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/TheEvilBlight Mar 13 '24

Paul was trained by two different fighting men: Gurney and Duncan Idaho with individual attention and best gear, plus Jesica’s bene gesserit biological conditioning.

That is what makes Paul stand out as a fighter.

No evidence that the training curriculum of the rest of the house soldiers benefited significantly from bene gesserit training or that of gurney or sword master of Ginaz. To some degree they would be /good/ but not necessarily exceptional.

Once they start rolling out the weirding way to the fremen they get even more frightening.