Frank Herbert's Dune presents the reader with an imaginery world in
             which the broad sweep of history can be seen from the distance of a massive
             amount of history. Indeed, one of the things that makes Dune so intriguing
             is its ability to locate the action of the present within the overarching
             timeframe of ten thousand plus years of history, such that all of the
             specific events, while they are of great importance to the narrative, can
             be seen merely as further developments in the overarching plot of
             historical events. Dune offers us an immense backdrop of events and
             institutions to process, all of which have long and various historical
             roles; there is House Atreides, House Harkonnen, the other various houses,
             the history of Dune/Arrakis, the history of the Fremen, the Guild, the
             Emperor, the history of the Kwitzats Haderach, and, of course, the history
             of the spice, itself. Given all of these things, in combination with the
             complexity of the timeline and the political turmoil and underlying
             political machinations, navigating Dune in itself can be challenging.
             Attempting to derive some overarching theory of historicity and its effects
             on people out of this imaginary world is a daunting task altogether,
             however. The answer to much of this line of questioning, however, lies in
             the pseudo-religious undertones of Dune, specifically in the central
             figure of Paul Atreides, who, as a sort of messiah-figure, is made to be an
             obvious allusion to the Christian story of Jesus. Indeed, the inclusion of
             the imaginary O.C. Bible, within the text of Dune itself further
             strengthens this connection between Paul Atreides and the Biblical story as
             presented and extrapolated from the Gospels. Indeed, Paul represents a
             synthesis (many syntheses, actually) , in which two previously warring
             aspects are merged. Indeed, he represents the union of several counter-
             poised forces, including water and deser...