The Dune Quiz - How Much Do You Remember?

By: Michael Poteet
Estimated Completion Time
5 min
The Dune Quiz - How Much Do You Remember?
Image: Youtube

About This Quiz

The movie "Dune" was based on the widely popular 1965 novel of the same name taking place on a desert planet as noblemen fought for land grabs and protection of their territory to control the "spice trade." Can you remember the name of the planet? While the movie was released in 1984, the planning stages began shortly after the cult following of the novel exploded a few years after the novel's release in 1971.  

This quiz will test your knowledge more than the harsh desert will test your body as we pick apart Dune, only for you to reassemble in in-depth and curious questions about the world of spice. From breeding programs to physical features that identify a Mentat, you will have to dig into your knowledge of this '84 film.

Do you remember what the water of life is? Or, can you recall what Dr. Yueh implants in Leto? Who are the Fedaykin and Sardaukar? 

As Duke Leto says to Paul, “Without ______, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” Can you fill in the blank? It is now time for you to emerge from your sleep and take this quiz to prove your worth on the planet of _____. What was the planet's name again?

Take this quiz and have a fun blast from the past!

By what other name is planet Dune known?
Arrakis
Dune’s other name is Arrakis. Caladan is home to House Atreides; Giedi Prime, to House Harkonnen. The Emperor rules from the planet Kaitain.
Caladan
Kaitain
Geidi Prime
What was the main goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program?
To produce a human/sandworm hybrid
To produce a girl child who is born a Reverend Mother
To produce an “abomination” as a means to political power
To produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a super-being
Frank Herbert appears to have adapted "Kwisatz Haderach," the term for this messianic super-figure, from the Jewish mystical text the Zohar, or “Book of Splendor.”
How did Jessica Atreides defy the Bene Gesserit sisterhood?
By marrying Duke Leto Atreides
By bearing Duke Leto a daughter instead of a son
By bearing Duke Leto a son instead of a daughter
Jessica consciously conceived a son for Leto, because he desired a son and she loved him. She was pregnant with Leto’s daughter when the Harkonnens attacked the Atreides on Arrakis.
By refusing to drink the Water of Life

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What physical feature identifies a Mentat, or human computer?
Blue-within-blue eyes
Red-stained lips
Mentats’ lips are stained red by the addictive sapho juice they drink to enhance their already extraordinary mental abilities.
Diamond tattoo on the forehead
Bright orange-red hair
Which music superstar played Feyd, Baron Harkonnen’s nephew, in the 1984 Dune movie?
David Bowie
Sting
In a contemporary interview, Sting told Rolling Stone, “I’m doing Dune because of David Lynch and for no other reason… I just felt I had to do the movie because I know he's going to do something extraordinary” (www.rollingstone.com/music/features/a-monster-called-sting-the-rolling-stone-interview-19830901#ixzz4Brs6ARE1).
Prince
Mick Jagger
Which Shakespearean-trained, iconic sci-fi actor played Gurney Hallek in the 1984 movie?
Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart had been seen by U.S. audiences in Masterpiece Theater’s production of “I, Claudius” (1976), but “Dune” brought him even wider exposure this side of the pond.
Ian McKellen
Malcolm McDowell
Max Von Sydow

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Who betrays Duke Leto and his family to the Harkonnens on Arrakis?
Ducan Idaho
Dr. Wellington Yueh
"A million deaths were not enough for Yueh!” In the 1984 film, Dean Stockwell played Yueh. He later played Al, the hologram on “Quantum Leap,” as well as the Cylon Cavil in the reimagined “Battlestar Galactica.”
Dr. Liet Kynes
The Shadout Mapes
Why do Fremen have blue-within-blue eyes?
Side effect of exposure to wormsign
Adaptation to Arrakis’ harsh desert sunlight
Because they drink the Water of Life
Because their diet is saturated with the spice
The spice turns Fremen eyes a pure, complete blue. The Fremen call this phenomenon “the eyes of Ibad.”
Complete Duke Leto’s counsel to Paul: “Without ______, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”
change
Leto is speaking about change. He offers this reassurance to Paul on the eve of the Atreides’ departure from Caladan. “The sleeper must awaken” is a refrain heard often in the 1984 film.
love
freedom
hope

