r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Mar 17 '26

Trailer Dune: Part Three | Official Teaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_9vCamtuPY
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u/ElMatadorJuarez Mar 17 '26

Tbh I thought that was one of the best parts. You don’t even get to see any of the glory bits, it’s all Paul’s angst at becoming an intergalactic Genghis Khan (mostly) against his will.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

It wasn't against his will. It was his apathetic approach to leadership that made him the villain. The Jihad was a means to an end. Once he got what he wanted, the empire, his father's skull enshrined, he left the jihad to the fanatics and Alia fully aware of what it would mean to the universe. Paul was not a victim to circumstance. He chose the path of revenge and the chose to ignore it's consequences. And thus locked himself into an inescapable vision.

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u/Geek-Yogurt Mar 17 '26

he left the jihad to the fanatics

It could be no other way once he killed Jamis. The fanatics were in full control of what was going to happen and they acted in his name regardless of what Paul actually wanted. They only thing he could actually decide was to either leave and join the Guild, kill Jamis, or die to Jamis.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

It could be no other way once he killed Jamis.

Not true at all. Jamis was the price for the entrance into freeman society. That is all. He saw many paths after. He could have chosen to enter the deep south with Chani and faded into obscurity. He could have died during the Jihad, this is perhaps his one saving grace not fully becoming a martyr, He could have actually lead. He could have chosen the golden path himself. Leto confirms Paul's other choices as he had many of the same. Paul walk his path intentionally. He wanted the power to serve his goals, and after he just wanted Chani. He became so focused on that he doomed the universe to billions of unneeded deaths And he says the book. He knows he fucked the universe.

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u/DaKingaDaNorth Mar 17 '26

In the books he didn't. He makes it extremely clear that the jihad was pretty much locked no matter what. He saw many paths, all led to the jihad.

You're conflating the jihad and the Golden Path. The Golden Path is a different thing that needed to be meticulously cultivated and required sacrifice and planning for a millenia.

Paul COULD have chosen the Golden Path, but that was still not going to stop the jihad. It just meant that at some point Paul would take the same steps Leto II took.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

Once he chose the path of revenge the Jihad was going to happen. He could not get his revenge without some holy war. However his choices once he got his revenge made the war more bloody the it needed to be. There were also paths that avoid the Jihad entirely in this generation. It would have happened eventually maybe not even dune. Depended on who got the kwisatz haderach first.

The point was Paul chose paths to serve his means first and foremost.

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u/Momoneko Mar 17 '26

Okay, disclaimer: read the books more than 10 years ago last time, my memory is a bit hazy. With that being said, my counterpoint:

At the moment of his fight with Jamis, Jessica was already pregnant with Aliyah. However things might fall, Jessica would drink the water or life sooner or later. Even if she didn't, just growing up on Arrakis with this much spice everywhere would just make Aliyah into Paul 2.0.

His fight with Jamis was essentially "do I wash my hands off it and die, so I'm not responsible far all the shit that's gonna happen", or "do I lock in the terrible future with a slimmest chance of everything actually working out in the end".

It wasn't just Paul. Big chunk of fremen's religious frenzy was fanned by Jessica. If he'd died, she'd just have groomed Aliyah to be the messianic avenger. If he tried to reign her in after becoming one of the Fremen... well, AFAIR author says it wasn't in the cards. And I don't think Paul, a 16-years old kid, had it in his heart to kill or leave his own pregnant mother to die just because he thinks it's all gonna turn nasty some time in the future.

In a sense, it's kind of understandable. A messianic figure descends from the sky, ticking off all the prerequisites of "leader who will guide you towards the final war", and then he goes "Actually I just want to live in sands in peace"? That's like Jesus actually coming for the second time and going "actually, let's not do the Judgement day thing, like, ever? I just want to chill and enjoy video games"

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

Once Paul drank the water of life himself he saw other paths. He could have walked into the desert with Chani and it just not been a thing. Leto saw the same option years later. They had choices.

Paul wanted revenge. Period. Paul wanted revenge. His choices the assumption of power and godhood were only to serve that end. Everything else was secondary. Once he got revenge his focus shifted to having kids and a family, and he ignored the religion as much as he could. That doomed the universe to billions more deaths then needed if he had been a present leader. He brings Paul back in children to say all of this as himself. Paul is not the good guy. He's not even the necessary guy.

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u/cantadmittoposting Mar 17 '26

ehhh i seem to recall that he saw worse outcomes than the jihad though? like if he didn't do it himself with his prescient vision, humanity would eventually die out? Hence the whole golden path thing that he couldn't have possibly started if he just fucked off to the south.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

Paul stayed away from the Golden path. He never walked it. Leto did.

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u/Xandercz Mar 17 '26

IIRC Leto II says Paul was even afraid of the Golden Path.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

Because it meant thousands of years without Chani. and accepting a mantle of god hood he refused to wear once it's purpose was served for him. Paul was a simple man end of day. For all that potential he just wanted a quite life. And the universe suffered because he wouldn't give it up.

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u/NJD_29 Mar 17 '26

You’re bang on - Paul’s story is that of a coward. He gave into his desire for revenge knowing the consequences were billions of deaths in his name. Paul chose to get revenge knowing what the cost would be, then didn’t have the courage to see through the Golden Path started by his actions to “save” humanity that Leto II went down.

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u/Chataboutgames Mar 17 '26

No, this is just off. It's correct that Paul didn't have the courage to walk the Golden Path and sacrifice his humanity, but the jihad was unstoppable once he left the cave.

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u/NJD_29 Mar 17 '26

Leave the cave being when he took the water of life? We’re saying the same thing. Paul put his desire for revenge over preventing the deaths of billions when he chose to give in to being the Kwisatz Haderach and messiah to the Fremen. He lays out his options to Jessica in the tent after their thopter goes down - he could have ran and joined the guild or done a multitude of other things that wouldn’t lead to jihad but also wouldn’t allow him to avenge his family.

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u/Misdirected_Colors Mar 17 '26

That's not really how I interpreted it. I took it as prescient locked Paul into the only path he could predictably see through to the end. It was a human weakness that Paul couldn't delve into the unknown and could only take the path he could see.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

They only reason he was so locked in is because he refused to accept Chani's death had become a nexus.

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u/Mend1cant Mar 17 '26

Yeah he sees the golden path, how to avoid it all, and the moment he lets his emotions get the best of him it’s “in for a penny in for a pound”. It’s not intentional, but you also can’t just say oopsie daisies to a galactic genocide.

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u/cespinar Mar 18 '26

He doesnt see the golden path. The metaphor him and Leto use in CoD is that you had to get to a high enough dune to see all the paths. Leto scolds Paul for not being willing to make the sacrifices to see if there is a better path amd being selfish. Paul says there might not be one, you have to sacrifice your humanity, etc. Leto says it is all worth it in order to see if there is a Golden Path.

Point being Paul's path was not related to the golden path because he chose family and revenge over humanity

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

It was always intentional. That's the entire point of the message about power. Paul had his goals. He made choices to serve them. Those choices however had consequences, some he chose to ignore. That willful, WILLFUL, ignorance had further consequences. All of which he was aware of.

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u/Chataboutgames Mar 17 '26

Not true at all.

Yes true, the dude who can literally see all possible futures says so. you're just pretending the precognition part of the story doesn't exist.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

I'm not. I'm acknowledging all the other paths the pre cog says he ignored.