Star Wars: plagiarized?
DON’T GET ME WRONG, Star Wars, to this day, remains one of my favorite science-fiction series. Not only did I grow up watching the movies. I loved the books. All of this changed when I first read Dune.
While I enjoy Star Wars to this day, it’s lost a lot of its glamour. I used to think it was revolutionary, a throwback to another era. I spent most of my childhood dressing up as Darth Vader, Boba Fett, or Mace Windu. So, why did my views change so drastically? Well, here’s three reasons why.
The Jedi and Sith
Sorry to disappoint you, but those iconic lightsaber wielding noble characters you love? Well, they’re nearly copy-paste from Dune. In Frank Herbert’s world, a society of women named the Bene Gesserit act as a shadow government that rules the imperium (sound familiar?). The Bene Gesserit use a power known as the Voice to well, command people. While it’s unclear the extent to which the voice can be applied, the premise rests in the fact that they are able to bend other’s will to their actions.
Some would argue that the force can do much more than just mind tricks. Well, so can the Bene Gesserit. Some of their various abilities include extensive control of their bodies, resulting in inhuman abilities of, for example, strength or flexibility. Does this sound eerily similar to the jedi ability to enhance their physical abilities using the force, such as inhuman jumping power? Well, there you go.
To address, more than just the Force, let’s examine the grand purpose of the Jedi and Sith. One important factor to recognize is that they do have a purpose. In movies one to three, Palpatine orchestrating the clone wars is the perfect example. He had an agenda going in and he achieved it. The Jedi, on the other hand, strive to act as peacekeepers of the galaxy. The Bene Gesserit serve a similar role in the imperium. They act as a shadow government like the Jedi do. But more than that, they have the ulterior motive (like the Sith) of preserving the ancestral bloodlines and breeding them together to bring forth the kwisatz haderach, the chosen one.
But before that, in case you were thinking that wait, Jedi and Sith use lightsabers, so that makes them radically different from the Bene Gesserit, think again! In Dune, an important artifact is the Crysknife.
Stormtroopers
One of the most iconic figures in Star Wars are the imperial stormtroopers. First, during the clone wars, they served under the command of the Jedi as clone troopers and after the fall of the Republic, as stormtroopers under the Emperor’s command.
In Dune, the Sardukar are the emperor’s blades, the best of the best. While some would argue that the stormtroopers are original because they are all clones of each other and the Sardukar are not. The important similarity between the two lies in that fact. The logic behind the Sardukar is that the emperor trains them on one of the harshest planets in the imperium Salusa Secundus. These Sardukar are put through some of the harshest possible conditions to forge the deadliest warriors. The clones are similarly put through harsh training conditions in their training centers to craft the most powerful soldiers. Both stormtroopers and Sardukar are elite troops at the emperor’s command.
The Chosen One
Finally, the chosen one is the most jarring similarity between the two science ficiton series. In Dune, the chosen one is the bridge between the two controlling powers of the impreium. The Mentats and the Bene Geserit. Since I already went over the Bene Geserit, let me take a moment to explain the Mentats. The Mentats like the Bene Geserit, use the halluciogenic spice melange to tap into their powers. While the spice lends the Bene Geserit the powers of the voice and body, it gives the mentats, the power of the mind. They are human supercomputers capable of calcualting every possibility leading into the future of a specific event. Sound like droids? Fun fact, the Jedi have the ability to detect a disturbance in the force, and sometimes have force dreams of the future. Paul is the chosen one precicely because he is a mentat and a Bene Geserit.
In Star Wars, Anakin, the chosen one, dreams of Padme’s death through Revenge of the Sith, leading up to him eventually turning to the Dark side. Sounds awfully like a mentat seeing the future, right? Bingo! Paul also has dreams of the future about a girl, Chani. In Dune Messiah, he dreams of her death and, just like Anakin, tries to go about finding a way to prevent it. Guess what? Remember how Padme dies at childbirth? You guessed it, Paul’s lover, Chani, also dies at childbirth! Is it a coincidence that both Padme and Chani had twins? Hmm...
Are you wondering if Paul falls to the darkside as well? While there is no explicit dark side of the force in Dune, Paul falls into evil. At the end of Dune Messiah, emperor Paul Atreides abandons his duties and walks off into the deserts of Arrakis, now presumed dead. Wait a minute, wasn’t Anakin presumed dead at the end of Revenge of the Sith?
Are you wondering if Paul’s son, Leto II, becomes the hero of the story in book 3 just like Luke becomes the hero in A New Hope? Correct again! Wow, this is starting to sound awfully similar. Do Leto II and Paul reunite before Paul’s death like Darth Vader and Luke do? Yup. And do Leto II and Ghanima (Paul’s children) take control over the empire after Paul’s death, just like Luke and Leia did after Death Vader’s death, correct again! Fun fact, are you wondering where the inspiration for Tatooine came from? Well, look no further than the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune!
While Star Wars still retains its fair share of differences from Dune, it’s clear to see just how much “inspiration” George Lucas took from Frank Herbert. After recently watching the new Dune movie, I thought I’d try to do Dune some justice. But don’t take my word for it. Read Dune yourselves and see just how much better the original is than the copy-cat.
