Paul Atreides

Paul Atreides is a fictional character created by Frank Herbert for the book Dune.

Role in Dune

Paul Atreides is the son of Duke Leto of Caladan and Leto’s concubine Jessica. Jessica was supposed to use her powers as a Bene Gesserit witch to make sure she only had daughters but because Leto wanted a son, she had Paul instead. When Paul is 15 years old, the Padishah Emperor puts Leto in charge of the planet Arrakis (also called Dune.) Paul goes there with his parents but then his father’s enemy Vladimir Harkonnen tries to have Paul killed. When that doesn’t work Vladimir Harkonnen and the Emperor attack and murder Paul’s father Leto and everyone who’s there with him but Paul and Jessica escape in a helicopter. Paul joins a group of desert nomads called the Fremen and learns to ride giant Worms. Paul starts using the name “Mua’dib”. Paul gets a concubine named Chani and has a son who gets killed. Paul gets the power to see the future and leads the Fremen in a revolution. Paul fights and kills Vladimir Harkonnen’s nephew Feyd-Rautha (after Paul’s sister Alia kills Vladimir Harkonnen.) Paul exiles the Emperor to a different planet and marries the Emperor’s daughter Princess Irulan but promises Chani that he will never have sex with Irulan. Paul starts a Jihad so that the rest of the Galaxy will accept him as the new Emperor.

Role in Dune Messiah

In the sequel Dune Messiah, Paul hates himself for having killed billions of people in the Galactic Jihad and says he’s worse than Genghis Khan and Hitler. A Mad Scientist Cult called the Tleilaxu bring Paul’s friend Duncan back to life (without any memories) to kill Paul and Chani but trying to kill Paul makes Duncan get his memories back and protect Paul. A Tleilaxu assassin still manages to blind Paul. Paul goes into exile in the desert and tells Chani to name their twin children Leto and Ghanima.

Role in Children of Dune

In the sequel, Children of Dune, Paul’s son Leto (and Leto’s twin sister Ghanima) is born with all the memories of all his ancestors (both male and female.) Leto is officially the Emperor but Leto’s aunt Alia is Regent. Because he can’t trust Alia, Leto runs away and finds a blind man called The Preacher who turns out to be Leto’s father Paul. The Preacher explains to Leto that he can see every future and all of them end with humanity being destroyed except for one called The Golden Path. The Preacher gets killed so that Leto can rule the Galaxy. Leto decides that he has to become a giant Worm.

Godemperor of Dune

In the next book, Leto has the Tleilaxu clone Duncan and gets Duncan to get his memories by having a Tleilaxu shapeshifter called a Face Dancer turn into Paul and have Duncan try to kill him.

Herectics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune

Paul isn’t in the sequel Heretics of Dune or its sequel Chapterhouse Dune but Duncan talks about Paul in them.

Prelude to Dune

The prequel Dune: House Corrino by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson ends with Paul being born and his mother Jessica thinking that he might be the Messiah called the Kwisatz Haderach.

Paul of Dune and The Winds of Dune

In the prequel Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson and its sequel The Winds of Dune, Paul secretly tries to rescue people from the planets he invades and survives being in the desert while blind because he can see the future

Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune

In the Dune sequels Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, the Tleilaxu create a clone of Paul who sees every future at the same time and every detail of each one and the clone is destroyed by it.

The Caladan Trilogy

The 14 year old Paul Atreides is the deuteragonist of the prequels Dune:The Duke of Caladan, Dune: The Lady of Caladan and Dune: The Heir of Caladan by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. His father Leto is the protagonist.

In Adaptations

Kyle MacLachlan played Paul in the 1984 movie Dune. Alec Newman played Paul in two television shows based on Dune in 2000 and 2003. Timothée Chalamet played Paul in the 2021 movie Dune and its sequel Dune: Part Two.