Dune Messiah | Themes

Dune Messiah Themes

Religion

Religion does not fare well in Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah. The Emperor Paul Atreides has in the twelve years of his reign been made into a god but badly wants to escape this fate, even to the point of giving up his religion and fleeing. He knows that even without him, in his name and under the Atreides banner, the fearful Jihad will continue. It has gone out from the planet Arrakis (Dune), killing some 60 billion people outright and turning survivors into potential pilgrims. Paul cannot figure out what the pious pilgrims who overrun Arrakeen City seek to find there. Filling the streets with screeches of religious ecstasy, they are mocked by the Fremen (who form the core of Paul's loyal followers) as "passage birds," while those who die on Arrakis are "Winged souls." They come "in gratitude for 'the peace of Muad'dib'," who accepts the riches they throw...
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