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

Leto I Atreides
Dune character
First appearance Dune (1965)
Last appearance Paul of Dune (2008)
Created by Frank Herbert
Portrayed by
Information
Occupation Planetary Governor
Title Duke of House Atreides
Family House Atreides
Significant other(s) Kailea Vernius
Lady Jessica
Children
Relatives

Leto I Atreides (/ˈleɪtoʊ əˈtreɪdiːz/) is the Duke of House Atreides, and father to Paul Atreides. He is introduced in the 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.

Leto is portrayed by Jürgen Prochnow in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune,[1] and by William Hurt in the 2000 Dune miniseries.[2] Hurt was the first to be cast in the 2000 adaptation. A fan of the novel, he told The New York Times, "I was a science fiction junkie ... [Director John Harrison] captured Herbert's prophetic reflection of our own age, where nation-states are competing with the new global economy and its corporate elements."[2]

Dune

Rising in influence among the Landsraad assembly of noble families, Duke Leto Atreides is given control of the lucrative planetary fief of Arrakis, which has previously been managed by House Atreides' longtime enemies, the Harkonnens. Arrakis—an inhospitable desert planet plagued by giant sandworms—is the only known source of melange, the valuable drug at the center of the galactic empire's economy. Leto suspects treachery on the part of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, but cannot refuse the assignment. Leto moves his entire household from his ocean homeworld Caladan to the desolate Arrakis, including his Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica, his son and heir Paul, his Weapons Master Gurney Halleck, and his Master of Assassins, the Mentat Thufir Hawat. With the help of his Ginaz Swordmaster Duncan Idaho, Leto reaches out to Arrakis' native Fremen, people tempered by the planet's harsh conditions who Leto realizes are an underestimated and untapped resource, a potential "desert power". The Baron Harkonnen launches an attack, his forces secretly bolstered by Shaddam's fierce Sardaukar warriors and aided by Leto's own trusted Suk doctor, Wellington Yueh. Coerced by the Baron to save his wife from torture, Yueh disables the shields of the Atreides fortress and delivers a drugged Leto to the Baron. Assuming his wife is already dead and seeking revenge against Harkonnen, Yueh provides Leto with a false tooth filled with poison gas. Leto bites down on the tooth in the Baron's presence, but the gas only manages to kill Leto and the Baron's twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries.[3]

Thanks to supplies left by Yueh, Paul and Lady Jessica escape into the desert and find refuge with the Fremen. Paul ultimately binds the Fremen communities across the planet and leads them to take back their planet from Imperial rule.[3] He names his first son Leto in honor of his father; after this child dies in infancy,[3] Paul names his second son Leto II.[4]

Prelude to Dune

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 Vernius—over the objections of Helena, whose family are the business rivals of House Vernius. On Ix, Leto becomes fast friends with Dominic's son Rhombur, and falls in love with his daughter Kailea. When the Bene Tleilax invade and seize control of Ix (secretly aided by Padishah Emperor Elrood IX), the Vernius heirs flee to Caladan with Leto, and Dominic and Shando go off separately to pull attention from their children. Paulus, an expert bullfighter, is soon killed in the ring. Hoping to rule Caladan as regent through Leto, Helena had arranged for a Salusan bull to be drugged; realizing his mother's culpability, Leto exiles her to a distant convent to avoid the scandal of a public execution. Now the duke, Leto takes Kailea as his concubine, and they have a son named Victor. Obligated to keep open the possibility of a political marriage, Leto declines marrying Kailea or naming Victor as his heir. Leto and Kailea grow apart, and her resentment and insecurities build. After the arrival into his household of the Bene Gesserit acolyte Jessica, who Leto finds attractive, Kailea attempts to kill Leto. She fails, but in the ensuing accident her brother Rhombur is injured and her son Victor is killed. Kailea commits suicide. Leto and Jessica fall in love with one another, and she becomes his concubine, though they too do not wed in case an advantageous marriage alliance presents itself. Though instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear the mourning Leto a daughter, Jessica intentionally conceives the son he desires. In 10,176 A.G., Jessica gives birth to their son Paul. Leto surrounds himself with loyal and capable individuals, and comes to be known as an effective politician, a fair and just statesman, and a capable leader of his small military. Elrood's son, the new Emperor Shaddam IV, both admires Leto, and dislikes him as a political rival. Framed by Baron Harkonnen for a crime aboard a heighliner, Leto subtly blackmails Shaddam into intervening on his behalf. Leto's military victory over the forces occupying Ix, and his role in the subsequent political censure of Shaddam, ensure Leto a vengeful enemy in the Emperor.[5]

