The Dune Encyclopedia - Canon Status

Canon Status

The Dune Encyclopedia was published by Berkley Books, an imprint of Putnam, the publisher of all of Frank Herbert's Dune novels; the cover called the work "complete" and "authorized." Additionally, Frank Herbert approved the book, considering it "amusing" and "fascinating." The Encyclopedia was compiled and published some time between God Emperor of Dune (1981) and Heretics of Dune (1984), and Herbert "read large portions of God Emperor of Dune, then in the final stages, to McNelly during the compiling of the volume so that McNelly could keep abreast of developments." However, Herbert did not hesitate to render it erroneous through later developments in his Dune series. Herbert himself wrote the foreword for the Encyclopedia (dated November 1983), which noted:

Here is a rich background (and foreground) for the Dune Chronicles, including scholarly bypaths and amusing sidelights. Some of the contributions are sure to arouse controversy, based as they are on questionable sources ... I must confess that I found it fascinating to re-enter here some of the sources on which the Chronicles are built. As the first "Dune fan," I give this encyclopedia my delighted approval, although I hold my own counsel on some of the issues still to be explored as the Chronicles unfold.

The nature of The Dune Encyclopedia makes its canonical status somewhat unique; the book is written as an encyclopedia published within the Dune universe itself, edited by "Hadi Benotto," a fictional archaeologist mentioned by Frank Herbert in his novels God Emperor of Dune and Heretics of Dune. Rather than claiming to contain absolute fact about this universe, the Introduction by Benotto notes that "Readers of The Dune Encyclopedia should understand its limitations: it is not designed as a definitive study of the entire eras encompassed by the Atreides Imperium" and that a portion of the (fictional) source material is shaped by the interests and influences of the fictional God Emperor Leto II. In that much of the information (such as the biographical or historical) may then be seen as a possible later interpretation by "historians," within the Dune universe, The Dune Encyclopedia could conceivably be held canon while agreeing that some of its information directly contradicts Herbert's works.

In 1999, McNelly stated that he had proposed to Frank Herbert that they collaborate on a Dune prequel novel, expanding upon the Butlerian Jihad story presented in The Dune Encyclopedia. He noted, "FH and I had discussed writing it together and he agreed with my general plot outline, completed first chapter, and so on but his untimely death prevented us from continuing."

Many of the ideas in The Dune Encyclopedia were contradicted in the later Dune prequel series Prelude to Dune (1999-2001) and Legends of Dune (2002-2004), written after Frank Herbert's death by Brian Herbert (Frank Herbert's son) and Kevin J. Anderson, as well as their additional novels Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), which attempt to complete the original series. Brian Herbert and Anderson have also stated that they found Frank Herbert's own notes after his death, and used them when writing these books.

In response to questions over why the new post-Frank Herbert Dune novels conflicted with The Dune Encyclopedia, the book was declared non-canon on the official Dune website in a letter credited to McNelly, Brian Herbert, and Anderson:

THE DUNE ENCYCLOPEDIA reflects an alternate "DUNE universe" which did not necessarily represent the "canon" created by Frank Herbert. Frank Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, writing with Kevin J. Anderson, IS continuing to establish the canon of the DUNE universe. This is being done with the full approval of the owner of the DUNE copyright, the Herbert Limited Partnership.
While Frank Herbert himself considered THE DUNE ENCYCLOPEDIA interesting and entertaining, he did not refer to Dr. McNelly's derivative work while writing any of his DUNE novels. Likewise, in writing their DUNE novels (beginning with DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES), Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have exclusively used, and will continue to use, Frank Herbert's original notes as well as their own imaginations, and not THE DUNE ENCYCLOPEDIA.