The Dark Truth Dune Explained: Part 2 Tells Us About Paul (& Maybe Ourselves)

Dune: Part 2, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and a host of other stars, has become a huge hit – crossing $80 million in only its first weekend at the box office. It’s no surprise that people love the second installment in Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel given how much we all loved the first one. But Paul Atreides’ story is a lot darker than most Chosen One characters we see get the big screen treatment. So how has Paul changed in part two, and what does that mean for what’s to come in his story? (And how might audience reactions cause a bit of a problem?) Let’s dive in!

CHAPTERS
00:00 Dune: Part 2
00:35 Paul's inner battle with his dark side
03:25 Choosing revenge over everything
04:47 thanks to Factor
05:55 Why Chani was right
06:44 He's the Chosen One, but not a hero
08:33 The films being split into parts helps tell his story
09:08 What some audiences might get wrong about his arc
10:46 What's still to come...

The Take was created by Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough

[grcrb]

People are mad at chani, but chani is literally pointing out what the author was saying the entire time.

[nadyagutierrez]

"Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible."

[radicaladz]

The true villain of the Dune series: cults of personality.

[EN-Fitz]

From Frank Herbert:
“I had this idea that charismatic leaders ought to come with a warning label on their forehead: ‘May be dangerous to your health.’”

The author even considered JFK to be dangerous due to his charisma, while he considered Nixon as valuable for teaching us by example to distrust government.

[matthewmcshane]

Paul wearing darker clothing near the end signifies both his part harkonnen heritage, but that hosue atreides isn't much different than harkonnen in their methods or goals. The only main difference is that house atreides is less needlessly sadistic and even that is a bit debatable. This is illustrated perfectly by the beginning and end of part 2. It starts with atreides bodies burning in a pile, it ends with harkonnen bodies burning in a pile.

[samfilmkid]

“Nothing could be more dangerous for your people than falling into the hands of a hero.”

[BioshadowX]

This is why I laugh my ass off whenever someone claims Dune is a white savior series. It presents itself as such as first but by the second book it's very, very obviously a deconstruction.

[joshbecka]

While Paul is not the hero…he isn’t seeking power for himself and feels trapped. After a certain point he knows no matter what he does he is set on a knifes edge where he can either become emperor or die. He chooses not to become the god emperor and instead what you are saying apply more to Leto the Second.

[penman]

I think it's so funny that people are calling Paul a hero. It's the exact reason why Frank wrote Messiah.

[jennt]

It’s speaking volumes that a very well made story about leadership and heroism gone wrong is dominating the current popculture, whilst superhero stories are one after the other bomb at the box office. Dune truly is the anti-MCU: it’s not colourful, it’s not celebrating single persons with enormous amounts of power, it’s very well done, and it’s made because the makers wanted to tell this story rather than a studio throwing money out for the next franchise.

[PutingPinoy]

I don’t think anyone thinks of Homelander as not a villain.

[captainripley]

I think Paul in the book comes across more sympathetic since we get so much more of his pov and a lot less push back. The movie does a better job about highlighting the danger he brings to the fremen and universe more broadly since Chani is so much more of a character. That said, its almost beyond Paul in the sense that the forces at play in these hierarchies would bring ruin regardless of who’s at the top

[StuuffNThiings]

This is my perspective, as someone who has only seen the movies and not read the book.
Watching Part 2, I don’t think Paul was intentionally tricking Chani or the Fremen when he made the choices to join them and fight with them. At that point, I think he was sincere and wasn’t trying to advance his own power.
However, once he drank the Water of Life, he seemed to be corrupted.
We saw that with his mother, too. Her entire personality changed with that blue drink. It’s a tragedy that if Stilgar hadn’t forced Paul’s mother to become the Reverend Mother to their fanatic religion, she would not have radicalized the South. Paul’s journey there may not have led into destruction. But him drinking that Water of Life really sealed the deal, as he didn’t seem like the same Paul Atredies anymore.
Made me so mad. Like watching two trains collide. So many choices led to corruption, tragedy, and death.