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Provide the second line in the litany: “I must not fear. ______________. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.”
“Fear is the mind-killer.”
“Fear is the mind-killer.” Paul recites this litany when the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam administers a painful test of his humanity (and his potential identity as the Kwisatz Haderach).
“I will face my fear.”
“Only I will remain.”
“I will permit it to pass over me and through me.”
What is the Water of Life?
The last rains that fell on Arrakis
The milk from Fremen beasts of burden
Bile from sandworms
The Bene Gesserit use the worms’ bile in their mystic seeing. A Bene Gesserit sister who could ingest and “convert” the Water became a Reverend Mother. Paul became the first male who ever changed the Water of Life.
A truth serum used by Dr. Yueh
Why did Duke Leto send Duncan Idaho ahead of the family to Arrakis?
To set a trap for the Harkonnens
To confuse the Emperor about the Atreides’ plans
To capture and study a sandworm
To learn about the Fremen
Duncan reports to Leto that Arrakis’ Fremen population is far larger than believed, and that the planet’s nomadic people could become Atreides allies.

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What is the primary purpose of a Fremen stillsuit?
To slow its wearer’s metabolism
To collect all of its wearer’s water
A stillsuit absorbs a body’s perspiration and urine; it is filtered and then available for drinking. It is an essential desert survival tool. Paul instinctively knows how to fit his stillsuit in the Fremen fashion.
To camouflage its wearer in the desert
To protect its wearer from sandworm attacks
Why is Dr. Kynes impressed with Duke Leto during the mining inspection tour?
Leto pilots the inspection shuttle himself
Leto refuses to speak ill of the Baron Harkonnen
Leto shows no fear at his first sight of wormsign
Leto is more concerned with saving men than spice
Noticing that Leto cares more for his men than for the spice they harvest, Dr. Kynes thinks, “I must admit, against all better judgment, I like this Duke.”
What does Dr. Yueh implant in Leto?
A miniaturized hunter-seeker
A newborn sandworm
A false, poison-filled tooth
Yueh implants a poisoned tooth in Leto’s mouth. When Leto bites down on it, it releases toxic gas. In Frank Herbert’s novels, the weapon is said to be an ancient tool of assassins, dating back to the Old Imperium.
A gom jabbar

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In the 1984 film, what is the given meaning of the name “Muad’Dib”?
The mouse-shaped shadow on Arrakis’ second moon
In Herbert’s novel, “Muad’dib” is also the name of the mouse itself, a creature Fremen admire for its capacity for desert survival.
“The strength of the base of the pillar”
“The One who sees where others cannot”
The mouse-shaped hillock near the Shield Wall
What name do the Fremen give Paul when he and Jessica join them?
Stilgar
Usul
The Fremen name Paul “Usul,” “the strength of the base of the pillar.” Paul gives himself the name “Muad’Dib.”
Muad’Dib
Kwisatz Haderach
In the 1984 film, what does Paul destroy in order to demonstrate the power of the weirding way?
An obelisk
In the film, the weirding modules allow users to wreak destruction by focusing the power of sound waves. They are not present in Frank Herbert’s original novel, where “the weirding way” referred to a Bene Gesserit martial arts technique.
A statue of the Emperor
A thumper
An ornithopter

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What was the most unusual thing about the birth of Paul’s sister, Alia?
She was born with Fremen blue-within-blue eyes
She was born prematurely
She was born with all the knowledge of a Reverend Mother
Because Jessica ingested and converted the Water of Life while pregnant with Alia, Alia was born bearing all the ancestral memories of the Bene Gesserit, as a Reverend Mother does.
She was born without breath, and appeared dead
Complete Paul’s saying: “He who can _____________ a thing, __________ a thing.”
destroy / liberates
destroy / controls
Paul refers to the spice. By destroying spice production on Arrakis, he will control the valuable resource and “make Arrakis the center of the universe.”
control / destroys
devise / can do
What must Paul do in order to truly become a leader of Fremen?
He must ride and control a sandworm
Paul must “conquer Shai-Hulud” by using the Fremen maker hooks to snag onto and mount the moving worm. In Herbert’s later novels, people were no longer able to ride sandworms, save for Sheeana Brugh, the sandrider whom Leto II predicted.
He must marry Chani
He must defeat Feyd Rautha in unarmed combat
He must bring rain to Arrakis

