Leto II Atreides [SEP] from fictional universe
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Leto II Atreides


Leto II Atreides () is a fictional character from the "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert. Born at the end of "Dune Messiah" (1969), Leto is a central character in "Children of Dune" (1976) and is the title character of "God Emperor of Dune" (1981). The character is brought back as a ghola in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson sequels which conclude the original series, "Hunters of Dune" (2006) and "Sandworms of Dune"
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Leto II Atreides


(2007). Leto also appears as a child in the prequel "The Winds of Dune" (2009). Leto is the son of Paul Atreides and his Fremen concubine Chani, and the twin brother of Ghanima. Leto is named for his paternal grandfather Duke Leto I Atreides, who is killed in the Harkonnen invasion of the desert planet Arrakis (Dune) during the events of "Dune" (1965). Leto II is the second child of Paul to bear that name, the first having been killed as
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Organizations of the Dune universe


company, it's an open secret that Combined Mercantiles works for Venhold. Presumably, the company eventually evolves into CHOAM. The Fish Speakers are the all-female army of the God Emperor Leto II Atreides in Frank Herbert's science fiction "Dune" universe, featured primarily in "God Emperor of Dune" (1981). Named so because "the first priestesses spoke to fish in their dreams," the organization is founded by Leto after the events of "Children of Dune" (1976). In "Dune
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Heretics of Dune


Heretics of Dune is a 1984 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, the fifth in his "Dune" series of six novels. It was ranked as the #13 hardcover fiction best seller of 1984 by "The New York Times". Fifteen hundred years have passed since the 3,500-year reign of the God Emperor Leto II Atreides ended with his assassination; humanity is firmly on the Golden Path, Leto's plan to save humanity from destruction. By crushing the aspirations of humans for over three thousand years, Leto caused the Scattering
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Leto II Atreides


long millennia. For his entire reign, Leto has had a ghola of Duncan in charge of his Fish Speaker army. The Duncans represent the old Atreides loyalty, along with everything vital in humanity, so something in the Duncans always rebels against the holy blasphemy Leto has created; many Duncans die trying to kill Leto. When Siona finally arrives, she finds in Duncan a justification for revolt. Meanwhile, the rest of the universe is scheming to kill Leto as well. The Bene Tleilax try many ham-fisted schemes;
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List of Dune Houses


The following are the family Houses featured in the fictional "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert. The assembly of all the nobles in the Imperium, called the Landsraad, consists of many additional Houses Great or Minor which are never mentioned in the novels. House Atreides is one of the Great Houses of the feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium; its members play a role in every novel in the series, starting with 1965's "Dune". Leto II Atreides notes in "God Emperor of Dune" (1981
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Organizations of the Dune universe


new Emperor, Paul's son Leto II Atreides. The text of "God Emperor of Dune" notes that, during the 3,500-year reign of Leto II after the events of "Children of Dune", one of Leto II's many Duncan Idaho gholas had led the remnants of the Sardaukar in an unsuccessful revolt. Leto II finally abolishes the Sardaukar corps, replacing them with the all-female Fish Speakers. Leto believes that male-dominated military organizations are essentially predatory and will turn on the civilian population in the absence of
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Hunters of Dune


Masters, Face Dancers, Paul Atreides, Duke Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Chani, Stilgar, Leto Atreides II, Gurney Halleck, Thufir Hawat, and even legendary figures dating back to the Butlerian Jihad, including Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen. The Bene Gesserit have a vicious debate over whether to create gholas of any of these historical figures. Sheeana believes they may prove useful, while others fear the return of such 'mistakes' as Leto II. Despite the controversy, gholas are created, a few at a time
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Princess Irulan


to enhance understanding of Herbert's complex fictional universe and themes. Irulan herself appears in person only near the end of the novel. Prior to "Dune", Duke Leto Atreides' power and influence had grown in the Landsraad, making him a threat to Shaddam. Irulan writes: Subsequently in "Dune", Shaddam orchestrates a plot to destroy the Duke Leto, with the eager aid of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat Piter De Vries; House Harkonnen and House Atreides have been bitter enemies for millennia, since the
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Leto II Atreides


to explode upon the universe, scattering itself beyond the reach of any single tyrant. Leto seeks a solution in which he might die without destroying his people; if a god commits suicide, his worshippers would commit suicide with him. The only option is revolution, so Leto breeds for the person who will overthrow him: Siona Atreides, the daughter of his majordomo, Moneo. Siona is the second human to carry a gene that makes her invisible to prescience and thus uncontainable by it, the first being the Count Hasimir Fenring
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Leto II Atreides


pre-born have no such defense. Like Leto and Ghanima, Alia had been pre-born, and she succumbs to the pressure under an intense dose of spice. Among her ancestors is the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, still hungry for revenge against his enemies, the Atreides. Alia is possessed by him, and unconsciously turns against the Atreides empire, plotting to kill Leto and Ghanima and to tear down the Imperium in a bloody civil war. Independently, Leto and Ghanima both solve the problem of the pre-born.
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Organizations of the Dune universe


after centuries as the capital of the Corrino Padishah Empire, Salusa had been devastated by atomics. The Imperial throne had been relocated to the planet Kaitain, where it remains for millennia. The Rakian Priesthood is a priestly body that worships the Divided God, Leto II Atreides. They rule Rakis during the time the Lost Ones are returning from the Scattering, approximately 1500 years after Leto II's death. They are presumably descendants of the Fish Speakers priestesses. The Rakian Priesthood maintain that both Muad'Dib and his son Leto II were hallowed
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God Emperor of Dune


