Editing Spacing Guild

{{short description|Fictional organization in the Dune franchise created by Frank Herbert}}
{{All plot|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox fictional element
|name            = Spacing Guild
|image           = Guild Navigator-Dune (1984).jpg
|caption         = Mutated Guild Navigator suspended in a tank filled with [[Melange (fictional drug)|spice]] gas, accompanied by Guild agents, as depicted in the [[David Lynch]] film ''[[Dune (1984 film)|Dune]]'' (1984).
|source          = [[Dune (franchise)|Dune]]
|source_type     = franchise
|first           = [[Dune (novel)|Dune]]
|date            = 1965
|creator         = [[Frank Herbert]]
|genre           = [[Science fiction]]
|type            = Organization
|uses            = Controls a monopoly on space travel and banking
}}

The '''Spacing Guild''' is an organization in [[Frank Herbert]]'s [[science fiction]] [[Dune (franchise)|''Dune'' universe]] that possesses a [[monopoly]] on [[interstellar travel]] and banking. '''Guild Navigators''' (alternately '''Guildsmen''' or '''Steersmen'''){{efn|Frank Herbert refers to the Navigators alternately as "Guild Steersmen" beginning with ''Dune Messiah'' (1969). It may also be noted that starting in ''Dune'' (1965), Herbert uses the term "Guildsman" alternately for both Navigators and Guild agents.}} use the drug [[Melange (Dune)|melange]] (also called "the spice") to achieve limited prescience, a form of [[precognition]] that allows them to successfully navigate "[[Holtzman effect|folded space]]" and safely guide enormous [[starship]]s called [[heighliner]]s across interstellar space instantaneously.

The power of the Guild is balanced against that of the [[Padishah Emperor]] as well as of the assembled noble Houses of the [[Landsraad]]. Essentially apolitical, the Guild is primarily concerned with the flow of commerce and preservation of the economy that supports them. Although their ability to dictate the terms of and fees for all transport gives them influence in the political arena, they do not pursue political goals beyond their economic ones.

== Overview ==
In the ''Dune'' series, enormous [[starship]]s called [[heighliner]]s employ a scientific phenomenon known as the [[Holtzman effect]] to "fold space" and thereby travel great distances across the universe instantaneously. Navigators are able to use a limited form of prescience to safely navigate interstellar space. Navigators are humans who mutated through the consumption of and exposure to massive amounts of the drug [[Melange (Dune)|melange]], also known as the spice. Control of these Navigators gives the Spacing Guild its monopoly on interstellar travel and banking, making the organization a balance of power against the [[Padishah Emperor]] and the assembled noble Houses of the [[Landsraad]].<ref name="gr">{{Cite web|url=https://gamerant.com/dune-spacing-guild-explained/|title=''Dune'': The Spacing Guild, Explained|first=Joshua Kristian|last=McCoy|date=February 17, 2024|website=[[Game Rant]]|access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://geopoliticalfutures.com/the-geopolitics-of-dune/|title=The Geopolitics of ''Dune''|first=Jacob L.|last=Shapiro|website=[[Geopolitical Futures]]|date=April 1, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref> In the 1965 novel ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'', [[Paul Atreides]] seizes control of the [[desert planet]] [[Arrakis]], only known source of the spice, turning the Guild's reliance on the spice into leverage over them. Paul demands that Emperor [[Shaddam IV]] relinquish the Imperial throne to him, but looks to the Spacing Guild agents present for the answer. Paul's ability to threaten, or destroy, the flow of spice has rendered Shaddam powerless, and the Guild forces him to capitulate.<ref name="rudd">{{Cite journal|url=https://publish.lib.umd.edu/scifi/article/view/247/23|title=Paul's Empire: Imperialism and Assemblage Theory in Frank Herbert's ''Dune''|first=Amanda M.|last=Rudd|date=January 27, 2016|journal=MOSF Journal of Science Fiction|volume=1|issue=1|via=publish.lib.umd.edu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830103448/https://publish.lib.umd.edu/scifi/article/view/247/23|archive-date=August 30, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Navigators ===
[[File:Guild Navigator Edrik-Hunters of Dune (2006).png|thumb|right|Edrik in his spice tank, as depicted on the cover of ''[[Hunters of Dune]]'' (2006)]]
To enable their prescience, Guild Navigators not only consume large quantities of the spice, but are also continuously immersed in highly concentrated amounts of orange spice gas. This level of extreme and extended exposure causes their bodies to atrophy and mutate over time, their heads and extremities elongating, and causing them to become vaguely aquatic in appearance.<ref name="gr"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/dune-biggest-differences-denis-villeneuve-david-lynch-versions/|title=''Dune'': 10 Biggest Differences Between the 2021 and 1984 Versions|first=Kayleena|last=Pierce-Bohen|date=October 30, 2021|website=[[Screen Rant]]|access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Messiah">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Herbert |title=[[Dune Messiah]] |year=1969 }}</ref> The first external sign of melange-induced metabolic change is visible in the eyes, as the drug tints the [[sclera]] and [[iris (anatomy)|iris]] to a dark shade of blue, called "blue-in-blue" or "the Eyes of Ibad," which is "a total blue so dark as to be almost black." This is a common side effect in all spice addicts.<ref name="Dune">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Herbert |title=[[Dune (novel)|Dune]] |year=1965}}</ref>

