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Character page for the Dune franchise.

This page covers the literary versions of the characters. For other continuities, see:


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House Atreides and Supporters

The good guys. Mostly.

    Leto Atreides 

Duke Leto Atreides

Played by: Jürgen Prochnow (1984 film), William Hurt (2000 miniseries), Oscar Isaac (2021 film)

The head of House Atreides at the start of the first book. A popular and compassionate leader, Leto is reassigned from his lush homeworld and dukedom, Caladan, to the desert planet of Arrakis. Through his concubine Lady Jessica, he is father to Paul Atreides.


  • Ambiguously Brown: He's said to have a dark olive complexion, and so Paul is implied to be as well due to their Strong Family Resemblance. Plus he (and Paul) has black hair and hawkish features, which coupled with his name brings the Mediterranean to mind.
  • Animal Motifs: He is associated with bulls. They're used to symbolize his stubbornness and willingness to forge ahead no matter what, but also his tendency to court danger out of pride - which ultimately leads to his death.
  • Better to Die than Be Killed: Only bites the poison capsule in his mouth once he sees there's no getting out of this one.
  • Big Good: Often presented this way. He had his flaws and blinkers, but mostly lived up to the hype.
  • The Chains of Commanding: Why he can't marry Jessica. Staying eligible for an alliance by marriage is the one reason the other Houses show him goodwill.
  • Dead Man Walking: From the moment he had his ancestral seat taken from him and then was given the "promotion" of Arrakis, a timer started ticking. It was clear his cousin, the Emperor, wanted him dead. And everybody knew it.
  • Defiant to the End: With Yueh and the Baron.
  • Elite Man–Courtesan Romance: Duke Leto's romance with Lady Jessica is this. She is not a prostitute or courtesan, but a member of The Order of Bene Gesserit, who ship off some of their younger initiates as concubines to powerful nobles in order to advance their genetic selection agenda. Despite this, Leto and Jessica genuinely fall in love with each other, and she even defies the order by giving birth to his son (initiates can choose the baby's sex at will, and she was supposed to bear a daughter)
  • Fatal Flaw: Leto knows that his new ownership of Arrakis is a trap, but he's too prideful to pass up the opportunity and embarrass his House. This ultimately leads to his death at the hands of the Harkonnens.
  • A Father to His Men: He abandons a full load of spice and a valuable harvesting machine in the interest of saving every last worker. However, characters in-universe speculate on how much of the Duke's attitude is genuine concern, a calculated ploy to win loyalty or the Duke trying to be calculating but Becoming the Mask.
  • Frontline General: Leto is more than willing to fight alongside his men, and uses his personal craft to help rescue some of his workers.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Like his surname, 'Leto' is Greek in origin, and best known from the goddess Leto, mother of Artemis and Apollo.
  • Gilded Cage: Arrakis, and on a smaller scale the Governor's mansion (which is encased with shields).
  • Greater-Scope Paragon: Revered as one of the empire's more righteous leaders even by the emperor himself. Long after he's passed many look to follow his example. Even as house Atreides becomes more morally compromised he's looked back on as the symbol of a more noble time for the house. In Children of Dune Leto II notes that his ancestors fight within him and that one of the loudest is Leto who continues to combat Baron Harkonnen.
  • Guile Hero: He's not really coldblooded enough to be The Chessmaster; that's Hawat's job. But he knows how to scheme and plot reasonably well.
  • Like a Son to Me: The Emperor himself confided that he wished to have Leto for a son, and regrets that "political necessities" obliged him to screw him over.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His decision to let Hawat keep believing Jessica is a traitor to trick the Harkonnens winds up screwing him royally, since it plays right into their hands.
  • Papa Wolf: They have tried to take the life of my son!
  • The Patriarch: Of the chunk of the Atreides that, well, we primarily follow.
  • Planet Baron: He rules over the planet Caladan, and later Arrakis.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Having a Bene Gesserit for a lover isn't much use when you think she's a spy. The Harkonnens expertly manipulated everybody into not talking to the Duke. He in turn is trying to draw the enemy out, but it only makes matters worse.
  • Real Men Hate Affection: Adding to Leto's problems, Jessica is chafing under his frosty persona. Leto would like to marry her, but it would be political suicide. She's not a Duchess, just a concubine.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a caring man under the stern surface, a decent administrator, quite balanced, decisive when needed, a fine field commander... And, therefore, seen as a direct threat to the ruling House Corrino.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Almost immediately after arriving on Arrakis, he takes an active role in building up the spice mining industry and organizing the management of Dune. More generally, this attitude is a major reason why the Atreides can command such loyalty.
  • Sacrificial Lion: Foreshadowed in a very lampshaded way, even, with that lion trophy that takes ages to hang properly. He did not go down easy.
  • Spanner in the Works: Single-handedly destroyed thousands of years and hundreds of generations of Bene Gesserit plans by asking his wife for a son rather than the planned daugther.
  • Taking You with Me: He attempted to kill Baron Harkonnen using a poison gas in one of his molars that would take out everyone in the room, including himself. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite get the clean sweep, and that's as bad as not trying.
  • Trap Is the Only Option: Though outwardly a gift to House Atreides, Leto fully realizes that Arrakis is a trap. The Emperor feels threatened by Leto's popularity, and conspires to crush him.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Being lured into taking the title to Arrakis instead of going into exile.

    Jessica 

Lady Jessica

Played by: Francesca Annis (1984 film), Saskia Reeves (2000 miniseries), Alice Krige (2003 miniseries), Rebecca Ferguson (2021 film)

Leto's beloved concubine and Paul's mother. The cunning and observant Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, an order of women with mysterious powers who pull strings behind the scenes to further their agenda.


  • Abusive Parents: Reverend Mother Mohiam was a mother figure to Jessica during her childhood and was secretly her biological mother as revealed in the prequels. However, Mohiam speaks cruelly to Jessica, and when Paul protests, Mohiam states that she used Jessica as her servant during childhood. It's implied that she's treated Jessica with a mixture of love and cruelty all her life.
  • Action Mom: In the first book, Jessica's fight with Stilgar is: short, to the point, lets her and Paul introduce themselves to the Fremen properly, and underlines her Silk Hiding Steel qualities. It should be pointed out that the entire book has, to this point, been harping on the fact that the Sardaukar Super Soldiers eclipse normal infantry, that House Atreides is a threat to the Emperor precisely because they've trained a few — a few! — men to the point of being able to stand toe-to-toe with the Sardaukar... and that the Fremen can trounce them (the Sardaukar) soundly. And then Jessica trounces the Fremen soundly, establishing herself to be the strongest fighter in the Duniverse — period.
  • Action Politician: She works best as a political leader, but Jessica is an extraordinarily good fighter. She simply prefers not to cut loose.
  • Always Someone Better: Paul, who one-ups his mother's hyper-awareness. ("She's so slow.")
  • Anti-Hero: Jessica is one of the nicer members of House Atreides, but she's manipulative and a deeply flawed if loving parent.
  • Apparently Powerless Puppet Master: Downplayed. Jessica is more than happy to defer to Duke Leto as leader of their House, but she uses her official role as concubine to disguise just how much control she has.
  • Beneath the Mask: Her powers are carefully hidden.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Even if she is one of the kindest, most humane people among House Atreides, she is still a Bene Gesserit — with all the power and skill that implies.
  • The Bus Came Back: She never appears in Dune Messiah as she went back to Caladan and by some accounts, returned to the Sisterhood. She came back to Arrakis in Children of Dune after Paul's supposed death to see if her grandchildren can be returned to the control of the Sisterhood.
  • Compelling Voice: A Bene Gesserit power, which she also taught Paul.
  • Defector from Decadence: She was cast out from the Bene Gesserit for having a son rather than a daughter, but Jessica doesn't regret it and is happy to have found love with Duke Leto. She's also far more compassionate than the average Bene Gesserit.
  • Elite Man–Courtesan Romance: Duke Leto's romance with Lady Jessica is this. She is not a prostitute or courtesan, but a member of The Order of Bene Gesserit, who ship off some of their younger initiates as concubines to powerful nobles in order to advance their genetic selection agenda. Despite this, Leto and Jessica genuinely fall in love with each other, and she even defies the order by giving birth to his son (initiates can choose the baby's sex at will, and she was supposed to bear a daughter)
  • Fallen Princess: Mixed with a lot of scapegoating. The Bene Gesserit hierarchy were not pleased when she chose to have a Paul instead of a Pauline. From that point on, they have a habit of blaming her for anything related to that snowball. It takes centuries for them to admit in just how many ways the Order failed both her and itself.
  • First-Name Basis: She refers to Yueh by his first name as a sign of just how much she respects and cares for him.
  • Guile Hero: She relies primarily on her cunning and intelligence to get by, although she's quite good in a fight too.
  • Happily Married: Sort of; both she and Leto consider themselves married in all but name. The only reason they don't formalize it is to keep the possibility of an alliance with other Houses open.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Especially among the Bene Gesserit, who absolutely despise her. Jessica is also distrusted by members of House Atreides due to being a former Bene Gesserit, with Hawat in particular being easily convinced she's a spy for the Harkonnens.
  • Hot Consort: Jessica is officially a concubine for the purpose of diplomatic convenience, but in practice she is running the whole show.
  • Lady of War: Bene Gesserit — training Athenas is what they do. Worse, a "wild" Reverend Mother. Even worse: a tailored genetic blend of Harkonnen-Atreides meeting Spice.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Paul's vision reveals Jessica to be the daughter of the Baron Harkonnen. Neither she herself nor the Baron knew of it.
  • Mama Bear: She will do anything to protect Paul.
  • Mind Manipulation: Used rarely, primarily in self-defense or in a demonstration of her secret powers when such is necessary.
  • Minored in Ass-Kicking: She may major in political manipulation, but she can take down any Fremen — who are the guys that easily beat up the Sardaukar. In fact she's so good that when he first meets her, Stilgar is worried that in the Fremen's Asskicking Leads to Leadership society, she may choose to become the leader.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Jessica unwittingly messed with millennia-long genetic planning by the Bene Gesserit to breed the Kwisatz Haderach by having a son to please Leto instead of a daughter as planned, as it was one generation too soon; this led to Paul's Jihad and later to the eons-long rule of the God Emperor Leto Atreides. Jessica's actions are a cautionary lesson to the Bene Gesserit and they are referred to as "Jessica's Crime"; that is, never fall in love if you're a Bene Gesserit. And considering that they (the Bene Gesserit) have bounced back 5,000 years later and - despite their history of political machinations and backstabbing - are basically the Big Good faction that stands between humanity and oblivion towards the end of the series, it's indeed a good question whether it would have been better had they had their way instead of the Atreides'..
    • Her departure to Caladan once Alia was saddled with the regency left her daughter with little or no support against the morass of voices in her Other Memory, given that Leto and Ghanima, although also preborn, were still children. By the time it's become apparent that Alia has succumbed to Abomination, there's nothing that can be done to help her.
  • Noble Fugitive: She and Paul are forced to flee and take refuge amongst the Fremen after House Harkonnen's siege scatters most of their forces and kill Leto.
  • Not So Stoic: Jessica is generally composed and sedate with very few exceptions. However, whenever Paul is put in danger, she panics.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: It causes her no small amount of pain when Paul and Alia die. She even outlived her first grandson as well.
  • Parents as People: She loves her children and tries her best to become a good mother but they have superhuman abilities that are beyond her control considering that her son became a cold and ruthless emperor whose jihad had killed sixty billion people across the known universe and her daughter possesses her ancestors' memories, making her more of an adult than of a child. In fact, she's afraid of what her children had become. She did get called out by her grandson, Leto II, for abandoning her children. In the end, she's just as human as everybody else.
  • Rebellious Princess: Rebelling against the Bene Gesserit, that is. It takes the Order centuries to admit that she kind of, might have, maybe... had a point.
  • Someone to Remember Him By: Unbeknownst to Leto at the time of his death, Jessica was pregnant with his daughter.
  • Spanner in the Works: Her decision to have a son instead of a daughter ends throwing a catastrophic wrench in the Bene Gesserit's plans — Paul, as a male child of the Harkonnen and Atreides bloodlines, becomes the Kwisatz Haderach a generation early and launches a campaign that drastically alters the galaxy.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She decided to give birth to a boy simply to satisfy Leto. This ultimately leads to Paul's jihad and the slaughter it brings with it.
  • The Vamp: The Bene Gesserit specifically bred and trained her to be one. However, Jessica didn't used her wiles on Leto as she could have. Thing is... breeding empathic vamps to suit your designs means that they're likely to be highly empathic. And, react in response.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: When Jessica returns to Arrakis in Children of Dune to assess whether Alia has succumbed to Abomination, her grandson Leto asks where the hell she gets off on judging Alia, considering she essentially abandoned her daughter to return to Caladan and never gave Alia any support in being regent of the Empire or coping with her Other Memory.

    Paul Atreides 

Paul Atreides

Played by: Kyle MacLachlan (1984 film), Alec Newman (2000 & 2003 miniseries), Timothée Chalamet (2021 film)

Leto's son and heir, who is fifteen at the beginning of Dune. Already a young man with massive genetic potential, Paul has been trained in weaponry, and in both the ways of the mentats and the Bene Gesserits. As a result, he displays intelligence and prescience beyond his years, which makes several people wonder if he may be a prophesied Chosen One.


  • The Ace: Partly by nature, with a very large slice of nurture. He's been trained both as a mentat and also in the Bene Gesserit's methods, such as weirding way, and his natural talent surprises every expert he comes into contact with.
  • Abdicate the Throne: After being overwhelmed with the death of Chani and the harrowing future that he feared, he leaves the throne after his twins were born and as per Fremen tradition, he walks toward the desert alone after he was blinded by a stone-burner during a failed assassination attempt. His sister, Alia, becomes regent for his children.
  • Animal Motifs: Like his father, Paul is associated with bulls. It's used to represent his similar stubbornness and pride, as well as his tendency to ignore dangers and warning signs, leading to the creation of the jihad.
  • Anti-Hero: Deconstruction of The Chosen One aside, he becomes more cold and calculating after his Kwisatz Haderach powers starts emerging and he treats Irulan with contempt just because she is the daughter of Emperor Corrino. And he starts a jihad to save mankind from stagnation, although he has a My God, What Have I Done? moment when the Fremen go too far and begin decimating planets that resist his rule.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Subverted. Early on, Paul earns credibility among the Fremen by reluctantly killing one who challenged him to combat. The Fremen, like the Bedouin culture they loosely parallel, have a culture that values "honor," defended through bloodshed. Also, they expect their leaders to succeed by killing their predecessors. Though the Fremen take him for a Messiah and see his leadership as inevitable, he refuses to take the place of the tribe leader Stilgar by killing him. He takes power instead after an impassioned speech deploring the idea of sacrificing a loyal and talented soldier to such a brutal custom. This compels Stilgar to step down, and the Fremen accept Paul's leadership. He actually manages a clever bit of political maneuvering, side-stepping the issue when others would have forced his hand, by having the Fremen pledge their loyalty to him not as a tribal leader, but as their Duke (claiming his father's title and right to rule the planet by Imperial law)
  • The Atoner: By the end of Dune Messiah and in Children of Dune.
  • Awesomeness by Analysis: He was good before he got to Arrakis. However once the spice kicked in, his analytical prowess Took A Level In God-like Prescience.
  • Back from the Dead: In Hunters of Dune.
  • Badass Preacher: As "the Preacher."
  • Bleed 'Em and Weep: He weeps at Jamis's funeral out of guilt after killing him in a duel to the death. This earns him respect among the Fremen, who hold water sacred.
  • Blessed with Suck: While at first he seems like a near-perfect hero destined for great and noble deeds, he's tormented by the visions of the future that he can't prevent, he deeply regrets the massacres caused by his rise to power, and his ultimate fate is as inglorious and miserable as it gets.
  • Break the Cutie: He's introduced as a precociously intelligent fifteen year old with loving parents and devoted mentors. He is then psychologically tortured, uprooted from his home, narrowly survives an assassination attempt, sees everyone he knows massacred (except his mother) and is forced to fight a grown man to the death. This happens in the first half of the first book. Things do not get better.
  • Came Back Strong: He almost dies when he drinks the Water of Life, and when he wakes up he is the Kwisatz Haderach.
  • Came Back Wrong: Upon becoming the Kwisatz Haderach, Paul becomes much more cold and ruthless, to the point where he alienates the undyingly loyal Gurney Halleck and Stilgar.
  • Character Death: He dies in Children of Dune, stabbed to death by one of the priests who worship him as a god.
  • The Chosen One:
    • Deconstructed Character Archetype to the point of It Sucks to Be the Chosen One. While Paul does have phenomenal abilities thanks to his genes and does fulfill all the prophecies the Fremen had about him, those prophecies were put in place by other hands and Paul hijacks them in order to survive and get his revenge, and the Fremen's religious zeal becomes a power into itself that Paul cannot control. As a result, the Fremen start a jihad in Paul's name across the galaxy.
    • According to Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, the line of Jessica and Leto was one of many that the Bene Gesserit had planned for in terms of getting their desired Qwisatz Haderach. However, the way she conveys this to Jessica implies that their progeny was the most viable for said goal. While this makes Paul something of a "chosen one", he wasn't the Bene Gesserit's choice.
  • Compelling Voice: Like the Bene Gesserit.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Paul spends most of the original novel trying to prevent the jihad founded in his name from coming to pass. After an attack by the Emperor and Baron Harkonnen kills his son, Paul gives up on fighting it and embraces his destiny.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: All his combat training has been centered on penetrating personal shields, which stop anything moving over a certain speed, so his reflexes are trained to be "fast on defense, slow on attack." Shields drive the sand worms of Dune into a killing frenzy, so aren't used in the open desert where the Fremen live. The first fight Paul gets into, his finely-honed-against-shields training reflexes won't let him finish Jamis off cleanly, and some of the other Fremen berate Paul for toying with him.
  • Dark Messiah: He wasn't really a Messianic Archetype to begin with, but kept being persuaded about it by people full of wishful thinking, to the point where he started believing in being the embodiment of an idea he previously scoffed at.
  • Evil Overlord: Deconstructed in Dune Messiah. He is worshiped as a god by his Fremen legions whose jihad has spread their religion across the universe at the expense of billions of people, the once Proud Warrior Race is now rich and corrupt, and in comparison the Shaddam IV who he overthrew seems like a saint. However, none of this was Paul's intention. A group of overzealous Fremen started the religion and jihad and after 12 years it escalated to the point of Paul being a figurehead without any power to stop it, leading to the irony of being a powerful emperor who commands his subjects yet a powerless god who can't stop his worshipers. He also still manages to be the hero of the story because almost all of his enemies want to overthrow him for their own selfish purposes rather than stop the jihad. Paul was on top of this to begin with mostly because as enough of a prophet to see the big war is coming (back in the first book), he tried to somewhat limit the inevitable destruction by taking control.
  • Eye Scream: He gets blinded by an atomic weapon. He can continue to see, sort of, by relying on his visions of the future.
  • Eye Colour Change: His eyes turn blue from exposure to the Spice Melange, symbolizing his transformation into a Fremen warrior.
  • Failure Gambit: He foresees this as a possible outcome of his duel with Feyd-Rautha. If he loses, he will go down in history as a martyr and the Fremen will still create a jihad in his name.
  • Fallen Princess: Male example in the latter half of Dune. At the beginning, he's the well-off and educated heir to his father's dukedom. By the halfway point, his father has been unseated and killed, and he and his mother are on the run in the desert with only meagre supplies and their wits to keep them alive. Once they fall in with the Fremen, however, he unlocks his psychic potential and is able to rally his way to the highest status in the galaxy.
  • Fallen Hero: By the time of Dune Messiah. And he's fully aware of it.
  • Famous Ancestor: He's revealed to be a descendant of Agamemnon.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: His Fremen name means "The Mouse." The Harkonnens weren't exactly quaking in their boots at first, since they don't bother to learn the language. To the Fremen his name means "Wise in the ways of the desert"note  and "The teacher of boys."
  • Galactic Conqueror: He conquered the Imperium and became its new ruler.
  • Generation Xerox: Paul ends up keeping Chani on as his "concubine", precisely as his father did with Jessica.
  • A God I Am Not: He willingly gave up the opportunity, as he had too much of a conscience to subject humanity to the monstrosity of a physical god; Leto II and Ghanima then have to pick up his slack. When he is found out to be alive, Gurney Halleck admonishes him for running away from what he started.
  • Going Native: After the fall of the house of Atreides, he and Jessica find refuge among the Fremen and quickly assimilate into their culture. Paul takes to it much better than Jessica, and by the end of the Time Skip he's a Fremen through and through.
  • Gone Horribly Right:
    • The Bene Gesserit wanted a man with the perfect genes, an unlimited prescientist, so they could control the course of human history through him. Instead, they ended up unleashing a massive uncontrollable wave of religious hysteria across the galaxy, changing human civilization forever.
    • It's also heavily implied that the Bene Gesserit seed "messiah" myths among various primitive cultures on planets (like the Fremen of Arrakis) specifically so that, if a Bene Gesserit finds herself on the run in such a place with no other allies, they can conveniently make themselves out to be said messiah, so they at least have some people around to help them out. These legends are ultimately what control Paul's fate among the Fremen.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: In his quest to get revenge on the Emperor and the Harkonnens, he becomes just as ruthless as they are. It gets worse after his son is killed, at which point Paul embraces the jihad his ascent will cause so he can finally get his revenge.
  • Heir-In-Law: Becomes the new Padishah Emperor by marrying the current one's eldest daughter.
  • Historical Hero Upgrade: Paul goes down in history as a flawless messiah and is spoken of as though he is a god. In truth, Paul is a good tactician and leader, but he's still just a flawed, ordinary man who hated being regarded as such.
  • I Have Many Names: Paul Atreides, Lisan-al-Gaib, Usul, Muad'dib, The Preacher.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: What he would like to be after becoming the all-purpose political and religious figurehead messiah of humanity.
  • Irony: The Fremen believed in his infallibility and committed jihad in his name. After taking the anonymous name of The Preacher and railing against his own divinity, he is stabbed to death by one of the very priests who proclaim his ascendance.
  • It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: He is the Kwisatz Haderach, revered as a messianic figure. However, he is horrified of his visions of his zealous followers starting a universe-spanning jihad in his name, and the only reason they follow him is because the Bene Gesserit deliberately shaped myths and legends to bail one of their number (by a twist of fate, his mother) out of trouble if she ever needed it. Unfortunately, he knows that this is a necessity to prevent humanity's extinction. Dune Messiah shows how it really affected him emotionally as he earns many enemies, goes blind after a failed assassination attempt, and foresees that Chani would die giving birth to their twins. In the end, he walks into the desert as he couldn't bear to continue his role, and leaves behind his empire and his children. His son takes up the mantle instead, following the path to the end and accepting how horrible it is.
  • Junkie Prophet: He gains the power of precognition after drinking the Water of Life, causing spice agony that leaves him comatose for days. When he awakens, he has fully transformed into the Kwisatz Haderach.
  • Kick the Dog: One of the signs Paul has become much more ruthless after the Time Skip is when he has several prisoners executed, and then forces the only two survivors swear loyalty before having them sent off to certain death anyway.
  • Lack of Empathy: He develops this over the course of Dune. While he starts off as good-natured and compassionate if sheltered, Paul's war against the Harkonnens gradually hardens him. Gurney is surprised upon reuniting with Paul when he sees Paul have defenseless prisoners of war executed, and Paul becomes almost inhumanly cold.
  • Led by the Outsider: He is a Noble Fugitive graciously accepted into Stilgar's Fremen tribe, and he gradually comes to be seen as their prophesied messiah, the Kwisatz Haderach. He leads them into revolution and ascends to the Emperor's throne… and unleashes a violent jihad on the universe.
  • Like a Duck Takes to Water: One of the signs that he truly is the Kwisatz Haderach is that he's able to effortlessly assimilate into the Fremen culture and learn their ways.
  • Lonely at the Top: After Paul's rise to power, his mother, sister and Chani are probably the only three people who know the man, instead of the semi-divine messiah.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Defied. Paul's official biographer points out that a lot of people assume Paul was this. Said biographer points out that while Paul had no friends of the same age because of the security risks involved, he had close and warm relationships with his tutors Thufir Hawat, Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck, and while Leto and Jessica were not as present as they could have been (which is understandable, they were the ruling couple of a planet, after all), they were very much loving and supportive parents.
  • Mad Oracle: He's viewed as this after gaining precognitive abilities due to his much more eccentric and cold demeanor. Aging knowledge of multiple timelines does not help Paul's mental state at all.
  • Magnetic Hero: Why the Fremen decide to follow him. Paul is extraordinarily charismatic, a natural leader, and a talented fighter. It's deconstructed, as their absolute, fanatical loyalty to Paul leads to them wreaking havoc across the galaxy.
  • Mature Work, Child Protagonists: He's the main protagonist of Dune, and he's only fifteen for a large part of the book, reaching his late teens/early 20s after the Time Skip about two-thirds of the way through. The book is aimed more at adults than kids around Paul's age; although some teens probably wouldn't find it too difficult to read, it's quite a dense novel with lots of complex world-building and philosophical elements, which might not be as appealing or understandable to younger readers.
  • Meaningful Name: Muad'dib comes from the Arabic word for "teacher"
  • Mighty Whitey: Justified in-universe in that the legends which assure his ascendancy were deliberately planted in the local culture, ages ago, and Paul and his mother hijack them in order to survive the downfall of their House.
  • Morton's Fork: He's faced with this in Dune. Paul can either lead a fanatical jihad that brings slaughter across the galaxy in his name, or let the Harkonnens wipe out the Fremen and kill his entire family. He chooses the former.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Paul is left guilt-ridden after killing Jamis, and even cries during his eulogy. Even though the man was a Jerkass who fully intended to kill him, Paul still feels sorry for him.
  • Nerves of Steel: He consistently remains calm even in the most dangerous situations.
  • Nice Guy: At first. He's quite kind and friendly to everyone, to the point that his only concern when he realizes Gurney could have injured him is to worry that Halleck would get in trouble with Leto. He grows increasingly cruel over time.
  • Noble Fugitive: He and Jessica are forced to flee and take refuge amongst the Fremen after the Harkonnens' assault on their base in Arrakis.
  • Older Than They Look: He's described in the books as looking very childlike as a teenager, which works to his advantage as it often causes his enemies to fatally underestimate him.
  • Omniscient Hero: As with all other heroic tropes associated with him, Paul is questionable on the "hero" part. But once he awakens his enormous prescience he is virtually a Trope Codifier.
  • Omniscient Morality License: In Dune and Dune Messiah, Paul pretty heavily leans on his prescience as a justification for his actions, even when his actual motives are personal. He eventually comes to regret this bitterly and, as the Preacher, denounces what he himself built.
  • Papa Wolf: The death of his first son extinguishes any thoughts of mercy he had towards the Harkonnens.
  • Patchwork Kids: Paul is described as favoring his mother Jessica in appearance; the two share an oval face and green eyes. He also inherited his dark hair and "hawkish" look from his father, Leto.
  • Pragmatic Hero: He develops into this during his stay on Arrakis. He becomes extraordinarily ruthless in what tactics he uses against the Harkonnens, but it's all to stop the Harkonnens' genocide of the Fremen.
  • A Protagonist Shall Lead Them: Brutally deconstructed. Paul is prophesied to be the messianic Kwisatz Haderach, and he does lead the Fremen in toppling the dictatorial and corrupt Emperor and House Harkonnen. Unfortunately, he does so at the cost of creating a fanatical religion devoted to him that kills billions in his name.
  • Psychic Powers: Being the Kwisatz Haderach grants him prescience, an unlimited version of the spice trance. His eventually grows so powerful that he doesn't even need his eyes to see the world. He also seems to be able to perform the Bene Gesserit mental link, doing it once to meld his mind with Jessica's.
  • Refused the Call: Ultimately he rejects the Golden Path.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Harkonnens, with the Emperor's backing, nearly exterminated his entire House. Who wouldn't be angry after that?
  • Ruler Protagonist: He becomes this in Dune Messiah, having become Emperor of the entire galaxy and the central figure of his own religion.
  • Sanity Slippage: The trauma he goes through over the course of Dune as well as his precognitive abilities gradually take a toll on Paul. He dissociates from his emotions and becomes borderline inhuman in how cold he is.
  • Screw Destiny: Paul tries his best to fight becoming the Kwisatz Haderach, but unfortunately You Can't Fight Fate.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He is able to reject the Golden Path because of the births of Leto and Ghanima. He proceeds to walk into the desert and never look back.
  • Sorcerer King: Though he might be a Sorcerous Overlord instead.
  • Stop Worshipping Me: Since the events portrayed in Dune Messiah, he laments that the strong and independent people he had come to love as his own have become swept up in the religious fervor of the Jihad; he regrets that Stilgar, who was once his friend, has become his worshipper.
  • The Stoic: Even prior to becoming the Kwisatz Haderach, Paul is fairly reserved and stoic. After his transformation, he becomes almost inhumanly cold and terrifies even his own mother.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: At first, Paul fights against his role as the Kwisatz Haderach and is horrified at the slaughter his reign will entail. After the Harkonnens kill his young son, Paul accepts his destiny if it means killing the Harkonnens.
  • These Hands Have Killed: His reaction after killing Jamis. It's a sign of how far he's fallen after the Time Skip that he has prisoners executed without blinking.
  • Took a Level in Cynic: Paul isn't particularly idealistic at the start of the series and is quite politically savvy, but he's generally kind and compassionate. After a Trauma Conga Line throughout the first novel, he becomes increasingly bitter and cynical, culminating in his transformation into the Preacher.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: After embracing his role as the Kwisatz Haderach, Paul becomes increasingly cold and calculating, embracing his role as a Dark Messiah.
  • Turbulent Priest: In Children of Dune, he appears as the Preacher, thundering against the corruption of the Empire and he is ultimately killed for it.
  • Unscrupulous Hero: The nicest interpretation of him by the end of the first novel. The Emperor and the Harkonnens are undeniably corrupt, but Paul is quite ruthless and cruel himself.
  • The Usurper: By the end of the first book, he takes the throne of the Imperium by marrying the eldest daughter, Princess Irulan Corrino, while sending her father into exile. Though there are some legitimate claims where his father, Duke Leto, is a distant cousin of the emperor. In the sequel, his ascension earned him many enemies who conspired to get rid of him with a justified reason: his fanatical followers started a galactic-wide Jihad in his name which caused a lot of death and destruction.
  • Villain Protagonist: The darker interpretation of him in the latter half of Dune. Paul is fighting against the Harkonnens and the Emperor, but he's just as ruthless as they are. Not only that, but he knowingly - albeit reluctantly - institutes an intergalactic jihad he knows will lead to billions of deaths.
  • Warrior Prince: He's the heir of the House of Atreides in addition to being a formidable warrior.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: By the end of Dune, Paul embraces his destiny as a Dark Messiah because it's the only way to stop the Harkonnens and the Emperor from killing his family and the Fremen.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Because Destiny Says So.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: And he can sense it constantly. Paul makes several attempts to avert the Jihad; thanks to his efforts, he can say with satisfaction that the Fremen 'only' killed sixty billion people.
    • Played with. Paul could, indeed, have prevented the Jihad... by never leading the Fremen against the Harkonnens in the first place, thus allowing them and the Emperor continued domination over Arrakis and giving up on revenge for his entire House being murdered. He actually seriously considered turning away from his desire for revenge a few times, but ultimately decided that it was more-or-less worth the price (the Jihad).
  • Young Conqueror: Defeats House Harkonnen and becomes emperor when he is still a teenager.
  • Younger Than He Looks: While as a teenager he looked quite young for his age by Children of Dune years of living in the desert as The Preacher has aged him considerably. It's part of why his friends and family have trouble figuring out if Paul really is the Preacher and when he finally meets Gurney the narration notes that Paul looks even older than him.
  • Zen Survivor: A "living in secrecy version" in Children of Dune.

