Duncan Idaho is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He was introduced in the first novel of the series, 1965's Dune, and became a breakout character. He was revived in 1969's Dune Messiah.[3] He is the only character to feature in all six of Herbert's original Dune novels.
In Dune (1965), Duncan is described as a handsome man with "curling black hair" to whom women are easily attracted. Paul Atreides notes Duncan's "dark round face" and "feline movements, the swiftness of reflex that made him such a difficult weapons teacher to emulate." And in Dune Messiah (1969) he is described as having "high cheekbones" and "definite epicanthic folds."[4]Lady Jessica calls him "the admirable fighting man whose abilities at guarding and surveillance are so esteemed." Duncan is fiercely loyal to House Atreides, a skilled pilot, and as a Swordmaster of the Ginaz is a gifted hand-to-hand fighter.[5] In the fight that ends with his death in Dune, Duncan kills an unheard-of 19 Sardaukar, the Padishah Emperor's fearsome supersoldiers.[6] The Sardaukar sell his body to the Tleilaxu; subsequent gholas of Duncan possess the rebellious streak of the original.
In 1976's Children of Dune, Lady Jessica tells Duncan that he was drawn to her daughter Alia because "you wanted a girl you saw as a younger version of me."[7] In God Emperor of Dune (1981), the latest Duncan ghola discovers that one of his predecessors had fathered a child with a woman named Irti who closely resembles Jessica.[8]
At the time of Frank Herbert's original novel Dune (1965), Idaho is a Swordmaster of the Ginaz in the service of House Atreides and one of Duke Leto's right-hand men (with Gurney Halleck and Thufir Hawat). When the Atreides take over the planet Arrakis at the order of the Padishah EmperorShaddam IV, Idaho becomes Leto's ambassador to the Fremen, the desert people of Dune that Leto hopes will ally with him in the coming war against the Emperor and the Harkonnens. Idaho goes to live with the Fremen, serving both Leto and Fremen leader Stilgar. When the Emperor's dreaded Sardaukar attack Arrakis in the guise of Harkonnen troops, Idaho initially survives the assault and saves Leto's son Paul Atreides and concubineLady Jessica. When they are cornered at a Botanical Testing Station, Paul and Jessica flee while Idaho holds off the enemy, but he is ultimately killed.[5] It is noted in Dune Messiah (1969) that a "grievous head wound" had caused Idaho's death,[9] and made clear in Children of Dune (1976) that Idaho had killed an unheard-of tally of nineteen Sardaukar before dying.[6]
Dune Messiah and Children of Dune
Idaho returns in Dune Messiah (1969) as a ghola named Hayt, made by the Tleilaxu and given to Paul Atreides, now Emperor. The purpose of the gift is 'psychic poison': the ghola is trained to tempt the Kwisatz Haderach Paul into becoming that which he despises. Trained as a Mentat and a Zensunni philosopher, Hayt has no memory of his former life, but constantly feels vague hints and reminders of his previous incarnation that make him hope he can recover those memories.
The seemingly harmless dwarf Bijaz recognizes that Hayt is failing to destroy the Emperor psychologically. As the ghola is of Tleilaxu design, Bijaz employs a specific humming intonation that renders Hayt open to implanted commands. Bijaz programs Hayt to kill Paul when he says the words "She is gone," in the depths of grief over the death of his concubineChani. But this is only part of the true plan; the emotional distress of the attempt allows Hayt to recover the buried memories of Duncan Idaho, up to and including his death at the hands of the Imperial Sardaukar. This is the culmination of the Tleilaxu plot, as masterminded by the Face DancerScytale—to demonstrate to Paul that the Tleilaxu can create for him an exact duplicate of his dead concubine, and lover, Chani—but only if he abdicates his throne and relinquishes his CHOAM holdings. Paul resists the temptation, killing Scytale himself and having Hayt/Duncan kill Bijaz.
Also in Dune Messiah, hints are dropped of a growing attraction between Idaho and Paul's sister, Alia. In one scene, Duncan even kisses Alia, which infuriates her; he replies that he took no more than what was offered. When a blinded Paul abdicates and wanders into the desert to die (as is the tradition for blind Fremen), Alia asks Idaho for his continued support and affection to help her get through the times ahead.