In ''Dune'', [[Leto I Atreides|Duke Leto Atreides]] notes that the Guild is "as jealous of its privacy as it is of its monopoly," and that not even their own agents ever see Navigators. Leto's son Paul wonders if they are mutated to the point of no longer appearing human. At the end of the novel, two self-identified Guild Navigators accompanying Emperor Shaddam IV are described as "fat", but not otherwise non-human.<ref name="Dune"/> The Guild Navigator Edric, introduced in the first chapter of ''[[Dune Messiah]]'' (1969), is called a "humanoid fish," and described in his tank of spice gas as "an elongated figure, vaguely humanoid with finned feet and hugely fanned membranous hands—a fish in a strange sea."<ref name="Messiah"/> The Navigators' "elongated and repositioned limbs and organs" are noted in ''[[Heretics of Dune]]''.<ref name="Heretics">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Herbert |title=[[Heretics of Dune]] |year=1984}}</ref> In 1985's ''[[Chapterhouse: Dune]]'', [[Lucilla (Dune)|Lucilla]] notes that "Navigators were forever bathed in the orange gas of melange, their features often fogged by the vapors," that they possess a "tiny v of a mouth" and "ugly flap of nose" and that "mouth and nose appeared small on a Navigator's gigantic face with its pulsing temples." She also notes that their mutated voices require translation devices, describing "the singsong [[ululation]]s of the Navigator's voice with its simultaneous mechtranslation into impersonal [[Galach (Dune)|Galach]]."<ref name="Chapterhouse">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Herbert |title=[[Chapterhouse: Dune]] |year=1985}}</ref>

In an unused passage by Frank Herbert from ''Dune Messiah'' published in ''[[The Road to Dune]]'' (2005), Edric is described as surviving without spice gas once a hole is opened in his tank, though his prescient abilities are practically useless in this state.<ref name="Road to Dune">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Herbert |author2=Brian Herbert |author2-link=Brian Herbert |author3=Kevin J. Anderson |author3-link=Kevin J. Anderson |title=[[The Road to Dune]] |year=2005}}</ref>