    Leto Atreides II 

God-Emperor Leto Atreides II

Played by: James McAvoy (2003 miniseries)

The son and heir of Paul. Perhaps an even more powerful psychic than his father.
  • Achilles' Heel: Water, in large amounts.
  • And I Must Scream: His awareness supposedly exists in each of the sandtrout and sandworms produced from his body. In his words, he is a pearl of awareness locked in an endless dream. Though it's not entirely clear whether that's as terrible as other applications of this trope.
  • Angsty Surviving Twin: Considering that he becomes God Emperor, it's inevitable that Leto would outlive Ghamina. In his journals, it's clear that he was heartbroken when she died.
  • Anti-Hero: Leto wants to help humanity, but the way he does it is pretty brutal.
  • Anti-Villain: What he sees himself as, and what he becomes in the end.
  • Arc Words: "The Golden Path."
  • Axe-Crazy: While normally calm and collected, when sufficiently disturbed can fall under the influence of "the Worm", losing all reason and committing mindless violence against whoever/whatever happens to be near.
  • Big Bad: Despite being the main protagonist of God Emperor of Dune, he himself is the source of the novel's conflict.
  • Bio-Armor: What his sandtrout skin amounts to in the beginning: A living stillsuit granting vast longevity, superhuman strength and speed, and Nigh-Invulnerability.
  • Bodyguard Babes: He created the Fish Speakers to be his bodyguards and enforcers; after the Scattering, they became the Honored Matres.
  • Body Horror: He transforms himself into a sandworm/human hybrid.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When he becomes the God Emperor, decades may pass without him noticing.
  • Brother–Sister Team: With Ghanima.
  • The Chessmaster: Due to his prescience and intelligence, he is able to craft a millennia-long plan designed to spur mankind into a ceaseless wave of expansion and innovation.
  • Combat Clairvoyance: His prescience is so heightened that any attack against him is doomed to fail from the start.
  • Creepy Twin: Especially as a child alongside Ghanima.
  • Dark Messiah: He intends to save mankind from the "Typhoon Conflict" by imposing a 3000-year rule of despotism, followed by a sundering of mankind.
  • Dead Guy Junior: A double example; he is named after both his paternal grandfather and his identically-named deceased older brother, who was murdered in infancy.
  • Death Seeker: When he becomes the God Emperor, Leto is so bored with the passage of millennia that Duncan Idaho's attempts on his life are about the only thing that rouses him; this, in fact, is one of the reasons he keeps reviving Idaho apart from nostalgia.
  • The Emperor: He becomes God-Emperor of the entire Imperium, and sets himself up as the ultimate tyrant in order to help formulate a desire in humanity to expand.
  • Emperor Scientist: Downplayed, but still present. Under his rule Arrakis was terraformed away from a desert planet and into a garden world, and he is knowledgeable of the spice.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's devoted to his twin sister and loves Hwi.
  • Evil Overlord: Deconstructed. He rules over territories from several galaxies with an iron fist, demands that his subjects worship him, commands an army of savage female fanatics, and uses his monopoly over the spice to prevent any challenge to his authority. What only he knows, however, is that he is using his reign as a means to free humanity from prescient rulers like himself and to ensure that humanity follows his "Golden Path" - the path away from extinction. In short, his brutality and oppression are intended to make humanity chafe under his rule, such that his death will be followed by a mass exodus that scatters the human race so far that they will never all fall under the sway of someone such as him ever again. His contemporaries think he is simply a power hungry despot.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: At the climax of Children of Dune, Leto becomes strong enough to knock aside fully-armed combat troopers, though he's wearing the biological equivalent to Powered Armor at the time.
  • Gambit Roulette: His entire plan for saving mankind.
  • Genetic Memory: Like many of the Atreides line.
  • A God Am I: Strangely enough, it's devoid of the ego that usually accompanies this trope. Leto is simply invincible, or near it.
  • God-Emperor: The first of the two standard Trope Codifiers. Also possibly the Ur-Example of the construct-title of "God-Emperor", at least in the English language.
  • Hive Mind: Possesses the collective memories (and thus personalities) of each and every ancestor reaching back deep into human prehistory.
  • I Am a Monster: He believes himself to be the most despicable thing creation ever threw into the universe.
  • Immortal Ruler: His thousand-generation reign only ends by his own will.
  • Internal Retcon: Being a Kwisatz Haderach, has full access to his masculine and feminine genetic memory which stretches from about the year 100,000 back to the beginning of human awareness. What does he do with it? He has historians burned alive for misconstruing the facts that he has personal access to. Of course, this was partly mystique-building, as he secretly rendered them unconscious first.
  • Kill Him Already!: He has given Duncan Idaho uncountable opportunities to kill him and he always manages to disappoint. The last and definitive time, Leto has to clue in Siona on how to kill him, sets up a scenario, and even gives Siona and Idaho help by giving them Nayla, Leto's Fish Speaker.
  • Last of His Kind: By the time of Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, his consciousness lives on in the last of the sandworms.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Becomes superhumanly fast and strong after devising his sandtrout-"stillsuit". As his metamorphosis progresses he becomes largely sedentary, yet is still capable of astonishing speed when the need arises.
  • Living Lie Detector: Due to his prescience and powers of observation, which are themselves heightened by his merger with the sandworms, it's nearly impossible to deceive him.
  • Lonely at the Top: After his metamorphosis, Leto begins to grow apart from the very humans he is trying to save.
  • Long Game: His millennia-long tyrannical regime, which ends in his death, is merely the first step of the "Golden Path" he outlined for humanity.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: He becomes a human-sandworm combination. One cover for God-Emperor of Dune depicts him as a sandworm with a human face nestled in its mouth.
  • My Death Is Just the Beginning: His plan in a nutshell: Repress humanity for thousands of years, so that when he dies, the freedom they had lost for so long drives them to greater heights than ever before.
  • Necessarily Evil: He is acting to end the stagnation of human society and stop the endless House bickering and petty wars of the Imperium, but the way he does it is... hardcore, to say the least.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability: His half-sandworm nature imparts seemingly complete resistance to physical, chemical, or energy-based attack, though it also renders him extremely vulnerable to water.
  • No Place for Me There: By nature, the ideal universe he creates would not contain any godlike beings such as him in it. Even ignoring his powers, near the end he comes to decide that the atrocities he committed to get there leave him unworthy of the world he wished to create.
  • Not Quite Dead: Even after his "death," so-called pearls of his awareness remain in the sandworms he spawned, "endlessly dreaming."
  • Omniscient Morality License: Deconstructed. Leto thinks he has this at first, but after his plan continues, he begins to worry that he could be wrong, or that the results don't justify his methods. In the end, he accepts that while he did what he felt was personally necessary, humanity will likely forever judge him as a monster.
  • Prescience Is Predictable: Leto makes a few statements towards this end.
  • Psychic Powers: Like his father, and some of the most powerful in the setting.
  • Really 700 Years Old: 3,500, in his case.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: A God-Emperor who single-handedly reshapes the entire Imperium.
  • Silent Scapegoat: Even the Bene Gesserit, thousands of years after Leto sacrificed himself, don't realize just what it was he was trying to accomplish.
  • Sorcerer King: See his father's entry. How "good" they are is debatable, considering how many billions died during the jihads of Paul's Fremen and how Leto played tyrant in order to get people to leave the stagnant core worlds and scatter throughout the universe. They have the ability of prescience and conscious control over their bodies to an improbable level. And of course Leto II merged with a sandworm and became the Trope Namer for God-Emperor.
  • Tragic Hero / Tragic Villain: A mixture of both. He hates what he has to do to save humankind, but he must be a millennia-reigning tyrant to do that.
  • Thanatos Gambit: His own death is the turning point of his plan.
  • Two Beings, One Body: With multiple sandtrout.
  • Übermensch: Deconstructed. Despite acting for what he believed to be the greater good and going farther than any human had in pursuit of that path, in the end he is left unsure of whether he truly outgrew morality, and was never certain of whether his plan would turn out the way he hoped.
  • The Unfettered: He will ensure the Golden Path at any cost to himself, other people, or the universe at large.
  • Victory Is Boring: As noted above, he has had absolute control over everything for so many millennia that he has become weary of it. By the novel's opening, assassination attempts (however ill-conceived) are about the only thing he finds entertaining anymore.
  • Villain Protagonist: For a certain level of "villain," but as a Necessarily Evil tyrant, he himself is the closest thing to a villain in God Emperor, the book where he receives focus.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: All of Leto's tyrannical reign was meant to ensure the long-term survival and prosperity of humanity. It weighs heavily on him, earns the fear and hatred of billions, and condemns Leto himself to thousands of years of loneliness and inhumanity, culminating in his own death, after which he is remembered as "the Tyrant".
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: As a child, he had access to Genetic Memory stretching back thousands of years, and thus was far more mature than other children.

    Ghanima Atreides 

Ghanima Atreides

Played by: Jessica Brooks (2003 miniseries)

The daughter of Paul and Chani and twin sister of Leto II.
  • Brother–Sister Team: With Leto II.
  • Creepy Child: She and her brother have the demeanor, skills, and memories of adults, making them very unsettling.
  • Genetic Memory: She can access the memories of her female ancestors.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: While she is aware of the Golden Path, she doesn't the full extent of it because Leto never reveals it much to her, out for her protection because he knows she would try to stop him.

    Alia Atreides 

Alia Atreides

Played by: Alicia Witt (1984 film), Laura Burton (2000 miniseries), Daniela Amavia (2003 miniseries), Anya Taylor-Joy (2024 film)

Paul's younger sister. Due to Jessica taking the Water of Life while pregnant with her, Alia is born with the memories of her ancestors. A certain one furthers the wedge that grows between her and the rest of her family.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: All of the Fremen are terrified of Alia for her ancestral memory and odd demeanor. The Bene Gesserit are horrified by her mere existence and Mother Gaius demands she be killed on the spot. Alia breaks down at one point and wonders why everyone thinks she's a monster.
  • Big Bad: For Children of Dune.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: She treats her kidnapping at the climax of Dune as a minor inconvenience and casually insults and threatens the Emperor and the Baron.
  • Creepy Child: Alia is seen as such by the Bene Gesserit (indeed, she is outright called an "abomination") due to having the skills of a Reverend Mother and all the memories of ancestors who came before her, as well as having the intelligence and speech skills of an adult at the age of two, making her decidedly unchildlike.
  • The Dreaded: By the Bene Gesserit, for her condition. Mother Gaius is one step from fainting just from seeing her and begs Shaddam IV to kill her.
  • Driven to Suicide: Dies by falling off her tower while fighting her own possession.
  • Enfant Terrible: The Bene Gesserit viewed her as this after she was born. While Alia is rather cold and ruthless even as a child, she's still a generally good person.
  • Evil Redhead: In Children Of Dune, thanks to the Baron.
  • Evil Uncle: Female version for Leto II and Ghanima during Children Of Dune.
  • Fighting from the Inside: Attempts to do this over her possession.
  • Full-Frontal Assault: Once trains in the nude.
  • Genetic Memory: Ends up getting the memories of her grandfather Baron Harkonnen.
  • Gentleman Snarker: She's quite sophisticated and refined even as a child, but still quite prone to snark.
  • Guile Hero: She's not much of a fighter, but Alia's very smart and very cunning. In the climax of Dune, she allows herself to be kidnapped simply so she can get a shot at killing the Baron and avenging Paul's son. She succeeds with flying colors.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Her condition makes her extremely knowledgeable and mature beyond her years. Unfortunately, the uncanniness of a young child acting exactly like an adult terrifies everyone around her, and she grows up isolated from everyone.
  • High Priest: Leads the Muad'Dib religion from the Temple of Alia.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: She has her moments in Dune Messiah.
  • Little Miss Badass:
    • As a child, she killed the Baron, and living in Arrakis combined with full Bene Gesserit combat training from her Other Memory probably meant that she could present a problem to the Sardaukar.
    • Additionally, in Fremen culture the men fight in the battle, the women drag fatal casualties to the deathstills, and the children ensure all the casualties are fatal. Alia's enthusiastic participation in this tradition at the end of the first book earns her her epithet, "Of The Knife".
  • Nerves of Steel: Not even being kidnapped manages to scare her, and she spends the entire time insulting the Baron and the Emperor. She admits she allowed herself to be kidnapped, not wanting to be the one to tell Paul his son is dead.
  • Older Than They Look: Uses Bene Gesserit body controlling skills to not age. This means she is around mid twenties but looks fifteen or so.
  • Practically Different Generations: Paul was 15 or 16 at the time of her birth.
  • Psychic Powers: Hers are unique, because she has an ability resembling Telepathy which allows her to enter the minds of other Bene Gesserit. It is implied to be just a variation of the mental touch they use to pass their ego/memories among them, however, and not literal telepathy (which is known as T-P in the Dune universe), as she explains to the Emperor that she can only do it to those "born" like her, like Reverend Mother Mohiam.
  • Red Baron: She is called "Saint Alia Of The Knife" by supporters.
  • Regent for Life: Becomes this after Paul's disappearance.
  • Sanity Slippage: In Children Of Dune as a result of her Genetic Memories being suppressed for too long.
  • Ship Tease: With the revived Duncan Idaho in Dune Messiah. It develops into a full blown romance.
  • The Unfavorite: Jessica clearly prefers Paul to her, as even she is terrified of Alia's genetic memory. She winds up abandoning her entirely by the time of Dune Messiah, which eventually proves disastrous.
  • Tragic Villain: In the end, she was driven mad by being exposed to Genetic Memory and becomes pitiable, rather than despicable.
  • The Vamp: Under the influence of the Baron, she starts using sexual seduction to secure the loyalty of Javid, Buer and others.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: It seems like this is going on, but it's actually worse. The Baron memory is just using her for vengeance and mindless destruction.

    Thufir Hawat 

Thufir Hawat

Played by: Freddie Jones (1984 film), Jan Vlasák (2000 miniseries), Stephen McKinley Henderson (2021 film)

