Dune

At first I was intimidated by the size of Dune, but I later found that it was a relatively quick read. With a book of this size, there is a lot of substance, but I wanted to focus on the Sardaukar, "the dread Imperial troops, the killers without mercy, the soldier-fanatics of the Padishah Emperor" (20). On first mention of the Sardaukar, we're supposed to fear and despise them as many other characters do in Dune. They are ruthless in their killing and come across as inhuman (I think the Bene Gesserit would agree since their definition of humans putting your hand in a painful box to override nerves). In my mind, I pictured them as Reavers from Firefly/Serenty, once human then turned "savage" only meant to kill. But the Sardaukar are constantly compared to the Fremen, especially concerning their environments and discipline. However, the Fremen are cast in a more positive light despite being even more brutal on the battlefield. Is this because of the Sardaukar's alignment with the "evil" Emperor and the Fremen on the side of our/their "hero" Paul? Both display immense loyalty to their leaders. I was particularly struck by the scene at the end with the Emperor, Alia, and the Baron as a Sardaukar officer yelled "Save yourself Sire" (464). During the attack on the hutment, I felt like the roles had been reversed. The Sardaukar came off as civilized and loyal much like Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho while in the previous paragraph we see "Alia darting out to find a knife and, as befitted her Fremen training, to kill Harkonnen and Sardaukar" (464). I'm not sure what to make of this right now but I can't wait to find out which of the numerous topics are brought up during class.
Also did anyone else become extremely thirsty while reading Dune or was it just me?