== Plotlines ==
=== Original series ===
==== ''Dune'' ====
In ''Dune'' (1965), the Spacing Guild enjoys a profitable monopoly on interstellar travel and commerce. Though powerful, the Spacing Guild has never actively tried to openly seize power over all of humanity and rule directly, instead sharing power with the Emperor and the Great Houses, and influencing events from the shadows. Paul Atreides concludes that the Guild does this out of a belief that any political empire is finite, ending sooner or later. The only way to guarantee their continual existence is to be a "parasite", propping up one imperial dynasty until it collapses, then simply switching to support the next one. At the end of the novel, Paul deposes Padishah Emperor [[Shaddam IV]] by seizing control of Arrakis, the only source of the all-important drug melange. Paul has learned the extent of the Guild's dependence on spice, and that without it they are "blind" and unable to navigate interstellar travel. The Guild is forced to side with Paul, threatening to strand the Emperor and his troops on Arrakis if he does not relinquish the throne.<ref name="Dune"/>

In 'Appendix A' of ''Dune'', Herbert wrote that the Guild, along with the Bene Gesserit order, had been responsible for the standardization of religion in the universe by promoting the adoption of the [[Orange Catholic Bible]] and offering protection to the dissenting theologians who created this book. Nonetheless, in the same appendix, Herbert held that the Guild members themselves were atheists, and only promoted this move to promote a stable societal order from which they could profit.<ref name="Dune"/> Houses of the Imperium may contract with the Guild to be removed "to a place of safety outside the System". Some Houses in danger of ruin or defeat have "become renegade Houses, taking family atomics and shields and fleeing beyond the Imperium".<ref name="Dune"/> The Guild controls a "sanctuary planet" (or planets) known as Tupile, intended for such "defeated Houses of the Imperium ... Location(s) known only to the Guild and maintained inviolate under the Guild Peace".<ref name="Terminology">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Herbert |title=[[Dune (novel)|Dune]] |chapter=Terminology of the Imperium |year=1965}}</ref>

==== ''Dune Messiah'' ====
In ''[[Dune Messiah]]'' (1969), the Navigator [[Edric (Dune)|Edric]] engages in a conspiracy to dethrone Emperor Paul Atreides, joined by the [[Bene Tleilax|Tleilaxu]] [[Face Dancer]] [[Scytale (Dune)|Scytale]], the [[Bene Gesserit]] Reverend Mother [[Gaius Helen Mohiam]], and Paul's embittered consort, [[Princess Irulan]] of [[House Corrino]].<ref name="SR">{{Cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/dune-movie-2021-denis-villeneuve-no-guild-good/|title=Why It's a Good Thing the ''Dune'' Movie Doesn't Include the Guild|first=Adam|last=Felman|date=April 3, 2022|website=[[Screen Rant]]|access-date=October 25, 2022}}</ref> With their endless need for melange, the Spacing Guild has a vested interest in breaking Paul's stranglehold over the spice supply. Edric's involvement also protects the conspirators from discovery, as his prescience hides the activities of himself and those around him from other prescients, like Paul. The plot ultimately fails, and Edric and Mohiam are executed by [[Fremen]] naib [[Stilgar]] on orders from Paul's sister [[Alia Atreides]].<ref name="Messiah"/>

In ''[[Chapterhouse Dune]]'' (1985), a "very powerful" Navigator is described as "one of the Edrics", suggesting a possible breeding plan or use of [[ghola]]s.<ref name="Chapterhouse"/>

==== ''God Emperor of Dune'' ====
In ''[[God Emperor of Dune]]'' (1981), [[Leto II Atreides|God Emperor Leto II]] has secured complete control over of the scarce melange reserves through [[Hydraulic empire|hydraulic despotism]], making the Guild completely dependent on him. He also notes in the novel that though history has attributed the design of the first Guild ship to [[Aurelius Venport]], it was actually Venport's mistress [[Norma Cenva]] who designed it.<ref name="GEoD">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Herbert |title=[[God Emperor of Dune]] |date=1981 }}</ref>

