Highlights
- The power struggle in Dune mirrors real-world feuds, emphasizing parallels through access to vital resources like spice.
- Dune 's futuristic setting showcases impressive technology, from energy shields to hovercraft, sparking intrigue in its world.
- Unique devices like thumpers, Holtzman shields, and suspensors play essential roles in navigating the dangers of Arrakis.
One of the advantages of the science fiction genre is that it allows writers and directors to create dynamic and complex narratives that reflect aspects of our world. Indeed, the power struggle central to Frank Herbert's Dune (a longstanding feud between House Atreides and the Harkonnens) recalls similar feuds between real-world figures and factions. That this conflict is partly motivated by access to a vital logistical resource, spice, only emphasizes these parallels.
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Yet science fiction is also intriguing because it facilitates inventiveness in terms of technology and progress. Given that Dune is set thousands of years into the future, it follows that its characters have access to some impressive and fantastical equipment, from energy shields to efficient survival suits. While the moral compass of the saga's (anti)hero is hard to pin down, it's easy to be intrigued by the world in which Paul Atreides lives.
8 Thumpers
Rythmic Devices That Are Used to Summon Sand Worms
While someone looking to get around on Earth might call for an Uber, travel through the deserts of Arrakis brings its own challenges. Those brave enough to ride on Dune's sandworms need a reliable way to summon these massive creatures, hence the development of thumpers. These devices emit a rhythmic thudding that attracts a sandworm to the desired location, allowing for rapid, low-tech travel across the wastelands.
Unsurprisingly, thumpers are an essential piece of kit for the Fremen. The Fremkit, a set of gear necessary for surviving the harsh conditions on Arakkis, normally contains a thumper in addition to other vital devices like the paracompass and sandsnorkel.
7 Holtzman Shields
Protection Against Long-Distance Attacks
Despite its far-future setting, Dune does not shy away from utilizing quasi-historical imagery. Indeed, although soldiers wield powerful lasguns, many fights are decided on a more intimate level with knives. This hand-to-hand combat style is the inevitable consequence of Holtzman shields, devices that emit an energy field that can only be effectively penetrated by bladed weapons moving below a certain speed threshold.
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Those foolish enough to fire on a shielded combatant with a lasgun rarely survive, as the resulting subatomic explosion is as likely to kill the attacker as the target. However, Holtzman shields do have one significant weakness on Arrakis. The vibrations emitted by the technology drive nearby sandworms into a frenzy, meaning that such devices could only be deployed for short periods while traversing the desert.
6 The Emperor's Flagship
A Marvel Of Engineering That Reflects The Harsh Sun
While Denis Villeneuve has received some criticism for his casting of Christopher Walken in the role of the Emperor in Dune: Part Two, the director cannot be faulted for the movie's epic visuals. One of the most memorable of these is the image of the Emperor's flagship hovering above the main settlement on Arrakis. The sheer size of the spherical vessel adds an impressive sense of scale to the scene, emphasizing the threat to Paul and his Fremen allies.
Admittedly, the flagship makes only brief appearances throughout the movie, but the fact that it manages to strike a sense of dread into viewers even with so little screentime demonstrates not only the power of the Imperium, but also the talent on display behind the scenes.
5 Suspensors
The Creepy Way That The Barron Can Move So Easily
Science fiction stories have always grappled with issues like faster-than-light travel, interstellar communication, and anti-gravity technology. Herbert's novel solves the latter technical issue with suspensors, hovering devices which not only provide artificial gravity aboard spaceships but also play roles in ensuring the stability of furniture, buildings, and glowglobe lights.
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Suspensors also see use on a more personal level. The grotesque Baron Harkonnen relied on suspensors in order to move around, and was rendered more or less immobile when these buoyant devices were destroyed. Indeed, at least in Villeneuve's take on the material, the Baron's loss of his suspensors makes him an easy target for a vengeful Paul Atreides—family ties be damned.
4 Spice Harvesters
Massive Spice Farming Factories On Wheels
Spice, as Dune often states, is the most important substance in the universe. As such, the huge spice harvesters used on the surface of Arrakis are essential to the Imperium's prosperity. Dropped by aircraft called carryalls, harvesters are responsible for collecting and processing large deposits of spice. Harvesters are supported in this task by airborne spotters in ornithopters, who not only identify sources of spice but also flag threats to the harvesters themselves.
Indeed, even these gigantic vehicles are no match for Arrakis' native fauna—they are prone to being swallowed by the planet's sandworms unless a carryall is on hand to ferry the harvester and its crew to safety. This, coupled with the fact that the machines make excellent targets for Fremen raids, means that work aboard harvesters is particularly hazardous.
3 Mentats
Powerful Human Computers
Many popular science fiction franchises foreground intelligent computers and machines, from Star Trek's android Data to Star Wars' astromech droids. However, because Dune takes place after the Butlerian Jihad, Herbert's universe excludes these so-called "thinking machines". The vacuum left by the loss of computers led to the rise of human groups that replicated their functions: the Bene Gesserit, the Spacer's Guild, and the Mentats.
Mentats blur the line between biological and technological; they are humans with impressive cognitive and information-processing powers. As such, Mentats often served as advisors to key figures in the Imperium. Thufir Hawat, a notable Mentat, was responsible for protecting House Atreides from its rivals. Not even capture by the Harkonnens could corrupt Hawat, as he continued his attempts to bring down his enemies from within.
2 Ornithopters
Multi-Function Aerial Transports For Easy Air Travel
The popularity of a sci-fi vehicle can somewhat be gauged by whether it exists in Lego form, with Dune's ornithopter being one such icon that makes the cut. This is unsurprising, as the ornithopters seen in Villeneuve's take on Herbert's novel are an elegant blend of recognizable technology and dragonfly-like physicality. However, ornithopters are more than simply visually pleasing, as they play a vital role in the franchise.
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Designed to carry up to nine people, these multipurpose craft have applications in everything from spice harvesting to transporting troops or cargo. Nor are ornithopters limited to operation within a planet's atmosphere, as these endlessly useful vehicles are capable of operating in the vacuum of space (albeit over short distances).
1 Stillsuits
A Full-Body Suit That Protects From Arrakis' Sun, And Conserves Moisture
Spice may be plentiful on Arrakis, but water is not readily available. As a result, those living in the planet's barren regions must carefully conserve their own moisture in order to avoid dehydration. This is made possible by the stillsuit, a multi-layered, full-body ensemble which, when in full working order, is capable of ensuring the wearer's survival for weeks at a time, even in the harshest conditions.
Water leaving the body as sweat or urine is absorbed into pockets within the stillsuit and filtered, allowing it to be reabsorbed into the wearer's body via a tube. While the prospect of drinking recycled excrement is far from appealing, the widespread adoption of stillsuits on Arrakis demonstrates their usefulness.
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