Daniel and Marty

Daniel and Marty
Dune character
First appearance Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)
Last appearance Sandworms of Dune (2007)
Created by Frank Herbert
Information
Occupation Face Dancers
Affiliation Bene Tleilax

Daniel and Marty are a pair of mysterious observers with advanced technological powers who are introduced in Herbert's 1985 novel Chapterhouse: Dune. Herbert's 1986 death "left fans with an über-cliffhanger" for twenty years, until his son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson published two sequels to the original series, Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007).[6]

Chapterhouse Dune

In the final chapter of Chapterhouse Dune, a mysterious old man and woman calling themselves Daniel and Marty observe the escape of the no-ship from Chapterhouse. They speak of themselves as Face Dancers, the shapeshifting minions of the Tleilaxu:[7]

"They had a Tleilaxu Master, too," Marty said. "I saw him when they went under the net. I would have so liked to study another Master."
"Don't see why. Always whistling[8] at us, always making it necessary to stomp them down. I don't like treating Masters that way and you know it! If it weren't for them ..."
"They're not gods, Daniel."
"Neither are we ... What would you have said to the Master, anyway?" Daniel asked.
"I was going to joke when he asked who we were. They always ask that. I was going to say: 'What did you expect, God Himself with a flowing beard?' "
Daniel chuckled. "That would've been funny. They have such a hard time accepting that Face Dancers can be independent of them."
"I don't see why. It's a natural consequence. They gave us the power to absorb the memories and experiences of other people. Gather enough of those and . . ."
"It's personas we take, Marty."
"Whatever. The Masters should've known we would gather enough of them one day to make our own decisions about our own future."[9]

Daniel and Marty hint that they observe and are familiar with various groups in the universe, and allude to their desire to capture and study the passengers of the no-ship. As to their motive, Marty says, "Gather up enough people and you get a big ball of knowledge, Daniel!"[9] Earlier, Duncan Idaho had seen the observers in a vision, and came to his own conclusions:

Reassuring faces. That thought aroused Idaho's suspicions because now he recognized the familiarity. They looked somewhat like Face Dancers, even to the pug noses ... And if they were Face Dancers, they were not Scytale's Face Dancers. Those two people behind the shimmering net belonged to no one but themselves.[9]

With the subsequent death of Frank Herbert in 1986, the identities, motives and intentions of Daniel and Marty were left to speculation.[6]

Sequels

In 2006's Hunters of Dune, Daniel and Marty are in constant pursuit of the escaped no-ship Ithaca, on which they believe is the Kwisatz Haderach they require to be victorious in the imminent and long-foretold "battle at the end of the universe" known as kralizec. Their Face Dancer minion Khrone is executing a parallel plan to create their own Kwisatz Haderach, using a Paul Atreides ghola that will be conditioned by a ghola of the Baron Harkonnen. Daniel and Marty themselves have the ability to create illusions, and to inflict pain on any human. At the end of Hunters of Dune, it is revealed that Daniel and Marty are not, in fact, Face Dancers: they are actually incarnations of the thinking machines Omnius (Daniel) and Erasmus (Marty), introduced in the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy (2002–2004) by Brian Herbert and Anderson. In the third Legends novel Dune: The Battle of Corrin (2004), Omnius had sent out a last blast of information before being destroyed in the Battle of Corrin. It is explained in Hunters that this signal had eventually connected with one of the probes disseminated from Giedi Prime several years earlier, uploading versions of Erasmus and Omnius.[10]

