George Lucas’ Star Wars has undoubtedly been one of the biggest franchises ever while being a beloved and significant pop culture element of all time. Influencing many sci-fi and space fantasy projects over time, Star Wars is known for personally taking inspiration from several acclaimed literary sources.
Being an amalgamation of many things that came before, Star Wars is now making headlines for taking inspiration from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune. As Herbert’s novel turned out to be one of the biggest pieces of media to impact Star Wars, we made a list of every major inspiration George Lucas borrowed from Dune.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
1. Location of Star Wars and Dune
Beginning the list with the location of the two sci-fi thrillers Star Wars and Dune, we get to see that George Lucas’ franchise indeed got influenced by Frank Herbert’s novels. Therefore, the most obvious one turned out to be the famous planets in both franchises.
In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker belongs to a desolate and nearly inhabitable desert planet called Tatooine. Whereas in Dune, Paul Atreides and his family move to a desolate and nearly inhabitable desert planet called Arrakis. Both are sandy planets being a pivotal part of the respective franchises since that’s where the protagonist of both Star Wars and Dune received their call to destiny.
2. Threatening creatures in Star Wars and Dune
Next in line are the glaring similarities between the threatening creatures lurking on the desert planets in both franchises. Considering Frank Herbert’s Dune came before George Lucas‘ franchise, the planet of Arrakis was plagued by giant sandworms that responded to sound waves.
Similarly in Lucas’ Space Odyssey, fans were introduced to a giant, sand-dwelling creature with a massive, many-toothed mouth called a Sarlacc. Similar to Dune‘s sandworms that lived on Arrakis, Sarlacc lived on the desert planet of Tatooine.
3. Popular commodity in Dune and Star Wars
When we are speaking about the extraterrestrial planets in both popular franchises, it’s important to mention the most popular commodities showcased in Star Wars and Dune. In Frank Herbert’s novels, fans were introduced to the most powerful and desired substance called Spice Melange, which gifts the user with prescient abilities alongside mental and physical advantages.
Meanwhile, in George Lucas’ franchise, fans were shown mines of Kessel containing loads of “spice,” which is a dangerous drug. Much like Herbert’s Dune using spice as a powerful and priceless drug, Lucas used the same concept in his fan-favorite franchise.
4. Protagonists are Descendants of Villain
Here comes the biggest revelation and the greatest similarity of all. Considering Star Wars borrowed intriguing details from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, it scooped one of the biggest elements from Dune. Much like Dune’s protagonists Paul and Alia Atreides learn about their descent from that saga’s main villain, Vladimir Harkonnen, Lucas’ franchise offered a similar take.
In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia eventually learn about their secret lineage. Revealing to fans that the protagonists were the children of the saga’s main villain, Darth Vader, George Lucas offered a major similarity to that of Dune.
5. The Force and The Voice
Lastly, the existence of a mystical and transient power in both franchises is another major similarity that cannot be neglected. While in George Lucas’ fan-favorite franchise, there resides the mystical power called The Force, in Frank Herbert’s novels it’s the persuasive and manipulative Bene Gesserit.
In Star Wars, the Force allows certain characters to perform Jedi mind tricks, while in Dune, the Bene Gesserit use the Voice, which is acquired through mental conditioning, that eventually allows them to mind control another person.
Considering these few major similarities between Dune and Star Wars, we get an idea of just how much the latter borrowed from the former.
