Legends of Dune

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Legends Of Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe.

• Dune: The Butlerian Jihad
• Dune: The Machine Crusade
• Dune: The Battle of Corrin

This trilogy takes place over 10,000 years before the events of the 1965 novel Dune, and chronicles the events of the Butlerian Jihad, a universe-wide war against Thinking Machines. It also explores the origins of the families and organizations that populate this distinctive universe in other Dune works.

Contents 1 Setting 1.1 League Worlds 1.2 Synchronized Worlds 1.3 Unallied Planets 1.4 Other Planets 2 Themes

[edit] Setting

The universe at the time of Legends of Dune consists of essentially three groups of populated planets: League Worlds, Synchronized Worlds and Unallied Planets.

[edit] League Worlds

The League of Nobles is the system of government employed by the remaining free humans. The predecessor of the Landsraad and the Imperium, the League is feudal at its core but slightly more democratic than the Landsraad, as the League members vote for which Viceroy they prefer to govern them. The planets controlled and protected by the League are:

Balut Chusuk Giedi Prime Ginaz Hagal Junction

Kaitain Kirana III Komider Pincknon Poritrin Relicon

Ros-Jal Rossak Salusa Secundus Seneca Vertree Colony Zanbar

[edit] Synchronized Worlds

The planets completely under Machine control are known as the Synchronized Worlds. They are each ruled by a copy of Machine leader Omnius, and these copies are periodically updated by the collective network of Everminds with which they also share their own information. The former human inhabitants of these worlds have been enslaved or killed.

Alpha Corvus Bela Tegeuse Corrin Earth Ix

Parmentier Quadra Richese Ularda Walgis

Wallach IX Wallach VII Wallach VI Yondair

[edit] Unallied Planets

IV Anbus Arrakis Buzzell

Caladan Ecaz Harmonthep

Souci Tlulax Yardin

[edit] Other Planets

Other planets are mentioned in the Legends of Dune series, but their exact status is not specified.

• Kolhar ~ Site of the first shipyard to produce space-folding ships (eventually called heighliners).

[edit] Themes

An interesting theme of the series is the fragile nature of history. The events from the first two books have become altered by the passage of time, both intentionally and unintentionally. One of the epigraphs in the book refers to the autocrat Mao Tse-Tung as a 'Philosopher of Old Earth'. The hero Xavier Harkonnen is now regarded as a villain. One of the protagonists, Vorian Atreides, remarks at one point, "Don't quote history books to me. You have no right: you weren't there. I was."

As well as this, a state-sanctioned religion builds up around the 'Three Martyrs': Serena Butler, Iblis Ginjo, and Manion Butler. They form a mother-father-child trinity, which has become accepted as actual religious truth by the period of Dune. One of the more philosophical characters in the series points out that, throughout human history, leaders have harnessed the collective madness of holy war for their own purposes.

Another point in the series is that the human secret police root out Thinking Machine spies with alarming regularity. Most of these are simply for the purposes of propaganda; however, the true irony is discovered in the last book, when it is revealed that a senior member of the secret police was working for the Machines all along.

One of the few characters to survive the entire series is Vorian Atriedes. Shocked by the things he has seen and done over the course of the war, he decides that he deserves an indefinite holiday. Using the ship he began the series in, the Dream Voyager, he sets off through the stars. That is one final theme of the series: those who try to leave a mark on history succeed as often as they fail.