25 Facts About Paul Atreides

Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.

Paul Atreides is a main character in the first two novels in the series, Dune and Dune Messiah, and returns in Children of Dune.

Paul Atreides later reappears as the Preacher, seeking to end the religion founded around him, but is assassinated.

Paul Atreides is portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation, by Alec Newman in the 2000 Dune miniseries and its 2003 sequel, and by Timothee Chalamet in the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film Dune and its 2024 sequel.

The son of Duke Leto Atreides and the Lady Jessica, Paul is the heir of House Atreides, an aristocratic family that rules the planet Caladan.

In Dune, Paul is fifteen years old; the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV orders the family to leave Caladan and govern the desert planet Arrakis, though Paul's father Duke Leto is in full knowledge that the Emperor is colluding with House Harkonnen to destroy House Atreides as a perceived threat to the throne.

When Paul Atreides is accepted into the Fremen tribe, he is given the secret "sietch name" Usul, the Fremen word meaning "the base of the pillar".

Paul Atreides chooses "Paul Muad'Dib" as his common name of manhood, to be used openly.

Paul Atreides leads a Fremen campaign of resistance against Harkonnen rule.

Paul Atreides survives, although barely, and the ordeal gives him knowledge of his male and female ancestors; this proves Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach.

In Dune Messiah, Paul Atreides has been Emperor for twelve years.

Paul Atreides's jihad has killed sixty-one billion people across the known universe, but according to his prescient vision, this is a fate far better than what he has seen.

Paul Atreides, who did not foresee the birth of twins, loses his prescience after Chani's death and becomes truly blind, although he conceals this.

However Paul Atreides, seeing through his newborn son's eyes, kills Scytale.

Back in Arrakeen, Paul Atreides speaks out against Alia to the crowd outside Alia's Temple; his words and the actions of Leto cause a riot.

Paul Atreides secretly possesses a nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including cells from Paul himself.

Paul Atreides is mortally wounded, but the trauma restores his original memories and he manages to heal himself.

Paul Atreides reaffirms his love for Chani, telling her he has loved her for five thousand years.

Paul Atreides has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him, and after a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale.

Paul Atreides's riding and controlling a giant sandworm cements him as a Fremen leader, and he eventually gains a level of omniscience which leads to his accession to the Imperial throne and causes the Fremen to worship him like a god.

Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul Atreides's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress".

Paul Atreides is portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation, and by Alec Newman in the 2000 Dune miniseries and its 2003 sequel.

Paul Atreides is portrayed as "a boy-man [with] the patrician bone structure of an imperial hemophiliac".

Paul Atreides appears as a playable Operator in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, alongside Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, in December 2023.

Paul Atreides appears in the 1979 Avalon Hill board game Dune, the 1984 Parker Brothers game Dune, and the 1997 collectible card game Dune.