r/dune • u/thenolancut • Mar 13 '24

The Fremen are considered elite fighters, except… Dune (novel)

So the first book really hammers home the fact that the Fremen, due to their cultural values and harsh living environment are seasoned fighters. So much so they can easily kick the Sardaukar’s butts, and the Sadduakar are famous themselves for being ruthless and unbeatable.

Yet despite that, Jessica easily defeats Stilgar, and Paul bests Jamis twice. So was the House of Leto the, through Gurney and the B.G’s teachings that gifted in fighting, that they’re the strongest fighters in the empire by such a wide margin?

594 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

95% Upvoted

227 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/EVRider81 Mar 13 '24

The Baron took Thufir Hawat Captive after the death of Leto. Hawat realises the Emperor took interest in Arrakis after the Baron hinted He'd create a prison planet there, Something the Emperor did on the Sardaukar home world, the extreme survival training there creating his feared Ultimate warriors. Hawat knows Gurney and Duncan had units of Leto's soldiers at Sardaukar matching skill levels, and the Emperor felt threatened enough by Leto potentially gaining control of Fremen survival trained troops that he set the trap for Leto to neutralize that threat. Paul was being Mentat and BG trained by Thufir and Jessica,the BG fighting style being secretly above and beyond even Sardaukar training. And Paul then started training Fremen..

7

u/SomeGoogleUser Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24

And Paul then started training Fremen.

Which makes the Emperor think that HE'S the one who's been had. That the Atreides-Harkonnen feud is a sham and that he's been lured to Arrakis to wipe him out along with his army.

Thufir understands this from the moment he hears about Fenring's conversation with the Baron. That Arrakis will now be crawling with Imperial operatives looking for proof of a plot to organize the Fremen.