Mugen Monday - 29th Edition

I had the opportunity to dive into Dune Part 2 in New Delhi’s PVR in Laser Imax, Priya complex. And while I’ll at first beg your forgiveness for being archaically late into the Dune sequel’s theatre-going party. But secondly, I would afford you a few leisurely yet perhaps interesting sentences - drawing a striking resemblance between Eren Jaeger and Paul Atreides.

Now upon the reception of the above text, one may be elated in two ways: either you’ll scoff it off as another Eren fanboy rant, or see some actual rationale behind such a claim.

I am here, however, to make some substantial points. What has taken me aback is just how much similarity I find in the entire Dune story with Attack on Titan.

While both are separated by their galactic and planetary premise, they do share some shred of political formulas that are commonly applied.

• Both involve two main families or kingdoms in blood with each other (Eldians against Marley and Atreides against Harkonnen)

• Both involve a hero who has the ability to see through time, and both of them go through a similar line of thematic progression.

• Both involve themes of betrayal by a party that has no other option (Atreides house doctor and Reiner, Berthold),

• Both involve manoeuvring through otherwise unrideable terrains (sandworms and titans).

• Both involve themes of revenge and a setting of the protagonist having to take responsibility that involves the entire world’s fate.

There are more, like both the protagonists having a love interest that they can never be with, the death of a family member by the apparent enemy, both controlling the other remaining parent, both transforming into some non-human form.

Paul Atreides’s ascent to the God Emperor and his passing down of the same to Leto II involves a timeline that is much larger than whatever timeline Attack on Titan is based on.

However both the heroes, upon seeing the future of humanity itself, find that the only way to avoid extinction is that they take the weight of being the unifying force themselves.

In both Eren and Paul’s cases, such a weight is not just of being the unifying force, but the unifying antagonist. Have you seen Dune? If you have, how did you come across seeing its similarities with the theme of Attack on Titan?

Do write back to us at my address, and we can talk further about this.

- From the Editor’s Desk

Rhytham Das, Editor-in-Chief, Spiel Anime

Read the feature here.

How Attack on Titan and Dune converges

Our beloved writer Laveena had quite much to say about both AoT and Dune similarities after she had watched the film. Of course, she had finished Attack on Titan prior (given that she works in Spiel Anime).

The turning point of the movie is that moment when Paul drinks the water of life. And it’s also the moment when the similarities between Dune and Attack on Titan start to appear.

• Up until that point, Paul had always been sceptical of Bene Gesserits and their prophecy. Later he tiptoes his way around the prophecy because of the war visions and potential death of Chani. 

• According to the visions, a visit to the south will fuel the progression of these events. Despite his cautionary approach, he visits the South. 

  

  Eren takes Historia’s hand to kiss it | Image Courtesy of Studio Wit

• During his visit, he is made to consume the Water of Life. The Water of Life is a substance extracted from the holy creature ‘sandworm’. The Water of Life gives him the ability to see the past and the future, along with the memories of the Reverend Mother. 

• This scene is reminiscent of the moment from Attack on Titan when Eren kisses Historia’s hand. Doing that enables him to see all the possibilities and the end of everything. 

From that moment, both Eren and Paul bear the burden of millions of lives. While destiny binds Eren, it’s the prophecy for Paul. Greisha passed on the Titan powers to Eren, and even though Greisha was predestined to do that, his decision pushed Eren to become the perpetrator of the rumbling.

Unlike Mikasa, Chani was quick to rebel against Paul when he started defying his values. It’s glorious how the plot thickens with every scene in both series. The progression of Dune from part 1 to part 2 is glorious to witness.

The way Paul slowly comes to terms with the prophecy and uses it for his benefit is quite interesting. Amidst the philosophical and literal resemblance, we completely forgot about the most important similarity.

Both Paul and Eren are four-lettered names, and maybe that’s how it all started! On a more serious note, were you able to spot any other similarities? Let us know in the comments!