Dune: Part Two is the biggest movie of the year so far, and TikTok has latched onto every aspect — from Stilgar attributing everything as proof that Paul is the messiah to the appreciation for sandworms. The platform boasts a mix of explainers, jokes, and skits reinterpreting scenes from Dune: Part Two. But one final moment between Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen has surprisingly taken off.
As Paul and Feyd square off for their destined showdown, director Denis Villeneuve keeps the tone tense. We’ve already seen both of them kill in cold blood, and now they’re fighting for the rule of the galaxy. Then Paul says “May thy knife chip and shatter,” and it seems to kind of break Feyd. The Harkonnen scion doesn’t respond right away, cocking his head slightly. Eventually, he repeats the line back, but it’s unclear what he’s feeling as he says it. Is he confused by Paul’s declaration, or is he looking at Paul… differently than before?
Feyd’s reaction is a perfect TikTok moment, equal parts confused and aroused. In many of these clips, the creator plays both parts, depicting Paul seriously but raising their eyebrows or biting their lips when it’s time for Feyd’s part. They’re mostly coy about it, and combined with the Feyd/Austin Butler fancams and the “I can fix him” captions, it’s all pushing this bald psychotic babe into the mainstream, along with maybe a potential love for Paul from an ambiguous fight sequence.
But is Butler playing Feyd in this scene as being sexually into Paul? It wouldn’t be out of line for a deranged, emotionless killer like Feyd to have a completely inappropriate response to a situation. Remember how many times he slit somebody’s throat throughout the movie just because they didn’t complete a task correctly? How about when he kissed his uncle? Unfortunately, if we go back to the source material, his reaction has a more mundane explanation.
When Feyd and Paul meet face-to-face for the first time in the Emperor’s chamber, Paul does not know whether he’ll win or lose — Feyd hasn’t appeared in any of his visions and premonitions, and it fills him with fear.
In the climax of the novel, Paul challenges Feyd to a kanly, a strict duel between great houses, as a symbolic act of revenge on the Harkonnens for his father’s death. That’s where we get the now famous line, “May thy knife chip and shatter.” It comes out of nowhere when Chalamet says it in Dune: Part Two — especially if you don’t remember how the Fremen Janis says it to Paul in their duel at the end of the first movie — and because it’s a Fremen taunt, Feyd has no idea what it means. How does Feyd feel about all of this? Unfortunately for people who see Butler’s performance and think he now wants to ravage his cousin, his book thoughts are more about realizing that Paul is a warrior:
“Excitement kindled in him. This was a fight he had dreamed about – man against man, skill against skill with no shields intervening. He could see a way to power opening before him because the Emperor surely would reward whoever killed this troublesome duke. The reward might even be that haughty daughter and a share of the throne.”
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures
TikToks about Feyd getting a little fluttery when Paul growls at him don’t necessarily have the book to respond to — they’re a reaction to Chalamet and Butler’s charisma, and the desire to see two attractive men kiss. But there’s an irony to Feyd’s response being read as sexual at all. As dedicated as Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation is to author Frank Herbert’s details, it wisely leaves much of the book’s homophobic stereotyping in the past, including Baron Harkonnen himself. Herbert’s text implies that the Baron’s relationship with his nephew is incestuous, and outright establishes him as a serial molester of adolescent boys.
Then there’s also the fact that this is a meeting of the fates; if Paul had been born a girl, as the Bene Gesserit had intended, he would’ve been married off to Feyd so that they could reproduce the Kwisatz Haderach. Instead, Lady Jessica had Paul. Paul and Feyd are symbolic parallels in the long-standing Atreides-versus-Harkonnen rivalry, and while the Bene Gesserit spend a lot of the book trying to ensure Feyd’s genes pass on and that Paul doesn’t become the messiah, this fight is about so much more than whether they kiss.
The Bene Gesserit failed spectacularly in Dune, letting their own plans get away from them. But they succeeded in crafting a story that the people of Arrakis interpreted as they saw fit. TikTokers are just doing the same thing, but with one tense fight scene. While this is yet another instance of TikTok flattening the true meaning of something, it’s mostly harmless fun. Plus, with the way TikTok works in fandom communities, ideas will be perpetuated as people seek to do their own versions of skits or put a new spin on them. There are also plenty of TikToks explaining the connection between Paul and Feyd, so it’s not like it’ll go completely unnoticed. Either way, Herbert would be rolling over in his grave if he could see how the internet is shipping Paul and Feyd.
