DUNE: Were the Atreides GOOD rulers?

[bropous]

I love the Dune books, having first read the trilogy (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune) over twenty-five years ago, and I found Herbert's universe to be well-crafted, well-detailed, and filled with characters one actually gives a flip about.

However.

I look at what Paul did with the Emperor's crown on his head, and I see no indication that he improved the lives of the common folk in any way over their existence under the Corrinos. Leto II can arguably be described as FAR worse to the existence of humanity than was the entire Corrino line. I know that this was part of his "Golden Path" concept, but in reality, the "Golden Path" was a monstrosity and a setback to the development of the species and NOT a pattern of "controlled growth."

Honestly, I never really got what "the Golden Path" was beyond Leto II holding his transmorphed self above all humankind and defecating on myriad planets from a great height. The Scattering was also quite confusing, but admittedly, I did not read "God Emperor", "Heretics" or "Chapterhouse" as carefully as I might have done. Frankly (pardon the pun), the entire series ended up rather tedious reading, and from the zenith of "Dune", the whole thing went downhill. but I digress.

To me, a "Good King" is one who actually cares for the common folk, works to improve the lives of his subjects, and ensures that justice and reactive government are used to SUPPORT the welfare of the people ("welfare" in the classic sense) and not to suppress and intimidate free thought.

In this, I think the Atreides failed miserably.

The zenith of rule was probably Leto I, who actually seemed to give a rat's hinder about the people whom he ruled. Paul seemed to have very limited interest in ANY people beyond the Fremen, and Leto just had no interest in anyone but himself.

Paul running away from the "Jihad" simply allowed it to grow independently, and his own reluctance to assume the mantle of Messiah ended up killing FAR more people in the long run than any Messianic jihad would have done.

For the common man, life was no better under the Atreides than it was under the Corrinos or under the Butlerian Jihadists. For me, THAT is the true tragedy of the Dune series, the tragedy of missed opportunities borne out of cowardice and hubris.