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Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is the most prominent fictional character in the early books of Frank Herbert's Dune science fiction series. He took the Fremen name Paul Muad'Dib.
Paul Atreides is the son of Duke Leto Atreides and Jessica Atreides, the heir of House Atreides, a nuclear-armed aristocratic family that rules the planet of Caladan. Jessica is a Bene Gesserit and an important key in the Bene Gesserit breeding program. According to the breeding program, she was to produce a daughter, who should marry Feyd-Rautha, a nephew of Baron Harkonnen. However, she falls in love with Leto and grants him a son.
Although Paul is a boy, he receives a Bene Gesserit training, giving him among other things, great control over his metabolism, heightened senses and knowledge of martial arts. He is also trained in weapon use by Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho, and receives a mentat training by Thufir Hawat.
When Paul is fifteen years old, the family is pressed to leave Caladan and govern the desert planet Arrakis (known as Dune). They suspect it is a trap, but accept nevertheless because it could bring power to them. On Dune, the family is betrayed by their Suk doctor, Wellington Yueh. He disables the house shield, allowing the imperial troops, Sardaukar, dressed in Harkonnen uniforms, to capture Duke Leto and Thufir Hawat and kill most of the Atreides army. Duncan Idaho sacrifices himself, while attempting to hold off the Sardaukar. Upon meeting Piter De Vries and Baron Harkonnen, Leto uses a poisonous gas chamber hidden inside his false tooth in a suicide attempt to kill Harkonnen. He succeeds in killing Piter De Vries but not the Baron. The tooth was given to him by Yueh, who planned revenge against Harkonnen for killing his wife. Thufir Hawat is used by the Baron as his new mentat. Paul and Jessica escape, with some help from Dr. Yueh, into the desert.
They flee to the Fremen, who see in Paul the Lisan Al Gaib, a prophet who will ensure a green, lush Dune. He and his mother start training Fremen in weapon use and martial arts, creating an army. He takes Chani, daughter of Liet Kynes as his lover. He also reunites with Gurney Halleck, who sought refuge with smugglers after the Harkonnan attack. While in the desert, Paul Muad-dib undergoes the process of spice agony via the consumption of the water of life. He survives, although barely, giving him knowledge of his male and female ancestors. This proves Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach.
After some years, he attacks the Harkonnen and Imperial troops with his Fremen army. They win and Paul requests an audience with Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. He threatens to destroy the spice melange, thus making transport between the planets impossible and effectively destroying civilisation. In return for preserving the spice, he asks for the hand of the Emperor's daughter Irulan as well as the Emperor's resignation. These actions effectively make Paul Emperor. Urged by the Space Guild, the Emperor accepts his terms.
In Dune Messiah, he has been Emperor for twelve years. His jihad has killed sixty billion people across the known universe, but according to his prescient visions, this is a fate far better than what he has seen. Paul is beleaguered by a need he sees - to set humanity on a course that doesn't lead to stagnation and destruction, while at the same time managing both the Empire and the religion built around him.
A Freman conspiracy attempted to assassinate Paul using a Stone burner. The attempt failed, however the effects of the Stone Burner destroyed Paul's eyes. Although he became technically blind, his prescience allowed him to "see" anyway. Another assassination attempt by a conspiracy of the Bene Tleilax, the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild was made using a ghola-clone of Paul's friend and mentor Duncan Idaho. Later, Chani dies in childbirth, bearing twins: a boy, Leto II, and a girl, Ghanima (which means "spoil of war"). The Tleiaxu Scytale offers to make a ghola of Chani and restore her to life in exchange for his surrender, but instead Paul asks Stilgar to kill Scytale.
At the end of Dune Messiah, Paul walks into the desert, a blind man, leaving his children in the care of the Fremen while their aunt Alia rules the universe as regent.
In Children of Dune a mysterious figure known as the preacher returns from the desert and predicts among the people of Arrakis. It is strongly suggested that he is Paul, and this is later confirmed. He is later stabbed to death by a member of an outcast sect of Fremen.
His son Leto is the central character of the remaining books.
It must be noted that there was something of a tantalizing hint at the end of the sixth book in the Dune Chronicles, Chapterhouse: Dune. Essentially, only one Tleilaxu is left alive, a clone of Scytale. However, unbeknownst to all, Scytale has a cylinder implanted in his chest that contains genetic cell samples of much of the Tleilaxu order, so he could still rebuild his order from scratch. More importantly, the cylinder contains cell samples of many of the major characters of the Dune Chronicles that previously died, including Stilgar, Leto II, and Paul Atreides. This would seem to imply the possibility of a ghola of Paul being created later. A ghola can regain the memories of their past lives, such as Duncan Idaho did in Dune: Messiah, and would essentially be a reincarnation of Paul.
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