A major message at the heart of Frank Herbert’s
Dune is a warning against messiahs and mankind’s tendency to blindly follow charismatic leaders. As the author himself stated, the character
of Paul Atreides was intentionally designed to be a charismatic and attractive person
for all the right reasons. Then, after power comes to him, he is forced
to make decisions, the consequences of which result in the deaths of billions. This catastrophic loss of life is brought
about through the triggering of an interplanetary war known as Muad’dib’s Jihad. In this video I’d like to examine this jihad,
what led up to it and how it fundamentally transformed the known universe of Frank Herbert’s
Dune. Spoiler warning as I will be discussing significant
events occurring throughout the Dune Series. While the arc of the first novel can largely
be viewed as a survival story for Paul Atreides, as he seeks to restore his House to the seat
of power on Arrakis, the steps he takes to do so effectively cement his status as a god
among his supporters. In order to gain such support in the first
place, Paul would rely on the religious engineering performed generations earlier by the black
arm of the Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit on Arrakis. These efforts, by the Missionaria Protectiva,
ensured that a member of their order would be able to take advantage of the affected
subjects in order to gain protection or for any other purpose required. Paul’s mother the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica
was well aware of the Sisterhood’s work on Arrakis and immediately began noticing
signs of manufactured superstition and messianic prophecy after their arrival. From the moment the Fremen set eyes on the
young Paul Atreides, rumor began to spread of the possible appearance of their Mahdi,
the offworld messiah who they believed would lead them to paradise. Jessica proved herself skillful in her manipulation
of the myths and prophecies of the Fremen, being careful to speak in a way which reinforced
these beliefs while allowing the Fremen to convince themselves of his authenticity. While the exploitation of the religious fervor
of the Fremen ensured Paul and Jessica’s short term survival after the Atreides suffered
their initial defeat on Arrakis, their actions served as a catalyst for the Fremen’s bloody
Jihad which would fundamentally reshape the power structure of the known universe. After gaining asylum among the Fremen, Paul
and his mother were quick to integrate and cement their place in the tribe of Stilgar,
with Jessica inheriting the position of Reverend Mother, serving as a spiritual leader for
sietch Tabr. Given the preconceptions held by many of the
Fremen, Paul quickly settled into a position of leadership among them. He then trained them in the weirding way of
the Bene Gesserit, enabling the Fremen to evolve into an incredibly lethal and unstoppable
force. With the Prana Bindu training they received
from learning the weirding way, the Fremen were successful in achieving several major
victories in their ongoing war against their hated enemies, the Harkonnens. Their war against these oppressors resulted
in a disruption of Spice production, a most serious threat to the powers of the Imperium. Consequently, in order to get a handle on
the situation the Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV took it upon himself to travel to Arrakis
along with his mighty Sardaukar warriors. Until that time the Sardaukar were widely
renowned as the greatest warriors in the known universe, however by the time of the events
of Dune, their ferocity had been undermined by arrogance, overconfidence and the increase
of cynicism in their ranks. Therefore, under Paul's leadership, the Fremen
were easily able to defeat House Corrino’s Sardaukar enabling the young Atreides to challenge
and usurp the Emperor, taking his place on the Golden Lion throne. This victory served to fuel the religious
fervor among the Fremen, strengthening their faith that Paul was in fact their chosen one
who would make the golden flower blossom in the night, the one who would facilitate the
great change they had been promised for generations. With their zeal at an all time high, the Fremen,
led by Paul’s elite Fedaykin warriors exploded across the universe in a violent and bloody
Jihad, seeking to force upon the masses the religion of Muad’dib and to put to death
any who fought to resist it. As a result, entire religious systems were
wiped out, ninety planets were sterilized and an estimated 61 billion lives were lost. This left an indelible mark on humanity at
large as it was reformed and brought into the shining light of the Emperor Muad’dib. Although they were initially driven by religious
ideologies, the Jihad for many became a source of strange experiences, adventure and wealth. Given that their lives had previously been
confined to the strict discipline and limitations required to survive on a desert planet, the
opportunity presented to the Fremen through their participation in this interplanetary
conquest was too enticing to pass up. Although their Emperor was in fact a manufactured
messiah, the wild success of their Jihad in his name served to catalyze their blind devotion
and commitment to his godship. Consequently, their fanaticism continued to
snowball, causing the movement to spiral out of control as it burned across the universe. The devotion to Muad’dib was reinforced
through the Qizarate, clergymen who served at Paul’s behest and who worked to spread
the religion of Muad’dib, the Golden Elixir of Life. In time, the tribes of the Fremen began to
embrace formerly abandoned extremist customs as they were said to have reintroduced old
rites and blood sacrifices. As for Paul’s part in this war, all evidence
points to the fact that he saw this consequence of his actions as the best path forward.. That being said, from the moment he began
seeing visions of the Jihad Paul felt a strong sense of terror and revulsion. Early on, Paul was able to see two main branchings
of the future, one which saw him reconcile with his Grandfather the Baron Harkonnen and
another which revealed the great and terrible Jihad. It appears that although both options were
distasteful to Paul, he ended up viewing the latter as the lesser of two evils. No doubt, a strong desire to avenge his father’s
death and the defeat of his House heavily influenced this opinion. It’s widely held that apart from a path
of reconciliation with the Baron, the only real option to prevent the Jihad would have
been one in which Paul had died in the desert before meeting the fremen. However, after the Atreides were taken in
by the Fremen, the fuse on that future had been irreversibly lit, condemning the known
universe to all of the Jihad’s inevitable horrors. From that point on, the realization of this
terrible purpose continued to weigh heavy on Paul’s mind. Even with his supreme abilities as the Kwisatz
Haderach, after supplanting the emperor Shaddam, he was forced to watch as the mental epidemic
of the Jihad spread, powerless to prevent its devastation. Thereafter any delusions of Free Will quickly
faded as Paul became hemmed in and caged by destiny. Despite this, he continued to search for and
take advantage of opportunities to diminish and temper the destruction in whatever ways
he could. Toward the end of the Jihad, Paul was able
to come to grips with reality and eventually managed to put it into perspective. He concluded that when measured against eternity,
it would only amount to a brief and finite spasm in mankind’s history. Ultimately, true to Paul’s observation,
while the Jihad did much to transform the societal structure of the known universe,
by the end of the Dune Saga this bloody war would fall into the shadow of the Golden Path,
a necessary future accomplished through the introduction of even greater atrocities. But I’m curious to know what you think of
Paul’s Jihad. Are there any lessons or themes that you appreciate
from the way Paul’s story unfolds? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section
below. I hope you enjoyed this video. Leave a like if you did and be sure to subscribe
for more Dune and other sci-fi and fantasy news and lore. Thank you all so much for your support and
as always have a very nerdy day.
