Paul Atreides

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Paul Atreides
Dune character
Timothée Chalamet as Paul in Dune (2021)
[under discussion]
First appearanceDune (1963–65)
Created byFrank Herbert
Portrayed by
In-universe information
Alias
  • Usul
  • Muad'Dib
  • The Preacher
  • Lisan al-Gaib
Title
  • Padishah Emperor
  • Kwisatz Haderach
  • Duke
Occupation
concubine
)
Children
Relatives

Paul Atreides (

gholas in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels which conclude the original series, Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), and appears in the prequels Paul of Dune (2008) and The Winds of Dune (2009). According to Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological house of Atreus
.

A primary theme of Dune and its

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

Paul 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 Timothée Chalamet in the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film Dune and its 2024 sequel.

Appearances

Dune

The son of

Mentat training, and is also schooled in weapon use by Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho
.

In

Piter De Vries
, Leto bites down on the capsule. He succeeds in killing De Vries—and himself—but not the Baron. Fed a poison for which only the Baron has the antidote, Hawat is forced to serve as the new Harkonnen Mentat. With some help from Yueh, Paul and Jessica escape into the desert.

They flee to the

Usul, the Fremen word meaning "the base of the pillar". He chooses "Paul Muad'Dib" as his common name of manhood, to be used openly. Muad'Dib is the name of the adapted kangaroo mouse
of Arrakis, and Stilgar relates that Paul's choice pleases the Fremen:

Muad'Dib is wise in the ways of the desert. Muad'Dib creates his own water. Muad'Dib hides from the sun and travels in the cool night. Muad'Dib is fruitful and multiplies over the land. Muad'Dib we call 'instructor-of-boys.' That is a powerful base on which to build your life, Paul Muad'Dib, who is Usul among us.[4]

Paul leads a Fremen campaign of resistance against Harkonnen rule. He and

Kwisatz Haderach
.

Awakening, Paul launches an attack on the Harkonnen and Imperial troops with his Fremen army (and with his personal squad of bodyguards, the

Fedaykin), riding the enormous sandworms indigenous to the planet. In the attack, he learns that his son Leto has been killed in a Sardaukar raid. They win and Paul requests an audience with Shaddam 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 requires the hand of the Emperor's daughter, the Bene Gesserit-trained Princess Irulan as well as the Emperor's abdication in favor of Paul. Urged by the Spacing Guild
, Shaddam accepts his terms.

Dune Messiah

In

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 does not 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

Bijaz makes the same offer regarding the Chani ghola; Paul orders Duncan to kill Bijaz. The blind Paul then walks into the desert to die alone, in accordance with Fremen law. He leaves his children in the care of the Fremen, with Paul's sister Alia
set to rule the empire as regent.

Children of Dune

In

Arrakeen
, Paul (as the Preacher) speaks out against Alia to the crowd outside Alia's Temple; his words and the actions of Leto cause a riot. Reacting to his blasphemy, Alia's priests rush forward and stab Paul to death, as Alia and the remaining Atreides watch from above.

Over 3,500 years later in

Other Memory
.

Later works

At the end of Frank Herbert's sixth and last book in the Dune series,

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

In

Daniel and Marty
.

In 2007's

ultraspice, an incredibly potent form of melange, and falls into a catatonic
state. Later on the recovering planet Dune, the awakened gholas of Paul and Chani have reverted to the ways of the ancient Fremen, resolving to lead simple lives and restore the planet to its former glory. Paul reaffirms his love for Chani, telling her he has loved her for five thousand years.

Paul's birth is featured in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson prequel novel Dune: House Corrino (2001). The 2008 novel Paul of Dune explores both Paul's childhood before Dune and his life between the novels Dune and Dune Messiah. Brian Herbert and Anderson's The Winds of Dune (2009) also relates events from Paul's youth and the period before Dune Messiah.

