Character page for David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation of Dune.
For the characters in the source material and other adaptations, see here.
For an index of the actors and actresses who have their own page on this wiki, see here.
open/close all folders
House Atreides
Paul
Paul Atreides / Usul / Muad'Dib
Played By: Kyle MacLachlan Other Languages
The son of Duke Leto Atreides and his concubine Lady Jessica and the young prince of House Atreides.
- Adaptational Badass: In the books, the Kwisatz Haderach's unique gifts are mostly mental in nature, the main ones being non-limited prescience and access to both male and female genetic memory. This version of Paul, in stark contrast, also demonstrates the power to affect the world, being able not only of telekinetically breaking the floor when very angry, but also of altering Arrakis' climate to make it rain. Frank Herbert himself, who otherwise liked the film, would comment on this oddity.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: He's fundamentally heroic here, with nothing even remotely close to a Protagonist Journey to Villain unlike the book.
- Fisher King: The film has a Happy Ending with Paul taking up his rightful place as the Kwisatz Haderach, at which point Arrakis, a planet defined by its absurd dearth of water, is consumed by a torrential downpour of rain. Subtle. In the book, it took years of terraforming. note
Duke Leto
Jessica
Lady Jessica
Played By: Francesca Annis
Alia
Alia Atreides
Played By: Alicia Witt
Paul's sister, who was born among the Fremen. Her intellect matures at a rate way beyond normal for her age.
- Creepy Child: She's four years old in the film, and her mind is that of an adult Bene Gesserit woman. She mastered the Voice, and she creeps out even Reverend Mother Mohiam, who considers her an abomination.
Thufir Hawat
Gurney Halleck
Gurney Halleck
Played By: Patrick Stewart Other Languages
The War Master of House Atreides and mentor, friend, and advisor to Paul.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: He is repeatedly described in the book as "an ugly lump of man", and here he is played by the stylish, good-looking Patrick Stewart.
Duncan Idaho
Duncan Idaho
Played By: Richard Jordan
- Adaptational Wimp: Zig-zagged. 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.
House Harkonnen
Baron Vladimir
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Played By: Kenneth McMillan
The head of House Harkonnen.
- Adaptational Ugliness: The Baron here is considerably more grotesque and disgusting than he ever was in the book, complete with facial pustules and an unkempt appearance, whereas in the book he was simply fat. In a subversion, however, the novel version of the Baron was described to be so fat that he could barely walk without anti-gravity suspensors, while his film version is more rotund than truly obese and only uses the suspensors to float around.
- Dies Differently In The Adaptation: While Alia stings him with Gom Jabbar like in the book, he also gets swallowed by the Shai Hulud Paul/Muad'Dib rides, after being sucked out of the palace in the air through a hole the Fremen blew in the wall with their sonic weapons, which is not the case in the book.
- Rasputinian Death: See above.
Rabban
Glossu "Beast" Rabban
Played By: Paul L. Smith
The not very bright nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
- Adaptational Dumbass: While in the book he's a cruel, brutal man regarded by the Baron as a "muscle-minded tank-brain" and known to the Fremen as "Demon Ruler", he's also erudite and well-educated, and alone of all the Harkonnens, has the insight to realize that the Fremen might actually represent a genuine threat, which he tries to warn his uncle about (the Baron completely disregards this until Thufir Hawat tells him the same thing and presents him with evidence). Here, he's portrayed as a near-mindless thug.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: He is shown with the Baron much earlier than he appears in the novel.
- Ax-Crazy: As expected of a version of the Beast, Rabban is a madman who lives to brutalize and kill those he gets his hands on.
- Psycho Supporter: He's got a borderline fanatical devotion when it comes to following whatever orders his uncle gives him, but this is because the Baron allows him to commit the cruellest of atrocities rather than Rabban having any genuine form of love for his uncle.
Feyd-Rautha
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
Played By: Sting
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The book describes Feyd-Rautha as having a round face and sullen eyes, quite different from the very handsome Sting.
- Adaptational Badass: He is made a better hand-to-hand fighter, beating Paul up a bit for most of their duel, landing several kicks and strikes before Paul uses a hip throw to pin and stab him. In the novel, their duel was very tentative and uneventful until the end.
Bene Gesserit
Reverend Mother Mohiam
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
Played By: Siân Phillips
The head of the Bene Gesserit.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the book, Mohiam has some brief moments of humanity, as she admits she understands Jessica's decisions and would have made them herself, and even leaves their reunion shedding tears for her apprentice's fate. Nothing of this happens in the film, where she's an unsympathetic harpy from beginning to end.
