Clara Novello by Edward Petre Novello, 1833

Richard Wells, “Lost Hearts”

Firstly: the Missionaria Protectiva seeded the Panoplia Propheticus on various worlds as a general tool for Bene Gesserit interests. It was there to be exploited by any Bene Gesserit who needed to take advantage of a planet’s culture and gain power there for any reason. It was independent from the Kwizatz Haderach project and was probably exploited many times throughout the history of the galaxy. The Lisan al-Gaib is not the Kwizatz Haderach and could have been any old Bene Gesserit who found herself on Arrakis.

Secondly: the messiah legend is false, but Paul is not a false messiah. Because he happens to also be the Kwizatz Haderach, he is able to deliver on the false promises of the Panoplia Propheticus and he chooses to do so. I know people claim that Dune is ambiguous about whether or not his visions are “real” but I find that really unconvincing. He’s able to use his prophetic memories to navigate perfectly after he is blinded. They are materially real even if they are philosophically dubious.

Thirdly: Frank Herbert may have sought to critique the danger of heroes, but the reason Paul is portrayed as “bad” for the Fremen is because he literally does liberate them. He fully delivers on the messiah thing, ending their oppression and elevating them to power and status throughout the galaxy. Why is this bad? Well, because they are spiritually corrupted by material comfort, of course! Access to abundant water leads to their ~cultural degeneracy~ and they lose the noble savage status of their pre-Muad’Dib ways. They’re too sexy and relaxed and hydrated and this is a tragedy because they no longer expel their disabled into the desert to die and are thus racially diminished by their liberation.

* I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

*The King in Yellow

* The Lottery

* The Masque of the Red Death

* The Monkey’s Paw

* The Most Dangerous Game

* The Nameless City

* The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

* There Will Come Soft Rains

*The Yellow Wallpaper

* The Veldt

* “you think those were fucked up? What about [X]!”

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers*

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson**

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard O'Connell

The Nameless City by HP Lovecraft

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K LeGuin

There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury

Honorable Mention from the comments/reblogs:

All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

*note: this is actually a collection of short stories and clocks in at about 72k words

Which was considered masculine in the mid-19th century (Center parts were feminine), and which he probably would have observed from at least some of the other people he was around

To me that seems like another point for the theory that he wasn't just passively letting his hair grow out, but actively liked it that way and was making decisions about his appearance for the first time in his life