In Sandworms of Dune (2007), Omnius and Erasmus finally capture the no-ship and pit the Paul ghola on board against their own twisted version, Paolo, in a duel to the death that will leave them with the strongest of the two. Paul survives, but realizes that Duncan is actually the "ultimate Kwisatz Haderach" that Omnius has been seeking. The Oracle of Time, the immortal founder of the Spacing Guild, transports every aspect of the Omnius network into another dimension forever. Erasmus offers Duncan the choice between continuing their war or ending it; Duncan chooses peace over victory, and he and Erasmus merge minds. Erasmus imparts Duncan with all the codes required to run the Synchronized Worlds, as well as all of Erasmus' knowledge, setting Duncan as the bridge between humans and machines to permanently end the divide and ensure that the two may co-exist. With little left for him, Erasmus again expresses his desire to learn everything possible about what it is to be human—and asks Duncan to deactivate him so that he may experience "death."[11]

Analysis

William F. Touponce states unequivocally that Daniel and Marty are Face Dancers in his 1988 book Frank Herbert:

Herbert gives us a segment narrated from their point of view only at the very end of the novel. They are offshoots of the Tleilaxu Face Dancers sent out in the Scattering and have become almost godlike because of their capacity to assume the persona of whoever they kill — and they have been doing this for centuries, capturing Mentats and Tleilaxu Masters and whatever else they could assimilate, until now they play with whole planets and civilizations. They are weirdly benign when they first appear in the visions of Duncan Idaho as a calm elderly couple working in a flower garden, trying to capture him in their net...[7]

In an August 2007 review of Sandworms of Dune, John C. Snider of SciFiDimensions.com argues that it "doesn't fit" or "add up" that Frank Herbert's Daniel and Marty are the "malevolent" thinking machines Brian Herbert and Anderson created in their Legends of Dune prequel novels.[6] He further wonders why "Omnius, long established as puzzled by and averse to human unpredictability, would want to breed that ultimate ungovernable—a Kwisatz Haderach."[6]

Farad'n

Farad'n
Dune character
First appearance Children of Dune (1976)
Last appearance Paul of Dune (2008)
Created by Frank Herbert
Portrayed by Jonathan Brüün (2003 series)
Information
Aliases Harq al'Ada
Occupation Royal Scribe
Family House Corrino
Significant other(s) Ghanima Atreides
Relatives

Farad'n /fəˈrɑːdən/[12] of House Corrino is the grandson of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV by his daughter, the Princess Wensicia. He appears in Herbert's 1976 novel Children of Dune, and his infancy is chronicled in the 2008 prequel Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Farad'n is portrayed by Jonathan Brüün in the 2003 miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.

Children of Dune

In Children of Dune, Farad'n is the grandson and heir to the deposed 81st Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV;[13] his mother is Shaddam's third daughter Princess Wensicia,[14] and his deceased father Dalak is noted to be related to Count Hasimir Fenring,[13] a close friend of Shaddam's since childhood.[15] Shaddam and most of his family are exiled to Salusa Secundus after he is deposed by Paul Atreides in Dune (1965).[14]

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, by sending mechanically controlled Laza tigers to hunt them in the desert. Leto's growing prescience allows him to thwart the attack, but 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 brokered by Jessica for him to marry Ghanima and share the throne; his part of the deal is to "denounce and banish" Wensicia for Leto's murder attempt, which he does. 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.[13]

Many of the chapter epigraphs in the novel are from the later writings of Farad'n (as Harq al'Ada) in his role as chronicler of the reign of Leto II.[13]

Liet-Kynes

Liet-Kynes
Dune character

Max von Sydow as Dr. Kynes in Dune (1984)
First appearance Dune (1965)
Created by Frank Herbert
Portrayed by
Information
Occupation Planetary ecologist
Affiliation Fremen
Spouse(s) Faroula
Children Chani
Relatives

Liet-Kynes is the Imperial Planetologist of the desert planet Arrakis. He is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, but also appears in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The character is brought back as a ghola in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), the Herbert/Anderson sequels which conclude the original series.

Liet-Kynes is portrayed by Max von Sydow in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, and by Karel Dobrý in the 2000 Dune miniseries.

