Key players in Denis Villeneuve's upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune, the Fremen are one of the most important factions vying for power on Arrakis.
Here's what you need to know about the group, including its ideals and key members.
Who Are the Fremen?
Considered the natives of Dune, the Fremen colonized Arrakis after leaving the Earth behind and are descended from a people called the Zensunni Wanderers. Persecuted for their beliefs, the Zensunni wander from world to world, with Fremen legends saying Dune is the seventh planet they've called home.
Many of these Zensunni became subjugated by the Imperium, forced into feudal society. In order to stay truly free, the people who became the Fremen fled into the dangerous, deep deserts, where they learned how to survive. They dream of ridding Dune of those that would exploit them, such as the despotic Harkonnen, and are wary that House Atreides will bring more atrocities.
Despite what the Padishah Emperor thinks, the Fremen are the undisputed masters of Arrakis. While traditional technology breaks down and fails in the face of Dune's treacherous conditions, the Fremen are completely unhindered. They hide their true numbers from the Harkonnens, but are a sizable force of hardened warriors to be feared.
Centuries of life on Arrakis has forged the Fremen into the ultimate survivalists. They created Stillsuits, which can nearly nullify loss of moisture caused by heat exposure. They are also the only people who understand the feared sandworms and their relationship to the Spice. Using special hooks, the Fremen can actually handle and ride the massive sandworms, covering more terrain covertly than anyone could suspect.
Three Key Fremen: Doctor Liet Kynes, Chani and Stilgar
While Dr. Kynes is officially an Imperial Planetologist studying the dangerous conditions of Arrakis, there's more to the character than meets the eye. The Imperium doesn't suspect that Dr. Kynes is secretly the feared and mysterious Liet, leader of the Fremen. Not only does she coordinate the Fremen's raids against the Harkonnen, but she has kept the Fremen on track to bring about massive ecological change on Dune.
The daughter of the previous Planetologist Pardot Kynes, Dr. Kynes has been imbued with her father and Fremen mother's dream of bringing water to Arrakis and making it a paradise. As Planetologists, Pardot and Liet devised a way to build thousands upon thousands of wind traps over centuries to capture water from the air. With enough water and plant life in the right places, Dune would become permanently habitable.
Chani, for her part, is the daughter of Liet and the niece of Stilgar and a key player in Paul Atreides' story. Staying mostly with her uncle's tribe while her mother oversees the Fremen revolution, Chani is a fierce guerrilla fighter who believes in the myths of her people. Training to become a Sayyadina (priestess), Chani shares her mother's goals for Arrakis.
She is also one of the recurring visions in Paul's prescient dreams and drawn to him as he begins fulfilling the prophecies of a promised savior. Over the course of the series, her military and political counsel to Paul proves essential in his survival, and many look to Chani as one of the next great leaders of the Fremen.
Another key Fremen is Stilgar, who is the Naib, a tribal leader, of Sietch Tabr, one of the Fremen's most valuable hidden strongholds. A Sietch is a series of tunnels and caves within the sand-swept mountains of Dune, and it's Stilgar's responsibility to make sure his people are safe, fed and maintain the strict Fremen water discipline, thus preventing death by dehydration.
Stilgar is a cautious, but intelligent man who cares deeply for his people. He lives as an example for his tribe and is considered one of Liet's most trusted warriors. He also happens to be Chani's uncle on her father's side. His fanatic devotion to the Fremen faith has kept him alive in the wastes, but Paul and Jessica's arrival test him in ways he couldn't imagine.
The Fremen Are Ruled by Superstitions
The strict discipline it takes to survive in Dune's desert wastes coupled with their devout Zensunni roots has caused the Fremen to translate their skills into religious tradition. They can sense deadly sandstorms brewing better than any Imperial satellite, but see omens and signs in everything. They even worship the large sandworms as a god, Shai-Hulud. Their susceptibility to religious manipulation turns out to be both their biggest weakness and greatest unifying strength.
At some point in the Fremens' wanderings, the group was infiltrated by a Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. For its part, the Bene Gesserit are a society of powerful political manipulators with an entire operational branch dedicated to the creation called the Missionaria Protectiva. This Reverend Mother worked herself into the religion of the Fremen, becoming the group's high priest. She then followed Sisterhood procedure and set up prophecies of messianic figures tied to the Bene Gesserit.
The Fremen's superstitious beliefs are a big driver of Dune's plot and Paul's rise to power as the Lisan al Gaib. Literally translating to "The Voice from the Outer World," the Lisan al Gaib is the messianic figure the Missionaria Protectiva worked into Fremen beliefs. This prophesied individual is said to be the son of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who comes from off-world. The Lisan al Gaib is also called "The Giver of Water," and many believe he will bring true paradise to Arrakis.
Paul's arrival is seen by many in Stilgar's tribe as the coming of their promised savior. Out of a need to survive, Paul and his mother reluctantly take advantage of these myths. However, this ties back into Liet and Pardot Kynes' dream of making a paradise, as both were concerned the Fremen could be swayed and manipulated through their faith. Pardot Kynes frequently warned, "no more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero," and this tension is a central part of the story.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve from a script he co-wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, Dune stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Chang Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet Kynes, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Stephen Henderson as Thufir Hawat and Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max Oct. 1, 2021.