Dune - Atreides vs Harkonnen & Sardaukar

Atreides vs Harkonnen & Sardaukar

[stcaptainraldoron]

I just notice when they clash that there are more red shield failures on the Harkkonen’s side, while the Atreides’ stay a consistent blue. Really helps to highlight who were the better warriors.

[davecrupel]

If this is what ~30 sleep-groggy, under-equipped pajama-wearing Atreides soldiers can do, imagine what a legion of 1000 of them could do. Fully awake, arms-equipped, shielded, armored & battle-ready.

Or 5, 000.
Or 10, 000.

No wonder the Emperor feared Duke Leto's rising power.

[letterman]

The way the Sardaukar decends is so eerie. Especially in the desert where they glide down in complete silence.

[orangypteco]

You really do see the difference in both houses soldiers here. The atreides despite being vastly outnumbered managed to hold the line against the Harkonnen who seem to rely on pure numbers. This does prove that the Atreides have the superior soldiers and the Baron was right in playing the scheeming game otherwise his forces would've surely been defeated in an even fight.

[jakobatredies]

I needed about 10 more minutes of these kind of battle scenes for the Harkonnen attack. It was so epic 😭

[thomasrevill]

Zimmer's use of themes for each of the groups throughout the film is amazing, and I particularly love the sound of primal dread that signals the Sardaukar's arrival every time they appear

[FaceMaster]

I like how you can hear the Sardaukar chant as they are descending.

[TheNerdForAllSeasons]

Watching the Sardukar get turned into Hamburger Helper in Part 2 is going to be a privilege.

[alexanderastoria]

It’s incredibly interesting to observe the Atreides formation. One line of short swords backed by a line of pikes. First line of swordsman engage with the front line of Harkonnens, providing a buffer while the pikes poke at the supporting line. This creates space for the skirmishing line to engage and eliminate enemy combatants, never having to contend with more than a fighter can handle.

Surely it seems that the Atreides are superior fighters, but also more intelligent ones utilizing spacial control to negate the slightest numerical advantage the harkonens have.

If there are behind the scenes for the choreography of this scene and the choice of formations I would love to see it.

[rangodeldiablo]

You can really tell the difference between the Atreides, Harkonnen, and Sardaukar Soldiers. The Atreides are highly skilled, disciplined and loyal to each other and able to fend off attacks thanks to the high moral and conviction they show. The Harkonnen are crude and blunt, using overwhelming power to take down opponents with no real skill. The Sardaukar are the very elite of the Imperium, but they move with complete fluidity and efficiency with a relaxed focus that neither the Atreides or Harkonnen have. To them combat is a natural as breathing.

[transvestosaurus]

"The Padishah Emperor turned against House Atreides because the Duke's
Warmasters Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho had trained a fighting force -- a
small fighting force -- to within a hair as good as the Sardaukar. Some of them
were even better. And the Duke was in a position to enlarge his force, to make
it every bit as strong as the Emperor's", said Hawat.
The Baron weighed this disclosure, then: "What has Arrakis to do with this?"
"It provides a pool of recruits already conditioned to the bitterest
survival training."
The Baron shook his head. "You cannot mean the Fremen?"
"I mean the Fremen."
"Hah! Then why warn Rabban? There cannot be more than a handful of Fremen
left after the Sardaukar pogrom and Rabban's oppression."
Hawat continued to stare at him silently.
"Not more than a handful!" the baron repeated. "Rabban killed six thousand
of them last year alone!"
Still, Hawat stared at him.
"And the year before it was nine thousand, " the baron said. "And before they
left, the Sardaukar must've accounted for at least twenty thousand."
"What are Rabban's troop losses for the past two years?" Hawat asked.
The Baron rubbed his jowls. "Well, he has been recruiting rather heavily, to
be sure. His agents make rather extravagant promises and --"
"Shall we say thirty thousand in round numbers?" Hawat asked.
"That would seem a little high, " the baron said.
"Quite the contrary, " Hawat said. "I can read between the lines of Rabban's
reports as well as you can. And you certainly must've understood my reports from
our agents."
"Arrakis is a fierce planet, " the Baron said. "Storm losses can --"
"We both know the figure for storm accretion, " Hawat said.
"What if he has lost thirty thousand?" the Baron demanded, and blood
darkened his face.
"By your own count, " Hawat said, "he killed fifteen thousand over two years
while losing twice that number. You say the Sardaukar accounted for another
twenty thousand, possibly a few more. And I've seen the transportation manifests
for their return from Arrakis. If they killed twenty thousand, they lost almost
five for one. Why won't you face these figures, Baron, and understand what they
mean?"

[galaxymoonlqght]

This scene actually terrified me in the cinema. An excellent adaptation of the Harkonnens here, truly shows how terrifying and brutal they are (I’ve read 408 pages of the book and tend to finish it by February)

[Shockwave]

One detail I like is how organized the Atreides and Harkonnen look. Even the Atreides manage to at least stall the Harkonnen despite being out numbered easily 10:1 at least. Then the Sardaukar arrive and they have no organization what so ever. Their jumps are random and sporadic, they march separately without regard for their comrade. It was a hard fought siege for the Harkonnen, an almost futile fight to the death for the Atreides, but for the Sardaukar, it was just Tuesday.

[qetiogusliriope]

It's canonically possible to survive the Arrakeen takeover as an Atreides trooper, and escape Arrakis to Caladan and live to tell the tale.

[GhostEye]

Pretty badass for those Atreides soldiers to basically say fuck it and advance on the Harkonnens despite being hugely outnumbered

[CommanderCharms]

I love that we see Piter's comments on Salusa Secundus finally brought to light in this one single scene. Two dozen Atreides are able to eliminate at least twice their number of Harkonnen soldiers without sustaining a single casualty and force the rest to withdraw, only for maybe half the Atreides number of Sardaukar to engage with them and eliminate them pretty much immediately while the Harkonnens just sit back and watch.

[viktorberzinsky]

One could easily have portrayed the Sardaukar as screaming fanatics...That would have been too comforting. Made them seem too human. Even the strokes of their swords seem hushed, almost as if death itself inhabits their armor.

[themanwithhighground]

For me this scene is very poetic and symbolic:-
If you look The Harkonnens are at bottom of stairs and the Atreides are at elevated ground, symbolising the higher class of soldiers that the Atreides are then Harkonnens.
But then the Sardaukar dropped behind Atreides at even more elevated ground followed by Immediate retreat of Harkonnens showcasing that they are even better than Atreides and Harkonnens are nowhere near Sardaukars and Atreides fighting level.


Plus Sardaukars are biggest graduates of Obi Wan Kenobi University.

[dgrmn]

Atreides soldiers, true to their name, fight like Greeks. In formation akin to Phalanx. Epic!

[guerney]

I think it's kinda important that in the book, Sardaukar were disguised as Harkonnen soldiers to hide Emperor's involvement in the attack, but I get that they wanted to really show off how good they are