Dune

In Dune, Duke Leto Atreides meets with Dr. Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist, soon after arriving on Arrakis to take over the melange harvesting operations there. Escorted by the planet's native Fremen, Kynes is the liaison between them and the Padishah Empire. The Atreides later hear of a person or deity named "Liet" to whom all the Fremen communities give allegiance. It is only after Leto is killed and his son Paul and concubine Lady Jessica flee into the desert that Liet and Kynes are revealed to be the same person.[3] The son of Pardot Kynes, the first Imperial Planetologist of Arrakis, and a Fremen woman,[16] Kynes is captured by the Harkonnens and left to die in the desert without a stillsuit or water. He is killed by a spice blow, and his last words are, "I am a desert creature!" His daughter, Chani, later becomes Paul's concubine.[3]

Liet-Kynes' wife is later noted to be Faroula, "a noted herbalist among the Fremen."[17]

Prelude to Dune

Liet-Kynes' origin as the son of Pardot and the Fremen woman Frieth is explored in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy. Frieth is the sister of Stilgar, a future naib of Sietch Tabr. Growing up under Fremen tradition, Liet inherits his father's position as planetologist as well as his secret goal of terraforming Arrakis into a temperate planet.[5]

Lucilla

Lucilla
Dune character
First appearance Heretics of Dune (1984)
Last appearance Chapterhouse Dune (1985)
Created by Frank Herbert
Affiliation Bene Gesserit

Lucilla is a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother and Imprinter. She appears in Herbert's novels Heretics of Dune (1984) and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)

Heretics of Dune

In Heretics of Dune, Reverend Mother Lucilla is a young, attractive Bene Gesserit Imprinter sent by Mother Superior Taraza to Gammu. Lucilla is tasked to teach the Duncan Idaho ghola the Sisterhood is raising there and bind his loyalty to through imprinting, while also protecting him from the negative influence—and possible danger—presented by dissenting Bene Gesserit who believe the ghola is a danger to the Sisterhood. Extremely precocious and already having divined the fact that he is a ghola, the young Duncan nurses hatred for the Bene Gesserit, hoping to escape their control of his life. He soon blossoms, however, under the training of Lucilla and Bashar Miles Teg, brought out of retirement in part to protect the ghola. An attempt is made on Duncan's life, and Teg and Lucilla flee with Duncan into the countryside. They hide in a forgotten Harkonnen no-globe, in which Teg uses his strong resemblance to Duke Leto I Atreides (the original Idaho's master) and a variety of relentless physical and mental attacks to awaken Duncan to his original memories. This occurs before Lucilla has imprinted the ghola, and his new self-awareness now makes it impossible for her to attempt it.[18]

During their extraction, Teg and his companions are ambushed, and Teg sacrifices himself to capture while Lucilla and Duncan escape with Teg's protégé Burzmali. Duncan attempts to get off Gammu undetected in the guise of a Tleilaxu Master, but is taken hostage. Lucilla and Burzmali arrive at a Bene Gesserit safe house, but discover that it has been taken over by the Honored Matres. Lucilla manages to impersonate an Honored Matre as one of their number, Murbella, proceeds to seduce the captured Duncan with the Honored Matre imprinting technique. Hidden Tleilaxu conditioning kicks into action within Duncan and he responds with an equal technique, one that overwhelms Murbella in sexual pleasure, draining her energy. Taking advantage of Murbella's post-coital exhaustion, Lucilla knocks her unconscious. Escaping, Teg captures a no-ship and locates Duncan and Lucilla, and they flee with the captured Murbella as their prisoner.[18]

Chapterhouse Dune

In Chapterhouse: Dune, Lucilla manages to escape Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education where she had served as vice chancellor, before it is completely destroyed by the Honored Matres. She carries the salvation of Lampadas: the shared-minds of its millions of murdered Reverend Mothers. Unfortunately, Lucilla's ship is damaged by a mine and she makes a forced landing on Gammu. She seeks refuge with an underground group whom she knows will be sympathetic to the Bene Gesserit: Jews. Long ago, Jews went underground to escape the repeated pogroms against them. They continued to practice their religion in secret, under cover as "religious revivalists," to conceal their unbroken connection to ancient history. They were so successful that they have survived for 26,000 years while history believed them long since annihilated. The Bene Gesserit — with their memories of the past — were not deceived, and have developed a relationship with the Jews. Their leader, trapped in the web of mutual obligation, gives Lucilla temporary sanctuary, but in order to save his organization he must deliver Lucilla to the Honored Matres. To Lucilla's shock he reveals Rebecca, a "wild" Reverend Mother who has gained her Other Memories without Bene Gesserit training. Lucilla shares minds with Rebecca, who promises to take the memories of Lampadas safely back to the Sisterhood. Lucilla is then "betrayed" to the Honored Matres.[9]