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Who are the Fedaykin?
Secret Harkonnen sympathizers among the Fremen
The Fremen’s finest fighters, assigned as Paul’s guard
In Herbert’s novel, the term originally identifies Fremen guerilla fighters before being applied more strictly to Paul’s personal guard. Herbert derived the word from that for Arabic commando troops.
Male warriors who demonstrate Bene Gesserit mental gifts
The Emperor’s elite shock troops
Who are the Sardaukar?
A rival House within the Landsraad
Elders who govern the Fremen
Novitiates of the Bene Gesserit
The Emperor’s elite shock troops
To try and quell the disturbance on Arrakis, Emperor Shaddam IV orders fifty legions of his shock troops, the Sardaukar, be sent to the planet.
According to Princess Irulan, “A beginning is a” what?
“window into an end”
“very delicate time"
“A beginning is a very delicate time.” Irulan’s opening narration echoes the beginning of Frank Herbert’s original novel (Dune, 1965), which begins each “chapter” with quotes from source material within the “Dune” universe.
"dream for the future"
"judgment and a reckoning"

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What is “the Voice”?
The spokesman for the Padishah Emperor
The officer who translates for Guild Navigators
A Bene Gesserit means of controlling others
In the 1984 film, we see and hear the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, the Lady Jessica, Paul and Alia all use the Voice to control and command others.
The audible approach of a sandworm
Which character is responsible for the death of Baron Harkonnen?
The Beast Rabban
Alia
Young Alia poisons the baron, who is also her grandfather, with a gom jabbar (in the 1984 film, her attack on him ultimately sends him down a sandworm’s gullet). In Herbert’s novels, Alia’s prowess with a blade earns her the name “St. Alia of the Knife.”
Paul
Piter De Vries
Complete the Fremen saying: “God created Arrakis to __________.”
Balance the universe
Annihilate the unrighteous
Reward the faithful
Train the faithful
“God created Arrakis to train the faithful.” In Herbert’s novel, this quote is said to come from Princess Irulan’s book, "The Wisdom of Muad’Dib." Lady Jessica tells Chani, in mocking derision, that Irulan "has pretensions of a literary nature."

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In Frank Herbert’s novel, what musical instrument does Gurney Halleck play?
The baliset
Gurney plays the baliset. The prop Patrick Stewart uses in the 1984 film includes the blades of an electric fan at its base.
The zithra
The Zensunni chimes
The thumper
Which rock music group scored director David Lynch’s 1984 film version of "Dune?
Toto
Dune was Toto’s first and only film score. Electronic and ambient music composer Brian Eno composed “the Prophecy Theme.”
Queen
Pink Floyd
Sting and the Police
Which of these Dune novels has never been adapted to film or television?
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
The 2003 TV miniseries "Children of Dune" also encompassed "Dune Messiah." "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), in which Paul’s son Leto II rules Arrakis and the universe as a human-sandworm hybrid, has not (as of this writing) reached the large or small screen.

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Which of these famous actors and actresses did not appear in the television miniseries "Dune" or "Children of Dune"?
William Hurt
Meryl Streep
As versatile as she is, the talented Meryl Streep has not played any role in the Dune universe—yet! (Wouldn't she make a great Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam?) Hurt played Duke Leto; Sarandon, Princess Wensicia; and McAvoy, Leto II.
Susan Sarandon
James McAvoy
Which of these is not a property of the spice melange?
extends life expectancy
expands consciousness
allows mental control of sandworms
The spice does many things, but it doesn’t let you control sandworms—though in Herbert’s novel "Children of Dune" (1976), spice plays a part in Leto II’s transformation into a giant sandworm!
allows the bending of space
Which director attempted to bring "Dune" to the silver screen in the 1970s?
Francois Truffaut
Alejandro Jodorowsky
The story of the unproduced film is told in the 2013 documentary "Jodorowsky’s Dune." Jodorowsky wanted Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Salvador Dali, among others, to appear in his would-be epic.
Sergio Leone
George Lucas

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Which was the last Dune novel to be published in Frank Herbert’s lifetime?
Mentats of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune
Published in 1985, the year before Herbert’s death, "Chapterhouse: Dune" chronicles the Bene Gesserit’s struggle to retain control over humanity’s ultimate fate. It rose as high as #2 on the New York Times Besteller list, and ended with a cliffhanger.
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
With what prolific science fiction author has Frank Herbert’s son Brian collaborated to produce additional Dune novels?
Alan Dean Foster
Keith R.A. DeCandido
L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Kevin J. Anderson
Brian Herbert and Anderson have produced (as of this writing) 14 Dune novels, including two ("Hunters of Dune," 2006 and "Sandworms of Dune," 2007) based in part on Frank Herbert’s notes for completing the original series.
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