The term “desert power” is thrown around quite a lot in the first Dune movie, and it relates to why the Fremen warriors do not use body shields—something every other fighter in the film relies on. Despite their lack of shield protection, the Fremen warriors are supposedly some of the greatest fighters in all the Imperium. It is Duke Leto’s belief that he will be able to secure Arrakis permanently by using the battle prowess of the millions of Fremen—a belief that is carried on by his son, Paul.
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Duncan Idaho—one of the great fighters in the Imperium—says that he had never been so close to death than when he dueled the Fremen. Toward the end of the film, Paul learns what Duncan meant when Paul is forced to duel and kill Jamis in order to be accepted into the Fremen’s Sietch—despite having had visions of Jamis being his friend. Even without using the basic protection of a body shield the Fremen are formidable opponents.
The most obvious reason why the Fremen don’t use body shields is that the shields attract the sandworms. Liet-Kynes mentions this when the Duke asks why they can’t simply shield the spice harvesters from the worms, saying that active shields will send the worms into a killing frenzy. In other words, no one can use shields in the desert. While attracting the worms explains why the Fremen don’t use shields, Dune 2 will explain the sandworms and their relationship to the Fremen even further.
How Dune 2 Will Show The Fremen's Desert Power
At the end of the movie, Paul glimpses a Fremen warrior riding atop an enormous sandworm in the distance. Here, he finally begins to understand what his father meant by harnessing the power of the desert. The body shields that the rest of the Imperium uses are worthless against the enormous might of the worms. It makes sense that the people who can summon and ride the giant worms would have little use for personal protection. The book even mentions that the Fremen find body shields amusing—as if the use of shields is beneath them.
Since the origin of Dune's Fremen, they have been oppressed by various houses that want spice. They’ve been fighting an enemy with an upper hand for decades. And through the years of being mistreated, the Fremen have perfected the art of fighting with a slow sword, the kind of attack that penetrates the body shields used by the Imperium. In short, those who do use body shields in Dune have grown to rely too heavily on them. The shields are of no use to anyone in the desert of Arrakis, and the Fremen have adapted to take full advantage of this. With their expertise in fighting and their relationship with the sandworms, the Fremen’s desert power is the true power on Arrakis—something the second Dune movie will explore more fully.