Analysis

According to novelist Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological House Atreus.[5] Noting that the characters in Dune fit mythological archetypes, Brian Herbert wrote that "Paul is the hero prince on a quest who weds the daughter of a 'king'".[5] A primary theme of Dune and its sequels is Frank Herbert's warning about society's tendencies to "give over every decision-making capacity" to a charismatic leader.[2] He said in 1979, "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes."[3] He wrote in 1985, "Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question."[6] In a 1970 interview, Herbert noted that the character of Paul was constructed to express "the conflict between absolutes and the necessity of the moment".[7] Brian Herbert wrote:

Paul Atreides (who is the messianic "Muad'Dib" to the Fremen) resembles Lawrence of Arabia (T. E. Lawrence), a British citizen who led Arab forces in a successful desert revolt against the Turks during World War I. Lawrence employed guerrilla tactics to destroy enemy forces and communication lines, and came close to becoming a messiah figure for the Arabs. This historical event led Frank Herbert to consider the possibility of an outsider leading native forces against the morally corrupt occupiers of a desert world, in the process becoming a godlike figure to them.[5]

The similarity to T.E. Lawrence was reinforced within the novel Dune Messiah, in which a chapter heading-quotation is taken from a post-conquest work of Paul's, with the title The Seven Pillars of the Universe. This appears to have been inspired by Lawrence's account of his war-time activities in the desert, titled Seven Pillars of Wisdom.[citation needed]

Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to many

stories describing the birth of a hero. He 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.[8][9] As such, Dune is representative of a general trend beginning in 1960s American science fiction in that it features a character who attains godlike status through scientific means.[10] Paul's riding and controlling a giant sandworm cements him as a Fremen leader,[11]
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.

Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of Dune from earlier heroes such as

Gilbert Gosseyn, and Henry Kuttner's telepaths. Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress". And unlike other superheroes of the 1960s—who are the exception among ordinary people in their respective worlds—Herbert's characters grow their powers through "the application of mystical philosophies and techniques". For Herbert, the ordinary person can develop incredible fighting skills (Fremen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit and Mentats).[12]

Denis Villeneuve, director and co-writer of the 2021 film adaptation Dune, compared Paul to the character Michael Corleone in The Godfather, explaining that "He's training to be the Duke. But as much as he's been prepared and trained for that role, is it really what he dreams to be? That's the contradiction of that character. It's like Michael Corleone in The Godfather–it's someone that has a very tragic fate and he will become something that he was not wishing to become."[13]

The Egyptian-Canadian commentator Khalid M. Baheyeldin has enumerated the obviously Islamic concepts and references appearing in Dune, to the level of finding multiple similarities between the career of Herbert's Paul Atreides and that of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Beyond the obvious general resemblance—both Muhammad and Atreides found a powerful new religion, energizing hitherto disregarded desert-dwellers to topple an old empire and build a new one—Baheyeldin noted various specific similarities between Muhammad's career and that of Atreides.[14]

In adaptations

Paul Atreides has been portrayed by three actors: Kyle MacLachlan (1984), Alec Newman (2000/2003), and Timothée Chalamet (2021/2024)

Paul is portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation,[15] and by Alec Newman in the 2000 Dune miniseries[16] and its 2003 sequel.[17] The character is played by Timothée Chalamet in the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film Dune,[18] and its 2024 sequel, Dune: Part Two.[19]

Richard Corliss of Time notes that "MacLachlan, 25, grows impressively in the role; his features, soft and spoiled at the beginning, take on a he-manly glamour once he assumes his mission."[20] Lynch and producer Raffaella De Laurentiis specifically wanted to cast an unknown actor in the role of Paul, and began a nationwide search. Casting scout Elizabeth Leusting found MacLachlan, who had been performing in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[21]

Laura Fries of

Tor.com suggested that the choice to cast adult actor Newman as Paul is problematic because the character is written in the script as less mature and observant than he is in the source novel.[23]

Chalamet received strong praise for his portrayal in the 2021 film. Ben Travis of

