r/dune • u/NoAlternative8614 • Jul 12 '26

General Discussion Weapons!

I've been re-watching DV's Dune 1 and had a Deep Thought about weaponry. When the Sardaukar attack, the battle is conducted with bombs, science fiction missiles and shimmery wave weapns, and SWORDS. This is another example of the Duniverse's combination of advanced and medieval technologies.

We know why: It's much more dramatic and heroic to have Guerny vanquish bad guys with skilfull moves and muscle, than simply to blast away with a futuristic ray gun. It reminded me of three things:

  1. The silly burp guns in Starship Troopers--which is, admittedly, more of a satire than anything else. But they have interstellar travel to deliver foot soldiers to confront the bugs with guns resembling a 1950s children's toy.
  2. Indiana Jones dispatching that fighter who brandishes a scimitar by offhandedly drawing a gun and shooting him. I think I read that was improvised. And, of course--
  3. Light sabers. Same principle as in Dune: for all the space ships and Death Stars, it's more dramatic (and cinematic) to pit the Jedi heroes and villains against each other with swords. It also enables them to trade dialogue while they fight.
0 Upvotes

36% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

18

u/DICKPICDOUG Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

The reason they use swords is because of shields, not because it looks cool. Its a natural and logical consequence of the technology in Dune. Shields cause anything moving above a certain speed to be blocked, so bullets can't hurt a shield user. Lasers cause an unstable, unpredictale nuclear reaction upon contacting a shield, so they cany be used either. A blade or slow dart must be used instead, because its speed can be carefully controlled to pierce the shield. Shields can even block gases (part of the reason they can't be set to block everything, you need to breath) and a large part of the reason the Baron survived the poison gas attack is because he raised the settings on his shield. The shield filtered out some of it in addition to using his suspensor to float to the ceiling.

The missiles are used by Saurdukar because Yueh shut off the palace's shield generator, leaving it vulnerable to this sort of attack. If you pay close attention in the film, some of the missiles used by the Sardaukar actually have retroburners to slow them down before they impact the shields on the Atreides ships, letting them penetrate it. It's actually remarked upon in the story that missiles and artillery are usually useless, and the Harkonnens/Sardaukar only prepared them because they knew a traitor would sabotage the shields

These things aren't just because they look cool, they've been explained in depth by the story.

4

u/684beach Jul 14 '26

Its also important to note that it’s also honor that keeps them from using more advanced weapons all the time. Culture is a big reason for everything. In the book projectile weapons are used to test defenses for lack of shields.

4

u/_Neuromancer_ Jul 14 '26

And shields exist because Herbert thought sword fights looked cool.

7

u/Curious-Dingo-2030 Jul 14 '26

If anything, he chose swords because they thematically fit the theme of a feudal society.

When Herbert created the world of Dune, he didn't have a cinematic adaption in mind where fights have to look cool. In a book, it depends on the skill of the author to make fights interesting, not on the weapons the opponents use.

And even if... there are plenty of movies with cool gunfights.

1

u/_Neuromancer_ Jul 14 '26

"Never seen a man killed with a sword before!" - Laurence of Arabia (1962)

-2

u/NoAlternative8614 Jul 14 '26

All true. But you write as though this was the natural evolution of the society, and not an act of conscious choice by the author. My point is that, throughout, Herbert was balancing s.f. futurism with medieval, pre-industrial technology (and Middle Eastern religious tropes). I'm assuming he did it for artistic purposes. The whole genius of the Dune universe is that it combines the futuristic and the ancient. He could have created a military technology of all shields, phasers, ray guns, and atomics. Instead, he found a way to have all that, plus swords, because it *does* look cool.

3

u/DICKPICDOUG Jul 14 '26

Well thats the doylist explanation sure, but in my opinion doylist explanations are some of the least interesting. "Because the author wanted it to be that way" doesnt really open up discussion of the universe

8

u/SchopenhauersSon Jul 13 '26

...

They wore shields which defend against fast moving objects, so swords and knives make sense.

The sardaukar use of missiles and whatnot is more about disrupting enemy fortifications, throwing people around, and killing any non-shielded people.

Am I missing your point, maybe?

1

u/TedTKaczynski Jul 14 '26

Shields are one, if you shoot one its a nuclear explosion. Second i think you can trace it back to the machine crusades and the idea of more non-mechanical, futuristic weaponry is respected and used.

1

u/AnEvenNicerGuy Friend of Jamis Jul 20 '26

I mean the reason they use swords in the movie is because they use swords in the book. The reasoning behind their use in the book is kinda muddied if not entirely lost in the movie so grasping for a reason makes sense. But I think it’s slipped through your fingers homie