Chani Kynes - Tumblr Posts
I need everyone to understand about the fremen.
They do not cry. Ever.
To give water to the dead is the most sacred honor that anyone could give but they rarely and never do that because it's ingrained in them to not waste water from birth. A single tear could mean life and death for them. To give water to the living? Unheard of.
Paul crying over killing Jamis in the book was a moment that astonished the fremen around him. Jessica ponders their reactions and knows that this is a holy moment.
Jessica then forcing Chani to cry for Paul(this was not in the book btw but I love it) is the ultimate betrayal of her autonomy. To force her to give what is essentially a piece of her life to him without her consent is sacrilegious and she knows it.
Water of Life indeed.
The expression of terrible longing with which she gazed at Otheym strengthened Paul. Chani must never look at me that way, he told himself. — Dune Messiah.
DUNE: PART ONE (2021) / DUNE: PART TWO (2024) dir. Denis Villeneuve
The more I delve into the universe created by Frank Herbert, the more shocked and surprise I become as things unveil like a knot in a rope. It looks simple, it looks like any child’s play but only if you understand which side to pull first to loosen it all together. I have honestly never been into something this deep like I am for Dune. Both the movies and the books reveal something so poignant that you can’t compare which one is better. The book Chani is nothing but a simple love interest that was created by Paul when he revealed he saw them being married and having kids. It was forced, book Chani had no character revelation instead of being a colonial fremen controlled by a freak created by a Bene Gesserit. But the movie Chani unveils its own narrative of how she chose Paul as a love interest even though he was the son of a Duke. Chani respected Paul as he was doing everything to be a part of the people where men and women are both equal. The equality that Paul chose to become a part of the Fremen made Chani fall for him out of respect and devotion. Everything makes sense but at the same time it doesn’t because as time will pass, upcoming parts of Dune will unveil a new story line and I’m honestly excited to see how they will now portray the characters of women whether it be of princess Irulan, Lady Jessica or Chani herself. The entire movie of Dune: Part 1 revolves around the narration of how Chani is a fedaykin surviving and serving for the people of Arrakis, were as Dune: Part 2 revolves around the importance of the desert spring, that how her tear drop with the water of life gives birth to the true messiah, Lisan Al-Gaib and the death of Paul Usul muad’dib Atreides, the outsider with whom she fell in love with.
Just got done watching Dune (didn’t watch the first one tbh) IT WAS SO GOOD? the plot twists were crazy
Would anyone happen to have a good clip of Paul’s speech after he takes the water of life?
I liked Villeneuve’s Chani so much better and now I know why. He portrayed her a someone who questioned everything instead of blindly following Paul like she does in the books. I hope he writes a similar arc for Irulan too
I want to talk a little bit about Frank Herbert and the Bene Gesserits, because it’s something that’s been on my mind for a while and I haven’t seen anyone looking at these characters from this perspective yet (not that I looked very hard, but I check the tags occasionally and just haven’t seen it, and this would be the first place I’d expect to).
It’s strange in a good way seeing Dune become popular, and people actually reading the books, and it being cool to do so, not it being a niche and nerdy thing. But what’s equally weird is to see all the praise Frank Herbert’s getting, especially from women readers 😂
Because at any point between, I think, the 80s and the 2000s, if a guy said he liked Frank Herbert that was considered by women to be a red flag. I remember women chatting about this in online forums back in the day. It was the equivalent of a guy saying he likes Jordan Peterson now.
Keep reading
Somethings I would have loved to see in the latest adaptation of the Dune movies from the book :(Spoilers from the book)
Chani and Jessica’s bonding (they get really close along the end of the Dune novel)
The whole ruse of branding Jessica as the traitor
Gurney meeting Jessica for the first time in the Sietch and that whole scene(honestly it’s one of my favourite scenes in the whole book)
More of Paul’s psychotic nature shown much more explicitly
Alia mocking all the elders and powerful people like the emperor
Thufir Hawat’s arc from the book
Other than that I’m pretty impressed by how Denis has captured the essence of the novel so well. It’s not easy to adapt such intricately written stories but he did it quite well. So imma just wait patiently for Dune messiah now heheh.
To people who are complaining about the recent movie adaptation of Dune I would like to point out a few things and share some opinions:
Any novel no matter how descriptively it is written cannot be hundred percent adapted exactly as is because when you read a book every single person has a unique understanding and imagination and interpretation. So it’s impossible for any filmmaker to capture everything on the page to the screen as is and satisfy everyone.
The things that were changed make so much sense and yes as fans of the books we might have wanted to see some of our favourite scenes or arcs but the movie has stayed so truthful to the soul of source and the amount of detail and hardwork that has gone into the making justified all of those changes.
If you think that the actors did a bad job you might as well start calling the 80s adaptation as the best film adaptation ever made. You don’t have to like their performance entirely but to totally disregard it is just ignorance.
