Dune/Characters: Difference between revisions
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→Princess Irulan
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** [[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 person who is most 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
** 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.
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