[cccantv]

Paul is literally Eren Yager for more westernized minds.

[ryankwon]

Chani is always Paul's last link to his humanity, and I like how the director is expanding on this by having her rebel against Atreides' messiah complex. In the books, her death drove Paul to depression and he gave up everything. In somewhat of an act of redemption for his misdeeds, Paul became the Preacher to vocally fight against the religion of Muad'Dib. I believe Dune: The Holy War (Part 3) will have Chani convince Paul to stop his violent crusade and she stays by his side to ensure he does not fall to his worst impulses.

[AllyrionWW]

This might be true for movie Paul, but I would say it’s not true for a book Paul.

Surface level reading of the OG Dune will lead you to think he’s a hero. He’s not.
One layer deeper is that he’s a manipulative tyrant.
But I think the story we’re given is a lot more nuanced than that.
The final layer is that Paul is genuinely a good person, trying to navigate power and Information at a scale that no human should ever have to.

In the book, we are able to see his rationale and mindset. Even if he dies, he sees that the Jihad is coming regardless. He tries to steer it for the least amount of bloodshed possible. But it’s little consolation given how many are killed.

I think this is important not just to appreciate Paul himself more, it’s Frank Herbert’s message that even a benevolent and well meaning individual should not be elevated to this level. That consolidating power is itself bad, these power systems are the problem.

If you think Paul was a more selfish person, this is missing the point because then the question arises, what if he was genuinely more selfless. Of course you could say “infinite power corrupts infinitely” and end up at a similar place, but I think Frank Herbert went out of his way to make a more nuanced point than ‘power turns you bad’.

It was that even if you retain your good nature, venerating individuals or systems and turning off your critical thinking for ideology will have bad outcomes regardless of how good the system/ideology/person is.

And I think that’s a lot more interesting and nuanced than power amplifying his more selfish nature and the effect it has on others. This is true on some level but even in Messiah, it’s clear that Paul still has his good nature.

But maybe the movie will take that route since we have much less insight into his thoughts.

[bandofspartans]

I don’t think Paul is inherently bad. He begins to fall in love with the Fremen culture and Chani specifically. He’s afraid of his fragmented visions of the future. Finally, he makes a choice to lean into that power after he doesn’t forsee the attack on sietch Tabr. I think most if us would do the same thing in his situation.

The turning point is after he survives the Spice Agony. Now he can see all potential futures and knows the path he must take to ensure survival for the people he loves and himself. He can even indulge in his revenge along the way. This is a very selfish thing and why he’s an anti-hero. Especially since the price paid for that future is more than 60billion deaths in his Holy War. His main objective was to ensure he and his loved ones survive the immediate conflict (which is completely reasonable). However, the price for his selfishness is absurd. He eventually forsakes the golden path because he can’t deal with that insane burden.

In short, he decided to embrace what he thinks is a necessary evil given the circumstances. That’s a very human reaction. He likely feels trapped by time and doesn’t have the luxury to think about certain decisions in a purely selfless moral context since the way is narrow. Is he willing to ensure their survival when the price is mass genocide? It’s a cruel fate the universe has cast upon him. Quite the tragic character.

That’s likely why Helen calls him “abomination” later, since he has given into his own human desires. The books go into this way more, but I feel the movies have portrayed this in an incredible way. I can’t wait for the aftermath in Messiah.

[XenoRaptor-]

When I saw dune part 2. One thing that made obvious is the dangers of prophecy. In how and why someone can use prophecy to manipulate people. In this case the manipulater is that vagufull willow.

[kirk]

Why is the assumption always "people don't realize he's the villain"? Alternative: a lot of these people know he's the villain and they're villains too.

[ethancoster]

The book kinda infers that the Jihad will happen regardless of Paul's decisions. He becomes Emperor not so much out of revenge per say, but that if doesn't follow through the future will be far worse than just a jihad. He seeks to control the jihad and lessen its effects. The great houses also don't declare war in the book out of being stopped by Choam industries and the Guild. The jihad is just an outpouring of Fremen zeal that happens Inspite of Paul.