Think about how much believable the movies looked like, I’m talking specifically about the setting, the world where it’s all taking place. For comparison take any other contemporary scifi movie made and think how much you feel is believable (I don’t want to slander Star Wars here because I love them too but then Dune has completely changed my view on how a sci-fi film should be made). Like yes a desert planet where people recycle their own bodily fluids seems like something actually a human would do for survival
If you didn’t like the changes made to Chani’s character you are a straight up misogynist. I won’t explain this point because this whole post is targeted at the books fans and if you have read the book you should understand why I said it.
Denis’s dedication to this movie is literally oozing out of the screen, each frame, the dialogues. The whole cast and crew has given their all and you can obviously tell. If you can’t well you didn’t pay attention.
The biggest reason I keep talking about the dedication that went into making the film is because it is a big budget movie with larger than life characters and settings and this easily could have gone wrong in every way possible but the massive scale was used as a tool like a cog in a machine that it just made sure that it was just enough to keep the machine working smoothly and not overwhelming anyone. Like for example the exotic locations and CGI were just enough to make the audience understand the setting of the story rather than show off how advanced the technology used was.
So these are just a few thoughts I have wanted to share for sometime especially after reading the book and getting a more deeper understanding of the story. Feel free to add more. Whenever I come across a blatantly biased criticism of the movie vs book thing I get irritated especially with a movie made with such heart and soul. And I absolutely admire the effort that went into this particular adaptation. I highly recommend watching the interviews of Rebecca, Timothee and Denis because the way they are passionate about the project is unlike anything I have seen from movie stars in the last few years.
I love u angry female characters. I love u deeply misunderstood and problematic female characters. I love u cold hearted and sharp female characters. I love you prideful and reckless female characters. I love u unbeautifly destructive female characters. I love u prickly and snarky female characters. not everyone understands u but I do and I'm listening
DUNE has my heart ♥
PRINTS are available at my store.
got myself a little chani!!!!!!
i’m at the movies about to see dune 2 ooooooo
she’s home
my little baby chani and my special edition of dune!
just watched Dune part 2 for the first time…yall wtf was that ending?!?
that can’t be it!!?!! 😭😭(I’ve done slight research I know it’s not…right?)
Also where are all the good Chani and Paul fics please send them to me 🧎🏽♀️
Controversial opinion among Dune book fans maybe, but I loved the changes they made to Chani's character. Making her a fedaykin who is already an experienced fighter before Paul arrives was a brilliant choice. Dune Part Two is a war movie, and this puts her at the center of the action, side by side with Paul, and gives her a much more active role than she has in the book.
We got a hint of where things were going in the beginning of Dune Part One. The first thing we ever know about movie Chani is that she's a fighter. She serves as a voice for the Fremen, telling us the story of their struggle from her point of view. I wrote here about the difference this change makes compared to other adaptations of Dune, what a perspective shift it is to have the world of Arrakis introduced not by an outsider, describing it as a dangerous but valuable colonial prize, but by one of its native inhabitants, who tells us before all else that it's beautiful, her home that she's fighting to liberate. I am so, so glad that the second movie followed up on this characterization.
I never found Chani and Paul's love story in the book particularly convincing, because why would this woman, who already has a prominent and respected place in Fremen society, even give the time of day to her deposed would-be colonizer, let alone fall in love and have children with him? Without a compelling reason for Chani to love Paul, she ends up feeling like a prize to be won, and "indigenous culture personified as a woman to be wooed (or conquered) by the colonizing man" is a trope we've seen and don't need to repeat.
But as soon as you tell me it's a barricade romance I get it. Cool cool cool, I know exactly what this relationship is now and it makes sense. Movie Chani doesn't respect or even particularly like Paul when she first meets him, and she doesn't think he's the fulfillment of any prophecy. She comes to respect him, and eventually love him, through his actions. He's brave--sometimes recklessly so. He fights well. He's willing to stick his neck out on the front lines with the other Fremen fighters. He can (after a little help) hack surviving in the harsh desert environment. He's not too proud to learn from others. He seems to genuinely want to be her equal in a common political struggle. All these qualities make sense as things she values.
Fighting side by side as equals is just about the only way I can see movie Chani falling for Paul. And it fits perfectly with the film's pattern of reversals that Paul's capacity for violence would initially be one of the things Chani likes about him, only for her to be repelled later when she sees what he becomes.
And as for Paul, well, he's had people deferring to him his entire life. Someone who doesn't take any shit from him is probably refreshing. He seems to like people (Duncan, Gurney) who challenge him and engage in a little friendly teasing--and aren't afraid to go a few rounds in the sparring ring.
It's easy to speedrun a romance when you're spending all your time together in mortal danger fighting for a shared political cause. Especially if you then start winning in a war your people have been fighting for decades. Are you kidding me? That is the perfect environment for intense battle camaraderie to turn into romantic love, and lust.
It makes sense that this version of Chani never believes Paul is any kind of messiah. Of course a character like movie Chani wouldn't believe in or trust some outside savior to liberate them. She's been working to liberate her own people for years. The more Paul invokes the messianic myth, the more he starts sounding once again like someone who plans to rule over them, and the more uncomfortable Chani becomes. In this way she becomes a foil to Jessica, the two of them representing the choices Paul is pulled between. It's a great way of externalizing the political and philosophical debates that often happen within characters' heads in the book.
