Talk:Paul Atreides

Information moved

To prevent duplication between Details by source and Appearances

House Corrino

Dune

- 15 year old boy on Caladan - Move to Arrakis - Escape to Fremen - Guerilla Warfare/becoming Umma - Becoming Mahdi - Battle of Arrakeen

Dune Messiah

- Emperor - 12 years of Jihad - Plot against him - Knowledge of plot and sacrifice of eyes - Seeing without Eyes - Chani's death - Walk into the desert

Children of Dune

- Suspicions regarding the prophet - Revelation to Leto II - Golden Path and Paul's aversion to it (stagnation = death)

Hunters of Dune

- Ghola Program

Sandworms of Dune

- Battle against Omnius - Rebirth of Arrakis

Article name

Shouldn't the original name (Paul Atreides) of the character be used for the name of this article? In the end "Muad'Dib" is just an alias, and "Paul Atreides" fits in the style of how articles on other characters are named. --Timenn 14:17, 14 March 2006 (PST)

• At least there should be some mention of what "Muad'Dib" actually means.
• A redirection has at one point been set up, allowing for both names to be used to distinquish the character. Muad'Dib is an important name for the character considering that every important part of Paul's life comes from his connection to the Fremen -EmoDeathMachine 20:33, 18 June 2006 (PDT)

Standards

Perhaps this is a good place to ask about bibliographic standards...It seems that each character covered should have an introductory paragraph, covering titles, family history and a few key elements of personal history covered in the central Frank Herbert Dune novels. After that, it would be prudent, me'thinks, to go into more detail on a source-by-source basis. I'll make an attempt in the article proper to start such an effort.Zerobot 13:18, 27 December 2006 (PST)

Wikipedia article

The following is a copy of the wikipedia article on Paul Muad'Dib as of March 7, 2006. Please select any information you find relevant and include it in our own article, keeping in mind that we must distinguish between facts provided by the original novels, the prequels and other sources. Once all relevant info has been merged into our article, delete this notice and the copy of the wikipedia text.

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. Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the novels

Paul Atreides is the son of Duke Leto Atreides I and Jessica Atreides, 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.

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 resignation. These actions effectively make Paul Emperor. Urged by the Space Guild, the Emperor accepts his terms.

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 Freman 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. 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. Later, Chani dies in childbirth, bearing twins: a boy, Leto II, and a girl, Ghanima (which means "spoil of war"). 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.

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, "Yes, it is me, sister". He is later stabbed to death by a priest of his sister.

His son Leto is the central character of Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune.

It must be noted that there was something of a tantalizing hint at the end of the sixth book in the Dune Chronicles, Chapterhouse: Dune. Essentially, only one Tleilaxu is left alive, a clone of Scytale. However, unbeknownst to all, Scytale has a cylinder implanted in his chest that contains genetic cell samples of much of the Tleilaxu order, so he could still rebuild his order from scratch. More importantly, the cylinder contains cell samples of many of the major characters of the Dune Chronicles that previously died, including Stilgar, Leto II, and Paul Atreides. This would seem to imply the possibility of a ghola of Paul being created later. A ghola can regain the memories of their past lives, such as Duncan Idaho did in Dune: Messiah, so a ghola of Paul would essentially be a reincarnation of Paul. It has yet to be seen whether such a Paul ghola will appear in the coming sequels to Chapterhouse - Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, both written by Brian Herbert, the son of Dune's creator, in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson - as plot details on these sequels is being kept under a tight lid.

In adaptations

Paul was portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's 1985 film adaptation, and by Alec Newman in the 2000 Dune miniseries and its sequel. In both films, he appears much older and bigger than Herbert describes him to be; in the beginning of the novel, he is but fifteen and short for his age.