God Emperor of Dune is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert published in 1981, the fourth in his "Dune" series of six novels. It was ranked as the number 11 hardcover fiction best seller of 1981 by "Publishers Weekly". Leto II Atreides, the God Emperor, has ruled the universe as a tyrant for 3,500 years after becoming a hybrid of human and giant sandworm in "Children of Dune". The death of all other sandworms, and his control of the remaining supply of the all-important
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Leto II Atreides


desert preserve set aside for Leto alone. This remnant is called the Sareer and is about the size of California. The old institutions, the Bene Gesserit, the Bene Tleilax, the Spacing Guild, the houses Major and Minor, the Landsraad, the technocrats of Ix, and CHOAM, have all faded from power in the face of Leto's hydraulic despotism: since he has absolute control of the spice on which the whole universe depends, he has the universe in the palm of his hand, and ruthlessly enforces his simplistic
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List of Dune secondary characters


second son Leto II. In the "Prelude to Dune" prequel trilogy, young Leto is the son and heir to Duke Paulus Atreides of Caladan and his wife, the former Helena Richese. Having ruled Caladan for 26 generations, the Atreides are distantly related to the Imperial House Corrino through Helena's mother, and has feuded with House Harkonnen since the time of Vorian Atreides, founder of the family line. Paulus arranges for Leto to spend a portion of his adolescence on the industrial planet Ix in the care of Earl Dominic
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Golden Path (Dune)


The Golden Path is a term in Frank Herbert's fictional "Dune" universe referring to Leto II Atreides's strategy to prevent humanity's ultimate destruction. The Golden Path is the main driving force in the Frank Herbert-written novels "Children of Dune" (1976), "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), "Heretics of Dune" (1984), and "" (1985), and it is brought to a conclusion in the novels "Hunters of Dune" (2006) and "Sandworms
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Leto II Atreides


fate of the Golden Path, or the worms' status on Synchrony, is left open. Leto is portrayed by James McAvoy in the 2003 miniseries "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune". Laura Fries of "Variety" wrote, "the mini picks up a great deal of charisma when McAvoy and [Jessica] Brooks [as Ghanima] come aboard as the next generation of the house of Atreides." The characters Leto and Ghanima were aged from ten-year-olds to teens for the miniseries, which Emily
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Chani


Chani is a fictional character featured in Frank Herbert's novels "Dune" (1965) and "Dune Messiah" (1969). Known mainly as the Fremen wife and legal concubine of protagonist Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, Chani is the daughter of Imperial Planetologist Liet-Kynes and his Fremen wife Faroula, and later the mother of the twins Ghanima and Leto II Atreides. The character is resurrected as a ghola and appears in "Hunters of Dune" (2006) and "Sandworms of Dune" (2007),
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Ghanima Atreides


She is the daughter of Paul Atreides and his Fremen concubine Chani, and the twin sister to Leto II Atreides. Like her aunt Alia and her brother Leto, Ghanima is pre-born; Chani had consumed so much melange during her pregnancy that Leto and Ghanima had awakened to full, adult consciousness before birth, receiving the genetic memories of both their male and female ancestors. In the Bene Gesserit ritual known as the spice agony, an acolyte ingests an "illuminating poison" called the Water of Life which, if the
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Leto II Atreides


start of the novel, Leto is not prescient to the degree that his father Paul had been, but he senses the test his father had faced — to embrace a prescient vision of the universe is to set the universe on that path, a terrible responsibility that comes with terrible power. At the end of "Dune Messiah", Paul had forsaken that responsibility by walking into the desert — his time as the Fremen messiah had shown him that he was not strong enough to be messiah/tyrant to the universe. Leto
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Leto II Atreides


.) Although the Atreides (Moneo, Siona) that surround him needed to be shown (by activating their genetically-inherited prescient powers) the absolute horrors that could only be avoided by Leto's apparent tyranny in order for them to support the Golden Path, Hwi is able to understand without having seen any proof the altruism in Leto's actions and the ultimate sacrifice that he had to make... and is able to love him. It is that moment that they share that brings forth the deepest emotions in Leto's current
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Gurney Halleck


to him as "Gurney the valorous" in "Dune", and Duke Leto comments that Paul has named Gurney well. Halleck is Paul Atreides' weapons teacher, as well as a skilled musician. He is a chief officer of Duke Leto Atreides, and serves alongside Duncan Idaho as a Swordmaster of the Atreides Household. According to "Dune", Gurney was trained by "the best fighters in the universe", and alongside Idaho and Thufir Hawat gave Duke Leto a war council almost unparalleled in the Imperium. He
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List of Dune secondary characters


The following is a list of secondary fictional characters from the "Dune" franchise created by Frank Herbert. Leto I Atreides () is the Duke of House Atreides, and father to Paul Atreides. He is introduced in Frank Herbert's 1965 novel "Dune", and is later the main character in the "Prelude to Dune" prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. According to Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated
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Leto II Atreides


life... emotions thought forgotten: fear, surprise, admiration, understanding and being understood and ultimately that moment of true happiness that he had lost hope for. After Leto's death, driven by the Famine Times and the pent up desires of thousands of years of Leto's enforced peace, which bred stagnation and isolation, humanity explodes out into the universe in waves of migration known as The Scattering (as predicted and forced by Leto's Golden Path). Humanity's exponential expansion in the Scattering spreads them beyond the ability of
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Leto II Atreides


any single force to control or threaten their destiny. Thus Leto's Golden Path gave humanity both immunity to domination by prescient rulers via Siona's genetic trait, and immunity to domination by any single ruler or disaster by spreading them far and wide into unknown reaches of the universe. The sandworms which once again travel Dune after Leto's death carry, in his words, "a pearl of his awareness locked forever in an endless dream." They (and Leto) are worshipped as the Divided God, and their existence keeps
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Paul Atreides


offspring Leto II and Ghanima. Paul was portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation, and by Alec Newman in the 2000 "Dune" miniseries and its 2003 sequel. The character will be played by Timothée Chalamet in the upcoming Denis Villeneuve film "Dune". The son of Duke Leto Atreides and the Lady Jessica, Paul is the heir of House Atreides, an aristocratic family that rules the planet Caladan. Jessica is a Bene Gesserit and an important key in the Bene Gesserit breeding program. According to
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Paul Atreides