Lucilla is taken before the Great Honored Matre Dama, and to her surprise she is not killed outright. A game of words begins, and the Matre tries to persuade her to join the Honored Matres, preserving her life in exchange for Bene Gesserit secrets. It becomes known that the Matres dearly want to learn to modify their biochemistry as the Bene Gesserit do. It is speculated that the Matres were driven from The Scattering by an enemy who used biological weapons. Lucilla's word battles continue for weeks. When she reveals to Dama that although the Bene Gesserit know how to manipulate and control the populace, they practice and believe in democracy, Dama's desire to destroy the sisterhood is redoubled; the Bene Gesserit teach dangerous knowledge and believe in ridiculous ideas like democracy! Dama kills Lucilla. As deceased Taraza's replacement Odrade meets with Dama under the guise of negotiations, a newly awakened ghola of Miles Teg leads the Bene Gesserit forces in an attack on Gammu. In the midst of this battle, the Jews (including Rebecca with her precious memories) take refuge with the Bene Gesserit fleet. Rebecca is able to share these memories with the Bene Gesserit before Duncan, Teg and Sheeana flee Chapterhouse in a no-ship, with Rebecca and the Jews still aboard.[9]

Glossu Rabban

Glossu Rabban
Dune character
First appearance Dune (1965)
Last appearance Dune: House Corrino (2001)
Created by Frank Herbert
Portrayed by
Information
Family House Harkonnen
Relatives

Glossu Rabban is the violent and sadistic nephew of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. He is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, but also appears in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Rabban is portrayed by Paul L. Smith in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, and by László I. Kish in the 2000 Dune miniseries.

Dune

Herbert writes in "Appendix IV: The Almanak of en-Ashraf (Selected Excepts of the Noble Houses)" in Dune:

COUNT GLOSSU RABBAN (10,132—10,193) Glossu Rabban, Count of Lankiveil, was the eldest nephew of Vladimir Harkonnen. Glossu Rabban and Feyd-Rautha Rabban (who took the name Harkonnen when chosen for the Siridar-Baron's household) were legal sons of the Siridar Baron's youngest demibrother, Abulurd. Abulurd renounced the Harkonnen name and all rights to the title when given the subdistrict governorship of Rabban-Lankiveil. Rabban was a distaff name.[19]

In the novel, Glossu Rabban is the older nephew of the Baron Harkonnen. He is as cruel and sadistic as his uncle, but lacks the Baron's intelligence. The Baron tasks Rabban to rule the planet Arrakis for a time in the most brutal way possible, so that when his favored nephew Feyd-Rautha takes over, Feyd will be welcomed as a hero by the populace. After the Baron seizes the planet back from Atreides control, Rabban tells his uncle that the Harkonnens have woefully underestimated both the numbers and threat of the Fremen population there. Known as "the Beast Rabban" on Arrakis for his aggression and cruelty, his Fremen nickname is "Mudir Nahya", which translates as "Demon Ruler" or "King Cobra". Rabban is killed by the Fremen and the people of Arakeen when Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides retakes Arrakis using Fremen forces.

Prelude to Dune

In the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy, Rabban kills Duncan Idaho's parents and Gurney Halleck's sister. He earns his nickname "Beast" when he strangles his own father.[5]

Reverend Mother Ramallo

Reverend Mother Ramallo
Dune character
First appearance Dune (1965)
Last appearance Dune: House Corrino (2001)
Created by Frank Herbert
Portrayed by
Information
Occupation Reverend Mother
Affiliation Fremen
Bene Gesserit

Reverend Mother Ramallo is a spiritual leader among the Fremen of the desert planet Arrakis, a "wild" version of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. She is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, but also appears in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Ramallo is portrayed by Italian actress Silvana Mangano in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, and by Drahomira Fialkova in the 2000 Dune miniseries. A younger version of Ramallo was played by Petra Kulikova in this TV adaptation.

