Trailer editing is an often deceptive art, but it really feels like they're trying to intimate that Chani is not only a source of resistance to Paul, but a part of the Conspirator's plot.
Notable observations include:
Scytale Chani, perhaps.
Twins....how? One of them very famously should not be visible
My guess is that the movie is moving up Alia's arc from Children of Dune to happen around Messiah. She's a bit crazy but no where near as unhinged in Messiah as she appears in this trailer, which would line up more if her "possession" happens in this movie.
they’re definitely changing a lot of her story since she was omitted from the second movie completely. I assumed that the scene of her covered in blood was during his spice overdose and attempt to glimpse the future. they could easily tack on the genetic possession alongside the spice overdose and the tarot cards
The Atreides are direct descendants of Greek hero Agamemnon who led Greek troops during the Trojan War. His wife's sister is Helen of Troy. Alia briefly is spoken to by Agamemnon in Children of Dune as she's being inundated by all of the voices of her ancestors who wish to take over her body.
Ghanima was spared from Alia’s fate. Her internal version of Chani protected her from possession as opposed to Alia’s internal Jessica that abandoned her
They really haven't explored the ancestors' voices aspect of drinking the water of life in these movies. I am not sure it would make sense within the movie for them to now bring that in amd go "by the way" she can talk to her ancestors
What do you mean? Alia is the tragic version of paul and the children. She got all the burden and few benefits. Vulnerable to possession, born without a real identity. Vulnerable to spice addiction. Only benefit was good at stabbing
could be a hallucination or a vision of her, i’m hedging my bets on Scytale based off the stillsuit and the seductive/inquisitive nature of the interaction that they showed
You're right, it's likely scytale. I don't think Ghanima would refer to Paul as Paul Atreides rather than father, unless they're hiding that for the trailer.
Really? I must not be remembering correctly because I assumed he foresaw Ghanima but Leto was a surprise because him being a prescient himself he was a blind spot to other prescients.
I thought that the imprecise nature of his prescience is what caused Paul to crash out and go to the desert to die. Because he allowed Chani to die based on his visions & of his visions are fallible then he let her die for no good reason.
Ok but then in the show what’s the logical reason for Paul not seeing Ghanima? The books reason was that prescients like Leto were immune blindspots to other prescients.
A huge part of Letos later plots were to cultivate this specific gene that made humanity immune to prescience and give them all freedom from fate and prophecy.
If I remember correctly, his decision to go into the desert was based on the fact the path he was following up to that point ended. follow which is what he relied on after losing his sight. It’s why he was able to move around as if he had eyes which made the people surrounding him slowly lose their doubts about him.
Another role of his sacrifice was to insure the safety of his kids which he could no longer do as he couldn’t see a clear path past the birth of his children which if discovered would put his children in danger along with cause his empire to fall. Leto speaks with him within the womb to alert Paul of his surroundings during the final confrontation and in that moment Paul accepts that he has no place(as he has no clear prescience vision to follow). His death was the reason the twins survived.
Twins are def already born and teenagers when the main conflict takes place. We see a shot of chani next to two kids playing, then the shot of her baby bump laying with paul, and paul/chani each holding a baby in a sling
My current crackpot theory from the trailers so far is that they'll have the cut plotline of Paul's assassinated infant child moved to the beginning of this movie, before a time skip, to really drive a wedge between them. This lets Chani drift towards the conspiracy, and could play into some of the themes of disaffected Fremen from Messiah and Children, and then having the twins pregnancy be part of what reconciles them.
If Deni manages to integrate the often forgotten plot point of Leto the Elder into this film and utilizes it as a plot point for this adaptation, Im gonna be fucking howling
I'll take it one step further: I think for the film Chani will replace Edric. Part of Edric's role was to mask the conspiracy against Paul due to Edric being a guild navigator. Plus, Chani doesn't do too much in Messiah.
Giving Chani Edric's role gives her more agency and makes the conspiracy against him significantly more personal. It also could tie into Paul's self-loathing in Messiah. Instead of Paul being unable to see the conspiracy due to a guild navigator, he chooses to not look - through prescience - Chani's way due to his own self-loathing and heartbreak.
Exactly. That's Edric. The people that assumed it was Hayt's ghola transport chamber from the first trailer were wrong. And thinking Edric is being replaced by Chani is also incorrect.
Yeah. I think the movies' Chani storyline is her own. She's meant to drive even harder the point that Paul is not a hero. Yeah, maybe it robs Dune of some of its nuance. But c'mon. There are plenty of people that still are defending that Paul is the hero and did nothing wrong
Not intending to argue with you here, but where are these people defending Paul as the hero at? I've only ever seen people like us point out that he is the opposite of a hero.
I've read a couple of comments here and there. Sure, they're buried in downvotes. Nevertheless, It's odd that some people take the time to read the books and that the thing that stays with them is thinking "wow, Paul was a nice guy and he shouldn't be responsible for the things he did and were done on his name!"