crowd outside Alia's Temple; his words and the actions of Leto cause a riot. Reacting to his blasphemy, Alia's priests rush forward and stab Paul to death, as Alia and the remaining Atreides watch from above. Over 3,500 years later in "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), Leto still rules the universe as the Tyrant. The ego-personas of Paul and Leto's other ancestors "live" within his Other Memory. At the end of Frank Herbert's sixth and last book in the "
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Leto II Atreides


he is able to see through the eyes of the infant Leto, allowing him to aim and throw a crysknife that kills Scytale. In "Children of Dune", Leto and Ghanima are nine years old. Because of the melange ingested by their mother, which causes unusual effects for the Atreides bloodline, the twins are "pre-born", meaning that as fetuses they had been awakened to consciousness and to their genetic memories; they had been born as fully matured human beings in the bodies of infants. At the
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House Atreides


who eventually becomes Mother Superior of the Sisterhood during their ongoing struggle with the fierce Honored Matres. 1985's "" finds the Tleilaxu Master Scytale a prisoner of the Bene Gesserit; one of his secret bargaining chips is a nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia. These cells include those of Paul Atreides, Duke Leto Atreides and Leto II, Lady Jessica, Chani and other legendary figures. The prequel trilogy "Prelude to Dune" (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson chronicles the
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Dune (franchise)


) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson follows events involving the Atreides before, between, and after "Dune", "Dune Messiah", and "Children of Dune". At the time of "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), Paul's son, the God Emperor Leto II Atreides, has ruled the Empire for 3,500 years from the verdant face of a transformed Arrakis; melange production has ceased. Leto has forced the sandworms into extinction, except for the larval sandtrout with which he had forged a
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Leto II Atreides


God Emperor of Dune", Leto is now almost fully transformed into a sandworm. He is almost invulnerable to physical damage; only his face is susceptible to injury, and his single greatest weakness that he shares with the sandworms, an intense vulnerability to water, is a secret. "Leto's peace" has kept the universe quiet for that time, and the entirety of human society has become an audience for him. He is their emperor; he is their god. His all-female army of Fish Speakers keeps
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House Atreides


on the universe and the jihad it has unleashed. Paul lets these plots play out and manages to keep his Empire intact, but not without a price; he is blinded by the explosion of a stone burner, and Chani dies giving birth to his only heirs, the twins Leto II and Ghanima. Paul disappears into the desert, in accordance with Fremen custom for the blind, leaving Alia as Imperial Regent and guardian of his son and daughter. In "Children of Dune" (1976), Leto II and Ghanima
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Golden Path (Dune)


would arise from his eventual death and release of sandtrout back into the environment of Arrakis. During his reign, Leto II took control of the Bene Gesserit breeding plan. Through manipulation of certain mutations, he bred into the Atreides a "no-gene", which gave them invisibility to prescience. This was meant to help prevent any prescient predator from finding and wiping out the human species. As demonstrated in one of Duncan Idaho's encounters with Moneo, the father of Siona, Leto also bred into the Atreides enhanced speed
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Leto II Atreides


. Leto finds Jacurutu, a sietch that has been forbidden to anyone by Fremen law. There he faces the test his father had refused to take, and embraces prescience, its visions, its attendant power, and the terrible price it will extract — to follow his vision, Leto will become a symbiote with the sandworm, setting the universe on the Golden Path, a future in which humanity's survival is assured. After consuming massive amounts of spice, he allows many sandtrout to cover his body, the concentration of spice
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Caladan


1965), Duke Leto Atreides leaves Caladan for the desert planet Arrakis to assume temporary control over the melange-mining operations there. Leto's son Paul Atreides ultimately rises to lead the entire native Fremen population of Arrakis, using his subsequent control of the planet and its supply of the valuable spice melange to depose the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe, Shaddam IV. In 1969's "Dune Messiah", Paul rules the universe from Arrakis, and it is noted that his mother, Jessica, has been granted control of
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Organizations of the Dune universe


" (1965), Leto II's father Paul Atreides overthrows Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV when Paul's fierce Fremen army manages to defeat Shaddam's previously-unstoppable Sardaukar forces. Though the religiously loyal Fremen and the remnants of the Sardaukar are later at Leto's disposal, Leto (possessing the life experiences of his ancestors over millennia through Other Memory) has come to believe that male-dominated military organizations are essentially predatory and will turn on the civilian population in the absence of an external enemy. Ruling for 3,500 years as a
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Leto II Atreides


humanity locked on Leto's Golden Path. In "Heretics of Dune", the Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit Taraza (and her immediate successor, Odrade) manage to save one sandworm from Rakis before it is destroyed by the Honored Matres. More than 1500 years after his death, Leto II is brought back as a ghola on board the no-ship "Ithaca" in Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's continuation of the original series, "Hunters of Dune" (2006). Even at a very young
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Leto II Atreides


into betraying themselves). Malky's purpose is to get Leto to turn on his holy creation, but he fails because what the Ixians don't realize is that Leto, more than anyone, knows the blasphemy he has created. At the same time as Leto is breeding a psi-invisible human, Ix invents another solution: no-chambers. A no-chamber is an electro-mechanical construct that hides its contents from prescient vision. Inside the first no-chamber, the Ixians grow their next attempt: Malky
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Inama Nushif


