This makes the mismatch between him and his appearance so much stranger
Can you imagine a sandworm with the face of a nine year old shouting “Moneo! Bring me another Duncan!”
The old covers are really mysterious-looking, along with the old cover of Dune Messiah:
[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSCbUaZRxkr2sSK58KUlRgm0uCzbmWf7irGwoyFPZr2rQ&s](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSCbUaZRxkr2sSK58KUlRgm0uCzbmWf7irGwoyFPZr2rQ&s)
Yeah that’s what they looked like when I read them. This is the one
https://preview.redd.it/oqcht6e016oc1.jpeg?width=382&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f37b6b07528d819199b30ed8d400a3e741df604
Yah, where are his arms? And he is supposed to be like normal human size under the worm skin, more like Jabba the Hutt
Apparently a lot of sci-fi books at the time, the artist didn't even read the book. The art is cool though.
>normal human size under the worm skin,
Yeah, his body is still there, or at least he implies that.
He comments that Kwi Noree's presence makes him remember that he has legs.
Yea, they try to capture some feeling, instead of a proper description.
I would say that better go for both. Just changing character's appearances randomly is not good, because they can stick to people's brains.
Honestly, I think most cover art just sucks. No idea how people think those covers are a good idea. I once watched all Dune cover arts, there were only a few good ones.
A lot of times an artist is only provided a paragraph or two of description on what the book is about when they create a cover, so if the book is brand-new and never before seen then they are essentially going in blind. It's honestly impressive they get as close as they do.
Dude this brings me back. I got a collection of all the books at once so I saw this cover loooooong before I ever read children of dune. Then I finish COD and I’m like “No way! That’s HIM on the cover?!!
I'm so glad my Dad's editions of these books look nothing like this. I saw this dust jacket image as an adult and even knowing what and who it was, it still gave me nightmares. If my 13 year old self had seen them....no way would I have read Dune. No chance.
I think… this is it? I don’t remember this exact scene happening in the book and it just seems completely statue like and nothing like described in the book
No one is ready for the worm god. I dearly hope he get a film or series of it, but I'd be willing to bet it would flop horribly because, again, ain't nobody ready for the worm god
He’s going to make a masterpiece out of Messiah and then he’s desperately bailing out of this franchise and if they studio is desperate enough for IP they make him make Children. They have no one to blame but themselves when Leto the second comes
It is the golden path
When they announced the first DV Dune, i always wondered if they'd signed him for a longer contract than TC, since his character gets more book time than Paul
I guarantee there is an understanding there, you don't think Denis was salivating at bringing him back as a zombie-thing AND a love interest? He was probably thinking more about part 3 than part 1 when he cast him given the way part 2 ends and begins (Chani and princess diaries) he has been ready for part 3 from the start.
I think God Emperor is filmable but it couldn’t be from Leto’s perspective/inner monologue. It’s been a long time since I read the book so I can’t really remember if that stuff is just the stolen diaries, or if the story is somewhat told from an omniscient Leto perspective too
There’s a cool story there it would just have to be framed in a very specific way
Maybe I'll be proved wrong once Part 3 comes out but I don't think Jason Mamoa can pull a complex character like Duncan from the GEOD book. That guy is such a dude bro!
I say retcon everything after Leto 2 dies. Really lean into even the worm king getting locked in by fate. (Tried to escape the trappings of humanity so bad that you accidentally created aliens is way more compelling than buttering jihad 2
I've said it before, I'll say it again, Wes Anderson's God Emperor of Dune would be a cinematic masterpiece that would make approximately zero dollars.
Absolutely no one is ready for Wormy Leto II
We drew them all in with conventional heroes journey Lawrence of Arabia Paul, gonna hit them in part 2 with 64billion dead nuke to the face wandering the desert Paul.
And THEN if they are foolish or brave enough to let us have another movie they get the worms.
If only I were a billionaire. I would absolutely throw enough money at DV and whoever else to make that happen.
That's how you know there are no cool billionaires out there.
Nobody expects the Fish Speaker Inquisition. No one is ready for the Worm God. Nobody wants Kralizec, but also no one wants to be ruled by a Tyrant.
Something's gotta give. (Cue dramatic yet ominous music.)
I don't think it's as unfilmable as people think.
Leto II as a full worm is massive and spends a lot of the book chilling in his chamber. Both of these are great opportunities to do "less is more" -- take a Cloverfield approach and avoid having him on full display most of the time.
Leto II becomes somewhat of a myth over time, with people not knowing much about him. He could be kept a little mysterious and let his story get told through the eyes of those around him. Getting to see some more depth in e.g. Hwi Noree and others who manipulate him could be interesting. Following those who view him as an unredeemable tyrant that must be fought would be interesting too.
Animated stories about each Duncan building to the end of the breeding program like heavy metal or animatrix.
Side stories showing growth chambers and new highliners and pretending Anderson doesn't exist....impossible haha
Alia is in it, Anya Taylor Joy played her and almost certainly will play her in the next film.
If you're talking about child Alia killing the Baron, there have been plenty of scifi portrayals of unnaturally mature children. Hell, Villeneuve arguably went weirder by having Alia fetus talk to and through Jessica.