Dune

In Dune, Paul Atreides and his mother Lady Jessica flee a Harkonnen attack and find refuge among the Fremen of Sietch Tabr. Jessica soon realizes that their Reverend Mother Ramallo is a "wild" version of the Bene Gesserit equivalent. When Ramallo knows her own end is near, she subjects Jessica to the ritual spice agony to make her Ramallo's replacement. The Fremen ordeal to become a Reverend Mother involves ingesting the poisonous Water of Life. Jessica survives and shares minds with Ramallo, acquiring the older woman's life experiences and collective Other Memory, and then Ramallo dies.[3]

Prelude to Dune

In Dune: House Harkonnen (2000), the second novel of the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy set before the events of Dune, Bene Gesserit Lady Margot Fenring seeks out the Fremen on Arrakis, looking for a group of Bene Gesserit sisters (including Ramallo) who had been sent there to assess the Missionaria Protectiva but who had never returned. The following quote is attributed to Ramallo via an epigraph in Dune: House Harkonnen:

We create our own future by our own beliefs, which control our actions. A strong enough belief system, a sufficiently powerful conviction, can make anything happen. This is how we create our consensus reality, including our gods.

Stilgar

Stilgar
Dune character

First appearance Dune (1965)
Last appearance The Winds of Dune (2009)
Created by Frank Herbert
Portrayed by
Information
Affiliation Fremen
House Atreides
Title Naib of Sietch Tabr
Spouse(s) Tharthar
Harah

Stilgar is the naib (leader) of Sietch Tabr, a Fremen community on the desert planet Arrakis. He appears in the novels Dune (1965), Dune Messiah (1969) and Children of Dune (1976). The character's early life is explored in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, and he returns in the form of a ghola in the Herbert/Anderson conclusion to the original series, Sandworms of Dune (2007). Stilgar also appears in the prequels Paul of Dune (2008) and The Winds of Dune (2009).

Stilgar is portrayed by Everett McGill in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, by Uwe Ochsenknecht in the 2000 Dune miniseries and by Steven Berkoff in the 2003 sequel miniseries Children of Dune.

The original series

In the 1965 novel Dune, Paul Atreides and his mother Lady Jessica flee into the desert of Arrakis to escape a Harkonnen attack. Stilgar is the naib of Sietch Tabr, a Fremen community in which Paul and Jessica seek refuge. Stilgar has two wives; the first is Tharthar, and he later also marries Harah. Stilgar and his people eventually come to believe that Paul is their long-foretold messiah, the Mahdi. Paul leads them in taking back their planet from under Imperial control, and Paul becomes Emperor.

Subsequently in Dune Messiah (1969), Stilgar is a staunch supporter and protector of Paul, and one of his inner circle of advisors which includes Paul's concubine Chani, his wife Princess Irulan and his sister Alia. At the end of Messiah, Stilgar executes the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam and Spacing Guild Navigator Edric on Alia's orders, after their conspiracy to topple Paul's empire fails. In Children of Dune (1976), Stilgar has asserted his protection over Paul and Chani's orphaned children, Leto II and Ghanima. Later, with Leto presumed dead, Stilgar helps Ghanima and Irulan escape Alia's tyranny.

Prelude to Dune

The Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy establishes that Stilgar Ben Fifrawi had been born on Arrakis in 10,141 A.G. in Umbu Sietch of Tuan. Among the members of Umbu Sietch, he is known as Sahkan or "the Desert Hawk". In his youth, Stilgar and two friends, Turok and Ommun, are cornered by thuggish Harkonnen troops. Badly injured, Stilgar would have died if Pardot Kynes had not come and helped kill the Harkonnens. Because of this water-debt, Stilgar and Kynes become friends. Stilgar, Turok and Ommun promise to help Kynes achieve his dream of turning Arrakis into a paradise. In 10,175 A.G. Stilgar challenges Forad, the Naib of Sietch Tabr, and defeats him to become the new Naib. When Kynes dies, Stilgar watches over his son Liet-Kynes, and later Liet's daughter Chani.[5]

Tylwyth Waff

Tylwyth Waff
Dune character
First appearance Heretics of Dune (1984)
Last appearance Sandworms of Dune (2007)
Created by Frank Herbert
Information
Occupation Tleilaxu Master
Affiliation Bene Tleilax

Tylwyth Waff is the leader of the Bene Tleilax, a secretive race of genetic manipulators who traffic in biological products such as artificial eyes, gholas, and "twisted" Mentats. He is a major character in Frank Herbert's Heretics of Dune (1984) and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). His story continues in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's sequel novels that complete Frank Herbert's original series.