"Inama Nushif" is a track from the soundtrack to the 2003 Sci Fi Channel mini-series "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune". It is sung entirely in the fictional Fremen language by Azam Ali. The lyrics and score were both written by Brian Tyler, who composed the soundtrack for the mini-series. The track can be heard during the "Cleansing of the House" montage, in which Leto II and Ghanima are born and various loose ends are tied up, removing possible threats to House Atreides and
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Wensicia


to its former glory and wrest control of the Empire for Farad'n. She attempts to assassinate Leto II and Ghanima Atreides, the heirs to deceased Emperor Paul Atreides, by sending mechanically controlled Laza tigers to hunt them in the desert. Leto's growing prescience allows him to thwart the attack on himself and his twin sister; he pretends to be dead to escape the increasingly murderous ambitions of his father's sister Alia. Farad'n — newly trained in the Bene Gesserit ways by Paul and Alia's mother Lady Jessica — accepts an arrangement
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List of Dune Bene Gesserit


Supreme Bashar Miles Teg who had taught him the Bene Gesserit ways in his youth, prior to "Heretics of Dune" (1984). Lady Jessica is the concubine of Duke Leto Atreides and mother of Paul Atreides in "Dune" (1965). She returns to Arrakis in "Children of Dune" (1976), fearing that all is not well with her daughter Alia and the deceased Paul's twin children, Leto II and Ghanima. Lucilla is an attractive young Reverend Mother and Imprinter sent to help train the
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Dune (1984 film)


the Fremen, but before an alliance can be established, the Harkonnens launch their attack. The Harkonnens' traitor within House Atreides, Dr. Wellington Yueh, Leto's personal physician, disables critical shields and destroys sonic weapons, leaving House Atreides nearly defenseless. In the attack, Idaho is killed, Leto is captured, and nearly all of House Atreides is wiped out. While captured, Leto dies in a failed attempt to assassinate the Baron Harkonnen using a poison gas capsule planted in his tooth by Dr. Yueh. Leto's concubine
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Leto II Atreides


the technocrats of Ix are smarter. They craft a human to seduce Leto. First they create Malky, a being of perfect evil, a Devil to Leto's God. Malky is a charming Lucifer, and as ambassador to Leto's court he plumbs the depths of Leto's piety. In "Dune Messiah", the Face Dancer Scytale reveals to a Reverend Mother that the Bene Tleilax created their own Kwisatz Haderachs, and discovered that Kwisatz Haderachs will die before becoming their opposites (and so can be killed by manipulating them
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Leto II Atreides


the God Emperor's coming and his schemes to breed them, are primed for rebellion, not quiet acceptance. Siona uses her power over Nayla, Leto's pet Fish Speaker, to set in motion his demise. At the point of the Sareer's guardian wall that opens to allow for the passage of the Idaho River, Nayla, caught in her faith in Leto, opens fire on the bridge with a lasgun, destroying it as Leto and Hwi are crossing, dropping them into the Idaho River. The water destroys Leto
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Leto II Atreides


's sandworm body, decomposing it into the sandtrout that will lock up the water in their bodies, recreating the conditions for the sandworms to re-appear, each with a pearl of Leto's consciousness and adaptability inside it. Leto dies, his last vision that of the Golden Path, shining brightly in humanity's future. His total reign spanned 3509 years. Before arrival to Tuono, Hwi asks Leto to "share their souls", since they cannot interact physically after Leto's loss of humanity. Her deep empathy
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Leto II Atreides


in his blood fooling the creatures: This layer gives Leto tremendous strength and speed, acting as a living powered exoskeleton and also protection from mature sandworms, who mistake his sandtrout-covered body for a lethal mass of water. He calls it a "living, self-repairing stillsuit of a sandtrout membrane," and soon notes that he is "no longer human." Leto returns to wrest the Imperium from Alia and take his rightful place as Emperor. A little more than 3,500 years have passed, and in "
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List of Dune planets


valleys) on Saturn's moon Titan was named Ecaz Labyrinthus after Herbert's fictional planet. Gamont is the "third planet of Niushe; noted for its hedonistic culture and exotic sexual practices." Gansireed is a planet with a village named London, pondered upon by Leto II Atreides in "Children of Dune". In "Dune Messiah" (quoting the "Book of Diatribes", of the "Hayt Chronicle"), it is stated that "A roof beam cannot be raised in the lowest hovel of far
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Organizations of the Dune universe


medical institution which will assure "that no threat of machine, war, or plague can ever harm us again." The Swordmasters of Ginaz are a school of martial artists in Frank Herbert's science fiction "Dune" universe. They are mentioned briefly in 1965's "Dune" and its 1969 sequel "Dune Messiah". "Terminology of the Imperium" in the Appendix of "Dune" notes that House Ginaz are "one-time allies of Duke Leto Atreides" and are "defeated in the War of Assassins
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Leto II Atreides


Leto constructs his own personality out of an executive committee of his ancestors; with all (the important ones) possessing him, none can possess him individually. Following an assassination attempt by House Corrino, Leto disappears into the desert leaving Ghanima behind. As part of Leto's plan, Ghanima hypnotizes herself to believe that Leto had been killed. The intense mental discipline needed for this self-deception builds a safe haven in Ghanima's mind for her own personality to safely develop, with the spirit of Chani acting as a guardian
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Golden Path (Dune)


of Dune" (2007) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, who sought to complete the series following the elder Herbert's death. Leto named the necessities shown in his vision the ""Secher Nbiw"", which is "Golden Path" or "Golden Counsel" in an ancient language (ancient Egyptian) known only by Leto II and his twin sister, Ghanima. Through prescience, Paul Atreides and his son Leto II foresaw several threats to the human species. They saw the Imperium's dependency on melange
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Organizations of the Dune universe


to join the forces of the Baron Harkonnen in their attack on the stronghold of Duke Leto Atreides on the desert planet Arrakis. The Atreides forces are decimated and the Duke killed, but Leto's concubine, Lady Jessica, and son, Paul, escape and find refuge with the native Fremen of Arrakis, a fierce people with secretly large numbers and fighting skills rivaling those of the Sardaukar. The Fremen prove capable of holding their own against the Sardaukar and are even able to defeat and capture the "undefeatable" Emperor's soldiers
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Leto II Atreides


