Dune - Creating Competent Villains

There is a trope that's used in poorly written stories where the villain, who is very powerful, can at any moment can destroy the Main Character and end the story. To explain this away, the writer may use the justification of 'I'll let you go and get stronger because I'm so powerful I could never lose.' And lo and behold, some time later our Main Character is now strong enough to not only disrupt the plans of the villain, but is obviously growing stronger to the point where they can fight the villain and defeat them. This all is very clear to the reader, which wholly undermines the competency of the villain. It leaves the audience with two options. Either the villain is not that bad or not that smart.
From there the entire plot is cut under because a villain that is not that bad or not that smart doesn't require much of a hero to defeat them. It all becomes a lukewarm dual between two people who are kind of moral opposites of good and evil and eventually they'll meander through some tension and we'll find out who wins in the end.
Dune eliminates this completely by setting up highly competent main characters and this is all the moreso seen in contrast to the villains. The Harkonnens try to kill Paul Atreides., They attempt not by walking into his room with a gun nor by sitting around and waiting to see if House Atreides will pose a threat to them. They begin by locking one of their soldier's with cement into the walls where he will wait for three weeks to try and kill Paul, and certainly die. it's a suicide mission that could only be completed by someone who cares nothing for the soldier, a soldier who cares nothing about his own future, and is willing to spend over 500 hours in a tiny cement cell. It creates a great villain and leaves the audience wondering what they will do and certain there is nothing they won't do to achieve their goals. It also serves to build up Paul Atreides as an even greater hero for overcoming the Harkonnens.
Music by Simon Swerwer,
Cuggin's Cove,
Emergence,
Inith and Od Travel North

[@chipsandip]

Great vid! Lovin thought maps

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Thank you!

[@RDeanOdell]

Great video, you have a new subscriber.

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Welcome aboard!

[@Sk4Madhi_.RangeroftheNorth]

This is really cool, got a new sub.💯👌🏾

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@HubbMed]

I love your illustrative technique. Good analysis

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Thank you kindly!

[@lakshacc5954]

Great analysis subscribed!

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Much appreciated!

[@1425363878]

What the emperor did was incredibly stupid. He wanted to get rid of House A., but by doing it with the Harkonnens together with his own army, he opened himself up to blackmail which was going to cost him the throne anyway. It did not make sense unless he was incredibly incompetent.

[@patrykhelinski1218]

Unless, getting rid of Harkonnens was next step

[@Juanixtec]

He wanted to get rid of House A because they were steadily rising in power and influence only matched by House H. The emperor sided with House H under influence of the BG and as a result of the attack House A was (mostly) destroyed and House H finances were heavily crippled reducing the influence of it's two biggest competitors of power in the landsraad without investing too much. The reason blackmail is not that big of a deal was 1) the attack was largely successfull and 2) sources of information are scarce since the Spacing Guild was bribed by the Fremen with black market spice to keep satellites off Arrakis.

[@geoffcassidy9981]

I think the plan was sound in theory. My understanding is that the Emperor would use the Harkonnen's to eliminate House A, and then both would be weakened. He's effectively neutered two very powerful houses and can still control Arrakis with his own armies or use another House to manage it for him. The main aspect for Dune I wanted to highlight was that no party in the story is going soft. Each group is willing to kill and do whatever it takes the accomplish their goals, and the audience can see that and it deeply effects how we see the villains and heroes. I do appreciate your comment and watching my video!

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Appreciate the detailed thoughts!

[@1425363878]

@@geoffcassidy9981 I get that, but the way it plays out tells it differently. Doesn't the emperor only turn on Harkonnen once the war suddenly goes the other way? Whatever the case, it seems to be an unjustifiably risky move, which doesn't strike me as very smart. It smacks of a necessary plot device that was shoehorned in there in order to kick things off.

[@hoon_sol]

This is very strange analysis, since it apparently doesn't treat Paul himself as a villain, which he is.

[@Keyatzin]

Weird comment.. Since the video is only about the beginning of the story... Besides that it's very common for people to say villain, when they actually mean antagonist. Soooo...

[@geoffcassidy9981]

I understand what you mean but for the most part I was focusing on the beginning and like @keyatzin said, for this I'm thinking in terms of Antagonist = Villain. But yeah there's another video I have in mind talking about how stories make us view, what would in every other circumstance be a villain, as the hero.

[@arturzinurov4781]

Paul is not a villain stop with that nonsense idea. Paul didn’t want it and tried to avoid it.

[@Keyatzin]

@@arturzinurov4781 you think because he was sad about it, that makes it heroic that he just kicked off a massive war and mass genocide that will result in billions of deaths, just so he could have power & control? At best he's an anti-villain, but even then given how he fully embraces "his role," it's more of a reluctant villain turned full-blown.

[@hoon_sol]

@@arturzinurov4781: Paul is absolutely a villain. It's not an "idea", it's a simple fact. Paul could absolutely have avoided it; the Golden Path was just a guarantee that humanity would survive, not only could humanity have survived otherwise too, but the amount of suffering he caused by staring down that path (even if he couldn't walk it himself) was immense. The idea that he didn't want to do what he did and tried to avoid it has zero basis in reality. Paul is, without a shadow of doubt, the archetypal tragic villain. If that upsets you you have a severe lack of media literacy, and you also disagree with one of Herbert's most frequently stated points of his writings. We all know the quote well by now: *_«I wrote the Dune series because I had this idea that charismatic leaders ought to come with a warning label on their forehead: "May be dangerous to your health." One of the most dangerous presidents we had in this century was John Kennedy because people said "Yes Sir Mr. Charismatic Leader what do we do next?" and we wound up in Vietnam.»_* If you don't see who that refers to in the book and film, you're hopelessly lost.

[@warriorblood]

Very good way to put things on perspective, keep it up!

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Thanks, will do!

[@st_armax3640]

Got this recommended in my feed, comment for further promotion

[@geoffcassidy9981]

Appreciate you giving it a watch!

[@JapanischErfahren]

You really say 'basically' too much.

[@geoffcassidy9981]

I appreciate the critique.