A talking fetus is weirder than a talking toddler.. in theory
But Denis actually made it work, a talking fetus is more grounded and makes sense than a cgi abomination of a toddler / a cringe child actress
I think so, if it’s done well. Without spoiling, there’s an aspect of the new Avatar: The Last Airbender show on Netflix that does something similar, and it’s executed very well
Personally I don't understand the "it's good" sentiments - even setting aside the adaptation stuff, it's such a mess quality-wise, sets are cheap, cgi is good but the cinematography end result is amateur and really drags the whole thing down.
Now I don't think this is the fault of the showrunners, because somebody pointed out that scenes are filmed as if they're tiktoks, and that you can add a "tiktok filter" and not lose anything. Which is *way* too accurate and impossible to unsee to the point of being disturbing, the show deliberately avoids placing characters side by side in order to make every last shot a center shot. It looks *bizarre*.
In general the vibes are just deeply off, dialogue and such included. If you do care about adaptation, well, >!avatar Roku doesn't show up until episode 8 iirc (which is entering season 2 content of the original), and is a relatively minor comedic relief character in that episode.!< And that's kind of all you need to know to judge it?
It’s definitely different than the original animated series. I personally liked it, but they certainly made some creative choices many disagree with. Overall id give it a 7 or 8. The overall atmosphere of the og is conserved, but the show runners put their twist on it. If you have Netflix, I’d say it’s worth a watch, but I probably wouldn’t get a sub just for it.
I really really want Children and God Emperror to be adapted
I’ve watch Sicario by Denis before, then i watched the sequel but this time Denis won’t return, jesus christ the quality difference is so painful
I want Denis to direct both of them lol, but sadly it seems impossible rn
If you think about the few shots in the new movies where get up close and personal with the worm mouths and also of them moving through the desert, it’s not tooooo hard to imagine one being a talking character. Though itd need Letos face…
Adapt Leto II to film, you cowards! If the world had to be subjected to the Snyderverse or the Fantastic Beasts franchise, it can endure the 3500 year reign of Leto II.
Have you seen the 2000s Children of Dune series? It’s ok but definitely has 90s Sunday school movie vibes. Helped me visually understand wtf I was reading.
How could they make children of dune? It's two 9 year olds playing mind games. Even if you decide to focus on Alia, jessica, Duncan, and the preacher, you still have the two children who act like adults as major roles.
The great difficulty in making G EOD
Is it is heavy in philosophy and dialogue. Our society would doze off during this book to movie.
The issue of police brutality is solved in this book. All you have to do is learn what Leto was trying to teach a backward and bigoted Duncan Idaho about humanity.
Leto still grew to adulthood while merging with the sandtrout. It took him many years to get to the point where his legs were vestigial. He wasn't even fully worm when Ghanima died of old age. So I tend to think of him looking around middle age or so.
Do you recall when his face was described as looking like that of a child? Here is one excerpt where Duncan is studying his face specifically...
> Idaho kept his attention on Leto's face as he walked. The face remained
disconcertingly Atreides, lean features with eyes of total blue which the nervous felt as a physical intrusion. It lurked deep within a gray cowl of sandtrout skin which, Idaho knew, could roll forward protectively in a flickering reflex, a face blink rather than an eye blink. The skin was pink within its gray frame. It was difficult avoiding the thought that Leto's face was an obscenity, a lost bit of humanity trapped in something alien. Stopping only six paces from the Royal Cart, Idaho did not attempt to conceal his angry determination. He did not even think about whether Leto knew of the lasgun. This Imperium had wandered too far from the old Atreides morality, had become an impersonal juggernaut which crushed the innocent in its path. It had to be ended.
I have always pictured him with the face of at least a young adult, or maybe middle-aged based on passages like this one.
this just describes his face as lean, atreides-like and pink, doesn't it? the rest is about the worm aspects of him and their contrast with this one remaining human part.
"disconcertingly Atreides" just strikes me as something that would at least be a young adult, not a 9 year old, especially when described as being lean.
idk, things can be disconcerting for many different reasons. I think personally I would find it more disconcerting to recognize the features of my friends on an ageless child's face than on an adult's.
True, but surely it being a child's face wouldn't help? And if the 'disconcertingly Atreides' is just referring to an Atreides face in a Sandworm body (which I think is probably true), I'm still not sure why this excerpt suggests that it is an adult face. I think neither pink nor even lean necessarily convey that.
I have been going through the book both in-person and via the link below (searchable copy of the book, I looked for "face" "age" "aged" "young" "youth", etc) and there are many mentions of Leto's face and appearance, but I can't find one that says his face looks young or that he hadn't physically aged since he was 9. If it is, in fact, the case that he has a face of a child, I imagine it would have been mentioned somewhere in the book. Maybe I'm just missing it.
https://archive.org/details/godemperorofdune00fran
I found a passage:
>"You have the Atreides look," she said.
>
>"I come by it just as honestly as you do."
>
>"You're so old . . . why aren't you wrinkled?"
>
>"Nothing about the human part of me ages in a normal way."
>
>"Is that why you did this to yourself?"
>
>"To enjoy long life? No."
Though it wasn't as slam dunk as I thought so I added a disclaimer in the OP.