concluding novel "Sandworms of Dune" (2007), Leto (like Sheeana) can control the worms. After his memories are returned, he leads the seven sandworms being transported on the "Ithaca" to wreak havoc in Synchrony, homeworld of the thinking machines. At the conclusion of the battle, all seven worms fuse together into one massive worm; Leto steps inside, and they descend below the planet's surface. While it is stated that Leto had foreseen the conflict with Omnius and the thinking machines, the ultimate
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Dune: House Atreides


a Harkonnen spy of having drugged the bull. Leto knows of course that it is his own mother, Helena, who was behind the assassination, and sends her to the monastery of "The Sisters In Isolation" on the Eastern Continent to avoid gossip. Leto becomes the new Duke Atreides. On the other side of the galaxy, the Padishah Emperor Elrood IX has died. Shaddam has finally reached the Golden Lion Throne and is soon to be crowned Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV of the Known Universe. He plans a grand
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Leto II Atreides


's niece, Hwi Noree, who shall replace him as Ix's ambassador. Hwi is the opposite of Malky, a creature of pure goodness. Where Malky failed, Hwi succeeds. Leto falls in love with her, and plans to marry her. He is not alone in loving her, however, for his current Duncan has also fallen to her charms. By this chain of events, Leto weakens his godhood enough to allow Siona's revolt the possibility of success. Leto planned to wed Hwi in what remains of
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Golden Path (Dune)


, physical power, sharpness of mind, spice susceptibility and other "wild" talents. Through the Atreides and the Fish Speakers, Leto planned to diffuse these genetic advantages throughout the entirety of the human race. A second aspect of Leto's plan was the blending of Atreides and Bene Gesserit. While the Atreides clan was too small and too feudally oriented to rule humanity, the Bene Gesserit lacked a desire to get their hands dirty or the passion to rule (which the Atreides had). The God Emperor included such nobility
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House Atreides


based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological House Atreus. At the time of the original novel "Dune" (1965), House Atreides is led by the Duke Leto Atreides. His concubine is the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica; she had been instructed by her order to bear only female children as part of their breeding program, but out of love for Leto, she bore him a son: Paul Atreides. This seemingly innocuous choice would drastically change the course of humanity forever. A millennia-long feud exists
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Vladimir Harkonnen


produced his secret daughter. As "Dune" begins, a longstanding feud exists between the Harkonnens of Giedi Prime and the Atreides of Caladan. The Baron's intent to exterminate the Atreides line seems close to fruition as Duke Leto Atreides is lured to the desert planet Arrakis on the pretense of taking over the valuable melange operation there. The Baron has an agent in the Atreides household: Leto's own physician, the trusted Suk doctor Wellington Yueh. Though Suk Imperial Conditioning supposedly makes the subject incapable of inflicting harm, the Baron
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Ix (Dune)


," a historian imprisoned and condemned to death for his critical analyses of Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides and his histories, as presented by Paul's followers. This "interview" — and a subsequent excerpt from Bronso's "Analysis of History: Muad'dib" — serves to summarize the plot of "Dune" and establish the political and religious conflicts in play as the novel begins. In 1981's "God Emperor of Dune", Leto II Atreides can see through his prescience that his Golden Path has prevented the Ixians from
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Bene Tleilax


as part of an assassination attempt on Paul's seemingly immortal son, Leto II Atreides. The Tleilaxu have been providing Leto with Duncan Idaho gholas for centuries, and their plot fails in part due to the ingenuity of the latest Duncan. Leto, however, later allows himself to be assassinated in a scheme executed by Siona and an enlightened Duncan. Another 1,500 years pass, and in "Heretics of Dune" (1984) the core of the Tleilaxu is revealed: they are Zensunni, a distant offshoot of Buddhism and Sunni
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Duncan Idaho


Leto appoints him as the head of his otherwise all-female military, the Fish Speakers. Leto also reveals that he has repeatedly used his Duncan gholas in his breeding program to genetically improve the Atreides line. The current Duncan is intended to mate with Siona Atreides, the end product of Leto's breeding program: she is invisible to prescient sight. Duncan is extremely reluctant and protests, saying that he is not Leto's stud. He does catch the eye of Hwi Noree, the Ixian Ambassador sent to Arrakis with the
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Organizations of the Dune universe


notes that "From the days of the Butlerian Jihad when 'thinking machines' had been wiped from most of the universe, computers had inspired distrust." Herbert refers to thinking machines and the Jihad several times in his later works in the "Dune" series, but does not give much detail on how he imagined either. In "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), Leto II Atreides indicates that the Jihad had been a semi-religious social upheaval initiated by humans who felt repulsed by how guided and controlled
13698376
Leto II Atreides


an infant by the Emperor's Sardaukar in "Dune". Leto is portrayed by James McAvoy in the 2003 miniseries "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune". Chani dies giving birth to Leto and his twin sister Ghanima near the end of "Dune Messiah". Blinded by the blast of a nuclear weapon called a stone burner, Paul is at a disadvantage when the Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale holds a knife over the newborns and threatens their death if Paul does not surrender his Empire to the Tleilaxu. Paul suddenly finds that
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Leto II Atreides


order and act as priestesses. Leto believes that a female army is a nurturing disciplinarian, while a male army is essentially predatory, always turns against its civilian support base in the absence of an enemy, and has "a strong tendency toward homosexual activities". Desolate Dune is gone; Arrakis is now a verdant planet with a great river named after Duncan Idaho. Except for Leto, the sandworms are extinct, and all that is left of the "ocean without water", "bahr bela ma", is a
17728355
House Corrino


so, to continue the line, he reaches an agreement with Farad'n: Leto will marry Ghanima in a political arrangement, but Farad'n (who will never rule or marry Ghanima) will father all future heirs apparent to the throne. Following Leto II's death after 3,500 years of rule at the end of "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), Siona Atreides, a descendant of Farad'n and Ghanima and the culmination of Leto's own breeding program, assumes stewardship of his empire with Duncan Idaho. However, the Empire
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Leto II Atreides