In 1976's Children of Dune, Idaho is now Alia's husband and Mentat. She has assumed power as Holy Regent in the name of Paul's children, Leto II and Ghanima. Alia becomes possessed by the memory-ego of her ancestor, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who sets out to destroy the Atreides empire. Recognizing this, Idaho remains loyal to the Atreides, and flees to the desert to protect the children. In order to get Stilgar to join the Fremen opposition to Alia's rule, Duncan kills Javid, Alia's secret lover, on the neutral ground of Sietch Tabr. He also insults Stilgar three times, by saying to him the three deadliest insults a Fremen could ever hear: "You wear a collar!", "You are a servant! You've sold Fremen for their water!" and "You have no immortality! None of your descendents carry your blood!" Duncan then allows himself to be struck down by an enraged Stilgar, who realizes afterward that Alia would be forced by political necessity to execute him and his only hope of survival is to join the Fremen rebels—which is what Duncan had planned from the beginning. Duncan's last gasping words were, "Two deaths for the Atreides. The second for no better reason than the first."
God Emperor of Dune
God Emperor of Dune (1981) reintroduces Idaho as a serial ghola: Leto II has ruled as a sandworm-human hybrid for 3,500 years, and has continually had an Idaho ghola to serve him. Beyond his personal affection for Idaho, to Leto, Idaho represents loyalty, humanity, and the spirit of the unknown, something which the God Emperor, having perfect prescience, knows nothing of. It is also implied that Duncan is needed for Leto's plan for humanity's ultimate survival — called the Golden Path — to come to fruition. However, the Idaho gholas, with their memories restored, struggle to deal with what the Atreides have become. Where before, the hallmark of Atreides rule was justice, Leto's reign has been one of godhood and oppression. Idaho's old-fashioned conscience rebels, leading the Idaho ghola to attempt to kill Leto (who as a sandworm is invulnerable to all but water and extreme violence). Leto notes that only nineteen of "his" Duncans have survived long enough to die what is considered a "natural death." In just about all of these rebellions, the Idaho ghola is killed by the God Emperor. After a certain time, the God Emperor orders another one from the Tleilaxu, or the Tleilaxu themselves just send another one as a token for their security.[8]
The novel chronicles the perceptions and actions of a new Duncan that has just been ordered from the Tleilaxu. Like the others before him, Duncan is appalled at what Atreides rule has become, but Leto appoints him as the head of his otherwise all-female military, the Fish Speakers. Leto also reveals that he has repeatedly used his Duncan gholas in his breeding program to genetically improve the Atreides line. The current Duncan is intended to mate with Siona Atreides, the end product of Leto's breeding program: she is invisible to prescient sight. Duncan is extremely reluctant and protests, saying that he is not Leto's stud. He does catch the eye of Hwi Noree, the Ixian Ambassador sent to Arrakis with the explicit purpose of wooing the Emperor. Leto forbids Duncan from having any relations with her, but he disobeys and sleeps with Hwi.[8]
Duncan eventually joins Siona's rebels and works with her to assassinate Leto. His plan is successful, but Hwi is killed in the process. Leto reveals that he knew of their plan, and that his death is simply another step to ensuring the Golden Path. Siona, having seen the Golden Path during her trial in the desert, realizes she was bred as a key figure for humanity's survival. At the end of the novel, she schemes on how to carefully seduce Duncan and mate with him, as Leto had originally intended. None of their descendants will be able to be tracked by prescience, forever free of any one person's vision and ensuring that humanity could never be completely found and destroyed.[8]
Fifteen hundred years later in Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), the Bene Gesserit Bellonda assesses the many Duncans who came before:
