BranDune Sanderson

[Yezrien]

BranDune Sanderson

As far as I know, there has never been a thread devoted to this topic, so I'm going to start one.

Brandon is known to be a huge fan of Frank Herbert's Dune. He credits the book as a major inspiration, and on Writing Excuses Brandon frequently cites Dune as an example of great writing and worldbuilding.

The purpose of this thread is NOT to accuse Brandon of ripping off Dune. It is a just-for-fun thread to discuss parallels between Dune and the cosmere, and to build theories based on the possibility of future parallels.

I'll get the ball rolling. (Expect minor cosmere spoilers, and major Dune spoilers.)

White Sand (obviously)
 

Spoiler

 

Brandon has said that he wrote White Sand with Dune fresh in his mind, and it exerted an enormous, obvious influence.

Both stories are set in a vast desert, and deal with the cultures that are uniquely adapted to live there. The most striking similarity is the Sandling, which is clearly inspired by Dune's famous sandworms. Both are enormous, dangerous creatures that burrow in the sand, and water is toxic to both.

The Dune universe, for various in-world reasons, is an eclectic combination of medieval culture and modern or futuristic technology. This may have inspired some of the unusual technology on Taldain, such as the infamous radio and ceiling fan.

(I have only read Volume 1 of the graphic novel. Anyone who has read Volume 2 or the prose version can probably identify more similarities.)

 

Prescience
 

Spoiler

 

Seeing the future is central to the plot of Dune and its sequels. In the Dune universe, certain characters acquire prescience (future-sight) by excessive consumption of the magical Spice, melange.

Certain characters are powerful enough to see almost the entire future, or all the different paths that history can take. These characters lay incredibly complex plans to steer the future in the best possible direction, and they weep for the millions of unavoidable deaths they will cause. Even the best, most peaceful possible future cannot be achieved without unleashing horrific violence. That sounds very Taravangian to me.

In Dune, When your enemies have perfect prescience, there is only one way to prevent them from predicting all your plans and attacks: you must keep another prescient person close at hand. Prescients can predict anything except each other; they cancel each other out. Kind of like two allomancers burning atium. Or Renarin, the future-seeing voidbinder, being the “wild card” that Taravangian's diagram can not predict.

The overall plot of the Dune series (I've only read the first 3.5 books, so I'm speculating a little) deals with one brilliant prescient steering the entire universe toward his desired outcome, to avoid an apocalypse that no one else can see coming. Could this be Hoid's ultimate purpose? Could it be Bavadin's?

 

Chasmfiends
 

Spoiler

 

The chasmfiends of Roshar also remind me of the sandworms of Dune, not necessarily because of their appearance or behavior, but because of their role in the story. Brandon has hinted that the relentless hunting of chasmfiends will have huge ecological repercussions. The sandworms, which were once regarded as monstrous nuisances, turn out to be crucial to the production of the Spice. If the sandworms were eliminated (as many “civilized” people thought they should be), the Spice would vanish, and the entire galactic economy would collapse.

A major turning point in Dune is the fusion of human and sandworm. A highly prescient man, Leto II, becomes an immortal worm-human hybrid resembling Jabba the Hutt (whom he may have directly inspired). Will something like this happen in Stormlight? Is one of the main characters destined to become a human-chasmfiend? It sounds silly, but hear me out. Like many indigenous Rosharan fauna, chasmfiends have gemhearts, and form some kind of bonds with spren. What if the singers aren't the only Rosharan species that can change forms? Maybe chasmfiends can undergo a more dramatic transformation if they bond the right spren. And what if that spren happened to be the recently deceased cognitive shadow of a human, someone brimming with bond-forming investiture? Maybe that's Dalinar's destiny. He is Unity, not only of worlds, but of species.

I'm not saying I actually think it'll happen. But if Brandon wanted it to happen, a lot of the building blocks are there.

 

Miscellaneous connections and theories
 

Spoiler

 

Both Dune and the cosmere deal with themes of divinity, holy cities, humans ascending to godhood, immortality, the interaction between religion and magic, theocracies, revolutions, and ecology.

In Dune they say “God made Arrakis to train the faithful.” The harsh conditions on the desert planet produced the Fremen, fiercest warriors in the universe; similarly, the notorious imperial Sardaukar soldiers were deliberately bred on the hostile world of Salusa Secundus. As I proposed in a different thread, something similar might be happening in the cosmere. Roshar and Scadrial, both known to be created worlds, have produced some of the most powerful warriors in the cosmere. Do these worlds have a pre-ordained part to play in the interplanetary wars of the later cosmere?

In Dune, semi-secret societies spend millennia on secret breeding programs, crossing genes in just the right way to someday produce a superpowered messiah. This is reminiscent of the many theories that someone on Scadrial might be using eugenics to produce a true Mistborn.

Consumption of the Spice extends the human lifespan, and opens the mind to prescience. But the Spacing Guild Navigators, who consume it continuously in extreme quantities, are mutated by it. They lose much of their mobility, and some of their humanity. (Just google “guild navigator” to see the result.) This resembles savantism.

 

 

[Zelly]

11 hours ago, Belzedar said:

 

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The chasmfiends of Roshar also remind me of the sandworms of Dune, not necessarily because of their appearance or behavior, but because of their role in the story. Brandon has hinted that the relentless hunting of chasmfiends will have huge ecological repercussions. The sandworms, which were once regarded as monstrous nuisances, turn out to be crucial to the production of the Spice. If the sandworms were eliminated (as many “civilized” people thought they should be), the Spice would vanish, and the entire galactic economy would collapse.

A major turning point in Dune is the fusion of human and sandworm. A highly prescient man, Leto II, becomes an immortal worm-human hybrid resembling Jabba the Hutt (whom he may have directly inspired). Will something like this happen in Stormlight? Is one of the main characters destined to become a human-chasmfiend? It sounds silly, but hear me out. Like many indigenous Rosharan fauna, chasmfiends have gemhearts, and form some kind of bonds with spren. What if the singers aren't the only Rosharan species that can change forms? Maybe chasmfiends can undergo a more dramatic transformation if they bond the right spren. And what if that spren happened to be the recently deceased cognitive shadow of a human, someone brimming with bond-forming investiture? Maybe that's Dalinar's destiny. He is Unity, not only of worlds, but of species.

I'm not saying I actually think it'll happen. But if Brandon wanted it to happen, a lot of the building blocks are there.

 

Oathbringer Spoilers:

Spoiler

In terms of human transformation, you have two people in Oathbringer whose attempts at Unmade bonding result in growing physical crystals. So maybe not as silly as you think. 

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by Pagerunner
OB Spoilers

[Fully_Invested]

As a fan of Dune and the Cosmere, I really like the connections you've identified. I'm reading White Sand prose right now and agree, there are a number of strong nods. Love the recognition of godhood ascendance and prescience as key world-building elements in both.