The Bene Gesserit are among theDuneUniverse’s most powerful characters, but they do have some rivals, such asthe storytellers of House Jongleur, who use their reality-warping powers to make people truly feel the tales they tell.The Jongleur still deserve to be explored further inDunelore, but they are one of its most fascinating contemporary additions.
Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, with art by Jakub Rebelka, is the most substantial appearance of the Jongleur so far, one fans are eager for the franchise to follow up on.
The haunting story, set on Arrakis during the fall of the Atreides, climaxes with a startling example of the Jongleur’s abilities.
Who Are The Jongleur? The Dune Universe’s “Enhanced” Storytellers Rival The Bene Gesserit
Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas (One-Shot) Written By Brian Herbert And Kevin J. Anderson; Art By Jakub Rebelka; Released In 2021
Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seasfollows a squad of Atreides who flee the Harkonnen sacking of Arrakis, as depicted at theend ofPart Oneof Denis Villeneuve’sDuneadaptation, who wind up trapped in a cave. The story is not about whether they can find a way to survive, but how they will spend their final hours.
The squad’s leader, Sargeant Vitt, provides the answer. Despite being a long-time servent of the Atreides, Vitt belonged to House Jongleur, a disgraced noble family who Vitt explains, through narration,pioneered a form of “enhanced storytelling” on the level of Bene Gesserit “magic.““Some Jongleurs,” he reveals, “even used the power of imagination to cause nightmares…to kill.”
The end ofDune: A Whisper of Caladan Seasleaves readers wanting more of the Jongleur ASAP.
Unfortunately for the Jongleur, they did not learn tooperate in the shadows like Bene Gesserit, and were “scattered” and “silenced” by the other powerful Houses of the galaxy. However, their storytelling powers continued to be passed down to a select few, including Vitt, who notes: “I can make the most of it if the audience believes.”
The Sargeant proves this in legendary fashion by the end of the story. Though he cannot save his troops with his powers, he does ultimately make them into something mythological, in a sense, offering them a form of immortality, at least. Beyond that, the end ofDune: A Whisper of Caladan Seasleaves readers wanting more of the Jongleur ASAP.
A Whisper of Caladan SeasIs Set During The Events OfDune
A Whisper of Caladan Seas, as its name implies, hinges on Sgt. Vitt using his Jongleur powers to make his soldiers feel like they’re back on theAtreides' ocean homeworld of Caladan, as they slowly die in the arid heat of an Arrakis cave. At the end, when a group of Fremen find the soldiers' bodies, they inexplicably find them wet.
The Jongleur have such extreme control of their audiences' belief that they can change empirical reality.
“Their lungs are filled with water,” one Fremen exclaims, as though the men drowned, rather than suffocated, or died of dehydration, or heat exhaustion. In other words, Vitt was remarkably successful. He told a story about Caladan so engaging and profound that he was able to give his troops the death they would have preferred.
This makes it unequivocally clear how potent the powers of the Jongleur are. “Like a Bene Gesserit witch can use voice, like the ancient sorceresses could kill with their minds,” Sgt. Vitt narrates in the issue, and it is clear that he isn’t exaggerating. The Jongleur have such extreme control of their audiences' belief that they can change empirical reality.
Of all the examples offantastical, and dangerous, powers inDunelore, the Jongleur’s “enhanced storytelling” are among the most imposing. Moreover, they are among the most fascinating. This would make a Jongleur storyteller an incredible protagonist for a futureDunestory; alternatively, a prequel could explore the Jongleur at their height, and offer more insight into their downfall.
The Jongleur Deserve More Of A Spotlight In The Dune Universe
A Powerful Faction Overdue For The Spotlight
TheDune: A Whisper of Caladan Seascomic released by Boom! Studios in 2021 is an adaptation of a short story first published in 1999. So, the Jongleur have been part ofDunecanon for some time, but the surface of their potential has barely been scratched, in terms of how they could have animpact within theDuneUniverse.
It is unclear whether the Jongleur originated in author Frank Herbert’s notes, or if they are a creation of the franchise’s second-generation stewards Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Yet, either way,they fit seamlessly into the franchise’s fictional landscape, adding a complex new faction to the galaxy, while also extending the limits of the superhuman abilities possibleinDune.
The Jongleur are also very thematically relevant toDune, a saga in which the transmutation of characters from historical figures, to myths, to legends, plays a consistent part.A Whisper of Caladan Seasillustrates this with the fate of its Atreides soldiers, whose final resting place the Fremen are unsure whether to call “an evil place…or a sacred place.”
Water, of course, issacred to the Fremen, and so finding a group of offworlders mysteriously drowned, despite the lack of available water on the planet, is understandably controversial to them. It is an example, then, of how the Jongleur could have an impact on the history of theDunegalaxy in a way not unlike the Bene Gesserit’s influence.
Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seasis available now from Boom! Studios
