Parables of power

Warner Bros. released a new trailer for Dune: Part Two this afternoon, a little over a month after it dropped the first one. It's suitably epic, and shows off a bit of the conflict to expect in the second half of the story.

There's a neat thing here that I'm eager to see on screen, because it's a big part of the book and of Frank Herbert's work in the series:

This to me is one of the most interesting things about the Dune saga: author Herbert was interested in exploring the power of the human mind (in this universe, human intelligence – with its potential unlocked due to spice from Arrakis – allows humans to accomplish travel through space and enormous calculations, etc.) and what impact that had on people.

There's a quote from Herbert that you might have heard: "Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible." Paul's placed [spoilers] in a position of enormous power by the end of Dune, something that has devastating consequences down the road as Herbert plays out the events of the series.

It's a fascinating lesson, and one that we see pop up in other places: one notable example that comes to mind is Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, when Luke Skywalker turns from the Jedi Order to go into a self-imposed exile, something I've wondered if it has some influence from Herbert's books...