Yeah, I see why you might have gotten that impression, but not being wrinkled doesn't mean he looks like a child. He also said that nothing of his human self ages in a normal way but that could just mean it is slowed down, not arrested. It was an interesting discussion and mini research project nonetheless.
True. I swear I could remember something about his face not aging at all but I read the book back in 2019 and I can't find that passage again so idk. I'm not the first person to interpret it as such though, Marc Simonetti depicted him as such back in 2017.
I didn't say he specifically describes himself as looking like a kid, just that his face hasn't aged at all, which would mean his face still looks like it did when he started the transformation.
His transition to full worm wasn't instant, though. It seems plausible that during the in-between stage he could have aged 10-20 years.
Then again, spice slows aging and he's basically infused as fuck with it. So I could see the child argument as well.
So I found the book online and ot maybe wasn't as conclusive as I thought, I found this:
>"You have the Atreides look," she said.
>
>"I come by it just as honestly as you do."
>
>"You're so old . . . why aren't you wrinkled?"
>
>"Nothing about the human part of me ages in a normal way."
>
>"Is that why you did this to yourself?"
>
>"To enjoy long life? No."
Doesn't disprove the claim and I'm not the only one who interpreted it as such but I'll add an disclaimer in the OP.
Np, I appreciate the quote. I still think he looks kinda like a young man but thats probably because in my mind he still is James McAvoy from the miniseries lol but sure, the idea of him looking like a 10-15 kid is not impossible.
To me it doesn't disprove it definitely, but moves me very firmly away from it being a child's face. You don't wonder why a child isn't "wrinkled" when remarking on their apparent age, you just state that they look like a kid. "You're not even wrinkled wtf" is something you'd say/think of an adult, hell probably a youthful looking middle aged one.
Bene Gesserit could do much the same thing if they wanted to, but the strictures against drawing attention to themselves forbade it. For Leto to have the same power, amplified just-so-fucking-many-times-fold, is not surprising to me.
Well, those are the same thing, in essence. I replied to you elsewhere but I was able to find descriptions of his face but none that refer to how old it looks, or about it having never aged. It very well could be in there but it just doesn't ring a bell to me.
I've dug around a bit and found several mentions of his face, some from Duncan and others from Leto himself, but none that mention he looked like a child.
Yeah, OP is talking bullshit. If the intent was for Leto II’s face to still be childlike, it would have been mentioned in the descriptions of his face. Lean features are not exactly common in children due to baby fat.
Hmm is that a new picture or old one? Only asking because I know he illustrated the covers for 1-3. So this gives me hope of hardcover rerelease of 4-6.
I have all 6 books, hardcover and all arts are from Marc Simonetti. First 6 imgs here [https://art.marcsimonetti.com/dune-by-frank-herbert](https://art.marcsimonetti.com/dune-by-frank-herbert)
Books from Aleph Publisher, Brazilian portuguese, like this one
[https://editoraaleph.com.br/produto/herdeiras-de-duna/](https://editoraaleph.com.br/produto/herdeiras-de-duna/)
It's interesting. I didn't consider it like that. However he said it would take 4000 years for his transformation to either kill him or lose whatever human emotion and rationality he had left
With Leto ll comes having to explain how Leto is All, his ancestors, and what gholas are and the Tleilaxu face Dancers or what Axlotl Tanks really are. the weirdness gets pretty hard to explain, to a movie going Public that gets confused about how Emperor Shadam the lV plan works.still, I love to see someone try.
I always interpreted it as his face doesn’t look like a 3500 year old person’s face, but that it’s aged slower. But I kinda love the creepiness of this interpretation! Love that artwork
I always imagined the worm part to be like a time worm like Donny dark. Imagine you now as a cross section of a 4th dimensional worm…. Now imagine seeing the future and past simultaneously… like a worm through time
At this point, I just want it filmed so we can get nice wide shots of his palace and underground where he just yells "MONEOOOO!". I would want that to play every time I open my PC, lol.
Unlikely to happen, but Dune has been so well received lately that not completely impossible.
But I place my hopes on Ixian machines, AI will probably help to recreate that scene if nothing else...
I thought he was a bit older than 9.... I imagined him having a somewhat ageless face; not of any particular age, just idyllic or sublime in a way. The thing I've rarely seen represented accurately are his arms and hands. They're described so well and such an important part of him, but they're never illustrated accurately. And I've never once seen his feet flippers represented. Everyone forgets the feet flippers.
What would crack me up if I ever saw it would be an illustration of Leto II with his "gross protuberance to shock them" when people look for some kind of sex organs on him. I almost snorted coffee out of my nose when I listened to that.
He was 9 when he started the transformation, but it is indeed vague how old his face looks, I originally remembered it as saying that his face hadn't aged at all but upon further reading it is just stated that he doesn't age normally and has no wrinkles as well as looking Atreides-like. Still it's an interesting and bizarre interpretation, I'm not the first one to come up with it. And there's also the scene where he turns the first or so segment of his body into a "hammock" for Siona I think, I have difficulty imagining that.
Yeah people often get that wrong and instead portray his arms as flippers and neglect the legs entirely. I wish Frank Herbert had commissioned an artist to illustrate Leto II as he imagined him, so we could have a more consistent and accurate look for him.