A famed mentat who has served House Atreides for three generations. Thufir is Leto's chief adviser, spymaster, and one of his right-hand men.
  • Aggressive Categorism: He assumes Jessica is the traitor in House Atreides because she's a Bene Gesserit, which he (not inaccurately) views as an arrogant group that assumes they know people better than anyone. Jessica's attempts to correct him on this only further prove his resentment of the Gesserit and ignore the danger he's putting the family in.
  • All for Nothing: His efforts to destroy House Harkonnen from within prove wasted when Paul is able to do so using the Fremen army. Not that Hawat doesn't help once he learns Paul is alive.
  • Anti-Hero: Hawat is extraordinarily ruthless in his efforts to defend the Atreides, and later to avenge them .
  • The Atoner: After the apparent destruction of House Atreides, Hawat dedicates himself to revenge against their enemies as penance for his failure. He ultimately dies rather than harm Paul, committing suicide in a final act of loyalty.
  • Becoming the Mask: Paul notes that in one timeline, Hawat - despite starting off as a Fake Defector - becomes genuinely loyal to the Harkonnens and kills Paul in cold blood. Fortunately for Paul, this isn't that timeline - and Hawat kills himself rather than harm Paul.
  • Best Served Cold: Willing to play the long game in instigating his revenge against his Harkonnen captors.
  • Betrayal Insurance: The Baron decides to ensure Hawat's loyalty by injecting him with a slow-acting poison, and giving him the antidote in his food. Thus, if Hawat ever betrays the Harkonnens, he'll succumb to the poison.
  • Brutal Honesty: While he's no stranger to lying and manipulation, Hawat tends to be very blunt about his opinions and suspicions. Not even the Baron is safe from Hawat bluntly calling him out for his failures, despite the man having the ability to easily kill Hawat.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: As a Mental, he has been trained to effectively be a human computer. He has a photographic memory and can come up with perfectly logical conclusions with the bare minimum of information.
  • The Chessmaster: Sets a plan to manipulate Feyd and kill the Harkonnens from the inside. It's deconstructed, as Hawat's ability to come up with complex, years-spanning plans is what leads to the Harkonnen's victory. The Baron is able to convince him Jessica is a traitor and has spent years waiting to turn on Leto because that's the kind of plan Hawat would set up.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: In the 1984 film, he is required to milk a cat for the antidote to the poison he has been administered by the Harkonnens.
  • The Consigliere: To the Atreides.
  • Death by Adaptation: In the case of the 2000 miniseries, it's more like an earlier death. The subplot of Thufir being captured by the Harkonnens and being forced to be Piter's replacement is not a part of this adaptation. The last we see of him is during the Harkonnen attack at Arakeen. He defiantly curses the Harkonnens followed by a scene of an explosion elsewhere. The assumption was that he was killed offscreen.note 
  • Determinator: He spends years plotting to destroy the Harkonnens, and even kills himself just to spite the Emperor for trying to use him against Paul.
  • The Dreaded: According to Irulan's memoirs, even the Emperor feared Thufir's cunning and deviousness.
  • Driven to Suicide: Hawat chooses to commit suicide rather than kill Paul, even though it means he will finally gain his freedom.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Paul notes that in one timeline, Hawat turns against the Atreides after years in the Harkonnens' service, and is the one to kill Paul. Hawat subverts it, however, as he lets himself die rather than harm the son of his beloved Duke.
  • Fake Defector: Pretends to work for the Harkonnens after his capture, but in reality is playing the Baron off against Feyd-Rautha. Feyd himself seems to suspect as much.
  • Famed In-Story: Hawat is legendary for his cunning and being The Chessmaster, and his skills are revered by everyone. This saves his life when the Baron decides to spare his life and use him as a replacement for Piter, and even then the Emperor is outraged Hawat is still alive because he's just that much of a potential threat.
  • Fatal Flaw: His paranoia, which the Baron exploits ruthlessly to destroy House Atriedes. As the baron explains, Hawat is so intelligent and paranoid he'll easily assume that Jessica is plotting to betray her own husband to the Harkonnens - as this is exactly the sort of complex plan Hawat would set up.
  • Flaw Exploitation: The Baron using Hawat's paranoia against him is ultimately what helps House Harkonnen nearly destroy House Atreides.
  • The Good Chancellor: Zig-Zagged. Hawat is extraordinarily loyal to the Atreides and has dedicated his life to them, but he's ruthless to a fault in defending them. He's very much feared for his incredible brilliance and ruthlessness, and he thinks nothing of sacrificing the Fremen if he views it to be in their benefit.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Hawat is firmly on the Atreides' side, but that doesn't make his methods any less harsh. Notably, he proves very willing to assist in the Harkonnens' totalitarian and oppressive regime so long as it means killing them, even if it means having the Fremen subjected to torturous training to brainwash them into the Baron's loyal soldiers.
  • Guile Hero: Unlike Duncan and Gurney, Hawat is an intellectual threat rather than a physical one. He's damn good at it too, and legendary for his skill.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He chooses to die rather than harm Paul as the Emperor planned, and injects himself with the poison meant to kill the young Atreides. It helps that he was dying anyway from the Harkonnens' poisoning.
  • Improperly Paranoid: He falls for the Baron's attempt to frame Jessica due to his prior hatred of the Bene Gesserit. The Baron also notes that such a complex scheme would be exactly the sort of thing Hawat would come up with, meaning he'll assume the Baron did it too.
  • Informed Ability: His mentat abilities and skill as House Astreides' Master of Assassins are apparently renowned throughout the Landsraad. None of that is on display in the book, where he falls for the Harkonnen's schemes hook, line and sinker. He fails to anticipate the attempt on Paul's life, continues to mistrust Lady Jessica even after Leto correctly deduced the evidence which implicated her as a traitor was planted, and he badly miscalculates the true size of the Harkonnen attack. In addition, he comes off as incredibly ignorant: he completely fails to pick up on how badly the move to Arrakis has impacted the morale of his men, doesn't seem to be aware that Yueh's wife had been kidnapped by the Harkonnens, and was ignorant of Jessica's ability to use The Voice, even though she had been training Paul to use it and had taught people like Gurney and Duncan to resist it. This is somewhat handwaved away with the implication that Thufir's advanced age has greatly diminished his ability, and he does at several points offer his resignation over his failures to adequately predict what the Harkonnens are planning, all of which are refused by Leto.
  • Kill Me Now, or Forever Stay Your Hand: Hawat is captured and enslaved by the Harkonnens during their ouster of the Atreides and is administered a perpetual poison, the antidote to which he receives from the Harkonnens and must take on a regular basis in order to survive. Near the end of Dune, when Paul overthrows the Emperor and confronts the conspirators, the Harkonnen offer Thufir a permanent antidote in exchange for assassinating Paul, who willingly offers his life to Thufir in recognition of his years of loyal service to House Atreides. Unable to bring himself to kill the heir to House Atreides, Thufir instead commits suicide.
  • Killed Off for Real: He dies while refusing to kill Paul.
  • The Load: Zig-Zagged. Hawat's very competent at what he does, but his hatred of Jessica proves a major hindrance to his effectiveness. It leads to him falling for the Harkonnens' schemes hook, line, and sinker, causing his beloved Duke's death.
  • Old Retainer: Leto Atreides' most trusted subordinate, and the oldest by far. It's implied Hawat has been with the family for generations.
  • Playing Both Sides: Upon being forcibly recruited into House Harkonnen, he immediately begins doing this. He assists both the Baron and Feyd-Rautha in their schemes against each other, hoping one of them kills the other. He also convinces the Baron to start building up his own army, hoping to send him into a war against the Emperor, which would result in the death of at least one of House Atreides's destroyers.
  • Psychological Projection: Part of the reason he so easily suspects Jessica is because, as the Baron notes, such a complex scheme would be exactly the sort of thing Hawat would come up with.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Leto is killed and House Atreides is scattered, Hawat immediately starts rallying up the Fremen to take revenge. Unfortunately, his sietch is immediately slaughtered by the Sardaukar and Hawat is captured and forces into servitude.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: The theatrical release of the 1984 cuts out his death scene, and inserts shots of him standing in the crowd during the duel between Paul and Feyd-Rautha.
  • The Spock: A Mentat of no small skill.
  • The Spymaster: As Master of Assassins to House Atreides.
  • The Starscream: A rare heroic version. Hawat becomes the Baron's right-hand man, but only as a Fake Defector. He's secretly plotting to destroy House Harkonnen from within by playing the treacherous family against each other.
  • The Stoic: Usually calm and composed.
  • The Strategist: Strategizing is his primary role in House Atreides and later House Harkonnen. He's legendary for his ability, though the Harkonnens are able to out-maneuver him by exploiting his paranoia.
  • Talking Your Way Out: Hawat, captured by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen's forces and forced to work for him, plays him off of his nephew, Feyd Rautha. Feyd makes a rash attempt (suggested by Thufir) to assassinate his uncle, and the Baron is forced to consider executing his only legitimate heir. Thufir does this more for vengeance and loyalty to his prior liege than for escape, which the Baron ensured would be a fatal endeavor; the Baron barely manages to work his way out of the dilemma by denying Feyd the governorship of the planet the Harkonnens took from Thufir's old master.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He works with House Harkonnen only because he's been forced into it, and spends the entire time plotting revenge against them. Hawat can barely restrain his sheer hatred of the Baron and his bloviating Evil Gloating, and he insults him to his face multiple times.
  • Undying Loyalty: He's utterly devoted to House Atreides, and spends the second half of Dune plotting to avenge them. He ultimately gives his own life rather than betray them, and as a final act of spite towards the Emperor.
  • Unscrupulous Hero: Hawat is utterly dedicated to serving the Atreides, and he'll do anything to protect them, no matter how immoral.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He works with House Harkonnen mostly against his will, but he convinces the Baron to start recruiting the Fremen to serve as his army. It's a ruthless decision and involves subjecting them to Training from Hell to brainwash them into loyal servants, but it's all part of his plan to avenge House Atreides.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Though he's completely outwitted in the first half of Dune, Hawat bounces back in the second half as a devious schemer with nothing left to lose. Baron Harkonnen presses him into service and Hawat happily helps both the Baron and Feyd-Rautha in their schemes against each other as the death of either is a victory for him. His plan to have the Baron turn Arrakis into another Salusa Secundus is a major example. If it succeeds then Harkonnen will be able to raise an army to challenge the Sardaukar and defeat the Emperor; if it fails then the Emperor will see the Baron's treachery and crush him. In either scenerio, a man whom Hawat holds responsible for the death of his Duke will die.

    Wellington Yueh 

Dr. Wellington Yueh

Played by: Dean Stockwell (1984 film), Robert Russell (2000 miniseries), Chang Chen (2021 film)

The personal physician to Duke Atreides.
  • Actual Pacifist: He's been trained to become this by his Suk doctor conditioning. Unfortunately, the Baron is able to subvert the conditioning by kidnapping his wife.
  • Affably Evil: Yueh isn't particularly evil, but he's quite the polite and professional man. He genuinely respects and cares about the Atreides, but he can't bring himself to let the Harkonnens continue torturing his wife, even if she's likely already dead.
  • All for Nothing: For all his laments and monologues, he's well aware his betrayal will not bring his wife back and he's going to die after he's done too, making the whole excercise completely pointless at times.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Or rather Ambiguously Yellow. He is described as having a "butter complexion" and "almond eyes" and has a real life Chinese surname, so he is likely meant to have at least some Asian genetics, but the novel takes place in a setting where races have given out complicated mixes, and his own ascendance is ultimately unknown. He has been traditionally played by white actors until the 2021 film, where he's played by the Taiwanese Chang Chen.
  • Anti-Villain: He betrays the Atreides to the Harkonnens, but only because they promised him his wife. He is deeply regretful about the whole affair and takes steps to undermine the Harkonnens while their coup is ongoing, such as giving Leto a Cyanide Pill that should also take out the Baron (this fails) and helps Paul and Jessica escape (this works).
  • Asian and Nerdy: A seemingly Asian man with an impressive knowledge.
  • Bad Liar: Zig-Zagged. It's obvious to Jessica that he's hiding something, but he's able to convince her it's that his wife was killed by the Harkonnens. Which, as it turns out, is true.
  • Being Evil Sucks: He hates that the Harkonnens have forced him to betray the Atreides, and it brings him no happiness, especially since he strongly suspects that everything he's done was All for Nothing. Sure enough, his betrayal earns him nothing but a painful death and posthumous infamy as a traitor just as bad as Judas Iscariot.
  • Beneath Suspicion: Dr. Yueh is dismissed as a possible traitor because he's not actually part of the Atreides military/security apparatus. (He's also received "Suk School" conditioning which hardwires him into Actual Pacifism; only Suk doctors are allowed to administer to the Padishah Emperor for this reason.) Even the ever-paranoid Hawat dismisses him as a suspect. And because he is a traitor, he's considered an annoyance to be disposed of by Baron Harkonnen, even though Yueh's work is the only reason that the Baron's plan ultimately fails.
  • Beneath the Mask: He's The Stoic on the outside, perpetually calm, composed, and erudite. Internally, Yueh is consumed with guilt and self-hatred over his status as The Mole, and frequently wonders if his efforts are All for Nothing.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: He's able to break his conditioning to be an Actual Pacifist because of Piter's brainwashing, designed to make it easier for him to betray the Atreides. Unfortunately for them, as a result he also becomes more inclined to try and kill the Baron as well.
  • The Commies Made Me Do It: The Harkonnens kidnap his wife and torture her, threatening to continue her agony unless Yueh betrays the Atreides. He's aware that she's almost certainly dead, but the thought of leaving her in the Harkonnens' clutches is unbearable enough that he goes through with the betrayal.
  • Contractual Genre Blindness: He knows his wife Wanna is probably dead and that the Baron will certainly kill him once he completes his task. Unfortunately, Yueh feels compelled to do so anyway because of the infinitesimal chance she's still alive and being tortured by the Harkonnens, a thought he can't bear.
  • Court Physician: He serves as this to the Atreides family. They give him nothing but the utmost trust, because as a Suk doctor he has been conditioned to be incapable of betraying his masters, meaning he can never be used as an assassin or saboteur. Unfortunately, the Baron is able to break the conditioning and turn Yueh into a traitor.
  • Deal with the Devil: He describes his dealing with the Baron as such, well aware that it will cost him everything he cares about and will almost certainly end with him being screwed over. Nothing else matters to him as long as he'll be able to know for certain if his wife's still alive.
  • Defiant to the End: After being mortally wounded by Piter, Yueh spends his last moments taunting the Baron. He manages to leave the Baron totally cowed for a few moments, and unable to enjoy his Evil Gloating to Leto.
  • Determinator: Yueh manages to stay alive long enough to give Baron Harkonnen a few last words before falling.
  • The Dog Bites Back: His wife is captured and tortured by the Harkonnens, and he's forced to betray Leto to ensure her freedom despite knowing she's likely already dead. However, to get revenge, he outfits Leto with a fake tooth containing a capsule filled with gas, which he can bite down on and release to kill the Baron. It fails, but the Baron is left terrified by the experience.
  • Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Having been conditioned to be unable to harm another human being, he's retained by the Atreides family as their Court Physician, only for him and his wife to be captured by the Harkonnens. He's subsequently turned into The Mole and betrays the Atreides family. However, he outfits Leto with a poisonous tooth to allow him to kill the Baron, and sends Jessica and Paul among the Fremen to protect them in a last-ditch effort to kill the Baron.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Yueh isn't particularly evil, but he deeply loves his wife Wanna. Her capture and torture at the Harkonnens' hands is what motivates his betrayal, as he's unable to bear the thought of his beloved wife suffering.
  • Evil Chancellor: Subverted. Dr Yueh looks almost exactly the part of the evil chancellor — tall, blade-thin with a drooping moustache and cold, intellectual manner. He even betrays the Atreides, and the readers find out about it right from the start. However, he's portrayed sympathetically and betrays them only because the Harkonnens have kidnapped his wife. He knows she's probably dead, but he does so anyway on the off-chance she's alive, which would mean refusing to carry out the betrayal would doom her to be tortured by the Harkonnens for the rest of her life.
  • Exact Words: He has to pull this a lot to get around Jessica's Living Lie Detector abilities. It helps that he is genuinely fond of the Atreides and grieving his wife.
  • Evil Old Folks: He's described as an old man by the narration. And while Yueh is very much an Anti-Villain, he still causes countless deaths with his betrayal.
  • Face Death with Dignity: He faces his demise rather calmly, and defiantly informs the Baron that he saw his betrayal coming and took countermeasures accordingly.
  • Face–Heel Turn: It's very much against his will, but he's forced to betray the Atreides to the Harkonnens.
  • Facial Markings: The diamond tattoo on Yueh's forehead is a sign of the Suk School Imperial conditioning.
  • Fallen Hero: He's a kindly Actual Pacifist, but he's Forced into Evil by the Harkonnens and goes down in history as an even worse traitor than Judas Iscariot.
  • False Friend: Subverted. Yueh is planning to betray the Atreides, but he genuinely cares about them and hates the fact he has to turn on them. He lampshades this, admitting it would be easier if he actually did hate them.
  • Faustian Rebellion: He makes a Deal with the Devil with the Harkonnens, agreeing to betray the Atreides in exchange for his wife's safety. However, knowing the Baron will likely betray him, Yueh outfits Leto with a tooth filled with nerve gas, which he can activate to kill the Baron. He also rescues Paul and Jessica, ensuring their safety from the Harkonnens.
  • Forced into Evil: Yueh is a kindly pacifist who respects the Duke and deeply cares about the Atreides family. Unfortunately, the Harkonnens have kidnapped his wife and threaten to kill her if he doesn't betray them. Yueh is well-aware that his wife is probably dead, but he also knows that if she's alive, refusing will doom her to be tortured by the Harkonnens for the rest of her life. Thus, he betrays them and causes countless deaths - though he does his damnedest to take the Baron with him.
  • Friendly Enemy: Part of the tragedy of Yueh is that he genuinely cares about and respects the Atreides, who treat him with nothing but kindness. He's apologetic to the Duke while delivering him to the Harkonnens, and allows him the opportunity to kill the Baron.
  • Genre Savvy: He knows that the Baron has likely already killed his wife, and that the Baron is going to kill him the second Yueh outlives his usefulness. He still betrays the Atreides anyway, as the slim chance his wife is still alive is enough for him to do so.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • In a soliloquy Yueh admits he always wanted children, and regrets never having had any.
    • He also admits to suspecting Wanna of perhaps manipulating him for the Bene Gesserit's ends, though he dismisses the thought and notes he'd still love her even if she was.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: In-Universe, a poor man who was forced to betray those he loved and regretted it all the way, while doing everything in his power to protect them from his own betrayal, is vilified as a Judas figure with songs sung lamenting his death wasn't worse. note 
  • I Did What I Had to Do: He views his betrayal as this. He tells the Duke that he was a dead man walking anyway for crossing the Emperor, and for as much as he regrets his betrayal he sees it as truly necessary.
  • I Have Your Wife: What led to his agreement to betray the Atreides. The Harkonnens kidnapped his beloved wife Wanna and subjected her to torture, with the Baron demanding Yueh betray the Atreides so that they'll release his wife.
  • Inscrutable Oriental: He's quite calm and polite, and he never gives any sign that he's plotting to betray the Atreides.
  • Living Lie Detector: Downplayed. He's learned how read lies from his Bene Gesserit wife, but he's only able to do so in very specific situation and only when the target is stressed. His betrayal of the Atreides is in large part because he'll only be able to read the Baron and tell if he's lying about Wanna's survival if he's sufficiently excited.
  • Loophole Abuse: He gets around Jessica's status as a Living Lie Detector this way. Through Exact Words, he tells her the truth about his relationship with the Harkonnens... He just leaves out the fact he's betraying the Atreides to them.
  • Lovable Traitor: He's quite compassionate and likeable, and has nothing but respect for the Duke and his family. He still betrayal them to the Harkonnens, but only because it's the only way he can save his wife - and even then, he knows it's a long shot.
  • Love Martyr: Implied. It's hinted that Yueh's wife was manipulating him as part of the Bene Gesserit's scheme to create the Kwisatz Haderach, and he seems aware of it on some level. However, Yueh loves her so much he's willing to destroy everything he cares about for the slim chance he can save her.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: He betrays a man he genuinely admires to one he utterly despises. And what's more, he knows that Baron Harkonnen has all but certainly murdered his wife. However, see The Power of Love below...
  • Love Makes You Evil: He reluctantly betrays House Atreides, leading to countless deaths, because the Baron has kidnapped his wife and will only release her if Yueh does so. He's well-aware that she's probably dead, but he can't bring himself to endanger her life on the off-chance she's still alive.
  • Mad Doctor: Downplayed. Yueh is a doctor working with the villainous Harkonnens, but it's very much against his will. Still, he uses his significant knowledge of the Atreides family's medical history to his advantage in betraying them.
  • The Medic: In addition to the usual trappings of the trope, he has undergone conditioning designed to make it impossible for him to harm others.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
    • Averted. The Atreides treated him kindly, but Yueh wishes at one point this was the case so the decision to betray them wouldn't be so agonizing.
    • It's played straight with the Harkonnens. The Baron forces him to betray the Atreides and murders his wife anyway, so Yueh takes great pleasure in making a last-ditch effort to kill the Baron.
  • The Mole: He's been forced to work as a spy for the Harkonnens, as they have kidnapped his wife and threaten to murder her unless he betrays the Atreides. His betrayal results in him becoming the in-universe equivalent to Judas Iscariot. He doesn't relish the prospect of being remembered as a notorious traitor.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: For as sympathetic as Yueh is, he still betrays the Atreides and causes countless deaths indirectly due to his actions.
  • Morton's Fork: He's faced with this. Either he betrays Leto - a man he deeply respects and cares about - to his hated enemy the Baron, or leave his wife to be tortured and killed by the Harkonnens. He chooses the former, unwilling to let his wife suffer - although he knows that she's likely already dead.
  • Motive Rant: After capturing and drugging the Duke, Yueh explains his motives to Leto for his betrayal and apologizes to him about it.
    Yueh: I made a shaitan's bargain with the Baron. And I must be certain he has fulfilled his half of it. When I see him, I'll know. When I see him, I will know. But I'll never enter his presence without the price. And you, my poor Duke, are the price. And I'll know when I see him. My poor Wanna taught me many things, and one is to see a certainty of truth when the stress is too great. I cannot do it always, but when I see the Baron - then, I will know.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Yueh is guilt-ridden about betraying the Atreides, but he still forges ahead since it's the only - admittedly slim - chance his wife will survive.
  • Oblivious Guilt Slinging: A recurring theme in narration from Yueh's perspective has him feel increasing guilt by how well the Atreides treat him and how much he trust him, since he reluctantly intends to betray them to the Harkonnens.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Yueh's conditioning as a Suk doctor forces him to be an Actual Pacifist. This, even he's surprised when his virulent hatred of the Baron drives him to try to murder him.
    Yueh: I find this very strange - an override on my pyretic consciousness - but I wish to kill a man. Yes, I wish it. I will stop at nothing to do it.
  • Pet the Dog: Though he manipulates the Atreides house to divert suspicion from him, Yueh is appalled to hear Jessica's worry of the Duke not loving her. Yueh, firmly believing in The Power of Love, reassures her that Leto does indeed care for her. Even though he's doing it to make himself appear more loyal to the family, the narration notes that he's speaking honestly and does not want Jessica to feel insecure over what she and Leto have.
  • The Power of Love: A very dark example. In the Duniverse, doctors of the Suk School undergo mental conditioning so they really can do no harm, but Yueh's feelings for his wife were so strong it allowed him to overcome it. It's left open whether this is really due to love or the fact that his wife was a Bene Gesserit and the whammy that they habitually put on everybody they come in contact with was just stronger than the one he got from the Suk School.
  • Regretful Traitor: Yueh desperately doesn't want to betray the Atreides family, who he genuinely cares about, to the Baron. He's riddled with guilt over it, but he feels it's the only chance he has to save his wife - and even then he knows she's probably dead.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Dr. Yueh betrays the House Atreides for the sake of freeing his wife from Harkonnen tortures, and is murdered as a reward. Yueh is an interesting case in that he walks into it with his eyes mostly open — he strongly suspects that Wanna has been Released to Elsewhere and is betraying everyone just to make sure. He knows he'll only be killed for his troubles once he's outlived his usefulness, and he does everything in his power to help House Atreides survive his betrayal. Hell, he even sets up a trap of his own to kill Baron Harkonnen in retaliation, and it almost succeeds.
    "You think... you have defeated me? You think I did not know... what I bought... for my Wanna?"
  • Shoot the Dangerous Minion: Piter murders Yueh because the Baron recognizes he could prove dangerous to House Harkonnen in the future, now that they no longer have anything to blackmail him with. Unfortunately for them, Yueh already set in motion plans to kill them.
  • The Smart One Turns Traitor: He's one of the more intellectual members of House Atreides and is very intelligent and educated. He turns against them, but only because the Baron has taken his wife hostage.
  • The Stoic: He's quite calm and composed, though internally he's filled with guilt and self hatred.
  • Taking You with Me: Yueh is unsure of whether his wife is alive, but plans to take out the Baron in either case.
  • Tragic Hero: Yueh is an empathetic and intelligent man and an expert in his field. However, his love for his wife results in him betraying the Atreides. He knows the Harkonnens have likely killed her, but he simply can't bear the thought of abandoning her. As a result, he's killed and goes down in history as the In-Universe equivalent of Judas Iscariot.
  • Tragic Villain: Being blackmailed into betraying the man you deeply respect and then being unfairly depicted as the Judas Iscariot equivalent of the new religion certainly qualifies.
  • Trapped in Villainy: Yueh really doesn't want to betray the Atreides, and he's well aware his wife is probably dead. Still, he doesn't want to endanger her life on the slim chance she's still alive and betrays them anyway simply because he can't bear the thought of letting her die.
  • Treacherous Advisor: Subverted. He's planning to betray the Atreides but has no real ill will against them. Jessica uses him as a confidant, and he tries to give her genuinely good advice - he even saves her and Paul's lives from the Harkonnens.
  • The Unfettered: He's willing to do anything to save his wife, no matter the cost. He causes countless deaths with his betrayal of the Atreides, however reluctantly. He also proves willing to stop at nothing to kill the Baron, even using Leto as a pawn to do so.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Downplayed. Yueh is well aware of the havoc his betrayal will cause, but he believes his plan will at least see the Baron killed. Unfortunately, his plan fails, which leads to the circumstances in which Rabban brutally oppresses the Fremen, leading to Paul rising as the Kwisatz Haderach.
  • Virtuous Character Copy: Yueh's character deliberately parallels Judas Iscariot with both being allies of a messiah who betrayed them to their enemy, and he goes down in history as Iscariot's In-Universe counterpart. However, Judas is commonly interpreted to have betrayed Jesus out of greed. Yueh betrays the Atreides because of his desperation to save his wife, and even tries to kill the Baron in an effort to atone.
  • Yellow Peril: Has some traits associated to this archetype, like being Asian, scheming and an expert in medicine, poisons and traps. He's far more sympathetic and humanized than most versions of the trope, with most of the focus on him being about his inner torment.
  • You Said You Would Let Them Go: Yueh makes a deal with the Baron for the return of his wife, Wanna, but she was already dead. He saw it coming and prepared accordingly. That he largely fails is a stroke of terribly bad luck.

