4

From them moment Shaddam IV ordered him to Arrakis, Duke Leto knew that it was a trap. He was even aware that there was a traitor in their ranks. Nevertheless when the Duke was attacked by

Dr. Yueh

he didn't have any bodyguards with him. Moreover, the shield generator - which one would assume their most important line of defense - was so weakly guarded that not only could a complete stanger like

Esmar Tuek

get near it but it was also possible for a single person to eliminate all it's guards.

Given this, why didn't the Atreides guard themselves better?

Improve this question
12
  • 1
    @Valorum but they knew this wasn't the case. Thufir Hawat even distrusted Lady Jessica
    – Bill Tür stands with Ukraine
    Mar 28, 2020 at 11:33
  • 1
    He mistrusted her motives. I don't think he mistrusted her as a security threat until he was given a (mistaken) reason to think so
    – Valorum
    Mar 28, 2020 at 12:10
  • 6
    Here's a hypothesis I've toyed with: Frank Herbert was not that good a writer.
    – Anton Sherwood
    Mar 28, 2020 at 12:23
  • 6
    Plus Yueh was, IIRC, a doctor conditioned by the Suk School and supposedly incapable of betraying their patients or taking a human life (presumably out of medical context). Nobody had ever broken the Suk conditioning before, so this was a unique threat that could never be expected.
    – SpaceWolf1701
    Mar 28, 2020 at 12:24
  • 2
    @Seamusthedog It was also much bigger than expected. As it was happening Thufir observes how it much it must have cost to pull off such an attack and how long it would take to regain the cost. He notes they never expected such a scale and even if they had, they would not have been able to prepare for such an attack especially in the time they had (or at all without either the Fremen or increasing the size of the small elite portion of their they had begun to train).
    – suchiuomizu
    Mar 29, 2020 at 0:06

0

Reset to default

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.