After Paul walked into the desert, he left an Empire stained by his heroism; this created a power imbalance that escalated into political instability in the Padishah Empire. Though Paul used the Fremen jihad to destroy all opposition, he birthed new political tension between House Atreides and Corrino; this hatred seeped into “Children of Dune,” and it placed Paul’s children in a power struggle that would determine the fate of humanity.
Leto II Atreides
Role: Leto II Atreides is the primary protagonist of “Children of Dune.”
Key Info: He is Paul Atriedes’s son and the heir to the throne.
Background: After his mother dies and his father walks into the desert blind, Leto II faces the challenge of seeing himself and his sister through the turbulent political war for the throne.
Personality: Leto II has red hair and blue-in-blue eyes. Born with prescience, Leto II and his sister had an advantage that helped them navigate the power struggle.
Development: After surviving an assassination attempt on his life by Princess Wensicia, Leto II escaped into the desert to find the blind preacher who had arisen and begun talking against the Empire and the blind faith of the Muad’Dib’s followers.
Significance: Leto II Atreides was one of the most crucial characters in the “Dune” series. His tribulations in “Children of Dune” were the stepping stone he needed to become the leader who guided humanity from the path of destruction.
On getting captured by a band of Fremen outlaws, Leto II Atreides is exposed to excess Melange; this causes him to undergo a spice trance. While in his dream-like state, he sees the destruction of humanity and theorizes a plan to save humanity from destruction; he calls it the Golden Path.
After escaping his captors, Leto II Atreides becomes a superhuman by fusing himself with a school of sand trout. He finds the preacher and discovers it is his father, Paul Atreides. Leto II and Paul return to the capital to confront Alia in one last battle. Leto II Atreides succeeds and declares himself the Emperor.
Alia Atreides
Role: Alia, also known as Saint Alia of the Knife, is the primary antagonist in “Children of Dune.”
Key Info: After her brother, Paul Atreides, walks into the desert, Alia becomes the regent of the Padishah Empire.
Background: Alia gradually succumbs to the Abomination; this causes her to become malicious towards Paul’s children, Leto II and Ghanima Atreides.
Personality: Alia is a gorgeous woman with blue-in-blue eyes. She has copper-colored hair and an elvin face like her mother.
Development: After her mother, Jessica, returns to Arrakis, Alia tries to kill her but fails. Jessica escapes and travels out of Arrakis. After a failed assassination attempt on Leto II and Ghanima, Princess Irulan discovers Alia has become a threat and hands Ghanima over to Stilgar for protection.
Significance: Alia is a tragic character who suffered due to her association with her brother, Paul Atreides, the messiah.
Believing that Leto II Atreides is dead, Alia promises Ghanima to Farad’n, hoping she kills him for revenge. However, Leto II returns to the capital with the blind preacher, who Alia had always suspected was her brother.
After Paul and Leto II show up, Ghanima regains her memories. Alia bans all forms of expression throughout the Empire by creating the Mahindate, a fanatically religious organization. Now overpowered by the Abomination, Alia becomes fully possessed by the ego memory of Baron Harkonnen. She kills herself by jumping off a high window.
Ghanima Atreides
Role: Ghanima Atreides is Paul Atreides’s daughter and Leto II’s sister.
Key Info: After Chani’s death, Paul walked into the desert, leaving Ghanima and her brother in the care of Stilgar, Princess Irulan, and Alia.
Background: Alia began succumbing to the Abomination, and soon, she became malicious towards Ghanima Atreides and her brother. After attempting to take Ghanima and her brother’s life, Leto II journeys into the desert to seek out the preacher. Ghanima hypnotizes herself into believing that Leto II is dead.
Personality: Ghanima has blue-in-blue eyes and red hair. Like her brother, she was born with prescience; this gave her enough wisdom to make her an adult.
Development: After she and her brother escape an assassination attempt, Ghanima forces her mind into thinking her brother is dead.
Significance: Ghanima was a start reflection of her mother, Chani, and had her fierceness. Without her, Leto would have never successfully fulfilled his goals.
