Dune

The epigraph from Princess Irulan’s text “Arrakis Awakening” discusses Muad’Dib’s powers of foresight. He can see the future, but she likens it to being limited in the same way that sight is limited by perspective and light. The future is also impacted and changed by the smallest of decisions, even someone’s simple choice of words. Irulan notes that Muad’Dib always rebelled against choosing a seemingly straightforward option of the future paths he sees before him, stating “That path leads ever down into stagnation.”

The ornithopters that rise over Paul and Jessica in the desert are flown by Duncan Idaho, who has brought Dr. Kynes and several Fremen with him. They rescue the pair and the group watch as the enemy ornithopters sweeping the desert with lasguns are blown to pieces due to a large shield that Idaho buried in the sand—the power of the lasgun and shield charges meeting causes a subatomic explosion.

Kynes then guides the group to one of the old Imperial bases that he had earlier refused to show Duke Leto. It is a cave chamber where the Fremen now undertake ecological experiments with the aim of restoring surface bodies of water on Arrakis. Paul is struck by the strangeness of Idaho calling him “Sire.” Now that Duke Leto is dead, Paul is officially head of House Atreides.

In the base, Kynes wonders for a moment if he has made the right choice in choosing to help Paul and Jessica and therefore endangering himself and the Fremen. He is comforted in his decision, though, when he observes the mantle of adulthood and leadership that Paul now wears as head of a dukedom. He is further convinced that Paul is worth aiding when the young man comments that he would like to use the Imperial bases to work out how to make Arrakis more hospitable for human life. In the base, Paul and Jessica discover that Kynes is the mysterious leader that the Fremen call “Liet.” He seemingly holds both political and religious power in his Fremen leadership role.

Liet-Kynes leads Paul and Jessica to private chambers in the cavern, where Paul and Kynes negotiate. They each forcefully try to impose their own authority over one another, with Paul pushing his legal nobility while Kynes presses his Arrakeen mantle of authority. Paul then speaks to his likely identity as the prophesized Fremen messiah Lisan al-Gaib, which Kynes tries to dismiss as superstition. Kynes changes the subject by asking Paul what his plan is to take back power from Emperor Shaddam IV and House Harkonnen.

Using the Fremen’s talents to prove that the Padishah Emperor’s Sardaukar soldiers are secretly fighting for House Harkonnen, Paul wants to blackmail Emperor Shaddam IV into abdicating his throne to the young Atreides Duke. Paul will threaten the Emperor with a violent civil war by bringing the truth of the Arrakis attacks before Landsraad High Council. This will enrage the Great Houses of the Landsraad: if they learn that the Emperor helped to attack House Atreides, the Great Houses will fear similar treatment and unite to take on Imperial forces. Paul will then offer the Emperor an alternative to civil war—that the young Duke marry one of the Imperial princesses, and the Emperor step down to allow Paul Imperial rule. Paul is betting on the Emperor’s wish to preserve the Imperium rather than see the Great Houses tear worlds apart in their fighting.

Liet-Kynes and Jessica are wary about this course of action, seeing flaws as well as advantages in Paul’s plan. However, Kynes is won over to the Atreides cause by Paul’s integrity when the young man apologizes for an overstep in communication. Paul furthermore pledges his loyalty—even his life—to Kynes if the planetologist will return the loyalty. Kynes is shaken by the sincerity and magnitude of Paul’s offer. However, their conversation is cut short as Sardaukar forces attack the group in the old Imperial base.

Duncan Idaho is killed protecting Paul during the fight with the Sardaukar soldiers, but Liet-Kynes, Paul and Jessica escape through a secret exit. Kynes splits from his companions, directing them to continue down a passage until they reach a hidden ornithopter, and to pilot the ship into an approaching sandstorm to escape their attackers. It is highly dangerous, but Kynes assures the mother and son that Fremen have succeeded in such ploys before. They must keep the ornithopter high in the storm to survive it. Before he departs down another passage, Kynes promises to send Fremen back to guide the pair to safety.

Paul and Jessica follow Liet-Kynes’s instructions to escape the Imperial Base, but are pursued in the air. Jessica trusts that Paul’s training and talents will get them through this ordeal as he daringly pilots the ornithopter into the sandstorm, where they are immediately buffeted by immense winds. Paul wrestles the ship into a safe flying zone, where he finds that they are stuck. Paul begins reciting the Bene Gesserit litany against fear when he realizes his mother is terrified that the two of them must ride out the sandstorm.