How Ancient Myth Became Science Fiction

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”

Frank Herbert, Dune

We often use myth to mean an ancient story that isn’t true. But historically, myth has meant something richer. A narrative through which a culture explores creation, identity, morality, death, destiny and humanity’s relationship with the cosmos.

          If that is what myth means, there is no reason for mythmaking to have stopped. Human beings haven’t stopped asking those questions, we’ve simply changed the stories through which we ask them. Therefore, I believe myths do not disappear, I think they simply change their clothes. I am a firm believer that myths can be created in our time.

          I think Dune and Star Wars are perfect examples of this. They are both sagas, existing in both book, film, art and game formats. They have a complex narrative with their own lore and canon with an official set of facts, events, and settings established by the original creator.

          Dune demonstrates that modern myth can be deliberately created. Herbert was writing in the twentieth century, yet Dune feels mythological. It contains:

• a messianic figure
• prophecy
• sacred texts
• holy war
• chosen people
• a desert wilderness
• miraculous abilities
• ancestral memory
• religious pilgrimage
• sacrifice
• death and resurrection
• a struggle between competing cosmic forces

          These are recognisably mythic structures. But Herbert didn’t simply reproduce Greek or Norse mythology. He reassembled ancient mythological patterns into something new.

          Dune warns us about the power of modern myths Herbert is asking: what happens when we create a hero and then begin to worship him? Paul Atreides is transformed from an individual into an idea. The Fremen see him as Muad’Dib, his followers interpret events through prophecy, and his name becomes a rallying cry. And eventually the myth of Paul becomes more powerful than Paul himself.

          That is very similar to what happens to mythological figures over time. The historical or original person, if there ever was one, becomes less important than the story constructed around them. King Arthur is probably a good example of this.

          Dune demonstrates that mythology does not require ancient gods, temples or thousands of years of history. It requires something more fundamental, a story capable of giving people a language with which to understand themselves and their world.

          Paul is fascinating because he initially appears to be the classic mythic hero from Campbells Monomyth:

• Ordinary world
• Departure
• Trials
• Transformation
• Supernatural powers
• Return
• Becoming a saviour.

          But Herbert deliberately complicates the myth. Paul doesn’t simply become the hero, he becomes trapped by the expectations surrounding the hero. The more people believe he is their messiah, the more difficult it becomes for him to escape the role.

          Herbert makes another interesting point, “Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.” He then turns the idea on its head, the machines ultimately enabled other humans to enslave them. The passage appears as part of Reverend Mother Mohiam’s explanation of the Butlerian Jihad.  This makes a surprisingly contemporary opening given our relationship with AI.

          Written in 1965, Dune imagined a civilisation that had already learned one of the lessons we are only beginning to confront today. Technology does not necessarily make us freer. Herbert wasn’t merely writing about the future. He was reworking ancient human fears into a modern mythology.

          In conclusion, I think myth is only recognisable as mythology after enough time has passed. Which means that somewhere, right now, someone may be creating a story that people thousands of years from now will regard as mythology.