The Emperor's Army Is Much Better With Its Cut Book Backstory
Daniel Foster Dune’s Emperor is protected by the Sardaukar, the Golden Lion Throne’s fanatical army. How did the Sardaukar become such loyal and fearsome fighters?
Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for Dune.
Dune 2021’s Padishah Emperor, Shadam IV of House Corrino, commands a fanatic Imperial army known as the Sardaukar – and they’re even more crucial to the story in the book. While the Dune reboot by Denis Villeneuve has been met with more positive than negative reviews, it eschews many scenes and elements from the book which provide crucial context to the characters and factions. One of these scenes is a long conversation between Duke Leto and Paul Atreides in Caladan before they leave for the planet of Arrakis. This is related to the talk Leto and Paul have in the movie when they were at the Atreides’ ancestral burial grounds atop a hill in Caladan, in which Leto explains the importance of “desert power.”
In the book, Leto explains to Paul that even though they know that Arrakis is a trap set by the Emperor, they need to appear unaware of the trap while planning for the worst. Since the Emperor is involved, this means that the Atreides will need to face the Sardaukar. And it is the military threat of the Sardaukar that prompts Leto to hatch a plan to seek help from the Fremen.
Dune 2021 never explains the backstory of the Sardaukar. But in the books, this conversation between Paul and Leto goes on to reveal this backstory, which is crucial to contextualizing the military prowess of the Fremen of Arrakis. As Paul and Leto discuss, the Imperial Sardaukar come from Salusa Secundus, a prison planet with extremely harsh environmental conditions. Paul asks Leto how the Emperor secures the loyalty of such men. As Leto explains, the Emperor utilizes the mystique of secret covenant, feeds the ego of Sardaukar military superiority, and leverages the esprit of their shared suffering – a combination that has been done “on many worlds in many times.” This leads Paul to realize why his father is so interested in allying with the Fremen of Arrakis. Duke Leto goes on:
“We have there the potential of a corps as strong and deadly as the Sardaukar. It’ll require patience to exploit them secretly and wealth to equip them properly. But the Fremen are there... and the spice wealth is there. You see now why we walk into Arrakis, knowing the trap is there.”
Although Dune 2021 does depict the Sardaukar as a fearsome army, the film only briefly shows the systemic fanaticism in Selusa Secundus. Not only does this missing scene from the book explain how the Sardaukar become lethal fanatics, but it also provides a deeper look into the exploitative side of Duke Leto, who is, after all, a nobleman in Dune’s Imperium. Most importantly, this discussion on the Sardaukar’s backstory explains why the seemingly uncivilized Fremen, who live on an extremely inhospitable planet, can threaten the most feared military force in the Known Universe.
Dune’s Emperor betrays the Atreides to the Harkonnens because the Atreides have developed an army that’s superior to the Sardaukar – but still small enough to eliminate at the time. Duke Leto aimed to even the odds by joining the Atreides army with the Fremen. And if Dune 2021 revealed more of the Sardaukar’s real backstory, maybe the Emperor’s fanatic army would’ve been more memorable.
