The Jihad cannot be stopped
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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I mean, I get it, but I always feel like linking trump to fictional villains is not doing him justice. If I remember the books correctly Baron Harkonnen was a somewhat competent dictator.
The Fremen in the books were the finest soldiers in the galaxy. And Baron Harkonnen in the book (and the films) fucked up big time, by being completely unaware of their numbers or their quality.
I am reminded of Putin's expectation of a 3 day special military operation in Ukraine. Baron Harkonnen's intelligence fuckup was arguably even worse.
The spark that rendered the Fremen so dangerous was the arrival of the Lisan Al'Gaib. The seed for that was planted by the Bene Gesserit, who aren't exactly known for being forthcoming with their secrets. And not even the Bene Gesserit seemed to fully appreciate Paul's potential until shit started hitting the 'thopter.
No mentat nor governor could have foreseen the disastrous consequences of a secret plan, upset by an unplanned deviation, escalating upon contact with a people largely hidden from galactic attention.
What the Emperor and Harkonnens did plan was the fall of House Atreides, and that went as smoothly as any plan could go: maneuver the Atreides into an awful position where the limited administrative capacities of a military aristocracy were stretched thin, plant a traitor that should have been incapable of treason, enabling the use of weaponry thought outdated, bolster their forces with elite troops, abduct the Atreides instead of actually killing them to create plausible deniability, make sure that the Bene Gesserit mother doesn't get to use her Voice. They stacked the odds in their favour meticulously.
But any plan is subject to unforeseen deviations, and that deviation was Paul's own command of the Voice, leading to his and his mother's escape from their captors, subsequent escape from the Sardaukar, subsequent survival of the storm and most fatally the awakening of Paul's abilities.
I don't think you can fault any commander for overlooking that the exclusively female Bene Gesserit witches might have trained a male in their art, who might then proceed to survive a storm, find shelter with the savages out there, be hailed their messiah and come lead those undisciplined desert dwellers in a successful assault on a well-kept military force.
The books is actually quite explicit about what makes the Fremen such good fighters - their hard environment shapes them.
From https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Sardaukar
The abilities of the Sardaukar were largely attributed to the harsh environment and brutal discipline they were exposed to on the planet Salusa Secundus, the Corrino prison planet. Only the Fremen, raised in the fanatical warrior culture and merciless desert environment of Arrakis, were capable of matching the Sardaukar. Fremen typically scorned Harkonnen soldiers as cowardly and weak, but judged that the Sardaukar fought well, and even respected them to some degree.
So what makes the greatest fighter in the narrative of the Dune universe is a merciless environment.
In the book, Baron Harkonnen unwittingly scares the emperor by suggesting making Dune a prison planet like Salusa Secundus. The emperor knows that is a way to make the best fighters - Baron Harkonnen did not.
I mean, the Fremen predominantly lived in areas that the rest of the galaxy considered uninhabitable, in sietches hidden in caves, with a better understanding of their planet than anyone else. You can call it a mistake, but how exactly were the Harkonnen's supposed to accurately gauge Fremen manpower? I wouldn't call it a fuckup on their part, more a strength of the Fremens.
Leto sent an advanced team to do some basic recon ahead of their arrival. When they did arrive, they got a report (I believe from Gurney) stating that there were far more Fremen than previously believed.
You can call it a mistake, but how exactly were the Harkonnen’s supposed to accurately gauge Fremen manpower?
Hum... By having any bit of humility and looking.
But that's one point where the book is completely realistic.
Because having incompetent dictators in a narrative would compromise the narrative.
Well because readers would transfer some of that perceived competence onto Trump, so it might not be a bad enough look
It comes full circle. The Fremen culture is inspired from Middle Eastern culture. And the Middle East has the coveted resource needed to run an economy, which Arrakis has plenty of in their universe.
It's almost as if...no...could good fiction be based on real shit?
Not just based on, but descendents of.
Top tier political cartoon.
And Baron Harkonnen was also a depraved kiddy diddler, just a disgusting example of extreme hedonism and amorality. It's super fitting!
But he was intelligent
Fair point, lol.
Right character, I think Kenneth McMillan / David Lynch does the creep factor better
Who's the guy next to Vance?
i forget his name Hegseth, better known as Kegsbreath, is somewhat famous for having that racist titty tattoo.
thanks for pointing out the little one is Vance. I missed that.
Feyd-Rautha
Hegseth.
How could they not tell? The similarity is uncanny
not everyone follow amer***n politics
Yeah I'm confused by the lack of satirical exaggeration there
He doesn't need it. All pictures of Hegseth are unflattering.