On discovering Ghanima’s life is in danger, Princess Irulan hands her to Stilgar, who becomes her protector. After Stilgar kills Duncan Idaho, he flees into hiding with Ghanima, but she gets recaptured by Alia. Realizing an opportunity has arisen, Alia promises to give Ghanima to Farad’n Corrino, hoping she kills him as revenge for her brother’s death.
Months later, Leto II and Paul Atreides return to the palace. Leto reveals himself to everyone, and it triggers Ghanima’s memories. Leto II declares himself Emperor and marries Ghanima, while Farad’n becomes her consort.
Paul Atreides
Role: Paul Atreides is the father to the protagonist, Leto II Atreides, and brother to the antagonist, Alia Atreides.
Key Info: After walking into the desert, Paul resurfaces years later as a preacher and begins to talk against the governance of his sister, Alia.
Background: Now a blind man, Paul spreads a new ideology among the Fremen; this upsets the status quo and infuriates Alia.
Personality: Paul is a blind man with a charismatic aura. He commands a presence, and people listen wherever he goes.
Development: Paul’s role as the Blind Preacher portrayed the extent of his fall from grace. It showed how heroes fall and become nothing but shadows of the past.
Significance: Paul’s existence in “Children of Dune” showed the negative side of believing in messiahs. As a hero who fell from grace, his character sounds the bell of doom against religious min control.
Paul rebukes the mixture of law and religion and amasses many followers. His son, Leto II, leaves to find him in the desert, and after they reunite, they head to Arrakeen to save Ghanima. Paul starts preaching against Alia and the religion of the Muad’Dib on reaching the capital; this angers Alia and her priests, who stabbed him to death.
Farad’n Corrino
Role: Farad’n Corrino becomes a crucial supporter of the Atreides.
Key Info: Farad’n Corrino is the son of Princess Wensicia, regent of the House of Corrino, and the grandson of former padishah Emperor Shaddam IV.
Background: After the fall of House Corrino, Farad’n moved to Selusa Secundus, where Jessica trains and influences him.
Personality: Farad’n is a calm-headed young boy who prefers introspection and knowledge gathering to war.
Development: Jessica trains Farad’n, who later becomes a crucial supporter of the Bene Gesserit.
Significance: Without Farad’n, Leto II Atreides would have been unable to consolidate power. His joining the Atreides’s cause sealed Leto II’s rule.
With her training, Farad’n seizes power from his mother and sides with the Bene Gesserit, who promised him Ghanima as his wife. After Leto II becomes the Emperor, he asks Farad’n for the Sardaukar, and in exchange, Farad’n becomes the consort to Ghanima, Leto II’s sister.
Lady Jessica
Role: Lady Jessica is Paul and Alia Atreides’s mother and the grandmother of Leto II and Ghanima.
Key Info: After the death of her husband, Leto Atreides, Jessica returns to Caladan, where she imposes a self-seclusion on herself.
Background: After hearing rumors about her daughter, she returns to Arrakis.
Personality: After 20 years, Jessica is now a full-fledged Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit.
Development: Jessica discovers her daughter succumbed to the Abomination and partners with Duncan Idaho, Alia’s lover.
Significance: Jessica acted as a secret force that aided the Atreides’s rule of the Empire. Without her, Farad’n would have never eventually supported the Atreides, and Leto II might not have ascended the throne.
With Duncan’s help, Jessica evades an assassination and flees to Selusa Secundus. Though she escapes to Selusa Secundus, Jessica leaves behind Gurney Halleck, who joins a band of Fremen outlaws to capture Leto II. Jessica becomes Farad’n’s mentor. After Paul and Alia’s death, Jessica returns to Caladan.
Duncan Idaho
Role: Duncan Idaho works with Jessica to stop Alia Atreides.
Key Info: Duncan is Alia Atreides’s lover and consort. He becomes angry after learning his wife is having an affair with Javid.
Background: After getting killed defending the Atreides from the invasion of the Harkonnens, Duncan gets turned into a Ghola called Hayt.