    Gurney Halleck 

Gurney Halleck

Played by: Patrick Stewart (1984 film), P. H. Moriarty (2000 & 2003 miniseries), Josh Brolin (2021 film)

An Atreides retainer and one of Paul's teachers.
  • Achey Scars: Gurney Halleck sports a long, red scar along his face that chronically delivers residual pain due to being struck by a whip made from the poisonous inkvine plant during his time as a Harkonnen slave.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: Well, not exactly ignorance, but in Children of Dune he gets to a sietch by riding a sandworm and, while the Fremen there promptly go slackjawed at an off-worlder pulling off such a feat, he comments that it's not a big deal for a well-trained fighting man.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Patrick Stewart's Gilbert and Sullivan-ish bearing and countenance is most definitely the opposite of the book's description of Gurney. P.H. Moriarty's Gurney, while not the "ugly lump of a man" the book describes, does at least look average. Josh Brolin's Gurney looks more rugged than both (with a greying beard and some fairly gnarly facial scars) but still not "ugly".
  • Badass Bookworm: He's an expert on poetry and has a fine knowledge of the subject, frequently quoting his favorites. He's also revered as one of the greatest fighters in the galaxy, and for damned good reason.
  • Badass Normal: In a universe of super-powered lordlings, trained-since-before-birth martial artists and hardened desert fighters, Gurney stands out for being none of those, but still being able to take all three categories in a straight fight.
  • Badass Teacher: As Thufir Hawat explains to Baron Harkonnen, Gurney and Duncan Idaho were two of the deadliest fighters in the known universe, but their real value to House Atreides was their ability to pass along those skills and train a small cadre of soldiers that came within a hair's breath of rivaling the Sardaukar.
  • Berserk Button: Gurney briefly flips out at Paul for mentioning not being "in the mood" for fighting, and proceeds to precipitously turn up the heat in their sparring match, to the point that Paul is alarmed by his sudden fury.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted. While most of House Atreides' members are described as being attractive and well-groomed, Gurney is an "ugly lump of a man". He's also one of the most honorable and approachable members of the House.
  • Beneath the Mask: On the surface, Gurney is a chipper Boisterous Bruiser and Warrior Poet with nary a bad word for anyone. However, he's actually deeply traumatized from his time as the Harkonnens' slave and still struggles with his grief from it.
  • Best Served Cold: He spends years plotting to take revenge on Rabban, working with smugglers and hoping to find a way to eventually murder him. Unfortunately for Gurney, all of the Harkonnens die without his involvement, denying him the chance at revenge.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: He's generally amiable and jocular; Paul quite likes him because of how fun he is to be around. Gurney is also an expert warrior and very serious about what fighting entails.
  • Broken Hero: Gurney is a friendly, fun-loving musician who acts as a sort of Cool Uncle to Paul. It all hides how utterly shattered he is by his time as a slave to the Harkonnens, something that still haunts him in the present.
  • Cool Teacher: He serves as one to Paul, who clearly regards him as the most fun of his teachers. He's quite fun-loving for the most part, except on the subject of fighting, which he treats quite sternly.
  • Cultured Badass: Gurney is a lover of poetry, literature, and music, and frequently quotes his favorite poems and songs. He's also an excellent fighter and a consummate badass.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Gurney has a fine wit and is always ready with a joke.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Gurney proves fully prepared to murder Stilgar on the spot for spitting at the Duke, something considered a great compliment in the Fremen's culture. Although it's understandable that Gurney interpreted it as an insult, it's still rather over-the-top.
  • A Father to His Men: He's quite concerned with his men's welfare, and frequently plays music for them. He even plays a dying soldier's favorite song after the Harkonnen siege to ease his passing.
  • Field Promotion: To a noble rank, no less. Paul, upon becoming Emperor Muad'Dib, appoints Gurney an Earl of Caladan.
  • Flashback Fail: Played for Drama. Gurney, while thinks of his sister, reflects on her favorite flower, only to realize he can't remember what it is. The realization brings him great sadness.
  • Freak Out: Gurney has a screaming breakdown at the climax of the original novel, demanding Paul let him kill Feyd so he can have some semblance of revenge against the Harkonnens.
  • The Gadfly: He enjoys teasing people, although in an affectionate manner.
  • Gentle Giant: Gurney's a brawny giant of a man, and he's actually quite the gentle romantic. Of course, towards his enemies, he's an utterly relentless and brutal opponent, but he's generally quite kind towards those that don't deserve it.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: His scar was made by an inkvine whip used by Harkonnen slavers. He's not evil at all, the scar is just a reminder of how much he hates the Harkonnens.
  • I Owe You My Life: The Atreides rescued him from a Harkonnen slave pit, and he has dedicated his life to protecting them as repayment.
  • It's Personal: While it's particularly personal with Rabban, Gurney wants revenge against all the Harkonnens. He admits at the end he doesn't care which member of the family he kills, so long as he's able to get some semblance of revenge.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: Halleck hates all of the Harkonnens but it is Glossu Rabban, the man that the Baron placed in charge of Arrakis directly under him, that Gurney hates the most. It was under Rabban that Halleck lost his family and was given the scar on his face that leaves him in chronic pain.
  • Master Swordsman: By implication. Duncan Idaho is explicitly identified as a master swordsman, but notes that Gurney Halleck beats him in sparring six times out of ten.
  • Misplaced Retribution: During the climax, Gurney admits he'll settle for killing Feyd now that Rabban and the Baron are dead, so long as he gets some semblance of revenge.
  • Nice Guy: Gurney is never anything less than jocular and friendly. Paul notes it's rather out of character to see him acting sullen and moody.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Paul notes Gurney's sullen demeanor right before the move to Arrakis is out of character, considering his normally jocular and friendly demeanor. It's implied he's nervous because of the involvement of the Harkonnens.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Downplayed, and he's an interesting case as he's also quite the respected badass. Much of the comedy comes from Gurney's snark and fun-loving personality, although he can be quite serious at times and carries a lot of trauma with him.
  • Put on a Bus: He's absent except for a brief mention in Dune Messiah, spending the novel on Calladan.
  • Religious Bruiser: He's a follower of the Orange Catholic Bible and frequently quotes it. He also compares the Baron to Satan at one point.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He wants to go on one against the Harkonnens, but circumstances wind up denying him the opportunity to do so.
  • Secret Relationship: In Children of Dune, there is evidence that Gurney and Jessica are lovers. Quite appropriate as going back to their Caladan days, excluding family of course, Gurney was probably her closest friend.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He's quite fond of flowery language and talks in a formal, frequently poetic manner.
  • Stepford Smiler: Gurney is almost perpetually upbeat and jovial, but it hides a lot of trauma and rage from his time as the Harkonnens' slave. After the Time Skip, he drops the mask and becomes more hardened.
  • Stern Teacher: Downplayed. He's generally a Cool Teacher and quite fun-loving, but he's very stern on the subject of fighting. Paul actually regards him as the most fun of his teachers, and notes his sullen behavior is quite uncharacteristic.
  • Tough Love: He fights against Paul with all his ability and admits he's willing to permanently scar him. As Gurney puts it, he'd rather Paul learn that lesson in relatively safe combat than have him be killed by a Harkonnen.
    Paul: The way you came at me, would you really have drawn my blood?
    Gurney: If you'd fought one whit below your abilities, I'd have scratched you a good one, a scar you will remember. I'll not have my favorite pupil fall to the first Harkonnen tramp who happens along.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Courtesy of the Harkonnens. Gurney was kept by them as an abused slave and lost his family to them, even being scarred by Rabban. Then they destroy House Atreides, the people who rescued him and who Gurney had dedicated his life to serving. He doesn't take it well when he's unable to kill any of them, denying him any satisfaction.
  • Trauma Button: The Harkonnens serve as this to him. He constantly remembers their torment of him and how they killed his family whenever they're mentioned, and the mere thought of them fills him with rage.
  • Undying Loyalty: He serves the Atreides with all his heart.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: With Duncan Idaho. There is no suggestion that House Atreides under Duke Leto had any intention of actually challenging the Emperor, but Gurney and Duncan's success in training a small Elite Army that was nearly as good as House Corrino's elite army was too much for Shaddam IV to abide.
  • Warrior Poet: He is a musician and philosopher with seemingly infinite supply of witticisms for any occasion. He is also a remorseless killer, perfectly willing to cut any Harkonnen he comes across (or anyone who gets on the wrong side of Duke Leto for that matter) into pieces. As Duncan Idaho describes him in Heretics:
    "Ahhhh, Gurney! He could kill you while singing and never miss a note."

    Duncan Idaho 

Duncan Idaho

Played by: Richard Jordan (1984 film), James Watson (2000 miniseries), Edward Atterton (2003 miniseries), Jason Momoa (2021 film)

Another Atreides retainer, he serves as the House's swordmaster, responsible for managing the household's defenses.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Zig-Zagged in the 1984 film. In the book, he went down fighting and took a dozen Sardaukar with him, but here a Sardaukar slow-fires a hunter-killer through his shield and he promptly goes down. However, before he was shot, Duncan easily defeated a single Sardaukar (who seconds before was killing regular Atreides soldiers left and right) in a duel, and a few moments later, he took on entire squad of them at once, putting them all down.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: God-Emperor of Dune heavily implies that Duncan harboured feelings for Lady Jessica, who only had eyes for Duke Leto.
  • Ambadassador: Leto appoints him ambassador to the Fremen in the first book. Not that the appointment, to say nothing of Leto and Duncan themselves, lasts long.
  • Ambiguously Brown: He's described as having dark skin, a round face, black curly hair like a goat's, and eyes with definite epicanthic folds, implying a racial mix with both Mediterranean (like Leto) and Asian (like Yueh) genetics.
  • Ascended Extra: He appears more than any of the main characters of the entire series, ironically given that he barely appeared in the original novel at all.
  • Back from the Dead: Repeatedly in the later installments.
  • Badass Teacher: As Thufir Hawat explains to Baron Harkonnen, Duncan and Gurney Halleck were two of the deadliest fighters in the known universe, but their real value to House Atreides was their ability to pass along those skills and train a small cadre of soldiers that came within a hair's breath of rivaling the Sardaukar.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: His first ghola is programmed to assassinate Paul when he states that Chani is dead, instead it awakens his Genetic Memory and he resists.
  • Breakout Character: Just a retainer to the Atreides at first, becomes the most important character across the Dune saga.
  • Butt-Monkey: He is reincarnated as a ghola. Again. And again. And again. And again. And killed (rather than dying of old age) only a slightly smaller number of times.
  • Came Back Strong: Duncan is trained as a Mentat in his second life and a Bene Gesserit in his latest life. All this in addition to being genetically enhanced into a Super-Soldier.
  • Chick Magnet: Hinted at in the first book, outright stated in Heretics when he counter-seduces the Honored Matre Murbella.
  • The Chosen One: Revealed in Sandworms of Dune to be the final and true Kwisatz Haderach, becoming the bridge for humanity and the Thinking Machines.
  • Electronic Eyes: Hayt, his first ghola, has metal eyes created by the Tleilaxu.
  • Genius Bruiser: Idaho was no idiot in his original life, but his first ghola (and several subsequent gholas) was a Mentat, giving him a computer-like analytical mind in addition to his retained Master Swordsman qualities.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    "Two deaths for the Atreides. The second for no better reason than the first."
  • Master Swordsman: Though by his own admission, not quite as good as Gurney ("Gurney could best me six times out of ten."). In Dune Messiah, it's revealed that while he did indeed die, the surviving Sardaukar were so impressed with his skills as a Master Swordsman that they preserved his body, later having it resurrected as a "Ghola"... and that, as it turns out, has some extremely far-reaching effects on the Dune universe.
  • Old Retainer: Via the gholas.
  • One-Man Army: Duncan is an extremely skilled fighter, often seen as one of the best in the universe. Children of Dune reveals that in his final moments he slew 19 Sardaukar before going down.
  • Really 700 Years Old: After regaining the memories of all his past ghola selves in Heretics of Dune, Duncan carries memories that span more than 5000 years, accumulating them into one consciousness, creating a Duncan Idaho that is mentally even older than the God-Emperor lived to be.
  • They Killed Kenny Again: He returns and he's killed many times in the series because most of them are gholas.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: With Gurney Halleck. There is no suggestion that House Atreides under Duke Leto had any intention of actually challenging the Emperor, but Gurney and Duncan's success in training a small Elite Army that was nearly as good as House Corrino's elite army was too much for Shaddam IV to abide.
  • Worthy Opponent: Killing 19 Sardaukar before going down was impressive enough that they decided to preserve his body for cloning purposes.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: He sacrifices himself holding off Sardaukar forces so Paul and Jessica can make a break for it.

Fremen

    Liet-Kynes 

Liet-Kynes

Played by: Max von Sydow (1984 film), Karel Dobrý (2000 miniseries), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (2021 film)

The current Planetologist (planetary ecologist) assigned to study Arrakis; son of Dr. Pardot Kynes, the first to take this role, and a Fremen woman. He has continued his father's work of transforming Arrakis into a more hospitable world. Temporarily appointed Judge of the Change (overseeing the government transition from Harkonnen to Atreides).
  • Badass Bookworm: The Imperial Planetologist is also the leader of the Fremen, a culture tough enough to survive on Arrakis.
  • Badass Family: In both directions. Tales of his father are legendary in their own right, and his daughter Chani eventually develops a fierce reputation of her own.
  • Death by Irony: A planetologist killed by his own planet; even more poetically, by a spice bed! Kynes realizes the folly of his 'science' as he dies.
  • Going Native: Played With. The Atreides and their affiliates see Kynes as a man who has settled down on the planet, adopted the ways of the Fremen, and integrated into their culture. Leto explicitly states that "Kynes had gone native." However, the actual example of this trope is Kynes's father, who was assigned to the planet and married into the Fremen; Kynes himself is a native of Arrakis and a Fremen like his mother.
  • Heroic Vow: Bringing back water to Arrakis and terraforming it into a lush world.
  • His Name Is...: Felled by sunstroke and about to be killed by a spice blow, Kynes has a breakthrough over how to fertilize Arrakis.
  • Hope Spot: There's hope that some Fremen will spot the carrion birds overhead and come investigate. Kynes is killed by a whirlpool before this can happen.
  • I Have Many Names: "I am accepted in both sietch and village."
  • Mauve Shirt: Of the captives stranded in the desert by the Harkonnens, only Kynes bites it.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: By choosing to help Paul and Jessica escape, Kynes ends up beaten and abandoned in the desert by the Harkonnens with little to no hope of rescue, and dies soon afterwards.
  • Noble Savage: While not a Fremen by birth, Kynes has long since gone native and adopted their ways, becoming one of their most respected leaders. He's the one who teaches House Atreides and Paul in particular about their culture.
  • Two Aliases, One Character: The fremen leader "Liet" and the Planetologist "Dr. Kynes" is actually Liet-Kynes.
  • Science Hero: Kynes is a scientist working to terraform Arrakis from a harsh desert planet to something much more habitable and plentiful with water.

    Chani 

Chani

Played by: Sean Young (1984 film), Barbora Kodetová (2000 & 2003 miniseries), Zendaya (2021 film)

Liet-Kynes's Fremen daughter. Stilgar puts her in charge of Paul after he and Jessica wind up in his sietch; the two later become lovers.


  • Action Girl: It's kind of a requirement for Fremen women.
  • Badass Family: She is Liet's daughter, after all.
  • Battle Couple: With Paul, as each of them teach the other their own fighting techniques and hone their abilities.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Along with losing his eyesight after a failed assassination attempt, and losing his prescience to his newly born son, Chani's Death by Childbirth leads Paul to abandon everything and disappear into the desert. A few years later, Paul becomes the Preacher who spreads word against his own religion.
  • Girl of My Dreams: Paul had visions of her before even arriving on Arrakis. They later fall in love.
  • Happily Married: Officially Paul's concubine, in practice his wife.
  • Hot Consort: When she and Paul are living among the Fremen, by the reckonings of her culture she is actually his wife. When Paul becomes Emperor, Chani is 'only' his concubine while Irulan is the Imperial Consort, but it's very clear Chani is his real wife in everything but name.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: While Chani passionately loves Paul, she knows full well that she'll never be a suitable wife for a Duke — or, as it turns out, an Emperor — in the eyes of the universe outside Arrakis. She's willing to do what's best for her beloved and step aside so he can make a dynastically useful marriage, but Paul loves her too much to let her go.
  • Love Interest: To Paul. He's dreamt of her for years before they actually meet in person, and not long after that he accidentally proposes to her via a Fremen courtship ritual he was unaware of. They very soon become lovers, and end up as close to being married without making it official as it's possible to be.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: She's a fierce warrior, like all Fremen.
  • Top Wife: While Paul officially marries Irulan to secure his position as the Emperor of the Imperium, he still regards Chani as his only true love and the only one who would eventually bear his heirs.

    Stilgar 

Stilgar

Played by: Everett McGill (1984 film), Uwe Ochsenknecht (2000 miniseries), Steven Berkoff (2003 miniseries), Javier Bardem (2021 film)

Fremen Naib (chief) who mentored Paul in the ways of the Fremen. After Paul's ascension to Emperor, he becomes one of Paul's generals and the guardian of his children.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership/Klingon Promotion: The method by which Fremen choose their chiefs, with Stilgar being no exception. Paul, however, spares him, reasoning that he does not want to waste a useful talent.
  • Bedouin Rescue Service: He rescues Jessica and Paul from dying in the desert. While Fremen generally kill stranded travelers for their water, Stilgar chooses to adopt them into his tribe.
  • Best Friends-in-Law: With Pardot Kynes, who married his sister - Frieth.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: He's dismissive of Jessica when he first meets her, but takes her seriously after she subdues him in hand-to-hand combat. The two become friends and allies afterwards.
  • Demoted to Dragon: After Paul refuses to go through with the Klingon Promotion rite.
  • Everyone Has Standards: In Children of Dune Leto II states that one future he envisions has himself and Ghanima marrying. Stil is completely against it as incest is a major taboo amongst Fremen and often carries a death sentence.
  • Had to Be Sharp: Both the ever-present threat of the Harkonnens and the general dangers of Arrakis forced Stilgar to be a stern and pragmatic leader.
  • The Mentor: To Paul, and later to Leto.
  • Noble Savage: A subversion, as with the Fremen in general. He's certainly among the most noble Fremen, but even he is not without shades of gray.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: He's a leader and distinguished warrior among the Fremen.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's both a friend and father figure to Paul throughout the series.
  • Supporting Leader: Stilgar is the leader of the Fremen, but Paul is the main character. Paul eventually takes over, and Stilgar becomes subordinate to him.
  • Undying Loyalty: Stilgar is deeply loyal to Paul, and as Paul points out, Stilgar has always gone the extra mile to help him.
  • Wasteland Elder: He's the stern and wisened leader of the Fremen, and well-versed in surviving Arrakis's harsh environment.

    Jamis 

Jamis

Played by: Judd Omen (1984 film), Christopher Lee Brown (2000 miniseries), Babs Olusanmokun (2021 film)

A Fremen man who challenges Paul to a duel.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Stilgar noted that Jamis's temper made him a major liability to a tribe that needed unity and his reaction to insult, demean, and then try to kill Paul were all unjustified. However, the loss of life is still a tragic affair and many of his friends and family members recount his kindness at the funeral. Even Paul is moved to tears at it and feels the toll of having killed another human being.
    "I wish I'd known Jamis better."
    • Played for Drama in the 2021 film, where Paul has visions of Jamis being his mentor and a good friend, teaching him the ways of the desert. When the time for the duel comes, Paul is visibly disturbed about the prospect of fighting him to the death. During the duel, despite clearly having Jamis at his mercy multiple times, Paul tries to get Jamis to yield, not understanding that there cannot be any yielding in such a duel. Jamis has to essentially goad Paul into finally landing a killing blow and give him an honorable death, which Paul does. Paul then kneels in front of Jamis, holding his hand as he dies, somber and respectful. This, along with Jessica telling the Fremen present that Paul has never killed anyone before, earns him respect and sympathy from the Fremen, who see Paul accepting and respecting both the Fremen's ways and their people, even when fighting one of them to the death.
  • Anti-Villain: He's a domineering Jerkass who tries to murder Paul, but it's pointed out after his death that Jamis was just as capable of heroism and kindness. Even Paul mourns his death.
  • Asshole Victim: He's an angry, domineering man who wants to kill Paul for being an outsider.
    • Downplayed in the 2021 film, where Jamis objects to Stilgar's decision and leadership because Stilgar was just handily defeated by Jessica, thereby proving Jessica to be the strongest. However, since the code of the duel doesn't allow for Jamis to challenge a member of the Bene Gesserit, a champion for her has to be chosen, and Paul volunteers for both his own and his mother's sake, resulting in the duel being between Jamis and Paul. It also helps that Paul had been having visions in the scenes beforehand of Jamis being a mentor and good friend of Paul, showing that Jamis is a well-rounded person that could have been very likeable had events gone a bit differently.
  • Due to the Dead: His fellow Fremen respectfully mourn his death and bring up his good points. Even Paul counts him a friend and notes that he taught him a valuable lesson "When you kill, you pay for it."
  • Everyone Has Standards: One of the criticisms he brings up about Paul and Jessica is that they have extra containers of water on them and he accuses them of hoarding it at the expense of everyone else. Water being such a necessity on Arrakis as well as the Fremen's focus on community lead to an accidental offense on the part of the pair. At Jamis's funeral Paul learns that during water shortages, Jamis shared what he had with others.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: He's an angry man who's enraged at the idea of Paul and Jessica joining his sietch. When Stilgar tries to reason with him, it just makes him angrier.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After his death, Harah notes that he loved both his sons equally despite only one of them being his biological son. At the funeral, a few accounts of his kindness and bravery were brought up.
    • In the 2021 film, Paul receives visions of a future in which Jamis is a mentor and good friend to him, making Paul very unhappy about the prospect of having to duel Jamis to the death.
  • Karmic Death: Jamis has a history of killing men he didn't like. He challenges Paul to a duel, but dies at Paul's hands.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: In duels between two Fremen men, the winner inherits the loser's family. Jamis bested another Fremen and won his wife and son. Paul later inherits responsibility for Harah and her sons when he kills Jamis.

    Mapes 

Mapes

Played by: Linda Hunt (1984 film), Jaroslava Siktancova (2000 miniseries), Golda Rosheuvel (2021 film)

A Fremen woman who is hired by Jessica to act as the Atreides' housekeeper when they arrive on Arrakis.


  • Almighty Janitor: Jessica, and implicitly Paul, learns a lot about the ways of the Fremen from Mapes.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: She's one of the first people who dies during the Harkonnen attack, being killed by Dr. Yueh (albeit his identity as her assassin isn't revealed until a a little later) in order to prevent her from raising the alarm.
  • Spanner in the Works: She ends up unwittingly foiling the attempt on Paul's life by entering his bedroom and distracting the Hunter Seeker, causing it to attack her instead. Fortunately, Paul manages to grab ahold of and destroy it before it can kill her.

    Harah 

Harah

Played by: Molly Wryn (1984 film, extended cut)

The former wife of Jamis who becomes Paul's after Paul bests him in a duel. Her first husband was a Fremen named Geoff who Jamis had bested previously. Instead of taking her as a wife, Paul has her as a servant. In spite of this Harah ends up joining the family.


  • Adapted Out: Cut from the miniseries. Harah had a small role in the David Lynch film but it was cut from the theatrical version. The Extended Cut adds her back in.
  • Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: When Paul chooses her as a servant rather than a wife, she lashes out in anger and declares she's still beautiful enough to be his bride. She later admits it was out of fear, as being a servant means she could easily be cast out.
  • Hidden Depths: She admits to Jessica that she has reasoning ability and could have become a Sayyadina, an acolyte in the Fremen Religion. It allows her a level of understanding for Alia's strange ways and leads to them bonding.
  • Parental Substitute: She becomes another mother to Alia, especially when Jessica's duties lead them to spend less time together. Alia's demeanor often disturbs the other Fremen but Harah offers sympathy and understanding. Alia's first words were telling Harah that she loved her.
    It was obvious that she loved Alia as though this were her own child.

    Korba 

Korba

Played by: Karel Dobrý (2003 miniseries)

A member of the Fedaykin, Paul's elite death commandos.


  • Bald of Evil: He is stated to be bald in Dune Messiah; Alia compares him to a gnome when he's angry.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Near the end of Dune Messiah he is outed as one of the many traitors amongst the Fremen ranks. Korba assisted the Guild in smuggling out a worm for them to start spice production elsewhere, free of Paul's control. He also smuggled in the Stone Burner that killed Otheym and Dhuri and blinded Paul and dozens of others.
  • The Fundamentalist: Korba is a devout Qizara and often puts a voice to the religious fanaticism on Dune. As Paul despairs about the lives lost to the Jihad, Korba says they were unbelievers and deserved their deaths.
  • Praetorian Guard: He is a Fedaykin, an elite unit that guards Paul. When Paul transitions many of his advisors to more government roles, Korba leaves the group to become a Qizara religious leader.

    Otheym 

Otheym

A Fremen who served as a Fedaykin during Paul's rise to power. In the twilight of Paul's rule as emperor, he has retired.


  • Cruel and Unusual Death: He caught a painful and debilitating disease during the war and is killed when a stone burner detonates. The burner emitted a powerful light that burnt away the eye tissue of anyone nearby, and he and his wife were at ground zero of its explosion.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Though he doesn't know it, his daughter Lichna has been killed and replaced by a face dancer.
  • Two-Faced: After a victory at Tarahell he caught the splitting disease. The left side of his face is filled with crisis cross scars and his eye seems useless.
  • Undying Loyalty: In Dune Messiah a number of seemingly loyal Fedaykin end up betraying Paul. Unlike Farok and Korba, Otheym remains a firm ally of Paul even trying to get him the names of the conspirators at the cost of his own life.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: The splitting disease is killing him and he's since bankrupted himself with the medical expenses.

    Bannerjee 

Bannerjee

One of Paul's security officers.


  • Properly Paranoid: As one of Paul's bodyguards he's always suspicious of any who meet him. When "Lichna" meets Paul, Paul sees through her disguise and realizes that it's Scytale assuming her form. Bannerjee doesn't but still regards everything "Lichna" says with suspicion and is prepared to attack her at a moment's notice even if she's the daughter of one of Paul's advisors.
  • Stout Strength: He is described as "a solid figure, almost fat" and is one of Paul's skilled and trusted guards.

