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File:Kyle MacLachlan Dune.jpg

Paul Atreides, as portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's Dune (1984), wielding the infamous "Weirding Module"

Paul Orestes Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is the most prominent fictional character in the early books of Frank Herbert's Dune science fiction series. He took the Fremen name Paul Muad'Dib and the Sietch name Usul.

Dune

Paul Atreides is the son of Duke Leto Atreides I and The Lady Jessica, the heir of House Atreides, a nuclear-armed aristocratic family that rules the planet of Caladan. Jessica is a Bene Gesserit and an important key in the Bene Gesserit breeding program. According to the breeding program, she was to produce a daughter, who should marry Feyd-Rautha, a nephew of Baron Harkonnen. However, she falls in love with Leto and grants him a son.

Although Paul is a boy, he receives a Bene Gesserit training, giving him among other things, great control over his metabolism, heightened senses and knowledge of martial arts. He is also trained in weapon use by Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho, and receives a mentat training by Thufir Hawat.

When Paul is fifteen years old, the family is pressed to leave Caladan and govern the desert planet Arrakis (known as Dune). They suspect it is a trap, but accept nevertheless because it could bring power to them. On Dune, the family is betrayed by their Suk doctor, Wellington Yueh. He disables the house shield, allowing the imperial troops, Sardaukar, dressed in Harkonnen uniforms, to capture Duke Leto and Thufir Hawat and to kill most of the Atreides army. Duncan Idaho sacrifices himself while attempting to hold off the Sardaukar. Upon meeting Piter De Vries and Baron Harkonnen, Leto uses a poisonous gas capsule hidden inside a false tooth in an attempt to kill Harkonnen. He succeeds in killing Piter De Vries - and, unfortunately, himself - but not the Baron. The tooth was given to him by Yueh, who planned revenge against Harkonnen for killing his wife. Thufir Hawat is used by the Baron as his new mentat. Paul and Jessica escape, with some help from Dr. Yueh, into the desert.

They flee to the Fremen, who see in Paul the Lisan al-Gaib, the Mahdi, a prophet who will ensure a green, lush Dune, taking shelter in Sietch Tabr led by their Naib, Stilgar. He and his mother start training Fremen in weapon use and martial arts, creating an army. He and Chani, daughter of Liet Kynes, take each other as mates. He also reunites with Gurney Halleck, who sought refuge with smugglers after the Harkonnen attack. While in the desert, Paul Muad'Dib undergoes the process of spice agony via the consumption of the water of life. He survives, although barely, and the ordeal gives him knowledge of his male and female ancestors; this proves Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach.

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Paul Atreides, as portrayed by Alec Newman in the Dune miniseries (2000)

After some years, he attacks the Harkonnen and Imperial troops with his Fremen army, riding the enormous sandworms indigenous to the planet. They win and Paul requests an audience with Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. He threatens to destroy the spice melange, thus making transport between the planets impossible and effectively destroying civilization. In return for preserving the spice, he asks for the hand of the Emperor's daughter Irulan as well as the Emperor's abdication. These actions effectively make Paul Emperor. Urged by the Space Guild, the Emperor accepts his terms.

Dune Messiah

In Dune Messiah, he has been Emperor for twelve years. His jihad has killed sixty billion people across the known universe, but according to his prescient vision, this is a fate far better than what he has seen. Paul is beleaguered by a need he sees - to set humanity on a course that doesn't lead to stagnation and destruction, while at the same time managing both the Empire and the religion built around him.

A Fremen conspiracy attempts to assassinate Paul using a Stone burner. The attempt fails: however the effects of the Stone Burner destroy Paul's eyes. Although he becomes technically blind, his prescience allows him to "see" anyway. Later, Chani dies in childbirth, bearing twins: a boy, Leto II, and a girl, Ghanima (which means "spoil of war"). Another assassination attempt by a conspiracy of the Bene Tleilax, the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild is made using a ghola (a resurrected clone) of Paul's friend and mentor Duncan Idaho which seemingly helps the ghola to regain his memories. The Tleilaxu Scytale offers to make a ghola of Chani and restore her to life in exchange for his surrender, but instead Paul asks Duncan to kill Scytale.

At the end of Dune Messiah, Paul walks into the desert, a blind man, leaving his children in the care of the Fremen while their aunt Alia rules the universe as regent.

Paul Atreides saw in his prescient visions that the human race was headed toward extinction in the near future. He saw a way to prevent this but felt the sacrifice he would need to make was too terrible. That sacrifice though was made later by his son Leto II, the God Emperor.

Children of Dune

In Children of Dune a mysterious figure known as The Preacher returns from the desert and preaches among the people of Arrakis. It is strongly suggested that he is Paul, and this is confirmed when he walks past Alia and says, "Stop trying to pull me into the background once more, sister." He is later stabbed to death by a priest of his sister. Paul had told his son Leto in a desert meeting that he hoped that the son would just enjoy his life rather than take the steps needed to prevent the human extinction, but Leto decided otherwise. Paul's son Leto is later the title character of God Emperor of Dune.

Later works

At the end of the sixth book in the Dune series, Chapterhouse: Dune, a ghola of Scytale is seemingly the only Tleilaxu Master left alive. Unbeknownst to all, he possesses a nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia. These cells include those of Tleilaxu Masters, Face Dancers, Paul Atreides, Duke Leto and Jessica Atreides, Chani, Leto II and other legendary figures dating back to Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen from the Butlerian Jihad.

In Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Scytale is a prisoner on the no-ship Ithaca, at the mercy of (among others) the latest Duncan Idaho ghola and the Bene Gesserit Sheeana. He trades these cells for permission to grow his own ghola; Duncan and the Bene Gesserit group subsequently grow gholas of Paul, Chani, Jessica and others. Elsewhere, the Face Dancer Krone obtains Paul's genetic material from a religious relic on Caladan; he creates his own ghola of Paul, named Paolo, whom he and Daniel and Marty will use in their plot to take over the universe.

In adaptations

Paul was portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation, and by Alec Newman in the 2000 Dune miniseries and its sequel. In both films, he appears much older and taller than Herbert describes him to be; in the beginning of the novel, he is fifteen and short for his age.

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See also

• Dune Encyclopedia - Atreides, Paul
• Dune Encyclopedia - How Muad'dib Got His Name