, from the novel "Dune". Siona is different from Fenring in that she can pass on this gene to her descendants, whereas Fenring was a genetic eunuch. Since Siona cannot be seen in a vision, she cannot be controlled by a vision, nor can her descendants. Thus the tyranny of prescience will end with Siona — humanity can never again be bound by a powerful prescient like Muad'dib or the God Emperor himself. Siona's partner in revolution is Duncan Idaho, the constant companion of Leto throughout the
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Bene Gesserit


destroyed. Long were we warned against such a one and how to prevent such a birth, but one of our own has betrayed us." In "Children of Dune", an adult Alia eventually succumbs to the ancestral ego of her grandfather, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who wants nothing more than the destruction of the Atreides, and is given another opportunity, from the inside, to realize it. Paul Atreides and Chani's twins, Leto II and Ghanima, are also pre-born, but before they become
13127110
Gaius Helen Mohiam


Gaius Helen Mohiam is a fictional character in the "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert. She is a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, and initially appears in the 1965 novel "Dune" and its 1969 sequel, "Dune Messiah". Mohiam also has a major role in the "Prelude to Dune" prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In "Dune", Mohiam is the Imperial Truthsayer, and the mentor of Lady Jessica, the Bene Gesserit concubine of Duke Leto Atreides. Mohiam
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Children of Dune


as Emperor of the Known Universe, with Ghanima at his side. Leto symbolically marries her, but allows her to take Farad'n (renamed Harq al-Ada, "Breaking of Habit", and appointed Royal Scribe) as her consort so the Atreides line can continue. Initially selling over 75,000 copies, "Children of Dune" became the first hardcover best-seller ever in the science fiction field. The novel was critically well-received for its gripping plot, action, and atmosphere, and was nominated for the Hugo
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Vladimir Harkonnen


's twisted Mentat Piter De Vries notes: The Baron has taken Yueh's wife Wanna prisoner, threatening her with interminable torture unless Yueh complies with his demands. Harkonnen also distracts Leto's Mentat Thufir Hawat from discovering Yueh by guiding Hawat toward another suspect: Leto's Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica, of whom Hawat is already distrustful. The Atreides are soon attacked by Harkonnen forces (secretly supplemented by the seemingly unstoppable Imperial Sardaukar) as Yueh disables the protective shields around the Atreides palace on Arrakis. As instructed, Yueh takes Leto
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Leto II Atreides


an old Fremen village near the former Sietch Tabr, but changes his mind at the last instant to use the Museum Fremen's Tuono Village, the place where Moneo had sent Siona and Duncan in an attempt to keep the peace and keep Duncan alive, safe from the God Emperor's wrath. However, that is not to be. The Royal Peregrination, the journey on foot for any of Leto's trips, to Tuono has all the appearance of a normal trip. However, Siona and Duncan, both well aware of
17728364
Paul of Dune


, which alternate between Paul Atreides's youth before the events portrayed in "Dune", and the early period of his Fremen jihad between "Dune" and "Dune Messiah". Twelve-year-old Paul resides on the planet Caladan with his parents, Duke Leto Atreides and his Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica. House Ecaz of Ecaz and House Moritani of Grumman are embroiled in a generations-long feud, and an Atreides-Ecazi alliance is set to be formalized by Leto's marriage to the Archduke Armand Ecaz's
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Organizations of the Dune universe


(the Bene Gesserit prefer clandestine manipulation to overt action and therefore remain a "silent" fourth power in the Empire until the fall of Leto II Atreides). The Emperor's power derives from Imperial control of the seemingly invincible military forces of the Sardaukar, and of the planet Arrakis and its priceless melange, a source of endless wealth. The Landsraad represents the unification of all the other ruling families, known as Houses, to create a check against the individual power of the Emperor, a theoretically comparable force. Both the
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Arrakis


hawk, kangaroo mouse ... many to be found now nowhere else in the universe except here on Arrakis." The most notable life forms on the planet are the giant sandworms and their immature forms of sandtrout and sandplankton. Sandtrout encyst any water deposits; predator fish are placed in the qanats and other water storage areas to protect them from the sandtrout. It is suggested the sandworms are an introduced species that caused the desertification of Arrakis; In "Children of Dune" (1976), Leto II Atreides explains to his twin
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House Atreides


Gesserit, and Arrakis is its only known source. But Leto and his family are caught in a plot to destroy them, orchestrated by the Baron Harkonnen and Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV himself, who is threatened by Leto's rising power and influence. An attack on the Atreides, assisted by a Harkonnen traitor in their midst and the Imperial Sardaukar soldier-fanatics, results in Leto's death. Paul and Jessica flee into the desert and are presumed dead; they find a place with the native Fremen, who believe Paul is
15452418
House Atreides


making it impossible for any one force to track down every human in the universe or to control them all through prescience (which forces the future to happen according to the vision of the prescient). In "Heretics of Dune" (1984), one descendant of Siona Atreides is Miles Teg, renowned commander of the military forces of the Bene Gesserit, who bears a remarkable resemblance to his ancestor, Duke Leto I. Teg's secret daughter is Darwi Odrade (a variant on "Atreides"), a Bene Gesserit sister
15452429
Leto II Atreides


order. Leto has taken over the Bene Gesserit's breeding program for himself, the same program that produced his father, the Kwisatz Haderach. His Golden Path is nearly assured now, and his long rule has begun to bore him; the trap of prescience is an existence without surprises. To ensure that humanity will survive, Leto has spent millennia enforcing quiescence on humanity: people rarely travel, rarely fight in wars, rarely do anything but live and worship him. This repression has created in humanity a deep and urgent need
17728357
Leto II Atreides