Personality: Duncan is a good-looking warrior who serves the House Atreides faithfully.
Development: After Alia succumbs to the Abomination, Duncan works with Jessica to keep Leto II and Ghanima Atreides safe from their aunt.
Significance: Duncan was crucial to turning Alia against the Fremen. His actions weakened her control over the Empire’s mightiest warriors.
After recovering his memories, Hayt becomes Duncan again and falls in love with Alia. Discovering she had changed for the worse, he helps Jessica off Arrakis to Selusa Secundus. Duncan later dies as he gets killed by Stilgar, who feels offended by his insult. His demise turns Alia against the Fremen, causing her power to wane.
Stilgar
Role: After Paul became the Emperor of the universe, Stilgar served as a governor and trusted adviser.
Key Info: Stilgar protects Ghanima Atreides from her aunt, Alia Atreides.
Background: Paul places his children in Stilgar, Princess Irulan, and Alia’s care. However, after Alia started succumbing to the Abomination, he feared for the safety of Leto II and Ghanima.
Personality: Stilgar is the Naib of the Sietch Tabr. He is slim-framed and has a black beard.
Development: When Alia succumbs to the Abomination, Princess Irulan hands Ghanima to Stilgar so he can protect her.
Significance: Stilgar was crucial in helping the Atreides twins fight their aunt. Leto II and Ghanima would have never survived Alia’s plots without him.
After the assassination attempt on Leto II and Ghanima fails, Princess Irulan places Ghanima in Stilgar’s care, and when he kills Duncan Idaho, Stilgar flees with Ghanima. Ghanima later gets recaptured by Alia.
Princess Wensicia Corrino
Role: Princess Wensicia Corrino is a primary antagonist in “Children of Dune.”
Key Info: She is Shaddam IV Corrino’s third daughter who became House Corrino’s regent after its fall.
Background: Aggrieved by her father’s dethronement, Wensicia plots against Paul, and when he walks into the desert, she targets his children.
Personality: Wensicia is a power-hungry maniac who went to great lengths to consolidate power, including using children to train laza tigers.
Development: Wensicia tries to make her son Farad’n learn the ways of politics and religious mind control.
Significance: Unknown to Alia, Wensicia used Javid to gain information about House Atreides.
Princess Wensicia almost succeeds in trying to kill Leto II and Ghanima, but they escape. Later, Jessica travels to Selusa Secundus, where she mentors Wensicia’s son, Farad’n, who dethrones his mother to become the leader of the House of Corrino.
Gurney Halleck
Role: Gurney Halleck was the Mentat for Paul’s father, Duke Leto Atreides.
Key Info: After the Harkonnen’s and Corrino’s, Gurney resumed his work as Jessica’s aid.
Background: He returns to Arrakis with Jessica and, on her orders, infiltrates Jacurutu, the Fremen outlaw group that captures Leto II Atreides.
Personality: Gurney is a traditionalist and an incredible fighter. He loves music and is almost undefeatable in combat.
Development: Gurney and Jacurutu force Leto II into a spice trance on Jessica’s orders.
Significance: Without Gurney, Leto II would have never entered a spice trance and formulated the Golden Path.
Gurney was a brave warrior who served House Atreides faithfully. His actions in “Children of Dune” directly impacted Leto’s rise to power.
Namri
Role: Namri was one of the antagonists in “Children of Dune.”
Key Info: He is the Naib of the Sietch Fondak, formerly Sietch Jacurutu.
Background: Namri is the leader of a band of outlaws commonly called water stealers.
Personality: Namri is a fierce Fremen warrior and Javid’s father.
Development: After Namri and Gurney capture Leto II Atreides, they supervise his spice supersaturation; this forces Leto into a spice trance.
Significance: Without Namri, Leto would been unable to fulfil his destiny.
After Leto II Atreides enters spice trance, Gurney learns that Jessica did not order Namri to force-feed Leto spice. He discovered Namri was acting on Alia’s orders. Desperate to save Leto II Atreides, Gurney confronts Namri and kills him in a duel.