Empire wrote, "Among the uniformly excellent performances, Timothée Chalamet holds his own in his first blockbuster leading role. In a film this size, there's every chance he'd get swallowed up by the sandworm-like enormity of everything around him—but even against the colossal spectacle, the magnetic charisma he displayed in smaller indie fare shines through."[24] Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood called Chalamet "perfectly cast" and wrote that he plays the role "earnestly and effectively".[25] Reviewing the 2024 sequel, Lovia Gyarke of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Chalamet sheds the boyish innocence of the first film for a darker, more complicated persona."[26]

Villeneuve described Chalamet portraying Paul, "There’s a deep intelligence in the eyes, and he has an old soul. When you talk with Tim, you get the impression that he's lived many lives. Yet he looks so young on camera. So that contrast of someone who has a lot of experience but is in the middle of his teenage years is Paul."[27] Chalamet's Paul is described as "spindly",[28] and has "inward-looking sorrow".[29] He is portrayed as "a boy-man [with] the patrician bone structure of an imperial hemophiliac".[30] With Paul being 15 years old in the novel, The New York Times said, "Chalamet looks young enough for the role... and can certainly strike a Byronic pose, complete with black coat and anguished hair."[31] Slate wrote, "Chalamet, at 28 still convincing as a juvenile, seems to have been born to play this ambivalent prince."[32]

Merchandising

A line of Dune action figures from toy company

stillsuit, styled after Lynch's film.[35][36] Paul and Chani were both added to Fortnite Battle Royale in October 2021.[37] Paul also 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.[38]

Paul appears in the 1979

Virgin Interactive,[43][44] and the 2001 3D video game Frank Herbert's Dune by Cryo Interactive/DreamCatcher Interactive.[45][46]

Family tree

References

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  7. ^ McNelly, Willis (1970). "Interview with Frank Herbert". Archived from the original on February 13, 2002. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
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  13. ^ Travis, Ben (May 15, 2020). "Dune: Denis Villeneuve Compares Paul Atreides to The Godfather's Michael Corleone". Empire. Archived from the original on May 16, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  14. ^ Bahayeldin, Khalid (January 22, 2004). "Arabic and Islamic themes in Frank Herbert's Dune". Baheyeldin.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2009.
  15. ^ Maslin, Janet (December 14, 1984). "Movie Review: Dune (1984)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
  16. ^ Stasio, Marilyn (December 3, 2000). "Cover Story: Future Myths, Adrift in the Sands of Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  17. ^ Wertheimer, Ron (March 15, 2003). "Television Review: A Stormy Family on a Sandy Planet". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  18. ^ Colburn, Randall (September 27, 2018). "Dune star Timothée Chalamet also loves the David Lynch version". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  19. ^ Kit, Borys (May 12, 2022). "Christopher Walken Joins Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya in Dune: Part Two". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  20. ^ Corliss, Richard (December 17, 1984). "Cinema: The Fantasy Film as Final Exam". Time. Archived from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
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  26. ^ Gyarkye, Lovia (February 21, 2024). "Dune: Part Two Review: Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in Denis Villeneuve's Gorgeous but Limited Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  27. ^ Liptak, Andrew (September 9, 2020). "Why Timothée Chalamet's Dune character Paul is an actor's dream role". Polygon. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  28. ^ Debruge, Peter (February 21, 2024). "'Dune: Part Two' Review: Timothée Chalamet Grows Up — and So Do the Sandworms — in Denis Villeneuve's Epic Follow-Up". Variety.
  29. ^ Collins, Austin (October 20, 2021). "'Dune' Wages an All-Out Attack on the Senses — and Wins". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
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  36. ^ Little, Jesse (October 18, 2019). "Coming Soon: Pop! Movies—Dune Classic!". Funko. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  37. ^ "Paul Atreides and Chani Travel from Planet Dune to the Fortnite Item Shop". Epic Games. October 20, 2021. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  38. ^ "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Adding Dune 2's Timothee Chalamet Skin". ComicBook.com. November 30, 2023. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
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  46. ^ "Overview: Cryo Interactive Entertainment". MobyGames. Archived from the original on January 10, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
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