I've thought about what would happen had Feyd been the one on Arrakis instead of Paul. He might have led the jihad (assuming he could pass muster as a lisan al-gaib, of which I'm skeptical), and I expect he would have been thrilled to be 'in charge' of such a powerful force. As was the case on Giedi Prime when he thought he was in control but really was Thufir's puppet, he would have been quite mistaken about who was really in control of the jihad. Paul knew he wasn't in charge, that the armies controlled the real power; Feyd wouldn't have had a clue. He would have been a toy of the jihad and finally ended badly.SadisticCynic wrote:I see where you're coming from now Demerzel. Feyd's view on the Fremen jihad would've been quite fascinating.
JustSomeGuy - I wuold've liked to have seen more of Duncan personally. It is said that his popularity is what prompted FH to bring him back in DM, but I've always felt there wasn't enough of him to make him a favourite.
I also feel Duncan was a bit short-changed in Dune. I don't actually care about having more of him in the book 'because he's a cool character', but rather I think it's important to get a sense of Paul's teachers to know what made Paul who he was. We get a good enough look at Paul's weapons master in Gurney so we don't need Duncan to double-up in that category. What I would have liked was just a small scene demonstrating "Duncan the Moral", which even in Dune he is alluded to as being. This very trait is why Leto II chooses him so I wouldn't have minded seeing this trait exhibited in a sober state, other than in an out-of-scene self-sacrifice.
As for the rest I thought we got to know exactly what we needed to know of the Baron (a glutton; for power, food, sexual satisfaction, domination) and of Feyd (a perfect specimen and due to his upbringing, a perfect fool, showing that genes are not everything). For Farad'n I'd say that his choosing to side with the Atreides in the end was more of a statement of his character than would have been a dozen scenes showing his various talents. Choosing the wise course is more of an achievement than some arbitrary level of skill in battle or strategy. I'm fine with how much of him we got.