And of course this version of Chani would leave Paul at the end of the film. It's not just the personal, emotional betrayal--although that stings. What common cause does she have with someone who just declared himself emperor and is sending her own people off in a war of conquest against others? Given the important role she plays in Dune Messiah, I am super curious to see how they get her back into the story, but girl was so valid for being willing to just gtfo. Given that she has the last shot of the whole movie, I'm sure she'll be back somehow, and I can't wait to see what they do with her character in any future installments.
Are there dune fans on tumblr? I painted my interpretation of Chani 🌸
yeah idk why those light beams are on her face, I just like to fuck around with blend modes
Sick Paul Atredias with Chani as caretaker plz
:)
Weakness
C/W: blood
Dune Pt. 2 spoilers
AU where movie Chani stayed after Paul's fight with Feyd-Rautha:
Paul held his ground when demanding the now defunct emperor's submission to his ascendency, but his strength faded as quickly as the Fedaykin made their way to the airships. Chani caught him as his steps faltered outside of the throne room.
"Usul, you need to sit down," she whispered.
"No!" Paul snapped. "No. I cannot show weakness in this moment. Help me get to one of the side chambers, out of sight," he pleaded.
Chani supported his weight as he struggled to stay upright while limping down the long hall. She ordered the two Fedaykin who stayed behind to find pull down the tapestries from the walls to serve as a makeshift cushion for Paul to lay on.
"We need to get you to the healer," Chani lamented as she inspected his stab wounds. Blood seeped from the hole in his chest with each breath he took.
"Chani," he rasped and reached for her cheek. "My desert spring. I...[gasp] I love you." His head lolled to the side as his arm fell.
Chani turned to her fellow Fremen. "Go get the healer! Bring her here! He hasn't the strength to make it to the ridge. Go! Now!"
She turned back to Paul. "You're not done loving me. You have to keep breathing!" She leaned over to place her ear next to his nose, relieved when she heard the faintest of breaths.
Irulan appeared at the doorway. Chani spotted the movement out of the corner of her eye. "What do you want?" Chani growled, hovering over Paul's body in a protective crouch.
"I...
"You wanted to see if your betrothed is dead? Unless you have something useful to offer...Get. Out."
"There is a med bay on the ship," Irulan replied calmly. "We stock the finest medicines in the Imperium and a doctor at the ready."
"Do you really think I am going to let your doctor touch him? Just to kill him so your father can be reinstated?"
"Paul will die just the same if you don't."
Chani clicked her jaw shut and furrowed her brow. "Why do you care?"
"Because I don't agree with my father's actions that led Paul down this path," Irulan responded softly and ducked her head.
Chani paused, dropping her gaze to Paul's face. "Bring him."
Irulan looked up, puzzled.
"Bring the doctor here. Paul can't be moved."
"Of course." Irulan half-bowed and pulled a communicator from a concealed pocket as she walked away.
Chani ran her fingers through Paul's damp curls. The blood on his forehead had crusted over. "Stay with me, Usul."
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Masterlist
A sick Paul Atredias (way after the events of part 2 ) Chani takes care of him please 💕🥺
As long as I breathe
AU where Chani and Paul get to grow old together. Short, but sweet.
C/W: Death
Chani ran her fingers over the lines that graced Paul's face. He was sleeping, as he often did these days, too exhausted to even flinch from the dreams she knew were plaguing his mind. They always did. She listened mournfully to the raspy sound of his shallow breathing, knowing his health was declining rapidly.
Paul opened his eyes and searched the room in vain. His once vivid greenish blue irises were now obscured by blindness wrought upon him by a failed assassination attempt.
"Shh, I am here," Chani whispered soothingly. She petted his dark curls that were now peppered with glistening silver strands. She held a pouch of water to his lips. "Drink, my love."
"I never deserved your love," Paul croaked once the water slaked his thirst. "When I am gone, I want you to find love again."
"Don't speak like that, Usul. It is not yet your ti-"
"Please, Chani. I have seen it."
"No, I refuse to let you give up. The healer... " she cut off as tears strangled her speech.
"...has done everything they can. Do not waste your water on me, Sihaya. I have carried out my purpose here. My time is near." Paul's speech was stilted with hacking coughs that sounded like he was drowning in air.
Chani picked up Paul's hand and held it to her face, nodding into his palm. His thumb caressed her cheekbone.
"You are just as beautiful today as you were in my visions all those years ago," he whispered.
Chani laughed wetly. "Paul..."
"Just because I am blind doesn't mean it's not true. Nothing could detract from your angelic beauty. Not even age." He pulled Chani's hand toward his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "I [cough] will always be [gasp] with you."
Uttering these final reassurances drained Paul's energy, and he closed his eyes for the last time. Chani held his hand dutifully until he drew his last ragged breath hours later.
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Masterlist
jessica really said “god forbid women do anything” and doomed an entire people to war by installing her twink son as a false prophet by stealing her cult’s 10,000 year old breeding program propaganda