What If Dune and Star Wars Take Spot in the Similar Universe?

The amazing worlds of Dune and Star Wars may well appear entirely distinct from just one an additional, but what if they were only two sides of the similar coin? When hunting at the many factors that comprise both franchises—the previous launching with Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel and George Lucas starting the latter in 1977—it’s easy to see how their connections could go very well further than the coincidental. Consider, alternatively, if the story of Dune formed the previous to the galaxy of Star Wars.

Insane as it sounds, this isn’t precisely a new plan amongst each fandoms. Previous theories are inclined to place Star Wars in the earlier whilst showcasing Dune as the long term. I think they can be swapped around for a far more normal progression and in good shape. Granted, it is all subjective considering the obvious disparity concerning the franchises. But it’s enjoyable to see how the information of these universes align, especially with Dune arriving in theaters and on HBO Max this weekend. 

As always, it is most effective to just take your fandom with a hefty dose of enjoyment and hardly ever take it also severely. With that in intellect, let’s just take a seem at how the universe we know through the Dune collection could in the long run morph into the Star Wars galaxy…

Warning: The next incorporates spoilers for the Dune guide sequence

Desert Planets

Place, area, location—this is the most apparent place to begin. Arrakis is the focal stage of everything in the Dune saga sitting down in the center of all the goings-on inside of the universe. Similarly, Tatooine performs a important function in Star Wars (however not virtually to the exact same diploma) and both share the exact same dominating feature: tons and tons of sand. 

It’s easy to see how Arrakis could have finally turned into the world of Tatooine if you are common with the tale. Inspite of owning been “melted” in an attack at the hands of the Honored Matres in Heretics of Dune, Arrakis managed to endure. Less than the burnt out area, the sand and worms were being nonetheless there. More than the millennia, the world could repair alone and return to some semblance of habitability. 

The influence of the assault, on the other hand, altered the earth without end. Although it was still a severe wasteland, it became a little bit additional habitable, permitting for the return of lifetime in the kind of Star Wars‘ Jawas and animals over and above the gigantic worms. This resurgence introduced back Dune‘s legendary natives, the Fremen, who pull them selves from the depths of the universe to their ancestral dwelling. 

At some point, as they return to their roots, they see everyone else as outsiders, intruding on their space. In the long run they battle again (not compared with they utilised to), but their attacks develop into ever far more brutal, raiding in opposition to settlements and loners alike. Eschewing existence in the Sietches, which had generally been blasted absent, they get on an even a lot more nomadic life-style, insulating them selves further away from “society.” Therefore, the Fremen turn out to be the Tusken Raiders who look the two misunderstood and worthy of getting feared. There are even glimpses of their Fremen heritage in their nomadic mother nature, and how they cover their correct power by touring the sand dunes in a exceptional strategic style. 

Sandworms and Hutts

The iconic sandworms, who served as equally creatures of reverence and the resource of the Spice Melange, are no strangers to evolution and improve. Even within the Dune novels them selves, we see the worms go through enormous progress. Above the study course of countless numbers of webpages, the species has fought back from the brink of extinction, spurring a revival that saw them split totally free from the confines of Arrakis and prosper on other planets and climes throughout the universe. 

Many thanks to Leto II, the God Emperor, the plan of sentient sandworms (total with a face) isn’t specifically a new concept. At the conclude of his very long everyday living, the place he himself turned into a worm, his dying provides about a new technology of the beast. Every a person incorporates a kernel of his consciousness. It stands to rationale then, over the millennia, the sandworms could evolve into the Hutts. 

Considering their link to the Spice, which also occurs to be an addictive drug in Star Wars, it tends to make sense that the freshly developed Hutts would take handle about their individual source. As the a long time went on, and they misplaced the ability to establish their have spice, they turned to other resources, at times forcibly. Therefore we see the formation of their felony empire even as they retain a gentle location for their preliminary homeworld of Arrakis/Tatooine. 

An Abundance of Witches

Then there’s the most iconic purchase in Dune—the kinds who pull the strings, guideline the Imperium, and led to the development of the Kwisatz Haderach. The Bene Gesserit witches have endured immeasurable triumphs and defeats all through the lengthy saga of Dune. Even though the ultimate textbooks seemed to point toward the buy being back again in close proximity to the leading, it’s obvious their electric power has waned.