In the original and early gholas, his character had been dominated by impulsiveness. Quick to hate, quick to give loyalty. Later Idaho-gholas tempered this with cynicism but the underlying impulsiveness remained. The Tyrant had called it to action many times. Bellonda recognized a pattern. He can be goaded by pride. His long service to the Tyrant fascinated her. Not only had he been a Mentat several times but there was evidence he had been a Truthsayer in more than one incarnation.[10]
Although a third party work not connected to the main Dune series, but endorsed by Herbert in his lifetime, The Dune Encyclopedia provides some background on the characteristics, personalities, and often gruesome deaths of 17 additional Duncans from the time before the Duncan that is the focus of God Emperor of Dune, further noting that there were "well over seventy Duncans".[11]
Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune
The Bene Gesserit become the consumers of Idaho gholas in Heretics of Dune (1984) and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). However, the gholas are repeatedly assassinated after several years, and the Sisterhood suspect the Tleilaxu. Not knowing exactly what purpose Idaho will serve, the Bene Gesserit believe that the Tleilaxu are using the gholas to control the timing of his release upon the universe, implying some Tleilaxu purpose in addition to their own. The current ghola survives such an attempt and Miles Teg is able to restore the memories of Duncan Idaho to the ghola, but Duncan can feel that the Tleilaxu planted something else in his mind. When Murbella, an Honored Matre, tries to sexually bond Idaho, he entraps and enslaves her, revealing the Tleilaxu purpose: To conquer the Honored Matres by using a better version of their own sexual techniques. When Murbella tries to bond Duncan, the Tleilaxu's plan comes to fruition, and he becomes aware of the memories of all the other Idaho gholas, though he is also imprinted to her. It is later determined that the Tleilaxu had mixed the cells from almost all of the Idaho gholas to make this one. Idaho and Murbella are confined to a no-ship on Chapterhouse. There, Idaho trains young men to go out into the universe and enslave Honored Matres. Duncan also inherits an awkward prescient vision, wherein he sees an old man and woman staring back at him. Duncan restores the memories of the Miles Teg ghola, and escapes in the no-ship, evading the trap set for him by the strange couple.
Duncan and the other refugees from Chapterhouse are still on the run from the Unknown Enemy that hunts them. They don't learn until near the end that the Enemy is the revived empire of thinking machines, and the old couple are actually the computer-entity Omnius and the robot Erasmus. In the final confrontation with Omnius, Paul Atreides (brought back as a ghola and with his power of prescience just restored), and then Norma Cenva (the Oracle of Time to the Navigators), both reveal that Duncan is the Ultimate Kwisatz Haderach; not Paul (who is an "imperfect" Kwisatz Haderach) nor any other Atreides, nor their descendants. Overwhelmed by the unexpected revelations, Duncan decides to unite humanity and the thinking machines—after Cenva permanently removes Omnius from existence—rather than bring about the absolute destruction of intelligent technology for the second time in history.
Assuming the responsibility of mediator between the two sides, and with Erasmus' willing participation (the robot being left as the leader and controlling-force of the thinking machines), Duncan does something similar to Bene Gesserit Sharing with the robot; possibly along with what seems to be a physical-bonding (similar to what Leto II did with the sandtrout) into something of a human-machine hybrid. Erasmus then voluntarily "dies", while remaining an Other Memory speaking to Duncan. In addition to being the Final Kwisatz Haderach of the humans, Duncan becomes the new evermind of the thinking machines, guiding their joint future.
