Dune/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


House Atreides and supporters

Duke Leto Atreides

Lady Jessica Atreides

Paul Atreides

God-Emperor Leto Atreides II

Thufir Hawat

Dr Yueh

Gurney Halleck

An Atreides retainer and one of Paul's teachers.

Duncan Idaho

Another Atreides Retainer.

Fremen

Liet-Kynes

A half-fremen Planetologist continuing his hope of bringing water to Arrakis. Temporarily appointed Judge of the Change.

Stilgar

Fremen Chief who Mentored Paul

Harkonnens and Supporters

Baron Harkonnen

Piter de Vries

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen

  • Badass Normal: Holds his own against the Kwisatz Haderach. Questionable how normal he is though.
  • Bastard Understudy
  • The Dragon
  • Evil Counterpart
  • The Sociopath: "On his seventeenth birthday, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen killed his one hundredth slave-gladiator"

Imperial

Count Fenring

A councellor and friend of The Emperor; an assassin. Was one of the Bene Gesserit's recent failures.

Princess Irulan

Emperor's daughter who is forced to nominally marry Paul to secure him the throne. Also provides commentary at chapter headings.

  • And Now You Must Marry Me
  • Author Avatar: Used to make commentary
  • Fallen Princess: Well not quite, but this is closer then the others.
  • Proper Lady
  • Sexless Marriage
  • Stockholm Syndrome: Shows a remarkable amount of devotion to Paul considering how he treated her. Not abuse exactly, but "not one whiff of tenderness" is a bit hard after effectively kidnapping her.
    • Fridge Horror: One of Irulan's biographical chapter openings mentions having to dodge multiple assassination attempts in childhood, assassination attempts that her own father may likely have been behind. As well as being raised in a royal cloister by concubines and virtually never seeing her father. Paul may never have shown Irulan any personal tenderness or warmth but by actually making her a responsible part of his household and family (remember that Irulan, not Chani, is effectively Paul's chamberlain), actually talking to her every day, and oh, not trying to have her murdered, Paul actually is treating Irulan with more kindness than she's ever known before in her life.
    • re: 'kidnapping her' -- Irulan had known her entire life that she had exactly zero say in deciding who she would marry, being a nobleman's daughter in an environment rivaled only by Game of Thrones for aristocratic levels of suck. Given that her father just lost a war and got deposed, and her family is about to be dispossessed, an offer of 'How would you like to help the new Emperor solidify his claim with a marriage of state?' is by far a superior offer to anything else she can expect in her current bargaining position, such as 'How'd you like to be a poor exile we stuff in some kind of nunnery that we can never allow to have children with anyone else ever as they might be possible rivals?', or 'How would you like your stabbed corpse to piled right next to your father's?'. She's not in Stockholm Syndrome, she's just a cold-blooded pragmatist who is fully aware that while she might not be happy with what she's being offered it is still by leaps and bounds the best possible alternative compared to anything else that could be happening.
  • The Woobie: While Irulan got off far easier than an inconveniently still-alive princess after the violent overthrow of a royal house usually gets, she is still trapped in a loveless marriage with a man that she only realizes she genuinely did love after he was killed, while every ally that she should have had (her own father, the Bene Gesserit, etc.) instead openly treats her as an expendable pawn. The only person who is really sympathetic to Irulan and would actually be willing to be friends with her is the one person she hates above all else, Chani, because that's the woman who actually has Paul's love. And worst of all, she really didn't do anything to deserve any of this. It's not Irulan's fault who her father is, and while she's not exactly a nice person she only does anything even approaching wrong only once. (While she did secretly dose Chani with contraceptives she explicitly avoided dosing her with anything more harmful, even when it was strongly suggested that she should, and only went even that far because the instant Chani bears the Imperial heir Paul has no need for even a token Imperial wife anymore as the new dynasty will be secure in itself and no longer need a prop from the old one.)
    • For extra sad irony points, Chani is the person who actually suggested to Paul that he finally take Irulan to bed and give her his children, as she was unable to give him an heir. (This was admittedly before Chani found out why she was infertile, at which point she quite understandably had an urge to stab Irulan in the face for a while, but even then she eventually got over it because she understood she'd have done the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot.) If only Paul had actually accepted the offer, they could have all been happy.

The Sardaukar, the Army of The 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 Equals Authority
  • 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.
  • Badass Army
  • Badass Decay: By the time of the first Dune book, the Sardaukar, though still considered formidable can't hold a candle to their glory days (considered to be on the tenth Ginaz level and matching the abilities of a Bene Gesserit adept), which might explain their comparatively poor performance against the Fremen. Farad'n's Sardaukar avert this, however.
  • 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 garrottes in their hair in the form of shigawire.
  • Cultured Warrior : Well, Tiekanik and other higher ups are definitely an example.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • Our Master Right Or Wrong
  • 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 bertayal. 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.
    • That last one actually works - the Spacing Guild is apparently entirely fooled by the ruse and has no idea it wasn't actually Atreides troops that sacked the Guild Bank during the confusion of the attack, and so respond by placing House Atreides under a travel ban and leaving any surviving members or troops trapped on Arrakis and unable to flee. (Of course, as the Guild Bank station chief on Arrakis was a Harkonnen agent, its entirely possible they knew all along and just pretended not to.)
  • Penal Colony: Where they are trained
  • Praetorian Guard
  • The Spartan Way
  • 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.
  • Villainous Valour
  • Weaponized Exhaust: The Sardaukar used this to barely eke out a victory/capture of some Fremen.
  • We Have Become Complacent: For many years, the Sardukar were able to coast on their reputation as being unbeatable in combat, and thus their skills atrophied, though they were still a force to be reckoned with by the time of the first book.
  • Worthy Opponent: To the Fremen, at least in comparison to Harkonnen Soldiers.