Harkonnens and Supporters

The Harkonnens are House Atreides's Arch-Enemy, and are evil to a fault, with possibly one exception. But then again, things are not so simple as that.

    Vladimir Harkonnen 

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Played by: Kenneth McMillan (1984 film), Ian McNeice (2000 & 2003 miniseries), Stellan Skarsgård (2021 film)

The former ruler of Arrakis, who has put into motion a plan to eliminate his replacement and archnemesis Leto.


  • 0% Approval Rating: None of the Baron's allies or enemies like him all that much, and the people he rules over - or at least those on Arrakis - despise him. Most of this stems form the fact the Baron is a brutal tyrant, and extremely treacherous - everyone who works with him is well aware he'll almost certainly betray them at some point.
  • Abusive Parents: He's not Rabban or Feyd's father, but they're essentially his adopted sons. Baron Harkonnen treats them both horribly, and he particularly despises Rabban, even plotting to kill him eventually. He treats Feyd slightly better, but he's not above tormenting him for fun, and he has a barely repressed incestuous lust for him.
  • Adaptational Ugliness: Zig-zagged with Adaptational Attractiveness in the 1984 film. Not only is he obese but physically disheveled and his face is covered with suppurating sores which have been speculated by some to be a metaphor for AIDS. He is much less obese than in the book, though.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: In the 1984 film, he's much more hammy and manic than his book counterpart, to the point where he comes off as outright deranged. The later miniseries, meanwhile, plays up certain aspects of his Depraved Homosexual tendencies for all they're worth, making him distinctly a Camp Gay figure firmly in Sissy Villain territory.
  • Adipose Rex: Head of his house, and grotesquely fat.
  • All for Nothing: All of Baron Harkonnen's plans to ensure his House continues under Feyd's rule are for naught, as Paul and his forces kill off the entire Harkonnen family line.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Leto learns the hard way that the governor's mansion on Arrakis was just on loan.
  • Allegorical Character: The Baron is a personification of the colonialism and greed that permeates the aristocratic houses. He is obsessed with gaining more and more power and wealth despite already being quite rich, and thinks nothing of conquering already populated other planets. His hedonism represents how he and the system in general consume resources for the sake of it rather than necessity.
  • Ambition Is Evil: While the Baron already had a grudge against Leto, his main motivation throughout Dune is to increase House Harkonnen's standing at any cost, no matter how many people die in the process.
  • Ambiguously Bi: He's greatly attracted to young boys, but the rest of his interests are less clear. His background in the original books, namely that of being Jessica's father, is phrased in a way that might imply he also had sex with women in the past and just found them less interesting than males, but this is never clarified. For their part, The Dune Encyclopedia claims he had incestuous sex with his mother and the rest of his stuff comes from the resultant mental screwup, and Brian Herbert's Prelude to Dune has him raping Reverend Mother Mohiam after being deceived by her.
  • Archnemesis Dad: Turns out to be Jessica's father, and he tries to murder her numerous times. He never actually learns that she is his child.
  • Arch-Enemy:
    • The Baron serves as Paul's most personal opponent. He murders his father Leto, destroys his House, and the Baron's oppression of the Fremen continuously puts Paul's new family at risk. It's ultimately Baron Harkonnen's actions that push Paul into embracing his role as a Dark Messiah. Ironically, Paul is something of an Unknown Rival to the Baron, who never considers him as big as a threat as he is until it's too late.
    • The Baron's Arch-Enemy by contrast is Leto. The Baron utterly despises him and is implied to be jealous of his popularity. He devotes himself throughout the first half of the novel to destroying him and his House as best he can.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: While low-ranking in the grand scheme of things, the Baron is a member of the galaxy's aristocracy and a vile, sadistic monster.
  • Armchair Military: Where Paul is a Frontline General, the Baron commands his army from a distance while living in luxury. He's so morbidly obese that he's unable to move without antigravity suspensors, and the one time he gets close to the action he dies.
  • Authority Sounds Deep: He's described as having a basso voice, and he's the leader of House Harkonnen.
  • Ax-Crazy:
    • Downplayed, as he's rather rational for the most part. However, as composed and urbane as he may be, Baron Harkonnen barely goes a second without contemplating murdering people. And he's very happy to violently rape his slaves For the Evulz.
    • In contrast with his vile but mostly sane literary portrayal, the 1984 film depicts the Baron as a violent, frothing at the mouth lunatic who frequently murders his servants for fun.
  • Bad Boss: His subordinates survive just so long as they're useful to him and not a second longer. As well, he's a big fan of You Have Failed Me and He Knows Too Much. Even his own family isn't exempt, as Rabban might have discovered if things had gone more to the Baron's intentions. Just about the only one who is relatively safe from him is his nephew Feyd-Rautha, who the Baron is grooming to succeed him and who he doesn't want to throw away unless absolutely necessary.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: The Baron wanted House Harkonnen to ascend into the House of the Imperium, by having Feyd marry Princess Irulan. He succeeds in a way, but only through his grandson Paul - the son of his hated Arch-Enemy Leto - taking the throne. House Harkonnen itself is destroyed in the process, and the Baron himself never lives to see it or even learns Paul is related to him. Not only that, but his descendants are subsumed into House Atreides, meaning the legacy of his hated Arch-Enemy Leto lives on instead of his.
  • Big Eater: He's constantly gorging himself on food, both because he enjoys the act itself and grossing people out with his obesity.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: His raising Count Rabban and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen as his own led to them being severely dysfunctional.
  • Best Served Cold: Seeks to avenge House Harkonnen's uprooting from Arrakis. The real source of his animosity stems from a Hatfield-McCoy feud with House Atreides.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, who supplies him with two entire legions of elite troops. Albeit the partnership is definitely not one of equals, as the Baron himself notes that a single Sardaukar legion is capable of destroying his own forces on Arrakis. Count Fenring also makes it clear to the Baron that House Harkonnen could easily be on the receiving end of the same 'Sardaukar in disguise' strategem that they used to smash House Atreides.
  • Blatant Lies: The Baron claims multiple times that he abhors unnecessary violence, something his rampant sadism proves false again and again.
  • Break the Haughty: The Baron's pomposity falls apart during the climax of Dune, and he spends the time leading up to his death in a blind panic about the Fremen uprising.
  • The Bully: The Baron enjoys using his power to torment people, even in petty ways. He deeply enjoys humiliating and insulting his underlings, and his behavior towards them is at best condescending and at worst murderous. He's also quite fond of kicking his opponents while they're down, hence his fondness for Evil Gloating.
  • Cain and Abel: In Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's prequels he despised his brother Abulurd's "bleeding heart" nature. He also took custody of Abulurd's infant son Feyd-Rautha, and is secretly pleased when Rabban kills Abulurd (he punishes his nephew only to keep Rabban from getting any ideas about doing the same to him).
  • The Caligula: He's the flamboyant and sociopathic ruler ("Siridar-Baron") of Giedi Prime. The Baron has the philosophy that "power and fear" are the key to statecraft, and acts accordingly. He has the Fremen oppressed as much as he can in order to keep them subservient, and he frequently rapes his own teenaged servants for fun.
  • Camp Gay: He's a Depraved Homosexual who loves raping teenaged slaves, and he's a flamboyant Large Ham.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: He's well-aware he's a tyrant, and fully embraces it. He also apparently cultivated his obesity simply because he liked disgusting people with it.
  • The Chessmaster: His revenge against the Atreides, intricately plotted for decades, should be proof enough of this.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: With the exception of Feyd, the Baron plans to eventually betray every single one of his allies. And even then, he still notes he'd kill Feyd if it were absolutely necessary.
  • Classic Villain: The Baron represents Pride, Greed, Lust, Gluttony, and Wrath, and demonstrates all of these qualities in abundance. He's very much a demonstration of how a leader can go wrong, in contrast to the anti-heroic Paul.
  • Complexity Addiction: Piter points out the Baron could easily have Leto killed by Yueh, but the Baron wants Leto and the other Great Houses to know it was his doing.
  • Consummate Liar: The Baron is an expert at getting people to believe his lies, even Chessmasters such as Thufir Hawat. He's simply just that good.
  • The Corrupter: He loves to make the people around him as twisted as he is. He raised Feyd and Rabban to be just as twisted as he is, and it's implied the Baron somehow twisted Piter from a logical Mentat into the maniac he is now.
  • Create Your Own Villain: Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor wind up indirectly causing Paul to become a Dark Messiah and kickstart the jihad. Harkonnen murdering Paul's father, and his continued efforts to have the Fremen killed off are ultimately what back Paul into a corner, and force him into embracing his destiny.
  • Creepy Uncle: Whether he ever acted on it is left ambiguous, but he definitely lusts after his own nephew, Feyd.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He's quite witty and sardonic, frequently making wisecracks at his underling's expense.
  • Depraved Bisexual: The Baron's predilection for teenage boys is given quite a bit of focus, but he's also Jessica's father, meaning he at least in the past enjoyed sleeping with women as well.
  • Depraved Homosexual: He has slave boys delivered to his quarters, and it is implied that his attractions extend to Feyd-Rautha. He certainly had designs on Paul, but gave them up when he realized how lethally dangerous the boy was.
  • Despotism Justifies the Means: He views despotism as the key to power. By oppressing and degrading a population entirely, the Baron believes he can force them to remain subservient. It's all simply another way of feeding his monstrous ambition.
  • Dirty Coward: He's extremely arrogant and prone to Evil Gloating when he's on top, but the Baron completely panics whenever he's in real danger.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: The Baron is given the most focus out of Dune's main antagonists, and he has the most personal enmity with Paul. However, he's the first of the villains to die during the climax, leaving Feyd and the Emperor as the final opponents Paul must face.
  • Dirty Old Man: The Baron is a perverted, horny pederast who frequently rapes teenage slaves. He also lusts after Feyd and Paul, and it's implied his attitudes extend to women as well in the past.
  • Dramatic Irony: He spends most of the novel unaware that Muad'Dib, the Fremen rebel causing him so much trouble, is actually Paul Atreides. He only discovers it during the climax, shortly before he dies.
  • The Dreaded: Everyone who works for him is utterly terrified of facing the Baron's wrath, even his own nephew Rabban.
  • Drunk with Power: The power the Baron possesses has clearly gone to his head. His pomposity and egotism is clearly fueled by the fact he's able to indulge in his every vice without consequence simply due to the sheer amount of power afforded to him.
  • Dystopia Justifies the Means: The Baron believes in deliberately making conditions under his rule as hellish as possible, as he believes the key to power is through fear and thus by making the population terrified of House Harkonnen, they will submit to him. He even has Rabban oppress the Fremen even more brutally simply so that they'll accept Feyd as being a better option when the Baron installs him instead.
  • Egopolis: In the canceled Alejandro Jodorowsky film adaptation, he would have lived inside a giant palace shaped like himself.
  • Embodiment of Vice / Seven Deadly Sins: Baron Harkonnen is meant to represent the depths of humanity's decadence and societal stagnation, and as such, his vices are many and obscene, and he represents in full of all the Deadly Sins:
    • Sloth / Gluttony: He's grotesquely fat to the point he needs an anti-gravity harness to even be able to move around. He is also addicted to Spice to the point it makes him paranoid.
    • Lust: He's a pederast who loves abusing young men and teenage boys, and has an unhealthy incestuous obsession with his nephew, Feyd Rautha.
    • Greed: He's willing to go to any lengths to secure stewardship of Arrakis and the harvesting of Spice, both for his own personal use and for the lucrative economy it provides.
    • Pride: He considers himself vastly superior to everyone else. Duke Leto being chosen over him to steward Arrakis is seen by him as a slap in the face and an affront to his superiority.
    • Envy: He resents Duke Leto for the love his people have for him and for being chosen by Emperor Corrino to steward Arrakis in his stead.
    • Wrath: Prone to fits of anger and all about taking revenge WAY too far. His vendetta against House Atreides is chock full of instances highlighting his deep and undying hatred of Duke Leto and his people.
  • Ephebophile: As if he wasn't creepy enough, he likes to have teenage slaves being sent to his bed chambers, sometimes drugged up. He lusts after Paul at first too. The 1984 movie version of the Baron instead likes to tear off their heart plugs and use their gushing blood to water his flowers.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The Baron is introduced declaring "It is a magnificent thing that I, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, do!" and then promptly monologuing about his plan to destroy the Atreides. In short order, his flamboyance, egotism, and general depravity are established as integral to his character.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Downplayed. The Baron genuinely wants Feyd to succeed him and tries to help him get accustomed to the political arena. However, the Baron only really has an interest in him because Rabban is so incompetent, and any affection he has for Feyd is tempered by his incestuous lust for him.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • He would have preferred to torture Leto in private, one nobleman to another. For one, it sets a bad precedent for the next ruler of Arrakis. Also, if word got back to the other Houses that the Imperium is involved, everyone would be terrified the Emperor's coming for them next. However, the Baron quickly loses his patience when Leto doesn't bend.
    • He's outraged when Rabban believes he killed Piter. As the Baron explains, he'd never kill one of his own men so casually and without purpose, albeit for the pragmatic reasons that he doesn't want to waste useful assets.
    Baron Harkonnen: I make a point. Never obliterate a man unthinkingly, the way an entire fief might do through some due process of law. Always do it for an overriding purpose - and know your purpose!
    • He's perturbed to an extent at Piter's love of violence, and views it as disconcerting. While the Baron is certainly sadistic himself and has a level of admiration for Piter's work, he only views violence as a means to an end and not an end goal unto itself.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
    • Baron Harkonnen assumes that Hawat can easily be wooed over to House Harkonnen's side, and even believes he'll enjoy serving a master not bogged down with emotions or morality as Leto was. He deeply underestimates Hawat's loyalty to the Atreides,a nd he ultimately turns against the Baron rather than harm Paul. He's at least smart enough to keep Hawat dependent on him through a Poison and Cure Gambit.
    • Or, in this case, "Evil Cannot Comprehend Morally Grey/Lesser Evil", depending on how one interprets the Fremen. The Fremens' willingness to sacrifice themselves for Paul utterly confuses the Baron, and he's unable to understand how anyone could command such loyalty.
    • The Baron never quite understands how Leto was so loved. He assumes the only way to earn loyalty is through fear and keeps his underling and the population of Arrakis under constant threat of death. He never gets that this only seeds disloyalty, and that Leto earned loyalty through mutual respect and kindness.
  • Evil Colonialist: In contrast to Leto's efforts to cultivate alliances with the Fremen, the Baron tries to wipe them out entirely. He views them as little more than savages, and takes great joy in trying to kill all of them off.
  • Evil Gloating: He's very prone to gloating when he has the upper hand. Yueh actually exploits this; knowing that the Baron can't resist the chance to gloat to Leto about his victory, Yueh outfits Leto with a false tooth filled with nerve gas so he can kill Baron Harkonnen.
  • Evil Is Bigger: The Baron is a giant of a man in height and weight, particularly thanks to his grotesque obesity. He's also an utterly vile excuse for a human being who regularly indulges in rape and murder.
  • Evil Is Petty: The Baron prides himself on not "wasting" good men — but he'll murder you over a trifling offense.
  • Evil Makes You Ugly: Prelude to Dune retcons that Baron Harkonnen's obesity was caused by Mother Mohiam infecting him with an incurable disease to punish him for raping her.
  • Evil Mentor: He serves as this to Feyd. He tries his best to accustom him to politics and teaches him so that he can succeed the Baron - and, if Vladimir's plans succeed, the Emperor.
  • Evil Old Folks: The Baron is 81 by the time of Dune, and it hasn't stopped him from being any less evil.
  • Evil Uncle: Rabban and Feyd don't take after their dad, obviously.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Is stated in the books to have a basso voice, which is the lowest vocal range possible for a person. In past adaptations, however, the Baron was typically given a medium range but robust speaking voice, typically to caricaturize the character either as a raving lunatic (1984 film) or emphasize the camp gay aspects (miniseries). The 2021 film version played by Stellan Skarsgard does have a deeper voice than the other two examples.
  • Exact Words: He promises to reunite Dr. Yueh with his beloved wife Wanna if he betrays the Atreides. When Yueh does so, the Baron keeps his promise... by murdering him, having already killed Wanna.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's addressed by everyone primarily by his title, even the narration.
  • Evil Counterpart:
    • To Leto. They're both powerful nobles and the heads of their own Houses, commanding their own armies and planets. However, Leto is kind, honorable, and A Father to His Men. Meanwhile, the Baron is a sadistic Bad Boss and cruel to a fault.
    • He's also one to Paul, despite comparisons being drawn more between Paul and Feyd. Both are leaders who command the utmost loyalty from their followers. However, Paul is earned the Fremen's loyalty through his initial altruism and his efforts to defend them from the Harkonnens. Meanwhile, the Baron commands loyalty through how terrified his underlings are of him and believes in governing through fear. And where Paul is viewed as a messianic figure, the Baron is compared to Satan.
    • To Jessica. They're both rather manipulative figures and are controlling of their children. However, Jessica is a loving if flawed mother who loses control over Paul and eventually comes to fear him. Meanwhile, the Baron never loses control over his nephews/adopted sons, and has no love for them, viewing them merely as pawns.
    • He's one to Stilgar as well. Both are strong political and military leaders with a ruthless streak and willing to defer their power to a younger successor. However, Stilgar is an honorable warrior and Frontline General who only wants what's best for his men. The Baron is a corpulent hedonist who stays far away from the front lines and only sees his men as pawns, thinking nothing of killing them.
  • Evil Cripple: He's so overweight he needs antigravity support to even move.
  • Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: His face is described as cherubic and baby-like, but the Baron is ruthless and sadistic to a fault.
  • False Reassurance: The Baron promises Dr. Yueh that if he betrays the Atreides he would stop torturing his wife and allow him to join her. After Yueh does so, the Baron has him killed, as he had done earlier with his wife, thus carrying out his promise to the letter. Of course, Yueh already knew perfectly well what the Baron would do, he just couldn't bear to live without having it confirmed.
  • Fat Bastard: Par excellence; he is so grotesquely fat he needs antigravity support to move and his depravity knows no bounds.
  • Fantastic Racism: The Baron is deeply bigoted against the Fremen. He views them with contempt and dismisses them as "savages" and "mongrels". He only keeps them around because he sees them as a cheap labor force.
  • Faux Affably Evil: The Baron is a jolly, urbane and friendly man, with his mannerisms and constant use of endearments... but he's actually a diabolic power-hungry schemer. He's quite sadistic and perverted as well, and sees everyone around him as pawns.
  • Feudal Overlord: While the series is set in a Feudal Future, the Baron is one of the few to fit this trope. He's the lord of his own planet - essentially a feudal kingdom in this universe - and exploits his power to indulge in his every vice, from gluttony to rape.
  • Final Solution: Subverted. When he instructs Rabban to brutally oppress the Fremen, Rabban assumes he wants them eliminated entirely. The Baron balks at that, as he doesn't want to waste the Fremen, simply drive them into submission. It's played straight in the climax, where he tries to convince the Emperor to help him wipe out the Fremen population entirely after they prove too big a threat.
  • Fisher King: Giedi Prime is a disgusting Polluted Wasteland from over-industrialization, symbolizing the Baron's undying greed and how he seeks to similarly drain the resources of Arrakis.
  • Foil: To Duke Leto. Both are the head of aristocratic Houses, but they're each other's exact opposite. Leto is handsome, kind, noble and a Reasonable Authority Figure. The Baron, meanwhile, is a grotesquely fat, hedonistic Bad Boss with a sociopathic disregard for the lives of others.
  • For the Evulz: Much of the Baron's cruelty is motivated by pure sadism rather than necessity, despite what he claims.
  • Friendly Enemy: He remains polite to Jessica even while explaining he's going to have her killed, and admits to having no real grudge against her.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Despite being one of the Emperor's inner circle, none of his colleagues seem to like him all that much, especially since it's an Open Secret he plans to betray them.
  • Genghis Gambit: Intends to use his nephew Rabban as the fall-guy in one of these, but it doesn't work out, due to the Fremen uniting behind Paul Atreides instead. In the 1984 film, it only succeeds in drawing the attention of the Emperor who demands to know why the Baron has made such a hash of things on Arrakis, threatening the flow of spice to the entire known universe.
  • Genre Savvy: He refuses to believe that Paul and Jessica are dead without seeing their bodies despite Piter's belief they were eaten by a sandworm, and immediately begins (correctly) suspecting Yueh double-crossed him somehow.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: During Children of Dune he's using and influencing Alia even though he's dead, thanks to her Genetic Memory.
  • Greed: The Baron will do anything to secure his control of Arrakis and thus of the Spice. Nothing is off the table for him, and his oppression of the Fremen is primarily motivated by this greed. Count Fenring also notes that the Baron's capital planet, Giedi Prime, is quite poor, implying the Baron doesn't share his immense wealth with the people under his rule.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: He resents Leto for being sincerely loved by his people and favored by most Houses, as well as being given control of Arrakis.
  • Gruesome Grandparent: Turns out to be Jessica's father and thus by extension Paul and Alia's grandfather, which surprises him.
  • Hate Sink: Sadistic, remorseless, vindictive, petty and sexually perverted, he's as repulsive inside as out and seems deliberately designed to inspire revulsion in the audience.
  • Hated by All: He's despised by pretty much everyone. None of the Baron's allies like him in the least. Rabban, Feyd, and Piter all plot to betray him at various points, and his other underlings are terrified of him. The Emperor frequently (and somewhat accurately) suspects the Baron of plotting to betray him, and Count Fenring views him with disdain. House Atreides also justifiably despises him, as do the Fremen for everything he's done to them.
  • The Heavy: He may answer to Emperor Shaddam (openly at least...), but the Baron and his noble house remain the most active villains on the scene.
  • The Hedonist: The Baron happily indulges in every luxury and vice he can. He's especially fond of food and sex, especially if said sex is non-consensual.
  • Hero Killer: While he doesn't kill Leto himself, the Baron is directly responsible for the circumstances that lead to his death and intended to do the deed himself. He also causes the death of Duncan Idaho.
  • Hope Crusher: The Baron loves crushing the hope of his victims. Yueh exploits this by giving Leto a false tooth filled with nerve gas for him to activate while the Baron gloats about destroying his House.
  • Hypocrite:
    • He frequently boasts of never disposing of competent subordinates or potential subordinates before they've outlived their usefulness. He even spares Hawat so he can keep him as his new Mentat. However, while his forces slaughter Leto's men, Baron Harkonnen acknowledges that killing off the Duke's army is wasteful, but still deeply enjoys their deaths.
    • He soliloquies about his hatred for the Spacing Guild's greed and how much they make his military ventures cost. However, the Baron himself is immensely greedy and obsessed with control of Arrakis.
    • While discussing the Fremens' fanatical devotion to Paul, the Baron declares that they have no decency. This, of course, is coming from the Baron, a sadistic, pedophilic, raping tyrant who has committed countless war crimes.
  • Idle Rich: He lives in luxury and indulges in his every hedonistic desire. While the Baron is intelligent and spends much of his time strategizing, he spends just as much time luxuriating and indulging in the finer things.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: He portrays the destruction of House Atreides as an unfortunate necessity to anyone who will listen, although it's plainly obvious he's enjoying every minute of it. He does, however, express sincere sympathy for the Duke and his family, knowing his plan requires crushing them utterly.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: In Prelude to Dune, it's revealed that the Baron was once slender and handsome when he was a young man. Thanks to Mother Mohiam, he was infected with an STD that lead to him gaining more and more weight until he became too corpulent to even move on his own.
  • It's All About Me: The Baron is concerned only with his own welfare and hedonism. He does show concern for Feyd, but only insofar as he can further increase House Harkonnen's power and influence. Count Fenring also notes that Gieti Prime's capital is quite poor, revealing that the Baron refuses to share his wealth with the citizens of his planets.
  • Jerkass: Baron Harkonnen is not a nice man. He's vindictive, petty, perverted, sadistic, cruel, and treacherous.
  • Karmic Death: He's poisoned by Alia, the daughter of his enemy Leto.
  • Knight of Cerebus: An interesting example because his many moments of Black Comedy also cause him to veer into Plucky Comic Relief but whenever he turns up, things start going to hell in a hand basket for the Atreides and nobody in the story finds him funny but him.
  • Lack of Empathy: Interestingly subverted. Baron Harkonnen is a sadist of the highest order and a brutal tyrant, but he expresses genuine sympathy for Leto and how the Baron's plan will inevitably result in him losing everything he cares about.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: The Baron schemes above all to place a relative in the Emperor's seat, so that House Harkonnen can rule over the galaxy. His feud with House Atreides leads to his plans succeeding in the worst possible way for him. His grandson Paul takes over the throne rather than his beloved nephew Feyd, and his remaining descendants are assimilated into House Atreides.
  • Logical Weakness: For all the Baron's cunning and evil, he's still elderly and morbidly obese, making him quite slow and unfit. Alia is easily able to kill him once she gets close to him, since he's not fast enough to dodge her stabbing him with the gom jabbar..
  • Laughably Evil: Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is arguably both the Big Bad of the first book and the comic relief. His wittiness and pomposity makes him quite humorous and entertaining, despite how utterly vile he is in every regard.
  • Large Ham: In every sense of the word. In the 1984 film, this includes flying around the room laughing maniacally after outlining his scheme to his nephews.
  • Large and in Charge: The Baron is truly massive in size, both in height and weight. He's extremely corpulent and weighs over 300 pounds, requiring antigravity support to even move. He's also the head of House Harkonnen and one half of the Big Bad Duumvirate of the original novel.
  • Luke, You Are My Father: One of his cast-off concubines (there are hints it's Reverend Mother Mohiam; this is hinted at in the David Lynch film and confirmed in the prequels) gave birth to Jessica, making him Paul's grandfather. Which he didn't know until right before his death at Alia's hands.
    • Though in the first prequel book, the Baron considered himself to have been 'violated' in that particular experience, and even forbade his nephew to ever bring it up in his presence.
  • Machiavelli Was Wrong: The Baron rules through fear and deliberately oppresses the populations under his control, with his underlings constantly afraid he'll kill them. The result is none of his men are loyal to him. Piter, Feyd, and Rabban are all chomping at the bit to betray him, and it's only through Hawat that he stops the latter two from succeeding. His cruelty also leads to the Fremen rebelling, which results in the destruction of House Harkonnen.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: After Kynes betray him, the Baron has him killed this way by having him left stranded in the desert. He also tries to pull this on Jessica, but she's able to escape.
  • Manipulative Bastard: The Baron prides himself on his manipulations, and he's quite good at it. He's able to effortlessly outmaneuver Hawat by convincing him Jessica is the traitor, and he's able to use Rabban as a pawn in his plans to install Feyd as the new Emperor
  • The Man Behind the Man: Rabban was his puppet ruler, with Feyd-Rautha planned to succeed him.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He plays Rabban and Feyd-Rautha against each other, partially to keep their ambitions away from the Baron himself and partially because it amuses him.
  • Meaningless Villain Victory: In a manner of speaking, the Baron gets what he wants in the end. A Harkonnen does indeed take the Emperor's throne, but it's his grandson Paul who does so. House Harkonnen itself is destroyed, and his descendants are subsumed into House Atreides, carrying on the legacy of his hated Arch-Enemy Duke Leto.
  • No Indoor Voice: In the 1984 film, the Baron screams constantly at the top of his lungs.
  • No, Mister Bond, I Expect You To Dine: Propping up Leto's paralyzed body in a dining room chair, then proceeding to negotiate with him over lunch.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: Baron Harkonnen orders death left and right but seldom carries it out himself. His physical ability is diminished significantly due to his weight and he relies on either his nephews or his minions to do his bidding, even Piter gets his hands dirty when he kills Yueh. The Baron's only major physical action against the heroes is to restrain a little girl an act that kills him.
  • Nothing Personal: While he has a grudge against Leto, Baron Harkonnen doesn't have any particular enmity for the rest of the Atreides and admits as such. He even tells Jessica he has no real enmity towards her as he orders Piter to kill her.
    Baron Harkonnen: You understand, Lady Jessica? I had no rancor towards you. It's a necessity.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity / Stupid Evil: When Feyd-Rautha's assassination attempt fails, Vladimir orders the deaths of the slavemaster and two nearby guards for seemingly pointless reasons; the slavemaster just lost to Feyd at Cheops (pyramid chess), and the guards were not carrying a corpse with enough dignity. What he did not say out loud was that he was killing off Feyd's co-conspirators under the guise of Evil Is Petty, though Feyd-Rautha himself realized as much.
  • Oh, Crap!: Baron Harkonnen genuinely panics for the first time when Yueh reveals as he's dying that he realized the Harkonnens had already murdered his wife. He spends a while contemplating what Yueh could be planning, and only too late realizes he supplied Leto with a nerve gas-filled fake tooth.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's a sign of just how powerful and feared the Emperor is that even Baron Harkonnen, despite all his pomposity and hamminess, is utterly terrified of him. He spends much of the climax terrified the Emperor will kill him on the spot for failing to control Arrakis.
  • Opportunistic Bastard: He's genuinely cunning and prone to scheming, but his involvement in the main plot comes from the Baron preying on the Emperor's need to dispose of the Atreides clan for his own ends.
  • Orcus on His Throne: He spends most of his time plotting behind the scenes and never confronts the Atreides directly unless he has the upper hand, such as when Leto and Alia are captured. It's justified, as the Baron is obese and not much of a physical threat.
  • Parental Substitute: He serves as the closest thing Feyd and Rabban have to a father, given their real one is out of the picture. He's quite abusive, and under his tutelage both have grown up to be just as violent and tyrranical as the Baron.
  • Parental Favoritism: Not only clearly prefers the cunning and intelligent Feyd-Rautha over his brutish brother Glossu Rabban (though this doesn't prevent him from meting out sadistic punishments), but actually plans to sacrifice the latter to facilitate the former's ascent.
  • Pet the Dog: For as much joy as he takes in settling his grudge with Leto, the Baron does show some sympathy for him and expresses regret that Leto will only realize the harm the Baron's plans will cause too late. He also prevents Piter from raping Jessica, although he orders him to kill her immediately afterwards.
  • Planet Baron: He rules over both the planets Gieti Prime and Arrakis. The Baron acts as a Feudal Overlord, luxuriating in his own wealth while brutally oppressing the impoverished people of his planets.
  • Poison and Cure Gambit: The Baron presses Hawat into his service through this. He secretly feeds Hawat a latent poison that will activate in five days, and then gives him the antidote through his food. If Hawat ever stops taking the antidote, the poison will take effect, forcing him to serve the Harkonnens if he wants to survive.
  • Posthumous Character: In Children of Dune, he possesses Alia from beyond the grave thanks to Genetic Memory.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Zig-Zagged. Baron Harkonnen's excesses are one of the major points of his character and he often indulges in cruelty for the sake of it. However, when his goals are loftier he has shown to be able to rein himself in and approach situations with more tact.
    • Subverted during the mop-up operation of the Atreides troops. As he watches Leto's soldiers being exterminated he admits that it's a pity that so many decent fighting men are to be killed off. Almost immediately he crushes those thoughts and laughs at their plight; feeling it proves the strength of his own men and the weakness of House Atreides.
    • He gets angry at Rabban's comment that he killed Piter, an action actually done by Duke Leto. The idea that he would so carelessly kill a valuable aide offends him.
    "I will take it unkindly if ever again you suggest by word or action that I am so stupid."
    • Baron Harkonnen's ambitions go beyond himself and he wants his house to go down in history even if he himself isn't at its head. As such he refrains from killing family members... unless there's a lot to gain from it. His plan to have Feyd-Rautha, his nephew, become Arrakis's ruler involves the deposing and death of his other nephew Rabban.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Subverted. The Baron views himself as simply doing what's necessary politically and doesn't see his actions as particularly malicious. However, it's very evident he's a sadist who loves every minute of what he does.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Baron's predilection for raping teenage boys is used to paint him as especially vile, even in a universe filled with Black-and-Gray Morality. It's hinted also kept female concubines in the past, with the implication he gave them the same treatment.
  • Returning Big Bad: He returns in Children of Dune, possessing Alia through her Genetic Memory of him.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Piter points out the Harkonnens could let House Atreides escape their takeover of Arrakis, and the respect their House would earn would be the same. The Baron balks at this, and commits himself to wiping them out to settle their feud.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: He has Yueh murdered because he doesn't trust traitors, even those ostensibly on his side.
    Baron Harkonnen: I never could bring myself to trust a traitor. Not even a traitor I created.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: Tends to speak this way as an affectation in the miniseries.
  • Sadist: An emotional, physical and sexual example. After a failed assassination attempt he orders his nephew Feyd-Rautha to kill all of his concubines, partly to teach him a lesson, partly just for kicks. It's played with, as while the Baron clearly enjoys sexual violence and emotional suffering, he mostly views violence as a means to an end and doesn't take too much joy in it. He even expresses sympathy for the Atreides at some points, and admonishes Piter for his love of senseless violence.
  • Satanic Archetype: Baron Harkonnen firmly falls into this. Not only does he intend to betray anyone who makes a deal with him, but the Baron indulges in all of the Seven Deadly Sins. He's lustful, prideful, envious, greedy, wrathful, and very gluttonous. He's noticeably contrasted against the somewhat messianic Paul. Gurney outright compares him to the Devil himself at one point.
  • Sissy Villain: Ian McNeice plays him as this. As Camp Gay Depraved Homosexual, this is inevitable.
  • Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Baron Harkonnen keeps numerous slaves, as does the rest of his family. The Baron's penchant for raping his teenage slaves is used to show how utterly abhorrent he is as a person.
  • Smug Snake: While he genuinely is very clever, he's not quite as brilliant as he thinks he is.
  • The Social Darwinist: His soliloquy about rabbits, and how fear and power are the tools of statecraft, mark him as this.
    The whole universe sat there, open to the man who could make the right decisions. The uncertain rabbits had to be exposed, made to run for their burrows. Else how could you control them or breed them? He pictured his fighting men as bees routing the rabbits. And he thought: the day hums sweetly when you have enough bees working for you.
  • The Sociopath: He's devoid of any moral compass, values no life, and sees his own nephews as means to an end. His cruelty and depravity demonstrate his lack of moral concern for others.
  • Split-Personality Takeover: He performs one on Alia through her Genetic Memory of him.
  • The Starscream: The Baron's plan is to have Feyd marry Princess Irulan and become the Emperor's plan. However, the thought of betraying him frequently crosses his mind, and the Baron's clearly more loyal to his own ambition than the Emperor.
  • Strong Empire, Shriveled Emperor: The Baron inverts the concept, but plays the overall theme of this trope straight. House Harkonnen is a powerful force in the aristocracy and aligned with the Emperor, yet the Baron is an Non-Action Big Bad obese to the point he needs suspensors to levitate himself, since he's too corpulent to walk. It symbolizes how his House has become lost in its own decadence, and contrasts them with the hardworking Atreides.
  • Sympathy for the Hero: The Baron expresses sympathy for Leto at times, admitting he feels pity that Leto will realize the Baron has destroyed everything he cared about.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Everyone who works with the Baron despises him, even his own family. His Mentats, Piter and Hawat, both openly despise and insult him. It's particularly bad in Piter's case, and the two are constantly plotting to kill each other.
  • Too Clever by Half: He's a deeply intelligent man and a good strategist, but he's almost always bitten in the ass by his inability to resist Evil Gloating.
  • Underestimating Badassery:
    • The Baron dismisses the Fremen as "mongrels", and views them as slaves at best. He ignores anyone who suggests otherwise and dismisses them as a threat, until Hawat manages to convince him they'd be a viable resource for building up House Harkonnen's army.
    • He dismisses Rabban as a mere Dumb Muscle and Feyd is clearly his favored nephew. However, Rabban is implied to be much smarter than the Baron gives him credit for and notices several things the Baron misses. It's implied that the Baron underestimates him due to his love for Feyd.
  • Vicariously Ambitious: Baron Harkonnen knows that he will never rise to the position of Emperor, but he dreams of putting someone from House Harkonnen on the throne, and schemes to make Feyd-Rautha that Harkonnen. Ironically, he succeeds, through his grandson Paul.
    One day, a Harkonnen would be Emperor. Not himself, and no spawn of his loins. But a Harkonnen.
  • Villain Cred: The Baron views Count Fenring as a significant threat, and he's one of the few people Baron Harkonnen is genuinely afraid of.
    Fenring was a killer with the manners of a rabbit. The most dangerous kind.
  • Villain Respect:
    • For as much as he dislikes Hawat, he respects his sheer cunning and forcibly recruits him for his skill as The Chessmaster.
    Baron Harkonnen: Ah, Hawat, you are a devious one.
    • Baron Harkonnen and Piter despise each other, yet the Baron admits that he needs Piter and that he more than makes up for it with sheer competence. He also compliments Piter's skill as a Torture Technician.
    Baron Harkonnen: You're a superb artist. Now have the decency to be silent.
  • Villainous Breakdown: As the Fremen overwhelm his and the Emperor's forces, the Baron panics and completely flips his lid, demanding that the Emperor kill every single Fremen on Arrakis.
  • Villainous Crush: He lusts after Paul and it's implied the Baron wants to make his another one of his unwilling consorts if he can.
  • Villainous Glutton: A sensation-hedonist, he purposefully eats as much as he can both because he enjoys the taste and sensation of eating and because it amuses him that his grotesquely fat body disgusts others.
  • Villainous Incest: He actually ogles his nephew, Feyd. To say nothing of his attraction to Paul, who turns out to be his grand-son.
  • Wants to Be Hated: A descendant with access to his personality and experiences, due to a form of inherited memory, claims that the Baron deliberately cultivated obesity because he "enjoyed offending" onlookers.
  • Weak Boss, Strong Underlings: The Baron is cunning and clever, but he's too overweight to ever pose an effective threat. His underlings Rabban and Feyd are much stronger and more physical opponents, particularly the latter.
  • We Have Reserves: His reaction to Leto's final attack is to close the door on his own men, leaving them to die from poison gas. (In the miniseries and the 2021 movie, he simply flies away from the range of the gas, and in the 2021 movie he is locked in with his men by outside guards who don't want to be poisoned themselves.) His immediate reaction was joy that they had died and he survived. He also casually kills off Leto's troops rather than recruit them, but then again, they were hardly likely to serve him.
  • Wicked Cultured: Harkonnen is witty, urbane, and appreciates the finer things in life, which belies his utter depravity.
  • Would Hurt a Child: During the climax, he attempts to kill Alia in cold blood. She promptly murders him by injecting him with gom jabbar.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: With the exception of Feyd, the Baron is always wondering about when his subordinates will outlive their usefulness so he can kill them. He murders Yueh the second he outlives his, intends to do the same to Rabban at some point, and he's constantly making plans to kill off Piter and later Hawat the second they outlive theirs.
  • You Have Failed Me: It's common knowledge the Baron kills off any of his men who displease him, which is why his underlings are so terrified of him. While the Baron prides himself on not killing off useful subordinates, those that don't prove to be of use are easily disposed of. He nearly kills off Nefud for displeasing him before he's able to convince him of his usefulness.

