice. By poisoning even one pre-spice mass with the unchanged water of life, Paul threatens to start a chain reaction that would kill every sand worm and end spice production forever. He uses this threat to blackmail the Spacing Guild, which depends on the spice; with Feyd-Rautha and the Harkonnens dead, the Bene Gesserit breeding program is dead also, and they have a Kwisatz Haderach they can’t control. He gets *them* on side (or at least not directly opposing him) by pointing out any children that he has in the future are their only hope for restarting the program without having to do so from scratch. He’s also still hoping to avoid the jihad until very nearly the final moments of the book—I think he only gives up on that once he’s high off the victory in battle, and is about to duel Feyd-Rautha. Much of this gets carried over into the film, but not quite all of it I think—made the ending feel a little anemic to me.

In the movie, the emperor came to Arrakis because Paul revealed his identity and could threaten to expose his crime (helping the Harkonnens kill the Atreides) to the Landsraad. Warfare among Houses is allowed, but the Emperor is supposed to be a neutral arbiter. In the book they’re pretty explicit that the Houses fear the strength of the Emperor and especially fear him using salami tactics to destroy them one by one, so any attack on a House by the emperor without very good justification would provoke a unified response, regardless of its legality. I don’t remember how much of that is in the movies though. In the book, the Emperor comes to Arrakis bc spice production really low due to the Fremen attacks, and he (and the other houses, and the Spacing Guild) want to kill the Fremen leader responsible (who they do not yet know is Paul).

In the book, the Emperor supports the Harkonnen against the Atreides because Leto is very popular among the Great Houses, enough to threaten his position. It’s a move of pure politics and paranoia, which underscores just how corrupt the Faufreluches system is. In the movie I’m not sure they ever make it that clear, but the Emperor’s stated reason I read as a self-serving lie.

In the book, the Voice is very difficult to notice; the gag is that it’s a normal speaking voice with very fine adjustments to its harmonic overtones due to trained muscle control that it acts on the monkey brain before you have a chance to think. It’s not flawless, and in the din and chaos of battle would probably be useless. You probably couldn’t tell a whole army into surrender, and even if you could, they wouldn’t stay surrendered once they had a chance to think about their actions. The movie depiction is roughly in line with the book depiction, save some cinematic license, but I don’t think they spell any of this out. Bene Gesserit powers aren’t (supposed to be) psychic powers—they’re mostly just the result of very skilled control over one’s own body, and a high degree of awareness of one’s surroundings. Or at least this is how it works in the first book—this idea gets more and more relaxed as the series goes on.

okay. dune 2. i've got questions. spoilers below. feel free to answer any nonempty subset of them if you feel like it and are a dune understander.

why did Paul switch up so quickly? was gonna risk his life to avoid going south and then immediately jumps into chugging the worm juice and doing the messiah thing?

why did Paul say there was only a narrow path forward to win the war? kinda seemed like he just curbstomped those guys

what was the trap that the Emperor fell for? why did he come to Arrakis? is he stupid?

why did the Emperor get the Atreides killed again? his explanation made no sense

why doesn't Paul use the voice in combat? is he stupid?

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