Editing Spacing Guild (section)

== Analysis ==
In Herbert's series, the Spacing Guild's exclusive control of interstellar travel effectively grants them unrivaled power over the Emperor, the other noble houses and the economy of the Imperium itself. Paul is able to disrupt this power dynamic by seizing control of spice production on Arrakis, and threating to destroy it. The Guild, and by extension the Emperor, are forced to accept Paul's power over them and capitulate to his demands. This shift allows Paul to further dismantle the existing bureaucratic structures and replace the Emperor's [[Sardaukar]] forces with his own Fremen warriors, fundamentally transforming the political landscape of the Imperium.<ref name="rudd"/>

Herbert depicts the historical relationship between the Guild and the Imperium as fundamentally symbiotic,<ref>{{cite journal |last=DiTommaso |first=Lorenzo |date=November 1992 |title=History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' |journal=[[Science Fiction Studies]] |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=311–325 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4240179 |access-date=April 22, 2025}}</ref> and makes both reliant in one way or another on the spice, a metaphor for the finite resource of [[petroleum|oil]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Herbert |contributor-first=Brian |contributor-last=Herbert |contributor-link=Brian Herbert |title=[[Dune (novel)|Dune]] |contribution=Afterword by Brian Herbert |year=1965 |edition=[[Amazon Kindle]] |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |page=876 |isbn=978-1-101658-05-5}}</ref> He employs the concept of [[hydraulic empire|hydraulic despotism]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Economics and Literature: A Novel Approach |chapter=Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' |first=Mark |last=Koyama |editor-first1=François |editor-last1=Bourguignon |editor-first2=Avinash K. |editor-last2=Dixit |editor-first3=Luc |editor-last3=Leruth |editor-first4=Jean-Philippe |editor-last4=Platteau |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=H4xZEQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT350&dq=hydraulic+despotism+dune&ots=AiJCNzHS6l&sig=Hc8b12WYAjO90outnDdwUSnD9jw#v=onepage&q=hydraulic%20despotism%20dune&f=false |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-032-87765-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|url=https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/171234|title=Frank Herbert's Dune from the Ecocritical perspective|first=Giang|last=Duong Phuc|date=January 20, 2022|pages=25–26|publisher=[[Charles University]] Digital Repository|access-date=May 7, 2025|via=dspace.cuni.cz}}</ref> describing it in ''God Emperor of Dune'' as "when a substance or condition upon which life in general absolutely depends can be controlled by a relatively small and centralized force."<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Herbert |title=[[God Emperor of Dune]] |date=1981 |edition=[[Amazon Kindle]] |publisher=[[Ace Books]] |page=74 |isbn=978-1-440631-97-9}}</ref>

John C. Smith analyzes the concept of the Guild in the essay "Navigators and the Spacing Guild" in ''[[The Science of Dune]]'' (2008).<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Kevin R.|editor-last=Grazier|editor-link=Kevin Grazier|title=[[The Science of Dune]]: An Unauthorized Exploration into the Real Science Behind Frank Herbert's Fictional Universe|series=Psychology of Popular Culture|year=2008|location=Dallas, TX|publisher=[[BenBella Books]]|isbn=978-1-933771-28-1|chapter=Navigators and the Spacing Guild|author1-first=John C.|author1-last=Smith|pages=[https://archive.org/details/scienceofduneuna00graz/page/151 151–166]}}</ref>