    Piter de Vries 

Piter de Vries

Played by: Brad Dourif (1984 film), Jan Unger (2000 miniseries), David Dastmalchian (2021 film)

Baron Harkonnen's twisted mentat.


  • Addled Addict: Downplayed. He's still able to do his job, but the reason he's so unhinged is because he's constantly using spice.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Very effete and Baron Harkonnen repeatedly insinuates that he's not really attracted to Jessica and only desires her as a status symbol.
  • Anyone Can Die: He's taken out by Leto's attempted Taking You with Me, whose real target was the Baron.
  • Awesome by Analysis: Pretty much required for a Harkonnen mentat, especially one for Baron Vladimir.
  • Berserk Button: He loathes having the Baron call him inferior to the thinking machines of the past.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Piter is whimsical, excitable, and cruel. He can come across as almost sychophantic towards the Baron but it's all a thin layer of mockery that gets under Harkonnen's skin.
  • Freudian Excuse: It's implied Piter became such a maniac because of the Baron's abuse. Jessica actually speculates the Baron must have twisted him somehow, as most Mentats are coldly logical, whereas Piter… isn't.
  • Functional Addict: He's addicted to spice, which hasn't had the best effect on his mental health. He still remains competent enough that the Baron refuses to dispose of him.
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: His intentions toward Jessica are portrayed this way in the Lynch film and the Syfy miniseries. In the novel, this trope is subverted: he proves to be more interested in power than in killing Jessica, and quickly opts for the duchy on Arrakis instead.
  • Mirror Character: We never see them interact, but he contrasts Thufir Hawat in several ways. While both are mentats in service to the two primary Great Houses of the first book, Thufir is elderly and proper, Piter is younger but has become more amoral and sadistic.
  • Only Sane Man: Comes across this way in the 1984 film, where his more eccentric aspects are toned down, while the Harkkonens' similar aspects are exaggerated.
  • Psycho for Hire: He's an evil and eccentric mentat.
  • Spell My Name With An S: His name is given as 'Piter de Vried in some editions of the first book.
  • The Starscream: Piter intends to betray the Baron at some point and despises him. He doesn't even bother trying to hide it, and it's made very clear he'd enjoy watching House Harkonnem be destroyed.
    Piter: Already you have the Emperor's eye on you, Baron. You move too boldly. One day, the Emperor will send a legion or two of his Sardaukar down here onto Giedi Prime and that'll be an end to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
    Baron Harkonnen: You'd like to see that, wouldn't you, Piter? You'd enjoy seeing the Corps of Sardaukar raze my cities and sack this castle. You'd truly enjoy that.
    Piter: Does the Baron need to ask?
  • Torture Technician: It's a hobby of his. Baron Harkonnen notes that Piter utilized pain amplifiers on Yueh's wife Wanna, and Piter himself is eager to torture Leto for information on the missing Paul and Jessica.
  • Volatile Second Tier Position: Because the Baron abides by a strict policy of offing any of his minions who've outlived their usefulness, Piter has to work hard to make himself too useful to eliminate - and even then the Baron likes to keep him on his toes with threats and the occasional headgame.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Baron continually makes note to kill him, but Piter ends up prematurely bumped off. And of course, after he died, the Baron says multiple times that he wishes he still had Piter around.

    Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen 

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen

Played by: Sting (1984 film), Matt Keeslar (2000 miniseries), Austin Butler (2024 film)

Baron Harkonnen's nephew and intended heir.


  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Being a Harkonnen, he falls into this by default. He's just as much of a sadist as his uncle and brother.
  • Badass Normal: Holds his own against the Kwisatz Haderach. Questionable how normal he is, though. Feyd was the Bene Gesserit's originally planned father of the Kwisatz Haderach, meaning that he would carry most of the required genes. He's had the same intense level of combat training that Paul has, with added lessons in how to fight dirty in a nominally "clean" contest. However, he does not have the advantage of Paul's Bene Gesserit training.
  • Bastard Understudy: The Baron is grooming him to be the next ruler of Arrakis, and perhaps even Emperor. He launches an asassination attempt against the Baron once, but fails due to bad luck. The Baron is outraged, but mostly because Feyd failed. He does eventually inherit the Baron's throne but dies shortly after doing so.
  • Blood Knight: Feyd deeply enjoys the act of killing and fighting, frequently battling gladiators in the Harkonnen's arena. He even pays a bit of respect to a slave who was nearly able to kill him.
  • Camp Straight: Is quite foppish and described as being "effeminate of face" but only shows interest in females, unlike his uncle.
  • Climax Boss: For Dune.
  • The Dragon: To his uncle.
  • Duel Boss: Engages in a final duel against Paul to stop him from dethroning Shaddam.
  • Evil Counterpart:
    • Count Fenring laments that Feyd was raised the way he was; if he hadn't, Feyd could have turned out like Paul. He is, of course, Paul's first cousin.
    • Feyd is also the remaining male from the Bene Gesserit genetic selection line (discounting the renegade Paul), making him their last hope (except for Feyd's bastard daughter). Furthermore, he was most likely supposed to be one of the parents of the Kwisatz Haderach, with Jessica and Leto's intended daughter being the other.
  • Evil Nephew: Tries to have his uncle the Baron assassinated so he can inherit early. The Baron placates him by revealing the plans he has for him.
  • The Fighting Narcissist: Is an amazing fighter with a graceful fighting style, loves to show off by fighting in the arena whilst dressed in a flashy, flamboyant style, is effeminate, smug, calculating and looks down on others, arrogantly taunting his opponents in the arena. This vibe is really conveyed in the illustrations of him for Jodorowky's failed Dune adaptation.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: He's killed in his duel with Paul when a poison flip-dart in his leotard gets caught in the floor during a grapple, pinning him in place long enough for Paul to inflict a death-blow. Paul also had a chance to stack the fight in his favor by using a Bene Gesserit paralysis command on Feyd, but decided against it in favor of beating him in a fair fight.
  • Kick the Dog: Promises to rape Chani to Paul's face, or at least make her his bride.
  • Kingpin in His Gym: He participates in gladiatorial matches, trading traditional means of rigging the fights with his own, to make it look like he's in danger and earn prestige. This almost backfires when the slave in question nearly kills him. Feyd, impressed with and knowing how to play to the crowd, doesn't do the traditional mutilation of the body, instead allowing him to be buried intact, as a sign of respect.
  • Let's Dance: The duel opens with Feyd complimenting Paul's "dancing."
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's described as this, with some extra effeminacy thrown in.
  • Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: "On his seventeenth birthday, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen killed his one hundredth slave-gladiator." That's because each of those slaves was drugged or programmed to respond to Safe Words. And of course, his weapons are all poisoned. This time he faces one of Leto's elite troopers, and he very nearly winds up dead despite the deck being stacked in his favour.
  • Practically Different Generations: He's four decades younger than Rabban.
  • The Sociopath: Feyd has no moral compass and enjoys killing. He's also intelligent, self-centred and with a sense of charisma about him. Much like his uncle, he's a high-functioning example unlike his low-functioning brother. All in all, the Harkonnens are a wonderful depiction of the antisocial personality disorder in its full spectrum but you wouldn't like to see it up close!
    • When the Baron punishes Feyd for attempts to kill him, he makes Feyd kill the girls in his harem by hand. Afterward, Feyd doesn't look bothered that he was forced to brutally murder a bunch of girls he'd had sex with. Rather, he looks annoyed, like his favorite toy got taken away.
  • Smart People Play Chess: The Baron gingerly broaches the topic of the latest attempt on his life (by Feyd) by pointing out the Pyramid Chess set in his room.
  • The Starscream: The Baron is aware of Feyd's continual attempts to kill him, and forces Feyd to kill his sex slaves one-by-one and by hand to curb his ambition (after filling his head with promises of the imperial throne).
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Feyd has a stellar reputation even among the abused underclasses under House Harkonnen's control. The Baron notes "He could walk unarmed and unshielded through the poorest quarters." It's another parallel with Paul.
  • You Fight Like a Cow: He taunts Paul in both the book and the film, asking him why he prolongs the inevitable when Feyd will kill him.
  • You Killed My Father: Well, his uncle, really, but he attempts to avenge the Baron. However, as he was not above trying to kill his uncle himself; it's likely that he's just angry that the person got the chance to kill the Baron whereas he didn't.

    Glossu Rabban 

Count Glossu Rabban

Played by: Paul L. Smith (1984 film), László I. Kish (2000 miniseries), Dave Bautista (2021 film)

Another of Baron Harkonnen's nephews.