age, this Leto shows signs that he may be more than he seems. During an assassination attempt, he appears to transform into a small sandworm and defends himself before reverting to an innocent one-year-old. Genetically, he is noted to be very unusual; as he grows older, he displays an uncanny intelligence, but is very withdrawn. The current Duncan ghola notes that it had been cruel to bring Leto back without his twin sister, who had been so much of the original's life. In the
17728372
Chani


leader among the Fremen, and is called Muad'Dib. Already a talented warrior before meeting Paul, Chani becomes deadly after training by Paul and Jessica in the Bene Gesserit martial arts called the "weirding way" by the Fremen. Chani later manages to bring Paul out of the deep spice trance he falls into after using spice essence to enhance his powers. Paul and Chani's first child, Leto II (not to be confused with their later son, Leto II Atreides), is killed as an infant in a Corrino raid
14675171
Duncan Idaho


's ultimate survival — called the Golden Path — to come to fruition. However, the Idaho gholas, with their memories restored, struggle to deal with what the Atreides have become. Where before, the hallmark of Atreides rule was justice, Leto's reign has been one of godhood and oppression. Idaho's old-fashioned conscience rebels, leading the Idaho ghola to attempt to kill Leto (who as a sandworm is invulnerable to all but water and extreme violence). Leto notes that only nineteen of "his" Duncans
467786
House Harkonnen


intent to exterminate the Atreides line seems close to fruition as Duke Leto Atreides is lured to the desert planet Arrakis on the pretense of taking over the valuable melange operation there. Harkonnen has an agent in the Atreides household and the secret assistance of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV; the Baron manages to kill Leto, and the Duke's concubine Lady Jessica and son Paul are left to die in the open desert. But this Harkonnen treachery sets in motion Paul's rise to power among Arrakis' native Fremen, and positions him as
15452462
Margot Fenring


(1984) by Willis E. McNelly invents an extensive, alternate biography for Margot. In "Dune", Count Fenring had been the Governor of Arrakis during the handover period between House Harkonnen and House Atreides. Margot leaves behind a note for her Bene Gesserit sister Lady Jessica, concubine to Duke Leto Atreides, in the palace on Arrakis: Jessica's own training alerts her to the true nature of Margot's message: Unfortunately, Margot's warning is not enough to stop the Harkonnen plot against the Atreides. Duke Leto is
16646710
Leto II Atreides


and ability to see beyond the abyss that separates Leto from all human beings—an abyss that no other human would ever dare to cross—and to love him brings a tear in each of his eyes. Earlier, it was remarked that the God Emperor was unable to shed tears, partly because of the disrupting effect water had on his worm body and partly because of the Fremen-inherited inhibition of wasting body water. (The discussion in which that matter had been brought up sparked a deep interest and concern for Hwi
17728367
List of Dune secondary characters


's third daughter Princess Wensicia, and his deceased father Dalak is noted to be related to Count Hasimir Fenring, a close friend of Shaddam's since childhood. Shaddam and most of his family are exiled to Salusa Secundus after he is deposed by Paul Atreides in "Dune" (1965). As the novel begins, Shaddam is dead and Wensicia plots from exile to restore House Corrino to its former glory and wrest control of the Empire for Farad'n. She attempts to assassinate twins Leto II and Ghanima Atreides, Paul's heirs
14861768
Ghanima Atreides


their wedding night. Upon Leto's ascension to the Lion Throne, he weds Ghanima in a purely symbolic marriage. Ghanima agrees to take Farad'n as her mate, and Leto appoints Farad'n to the post of Royal Scribe. As Leto's joining with the sandworm effectively renders him sterile, Ghanima and Farad'n would thus ensure the continuation of the Atreides line. In "God Emperor of Dune", the Duncan Idaho ghola notes that "the Tleilaxu history said Ghanima had died after a relatively normal life." In the original novel
3920931
Bene Gesserit


daughter (planned to be born of the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica and the Duke Leto Atreides) and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, nephew of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (himself secretly the natural father of the Lady Jessica). This plan is disrupted when Jessica chooses to conceive an Atreides son rather than the daughter she had been ordered to produce. This son, Paul Atreides, later proves to be the Kwisatz Haderach, born a generation early. Political intrigue results in Paul's rise to power as Emperor of the Known Universe,
13127061
Shaddam IV


spice. Though outwardly this seems like an opportunity for great wealth and power for House Atreides, Leto recognizes it as a trap; Shaddam has become threatened by Leto's rising popularity, and somehow intends to diminish or destroy him. Avoiding an overt attack, Shaddam instead uses the centuries-old feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen to disguise his assault, enlisting the brilliant and power-hungry Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in his plan to trap and eliminate the Atreides. Shaddam's own power is secured by his fierce and seemingly unstoppable
467896
Leto II Atreides


believes that he must face the same test. At the same time, the Imperium created by Paul is ruled by his sister Alia Atreides as regent. The horror of the pre-born — the reason the Bene Gesserit call them "abominations" — is that they are easily possessed by the ego-memories of their ancestors. When Bene Gesserit awaken to their "other memories" in the ritual of the spice agony, they are adults with fully formed personalities, and can withstand the inner assault of their forebears; the
17728349
List of Dune secondary characters


indefinitely through the use of gholas; his current body is slowly dying, and he does not have another to replace it. Needing to grow a new ghola of himself, his only bargaining tool is the secret nullentropy capsule. It is noted that other cells in Scytale's possession include those of Duke Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Leto II and other legendary figures dating back to Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen from the Butlerian Jihad. The Bene Gesserit debate whether to create gholas of any of these historical figures, and despite the
14861806
House Harkonnen


