#shaddam

that I made instead of writing my fic.. These are in no particular order

Dune: Casa Atreides

(House Atreides) #7

Speaking of people who were in “Dunkirk” and acted alongside Timmy or just showed up to a Dune premiere. I’d love to see Tom Glynn Carney as Feyd (Timmy killed him in “The King”) or Fionn Whitehead.

Maybe Tom Hiddleston as Emperor Shaddam IV 😜 (he attended the bafta dune event)

Going back to this incredible image... notice the framing. The courtiers and Sardaukars are all in shadows. Top of the Cross has shadam, reflecting in silver...

And below the cross bar, beneath a CLEAR LIGHT DEMARCATION, all in black silk is the Baron.

And despite the clear demarcation, his two "heirs" are on each side also in shadow. That strip of light helps to completely single out who is interrogating who in this situation, with the emperor not just at the top of the stairs but also the top of the cross.

It's fun how the emperor is also at the top of the cross here :

With the Baron again in the light and Feyd again in the shadow.

Not intentional, I don't think, but cool repeated motif.

And then of course Paul comes in, and forces Shaddam OFF his throne, and into the main horizontal bar of light

One detail I really like in that scene is how Shaddam NEVER name-drops Paul. He knows for sure Paul is Muad'dib, but he tells the Baron "Muad'dib is alive. I must find him."

You really get to see a fantastic nugget of characterisation for him in that.

He has a crucial bit of information, and he's hoarding it. He doesn't reveal who Muad'dib is, even if it would potentially motivate the Baron to find/kill him. The Baron has been dismissed entirely and showed visually as impotent and at the end of his influence.

Shaddam doesn't care what the Baron or the Harkonnen can bring to the table, at that moment.

There's only the smallest circle of his court here, and his loyal sardaukar. I wonder if his actions against the Atreides are an open secret. I wonder if the Harkonnen are the only ones being kept in the dark.

Whether Shaddam is hoping to "kill Muad'dib" in silence/without a reveal or not, the witholdhing of the name shows you a crafty old man who holds his cards close to his chest and never trusted the Harkonnen in the first place.