There’s no denying their skills, on the other hand, and the track record as manipulators with peculiar powers isn’t an effortless a person to shake. Would it be so nuts to see Chapterhouse, housing their mother-college, turn into Dathomir, the property of the Nightsisters/Dathomir Witches in Star Wars? Think about them fully embracing the ‘witch’ moniker as they go on to build their special set of capabilities, turning out to be even more terrifying to the exterior galaxy. 

Their deep handle around bodily capabilities imbues them with fantastic energy such as the potential to regenerate limbs (you are welcome, Maul!) and the ability to briefly revive the useless for brief durations of time (as seen with the “zombies” who assist protect their lands). The sisterhood morphed into the dreaded Nightsisters, who even now worked to manipulate the masses, albeit in a much more concentrated way after the Star Wars era begins. 

Navigating the Drive

The Sisterhood is just a single of lots of great “Schools” in the sprawling Dune universe. The Navigator Guild is another, and was arguably the most essential for a extended period of time. By immersing on their own in the Spice, the Guild was ready to see pathways by place that permitted people today harmless journey across the universe. 

Not everybody was capable to go through the remarkable change required to turn into a Navigator, nevertheless. It demanded a particular person with a particular reward and ability to choose the spice and switch it to their very own, prescient, employs. 

However, their solutions sooner or later grew to become out of date. By the finish of the remaining Dune novels, secure area vacation was capable to be accomplished by means of computer system (which experienced been outlawed 1000’s of a long time previously in a bloody revolution). Technologies was capable to bridge the gap, producing house vacation much more accessible to absolutely everyone. Without the need of a will need to grotesquely completely transform their bodies for house vacation, it’s not a wonderful leap to think about the guild locating other means to establish their presents much more normally, most likely even coming to fully grasp it as a “Force” they could simply call upon. 

The link involving the Navigators and the orders of the Jedi and Sith would seem even more evident if you go again to some of the Legends-era lore in Star Wars. Prior to getting on their familiar names, the Je’daii had been once gathered collectively by mysterious ships which inexplicably traveled as a result of hyperspace. On best of that, their hierarchy provided Je’daii Journeyers and Rangers rankings that harken again to their times of vacation. 

Of study course, they did not normally agree on how ideal to make use of their powers in a post-Navigator galaxy, which resulted in schisms, civil war, and the formation of the Jedi and Sith orders which gave birth to their everlasting feud. 

Lesser Ties

On prime of these even larger connections, there are a variety of minor ones to consider as very well. Choose Star Wars’ B’omarr Monks. 

This order thought in eradicating all sensation in order to enhance the electrical power of their brains. So they put them into jars attached to spider-like mechanical bodies. This feels awfully familiar to the Cogitors launched in Dune’s Butlerian Jihad, who also eradicated all feeling in purchase to retain their minds pure. This also led to the generation of the villainous Cymeks who had horrifying mechanical bodies. The overlap is apparent.

Then there is Dune’s (previous) Imperial homeworld of Kaitain, a entire world which is essentially 1 gigantic city. Considering the fact that Coruscant is just one huge metropolis in Star Wars, built on major of the remnants of preceding generations, the link amongst these two planets appears to be reasonably clear. 

That’s not to point out the Tleilaxu, who mastered genetic manipulation and grow to be the masters of cloning (gholas as they are called in the Dunieverse) engineering. Hell, their modern society arrived so far as to isolate them selves, relying exclusively on genetic replication to transfer their race ahead by means of the generations…Not unlike a sure elite group of cloners recognized as the Kaminoans in Star Wars.

We know these two franchises never actually share the identical continuity. Nonetheless, it’s evident how appreciably these two pillars of science-fiction have motivated one an additional over the many years. Star Wars started with narrative and conceptual threads tied to Herbert’s perform, still we can see the reciprocal effect individuals films have had on the newer Dune novels from Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (specially considering that Anderson wrote a selection of more mature Star Wars books).