Talk:Duncan Idaho/Archive 1

Who of what is Duncan Idaho?
In the God Emperor (Leto2) Duncan seems to impersonate the old values from the Dune times. Something un-corruptible is embedded in his conscience. I think he is designed to be the check on sanity for Leto2.

I think Leto2 knows, wants, Duncan to kill him as soon as the Golden Path is laid out firm enough. When Duncan recognizes Leto2 to be the Tyrant he sets out to kill the worm which is an offence to humanity, the Atreides heritage, and Duncan's conscience. (Duncan doesn't recognize or acknowledge the Golden Path) Leto2 puts himself in a vulnerable position when he travels the Shield wall. Leto2 knows he has to be killed over water for his golden path to begin.

I think Frank Herbert gave Duncan the best of chivalry, honor, loyalty, conscience, and every-day, down-to-earth-intelligence, telling us to be wary of burocracy, religion, power wielding, or any other structure which stupefies creativity, free thinking and self development.

Duncan is erected in the way the Monarchomachen thought. Accoording to that filosophy one has a right or even a duty to kill an unjust leader.

Did I read to much or to little in the Duncan character?

Aixroot 11:46, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
 * According to the sequels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, you did not read too much into the Duncan character, and it would be hard not to read too little into it. Duncan turns out to be immensely important to the back-story. - Soulkeeper (talk) 11:40, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Grammar
Someone needs to clean this article up. There is way too much in the way of missed periods, run on sentences and so on. I wish I didn't need to remind people that they aren't instant messaging.


 * People should try to keep their grammar accurate even when instant messaging.


 * Good luck! Most people I know can't even do it while talking.

I would not claim that Duncan is the "central" character of this series....just that he is in a way the fallstaff of Frank Herbert who is much more active. He is however the one common denominator in all books so I will give his character that much.

How old IS Duncan?
Because of the Wikipedo thing about "original research", I'm loath to put it in the article, but from House Atriedes one can extrapolate his age and birthdate to within a few years, being that he's established as younger than Leto, but older than Jessica. I'd like to see it be complete in that regard, as many of the other characters have birthdates. Thoughts? Howa0082 14:46, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Quote from No original research: "This policy does not forbid routine calculations, such as adding numbers, converting units, or calculating a person's age, provided editors agree that the arithmetic and its application correctly reflect the information published by the sources from which it is derived." - Soulkeeper (talk) 11:31, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

ghola/gollum
The terms are similar enough to be the same, singular and plural. Those similarities should not be offhandedly dismissed.

We find that golem, a slightly different spelling than Tolkien used, is, (from Jewish folklore) an artificially created human being that is given life by supernatural means, a figure artificially constructed in the form of a human being and endowed with life.

The correlation is plain... and makes Duncan Idaho and Smeagol cousins.:) Now to get the LOTR fans to accept that... --JT 06:56, 5 November 2007 (UTC)
 * The Gollum article does not say anything about Gollum being a golem. Now, the name term ghola is obviously inspired by "golem", but in the Dune universe this may just be a case of long lived etymologic ties back to ancient Earth. - Soulkeeper (talk) 11:36, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Ultimate Kwisatz Haderach?
I think that was by far the biggest letdown in the series finale. For one, the gholas could not possibly have had all of their lifetimes combined, because Leto's gholas were all grown from the original Idaho, and the BG gholas all died pretty young, except the ultimate one. Major plot hole here. Also, while Duncan was an important supporting character throughout, I think Leto II was far more suited for the role of humanity's ultimate savior - prescience, 3500 years of actual experience, etc.

Sokkenaiyama (talk) 08:26, 24 June 2009 (UTC)