==== ''Heretics of Dune'' and ''Chapterhouse: Dune'' ====
The fifth and sixth novels of the series, ''[[Heretics of Dune]]'' (1984) and ''Chapterhouse: Dune'' (1985), are set 5,000 years after the reign of Paul Atreides, a period that includes 3,500 years of Leto II's reign and 1,500 years following his death. The warlike [[Honored Matres]] have seized control of '''{{visible anchor|Junction}}''', the old Spacing Guild complex above [[Gammu]]. The technocrats of [[Ix (Dune)|Ix]] develop technology that the Ixians and the Administrative faction of the Spacing Guild refer to as "compilers". These compilers perform calculations very similar to computers, nearly violating the prohibitions against "[[thinking machines (Dune)|thinking machines]]" that were imposed following the [[Butlerian Jihad]] several millennia before. These compilers eliminate the need for the Navigators, and the strategic disadvantage that this aspect of melange dependency has become, because the Navigators' abilities are slowly being compromised by the severe reductions in the availability of spice resulting from the destruction of Dune and the sandworms on that planet, and the strict control by the Bene Gesserit, who maintain a monopoly over the largest stockpiles of melange. The prescient rule of Leto II that lasted 3,500 years has shown the universe the perils of prescience, namely that the entire universe can be locked into the vision of a single entity, giving that entity absolute power. The Guild, facing obsolescence and suspicion, couples itself with Ix in decline; Navigators continue to exist, but their importance in the universe is severely diminished.<ref name="Heretics"/><ref name="Chapterhouse"/> As Paul Atreides notes in ''Dune'', it was the Spacing Guild's obsession with the "safe path" that led them "ever into stagnation", and brought on their eventual obsolescence.<ref name="Dune"/>

=== Sequels ===
After publishing six [[Dune prequel series|''Dune'' prequel novels]], Frank Herbert's son [[Brian Herbert]] and author [[Kevin J. Anderson]] released two sequel novels, ''[[Hunters of Dune]]'' (2006) and ''[[Sandworms of Dune]]'' (2007), which complete the original series and wrap up storylines that began with Frank Herbert's ''Heretics of Dune''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/books/review/Itzkoff.t.html|title=Across the Universe: ''Dune'' Babies|last=Itzkoff|first=Dave|date=September 24, 2006|website=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024031606/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/books/review/Itzkoff.t.html|archive-date=October 24, 2015|url-status=live|access-date=October 22, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7653-1293-8|title=''Sandworms of Dune'' Review|website=[[Publishers Weekly]]|date=July 23, 2007|page=40|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017194752/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7653-1293-8|archive-date=October 17, 2014|url-status=live|access-date=October 22, 2022}}</ref> The works were based on a 30-page outline by Frank Herbert for a sequel to ''Chapterhouse Dune'' he dubbed ''Dune 7''.<ref name="AMC notes 2009-08">{{cite web |last=Neuman |first=Clayton |date=August 17, 2009 |url=https://www.amc.com/talk/2009/08/winds-of-dune-a |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921011119/http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/2009/08/brian-herbert-interview.php |archive-date=September 21, 2009 |url-status=live |title=''Winds of Dune'' Author Brian Herbert on Flipping the Myth of Jihad |publisher=AMC |access-date=June 16, 2020}}</ref>

In ''Hunters of Dune'', the Navigator '''Edrik''' fears his kind's obsolescence when the Spacing Guild itself (pressured by a shortage of melange) begins funding the development of superior [[Ix (Dune)|Ixian]] navigation technology that would not require Navigators. Seeking an alternative source of spice to break the Bene Gesserit monopoly, Edrik meets with [[Uxtal]], the last of the [[Lost Tleilaxu]], hoping that he can rediscover the method of producing melange in [[axlotl tank]]s (a secret believed lost when the Bene Tleilax were destroyed by the [[Honored Matres]]). However, Uxtal is in the forced service of the [[Matre Superior]] [[Hellica]], and her price for his expertise is Edrik's help transporting a certain cargo. He agrees, delivering by heighliner the [[Obliterator (Dune)|Obliterators]] that destroy the planet [[Richese]], where the Bene Gesserit are mass-producing weapons and armed battleships. Uxtal is ultimately unsuccessful, but the [[ghola]] he creates of deceased Tleilaxu Master [[Tylwyth Waff|Waff]] later offers Edrik something better in exchange for sanctuary—the genetic knowledge for the Guild to create their own, optimized [[sandworm (Dune)|sandworms]] to produce melange.<ref name="Hunters">{{cite book |last1=Herbert |first1=Brian |author1-link=Brian Herbert |last2=Anderson |first2=Kevin J. |author2-link=Kevin J. Anderson |title=[[Hunters of Dune]] |year=2006}}</ref>

