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Description edit see section history

Paul Atreides, genetically bred and trained to become the leader of his planet, is still subject to human frailties. The second book of the series.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Paul Atreides: Son of Duke Leto Atreides. The emperor of Arrakis
  • Duke Leto Atreides: Head of House Atreides. Paul's Father.
  • Lady Jessica: Bene Gesserit. Concubine of the Duke. Paul and Alia's mother.
  • Chani: Paul's Fremen wife.
  • Stilgar: Fremen Naib (chieftain); Stilgar is a death commando.
  • Edric: A steersman with the Guild; in order to maintain his prescient powers he has to live in a tank pumped full of spice-infused gas.
  • Duncan Idaho: The Duke's Swordmaster and Paul's friend.
  • Bijaz: A Tleilaxu dwarf.
  • Scytale: Tleilaxu Face Dancer
  • Korba: A chief Qizarate priest
  • Princess Irulan: the Emperor Shaddam's eldest daughter and heir, also a historian. Paul's wife, by title alone, and key to the throne.
  • Farok: Fedaykin conspirator that plots the overthrow of the Atreides Emperor
  • Alia Atrides: Paul's youger sister. Also known as 'Alia of the Knife'.
  • Mahdi: A term used to describe Paul as he fits the description of a fremen prophecy.
  • Qizara: Add a description of this character.
  • Dhuri
  • Zensunni: A specific form of ideology.
  • Paul Emperor: Paul Atreides
  • Baron Harkonnen: The fat leader of the Harkonnen family. First name Vladimir.
  • Tleilaxu: A xenophobic society. Specialize in selling biological products such as gholas and replacement body parts like eyes.
  • Fedaykin Tandis
  • Bannerjee
  • Lichna
  • Otheym
  • Gurney Halleck: One of the most talented swordsmen in the galaxy and one of the trainers of young Paul Atreides. Now one of his advisers in the Empire.
  • Gaius Helen Mohiam: The head of the Bene Gesserit. A very old, and very powerful woman.
  • Jamis
  • Paul Muad ' Dib: Emperor of the known universe, center of the Fremen jihad that kills billions, and would be messiah of humanity in an attempt to save them from themselves.
  • Hayt: A ghola, or clone, of Duncan Idaho.
  • Liet-Kynes: Father of Chani. A scientist who studied Dune's ecology.
  • Rajifiri
  • Bene Gesserit: A faction of "witches." They are mysterious and powerful. They are in the business of genetics.
  • Harah
  • Ghanima: Daughter of Paul and Chani, twin sister of Leto II.
  • Atreides Emperor
Show all 35 characters
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Setting & Locations edit see section history

Organizations edit see section history

  • Bene Gesserit: Secretive and powerful matriarchal order whose members possess extraordinary physical and mental powers.
  • Fremen: The free tribes of Arrakis, dwellers in the desert.
  • Sardaukar: are the soldiers of House Corrino who rules the known universe at the time of Dune. Until Paul Atreides organizes the Fremen on Arrakis, they are the foremost soldiers in the universe and are feared by all. The Sardaukar are the key to House Corrino's hold on the Imperial throne.
  • The Spacing Guild: The Spacing Guild has an ability monopoly on interstellar travel: with the use of melange, guild navigators are the only beings capable of piloting the massive Guild Heighliners safely through space.

First Sentence edit see section history

Muad'dib's Imperial reign generated more historians than any other era in human history.

Glossary edit see section history

  • Bene Gesserit: Secretive and powerful matriarchal order whose members possess extraordinary physical and mental powers.
  • Deathstill: Fremen device used to extract all moisture from a living or dead human or creature.
  • Bindu: Relating to the human nervous system, especially to nerv training.
  • Bled: Flat, open desert.
  • Chakobsa: The so called "magic-language", derived in part fromthe ancient Bhotani.
  • Crysknife: The sacred knife of the Frmen on Arrakis. It is manufactured in two forms from teeth taken from the dead sandworms.
  • Erg: An extensive dune area, a sea of sand.
  • Fedaykin: Fremen death commandos.
  • Fremen: The free tribes of Arrakis, dwellers in the desert.
  • Great Mother: The horned goddess, the feminine principle of space.
  • Gom Jabbar: Specific poison needle tipped with metacyenide used by Bene Gesserit Proctors inthe death-alternative test of human awareness.
  • Ibad, Eyes of: Characteristic effect of a diet high in melange wherein the whites a pupils of the eyes turn deep blue.
  • Melange: The "spice of spices", the crop for which Arrakis is a unique source. The spice, chiefly noted for it's geriatric qualities, is mildly addictive when taken in small quantities.
  • Mentat: A class of Imperial citizens trained for supreme accomplishments of logic. "Human computers".
  • Muad'dib: An adapted kangaroo mouse of Arrakis, a creature associated in the Fremen earth-spiritmithology with a design visible on the planet's second moon. This creature is admired by Fremen for it's abillity to survive in the open desert.
  • Ornithopter: Any aircraft capable of sustained wing-beat flight in the manner of birds.
  • Reverend Mother: Originally, a proctor of the Bene Gesserit, one who has transformed an "illuminating poison" within her body, raising herself to a higher state of awareness.
  • Sardaukar: The soldier-fanatics of the Padishah Emperor.
  • Shai-hulud: Sandworm of Arrakis, the "Grandfather of the Desert". They grow to enormous sizes (specimens longer than 400 meters have been seen in the deep desert) and live to great age. Most of the sand on Arrakis is credited to sandworm action.
  • Stillsuit: Body-enclosing gament invented on Arrakis.
  • Voice: That combined training originated by the Bene Gesserit which permits an adept to control others merely by selected tone shading of the voice.
Show all 21 glossary entries

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 2 of 23 in Dune Chronicles. (standard series)

Preceded by Dune, and followed by Children of Dune.

This is book 2 of 19 in Dune. (universe)
This is book 10 of 17 in Dune in Chronological Order. (standard series)

Preceded by Paul of Dune, and followed by The Winds of Dune.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Frank Herbert (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Putnam
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1969
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 256

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3558.E63 D86 2008
  • Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

This is definitely not for children - they would never understand it. It may be good reading for college students. But I think you need several years of life experience to really appreciate the subtlety of this book. There is a powerful message contained in these pages that will unfold with more clarity in the next book (Children of Dune). It's also a vocabulary challenge - many interesting new words await someone who is seeking to expand his/her lexicon.


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