Dune: The Weird Thing About Gholas

Everything in dune is weird. But thats why we love it.

Duncan Idaho: I'm real tired boss

I like to think that the Tleilaxu USED to grow them to a full adulthood until Duncan proved that the Ghola could have their memories awakened. Then after that happened, they started to experiment with it, and found that there would be specific points in life that would work best, and that those points had steps leading up to them which needed to be recreated, ultimately finding that raising Gholas from infancy in a strictly controlled environment which walked those Ghola children through these steps would lead to the best results. But that's my headcannon, completely unsupported by the books.

I always assumed that the first Idaho Ghola was reanimated. They used his corpse and brought him back. Did people think of otherwise?

Yeah, i accidentally laughed out loud in the theater when Duncan died. His first step on a loooong streak...

I’m sure, with the first two books being published in the 60s, that the original Duncan Ghola was a reanimated Frankenstein like corpse. Then the later books being published in the late 70s and early 80s, coincided with events like the first “Test Tube Baby” in 1978 along with more advanced scientific and public understanding of how cells, DNA, and Genetics worked. Herbert changed how Gholas could be made along with advances in scientific understanding of what was biologically and technologically possible.

The revelation of what the axolotl tanks were was one of the single best shocks of my Dune experience, ever. I remember jumping up and down reading that 30 years ago.

I feel sorry for Duncan Idaho. No one will just let him die.

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Duncan has come back to life so many times that he's an honorary Marvel character