In ''Sandworms of Dune'' (2007), the sequel to ''Hunters'' and finale of the original ''Dune'' series, the Spacing Guild has begun replacing its Navigators with the more cost-effective Ixian navigation devices and cutting off the Navigators' supply of melange. More and more Navigators are dying from withdrawal of the spice—including Ardrae, "one of the oldest remaining Navigators"<ref name="Sandworms 180">{{cite book |last1=Herbert |first1=Brian |author1-link=Brian Herbert |last2=Anderson |first2=Kevin J. |author2-link=Kevin J. Anderson |title=[[Sandworms of Dune]] |year=2007 |publisher=[[Tor Books]] |isbn=978-0-7653-1293-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sandwormsofdune00herb/page/180 180] }}</ref>—and many defect and disappear into space rather than allow the devices on their ships. All are unaware that [[Face Dancer]] infiltrators are behind the plan, plotting their own takeover of the universe.<ref name="Sandworms">{{cite book |last=Herbert |author2=Anderson |title=Sandworms of Dune |year=2007}}</ref> Waff works in secret, hidden on Edrik's own heighliner, on genetically engineering his "advanced" sandworms. He accomplishes this by altering the [[DNA]] of the [[sandtrout]] stage and creating an aquatic form of the worms, which are then released into the oceans of [[Buzzell (Dune)|Buzzell]]. Adapting to their new environment, these "seaworms" quickly flourish, eventually producing a highly concentrated form of spice, dubbed "[[ultraspice]]."<ref name="Sandworms"/> Edrik and the ultraspice are later intercepted by Face Dancer leader [[Khrone]], who seizes the valuable optimized melange. He incapacitates Edrik by damaging his tank and releasing its spice gas, soon destroying the entire heighliner to rid himself of the Navigator altogether.<ref name="Sandworms 217">{{cite book |last=Herbert |author2=Anderson |title=Sandworms of Dune |year=2007|pages=217–218}}</ref>

=== Prequels ===
The ''[[Prelude to Dune]]'' prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Anderson, set immediately before the events of ''Dune'', explores the previously-unexplained process of becoming a Navigator through the story of '''D'murr Pilru'''. D'murr, a human native of the technology-producing planet [[Ix (Dune)|Ix]], goes through the training process and physical transformation to become a full Navigator.<ref name="Prelude">{{cite serial |last1=Herbert |first1=Brian |author1-link=Brian Herbert |last2=Anderson |first2=Kevin J. |author2-link=Kevin J. Anderson |title=[[Prelude to Dune]] |date=1999–2001}}</ref> In ''[[Dune: House Corrino|House Corrino]]'' (2001), D'murr is piloting one of two heighliners which [[Count Fenring]] uses to secretly test the synthetic melange created by the [[Bene Tleilax|Tleilaxu]] in their [[Project Amal]]. The flawed spice disrupts and confuses D'murr's thoughts, feelings and prescience. Disastrously, the first heighliner emerges from foldspace at the wrong point, striking the defensive shields of [[Wallach IX]] and plummeting into the atmosphere to its destruction. Affected by the tainted melange, D'murr misguides his ship out of the known universe and collapses. As his spice supply is replaced with genuine melange, D'murr uses the last of his strength to return the ship safely to Junction, home of the Guild headquarters, before dying.<ref name="House Corrino">{{cite book |last1=Herbert |first1=Brian |author1-link=Brian Herbert |last2=Anderson |first2=Kevin J. |author2-link=Kevin J. Anderson |title=[[Dune: House Corrino]] |year=2001 }}</ref>

