At the conclusion of “Dune: Part One,” Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) alongside his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), encounter the Fremen in the harsh terrain of Arrakis. During this first meeting, a Fremen named Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) challenges Paul to a fatal knife duel. As they stand poised for combat, Jamis utters the phrase, “May thy knife chip and shatter.”

Jump ahead to the finale of “Dune: Part Two.” Paul has managed to topple the Padishah Emperor’s forces with an army of formidable Fremen and is preparing to engage Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) in another life-or-death knife fight. This time, it’s Paul who delivers the chilling words, “May thy knife chip and shatter.” Feyd-Rautha, entertained, echoes the phrase back to him, and the two proceed with their deadly encounter.

At first glance, the ancient phrase seems like a simple, dismissive battlefield taunt, implying the speaker’s anticipation of the adversary’s fall. Yet, “chip and shatter” also holds a deeper significance: it encapsulates Paul’s evolution as both a leader and an integrated member of Fremen society.

When Jamis first utters the line to him, Paul is the exiled heir to House Atreides. His world is in shambles, and he’s never even killed a man in combat. When it comes time for Paul to utter the words in his own turn (the timeline between the two events is technically relatively small — a major change compared to the books — but long enough), Paul Muad-Dib has become a calculating leader and a stone-cold killer. He has also become one with his new people and is able to correctly use their cultural idioms.

As with all cinematic adaptations, Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” movies have moments where they wander from the source material. In most areas, though, the pair of films is remarkably faithful to Frank Herbert’s landmark novel, including the use of the “chip and shatter” line in the final fight. This scene also takes place within a handful of pages of the end of the book, the same way it more or less closes out the movie. Here’s what the book says right before the pair square off: “‘Is the Atreides ready?’ Feyd-Rautha called, using the words of the ancient kanly ritual. Paul chose to answer him in the Fremen way: ‘May thy knife chip and shatter!'”

To be fair, we don’t get Feyd-Rautha’s cheeky mimicry in the book version, but overall, the two scenes — one on paper, the other on the silver screen — are remarkably similar. They also bear that same weight of storytelling nuance that indicates Paul’s shift toward identifying as a Fremen, an adjustment that continues to define him from here to the (kind-of) end of his days.

Paul’s adoption of the Fremen ways, culture, and vernacular is fun, and the desert people’s transparent, honor-bound culture makes it easy to see the shift almost as a redemptive arc for the rising Atreides exile. But Paul’s integration into the Fremen is calculated and focused on opportunity as much as anything else. Though he has some hesitations due to his violent visions, by the end of the movie, the boy has become a warlord and emperor.

In other words, this isn’t the story of a noble hero rising from the ashes. It is one of an anti-hero burning with the horrifying power of a true phoenix. Paul Muad’dib Atreides doesn’t end “Dune: Part Two” as a hero. He unleashes a bloodthirsty, galaxy-wide war.

This is, once again, an accurate reflection of the source material — and perhaps even truer to the author’s original intent. Director Denis Villeneuve has pointed out that the way readers initially saw Paul when the book came out was actually off-target for author Frank Herbert. “He was disappointed by how people perceived Paul Atreides,” Villeneuve told ScreenRant, “At the time, he felt that people were talking about Paul as a hero, and for him, he was an anti-hero. He was a dark figure. The book was a warning for him about a Messianic figure.”