Ask Lemmy

No, it's way more than that, just inspired by many things, some of them mostly aesthetically so. The Bene Gesserit plant myths but they themselves are just space witch nuns who have largely forgotten their origins, but they know there's such a thing as "knowing the unknowable" and pursue the creation of the Kwizath Haderach, simply because they can see there's something "behind the veil" they're just simply ill-equipped to handle the knowledge and "know" a 'male Bene Gesserit' could handle it.

But it all basically puts you in the shoes of Paul, and later on Leto II, both actual prophets who can see peek/clearly see into the future (although, because the idea of seeing into the future sorta clashes against the idea of free will, it's not 100% established on what is fixed and what isn't, but it's not super necessary) and it's a character study on how one could handle such information. Paul, besides not being the most physical person, is actually as quick as a computer, extremely knowledgeable and of good character but, because he's still just a person, he cannot handle it. His son, Leto II, is more than human, and can do something positive with it. It's mostly a Solomon to Jesus (not the historical one but Christian "godly" one) allegorical story, and Dune will feel very familiar to anyone who has read Ecclesiastes, a character study and a philosophical deep dive (also, a little essay on ecology). The whole series is great, but I'd say Dune to God Emperor of Dune (yes, Dune inspired not just Star Wars, albeit superficially, but WH40K as well) are mandatory readings, lol.