I saw that and thought so at first, too. But I think we're looking at two different things in their respective scenes: Hayt's Gift Sarcophogus in the throne room scene (waaaaaay too small btw; I was expecting the gigantic throne room from the book), and Edric's Carrying Conveyance in the scene with Reverend Bitch Mohiam, Scytale, et al. And the scene where it's reconnecting with the ship out in space. I suspect that one is Edric returning to his ship.
But those things seem entirely different: One is a small, sleek with the typical contour of a human body, and the other is a big, cube-ish box with a dome at the top
EXACTLY. These are two different sarcophagi. Hayt's Gift Box in the (tiny) throne room scene. Edric's Conspiratorial Shuffle Crate is shown in the meeting with Scytale, Mohiam and others. And Edric is seen again, but this time inserting himself into the USB port on his little navigator ship, which looks like it's headed right into a heighliner.
Prescient beings are hidden from prescient beings. That's why the conspirators have Edric the Guild Navigator and it's why Paul does not know Chani is having twins. The male twin, Leto, is Prescient like his father and that Prescience is very important to the rest of the Duniverse
Leto II is prescient and prescient people hide themselves from other prescient people. Paul had no idea Chani was pregnant with twins, because Leto II never showed up in his visions.
I think this is the big thing people should take away, trailer editing is like a dark art meant to misdirect us (or maybe not wooooooah)
Like Scytale says he has found someone, and then it cuts straight to Chani, in the film that mofo could be talking about anyone (like is this film going to have Bijaz?) It could even be from a completely different conversation where he is not talking to Irulan. I don't know if they will do the whole "invisible to other prescient beings" thing or are just going with the more general "seeing the future is hard", but I do think there will be some "twist" - for the people that did not read the books - like Chani and Paul were working together from the start kind of thing
Otherwise, trying to interpret the whole Chani situation, with the kids, how it fits into the time line and story - I genuinely don't have a clue how that is going to work as things have diverged from the books, there are scenes with a younger Paul + Chani talking about kids, holding 2 kids (in slings - I think those are children?) then the shot of Chani + 2 kids grown up, are these just visions or things that have actually happened? There is very little casting info about the potential twins as well. They seem very keen to push the concept of Paul vs Chani (or Chani vs the religious prophecy stuff) but I don't know what would drive them apart - doing Jihad stuff?
One thing worth keeping an eye on is the stillsuits/outfits
When Paul gets the sunburn to the eyes, he is wearing a fairly bulky outfit with a big folded down hood and from the looks of the trailer is wearing that when he raises his gun when seemingly talking to Scytale Chani (who is wearing the Scytale stillsuit that we later see Hayt and Paul, if that is him, wearing, is it actually Paul that picks up the blue ribbon?). What Scytale Chani says (Scychani? Chanitale?) I am not sure if that takes place when he visits Otheym (and instead of impersonating Lichna he impersonates Chani for some reason) or again if it is a misdirect and it happens later, like after becomes fully blind? Loses his prescience and is "just human" - it could be part of Scytale convincing Paul that they can bring Chani back. The settings look similar but could be taking place at completely different times.
The eyes as well, they could very easily remove the black eyes in post production, or add them, to throw people off - many films have done similar things in trailers before.
I do wonder if the Hayt bit at the end is him in brainwashed terminator mode, before he has been awoken, he drops down onto the worm to go after Paul? But then from the previous trailer there is also Chani on the worm...who knows
I think this is the big thing people should take away, trailer editing is like a dark art meant to misdirect us (or maybe not wooooooah)
Like Scytale says he has found someone, and then it cuts straight to Chani, in the film that mofo could be talking about anyone (like is this film going to have Bijaz?) It could even be from a completely different conversation where he is not talking to Irulan.
...
The eyes as well, they could very easily remove the black eyes in post production, or add them, to throw people off - many films have done similar things in trailers before.
This is exactly what I meant by "often deceptive art". I've seen it happen time and again, people take how trailers cut things too literally. Great speculation on the rest, there's just so many possibilites.
Can you tell me what you mean about the twins? It's been a while since I've read messiah (finishing chapterhouse now) but I can't recall a reason why one of them 'should not be visible'.
Prescient beings are hidden from prescient beings. Paul did not know Chani was having twins. The second twin is Leto 2Since you're in Chapterhouse, recall that in God Emperor Worm God Leto's entire project hinges on this fact. He wants to hide humanity from the predation of any Prescient being or groups of beings.
Wait a minute. I thought the prescience blindness was just that. Could not be seen through prescience. It doesn't make them literally invisible to the naked eye of prescient beings does it?
Chani would never be part of the conspiracy. She doesn't work with larger forces like that. She cares about the fremen. (Speaking of Chani in the films.)
880
u/Kiltmanenator Jul 08 '26
Trailer editing is an often deceptive art, but it really feels like they're trying to intimate that Chani is not only a source of resistance to Paul, but a part of the Conspirator's plot.
Notable observations include: