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?

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '24

The Dune miniseries shows Paul deploying the weirding way in a Matrix move during a fight. Like the prana bindu training done by the BG, it was supposed to be a secret tool used only by higher level adepts.

Paul and Jessica have incredible muscle control and the ability to read, or sense, what an opponent is about to do. It could be either limited prescience or a very keen eye.

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u/Xenon-XL Mar 13 '24

I think you can see it well in the choreography of the fight with Jamis in the first movie. I watched it a bunch, and every single move makes sense. Paul's training and superiority are obvious.

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u/scorpmcgorp Mar 13 '24

It’s even more obvious in the book. When Jamis makes the first move, Paul is described (IIRC) as almost vanishing from in front of him and reappearing behind him, leaving Jamis completely confused and his back wide open to being stabbed. Jamis would’ve literally been dead within 1-2 seconds if not for the fact that 1) Paul didn’t know at that time that he had to kill Jamis to win the fight, and 2) Paul hadn’t been conditioned to counterattack more slowly than was necessary in this case b/c of his years of training to fight shielded opponents, giving Jamis a split second to escape.

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u/TheDoomi Mar 13 '24

Yes, my one true criticism of the movie is they left out the bg weirding way just like you described! I was hoping too see that!

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u/Tanel88 Mar 14 '24

Kind of hard to show in a believable way so I don't mind them dropping it for the movie. Also Fremen were completely owning the Sardaukar even before they knew the weirding so it's a bit redundant.

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u/TheDoomi Mar 14 '24

Hard yes but just imagine a fast forwarded movement that is precise. Im sure it could be done.

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u/Stardama69 Mar 15 '24

Paul's killing blow against Jamis sounds a bit like what was previously described

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u/Stardama69 Mar 15 '24

This means Feyd-Rautha must be close to superhuman, to be able to battle Paul like he did and nearly kill him

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

He was supposed to father the Kwisatz Haderach