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Our household discussion is that while Dune, the novel, ends with Paul clearly the hero, conflicted though he is, the sequel is where Herbert, now having heard criticism that he'd created a White Savior figure, even if unconsciously, he now proceeded, in Dune Messiah, to problematize his hero and deconstruct Paul's status, and the first of subsequent sequels. Director Villeneuve, anticipating Dune Messiah, plants the seeds of this "de-heroization" by having Chani, his significant other (and wife with children!), being a good secularist, leaves him in dismay while the galaxy's other houses attack, leaving the next sequel to see a war begin, not the way the first book ended (Paul now controlling the spice needed for galactic navigation) but setting up Paul's deconstruction. This is of a part with how The Last Jedi deconstructed Luke Skywalker by making him a disillusioned recluse when the Resistance needed him. Hollywood moderns have a real problem with heroes. And yes, Dune 2 uses "fundamentalists" as you might expect in a way the book didn't.

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That think he of the basic JRRT structural issue, in terms of two philosophies of life and truth?

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