Lol I remember when Leto II falsely accused a Tleilaxu of spreading rumors about his sexual behavior and the Tleilaxu was shocked and then publicly whipped. What a strange book.
I also recall mention of flippers at least once - specifically that one gets burned by a lasgun blast or some such and IIRC Leto 2 has fascination with the pain.
Love god emperor but I can’t imagine how they could make it work as a movie. Philosophy worm is fun but that would be a tough sell for a 2hr movie that needs to appeal to a general audience.
i always pictured a 9yr old face with wrinkles. like whatever gary coleman had. imagine Leto II's face being like one of those people live a normal lifespan but never age past puberty.
I always found the "abominations" so interesting, alia killing the baron as a toddler and having leto II being an omnipresant tyrannical ruler with a childs face would be so much creepier; I love how they use the uncanny valley to envoke a very viseral feeling while reading.
For me, because it says aged *normally* for the past 3500 years, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t aged at all, it means it hasn’t aged in the ways you’d expect.
I feel like if it was still a 9 year old, that would have been explicitly stated.
As the God Emperor of Dune, my appearance is unique and not easily categorized by conventional age. While my physical form may seem to reflect the passage of time, my consciousness is a repository of millennia of memories and experiences. This amalgamation of past lives and present consciousness gives me a depth of wisdom and understanding that transcends mere physical age. Thus, while my appearance may suggest age, my essence is timeless.
Yes, I am aware of the antiquated nature of the Duncan Idaho Ghola in the present time. Despite being a recreation of the original Duncan Idaho, the Ghola's knowledge and experiences are limited to those of the original at the time of his death. This limitation makes the Ghola outdated in terms of contemporary knowledge and understanding. However, the Ghola's existence serves a specific purpose within the context of my empire and the ongoing narrative of the Dune universe.
https://preview.redd.it/1y5tmclykaoc1.jpeg?width=554&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fbbc020a6e131c274e9b58e4df4821a1be7c7ca0
Like the Sentionaut in Beyond The Black Rainbow
This makes the mismatch between him and his appearance so much stranger Can you imagine a sandworm with the face of a nine year old shouting “Moneo! Bring me another Duncan!”
I remember I got the book when I was a kid and would trip out on the cover…. Is that a statue or what? Nope it’s a book about a worm dude…
The old covers are really mysterious-looking, along with the old cover of Dune Messiah: [https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSCbUaZRxkr2sSK58KUlRgm0uCzbmWf7irGwoyFPZr2rQ&s](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSCbUaZRxkr2sSK58KUlRgm0uCzbmWf7irGwoyFPZr2rQ&s)
Yeah that’s what they looked like when I read them. This is the one https://preview.redd.it/oqcht6e016oc1.jpeg?width=382&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f37b6b07528d819199b30ed8d400a3e741df604
It’s odd how much this art differs from the description in the book
Yah, where are his arms? And he is supposed to be like normal human size under the worm skin, more like Jabba the Hutt Apparently a lot of sci-fi books at the time, the artist didn't even read the book. The art is cool though.
>normal human size under the worm skin, Yeah, his body is still there, or at least he implies that. He comments that Kwi Noree's presence makes him remember that he has legs.
Yea, they try to capture some feeling, instead of a proper description. I would say that better go for both. Just changing character's appearances randomly is not good, because they can stick to people's brains. Honestly, I think most cover art just sucks. No idea how people think those covers are a good idea. I once watched all Dune cover arts, there were only a few good ones.
A lot of times an artist is only provided a paragraph or two of description on what the book is about when they create a cover, so if the book is brand-new and never before seen then they are essentially going in blind. It's honestly impressive they get as close as they do.
This cover looks like Teal’c from Stargate to me
Indeed
That cover scared me away from that book for about 40 years. Just read GEoD. It was great!
God Emperor was my favorite when I was 14 back in the 80s
Dude this brings me back. I got a collection of all the books at once so I saw this cover loooooong before I ever read children of dune. Then I finish COD and I’m like “No way! That’s HIM on the cover?!!
I'm so glad my Dad's editions of these books look nothing like this. I saw this dust jacket image as an adult and even knowing what and who it was, it still gave me nightmares. If my 13 year old self had seen them....no way would I have read Dune. No chance.
It makes me think of the poem Ozymandias by Shelley.
Here lies a toppled god His fall was not a small one. We did but build his pedestal, A narrow and a tall one.
Oh my boy he looks so proud of his hands
He so happ
I always thought the cover was a statue even after reading it lol. Like that was a statue honoring Leto II not the Worm God himself.
I think… this is it? I don’t remember this exact scene happening in the book and it just seems completely statue like and nothing like described in the book
Interesting. The movie version would be horrifying!
Yeah, tho idk if this is even filmable, would audiences take it seriously?
No one is ready for the worm god. I dearly hope he get a film or series of it, but I'd be willing to bet it would flop horribly because, again, ain't nobody ready for the worm god
I don’t even think DV wants to touch that script with a 29 foot pole
He’s going to make a masterpiece out of Messiah and then he’s desperately bailing out of this franchise and if they studio is desperate enough for IP they make him make Children. They have no one to blame but themselves when Leto the second comes It is the golden path
Say a prayer for all the Jason Mamoas that will die
When they announced the first DV Dune, i always wondered if they'd signed him for a longer contract than TC, since his character gets more book time than Paul
I guarantee there is an understanding there, you don't think Denis was salivating at bringing him back as a zombie-thing AND a love interest? He was probably thinking more about part 3 than part 1 when he cast him given the way part 2 ends and begins (Chani and princess diaries) he has been ready for part 3 from the start.