In the ''[[Legends of Dune]]'' prequel trilogy (2002–2004) by Brian Herbert and Anderson, unappreciated scientist Norma Cenva creates the [[Holtzman engine]], which allows a ship to fold space, traveling great distances instantaneously. Her future husband, entrepreneur Aurelius Venport, begins mass-producing the ships which are eventually known as heighliners. The technique proves to be unsafe, however, as one in ten flights ends in the ship's destruction due to navigational difficulties. Desperate for a solution, Norma consumes increasing amounts of melange to improve her thinking and concentration. Full immersion in a tank of spice gas deforms her body, but ultimately bestows on her the prescient ability to plot a safe path for a heighliner through foldspace. As the first Navigator, Norma begins a training program to produce enough Navigators to pilot a fleet of heighliners. Over 80 years later, she puts the creation of the Spacing Guild in motion through her descendant, Josef Venport.<ref name="gr"/><ref name="Legends">{{cite serial |last1=Herbert |first1=Brian |author1-link=Brian Herbert |last2=Anderson |first2=Kevin J. |author2-link=Kevin J. Anderson |title=[[Legends of Dune]] |date=2002–2004}}</ref>

After consolidating its hold on the space travel industry during the events of ''[[Sisterhood of Dune]]'' (2012), this company, now called Venport Holdings or VenHold, evolves into the Guild of the later novels. VenHold originally has the monopoly on foldspace travel, granted to Aurelius Venport by [[Serena Butler]]. However, decades after the end of the Butlerian Jihad, Emperor Jules revokes the monopoly in order to curry political favor, resulting in several rival foldspace companies springing up, such as Celestial Transport and EsconTran. These new companies, however, are unable to provide 100% safe transportation due to their lack of Navigators, the creation process of whom is a proprietary secret tightly held by VenHold. Director [[Josef Venport]] ruthlessly crushes the competition and even executes a rival CEO. Josef's desire to restore his family's monopoly and thirst for knowledge put him in conflict with the Butlerians, a radical religious sect that follows the teachings of the late [[Rayna Butler]] under the leadership of [[Manford Torondo]]. Realizing that the weak Emperor [[Salvador Corrino]] is unwilling to crush the Butlerians, Venport lures him out to Arrakis and has him eaten by a sandworm. Unfortunately for him, Salvador's sabotaged ship manages to return to Salusa Secundus and report the truth to the newly-crowned Emperor [[Roderick Corrino|Roderick]], Salvador's brother. Roderick swears vengeance on Venport. Just then, Torondo gets his hands on a cache of atomics, which he uses to obliterate VenHold's main planet. Eventually, imperial forces track down Venport's secret laboratory and invade. Norma offers Josef a chance to survive by becoming a Navigator. She then folds space to the bridge of the imperial flagship and strikes a deal with the Emperor, agreeing to dissolve VenHold in exchange for Roderick sparing her and all her Navigators, and also establishing the Spacing Guild.