In Heretics of Dune, Herbert describes Waff as "an elfin figure barely a meter and a half tall. Eyes, hair, and skin were shades of gray, all a stage for the oval face with its tiny mouth and line of sharp teeth".

Original series

In Heretics of Dune, Waff successfully replaces High Priest Tuek with a Face Dancer, a genetically-engineered Tleilaxu servant with the ability to mimic any human. He loses control of the duplicate, however, due to its eventual complete assimilation into its new form. Waff decides to ally with the Bene Gesserit after he is tricked into believing that they share the secret religious beliefs of the Tleilaxu. Meanwhile, he has a replacement ghola growing for himself in Bandalong, the capital city of the Tleilaxu homeworld Tleilax.

Sequels

It is revealed in Hunters of Dune that the Honored Matres who conquered Tleilax kept several of Waff's gholas alive, but in vegetative states. In order to recover the supposedly "lost" secret to producing melange in axlotl tanks, the Lost Tleilaxu scribe Uxtal is tasked to create new gholas from Waff's genetic material. Uxtal accelerates the process artificially, and of the first batch of eight Waff gholas, seven fail to regain their memories and are viciously killed. The massacre shocks the last ghola into regaining some of Waff's memories, but not enough to recreate the melange process. Later, the Waff ghola escapes the Bene Gesserit attack on Tleilax, finding refuge with the Spacing Guild by offering Guild Navigator Edrik the genetic knowledge for the Guild to create their own, optimized sandworms to produce melange.

In Sandworms of Dune, Waff alters the DNA of the sandworm's larval sandtrout stage to create an aquatic form of the worms, which are then released into the oceans of Buzzell. Adapting to their new environment, these "seaworms" quickly flourish, eventually producing a highly concentrated form of melange, dubbed "ultraspice". Waff makes a pilgrimage to Arrakis, original homeworld of the sandworms, and sacrifices himself to a worm, which to him is an embodiment of God.

Wellington Yueh

Dr. Wellington Yueh
Dune character
First appearance Dune (1965)
Last appearance The Winds of Dune (2009)
Created by Frank Herbert
Portrayed by
Information
Occupation Suk doctor
Affiliation Suk School
House Atreides
Spouse(s) Wanna Marcus

Dr. Wellington Yueh (/ˈjuːiː/; 10,082 A.G.-10,191 A.G.)[20] is a Suk doctor, a highly trained physician who has been conditioned so as to be incapable of inflicting harm. He is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, but also appears in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy (1999–2001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The character is brought back as a ghola in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), the Herbert/Anderson sequels which conclude the original series.

Yueh is portrayed by Dean Stockwell in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, and by Robert Russell in the 2000 Dune miniseries.

Dune

As Dune begins, the decadent Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is intent on the destruction of his enemy, Duke Leto Atreides. The Harkonnen agent within the Atreides household is Leto's own physician, the trusted Dr. Yueh. Though Suk Imperial Conditioning supposedly makes the subject incapable of inflicting harm, the Baron's twisted Mentat Piter De Vries says, "It's assumed that ultimate conditioning cannot be removed without killing the subject. However, as someone once observed, given the right lever you can move a planet. We found the lever that moved the doctor."[3] Aware of Yueh's conditioning, Leto's Mentat Thufir Hawat is assured that the doctor is not a Harkonnen spy, and Leto's Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica is also fooled, noting that "[Yueh's] wife was a Bene Gesserit slain by the Harkonnens ... Haven't you heard the hate in his voice when he speaks the Harkonnen name?"[3] The Atreides are soon attacked by Harkonnen forces on the desert planet Arrakis, and Yueh follows the Baron's orders and disables the protective shields around the Atreides palace. Yueh takes Leto prisoner, but desiring to slay the Baron in defiance of his conditioning, Yueh provides the captive Leto with a fake tooth filled with poisonous gas as a means to kill the Baron (though Leto would die as well). The Baron is holding Yueh's wife Wanna hostage, and has threatened her with interminable torture unless Yueh complies with his demands. Upon delivering Leto, Yueh confirms his belief that Wanna is already dead moments before De Vries kills him, and Leto's poison gas tooth only kills Leto and De Vries. Leto's son Paul Atreides flees into the desert with his mother, Jessica, aided by survival kits left for them by a compassionate Yueh.[3]