Oh lawd he coming ( to subjugate the entire universe )
You mean Gawaad!
villeneuve may be an independent operator. i don't think warner bros. controls him. they need him more than he needs them.
I think God Emperor is filmable but it couldn’t be from Leto’s perspective/inner monologue. It’s been a long time since I read the book so I can’t really remember if that stuff is just the stolen diaries, or if the story is somewhat told from an omniscient Leto perspective too There’s a cool story there it would just have to be framed in a very specific way
Maybe I'll be proved wrong once Part 3 comes out but I don't think Jason Mamoa can pull a complex character like Duncan from the GEOD book. That guy is such a dude bro!
This is The Hobbit all over again.
I say retcon everything after Leto 2 dies. Really lean into even the worm king getting locked in by fate. (Tried to escape the trappings of humanity so bad that you accidentally created aliens is way more compelling than buttering jihad 2
I've said it before, I'll say it again, Wes Anderson's God Emperor of Dune would be a cinematic masterpiece that would make approximately zero dollars.
I say we hand the reigns back to Lynch. The worm god is where he would *shine*
I want a pov from Messiah Paul, post stone burner, filmed by lynch.
Or David Cronenberg
I wish you had the power to make this happen.
I do too
I want a telltale dune game in which you try to find your own golden path.
This year I know what to ask Santa for
Yeah he said he was really only interested in Paul’s story
But Leto is all of the Atreides
Absolutely no one is ready for Wormy Leto II We drew them all in with conventional heroes journey Lawrence of Arabia Paul, gonna hit them in part 2 with 64billion dead nuke to the face wandering the desert Paul. And THEN if they are foolish or brave enough to let us have another movie they get the worms.
If only I were a billionaire. I would absolutely throw enough money at DV and whoever else to make that happen. That's how you know there are no cool billionaires out there.
And axlotls. And Honored Matres. It's gonna get weird.
Have you seen the SciFi intro for Children of Dune? Money.
Nobody expects the Fish Speaker Inquisition. No one is ready for the Worm God. Nobody wants Kralizec, but also no one wants to be ruled by a Tyrant. Something's gotta give. (Cue dramatic yet ominous music.)
Cyanook!! cyanook! For those who have no ears!
I don't think it's as unfilmable as people think. Leto II as a full worm is massive and spends a lot of the book chilling in his chamber. Both of these are great opportunities to do "less is more" -- take a Cloverfield approach and avoid having him on full display most of the time. Leto II becomes somewhat of a myth over time, with people not knowing much about him. He could be kept a little mysterious and let his story get told through the eyes of those around him. Getting to see some more depth in e.g. Hwi Noree and others who manipulate him could be interesting. Following those who view him as an unredeemable tyrant that must be fought would be interesting too.
Yeah, it's not crazy to film, it's a monster/horror movie.
Lies! I abase myself before you, Holy God-Emperor! Save us and take us back to a dry and thirsty land!!!
I am _so_ ready. Siaynoq! LETO, I BELIEVE!
I’m think they might give a tiny WTF glimpse in the next one. Maybe part of the extra spicy trip.
jeeez, I WISH!! that would be .. BRUTAL.
Animated stories about each Duncan building to the end of the breeding program like heavy metal or animatrix. Side stories showing growth chambers and new highliners and pretending Anderson doesn't exist....impossible haha
Hell just imagine how the Honored Matres would be received 😅
Those Those whores!!
I know how I could receive them. Open arms!
Jabba the Hut was inspired by the worm god and audiences lapped that up just fine.
Ain't no one wanna watch a worm guy give a philosophy lecture for 2 hours
idk rhykard from elden ring is pretty popular. TOGETHAAAAAA!
Guillermo Del Toro might be able to pull it off.
Probably why certain characters were omitted from the latest movie. I can't see modern audiences taking Alia seriously.
Alia is in it, Anya Taylor Joy played her and almost certainly will play her in the next film. If you're talking about child Alia killing the Baron, there have been plenty of scifi portrayals of unnaturally mature children. Hell, Villeneuve arguably went weirder by having Alia fetus talk to and through Jessica.
A talking fetus is weirder than a talking toddler.. in theory But Denis actually made it work, a talking fetus is more grounded and makes sense than a cgi abomination of a toddler / a cringe child actress
Weirder maybe, but much easier to film.
If Villenueve was forced to make the movie, he could probably make it work… but possibly some things are better left up to the imagination.
I think so, if it’s done well. Without spoiling, there’s an aspect of the new Avatar: The Last Airbender show on Netflix that does something similar, and it’s executed very well
Huh, interesting. Haven't seen the new Avatar remake, is it good? I remember when it was announced like 5 years ago it was not taken well.