Prelude to Dune
According to the Prelude to Duneprequeltrilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Duncan Idaho is born on the planet Giedi Prime, under the Harkonnen Regime. His hatred for the Harkonnens is established when, at eight years of age, his parents are murdered in front of him by Glossu Rabban.[12] Rabban subsequently chooses young Idaho to be the prey for one of his hunts, but Idaho's resourcefulness and the aid of a woman who wants to punish the Harkonnens enables him to escape Giedi Prime for the planet Caladan. Upon arriving at the Atreides palace, he becomes a stableboy at Duke Paulus Atreides' request. After Paulus' death, Idaho expresses his desire to become a Ginaz Swordmaster. In the trilogy's second installment Dune: House Harkonnen, Duncan undergoes the immense rigors needed to be a Swordmaster; he is promoted to the title, alongside a Grumman friend named Hiih Resser, and helps defeat a mob of insurgent students. At the time of Dune: House Corrino, Duncan is an instrumental part of the liberation of the planet Ix from the Sardaukar and Tleilaxu, and even manages to defeat Count Hasimir Fenring in single combat.[13]
In adaptations
In the 1984 film Dune, Duncan is played by Richard Jordan.[14][15]Everett McGill, who portrays Stilgar in the film, said “I recall Richard Jordan as Duncan Idaho agreed to a smaller presence in Dune for the promise of the breakout character in Dune Messiah and beyond."[16] Though Dune II, a planned sequel film adapting Dune Messiah, was never made, the unfinished script depicts Duncan being revived by Scytale.[16]
James Watson portrays the character in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune.[15] In the 2003 miniseries sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, the ghola of Duncan (known in the novels as "Hayt") is played by Edward Atterton.[17] Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com writes that Atterton "plays the mentat ghola reincarnation of Idaho with all the upright stoicism and vulnerability that the character is owed."[18]
In the animated television show The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, the 2003–04 season episode "Mandy, the Merciless" parodies God Emperor of Dune, with the character Billy as the repeatedly killed Duncan Idaho.[19]
The character is played by Jason Momoa in the 2021 film Dune.[20][21] He is expected to reprise the role in the film adaptation of Dune Messiah.[22]
1 2 In Dune (1965), Jessica is the concubine of Leto I, and Chani becomes the concubine of their son, Paul.
↑ The infant Leto II Atreides is murdered in Dune, and his brother Leto II is later also named after their grandfather, Leto I, in Children of Dune (1976).
↑ Hayt is a ghola of Duncan Idaho, a kind of clone made using his corpse.
Related Research Articles
Children of Dune is a 1976 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, the third in his Dune series of six novels. Originally serialized in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1976, it was the last Dune novel to be serialized before book publication.
Dune Messiah is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer Frank Herbert, the second in his Dune series of six novels. A sequel to Dune (1965), it was originally serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1969, and then published by Putnam the same year. Dune Messiah and its own sequel Children of Dune (1976) were collectively adapted by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2003 into a miniseries entitled Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.
Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is a main character in the first two novels in the series, Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969), and returns in Children of Dune (1976). The character is brought back as two different gholas in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels which conclude the original series, Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), and appears in the prequels Paul of Dune (2008) and The Winds of Dune (2009). According to Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological house of Atreus.
The Bene Gesserit are a group in Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe. A powerful social, religious, and political force, the Bene Gesserit is described as an exclusive sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical and mental conditioning to obtain superhuman powers and abilities that seem magical to outsiders. The group seeks to acquire power and influence to direct humanity on an enlightened path, a concerted effort planned and executed over millennia.
Gurney Halleck is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is a major character in Herbert's Dune (1965) and Children of Dune (1976) as the War Master of House Atreides, acting as mentor, friend, and advisor to Paul Atreides. He also appears in some of the prequel/sequel novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
The Fremen are a group of people in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. First appearing in the 1965 novel Dune, the Fremen inhabit the desert planet Arrakis, which is the sole known source in the universe of the all-important spice melange. Long overlooked by the rest of the Imperium and considered backward savages, they are an extremely hardy people and exist in large numbers. The Fremen had come to the planet thousands of years before the events of the novel as the Zensunni Wanderers, a religious sect in retreat. As humans in extremis, over time they adapted their culture and way of life to survive and thrive in the incredibly harsh conditions of Arrakis. The Fremen are distinguished by their fierce fighting abilities and adeptness at survival in these conditions. With water being a rare commodity on the planet, their culture revolves around its preservation and conservation. Herbert based Fremen culture, in part, on the desert-dwelling Bedouin and San People.
Leto II Atreides is a fictional character from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Born at the end of Dune Messiah (1969), Leto is a central character in Children of Dune (1976) and is the title character of God Emperor of Dune (1981). The character is brought back as a ghola in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson sequels which conclude the original series, Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007). Leto also appears as a child in the prequel The Winds of Dune (2009).
Lady Jessica is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. A main character in the 1963–65 novel Dune, Jessica also plays an important role in the later installment Children of Dune (1976). The events surrounding Jessica's conception, her birth and her early years with Leto are chronicled in the prequel trilogies Prelude to Dune (1999–2001) and Caladan (2020–2022) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The character is brought back as a ghola in the Herbert/Anderson sequels which conclude the original series, Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007).
