The Real Tragedy of Stilgar | Dune Explained

Sorry for the reuploads guys. Youtube blocked it for "reused content". I fixed it, I hope you enjoy!

It really can't be understated how insidious the false promise of a messiah is to someone who has experienced great suffering. There is nothing more human than the desire for the hardship you have endured to have meaning

To be fair, psychic humans who can see the future, past genetic memories AND survive a known poison only Reverend Mother can survive isn't something widely known and studied until later in the Dune series.

For me, Stilgar always been looking for the real Messiah, and he is the subtle but actual reason why Paul became Lisan al Gaib.

The Fremen forgot the warning given to anyone before drinking the water of life: "If you drink you WILL DIE. If you drink you may see." Paul or Muad'dib died after drinking the water of life. The man they knew prior was dead.

When Paul showed up reciting everyone's internet browser history to them, it completely overwhelmed them because he had no knowledge that no mortal could or should ever have. That scene is so powerful. If someone in real life could do the same thing and just "know" things, it would make absolutely anyone start to believe.

Stilgar is my favorite. He started as faithful but just trying to fight for his people, seeing Paul as a good fighter, Jessica as a reverend mother replacement and using religion to get the others to accept them. Even after Paul rode the largest grandfather worm, he still viewed Paul as a banner his people could unify under, acknowledging that Paul himself didn't believe. Only when Paul survived the water of life and read the minds of the other leaders did he become a zealot, knowing Paul already knew he desired a paradise for his people but choosing to believe Paul could see it regardless. The way Javier Bardem plays him was soo good.

In God Emperor the Museum Fremen are all that are left of the once proud and tough people. Stilgar's tragedy is a small part of the tragedy of his entire people. However, quite early in reading Dune you get a sense of deep time and all peoples being erased and leaving nothing but echoes of the past. It's one of the reasons Dune resonated for me when I read it. Nothing is permanent, everything is lost to entropy.

It is really sad to witness his "downfall" from a wise leader and friend at the beginning, to a fanatic man full with blind faith in the end.

Javiers performance in the film is so magnetic. During the duel between Paul and Feyd, you can see it waver when Paul is stabbed. When Paul is triumphant, the way he utters "lisain al-gaib", it's a man clutching back at his wavered faith.

I DONT CARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE, I BELIEVE!!!

one thing to learn from stilgar is that just because you believe in something even if you're willing to die for it doesn't make it necessarily true

I am so sorry for people think Stilgar is a comedic relief character. They clearly cannot see his tragedy. Thank you for making this video. Truly amazing!

The genius of Bardem's portrayal of Stilgar is the same religious fanaticism that's played for laughs in the first half of the film becomes terrifying in the second half. Stilgar's faith doesn't really change. He never wavers in it and is always looking for a reason to believe because, as he says, "I don't care what you believe! I believe!" For me, that's probably the scariest line of the film. A man who maintains his faith throughout the entire story and, in the end, has it completely rewarded. In another story, Stilgar's might have been seen by the audience as a happy ending yet in Dune we see it with nothing but dread and sadness. All Stilgar was as a Freman got devoured by the religion of the Lisan Al-Gaib. And perhaps the most frightening thing of all with Stilgar is that, especially now, you can find him everywhere. People who have given into blind faith and devotion to a cause or creed or religion or ideology. People who stopped being people the moment the ideology took over them and possessed them like a demon. The scary thing with Stilgar is that people like him aren't just confined to the walls of a church anymore but can be found everywhere. At every political rally, at every protest, on every news program, and in every comments section. And the worst part is that, like Stilgar, they often don't even realize what's happened to them and what they've lost.

I see quite a bit of Stilgar in Morpheus.

I think the quote from the books (I could be wrong)..... Paul thinking to himself "It was then that I lost a friend, and gained a follower". The scene was done in sadness, as Paul didn't want Stilgar to "convert", but to remain a teacher and inspiration, and mostly: a friend. One of the saddest parts of this fantastic book series.

One thing the TV miniseries (especially Children of Dune) caught best, even compared to Villeneuve, was the theme of tragedy. The Fremen who lose their ways, the Atreides who got their revenge only to dissolve within a new order, Paul and Leto II who are so mighty yet powerless, the members of countless factions whose game for power becomes irrelevant in the new order, even the mighty worms who go from beings of veneration to studied specimen on the path to almost extinction.

Stilgar is a representation of the people who live through hardships. When you have so much hard time, you need to believe something, or you simply cant go further. I see a lot of real life people cannot cope their hard lifes, so their religions or beliefs become their last lifline. Dune series show me that even 1000 years later, religions will not dissappear. It's simply a cope mechanism but it is sometimes beneficial, sometimes not.

yeah i was really surprised how quickly stilgar went from what felt like the leader to pauls number one fanboy. he basically stepped down and let paul have the reigns. morpheus was happy to find neo but it still felt like he was the boss of the group and equal to neo.

The tragedy of the fremen going to the holy war at the End of Dune two is the something I have been thinking every time I watched the movie and felt sting my heart. Very well narrated analysis.