  • Adaptational Badass: His small appearance in the books doesn't indicate him to be a fighter and the Baron notes that he'll need a pair of suspensors to deal with his weight soon. All of the adaptations reimagine Rabban as a fighter and frontline leader who gets much more physically involved in combat than his uncle.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: As with all of the Harkonnens, Rabban is a member of the aristocracy and thoroughly evil.
  • Ascended Extra: He has only one brief appearance in the original book; he is a considerably more significant character in the 1984 and 2021 films, miniseries, and prequels.
  • A Beast in Name and Nature: Popularly known as "Beast Rabban" by his subjects for his cruelty.
  • The Brute: The Baron describes him as a "muscle-minded tank-brain". Played straight in the movie, but subverted in the first book, in which Rabban is insightful about the potential Fremen threat.
  • The Cassandra: He warns his uncle that the Fremen deserve attention and encourages him to undertake a Fremen census on Arrakis, but the Baron refuses to listen.
  • Fat Bastard: In the books, Rabban is described as overweight with the Baron believing that he'll eventually be in need of suspensors to keep his weight supported. The adaptations tend to downplay this making him more bulky or stocky, but his villainy is consistent throughout all of them.
  • Flanderization: The adaptations and Brian Herbert’s prequels portray him as much less intelligent than the original book.
  • Genghis Gambit: His uncle sets him up as the fall-guy in one of these, ordering him to squeeze Arrakis dry (well, metaphorically speaking) and crush all resistance, while intending to dispatch his other nephew Feyd to kill and replace him as a far more benevolent ruler.
  • Killed Offscreen: In contrast with the other major Harkonnens who die onscreen, Rabban's death in the original book happens off in the background. After the Emperor's forces are routed his body is identified amongst the dead.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: In the miniseries, when he was attacking the Harkonnen city (presumably on the Baron's orders), he is encountered by the citizens who were present. When he realizes that he's not only outnumbered, but he's going to suffer immediate death as a result and not capture, he smiles at Stilgar in the hopes of receiving a quick death. When Stilgar turns away, Rabban's reaction is to drop his weapon and scream to the heavens, not doing even one thing to delay his death. His death is not described in the books.
  • Last-Name Basis: Nobody calls him by his first name, Glossu. It's only revealed in the appendix. As a result, the adaptations give the impression that his name is "Rabban Harkonnen" when this was legally denied him.
  • Minor Major Character: Rabban is only in a single scene in the first book; meeting the Baron in his bed chambers to take on the role as Arrakis's leader. However, his presence is significant: he's the reason for Gurney's scar and Rabban's men killed Gurney's family, he's the dictator of Arrakis after the Baron leaves and is effectively The Heavy for several years, and he's a crucial part of the Baron's gambit to push Feyd-Rautha into power. However, Rabban's role as a major antagonist is during the timeskip and most of his actions and rule is conveyed to the audience through the conversations of other characters while Rabban commits his actions offscreen. The prequels and adaptations end up beefing up his role into a more significant secondary antagonist as a result.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Known by a plethora of titles on Arrakis, including "Mudir Nahya" (Demon Ruler), King Cobra, and Beast Rabban.
  • Off with His Head!: His ultimate fate in the miniseries, and in the David Lynch film (albeit at a different set of hands).
  • Only Sane by Comparison: Rabban is likely the sanest of the Harkonnens despite his supposed incompetence, but it's a relative thing. He's the only one to realize how much of a threat the Fremen are and is the only one to realize the danger of the Baron's plan to subvert Yueh. He's still a brutal tyrant, but it's a relative thing.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: In the original novel, he comes off as simply carrying out the Baron's orders for fear of his life and because it's the easiest path available. This is subverted in the Brian Herbert novels, where he's much more sadistic and malicious of his own accord.
  • Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Like his fellow Harkonnens, Rabban is a slave owner. Gurney holds a grudge against him because Rabban scarred him with an inkvine whip.
  • Smarter Than You Look:
    • The Baron is convinced that he's a dolt. However, Rabban was regent of Arrakis for years and learned a thing or two — namely, don't mess with the Fremen.
    • In the first novel, he suggested to the Baron that they perform a count of the Fremen on Arrakis, which the Baron immediately rejects. If the Baron had listened to his nephew, he might have been better prepared to fight the Fremen later.
    • And Rabban does get in a very astute question to the Baron regarding the Baron's subversion of Yueh, which causes the Baron to at least wonder how smart Rabban really is.
    • Long story short, it's not hard to become convinced that during his private talk with the Baron he is in fact the smartest guy in the room.
  • Stupid Evil: In the miniseries, where he is constantly belittled by the Baron.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In the original novel, Rabban is clearly a bad man, but the worst of his actions are relegated to Offstage Villainy and are mostly ordered by the Baron. Rabban comes across as comparatively rational, and mostly going along with the Baron's plans out of fear for his life. Brian Herbert's prequels portray him as being just as monstrously evil as his uncle and being quite prone to pointless cruelty out of sadism.
  • The Unfavorite: The Baron chose Feyd as his heir ("na-Baron") over Rabban, the older brother. The Baron planned to have Rabban rule Arrakis again, then have Feyd kill him to make him loved and praised. This is also why Feyd bears the Harkonnen surname while Rabban's remains Rabban, even though they are brothers. (Their father, the Baron's half-brother, was a Harkonnen by birth but had relinquished the surname when he became Count. "Rabban" was a surname of the distaff or female side of the line.)

    Iakin Nefud 

Iakin Nefud

Played by: Jack Nance (1984 film)

Captain of the House Harkonnen Guard.


  • Demoted to Extra: In the 1984 he's reduced to a Living Prop who never talks, does nothing important to the plot and is never once called by name (which is only revealed in the end credits).
  • Field Promotion: When Umman Kudu, the Baron's Captain of the Guards, is killed by Leto's poison gas, Nefud was the one who was able to control the chaotic situation and had the room locked down and ventilated. Harkonnen, impressed with Nefud's efficiency and now having a vacant position, promoted Iakin from Guard Corporal to Captain on the spot.
  • Functional Addict: The Baron keeps tabs on the vices of many of his officers to better control him. He notes that Nefud is addicted to Semuta, a drug-music combination that played itself in deepest consciousness. Nefud's promotion allows him to access much more of it.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Even the Baron is impressed by his competence.
  • Mook Lieutenant: Nefud is the leader of the Baron's guard.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: While he follows the Baron's orders without question, Nefud exhibits none of the sadistic qualities which most of the Harkonnens display, and appears to just be a level-headed man doing his job.
  • The Watson: Nefud is introduced following Piter and Kudu's deaths and as such he's the that the Baron exposits his plans too.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Nefud's fate is never revealed in the novel, and he does not appear in any subsequent books in the series.
    • In the 1984 film, Nefud survives until the climax, and is last seen amongst the captured Emperor and his advisors, with scars on his temples and a daxed expression. In an interview, Jack Nance explained that a scene cut from the film involved Nefud being arrested by the Emperor's generals and tortured before the final battle.
  • You Have Failed Me: Subverted. Nefud appears to be on the verge of suffering this fate after he fails to take into account that Feyd is a threat to the Baron's life, but he manages to restore himself to the Baron's good graces.

House Corrino and Supporters

The ten thousand year old ruling House of the Imperium when the series begins, owing their rule to a combination of skillful realpolitick and the elite Sardaukar legions. While usually opposed to the Atreides protagonists in the first three books, this emnity is based more on political rivalry than genuine hatred.

    Shaddam Corrino IV 

Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV

Played by: José Ferrer (1984 film), Giancarlo Giannini (2000 miniseries), Christopher Walken (2024 film)

The Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe.


  • An Offer You Can't Refuse: At the end of the first book: live out your days on this Death World where you train your elite soldiers, with no way out except through the Guild which I now control. But don't worry, said death world will be tamed (and incidentally no longer incubate tough recruits for your army).
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Along with Baron Harkonnen, during the first book.
  • Bus Crash: With his defeat at the end of the original Dune he is exiled to Salusa Secundus. Paul expresses concern over the former emperor's remaining Sardaukar legion that he maintains on Secundus in Dune Messiah, thinking he is planning something. However, by Children of Dune he has passed away in the time skip between books and Wensicia takes over their forces.
  • Cool Helmet: With a lion design on it.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Shows a fair degree of it during his talk with Vladimir Harkonnen, showing himself to be incredibly sarcastic as the Baron tries to explain his failures.
  • The Emperor: His role.
  • Evil Redhead: Messy red hair during his introduction, though it could be assumed to be blond-ish due to Irulan's previous descriptions of him.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: In the books, Baron Harkonnen describes him as having a deep commanding voice. In the 1984 film, Jose Ferrer is not especially deep, but he does have a gruff, commanding voice tinged with sarcasm.
    The voice was baritone and with exquisite control. It managed to dismiss him while greeting him.
  • The Exile: After abdicating the throne to Paul, Shaddam is banished to the Sardaukar prison planet.
  • Friendly Enemy: In secret, Shaddam admires his cousin Leto, and had once mentioned to Irulan that he had wished the political climate that necessitated wiping out the Atreides did not exist. As it stands, the Emperor orders Leto's death simply for having a more powerful army than him.
  • Improperly Paranoid: There is nothing to suggest that Duke Leto II was ever anything but loyal to the Imperial throne, but House Atreides' success in training a small Elite Army that threatened to rival the Sardaukar and Leto's rising popularity among the Landsdraad made Shaddam IV feel as if he had no choice but to eliminate him.
  • King Bob the Nth: Shaddam IV.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: The Emperor boots Leto out of Caladan, only for his heir to return and unseat him from the throne.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Emperor can't abide that House Atreides has trained a small army that is almost as good as his, so he uproots House Atreides from Caladan and relocates them to Arrakis - putting Leto, and eventually his son, at the head of a ten-million-strong population of superb nomadic fighters who hold no loyalty to the Emperor and are itching for a chance to smash his satrap, House Harkonnen.
  • No Honor Among Thieves: His paranoia won't allow him to leave the Baron alive with what he knows.
  • Not Distracted by the Sexy: One of the quotes by Irulan recount the emperor receiving a beautiful sex slave from Hassimir as a gift and politely rejecting her. This attitude left the Bene Gesserit scared out of their wits since it showed much more self-control than they would like their puppet to have.
  • Older Than They Look: In 10191 AG, he is 72 but looks no older than 35, most likely thanks to some degree of spice consumption.
  • Only Friend: Due to his personality, Fenring seems to be his only friend and the only one capable of rejecting his orders.
  • Puppet King: Although Shaddam has some power, he's ultimately at the mercy of The Guild. Meanwhile the Bene Gesserit has ensured all of his legitimate children are daughters and the Emperor can't do anything about it.
  • Properly Paranoid: He correctly suspects the Harkonnens of moving against him. In fact, the Baron anticipated Corrino's wrath and planned to unify the Houses against him.
  • Sympathy for the Hero: Irulan's word is that Shaddam actually appreciated Leto as a son and went into a fit of rage when he discovered how he died, blaming all the Bene Gesserit.
  • The Social Darwinist: The Emperor is known for his open contempt of "weakness". When the Sardaukar find Leto's body, the Baron flies into a panic — not because he killed Leto, but because he botched the job. Word of the poison gas will get back to the Emperor, who will make life difficult for him.
  • Underestimating Badassery: When he sets up base on Arakkis, he scoffs at Baron Harkonnen's talk about setting up a perimeter and caution of the Fremen. He is confident that five legions of Sardaukar are more than a match for his enemies, this overconfidence is his undoing.

    Hasimir Fenring 

Count Hasimir Fenring

Played by: Miroslav Táborský (2000 miniseries)

A counselor and friend of Emperor Shaddam; also an assassin. Was one of the Bene Gesserit's recent failures.


  • Affably Evil: Baron describes him as this, calling him the most dangerous kind of man.
  • Ambiguous Situation: He refuses to challenge Paul when it's known by all sides that Fenring could have killed him. His pretext to the Emperor is that he did it in Shaddam's favor, as it was implied the Fremen would butcher the entire court in revenge in the instant they didn't have Paul to control them, but it's unknown if this reason, while valid by itself, was the only factor in play. Given that the Count and Paul recognized each other as Kwisatz Haderach candidates, it's possible that Hasimir spared Paul out of sympathy, maybe even secretly agreeing with Paul in his rebellion against the Bene Gesserit.
  • The Chessmaster: After the Atreides massacre, he manages to exonerate the Emperor from any suspicions by using copious amounts of spice bribes, women and favors.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: Downplayed. He admits to his wife that he's not happy with her executing the fleshly part of their plan, but by this point he has got over it.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Doesn't look anything other than a pompous, goofy aristocrat, but the Baron senses there is more behind this, internally labelling Fenring as "deadly" and feeling that Feyd-Rautha of all people is taking a big risk by punking around Lady Fenring. With good reason, as it turns out the Count is a failed Kwisatz Haderach.
  • Diabolus ex Nihilo: In-universe, as it turns out he was one of the few high-level fighters able to hide from Paul's prescience. Then subverted because he ultimately chooses not to intervene.
  • The Dragon: To Shaddam IV.
  • Eunuchs Are Evil: He is a genetic eunuch, and serves out of loyalty to the Emperor—but is also one of the most sympathetic villains.
  • The Exile: The Appendix reveals that he followed his master Shaddam into exile on Secundus.
  • Flawed Prototype: At the end of Dune, he is revealed to be a failed Kwisatz Haderach.
  • Happily Married: Very much like Jessica and Leto. Except they can't have sex, and they definitely can't procreate together.
  • Hero's Evil Predecessor: A previous Kwisatz Haderach attempt that remains loyal to the Sisterhood.
  • Immune to Fate: Although he falls short of being a true Kwisatz Haderach, he's implied to be at least prescient enough to work like a Guild navigator and thus impede Paul from reading him.
  • Informed Ability: All but stated to be one of the most dangerous fighters in the first book, yet ultimately The Unfought.
  • Minor Major Character: He is essentially Paul's Foil, being a previous, older attempt to a Kwisatz Haderach that went similarly off the rails yet remained functional enough to be a serious threat, and who serves the Bene Gesserit and the Corrino clan instead of challenging them. However, he barely has any participation in the franchise and only appears in the first book.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Acts like this, but stops after realizing what Paul is and doesn't kill him even when Shaddam gives a direct order.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Seems little more than a harmless fop, but is actually much smarter and deadlier than he looks.
  • Only Friend: To the Emperor, since childhood.
  • The Paragon Always Rebels: With Paul set against them, Hasimir is the closest to a Kwisatz Haderach the Sisterhood has, yet he refrains from acting, possibly for secretly supporting Paul's predicament.
  • Psychic Powers: He doesn't demonstrate them on page, but the fact that he didn't appear in Paul's prescience reveals the Count has some prescient capacity in his own right. Which makes sense because he is a Kwisatz Haderach candidate after all.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Seems to be the least actively malevolent of the Emperor's cronies, instead looking like his manipulations are just a job for him.
  • Sexless Marriage: He and Margot are fairly happy together, but his condition of being a genetic eunuch implies he is physically incapable of sex.
  • Speech Impediment: He speaks with a bizarre lot of "mmm-mmm-mm", "aaah-hh" and the like between his words, which reminds of techniques used by explosive stutterers in real life to get words out. Subverted later when it is revealed that he can speak just fine; those sounds are just a form of secret language he keeps with his wife, who also does it very occasionally to talk back.
  • Spell My Name With An S: Children of Dune spells his first name as "Hassimar".
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: His wife is an alluring beauty, while the Count himself is a small, weak-looking man with a weasel face and creepy eyes.
  • The Unfought: The narration somewhat sets him to be Paul's final opponent in the original book, but he declines the chance.
  • Verbal Tic: He utters lots of "Hmmmm" and similar sounds. It actually serves as a form of cipher which only he and his wife can understand.

    Irulan 

Princess Irulan

Played by: Virginia Madsen (1984 film), Julie Cox (2000 & 2003 miniseries), Florence Pugh (2024 film)

The eldest daughter of the Emperor and known to have had some Bene Gesserit training, though due to being of royal blood she never reached whatever potential she may have had due to some sense of entitlement and haughtiness she could never quite remove sufficiently. She's known to have 'literary aspirations' and provides many of the chapter quotes in the form of biographies written after the fact.


  • And Now You Must Marry Me: Paul marries her to secure his position as Emperor of the Imperium.
  • Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Despite her pretensions regarding being Paul's legal wife, his affections are exclusively for Chani. Paul also doesn't trust her not to seize the opportunity to baby-trap him. Given that she mourns Paul after he dies, and dedicates her life after his death to raise his son and daughter out of love for him, its tragically ironic that Irulan was more loyal to Paul than he, and even herself, gave her credit for, and that she would have been proud to be the birth mother of his children.
  • The Baby Trap: The main reason Paul never has a child with her is fear of how she'll manipulate the situation. Having grown up in a literal Decadent Court, such manipulation is part of her upbringing.
  • The Chew Toy: Her life after the end of the first book is essentially a constant chain of being abused, manipulated, insulted and discarded. Only one person ever shows any explicit concern for her as a person, and then only when she considers killing Irulan if she gets in her way.
  • Daddy's Girl: She seems to have had some affection for her father The Emperor.
  • Encyclopedia Exposita: Quotations from her commentaries are used as the headings for each chapter from Dune onwards.
  • Fallen Princess: She's beautiful, dutiful, intelligent and talented. She was being groomed to be the wife of the Bene Gesserit Totality, but when she finally achieves that Paul relegates her to a wife in name only role and almost completely ignores her whenever possible. Further, any power she has is token and only afforded to her because it would be politically impossible to strip her of all power.
  • Hazy-Feel Turn: At the end of the second book she switches into the Atreides camp after Paul walks into the desert to die and only then realizes she actually loved him.
  • Informed Attractiveness: Always described as a lovely blonde with a very classical, patrician type of beauty.
  • No-Respect Guy: None of the Atreides give her the time of day. Even the twins, whom she dedicates her life to raise, find it cute that she still thinks that she has authority (although it's shown that they alone do have some fondness for her).
  • Parental Substitute: She never has children of her own with her husband but after he "dies" she leaves the sisterhood in order to raise his children as though they were her own.
  • Proper Lady: The very first time she appears in the series, she's described as a cool and calm princess royal who doesn't let her dangerous surroundings unnerve her.
  • Sexless Marriage: At the end of Dune Paul marries her to gain the throne, but tells Chani she will not have a hint of warmth from him. Chani remains his true wife in all but name and Jessica assures her that that is exactly how history books will record her.
  • Spoiled Brat: The fundamental reason that she remained a mere Bene Gesserit sister rather than a full Reverend Mother or even just a particularly talented pawn was that thanks to her upbringing as a princess she never learned to make full use of the training provided to her.
  • Stockholm Syndrome: She would be perfectly loyal to Paul if he would just grant her the right to bear his heir. After the second book ends she realizes she had fallen in love with him and betrays the Bene Gesserit to become the mother of the twins.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Completely averted, just judging by the epigraph that sample her writings. Irulan, is quite objective, fair, and unbiased in her chronicling of people and events, both historical and those in which she participated or witnessed. She is actually the narrator for the 1984 film and both of the Sy/Fy channel miniseries.

    Wensicia Corrino 

Wensicia Corrino

Played by: Susan Sarandon (2003 miniseries)

The Emperor's third daughter and mother of Farad'n Corrino.


After Shaddam's defeat by Muad'Dib and the Fremen, she followed her family into exile on Salusa Secundus.
  • Age Lift: Evidently in the 2003 miniseries due to the casting of Susan Sarandon who was significantly older than Irulan's actress, Julie Cox. This creates an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole. Irulan, in the book, was the eldest Corrino daughter, hence being the one to marry Paul. However, in the miniseries, if Wensicia is older than Irulan, then she should have been the one to marry Paul.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: She kicks off the conflict in Children of Dune with her scheme to assassinate the Atreides twins and put House Corrino back in power. She aims to put her son on the throne but when Farad'n takes over the faction he ends up sinking her plans. Farad'n exiles her partly out disgust for all of the death she's caused but also because for all of her schemes to take power over the tumultuous empire she has no real plans to fix the galaxy spanning problems it faces.
  • Mother Makes You King: It's her actions that propell House Corrino back into the fight for control of the empire. She aims to destroy House Atreides and put Farad'n on the throne and eventually makes her apathetic son take interest.
    Jessica: "The lioness schemes for her cub."
  • My Beloved Smother: She tries to push her son to reclaim the throne from the Atreides twins to the point of ordering an assassination attempt behind his back. Her relationship with Farad'n is so strained that towards the end of the story, the latter sends her into exile.
  • Remember the New Guy?: She becomes one of the third book's antagonists, a powerful member of the Corrino clan seeking to recover the throne, despite not having been even not mentioned among the Corrino entourage in of the two previous.

    Farad'n Corrino 

Farad'n Corrino

Played by: Jonathan Brüün (2003 miniseries)

Grandson of the deposed Emperor.


  • Anti-Villain: Farad'n had no knowledge of the plot to kill the Atreides twins and is shocked when he finds out all of the gruesome details. He toys with the ambitions to rule the Imperium but ultimately finds himself more interested in history and art instead of the political game of thrones. Upon taking charge of House Corrino one of his first actions is to quell the hostilities between them and House Atreides.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Wensicia kept the plot to kill the Atreides twins from him. Farad'n figures it out on his own and finds the methods of training the tigers (feeding them twin children dressed like Leto and Ghanima) especially disturbing.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: With the Atreides twins towards the end of the story. He becomes Ghamina's mate and the official scribe for Emperor Leto II who gives him the name Harq al-Ada ("Breaking of the Habit").
  • Generation Xerox: Like his aunt Irulan, he's interested in history and eventually becomes the official scribe for Emperor Leto II. The opening quotes seen in the book's chapters are actually from him under the name Harq al-Ada, given to him by Leto.

    The Sardaukar 

The Sardaukar

The private army of the Padishah Emperor.


  • Always Someone Better: The Sardaukar are so good because they are trained on the Death World of Salusa Secundus. Leto (and Paul) correctly figure out that Arrakis is an even worse Death World and so its inhabitants, the Fremen, will be able to beat the Sardaukar.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: In close combat and when outnumbered, Sardaukar are trained to fight in formations of three so they never show their backs to the enemy.
  • Common Ranks: Their ranks are a combination of traditional Western ones and Arabic titles to go with Dune's cultural mix theme, such as "Colonel-Bashar".
  • Crazy-Prepared: To the point of equipping themselves with fake toes (with stabbing implements!) and garrotes in their hair in the form of shigawire.
  • Cultured Warrior: Tyekanik and the higher-ranked Sardaukar end up adapting some aspects of the Fremen faith, finding common ground there with their experiences.
  • Death World: All the Sardies get a Training from Hell upbringing on Salusa Secundus, the devastated former seat of House Corrino (a wasteland planet similarly harsh and inhospitable as Arrakis).
  • Elite Army: Not as elite as they once were, but they are still the most prominent example when the first book starts (the primary reason their skills have atrophied is success — they've had so many thorough, ruthless, vicious victories behind them that their reputation as unbeatable in combat does a lot of their work for them). It is only when Paul turns the Fremen into an army that a true rival emerges.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: In-Universe. At first, Baron Harkonnen scoffs at Thufir Hawat's deduction that the Sardaukar are recruited from the Emperor's prison planet; even if such an environment produces excellent fighters, how could you possibly expect loyalty from such recruits, let alone the kind of fanatical loyalty that the Sardaukar are famous for? Hawat explains that House Corrino has carefully cultivated the myth that such a harsh upbringing is part of a "destiny" that has transformed them from lowlife convicts into the finest soldiers in the Imperium:
    Thufir: The recruits come to believe in time that such a place as Salusa Secundus is justified because it produced them - the elite.
  • Evil Army: At least from the Atreides and Fremen point of view. But make no mistake - they can be cruel and thorough.
  • False Flag Operation: See Paper-Thin Disguise below.
  • Fighting Fingerprint: The Sardaukar cannot conceal their uniquely vicious style of fighting, which is why the Sardaukar's ruse of dressing in Harkonnen uniforms to conceal the Emperor's alliance with the Baron turns out to be a Paper-Thin Disguise.
    • Lampshaded by Duncan Idaho in the 2021 film: "When you cross blades with a Sardaukar, you'll know it."
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of the Ottoman Empire's Janissary Corps, a similarly prestigious Elite Army that eventually lost its edge as a result of its own successes. Shaddam's habit of wearing a Sardaukar uniform is reminiscent of the tradition of Ottoman sultans wearing the uniform of a Janissary when visiting their barracks.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise:
    • Shaddam Corrino IV sends two full legions of Sardaukar in the guise of Harkonnen soldiers to bolster their assault on the Atreides after Yueh's betrayal. The Atreides pick up on this almost immediately, recognizing the incredibly distinct and vicious fighting style of the Sardaukar. The Sardaukar even attempt disguising themselves as Atreides soldiers during the assault.
      • Notably, the 2021 film dispenses with this aspect of the novel entirely, and the Sardaukar are instantly recognizable by their uniforms, which is why they take care to Leave No Witnesses.
    • Sardaukar troopers can wear other factions' clothing but seem totally incapable of hiding their own speech and mannerisms. When the Atreides palace is first secured, a tough-looking soldier in Harkonnen uniform refers to Leto Atreides as "the great Red Duke" - a name only the Emperor has used for the Atreides, and ending any doubt Yueh has about the man's true identity.
    • Later when Sardaukar infiltrators among Gurney Halleck's smuggler crew are exposed, they fight back-to-back in trios, a distinctly Sardaukar tactic, and one of them throws at Paul a knife with the Imperial lion crest on the pommel.
  • Penal Colony: Salusa Secundus, where they are trained.
  • Praetorian Guard: To the Padishah Emperor.
  • Space Marine: Sort of. They are often depicted with Power Armor in artwork and videogames.
  • Spare a Messenger: Thufir Hawat mentions to Baron Harkonnen that it is standard practice for a limited number of survivors to be "allowed" to survive encounters with the Sardaukar, to spread stories of their fighting prowess, which only enhances their dread reputation.
  • The Spartan Way: Their lifestyle in a nutshell. But subverted at the same time; the lowest-ranking Sardaukar is still said to live better than the average subject of the Imperium.
  • The Stoic: Captain Otto Aramsham, who refuses to submit under capture by Paul and the Fremen until he uses the Voice.
  • Training from Hell: How they become as skilled as they are.
  • Villain Decay: Played With. It's noted In-Universe that the Sardaukar's skills aren't quite what they were at their peak and that so many easy victories have made them complacent. After their defeat at the hands of the Fremen, Paul breaks up most of their forces and permanently caps them at one legion. The Sardaukar's defeat actually ends up lighting a fire under them and they retrain as better fighters. However, while their individual members become stronger, their reduced membership prevents them from returning to their former glory and they can never match the now galaxy-spanning Atreides army. At the end of Children of Dune Farad'n marries into the Atreides family and the Sardaukar are integrated into the Emperor's forces; allowing them to grow in size once again while also stepping out of their role as antagonists.
  • Weaponized Exhaust: The Sardaukar used this to barely eke out a victory/capture of some Fremen.
  • We Have Become Complacent: By the first book, the Sardaukar have declined from the historical apex of their fighting skills and are coasting on their reputation as being unbeatable in combat. That said, they are still powerful enough that only the Fremen are superior fighters. In Children of Dune the remaining Sardaukar have overcome their former complacency and are now able to match the Freman one-on-one.
  • The Worf Effect: They are hyped up to be the ultimate soldiers of the known universe and they are eventually defeated by the Fremen and later replaced by an Amazon Brigade.
  • Worthy Opponent: To the Fremen, at least in comparison to Harkonnen soldiers.