Alia Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. She was introduced in the first novel of the series, 1965's Dune, and was originally killed in Herbert's first version of the manuscript. At the suggestion of Analog magazine editor John Campbell, Herbert kept her alive in the final draft. Alia would next appear as a main character in both Dune Messiah (1969) and Children of Dune (1976). The character is brought back as a ghola in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson conclusion to the original series, Sandworms of Dune (2007).
Gaius Helen Mohiam is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. She is a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, and initially appears in the 1963–65 novel Dune and its 1969 sequel, Dune Messiah. Mohiam also has a major role in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) and the Caladan Trilogy (2020–2022) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
Chani is a fictional character featured in Frank Herbert's novels Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969). Known mainly as the Fremen wife and legal concubine of protagonist Paul Atreides, Chani is the daughter of Imperial Planetologist Liet-Kynes and his Fremen wife Faroula, and later the mother of the twins Ghanima and Leto II Atreides. The character is later resurrected as a ghola, appearing in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's novels which complete the original series.
Princess Irulan is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. She first appears in Dune (1965), and is later featured in Dune Messiah (1969) and Children of Dune (1976). The character's birth and early childhood are touched upon in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Herbert's son Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson, and she is a principal character in the Herbert/Anderson series Heroes of Dune (2008–2009).
Dune: House Harkonnen is a 2000 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is the second book in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy, which takes place before the events of Frank Herbert's celebrated 1965 novel Dune. The Prelude to Dune novels draw from notes left behind by Frank Herbert after his death.
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune is a three-part science fiction television miniseries written by John Harrison and directed by Greg Yaitanes, based on Frank Herbert's novels Dune Messiah (1969) and Children of Dune (1976). First broadcast in the United States on March 16, 2003, Children of Dune is the sequel to the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune, and was produced by the Sci Fi Channel. Children of Dune and its predecessor are among the highest-rated programs ever to be broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel. In 2003, Children of Dune won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, and was nominated for three additional Emmys.
Sandworms of Dune is a science fiction novel by American writers Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, the second of two books they wrote to conclude Frank Herbert's original Dune series. It is based on notes left behind by Frank Herbert for Dune 7, his own planned seventh novel in the Dune series. The novel was released on August 7, 2007.
This is a list of terminology used in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, the primary source being "Terminology of the Imperium", the glossary contained in the novel Dune (1965).
Paul of Dune is a 2008 science fiction novel written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Released on September 16, 2008, it is the first book in the Heroes of Dune series and chronicles events between Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969), as well as between Dune and its 2001 Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson prequel, Dune: House Corrino.
Multiple organizations of the Dune universe dominate the political, religious, and social arena of the setting of Frank Herbert's Dune series of science fiction novels, and derivative works. Set tens of thousands of years in the future, the saga chronicles a civilization which has banned computers but has also developed advanced technology and mental and physical abilities through physical training, eugenics and the use of the drug melange. Specialized groups of individuals have aligned themselves in organizations focusing on specific abilities, technology and goals. Herbert's concepts of human evolution and technology have been analyzed and deconstructed in at least one book, The Science of Dune (2008). His originating 1965 novel Dune is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. Dune and its five sequels by Herbert explore the complex and multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology and technology, among other themes.
We've a three-point civilization: the Imperial Household balanced against the Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad, and between them, the Guild with its damnable monopoly on interstellar transport.
1 2 Herbert, Frank (1976). Children of Dune. pp.227. ISBN0-575-07490-6. The Sardaukar who'd slain him reported his prowess: nineteen of their number dispatched by Idaho before he'd fallen. Nineteen Sardaukar!
↑ Herbert, Frank (1969). Dune Messiah. ... our wise Sardaukar commander had Idaho's corpse preserved for the axolotl tanks ... This corpse held the flesh and nerves of one of the finest swordsmen in history, an adviser to the Atreides, a military genius ... He was killed here on Arrakis ... a grievous head-wound which required many months of regrowth.
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