In Dune: Part One, Paul Atreides had a spice-induced vision of a future that truly terrified him. “I see a holy war spreading across the universe like unquenchable fire,” he told his mother. “A warrior religion that waves the Atreides banner in my father’s name. Fanatical legions worshipping at the shrine of my father’s skull! A war in my name!” That bloody path was one he spent much of Dune: Part Two trying to avoid. Yet, by the film’s end, the Lisan al Gaib led the Fremen to embark on the very crusade he feared. How did Paul end up doing the very thing he had hoped to avoid? And what does that mean for the galaxy? Here’s everything you need to know about the ending of Dune: Part Two.
What Happens at the End of Dune: Part Two?
Despite what Stilgar and many Fremen believed, Paul did not want to be named Lisan al Gaib. He refused to accept the mantel of Fremen messiah, he just wanted to be one of them. To fulfill the prophesy meant being their religious leader, and that would make the holy war fought under his house’s banner he feared more likely.
His visions also showed him which path led to violent crusade. He saw himself in the south of Arrakis, where his most fervent believers and mother remained hidden from the Harkonnens who thought no one could survive there. In vision after vision Lady Jessica, the new Fremen Reverend Mother, led her son into a deadly all-out war. But despite his concerns, Paul finally relented and agreed to go south after he saw a future that scared him even more.
Paul learned where his dad had hidden the family’s atomics after Muad’Dib reunited with Gurney Halleck. But in his visions where he used them, Paul saw Chani killed by the blast. He could not see the way forward to defeat his enemies. To find another way to overthrow House Harkonnen Paul needed to enhance his already formidable powers and see further into the future than anyone ever had. To do that he needed to drink the Water of Life.
Does the Ending of Dune: Part Two Show Paul Atreides Becoming the Kwisatz Haderach?
Paul went south and drank of the Water of Life, the liquid taken from a drowned sandworm, just as his mother had. It left him comatose and nearly dead, but Lady Jessica called on Chani to help bring him back. Chani combined her tear with the Water and put a drop to Paul’s lips. He awoke as the first male to ever survive drinking the Water of Life, and his ordeal opened up his mind to all of time and space. That’s when Paul Atreides truly became the Kwisatz Haderach. Now the most powerful being ever, he took full command of the Fremen as their prophesied hero after letting them all witness his ability to see through time and space.
The Kwisatz Haderach then declared himself alive and called on the Emperor, who arrived in full force on Arrakis. Paul knew a massive storm was coming thanks to his prescience. He used it, along with his atomics and sandworms, to lead the Fremen on a highly coordinated attack against the Emperor and his Sardaukar. In that moment he truly fulfilled his father’s wish to harness “desert power,” as Paul combined the ferocity of the Fremen fighters with the natural strength of Arrakis itself.
Once the victorious Paul had the Emperor hostage, he stopped the Great Houses (who’d been called there by Baron Harkonnen) from interfering with his ascension to the throne. He offered to take the Emperor’s oldest daughter, Princess Irulan, as his wife. But even after the Emperor knelt to Paul and Feyd-Rautha lay dead, the other Great Houses refused to acknowledge him as Emperor.
Dune: Part Two and Chani’s Choice
That’s when Paul Atreides’ embraced the very thing he once feared. He would lead his Fremen to a promised paradise. He had his army of religious fanatics who worship him entirely board ships. They would fight his holy war against the other Great Houses. Only, he did so without the person he said he loved most. Chani never believed in the prophesy and did not follow her Usul into war.
She knew what that crusade would mean for her people and so many others. Rather than join the fight she stayed behind on Arrakis with Shai-Halud. And that, my friends, is what you should know about the ending of Dune: Part Two.
Denis Villeneuve has dreams of completing a Dune trilogy. If he gets the chance Part Three will show if Paul was right to fear a holy war in the name of Atreides. But you probably don’t need to drink the Water of Life to foresee what the future might hold.
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Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.