One obvious comparison is that both series have not only an interstellar Empire but also an individual Emperor. In Dune, Part 2, Paul Atreides confronts and subordinates the Emperor. What does Poul Anderson give us? First, a history with the Terran Empire beginning, developing through at least two discrete stages and eventually ending. In addition, there are several different characters:
(i) the Founder of the Empire in "The Star Plunderer."
(ii) In Ensign Flandry, Emperor Georgios' birthday. Georgios does not appear in the novel but a film could cameo him during the birthday celebrations in the opening scenes.
(iii) Also in Ensign Flandry, Crown Prince Josip, the future Emperor, receives guests at the Coral Palace.
(iv) In A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, Crown Prince Dietrich, a future Emperor, receives while his younger brother, Gerhart, another future Emperor, gets imperially drunk with cronies. Later, Emperor Hans, the first of the Emperors to appear while Emperor, confers with Dominic Flandry.
(v) In A Stone In Heaven, Emperor Gerhart confers with Edwin Cairncross.
That is all but it is a lot, considering the biographies and impacts of these individuals.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I wish we could have seen Emperor Georgios in ENSIGN FLANDRY, maybe at that private meeting of crucial members of the Policy Board where Lord Hauksberg persuaded them of the need to send a special plenipotentiary to Merseia.
Besides the Terran Emperors and their Crown Princes that you listed we see mention of other Emperors here and there in the stories. Manuel II in "Sargasso of Lost Spaceships," Isamu the Great in THE REBEL WORLDS, Olaf the Clown in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS, and Pedro II in THE GAME OF EMPIRE, and who was a well beloved and popular ruler. Anderson wrote, in his reply to my long letter about GAME, that he had Pedro II of Brazil in mind, because of how popular he was in that country.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
We don't even know the name of Josip's mother, the Empress Dowager, and Admiral Kheraskov's comments about her in THE REBEL WORLD indicates she was a lady of some force of character.
Ad astra! Sean
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