Dune Wiki
Dune Wiki
Advertisement
Dune Wiki
Ordune
This article refers to elements from Original Dune
Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons:
This article needs Cleanup, and may require formatting and copyediting.
This article is a stub: It may require more information.

The Fremen were a culture of humans descended from the Zensunni Wanderers who considered the planet Arrakis their home. They formed an integral part in the establishment of the Atreides Empire and Muad'Dib's Jihad launched by Paul Atreides, their adopted leader.

History[]

Despite their keen sense of oral history, the history of the Fremen prior to their arrival on Arrakis was distorted and partially lost over the millennia. They concluded that Arrakis was the final stop on the migration of the Zensunni Wanderers, a journey that they mistakenly believed started on the planet Poritrin.

In the Standard Year 10,191 A.G., Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV ordered House Atreides to replace their enemies House Harkonnen in the administration of Arrakis. Upon arrival on Arrakis, House Atreides, lead by Duke Leto Atreides I sought to befriend the Fremen. However, because of years of harsh Harkonnen rule and dealings with Imperial agents, the Fremen were at first distrustful of the Atreides. After a short while however, the Fremen came to develop a relationship with the Duke through his even-handedness and generosity. Moreover, the Duke sent his Warmaster Duncan Idaho as an ambassador. Through Duncan's abilities as a warrior the Atreides managed to gain the trust of the Fremen, and the Duke quickly learned that the Fremen were a powerful force with which to align his House.

However, when the Harkonnens and Corrinos invaded Arrakis, House Atreides went renegade and sought refuge with the Fremen. After their adoption of the Duke's son Paul Atreides and his mother, the Fremen saw a rapid and dramatic change in their fortunes. Upon determining that Paul Atreides was their Mahdi - or prophetic savior - they readily followed his leadership and engaged in guerilla warfare against Imperial elements on Arrakis. The Fremen had developed such formidable fighting abilities through years of surviving both the harsh environment and attrition wars against the Harkonnens that they were deemed superior even to the Corrino Sardaukar forces. Within a few years they had gone from being perpetually harassed by elements within the Corrino Empire (most notably House Harkonnen) to being the foot soldiers of the Atreides Empire and Paul Atreides powerful jihad. In twelve Standard Years the Fremen overran the Imperium.

Museum Fremen[]

Img149

Museum Fremen - Illustration by Klaus D. Schiemann

From the time of the God-Emperor onwards the cultural impact of the Fremen ebbed, thanks in no small part to the terraforming of Arrakis. By the time of the God Emperor's death, the Fremen were relegated to being no more than 'museum' pieces, their ancient and purposeful traditions diluted into honorary forms without meaning. After The Scattering and during the time of the Honored Matres, the Fremen possessed little of the distinct identity of their past, although a few individuals, such as Sheeana, continued to adhere to some of the old Fremen attitudes and traditions.

It is believed that most, if not all of the Fremen (excluding Sheanna) were killed during the Honored Matre attack on Rakis that essentially destroyed the planet, approximately 1500 Standard Years after Leto II's death.

Physical Appearance[]

Due to living on Arrakis, the typical Fremen appeared as a sinewy human with leathery tanned skin. These effects were less pronounced on those Fremen who live in cities such as Arrakeen. In addition, Fremen eyes were colored entirely blue ("Eyes of Ibad"), due to their excessive ingestion of the Spice Melange.

Culture[]

To the Fremen, the fight for survival had long dominated their cultural identity. The brutal environment of Arrakis necessitated the frugal use of energy and resources, especially water. Additionally, their history with cultural persecution mandated the need for combat knowledge. These two aspects saw them emerge as efficient and hardy warriors, who used their skills and the environment of Arrakis to fend off off-world opponents who often possessed far superior technology and formal training.

The Fremen typically lived in patriarchal collectives, known as sietches, which were led by a Naib. Each sietch resides within one of the numerous rocky formations that dot the sands of Arrakis. Collectively, all Fremen belonged to the Ichwan Bedwine, or broad brotherhood. Polygamy was commonplace in Fremen society, with more prominent men having several wives and children with each of them. Also integral to their community was their Reverend Mother, who was created after drinking the Water of Life and sharing the regurgitated bile with her sietch members.