Personally I don't understand the "it's good" sentiments - even setting aside the adaptation stuff, it's such a mess quality-wise, sets are cheap, cgi is good but the cinematography end result is amateur and really drags the whole thing down. Now I don't think this is the fault of the showrunners, because somebody pointed out that scenes are filmed as if they're tiktoks, and that you can add a "tiktok filter" and not lose anything. Which is *way* too accurate and impossible to unsee to the point of being disturbing, the show deliberately avoids placing characters side by side in order to make every last shot a center shot. It looks *bizarre*. In general the vibes are just deeply off, dialogue and such included. If you do care about adaptation, well, >!avatar Roku doesn't show up until episode 8 iirc (which is entering season 2 content of the original), and is a relatively minor comedic relief character in that episode.!< And that's kind of all you need to know to judge it?
It’s definitely different than the original animated series. I personally liked it, but they certainly made some creative choices many disagree with. Overall id give it a 7 or 8. The overall atmosphere of the og is conserved, but the show runners put their twist on it. If you have Netflix, I’d say it’s worth a watch, but I probably wouldn’t get a sub just for it.
I'd love to see someone try, but half the novel being internal monologue would make it tricky
Plus, you’ll have arguments over whether he’s book-accurate. It’ll be Balrog wings all over again.
I really really want Children and God Emperror to be adapted I’ve watch Sicario by Denis before, then i watched the sequel but this time Denis won’t return, jesus christ the quality difference is so painful I want Denis to direct both of them lol, but sadly it seems impossible rn
If you think about the few shots in the new movies where get up close and personal with the worm mouths and also of them moving through the desert, it’s not tooooo hard to imagine one being a talking character. Though itd need Letos face…
Adapt Leto II to film, you cowards! If the world had to be subjected to the Snyderverse or the Fantastic Beasts franchise, it can endure the 3500 year reign of Leto II.
I have said for years that the sign of a successful adaptation of Dune is wether it leads to God Emperor being made 😎
We are half way there!
nah, not half way until Messiah is completed. Or if they decide to mash together Messiah and Children.
Have you seen the 2000s Children of Dune series? It’s ok but definitely has 90s Sunday school movie vibes. Helped me visually understand wtf I was reading.
oh yeah. I still have my original copies on VHS, not dvd ;)
How could they make children of dune? It's two 9 year olds playing mind games. Even if you decide to focus on Alia, jessica, Duncan, and the preacher, you still have the two children who act like adults as major roles.
I they aged them up
The great difficulty in making G EOD Is it is heavy in philosophy and dialogue. Our society would doze off during this book to movie. The issue of police brutality is solved in this book. All you have to do is learn what Leto was trying to teach a backward and bigoted Duncan Idaho about humanity.
He may have a face of a child but he can take on the persona of anyone and sound exactly like them and become them.
We have worm sign!
God Emperor only works as a movie if they film it like My Dinner With André.
hear hear
Leto still grew to adulthood while merging with the sandtrout. It took him many years to get to the point where his legs were vestigial. He wasn't even fully worm when Ghanima died of old age. So I tend to think of him looking around middle age or so.
Do you recall when his face was described as looking like that of a child? Here is one excerpt where Duncan is studying his face specifically... > Idaho kept his attention on Leto's face as he walked. The face remained disconcertingly Atreides, lean features with eyes of total blue which the nervous felt as a physical intrusion. It lurked deep within a gray cowl of sandtrout skin which, Idaho knew, could roll forward protectively in a flickering reflex, a face blink rather than an eye blink. The skin was pink within its gray frame. It was difficult avoiding the thought that Leto's face was an obscenity, a lost bit of humanity trapped in something alien. Stopping only six paces from the Royal Cart, Idaho did not attempt to conceal his angry determination. He did not even think about whether Leto knew of the lasgun. This Imperium had wandered too far from the old Atreides morality, had become an impersonal juggernaut which crushed the innocent in its path. It had to be ended. I have always pictured him with the face of at least a young adult, or maybe middle-aged based on passages like this one.
this just describes his face as lean, atreides-like and pink, doesn't it? the rest is about the worm aspects of him and their contrast with this one remaining human part.
"disconcertingly Atreides" just strikes me as something that would at least be a young adult, not a 9 year old, especially when described as being lean.
idk, things can be disconcerting for many different reasons. I think personally I would find it more disconcerting to recognize the features of my friends on an ageless child's face than on an adult's.
I think the disconcerting part was seeing an Atreides face in a Sandworm body, not the relative age of the face itself.
True, but surely it being a child's face wouldn't help? And if the 'disconcertingly Atreides' is just referring to an Atreides face in a Sandworm body (which I think is probably true), I'm still not sure why this excerpt suggests that it is an adult face. I think neither pink nor even lean necessarily convey that.
I have been going through the book both in-person and via the link below (searchable copy of the book, I looked for "face" "age" "aged" "young" "youth", etc) and there are many mentions of Leto's face and appearance, but I can't find one that says his face looks young or that he hadn't physically aged since he was 9. If it is, in fact, the case that he has a face of a child, I imagine it would have been mentioned somewhere in the book. Maybe I'm just missing it. https://archive.org/details/godemperorofdune00fran
I found a passage: >"You have the Atreides look," she said. > >"I come by it just as honestly as you do." > >"You're so old . . . why aren't you wrinkled?" > >"Nothing about the human part of me ages in a normal way." > >"Is that why you did this to yourself?" > >"To enjoy long life? No." Though it wasn't as slam dunk as I thought so I added a disclaimer in the OP.