    Tyekanik 

Tyekanik

A ranking Sardaukar officer and aide to Princess Wensicia Corrino.


  • Beleaguered Assistant: While the Corrino's hold him in high esteem and he's genuinely loyal to them, Tyekanik is frequently frustrated by their bickering and eccentricities.
  • Brutal Honesty: Teykanik doesn't hesitate to speak his mind or express annoyance at Wensicia. He frequently questions the necessities of some of her crueler actions and responds to deadly innuendo with a need for clarification. The behavior annoys the princess but she does see him as an Honest Advisor.
  • The Dragon: With Wensicia taking control of the Corrino faction, Tyekanik is her second in command and the one carrying out her dirty work. When Farad'n takes over he becomes second in command for the prince.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He follows his princess's commands but is not above questioning them. When she turns the Laza Tigers against their Sardaukar trainer he isn't happy, saying that the soldier was a good man.
  • Mirror Character: To Stilgar, especially since the Sardaukar and Fremen are alike. The two men are both military leaders of the galaxy's most notorious factions and both are aging men trying to make sense of a galaxy that's changing. Their warrior way of life may be at an end but Leto II's plans end up bringing them back into importance. Tyekanik admits a fondness for Fremen religion when ordered to study it and both men share a nonverbal moment of understanding when they meet.
  • Undying Loyalty: Though a Servile Snarker who's not afraid to be blunt with his princess, Tyekanik is loyal to her and her house.
    Tyekanik: "Shall I, then, fall on my knife, or will you take care of that, ahhh, detail?"
    Wensicia: "Tyekanik, were I not absolutely convinced that you would fall on your knife at my command, you would not be standing here beside me armed."

Bene Gesserit

The ancient sisterhood whose members publicly serve the Imperium's ruling classes as living lie-detectors and wives/concubines. In secret they have been using eugenics to cultivate the emergence of a superbeing, the "kwisatz haderach", who will dominate humanity.

    Gaius Helen Mohiam 

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

Played by: Siân Phillips (1984 film), Zuzana Geislerová (2000 & 2003 miniseries), Charlotte Rampling (2021 film)

The Bene Gesserit Reverand Mother who trained Lady Jessica and takes interest in her son.


  • Abusive Parents: She treats Jessica with a combination of love and cruelty, as she has done since Jessica was a child.
  • Anti-Villain: While manipulative, callous and petty, Mohiam makes clear to Jessica that she's just following an agenda whose steps don't necessarily please her either, and states she would save Jessica from her fate if she could.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Subverted. As a high-ranking Reverend Mother, she is shown to have a fine Voice, but the real extent of her powers is never shown. She is captured without actually resisting, impliedly because she knew it would be futile, and is executed offscreen without much fanfare.
  • Bald of Evil: In the 1984 film.
  • Compelling Voice: Like all Bene Gesserit, Mohiam is trained in the use of the Voice.
  • The Consigliere: To the Emperor.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments of firing back while talking with the brash Paul.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Despite the Bene Gesserit supposedly being masters of psychology and sociology, she utterly fails to even consider that antagonizing Paul, a candidate for the Kwisatz Haderach even if he was one generation early, could go badly for the entire Bene Gesserit Sisterhood in the long-term. A 3,500 year long-term as it turns out! Indeed, between the Gom Jabbar test and the Bene Gesserit's silent complicity in Leto's death, Paul would hold so much resentment towards the Bene Gesserit that he would vow to never be their puppet.
  • Dragon Ascendant: One of the Emperor's chief advisors in Dune, she does not follow him into exile like Count Fenring and becomes one of the central schemers in Dune Messiah.
  • Evil Matriarch: She's the highest-ranked Bene Gesserit, an evil schemer, and an all-around jerkass.
  • Face Death with Dignity: After being captured in the second book, she realizes she will never leave Arrakis alive, so she uses Prajna meditation to accept her fate.
  • Fantastic Racism: In Dune Messiah, it's revealed that she has a distaste for mentats. Scytale muses that it's part of an old hatred for Thinking Machines that she carries on to the Human Computers.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Gaius is a male name.
  • Hidden Depths: Perhaps surprisingly given her outward demeanor, Mohiam admits to Jessica that she understands why the latter disobeyed, and even says that she would have probably done the same had she been on Jessica's shoes.
  • Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: She's scathing to Jessica, Paul, and others, though she does have a few brief moments of closeness with the first, stating that she would take Jessica's place if she could, and actually shedding tears for it.
  • Killed Offscreen: Stilgar kills her offscreen near the end of Dune Messiah.
  • Living Lie Detector: As the Emperor's Truthsayer.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Has a tendency to treat people like pawns, rather than human beings. She will abuse their emotions and feelings to serve her own needs.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: She's obsessed with eugenics and degrades Chani as a pollution to the gene pool the Bene Gesserit have so ardently cultivated, making her sound (though likely unintentionally) openly racist by modern real world standards.
  • Skull for a Head: Dune Messiah describes her aged face as one akin to a skull-mask.

    Margot Fenring 

Margot Fenring

Played by: Léa Seydoux (2024 film)

The Bene Gesserit wife of the Mentat Count Hasimir Fenring.


  • Adapted Out: She never appears in the 1984 film and 2000 miniseries.
  • Happily Married: Despite everything, she and the Count do love one another.
  • Sexless Marriage: Mostly because the Count is incapable of sexual intercourse.
  • Stalker with a Test Tube: She's sent by the Bene Gesserit to conceive a child with Feyd-Rautha to preserve his genetic line as much as possible. A conversation she has with the Count indicates that this isn't her first such assignment.
  • The Vamp: She is particularly trained in neuro-seduction and is sent to lure Feyd-Rautha.

    Miles Teg 

Miles Teg

A highly regarded Mentat Bene Gesserit military commander who held the rank of Supreme Bashar.


  • Back from the Dead: Killed at the end of Heretics of Dune and brought back as a ghola by his daughter in Chapterhouse: Dune.
  • Big Eater: He needs to consume huge amounts of carbohydrates to use his powers.
  • Cast from Calories: His accelerated speed comes at the cost of incredible energy expenditure; he has to consume huge amounts of carbohydrates to regain his energy.
  • Generation Xerox: Bears striking resemblance to his distant ancestor, Leto Atreides.
  • Heroic RRoD: In Sandworms of Dune he uses his accelerated metabolism to repair the Ithaca in mere moments — a period of weeks for Teg's body, in his accelerated time — and launches countermeasures against the attacking thinking machines, consuming vast quantities of melange and carbohydrates to sustain himself. He succeeds but his efforts result in massive cellular exhaustion causing him to collapse dead immediately afterwards.
  • Old Master: A 296-year-old military genius and weapon master brought out of retirement to train the latest Duncan ghola.
  • One-Man Army: Was already a formidable fighter, but when he is elevated to a higher state of being he becomes this, able to wipe out entire rooms full of Honored Matres in a literal matter of seconds.
  • Retired Badass: Has long since retired as a military commander by the time of his first appearance but is quickly drawn back into the larger conflicts.
  • Spider-Sense: His mild prescience grants him the ability to sense incoming danger moments before it happens.
  • Super-Speed: Gains this ability following a botched interrogation by the Honored Matres.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Carries out such a brutal and large-scale slaughter of the Honored Matres that they blow up the entire planet he's on to make certain he's dead.
  • Time Stands Still: His perception when using his accelerated speed.
  • Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Resisting torture by the Honored Matres with the T-Probe cause his mentat abilities and Atreides genes to elevate him to a higher level of being, letting him move faster than the eye can see and granting him mild prescience.
    • Happens again in Chapterhouse: Dune when the Bene Gesserit attempt to imprint his ghola. Having been trained to resist such manipulations, this causes huge amount of stress on Teg, reawakening both his full memories and powers.

The Spacing Guild

    Guild in General 

The organisation with a monopoly on Interstellar Travel throughout the Imperium. While lacking in military might their essential position makes them king-makers and -breakers. But unknown to all except Paul Atreides the Guild's power is based upon a very vulnerable foundation - Navigators in the Guild must consume excessive amounts of spice to allow short-term future sight enabling them to safely navigate their vessels.


  • Adaptational Badass: In the books, the Guild Navigators consume spice so when the Holtzman Drive activates and folds space, their limited precognition allows them to steer. In the Lynch film, the spice consumption allows them to fold space itself without the need for the Holtzman Drive.
  • Dark Is Evil: The Lynch film casts them all in black outfits with varying degrees of body alterations and incomprehensible voices.
  • Drugs Are Bad: Of all the spice addicts in the universe, the Guild's members are the most dependent on it. At the end of the first novel, Paul brings them to heel by threatening to destroy all the spice on Arrakis forever. From their reactions, he perceives that they're less afraid of losing their monopoly on space travel and all the wealth and influence that comes with it, than they are terrified of being denied their next "fix."
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The Guild is an NGO Super Power who manipulate events to suit themselves. As such they're usually playing an indirect hand in whatever conflict is happening at the moment. This is more apparent in the Lynch film where it's they who demand the Emperor crush the Atreides and Paul specifically, setting the plot in motion. They're also the ones who facilitate the invasion of the Duke's base and the fight over Spice is in part because it's a key to controlling the Guild.
  • Red Right Hand: Two Guild Representatives are present during the climax of the original Dune to oversee things. They at first seem to be a pair of ordinary overweight men in grey suits until one loses a contact lens during the Fremen's attack. His eye is blue as are most who consume Spice, but it's such a strikingly dark shade that his eyes almost look black.
  • NGO Super Power: The necessity of Space Travel and the Guild's monopoly over it makes them a near-permanent fixture in the political landscape. They seldom hold direct power over any house but each house needs them for transport and travel.
    Duncan: "The Guild will live up to its basic rule: Never Govern. They're a parasitic growth, and they know it. They won't do anything to kill the organism which keeps them alive."

    Edric 

Edric

A Guild Steersman who debuts in Dune Messiah. He is part of a plot to overthrow Paul.


  • Adaptational Early Appearance: He appears at the beginning of the David Lynch film which adapts Dune whereas his book counterpart didn't appear until Dune Messiah.
  • Adaptational Ugliness: He is described as an elongated fishman in the books, with webbed hands and feet who is contained within a Spice filled tank. In the Lynch film, he's an only vaguely humanoid monstrosity many times larger than a person with atrophied arms and legs.
  • Anti-Magic: A sci-fi variation. When plotting against Paul, Mohiam has the conspirators converge around Edric. She and Edric believe that Paul's ability to see into the future is blocked by a Navigator's field of influence and allows them to plan without prying eyes. Edric also notes that, by the same token, Paul's future and movements are masked from him as well. Edric can only see where Paul has been and not where he is currently.
  • Body Horror: In movie, book, and miniseries Edric is used to show the body alterations from excess Spice consumption. Edric has since transformed into a creature bound inside of a tank that cannot ambulate on his own. The Lynch film goes even further with how alien he looks.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Scytale notes his surface-level civility masks a barely hidden condescension.
    Edric, the Guild Steersman, replied to the Reverend Mother now with a vocal curtsy contained in a sneer - a lovely touch of disdainful politeness.
  • Power Perversion Potential: He points out that Irulan has never shared a bed with Paul and as such cannot be the mother of a new dynasty. Irulan calls him a voyeur in response.

Ixian

Named after the ninth planet of Alkalurops system they are on, but Ixians themselves have since forgotten what roman numerals actually are. The Ixians of Ix are a highly specialized group that focuses on the constructions of machines, many of which barely toe the line on the ban on A.I.

    In General 

    Malky 

Malky

"I suggested to Malky that there are some things that man should not invent." said Leto II
"And that's all?" said Hwi.
"No" Leto II spoke reluctantly. "My words angered him, he said, "You think that in a world without birds men would not invent aircraft? What a fool you are! Men can invent anything.""

An Ixian ambassador that Leto Atreides II was fond of. They would have frequent private conversations wherein Malky was not afraid to discuss taboo topics with the worm that is god himself.


  • Badass Boast: "You like me because I'm a terrible man."
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Only Malky has the audacity to tell the God-Emperor "Tell me old worm, is there a monster penis inside that monster body of yours? What a shock for the gentle Hwi!" and survived to tell the tale. No one, not even Leto II's majordomo at the time could boast this achievement.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: His death chapter boils down to him just shitting on Leto II and his golden path.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Depends how you see Leto II, but he always speaks of Malky with fondness. And when the time came that Malky needed to be eliminated for the sake of the Golden Path, Leto II just cannot bring himself to kill Malky. Leto II cannot even ask it of his right-hand man, Moneo. "For reasons of old admiration... and many other reasons, I cannot kill Malky"

    Hwi Noree 

Hwi Noree

An Ixian ambassador sent to Leto Atreides II.


  • Gone Horribly Right: The Ixians breed and designed her to be the perfect Honey Trap for Leto. Unfortunately, their attraction and compatibility with one another is so perfect that Hwi sides with Leto and betrays the Ixians soon after meeting him for the first time (although she does end up achieving their goal, eliminating Leto, even if it only happened because he secretly allowed it to happen).

Bene Tleilax

    In General 
Mentioned in passing in the first Dune novel, then their agents prominently appeared in the second novel, Dune Messiah. They were only truly rounded out as a culture, however, in the fifth novel, Heretics of Dune - partially because, in-universe, they are very secretive about themselves. The Tleilaxu are an entire culture of Mad Scientists, barely tolerated by the rest of the Imperium, due to their skills at cloning and shape-shifting. Genetic manipulation is treated with revulsion by the Imperium, arguably more than the advanced technology of Ix, both of which frequently cross the lines set by the Butlerian Jihad against immoral technologies that pervert the human condition. While other factions such as the Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, and Great Houses can barely stand them, they tolerate their existence due to the occasional need for their illicit services.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: An entire race of them.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Every other faction treats them with primordial revulsion, due to their genetic manipulation toying with the stuff of life. At times they do side with the Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, or Great Houses against a shared enemy - but they are purely allies of convenience.
  • Genetic Memory: One of their major goals was figuring out how to get their "ghola" clones to regain their original memories, based purely on genetic memory. This was already known to exist within the Dune universe, but was previously only achieved by Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers undergoing the Spice Agony (unlocking all of their ancestral memories).
  • Human Resources: They have a tendency towards it.
  • One-Gender Race: All Tleilaxu are male. Well, the Face Dancers are genetic constructs designed to be shapeshifters, but they are "sterile hermaphrodites" and usually default to male personas. The Tleilaxu are so secretive about society on their homeworld that thousands of years pass without outsiders learning how this works, assuming the Tleilaxu reproduce through cloning. They do reproduce through cloning, which is done using "axlotl tanks" - but their dark secret is that "axlotl tanks" are Tleilaxu females, altered to be unconscious, horrifically distorted biological cloning vats and nothing more.
  • Uterine Replicator: The Tleilaxu "axlotl tanks" used to grow their clones and genetic constructs. Except it turns out they didn't "replace" the uterus, they learned how to modify female humans - even captured ones - into just a big oversized womb with a body attached, left braindead and hooked up to life-support technology.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Their "Face Dancers" are genetic constructs who can voluntarily change their appearance to look like anyone, even changing their sex. They are still confined to shapeshifting within a roughly humanoid form.

    Scytale 

Scytale

Played by: Martin McDougall (2003 miniseries)

A Tleilaxu Face Dancer who participates in the conspiracy against the rule of Paul Atreides.


  • Ambiguous Gender: Farok inquires about his sex when they meet. Scytale responds that he is a Jadacha hermaphrodite and that he can be either sex at will but identifies as male at the moment.
  • An Offer You Can't Refuse: Tries to pull this on Paul, by giving him the chance to resurrect Chani as a ghola.
  • Big Bad: He is the unspoken leader of the conspiracy against Paul in Dune Messiah, as well as the book's last and most dangerous antagonist.
  • Dead Person Impersonation: Impersonates a dead girl from Paul's sietch to get near to him. Paul being Paul, he realizes the truth on first sight.
  • Eye Scream: Paul throws a crysknife into Scytale's right eye, killing him.
  • Gender Bender: Comes with being able to change your appearance.
  • Killed Off for Real: Paul throws a well placed knife at him.
    • Subverted in the later books: given that his race are master cloners who have now figured out how to give a clone genetic memory of their previous life, they keep resurrecting new Scytale clones.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Scytale is capable of playing on other people's emotions in order to attain what he wants.
  • The Nondescript: His first appearance is this on purpose.
  • Power Perversion Potential: On his first appearance, after seeing Irulan's beauty firsthand, he takes note on remembering her form to use it on men later.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: As a Face Dancer, Scytale can change his features to resemble another's.
  • Wild Card: For the conspiration. He isn't as interested as the rest in taking down the emperor and even realizes some of the things that Paul fears are important. It's just that he has his own interests on board.
  • Xanatos Gambit: His plan in Dune Messiah. The conspiracy against Paul succeeds? Then he and his co-conspirators have eliminated the single greatest threat to their factions. It fails? He finally figures out how to awaken a ghola to its original memories, a process the Tleilaxu have struggled to master for a very long time.

    Bijaz 

Bijaz

Played by: Gee Williams (2003 miniseries)

A dwarf servant given to Paul by one of his former Fedaykin commandos. Actually a Tleilaxu, assigned to plant a hypnotic command to kill Paul within Hayt's mind.


    Tylwyth Waff 

Tylwyth Waff

The leader of the Tleilaxu in Heretics of Dune, he seeks Tleilaxu hegemony and attempts to make allegiances with the Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit in pursuit of his goal.


  • Out-Gambitted: While he does manage to score some goals on the Honored Matres, every attempt by Waff to use the Bene Gesserit to his ends gets foiled, forcing him to join his cause to theirs in the end.

Honored Matres

    In General 
Introduced in Heretics of Dune as the main antagonists (sort of), the Honored Matres are a militant group of women descended from the Fish Speakers, Leto II's elite cadre of all-female warriors. Using sexual and fighting techniques derived from the Bene Gesserit, they intend to unite humanity under their rule— even if they must smash a few heads in along the way.
  • Amazon Brigade: They're a militarized melange of various all-female groups, including the much-abused Tleilaxu females and rogue Bene Gesserit, with the Fish Speakers as their core.
  • Big Bad: They are the main antagonists of Heretics and Chapterhouse.
  • Elite Mooks: The Valkyries are an elite cadre formed to take out the rebel Honored Matres's.
  • Evil Counterpart: To the Bene Gesserit, who were Ambiguously Evil to begin with.
  • In-Series Nickname: The Bene Gesserit scornfully call them "the whores", due to their practices of using sexual enslavement to gain political power. This actually did originate from Bene Gesserit tactics, but they only used it for subterfuge when necessary - the Honored Matres cranked it up.
  • Invading Refugees: They were driven back into the Old Empire by the Thinking Machines.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A splinter group of Honored Matres accidentally stumbled on a Thinking Machine outpost, which alerts Ominus of the humans' location. The Matres then retreat to the Old Imperium which the Machines then follow.
  • Renegade Splinter Faction: They're an off-shoot of rogue Bene Gesserit who spread out beyond the known space of the Imperium during the Scattering, who mixed with Fish Speaker all-female soldiers who also fled out there. Even their very name, "Honored Matres", is a corruption of the Bene Gesserit title "Reverend Mother". They refined some of the Bene Gesserit abilities to greater degrees, while other atrophied. They're much better at combat, and unlike the Bene Gesserit strategy of ruling from the shadows through intrigue, the Honored Matres seize power directly, and have carved out vast swaths of territory for themselves in Scattering space beyond the Old Imperium. At the same time, they lost most of the Bene Gesserit abilities to control their own chemical metabolism, making them vulnerable to biological warfare. They also stopped relying on the Spice to unlock their (non-prescient) abilities, so they switched to an artificial substitute... literally derived from pain (harvesting and refining the pain endorphines produced in torture victims). It doesn't give them prescience but unlocks their combat abilities. While the Spice makes Bene Gesserit eyes turn blue, this artificial substitute makes Honored Matres eyes blaze with a fiery orange color.
  • The Vamp: An entire army of them.

    Murbella 

Murbella

A promising young Honored Matre who was captured by the Bene Gesserit and trained in the ways of the Sisterhood.


    Dama 

Dama

The Great Honored Matre.


  • The Dreaded: Called the "Spider Queen" among Bene Gesserit sisters.

Thinking Machines

    In General 

Originally mentioned in passing in the original Dune novels, the Herbert/Anderson sequels and prequels expand on their origins. The Thinking Machines were artificial intelligences that once enslaved mankind, but they were overthrown by the humans in the Butlerian Jihad. However, the Thinking Machines were merely defeated and plan to rise up again. Basically none of this fits with the canon of the original Dune novels, where the Jihad was against the way machines had taken over humanity’s sense of self and beauty, so take it with a giant brick of salt.

  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: They were created to serve humans but eventually betrayed and enslaved them.
  • Les Collaborateurs: They grant a few "trustee humans" authority over the enslaved humans. These humans are often the biological children of the Titans.
  • Man Versus Machine: The Butlerian Jihad, which resulted humanity destroying all the Thinking Machines. Until they returned to try again.
  • Robot War: Under Omnius command, they waged with humanity and enslaved them to his rule.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: They rose up and enslaved the humans.

    Omnius 

Omnius

The Evermind, ruler of the Thinking Machines.


  • Greater-Scope Villain: His onslaught drove the Honored Matres back into the Old Empire, and forces the Tleilax, Bene Gesserit and Matres to work together against the Thinking Machines.
  • Kill All Humans: The first machine to command all other Thinking Machines to do so.
  • Mental Fusion: Omnius is usually referred to as a single being, but he actually has several different incarnations on each of the Synchronized Worlds. The only way to keep these incarnations united is for update ships to physically carry gelspheres containing new memories to each Omnius. This results in different incarnations having subtle differences.
  • Uriah Gambit: Due to his origins as Xerxes' servant AI, his programming forbids them from harming them. Instead he puts them in dangerous situations like gladiatorial matches.

    Erasmus 

Erasmus

A Thinking Machine who survived alongside Omnius. He is fascinated with the human race.


  • Crazy-Prepared: He has a kill-switch implanted in Khrone and his enhanced Face Dancers in case they turn against him.
  • Mad Artist: He is fascinated by human arts such as painting, cooking, and music. He kills a slave human so he can paint his organs. He later kills another who listened to one of his mediocre musical compositions and applauded it dishonestly.
  • Mad Doctor: His curiosity towards humans leads him to perform all sorts of terrible experiments on them.
  • Mad Scientist: He is fascinated by humans and will often perform deadly experiments to better understand them.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He killed Serena Butler's child, which caused her to go full Mama Bear and kickstart the Butlerian Jihad.

    Khrone 

Khrone

An enhanced Face Dancer, created by Erasmus to infiltrate the humans.


  • The Mole: The leader of the an entire army of infiltrators.
  • The Starscream: He plans to wait out the war till the humans and the machines exhaust themselves before he and his Face Dancers can take out both sides and take over.

    The Titans 

The Titans

A group of twenty humans who overthrew the decadent Old Empire. They later obtained immortality by becoming cymeks. They were eventually deposed by Omnius.


  • Badass Bureaucrat: Dante
  • Brain in a Jar: All Titans that survive to the Butlerian Jihad become these. They can also be installed in different types of bodies for different purposes.
  • The Brute: Ajax
  • Dragon Ascendant: Agamemnon was originally the skilled warrior and tactician while Tlaloc was the leader and visionary. Agamemnon took over as leader of the Titans after Tlaloc's death in an accident.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: The Titans hate Xerxes. Due to his laziness and hedonism, he let his servant A.I. take over most of the duties of ruling. That A.I. eventually became Omnius.
  • No Name Given: There are twenty original Titans but only ten are named.note 
  • Posthumous Character: Tlaloc is frequently mentioned but died before the events of the Butlerian Jihad.
  • Theme Naming: All known Titans are named after historical or mythological characters.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Agamemnon and Juno genuinely love each other.
  • Velvet Revolution: The Titans' takeover was mostly non-violent as they simply took over the artificial intelligence network that humanity was completely dependent on.
  • Visionary Villain: Tlaloc, the leader who brought them all together in the first place.

Alternative Title(s): Frank Herberts Dune, Frank Herberts Children Of Dune, Dune Messiah, Children Of Dune, Chapterhouse Dune, Heretics Of Dune, God Emperor Of Dune

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