Why Dune characters have blue eyes, explained

From the very beginning Dune trailer debuted, moviegoers unfamiliar with Frank Herbert’s acclaimed science-fiction novel Dune may have been confused as to why, in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Zendaya’s Eyes are blue She’s not alone, of course. This strange condition is also common in Fremen from other planets Arrakis. It is a strange ocular affliction.

To understand, we’ve got to talk about a key bit of Dune Mythology: Spice.

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Also known as melange, Spice was first introduced to the world in Herbert’s first Dune novel in 1965. The substance is produced by the Arakkis’ native sandworms, known to the Fremen as the great Shai-Hulud. It is not an easy task to mine the material. There’s the brutal weather on the planet for one, but also the fact that sandworms are attracted to any rhythmic noise — like that made by machinery — and tend to show up and eat the mining equipment.

Orange-gold flecks of spice in the hand of Paul Atreides in Dune.

What is Spice, exactly? Herbert had a vague original book. In the years that followed — in books like Dune Messiah Children of Dune — things got a bit more specific. It’s a powdery substance, tending from orange to dark brown. It tastes and smells like cinnamon and glows in the dark. It’s also powerfully addictive; withdrawal is fatal.

Prolonged exposure also turns your eyes a deep blue — iris and sclera both. Addicts in some areas of the empire wear contact lenses to conceal their condition. On the planet Arrakis Fremen are proud of their blue eyes.

Spice is known to cause mild euphoria in very low doses. Longterm effects — other than the whole blue eyes thing — include increased awareness and longevity. That’s why, in the world of Dune, folks like to put it in their food and drink. It’s a popular additive all over the galaxy.

It can also give you superpowers if taken in large amounts. The most important thing for galactic society is that human Navigators from the Spacing Guild are able to take in this stuff and enter a trance state which allows safe space travel. The result is that they are horribly affected. The Bene Gesserit, the order of psychic, female power brokers, and the Fremen both use it to become clairvoyant, to tell the future, or to access the so-called “genetic memories” of their respective peoples.

Robed Guild Navigators in Dune (2021), wearing helmets that seem to be filled with an opaque orange gas. — Guild Navigators have distinctive orange helmets that resemble Spice.

This makes Spice melange a powerful resource. The family who controls Arrakis controls the Spice, which makes them the leaders of the galaxy’s preeminent drug cartel. This makes them also the source of the fuel for commerce, and allows the military to go about its business.

“He who controls the Spice, controls the universe,” Baron Vladimir Harkonnen famously said in Herbert’s original book. And, if they’re getting high on their own supply, their eyes turn blue as well.