riley’s Reviews > Dune > Status Update

Totally understand how at face-value it seems icky, but lots of different cultures are represented through character inspiration in the Dune series and Frank Herbert was inspired by so many different cultures across the world. It's really cool when you look into his writing process

The Fremen have genetically heterogeneous ancestry. They are descended from the Zensunni Wanderers (said to be very very distant descendants of modern Muslims) who moved from planet to planet for thousands of years, picking up others along the way, before ending up on Arrakis. Frank Herbert did a ton of respectful research into various Middle Eastern cultures and the groups said cultures belonged to. The Fremen are meant to be Bedouin in inspiration! Different cultures in modern times have tons of inspiration in the cultures and languages displayed in Dune, which I think is a really cool representation of broader cultures the sci-fi genre (which usually erases current culture altogether and tends to act like anything futuristic is entirely removed from our current history)