Water was a central part of Fremen culture. Indeed, for Fremen, water was life. To conserve against the unnecessary loss of water in the desert, Fremen wore complex full-body filtration systems called stillsuits, which reclaimed the body's moisture. Additionally, specialized headgear prevented most of the normal loss through the scalp and forehead via perspiration, while masks and noseplugs reclaimed moisture from the wearers' breathing. Gloves were also available, too, but many Fremen opted instead to rub the juice of the creosote bush on their hands to inhibit perspiration. With a Fremen stillsuit in proper working order, the wearer lost only about a thimbleful of water per day.

The Fremen rule was that one's water belongs to the tribe. Thus when a Fremen died or was killed in combat, rather than being buried or cremated, he or she was rendered down into water. In the case of amtal, or ritual combat to the death between two disagreeing Fremen, since they fought without stillsuits, the water of the loser went to the victor to replenish him. What remained was measured and allocated to him, but the water itself was turned over to the watermasters.

Religion[]

This article is a stub: It may require more information.

Religiously, the Fremen were deeply spiritual, to the point of being superstitious. Before the coming of Muad'Dib, the Fremen of Arrakis practiced a religion whose roots in the Maometh Saari were there for any scholar to see. Many also traced the extensive borrowings from other religions. The most common example was the Hymn to Water, a direct copy from the Orange Catholic Liturgical Manual, calling for rain clouds which Arrakis had never seen. But there were more profound points of accord between the Kitab al-Ibar of the Fremen and the teachings of Bible, Ilm, and Fiqh.

Over the centuries the Fremen had adapted their blend of Zensunni faith to their desert environment, and adopted the sandworm of Arrakis (or Shai-Hulud as they called it) as a physical manifestation of a God. This, combined with the sparse natural resources on Arrakis led to the Spice Melange becoming an integral part of their diet and culture. As with many traditionalist and mystic religions, the faith of the Fremen relied heavily on prophecies. These beliefs were used by some, including the Bene Gesserit to further their own ends.

Trivia[]

First appearing in the 1965 novel Dune, the Fremen inhabit the desert planet Arrakis (also known as Dune), which is the sole known source in the universe of the all-important spice melange. Originally known as the Free Men of Arrakis, they were a culture of humans descended from the Zensunni Wanderers. Long overlooked by the rest of the Imperium and considered backward savages, in reality they were an extremely hardy people that exist in large numbers. The Free Men of Arrakis were hard in survival, adapted in the harsh environment of the planet and formed an integral part of the Muad'Dib's Jihad launched by Paul Atreides.

Quotes[]

  • Fremen: "We worship Shai Hulud as a physical manifestation of God. Blessed be the Maker!"
  • "Whether a thought is spoken or not it is a real thing and it has power." - Tuek
  • "You might find the line between life and death among the Fremen to be too sharp and quick." - Frank Herbert
  • "Wild Fremen said it well: 'Four things cannot be hidden -- love, smoke, a pillar of fire and a man striding across the open bled.'" - Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah
  • “The Fremen were supreme in that quality the ancients called "spannungsbogen" -- which is the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of reaching out to grasp that thing.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune

List of Known Fremen[]

Appearances[]

Appearances in adaptations[]

Images of Fremen[]

Leitmotifs[]

Some of the screen adaptations also use particular themes or leitmotifs to represent the Fremen.

Videos[]

Background featurettes[]

'Filmbook' style background featurettes from the film series, providing additional insights into various aspects and details of the Dune universe.

Video essays[]

Analytical videos on the subject of the Fremen and the role they play in the Dune universe.

Behind the Scenes[]

Though further details are not chronicled by Frank Herbert, the prequel novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson give a detailed explanation of how the Fremen came into being. In these novels they are an amalgamation of at least two separate groups: the Zenshi'a, who came during the rise of the Evermind or possibly during the Time of the Titans, and the Zensunni, who arrived during Butlerian Jihad after events on Poritrin led to the second slave uprising. Both fled to Arrakis to escape slavery brought on by the harsh reaction of the free humans to the Buddaislamics refusal to fight the thinking machines as they further encroached on humanity.

Advertisement