a threat to the Imperial interests there. The Baron later dies at the hand of Paul's sister Alia, and Feyd is killed shortly thereafter by Paul himself. House Harkonnen is effectively crippled; Paul's son Leto II Atreides ultimately rules the Known Universe for 3,500 years as the "God Emperor", or the "Tyrant". An ancient, Harkonnen-built no-globe is discovered in "Heretics of Dune" (1984) on Gammu, the planet formerly called Giedi Prime, and it is noted that "
15452463
Paul Atreides


in Harkonnen uniforms, to capture Duke Leto and Hawat and to kill most of the Atreides army. Duncan sacrifices himself while attempting to hold off the Sardaukar and ensures Paul's escape. His betrayal motivated by the Baron's capture and torture of his Bene Gesserit wife, Yueh implants a poisonous gas capsule concealed within a false tooth on Duke Leto after his capture and instructs Leto to use it to kill the Baron. Shortly afterward, the Baron has Yueh murdered. Upon meeting Baron Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat Piter De Vries,
3609105
Gurney Halleck


, "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune". The character will be played by Josh Brolin in the upcoming Denis Villeneuve film "Dune". Halleck is a talented minstrel skilled in the use of the baliset. His jawline bears a scar from an inkvine whip wound inflicted by Glossu Rabban in the Harkonnen slave pits. A loyal friend to Duke Leto Atreides and his concubine Lady Jessica, many years after Leto's death it is suggested in "Children of Dune" that Gurney and Jessica have become lovers. Paul Atreides refers
20267821
Ghanima Atreides


Leto] and Brooks come aboard as the next generation of the house of Atreides." The characters Leto and Ghanima were aged from ten-year-olds to teens for the miniseries, which Emily Asher-Perrin of "Tor.com" called "a smart move here, as finding two ten year old kids who had the ability to behave as though they had millennia of ancestral memory bubbling up inside of them was always going to be an impossibility." Asher-Perrin also called the rapport between Brooks and McAvoy "dazzling
3920934
Paul of Dune


daughter Illesa. At the wedding, Leto and his family escape an assassination attempt, but Armand is injured and Illesa is killed. Leto and Armand lead a retaliatory attack on Grumman, not realizing that the Moritani forces have been supplemented by troops from House Harkonnen, sworn enemies of the Atreides. The Padishah Emperor's Sardaukar warriors also arrive to prevent full-scale war. Viscount Hundro Moritani has planned this entire offensive as a means to assemble the Ecazi, Atreides, and Imperial forces and annihilate them with a doomsday device;
8427800
Organizations of the Dune universe


they had become by machines: "The target of the Jihad was a machine-attitude as much as the machines," Leto said. "Humans had set those machines to usurp our sense of beauty, our necessary selfdom out of which we make living judgments. Naturally, the machines were destroyed." Later in the same novel, Leto tests Siona Atreides, who experiences a vision of the future Leto is trying to prevent with his Golden Path mankind's extinction at the hands of "seeking machines": He knew
13698377
Lady Jessica


she does act as distant counselor. It is also implied that she and Atreides Weapons Master Gurney Halleck have become lovers. In "Children of Dune", Jessica returns to Dune to inspect Paul's children, Leto II and Ghanima, to see if they can be returned to the control of the Sisterhood. Leto notes the identity of Jessica's birth mother: Tanidia Nerus. Realizing that Alia is fully possessed, Jessica survives an assassination attempt by Alia and flees to the desert once more, taking refuge with Fremen leader (
20631472
Organizations of the Dune universe


human-sandworm symbiote, Leto molds his Fish Speaker army into both a military and religious force that also functions as the bureaucracy for his tyrannical empire. As Leto sees his Golden Path for humanity's survival from extinction coming to fruition, he allows himself to be assassinated at the end of "God Emperor of Dune" (1981). Control of the Fish Speakers passes to Duncan Idaho and Siona Atreides. By the time of "Heretics of Dune" (1984), the influence of the Fish Speakers has significantly waned
13698333
Bene Gesserit


change the course of the future. Paul's son Leto II is also a Kwisatz Haderach; seeing the same future, Leto decides to do what his father could not. He takes control of both the empire and the Bene Gesserit breeding program in "Children of Dune", and begins his own transformation into a human-sandworm hybrid to give himself the time he needs for his Golden Path to be fully realized. Thirty-five hundred years later, his breeding plan produces Siona Atreides, the first in a line of
13127063
Butlerian Jihad


detail on how he imagined the actual conflict. In "God Emperor of Dune" (1981), Leto II Atreides indicates that the Jihad had been a semi-religious social upheaval initiated by humans who felt repulsed by how guided and controlled they had become by machines: In the series, Herbert illustrates how the Jihad leads to many profound and long-lasting effects on the socio-political and technological development of humanity. The known universe is purged of all forms of thinking machines, resulting in not only a ban on
21145887
House Atreides


, he himself has possessed her. Alia's subsequent attempt to eliminate her mother — as well as a Corrino plot to assassinate the twins — sets off a Fremen rebellion and puts the religion of Muad'Dib in turmoil. As Leto's eyes are opened to the Golden Path that will save humanity, a mysterious blind man known as The Preacher appears to undermine Alia and her priests in the eyes of the people. He, of course, is Paul Atreides. Leto sacrifices his humanity and, for the sake of the survival of
15452424
List of Dune secondary characters


. Leto reappears, now beginning the transformation into a human-sandworm hybrid, and ascends the throne himself. Leto commands Farad'n to be Ghanima's mate, fathering the future Atreides line as Leto himself is now physically incapable of siring children. Farad'n is also appointed as the Royal Scribe and renamed "Harq al'Ada" (the "breaker of habit"), and relinquishes his control of the Sardaukar to Leto, effectively surrendering House Corrino's claim to the Imperial throne. Many of the chapter epigraphs in the novel are from
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