== Depictions ==

=== Film and television ===
In [[David Lynch]]'s 1984 film ''[[Dune (1984 film)|Dune]]'', the Navigator's mutation affects his entire body, and he resembles a giant newt or worm with a heavily deformed head, V-shaped mouth and vestigial limbs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2021/09/21/close-reads-the-iconic-weirdness-of-david-lynchs-dune/|title=David Lynch's ''Dune'' Kept Science Fiction Cinema Strange|first=Lincoln|last=Michel|date=September 21, 2021|website=[[Tor.com]]|access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/david-lynch-dune-is-better-weirder-than-you-remember/|title=David Lynch's ''Dune'' Is Better (and Weirder) than You Remember|date=October 26, 2021|website=Digital Trends|access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.duneinfo.com/arrakis/navigators|title=The Spacing Guild Navigators (Photos) |website=Dune: Behind The Scenes|via=duneinfo.com|access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref> The 2000 miniseries [[Frank Herbert's Dune|Frank Herbert's ''Dune'']] portrays the Navigator as a withered figure with a humanoid head, blue-in-blue eyes and arms which have mutated into wings with elongated webbed fingers. The 2003 sequel miniseries [[Frank Herbert's Children of Dune|Frank Herbert's ''Children of Dune'']] presents Edric as a sleek, golden humanoid with an elongated head and limbs, and feathery appendages.<ref name="SR"/> Though Navigators are not present in [[Denis Villeneuve]]'s 2021 film ''[[Dune (2021 film)|Dune]]'', Guild representatives are depicted as humanoids in white, cloaked space suits with opaque helmet visors.<ref name="Empire">{{Cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/dune-spoiler-interview-denis-villeneuve-ending-paul-dreams-and-part-two/|first=Ben|last=Travis|title=''Dune'' Spoiler Interview: Denis Villeneuve on the Ending, Paul's Dreams, and What's Coming in ''Part Two''|website=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|date=November 16, 2021|access-date=October 19, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nerdbot.com/2021/11/19/daily-dune-those-werent-guild-navigators-on-caladan/|title=Daily ''Dune'': Those Weren't Guild Navigators on Caladan|first=Mary Anne|last=Butler|website=NerdBot|date=November 19, 2021|access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref> Villeneuve explained:
{{blockquote|We don't see the Navigators in this first part... I tried to keep all the space-travelling as mysterious as possible, like almost bringing some kind of mysticism or sacred relationship with that part of the movie. Everything involving space is just evocated and very mysterious.<ref name="Empire"/>}}
Writing for ''[[Screen Rant]]'', Adam Felman opined that the limited inclusion of the Guild in Villeneuve's film helped prevent the story from becoming convoluted.<ref name="SR"/>

=== Games ===
The Spacing Guild is a sub-faction in the [[real-time strategy]] video game ''[[Emperor: Battle for Dune]]'' (2001).<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Star |last=Dingo |date=June 21, 2001 |url=http://www.gamepro.com/computer/pc/games/reviews/14850.shtml |title=''Emperor: Battle For Dune'' Review for PC |magazine=[[GamePro]] |publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG Entertainment]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205182122/http://www.gamepro.com/computer/pc/games/reviews/14850.shtml |archive-date=December 5, 2004 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 26, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gamerstemple.com/game-reviews/pc/43/emperor-battle-for-dune-review|title=''Emperor: Battle for Dune'' Review |website=The Gamers' Temple |date=July 19, 2005 |access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref> It has its own private army with which it can back up its demands. The Guild uses its heighliners to transport troops of the three player Houses ([[House Atreides|Atreides]], [[House Harkonnen|Harkonnen]] and [[House Ordos|Ordos]]) from their homeworlds to Arrakis. The Guild also uses its Navigators to pilot their NIAB ("Navigator in a Boat") Tanks, a hover tank that projects a single electrical bolt, and NIAP ("Navigators in a Plane") Flyers, an aerial version of the NIAB Tank, although without any weapons of its own. The NIAB Tank also has the ability to fold-space for short distances on the battlefield.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.g4li.org/emperor-battle-for-dune/niab-tank.html|title=NIAB Tank - ''Emperor: Battle for Dune''|first=Daniel|last=Schnieders|date=July 28, 2022|website=Games for Learning|access-date=October 21, 2022}}</ref> One mission in the game involves the three House attacking each other on a Guild heighliner.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kapalka |first=Jason |url=https://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_206.pdf |title=The Emperor Has No Clue (''Emperor: Battle for Dune'' Review) |magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |issue=206 |date=September 2001 |pages=86–87; 109–115 |access-date=April 26, 2022}}</ref> The Guild forces in the game can also deploy a unit called the Maker, an infantry unit somewhat resembling both a Navigator and a small sandworm, armed with an electrical weapon. Later in the game, the Spacing Guild attempts to seize control of the universe by building an "Emperor Worm".