Prelude to Dune

In the Prelude to Dune prequel series, a younger Baron Harkonnen consults with Yueh seeking a cure for the debilitating disease which is slowly but surely rendering him obese; Yueh is aware of no cure, but correctly suggests that the disease's source may be the Bene Gesserit. The early years of Yueh as the physician to House Atreides are also explored in the novels.[5]

Sequels

In Hunters of Dune, set 5,000 years after Dune, Yueh is resurrected as a ghola on the no-ship Ithaca to aid in the coming final battle with mankind's "great enemy."

In Sandworms of Dune, the sequel to Hunters of Dune and finale of the original series, the young Yueh ghola is wracked by feelings of intense guilt over the actions of the "original" Yueh. Though he does not yet possess those memories, he fears that he will repeat those mistakes. A ghola's memories are restored by subjecting the ghola to an intense personal trauma, specific to each individual; Yueh's great fear of having his memories restored becomes the trigger used by the Bene Gesserit to unlock them. Now recalling how Harkonnen had broken the Suk conditioning by forcing him to watch Wanna be brutally tortured, Yueh curses the Sisterhood, saying "I have them back ... And damn you witches to hell for it."[21] Later, Yueh kills the gestating ghola of Leto, having been tricked into believing that it was De Vries, and ultimately also kills the ghola of the Baron Harkonnen. Eleven years later, Yueh lives on the original Atreides homeworld Caladan, helping the Jessica ghola restore it to its former glory.

References

  1. ↑ Maslin, Janet (December 14, 1984). "Movie Review: Dune (1984)". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Stasio, Marilyn (December 3, 2000). "COVER STORY: Future Myths, Adrift in the Sands of Time". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Herbert, Frank (1965). Dune.
  4. ↑ Herbert, Frank (1969). Dune Messiah.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. (1999–2001). Prelude to Dune.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Snider, John C. (August 2007). "Audiobook Review: Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson". SciFiDimensions.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  7. 1 2 Touponce, William F. (April 1988). Frank Herbert. Twayne Publishers imprint, G. K. Hall & Co. pp. 102–103. ISBN 0-8057-7514-5.
  8. ↑ Earlier in Chapterhouse Dune, Scytale notes that Tleilaxu Masters control their creations through a secret whistle language.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Herbert, Frank (1985). Chapterhouse: Dune.
  10. ↑ Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. (2006). Hunters of Dune.
  11. ↑ Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. (2007). Sandworms of Dune.
  12. ↑ "Audio excerpts from a reading of Dune by Frank Herbert". Usul.net. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Herbert, Frank (1976). Children of Dune.
  14. 1 2 Herbert, Frank (1965). "Appendix IV: The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected Excerpts of the Noble Houses): SHADDAM IV". Dune.
  15. ↑ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Appendix IV: The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected Excerpts of the Noble Houses): COUNT HASIMIR FENRING". Dune.
  16. ↑ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Appendix I: Ecology of Dune". Dune.
  17. ↑ Herbert, Frank (1981). God Emperor of Dune.
  18. 1 2 Herbert, Frank (1984). Heretics of Dune.
  19. ↑ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Appendix IV: The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected Excerpts of the Noble Houses): GLOSSU RABBAN". Dune.
  20. ↑ The following epigraph appears in Dune: "YUEH (yü'e), Wellington (weling-tun), Stdrd 10,082-10,191; medical doctor of the Suk School (grd Stdrd 10,112); md: Wanna Marcus, B.G. (Stdrd 10,092-10,186?); chiefly noted as betrayer of Duke Leto Atreides. (Cf: Bibliography, Appendix VII [Imperial Conditioning] and Betrayal, The.)—from Dictionary of Muad'Dib by the Princess Irulan."
  21. ↑ Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. (August 2007). Sandworms of Dune. Tor Books. p. 112. ISBN 0-7653-1293-X.
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