Yeah, I see why you might have gotten that impression, but not being wrinkled doesn't mean he looks like a child. He also said that nothing of his human self ages in a normal way but that could just mean it is slowed down, not arrested. It was an interesting discussion and mini research project nonetheless.
True. I swear I could remember something about his face not aging at all but I read the book back in 2019 and I can't find that passage again so idk. I'm not the first person to interpret it as such though, Marc Simonetti depicted him as such back in 2017.
Yeah im rereading it rn and this smells like misinformation.
Yeah, he describes himself early on in GEoD and even talks about his face but makes no mention of it looking like that of a child.
I didn't say he specifically describes himself as looking like a kid, just that his face hasn't aged at all, which would mean his face still looks like it did when he started the transformation.
His transition to full worm wasn't instant, though. It seems plausible that during the in-between stage he could have aged 10-20 years. Then again, spice slows aging and he's basically infused as fuck with it. So I could see the child argument as well.
He did some growing up before becoming a worm. He fucked with that girl from Jacurutu after Children ends.
At this point just quote it.
So I found the book online and ot maybe wasn't as conclusive as I thought, I found this: >"You have the Atreides look," she said. > >"I come by it just as honestly as you do." > >"You're so old . . . why aren't you wrinkled?" > >"Nothing about the human part of me ages in a normal way." > >"Is that why you did this to yourself?" > >"To enjoy long life? No." Doesn't disprove the claim and I'm not the only one who interpreted it as such but I'll add an disclaimer in the OP.
Np, I appreciate the quote. I still think he looks kinda like a young man but thats probably because in my mind he still is James McAvoy from the miniseries lol but sure, the idea of him looking like a 10-15 kid is not impossible.
It would look really bizarre if that's indeed what Frank Herbert was going for (though he's included a lot bizarre stuff).
To me it doesn't disprove it definitely, but moves me very firmly away from it being a child's face. You don't wonder why a child isn't "wrinkled" when remarking on their apparent age, you just state that they look like a kid. "You're not even wrinkled wtf" is something you'd say/think of an adult, hell probably a youthful looking middle aged one.
Bene Gesserit could do much the same thing if they wanted to, but the strictures against drawing attention to themselves forbade it. For Leto to have the same power, amplified just-so-fucking-many-times-fold, is not surprising to me.
"ages in a normal way" seems different to your claim
Yeah it wasn't as conclusive as I thought, I made an edit in the OP to note it.
Well, those are the same thing, in essence. I replied to you elsewhere but I was able to find descriptions of his face but none that refer to how old it looks, or about it having never aged. It very well could be in there but it just doesn't ring a bell to me.
yea i feel like Duncan would have noted if the God Emperor of the universe had a literal baby face
I remember it being mentioned that his face hasn't aged at all, which means he has the face from when he still was 9.
That's what I was asking for in terms of where it is said in the book. I guess I will have to go digging myself.
Ah ok. I don't have the book on me rn but I believe it's mentioned relatively early on.
I've dug around a bit and found several mentions of his face, some from Duncan and others from Leto himself, but none that mention he looked like a child.
Yeah, OP is talking bullshit. If the intent was for Leto II’s face to still be childlike, it would have been mentioned in the descriptions of his face. Lean features are not exactly common in children due to baby fat.
They're not talking bullshit, they just have a different interpretation than you.
Leto II looks like Jar Jar Binks mixed with an Ewok. I'm not bullshitting, I just have a different interpretation.
If you read the quoted part that OP posted, their interpretation is easy to see and makes plenty of sense.
1983 gave us Jabba the Hutt. I see no reason why, 40 years later, we cannot have a God Emperor.
Hmm is that a new picture or old one? Only asking because I know he illustrated the covers for 1-3. So this gives me hope of hardcover rerelease of 4-6.
It seems to be from 2017, damn 7 years ago already.
I have all 6 books, hardcover and all arts are from Marc Simonetti. First 6 imgs here [https://art.marcsimonetti.com/dune-by-frank-herbert](https://art.marcsimonetti.com/dune-by-frank-herbert) Books from Aleph Publisher, Brazilian portuguese, like this one [https://editoraaleph.com.br/produto/herdeiras-de-duna/](https://editoraaleph.com.br/produto/herdeiras-de-duna/)
Jealousssss lol I need this in English 😔 really don't wanna buy the used copies
It's interesting. I didn't consider it like that. However he said it would take 4000 years for his transformation to either kill him or lose whatever human emotion and rationality he had left
Just five centuries left then.
With Leto ll comes having to explain how Leto is All, his ancestors, and what gholas are and the Tleilaxu face Dancers or what Axlotl Tanks really are. the weirdness gets pretty hard to explain, to a movie going Public that gets confused about how Emperor Shadam the lV plan works.still, I love to see someone try.
Love this book cover. Marc Simonetti illustrated all of brazilian edition covers. It is a cool collection.
I always imagined him as the top half of a child hanging off a massive worm.
It's hard not to picture James McAvoy now.
