Yup. It was the cruelty and ruthlessness of this Galactic Empire that made the biggest impression.
Any volunteers for the Lord Baron’s Slave boy section?
The Gurney Halleck orphanarium?
The Salusa Secondus Summer Camp?
(Join the Sardukar, see the Galaxy?)
Join the Sardukar. See the galaxy. Meet interesting people and kill them.
Perhaps because of a considerable background in history, I didn’t find the cruelty of the Empire that surprising. It’s what most of human history has been like. People treated like animals for the convenience and pleasure of their “superiors.”
This is what life was like for a great many under the ancient empires: Egypt, Persia, Rome, China, Inca, etc.
Only the Judeo-Christian ethic brought in the notion of individual human dignity and worth. Which we are now in the process of trying to get rid of.