== Analysis ==
In Herbert's series, the Spacing Guild's exclusive control of interstellar travel effectively grants them unrivaled power over the Emperor, the other noble houses and the economy of the Imperium itself. Paul is able to disrupt this power dynamic by seizing control of spice production on Arrakis, and threating to destroy it. The Guild, and by extension the Emperor, are forced to accept Paul's power over them and capitulate to his demands. This shift allows Paul to further dismantle the existing bureaucratic structures and replace the Emperor's [[Sardaukar]] forces with his own Fremen warriors, fundamentally transforming the political landscape of the Imperium.<ref name="rudd"/>

Herbert depicts the historical relationship between the Guild and the Imperium as fundamentally symbiotic,<ref>{{cite journal |last=DiTommaso |first=Lorenzo |date=November 1992 |title=History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' |journal=[[Science Fiction Studies]] |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=311–325 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4240179 |access-date=April 22, 2025}}</ref> and makes both reliant in one way or another on the spice, a metaphor for the finite resource of [[petroleum|oil]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Herbert |contributor-first=Brian |contributor-last=Herbert |contributor-link=Brian Herbert |title=[[Dune (novel)|Dune]] |contribution=Afterword by Brian Herbert |year=1965 |edition=[[Amazon Kindle]] |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |page=876 |isbn=978-1-101658-05-5}}</ref> He employs the concept of [[hydraulic empire|hydraulic despotism]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Economics and Literature: A Novel Approach |chapter=Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' |first=Mark |last=Koyama |editor-first1=François |editor-last1=Bourguignon |editor-first2=Avinash K. |editor-last2=Dixit |editor-first3=Luc |editor-last3=Leruth |editor-first4=Jean-Philippe |editor-last4=Platteau |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=H4xZEQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT350&dq=hydraulic+despotism+dune&ots=AiJCNzHS6l&sig=Hc8b12WYAjO90outnDdwUSnD9jw#v=onepage&q=hydraulic%20despotism%20dune&f=false |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-032-87765-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|url=https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/171234|title=Frank Herbert's Dune from the Ecocritical perspective|first=Giang|last=Duong Phuc|date=January 20, 2022|pages=25–26|publisher=[[Charles University]] Digital Repository|access-date=May 7, 2025|via=dspace.cuni.cz}}</ref> describing it in ''God Emperor of Dune'' as "when a substance or condition upon which life in general absolutely depends can be controlled by a relatively small and centralized force."<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Herbert |title=[[God Emperor of Dune]] |date=1981 |edition=[[Amazon Kindle]] |publisher=[[Ace Books]] |page=74 |isbn=978-1-440631-97-9}}</ref>

John C. Smith analyzes the concept of the Guild in the essay "Navigators and the Spacing Guild" in ''[[The Science of Dune]]'' (2008).<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Kevin R.|editor-last=Grazier|editor-link=Kevin Grazier|title=[[The Science of Dune]]: An Unauthorized Exploration into the Real Science Behind Frank Herbert's Fictional Universe|series=Psychology of Popular Culture|year=2008|location=Dallas, TX|publisher=[[BenBella Books]]|isbn=978-1-933771-28-1|chapter=Navigators and the Spacing Guild|author1-first=John C.|author1-last=Smith|pages=[https://archive.org/details/scienceofduneuna00graz/page/151 151–166]}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Dune franchise}}

[[Category:Dune (franchise) organizations]]
[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1965]]
[[Category:Fictional organizations]]