Frank Herbert's Dune begins with the mention of the House of Atreides' departure to Arrakis. Duke Leto Atreides, his concubine Lady Jessica, and their son Paul are a week away from leaving behind Castle Caladan, which has housed twenty-six generations of their family. In Denis Villeneuve's 2021 adaptation of Herbert's Dune, Jessica, seated at a table, looks "wistful" while gazing out the window at the beautiful valley her family is about to leave behind. Compared to the desert planet Arrakis / Dune, the homeworld of House Atreides is a "paradise."

Shortly after, the Atreides, dressed in their ceremonial attire, wait for the Emperor's Herald on the Caladan tarmac. Villeneuve's Dune shows the Atreides household, including the Mentat Master of Assassins Thufir Hawat, and the Imperial Troubadour-Warrior Gurney Halleck receiving the Imperial dignitaries. All this traveling, undertaken for the formality of letting the Atreides know they have been given Arrakis, has incurred great cost. The question remains, why would Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV go to great lengths to drive the Atreides family from their homeworld?

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Why Did The House Of Atreides Move?

In Villeneuve's Dune, an official steps out of the Imperial spacecraft and introduces himself as the Herald of the Change. Members of the Imperial court, representatives of the Spacing Guild, and a Bene Gesserit sister bear witness, as this official reads out from his scroll:

House Atreides shall immediately take control of Arrakis and serve as its steward. Do you accept?

A moment's silence ensues, before Duke Leto Atreides I steps forward and replies:

We are House Atreides. There is no call we do not answer. There is no faith that we betray. The Emperor asks us to bring peace to Arrakis. House Atreides accepts.

The Atreides are one of the oldest and arguably the most respected Houses of the Landsraad. Duke Leto ruled their fiefdom with justice. He was left with little choice when asked to leave Caladan for the hostile planet, Arrakis. He knew the departure wasn't a benevolent gesture, and suspected Shaddam Corrino had ulterior motives. Before their departure, Duke Leto educated his son, Paul, on Imperial politics:

I need you by my side. When we get to Arrakis, we'll face enormous danger... A political danger.

Duke Leto presumed that the Emperor had set the stage for war by taking Arrakis from their rivals, House Harkonnen, and giving it to them. He believed that this war would weaken them and their disgraceful mortal enemies, and that the Emperor would stand to gain from it. Yet, he took up the challenge, thinking he could ally with the native Fremen of Dune.

Here on Caladan, we've ruled by air power and sea power. On Arrakis we need to cultivate desert power.

This transition was formalized the moment Duke Leto pressed his signet ring into the wax. The House of Atreides could no longer stay on Caladan, and it ceased to be their fiefdom. More than most, Duke Leto was a true leader. While he didn't rule out the chances of treachery by the Emperor and the Harkonnens, he took pride in persistence and believed his father's words:

A great man doesn't seek to lead. He is called to it and he answers.

Tragically, Leto underestimated what turned out to be an all-out assault, orchestrated by the Emperor and the Harkonnens to eliminate his household.

Why Did The Emperor Send Atreides To Arrakis?

Paul stands before a massive relief carving on Arrakis in Dune.

It is pertinent to mention that the Harkonnens amassed immense during the eighty years that they owned the spice fields on Arrakis. Herbert's Dune says that the Atreides' mortal enemies were given the planet in quasi-fief under a CHOAM company contract. As the last of the Harkonnen ships leave Arrakis in Villeneuve's Dune, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen's nephew, Glossu Rabban, remains furious about Shaddam's decision to give Arrakis to Atreides:

Uncle, how did we let this happen? How can the Emperor take everything we've built and give it to that Duke? How?

Baron Harkonnen's henchman and the Twisted Mentat Piter de Vries, tell Rabban that this change isn't an act of love. The Baron himself adds:

When is a gift not a gift? The Atreides Voice is rising and the Emperor is a jealous man. A dangerous, jealous man.

Herbert's original novel adds more context to Duke Leto's apparent victory through Hawat's explanation. He believed that accepting the stewardship of Arrakis in fief-complete was a perilous situation because Leto was far more popular than the Emperor himself:

A popular man arouses the jealousy of the powerful.

The Great Houses of Landsraad looked up to Duke Leto. The Emperor was increasingly threatened by his status and the admiration the other Houses had for him. Arrakis wasn't given to the Atreides as a gift; rather, they were lured into what sounded like an exciting stewardship on the surface. Duke Leto thought he would be able to handle political maneuvering and use desert power to his advantage, but unfortunately, he just didn't have enough time.

What Happens To The Atreides On Arrakis?

Harkonnen Forces assault House Atreides In Dune.

The Emperor conspires with House Harkonnen to ensure the death of House Atreides in the dark. To get the job done, the Baron takes three battalions of the Emperor's elite soldiers known as Sardaukar. The novel Dune says that the Harkonnen soldiers outnumber the Atreides', but the latter are the finest forces in the Imperium, trained by Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho. The Emperor orchestrates the attack, and the Sardaukar forces comply with his orders.

In Denis Villaneuve's film Dune: Part One, the Harkonnen war fleet arrives and spills soldiers everywhere on Arrakis. Gurney, vastly outnumbered, leads his men in the counterattack. Inside the Arrakeen Residency, the houseguard soldiers fail to hold out against the attack. This climax sees the fall of Duke Leto, and most of his cohort, and brings to the fore Dr. Yueh's betrayal. Thufir Hawat and Gurney Halleck's fates are left unrevealed. In the end, Paul and his mother are able to escape into the deep desert and find themselves amid the Fremen.

Dune

Based on the novel by Frank Herbert, Dune follows the story of Paul Atreides played by Timothée Chalamet, whose family take control of a planet that holds the key to faster than light travel, and certain mental powers. This futuristic fantasy world is rife with politics, religion, wars and betrayals, as empires and factions fight for control over the planet.