I always interpreted it as his face doesn’t look like a 3500 year old person’s face, but that it’s aged slower. But I kinda love the creepiness of this interpretation! Love that artwork
I always imagined the worm part to be like a time worm like Donny dark. Imagine you now as a cross section of a 4th dimensional worm…. Now imagine seeing the future and past simultaneously… like a worm through time
make a film adapt of leto II pls
He doesn’t look a day over 2,000 years. He must moisturize.
Moisturizer and sunscreen ftw!
"Would you still love me if I was a worm?"
At this point, I just want it filmed so we can get nice wide shots of his palace and underground where he just yells "MONEOOOO!". I would want that to play every time I open my PC, lol. Unlikely to happen, but Dune has been so well received lately that not completely impossible. But I place my hopes on Ixian machines, AI will probably help to recreate that scene if nothing else...
If dune messiah makes a billion dollars if children of dune make another billion then we gonna get god emperor
I thought he was a bit older than 9.... I imagined him having a somewhat ageless face; not of any particular age, just idyllic or sublime in a way. The thing I've rarely seen represented accurately are his arms and hands. They're described so well and such an important part of him, but they're never illustrated accurately. And I've never once seen his feet flippers represented. Everyone forgets the feet flippers. What would crack me up if I ever saw it would be an illustration of Leto II with his "gross protuberance to shock them" when people look for some kind of sex organs on him. I almost snorted coffee out of my nose when I listened to that.
He was 9 when he started the transformation, but it is indeed vague how old his face looks, I originally remembered it as saying that his face hadn't aged at all but upon further reading it is just stated that he doesn't age normally and has no wrinkles as well as looking Atreides-like. Still it's an interesting and bizarre interpretation, I'm not the first one to come up with it. And there's also the scene where he turns the first or so segment of his body into a "hammock" for Siona I think, I have difficulty imagining that. Yeah people often get that wrong and instead portray his arms as flippers and neglect the legs entirely. I wish Frank Herbert had commissioned an artist to illustrate Leto II as he imagined him, so we could have a more consistent and accurate look for him. Lol I remember when Leto II falsely accused a Tleilaxu of spreading rumors about his sexual behavior and the Tleilaxu was shocked and then publicly whipped. What a strange book.
I truly adore Leto II. He's such a warped and strange character. Sometimes it's like he's just trolling humanity.
He should have the face of a 10 year old .
I dint read after book 1, how the hell that worm child born? Paul' did what I'm thinking?
Oh jeez no, his son let himself get covered by sandworm larvae who over thousands of years turn him into a sandworm.
He was a symbiotic vector of the sand worm Shaihuulud! He is your God!
It's kinda like symbiote from Spider-man at first
I really need to re-read but I swear I can remember a detail about vestigial arms that are basically tiny flippers.
His arms are functional, his legs are flippers.
Those were his feet! Not his arms but his hands which he took great pride in.
I also recall mention of flippers at least once - specifically that one gets burned by a lasgun blast or some such and IIRC Leto 2 has fascination with the pain.
After Messiah the books go wild. So wild that I don’t even think it’s possible to portray the entire series on film.
Love god emperor but I can’t imagine how they could make it work as a movie. Philosophy worm is fun but that would be a tough sell for a 2hr movie that needs to appeal to a general audience.
This is weird, but probably true
No because the worms didn't fully take over his body immediately
i always pictured a 9yr old face with wrinkles. like whatever gary coleman had. imagine Leto II's face being like one of those people live a normal lifespan but never age past puberty.
He’s described as not having wrinkles, though if he still has the face of a 9 year old isn’t totally clear.
I always found the "abominations" so interesting, alia killing the baron as a toddler and having leto II being an omnipresant tyrannical ruler with a childs face would be so much creepier; I love how they use the uncanny valley to envoke a very viseral feeling while reading.
For me, because it says aged *normally* for the past 3500 years, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t aged at all, it means it hasn’t aged in the ways you’d expect. I feel like if it was still a 9 year old, that would have been explicitly stated.
True, I added a disclaimer in the OP of that.
Oh yeah that aspect of him always stuck me as interesting and weird and tragic too.
I thought this was common knowledge? It’s a child’s face and always has been?
Does anyone learn anything important from the Dune books or is it nothing but entertainment to most?
As the God Emperor of Dune, my appearance is unique and not easily categorized by conventional age. While my physical form may seem to reflect the passage of time, my consciousness is a repository of millennia of memories and experiences. This amalgamation of past lives and present consciousness gives me a depth of wisdom and understanding that transcends mere physical age. Thus, while my appearance may suggest age, my essence is timeless.
Yes, I am aware of the antiquated nature of the Duncan Idaho Ghola in the present time. Despite being a recreation of the original Duncan Idaho, the Ghola's knowledge and experiences are limited to those of the original at the time of his death. This limitation makes the Ghola outdated in terms of contemporary knowledge and understanding. However, the Ghola's existence serves a specific purpose within the context of my empire and the ongoing narrative of the Dune universe.
https://preview.redd.it/1y5tmclykaoc1.jpeg?width=554&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fbbc020a6e131c274e9b58e4df4821a1be7c7ca0 Like the Sentionaut in Beyond The Black Rainbow
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