Landsraad: the council of the Great Houses
the council of the Great Houses
The High Council of the Great Houses, overseen by the Padishah Emperor. It gave them a forum for trade, alliance and the formal feud of kanly.
The Landsraad was the body that represented all the Great Houses of the Imperium. Its inner circle was the High Council, and Frank Herbert's glossary to Dune makes it one leg of the political tripod that kept the Great Convention, alongside the Imperial House and the Spacing Guild. CHOAM, the company through which the Houses shared the Imperium's wealth, and the Bene Gesserit worked around it. (Dune; Dune (appendix))
Function#
The Landsraad Council met regularly and provided a forum within which Great Houses could relate to one another, whether to negotiate trade agreements, create alliances, or conduct kanly, the formalized processes of vendetta or feud. It was also meant to protect the Great Houses from being singled out by the Imperial House and eliminated by it. In the case of House Atreides, however, that protection failed. The Emperor feared the growing popularity of Duke Leto Atreides I among the Houses, and he joined the Harkonnens in secret so that the Landsraad would never see the Imperial hand in the Duke's destruction. (Dune; Dune (appendix))
Governance#
The Landsraad's inner circle was the High Council, which the glossary to Dune describes as the supreme tribunal in disputes between Houses. The Great Convention and its forms of kanly set the rules for those disputes, and a House that broke them, such as by using atomics against people, risked the combined wrath of the others. (Dune; Dune (appendix))
Military strength and later history#
In terms of military strength, were all the Great Houses to unite through the Landsraad, they would supposedly have been a match for the Imperial Sardaukar. Upon the ascendancy of House Atreides to the imperial throne, the Landsraad lost much of its power, and under the God Emperor Leto Atreides II the surviving Houses held only what he allowed them. The Great Houses still appear in the era after Leto II's death, when the Lost Ones return from the Scattering, but Frank Herbert's last novels say little about the Landsraad itself. (Dune; God Emperor of Dune; Heretics of Dune)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Landsraad?
- The Landsraad was the body that represented all the Great Houses of the Imperium. With its High Council, it was one leg of the political tripod that kept the Great Convention, alongside the Imperial House and the Spacing Guild.
- What did the Landsraad do?
- The Landsraad Council met regularly and provided a forum within which Great Houses could negotiate trade agreements, create alliances, or conduct kanly, the formalized processes of vendetta or feud. It was also meant to protect the Great Houses from being singled out and eliminated by the Imperial House.
- What was the High Council?
- Its inner circle was the High Council, which Frank Herbert's glossary to Dune describes as the supreme tribunal in disputes between Houses. The Great Convention and the forms of kanly set the rules those disputes had to follow.
- Why did the Landsraad fail to protect House Atreides?
- The Landsraad was meant to protect Great Houses from being eliminated by the Imperial House, but in Dune the Emperor, fearing Duke Leto's popularity among the Houses, backed the Harkonnen attack in secret, disguising his Sardaukar as Harkonnen troops so the Landsraad would not see his hand in it.
- How strong was the Landsraad militarily?
- Were all the Great Houses to unite through the Landsraad, they would supposedly have been a match for the Imperial Sardaukar. After House Atreides ascended to the imperial throne the Landsraad saw a reduction in its power, and under the God Emperor Leto Atreides II the surviving Houses held only what he allowed them.
Gallery
Images via Dune Wiki
Sources
- BookDune, Frank Herbert, 1965
- BookDune (appendix), Frank Herbert, 1965; the appendices and Terminology of the Imperium printed with Dune
- BookGod Emperor of Dune, Frank Herbert, 1981
- BookHeretics of Dune, Frank Herbert, 1984
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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