"It is said that the Duke Leto blinded himself to the perils of Arrakis, that he walked heedlessly
into the pit.
Would it not be more likely to suggest he had lived so long in the presence of extreme
danger he misjudged a change in its intensity?
Or is it possible he deliberately sacrificed himself that his son might find a better life?
All evidence indicates the Duke was a man not easily hoodwinked" ~ Frank Herbert - Dune
As the plans within plans are deployed from the various corners of the imperium in the
early parts of Frank Herbert’s Dune saga, the first time reader can easily miss or fail
to fully realize the motivations and intentions of each individual as these often intricate
schemes unfold.
This is certainly the case with Duke Leto as he knowingly walks into a trap placed for
him by the Imperial House Corrino and their rival House Harkonnen.
In this video, I’d like to discuss what Duke Leto’s plan was in accepting the trojan
horse gift of the assignment of the stewardship of Arrakis and what his strategy revealed
about his brilliance as a leader and tactician.
Spoiler warning if you are unfamiliar with Frank Herbert’s Dune series.
As the book itself indicates, at first glance it may appear as though Duke Leto severely
overestimated his ability to avoid the demise of his house.
However a closer examination reveals several key details in the Duke’s plan that, if
given enough time, could have worked to secure House Atreides position in the seat of power
on Arrakis and would have ensured his survival.
In developing their plan to protect their newly granted fiefdom of Dune, Leto was able
to benefit from having surrounded himself with many formidable military strategists
including one of the most renowned minds in the universe, the Atreides Mentat Master of
Assassins Thufir Hawat.
Because of this, the Duke was able to foresee the trap laid before them which gave him a
leg up in formulating a plan to unravel it.
As Leto points out to his son Paul, “Knowing where the trap is - that's the first step
in evading it.”
Refusing to be blinded by prejudice, the Duke wisely recognized the desert power held by
the Fremen of Arrakis as a formidable countermeasure which could be used to defend against a potential
Harkonnen assault.
The fact that the Atreides and the Fremen both harbored a particular hatred for the
Harkonnens made a prospective alliance between these two forces all the more possible.
The true might and power of the Fremen had also been greatly underestimated by most in
the Imperium with the Harkonnens believing their population to be merely in the thousands,
when in reality, the Fremen numbered into the millions.
Wisely, Leto deployed the swordmaster Duncan Idaho ahead of their journey to Dune in order
to begin establishing good relations with the Fremen.
This move was certainly a calculated risk as without the Fremen’s assistance House
Atreides would be no match for the combined might of the Imperial Sardaukar and Harkonnen
forces.
However, as was proven with Paul’s rise to Imperial power as the leader of the Fremen,
had they been able to rally these desert warriors by the time the Harkonnens launched their
assault, the Duke’s gamble would have been well worth the risk.
One major hurdle which the Atreides had to overcome on Arrakis was the pitiful state
of the spice harvesting infrastructure that they were intended to use.
While the worn-out equipment was left intentionally to hamstring the Atreides’ ability to meet
their spice quotas, the Duke proved himself cunning in offsetting this setback by his
work to win over the loyalty of the smugglers who themselves were already running an impressive
spice harvesting operation of their own.
His arrangement with the smugglers would ensure no resistance to their operations from the
Duke and would enable the Atreides to gather additional income from the collection of a
ducal tithe.
There were however a few critical miscalculations which cemented his fate and facilitated the
initial fall of House Atreides.
Because the Atreides had been so successful in garnering the undying loyalty of so many
notable figures in the Imperium, it was almost unthinkable that someone within the Duke’s
inner circle could be persuaded to betray him.
Add to this the fact that the traitor was the Suk Doctor Wellington Yueh, his treachery
turned out to be a blindspot that not even the greatest and most astute mentat could
detect.
As a Suk doctor, Yueh had been conditioned to a point where it was believed to be impossible
for him to take a human life.
Subsequently, Suk Doctors such as Yueh were among the most trusted individuals in service
to the houses of the Landsraad.
Ultimately, Yueh’s love for his Bene Gesserit wife along with several other factors aligned
to form a lever, which the Baron’s cunning twisted mentat Piter De Vries skillfully used
to break the Doctor’s conditioning.
Had it not been for Yueh’s betrayal, the Atreides very well may have been able to thwart
House Harkonnen’s initial attack through the implementation of Duke Leto’s plan.
Another critical miscalculation made by the Duke and his advisors were the estimated costs
that the Baron would be willing to incur in order to launch what ended up being an absolutely
overwhelming assault.
Given the exorbitant prices the Spacing Guild was charging for transport, it was estimated
by Thufir Hawat that the combined size of the Harkonnen and Sardaukar forces would only
amount to 4 or 5 battalions.
Therefore, the Duke was planning on having 5 battalions of fremen troops ready to assist
the Atreides forces by the time of their first CHOAM audit.
However, the force sent to Arrakis by the Baron was said to be more than a hundred brigades,
some ten legions which was far greater than their estimates.
Thufir concluded that the entire spice income of Arrakis for fifty years might just cover
the cost incurred by the Harkonnens to facilitate an attack of this size.
The Baron himself confirmed this to his nephew Beast Rabban when he told him that if they
were to squeeze Arrakis for every cent it could give them for sixty years, they’d
just barely recover from the expense.
The final unforeseen factor which served to undermine the Duke’s plan to secure Arrakis
was his failure to predict just how soon the Harkonnens would launch their assault.
Leto assumed that with their reduced capacity for spice harvesting, the Emperor would likely
wait until after the Atreides failed the first CHOAM audit before he would support the Harkonnen’s
move against their house.
Therefore the Duke’s expected timeframe for the assault was months, however the raid
on Arrakeen ended up taking place within a matter of days to weeks.
Although they suffered a tremendous defeat in the raid, the Atreides were successful
in launching a counter attack on Giedi Prime, destroying the Harkonnen’s spice hoards.
This resulted in a greatly weakened House Harkonnen as they struggled to contend with
their newfound bankruptcy.
Thereafter they continued to suffer many losses at the hands of the fremen led by the young
Duke Paul Atreides and the heir to the Harkonnen barony would eventually meet his demise by
Paul's own blade.
Altogether, it's safe to assume that the Duke’s plan would have worked had it not been for
those few unforeseen and largely unprecedented factors.
While Leto could have refused the Emperor’s orders, taken his house atomics and gone renegade,
that course would have left an indelible stain on the Atreides noble bloodline and would
have greatly diminished the chances of a better life for his son.
After realizing their assignment for the death sentence it was, Leto lovingly spent his final
days reinforcing the best qualities in his young son, helping him to become a morally
good, compassionate man.
Those precious moments no doubt inspired Paul to carry on fearlessly in his father’s footsteps
as he effectively implemented his plan.
Seeking to lead the Fremen to victory over the evil House Harkonnen, to usurp the emperor
and to place House Atreides in the seat of ultimate power in the universe.
But I’m curious to know what you think of Duke Leto’s plan.
What do you think this reveals about the Duke’s qualities and characteristics?
Are there any particular factors that led to their initial defeat that stand out as
more significant than any others?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
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Thank you all so much for your support and as always have a very nerdy day.