History Headscratchers / Dune

** Well, the way this troper interperets it is; the life on Arrakis is so spartan and harsh that it has instillied an almost superhuman level of discipline in the Fremen (there is a reference in one of the quotes in the beignning of the chapter that they had mastered the art of "the pause between wanting a thing and the reaching out for that thing"). This life had also created a close tribal bond where each Fremen instinctively puts the welfare of the sietch before their own (didn't one kamikaze a Harkonnen troop transport during the invasion of Arrakis, casually sacrificing himself to kill 300 enemy soldiers). Essentially, Fremen life from birth has the same physical and mental effect as the rigoruous training of elite military units like paratroopers and Special Forces. Secondly, constant exposure to the spice in the air and food from the Arrakis environment has developed the latent psyhic abilities of the Fremen, though they aren't aware of it (it's known as the "Tau" or sense of oneness within the community). This would contribute to their remarkable unit cohesion (which accounts for their fighting prowess) but also makes them unusually intelligent (Pauls sees a classroom of Fremen children being taught basic scientific oncepts, and it's implied that they pick these up very quickly), which would account for their adaptability. It's these qualities that turn the Fremen ito a BadassArmy.

** It may also bear clarification that using is wife as leverage is not what actually broke the conditioning. Feyd Rautha knew about Wanna, but the Baron was still close–mouthed about exactly ''how'' the broke Yueh. The Harkonnens just used Wanna as leverage after Yueh was broken, and therefore susceptible to normal methods of manipulation. (Though this troper would guess that some interaction between the Imperial Conditioning and whatever Bene Gesserit skills Wanna employed against him is what provided the chink in his conditioning. For example, as this troper read it, Thufir Hawat wasn't surprised that Wanna was Yueh's wife, or that the Harkonnens had killed her... but that she was a Bene Geserit, which opened up new possibilities for his Mentat mind to consider.)

** While not explained, its not necessarily a hole. [[spoiler: Alia was able to project thoughts into Paul's consciousness in the first book. She describes it as something "Not even [Paul] can do".]] She's a bit out there.

** Not only would telling them not to do it have had no effect, at a certain point he makes it clear nothing short of his own death, the death of his mother and the death of everyone who knew about him amongst the Fremen with him would be enough to stop it. Why is that? Good question. Perhaps its meant as a commentary on how the movement surrounding a 'Messiah' tends to take on a life of its own which eclipses the individual at its center. Paul himself never gives a clear answer as to why 'Hey, guys, don't commit a genocidal Jihad in my name' wouldn't have been enough, but clearly for the book's purposes it would not have been.

* The Harkonnen military are one of the best funded and equipped militaries in the galaxy. The Harkonnens are not above using lasguns, firearms and artillery. The Sardaukar might have 'atrophied' but are all the product of at least 20 years of military focused training on a death world where nearly half of all recruits do not make it. So how come they are bested by a bunch of untrained - if savage and combative - tribesmen even before Paul and Jessica teach them the weirding way. [[/folder]]

* The Harkonnen military are one of the best funded and equipped militaries in the galaxy. The Harkonnens are not above using lasguns, firearms and artillery. The Sardaukar might have 'atrophied' but are all the product of at least 20 years of military focused training on a death world where nearly half of all recruits do not make it. So how come they are bested by a bunch of untrained - if savage and combative - tribesmen even before Paul and Jessica teach them the weirding way. [[/folder]]

[[folder: Jessica reaction to painting of Leto I]]
* Why Jessica has a strong negative reaction, up to not wanting to eat in the dining room because of the portrait of Leto I? (book only)

* The Harkonnen military are one of the best funded and equipped militaries in the galaxy. The Harkonnens are not above using lasguns, firearms and artillery. The Sardaukar might have 'atrophied' but are all the product of at least 20 years of military focused training on a death world where nearly half of all recruits do not make it. So how come they are bested by a bunch of untrained - if savage and combative - tribesmen even before Paul and Jessica teach them the weirding way. [[/folder]]

When Paul first tries to fight in the Fremen way he's at a disadvantage because his reflexes are trained to fight shielded opponents. Why don't the Fremen have the same problem in reverse when they become Paul's army and have to fight enemies who have shields? Note that the Fremen are baffled by Paul's fighting style, so they aren't even familiar with anti-shield techniques in theory. Even if Paul tries training them in anti-shield techniques, how much use is that going to be with no actual experience in using them?[[/folder]]

* One of the points of the books is that the Fremen are tough because of their environment. They also know the ways of the desert. However, how does that make them an effective army on other planets, which are not {{Single Biome World}}s? If anything, the local forces would be more effective in environments like plains, woods, swamps, or snow. Especially since they mostly rely on guerilla tactics, and those require intimate knowledge of the area. You can't go from a guerilla force to a conventional army at the drop of a hat. The beginning of the ''Children of Dune'' miniseries also shows them fighting on other worlds while still wearing the traditional desert robes. Not very effective combat clothing outside of the desert.

