4.3.1 "Dune: House Atreides" (inconsistencies and errors)
Description
This article is from the Dune FAQ, by Alan Schwartz with numerous contributions by others.
4.3.1 "Dune: House Atreides" (inconsistencies and errors)
- The planet Harmonthep is mentioned several times in "House Atreides_.
However, in "Dune" we are told that Harmonthep is "supposed to have been
a no longer existent satellite of Delta Pavonis", indicating it was
destroyed long ago.
- The construction of the Harkonnen no-room we see in "Heretics of Dune"
happens here. However, "Heretics of Dune" firmly establishes that "the
whole no-globe complex, some two hundred meters in diameter, was a
fossil preserved intact from the time of the Tyrant."
- The Kwisatz Haderach breeding program is said to go back 10,000 years.
According to "Dune" it has gone on for 90 generations. That would work
out to 111 years per generation (the traditional figure is 20).
- In "House Atreides", Piter de Vries is addicted to sapho juice. This
is not mentioned at all in "Dune", but much is, on the other hand, made
of his addiction to spice (which "House Atreides" doesn't mention).
- It appears to be general knowledge that the Tleilaxu are religious
fanatics. So how come it is such a major revelation for the Bene
Gesserit in "Heretics of Dune" and is not known to any character in the
Chronicles before that?
- Elacca wood is described as "wood from Elacca". According to Dune,
elacca wood (note lack of capitalization) comes from Ecaz. (After this
was pointed out, the authors posted an "explanation" on their website.)
- In this book, Crown Prince Shaddam and Count Fenring take great care
to make sure no one discovers that Emperor Elrood has been poisoned. The
Almanak en-Ashraf in "Dune" makes it clear that it was generally known
that Elrood "succumbed to chaumurky".
- House Vernius of Ix is a major player in all the prequels. However,
_Dune Messiah" refers to the Ixian Confederacy, indicating no noble
House ruled the planet.
- According to "House Atreides", cyborgs do not violate the tenents of
the Butlerian Jihad. According to "Chapterhouse: Dune", they do:
"Cyborgs?" [...] Didn't Idaho know the residue of revulsion left
by the Butlerian Jihad even among the Bene Gesserit?
Cyborg was one of those potpourri words, too. Where did mechanical
additions to human flesh become dominant? When was the Cyborg no
longer human? [...] The Butlerian Jihad had left its indelible
mark on humans. Fought and won . . . for then. And here was
another battle in that long-ago conflict.
- "Fixing" a crysknife is explained as "keyed to the body of the owner
so it would dissolve upon his death". In <i>Dune</i> it's the other way
around: "Fixed knives are treated for storage."
- The Battle of Corrin is said to be the final battle of the Butlerian
Jihad, fought by the "Bridge of Hrethgir". According to "Dune" it was a
space battle that took place twenty years after the Butlerian Jihad was
over.
- "House Atreides" makes Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam out to be
Jessica's mother. We know definitely that Frank Herbert did not intend
this, as it was the only entry in "The Dune Encyclopedia" he objected
to. (Willis McNelly convinced him to let it be included as a joke.)
- "House Atreides_: "He fired a near-invisible bolt of white-orange fire
from the lasgun..."
"Dune_: "Paul pointed to the violence above the distant cliff--the
jetflares, the purple beams of lasguns lacing the desert."
(The authors have corrected their error by "House Harkonnen_.)
- Shaddam is crowned by a priest of Dur. However, Dur was a name given
to Leto II in the Scattering, several thousand years later. A deity (?)
Abu d' Dhur, "Father of the Indefinite Roads of Time", is mentioned in
_Dune Messiah_.
- One of the central plot points in "House Atreides" is the death of
Leto's father, Duke Paulus. This happens before Jessica is born.
However, in "Dune", Jessica displays what can only be first-hand
experience of the Old Duke.
- We are told in "House Atreides" that the Baron Harkonnen is so fat
because he was infected with a disease. The Chronicles pretty much state
that it was due to a hereditary disposition and overeating:
GEoD [of the Baron]: "He was a fat, monstrous..."
"He was a seeker after sensations," Moneo said. "The fat was a
side-effect, then perhaps something to experience for itself
because it offended people and he enjoyed offending."
"Dune" [of Rabban]: "There was yet some rigidity in his fat, but
it was obvious to the eye that he'd come one day to the portable
suspensors for carrying his excess weight."
"Dune" [of Feyd]: "Here's one who won't let himself go to fat."
Note also that when Alia is possessed by the Baron in "Children of
Dune", she starts to put on weight.
- According to "God Emperor of Dune", Duncan had a sister who was killed
by Harkonnens. She is nowhere to be seen in "House Atreides_.
- "God Emperor of Dune" also states that the Atreides rescued Duncan
from Harkonnen bondage. The events in the prequel don't seem to match
this description very well.
Continue to:
My Books