* Duke Leto and Thufir Hawat were confident that they ''were,'' even with the Emperor secretly allied with the Harkonnens. Their failure was to understimate just how much their opponents were willing to spend to destroy them.

*** Because you've fallen into the trap of assuming Paul is a hero. He's not: he's a villain who knows he's a villain and doesn't want to be. By the time of the second book, he has become the figurehead of arguably the most genocidal regime in known human history (even comparing himself to Hitler at one point, in a very bitter tone), knows that [[spoiler: Chani is going to die]], and is also aware that, if he is to actually follow through on a path that will lead to the betterment of humanity (and it's survival), he will have to become even worse than he is now (essentially, becoming what Leto II became). He's broken by end of the novel, because he's had to do and endure more than anything he was ever prepared to face.

*** ''Chapterhouse: Dune'' progresses primarily along three narrative axes. The first axis is the juxtaposition of an Other-Memory-mediated-jury-monitored-democracy (the Bene Gesserit) in which everyone automatically knows their place and knows what to do (because Other Memory) and everyone constantly monitors everyone else for signs of deviance (which they can automatically detect, because Other Memory) with a runaway entrenched bureaucracy (the Honored Matres) in which the military and the civil service have joined hands, full of sloppy, undisciplined leaders who can't make decisions and look for scapegoats. The second axis of ''Chapterhouse'' is an evolutionary arms race of sorts: [[spoiler: Sheeana's immunity to the Honored Matres' sexual bonding, Teg's ability to see no-ships (a new form of prescience), and Duncan's ability to reach outside of Time for information (including the memories of Duncan Idaho gholas whose cells DID NOT go into his making)]] are all new traits that will give humans who possess them an evolutionary advantage against humans who do not possess them. In short, creation never stops; the human form is unfixed. The third narrative axis by which ''Chapterhouse'' can be interpreted is [[spoiler: the influence of the advanced Face Dancers (represented by Marty and Daniel) who drove the Honored Matres back into the Old Empire. Advanced Face Dancers are complete prana-bindu mimics who can acquire memories from multiple people over time. These Face Dancers eventually acquire enough memories to become independent of Tleilaxu Masters and, somehow, exert control over the destination of a no-ship (perhaps because they, like Teg, can see no-ships). Duncan is only able to circumvent their control by erasing his no-ship's data and forcing it to make a [[BlindJump ''random'' space-fold: unpredictable and therefore uncontrollable]].

** Think about the phrase "He who controls the spice, controls the universe." Acquiring the resources for a universe-wide jihad wouldn't have been a problem for someone who could bargin with literally the most valuable commodity known to man.[[/folder]]

** Think about the phrase "He who controls the spice, controls the universe." Acquiring the resources for a universe-wide jihad wouldn't have been a problem for someone who controlled literally the most valuable thing known to man.[[/folder]]

* After Paul gains the allegiance of the Fremen, he launches a twelve-year jihad across the settled universe. The thing is, to wage a successful war it's not enough to have excellent soldiers. It's a lot, but it's not enough. You need a huge logistics operation to support your army, and even if the resources of House Atreides are still intact they don't seem like they'd be sufficient for the purpose. Think about the sheer number of ships required to transport tens of millions of people, think about all the equipment they'd need, think about how hard it would be to maintain supply chains across interstellar distances. How is this possible?[[/folder]]

* After Paul gains the allegiance of the Fremen, he launches a twelve-year jihad across the settled universe. The thing is, to wage a successful war it's not enough to have excellent soldiers. It's a lot, but it's not enough. You need a huge logistics operation to support your army, and even if the resources of House Atreides are still intact they don't seem like they'd be sufficient for the purpose. Think about the sheer number of ships required to transport tens of millions of people, think about all the equipment they'd need, think about how hard it would be to maintain supply chains across interstellar distances. How is this possible?