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House Atreides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

House Atreides
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

House Atreides /trediz/[1] is a fictional noble family from the Dune universe
created by Frank Herbert. One of the Great Houses of the feudal interstellar empire
known as the Imperium, its members play a role in every novel in the series. It is
suggested within the series that the root of the Atreides line is the mythological Greek
House of Atreus. In Homer's Iliad, the brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus are dubbed
"the Atreides," or, sons of Atreus.

Soldiers of House Atreides, preceded

by the green and black Atreides
family banner.

House Atreides rules the water planet of Caladan, employing noble spirit, just ways and
virtue in its endeavors. Also proficient in war, the family has even developed an Atreides
battle language (in the 1984 film version, this language is presented as a system of hand
signals; the novels also include a spoken language). The colors of House Atreides are green and black, and their symbol is a red
hawk.

Contents
1 The original series
1.1 Dune
1.2 Dune Messiah
1.3 Children of Dune
1.4 God Emperor of Dune
1.5 Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune
2 Prelude to Dune
3 Mythological origins
4 Atreides family tree
5 The Atreides in the Dune games
6 References

The original series

Dune
At the time of the original novel Dune (1965), House Atreides is led by the Duke
Leto Atreides I. His concubine is the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica; she had been
instructed by her order to bear only female children as part of their breeding
program, but out of love for Leto, she bore him a son: Paul Atreides. This
seemingly innocuous choice would drastically change the course of humanity
forever.[2]
A millennia-long feud exists between the Atreides and the decadent House
Harkonnen, who have essentially bought their status while the Atreides are related
to the Emperor by blood.[3] The fact that an Atreides once had a Harkonnen
banished for cowardice in ancient times is still bitterly remembered some 10,000
Paul Atreides, as portrayed by Kyle
years later.[3] The Atreides are lured to the desert planet Arrakis under the
MacLachlan in David Lynch's Dune
pretense of taking over the spice-mining operation there.[2] The spice is the most
(1984).
valuable commodity in the universe it makes interstellar travel possible, extends
life and can unlock dormant abilities in the Bene Gesserit and Arrakis is its only
known source.[2] But Leto and his family are caught in a plot to destroy them, orchestrated by the Baron Harkonnen and Padishah
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Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV himself, who is threatened by Leto's rising power and influence.[2]
An attack on the Atreides, assisted by a Harkonnen traitor in their midst and the Imperial Sardaukar soldier-fanatics, results in
Leto's death. Paul and Jessica flee into the desert and are presumed dead; they find a place with the native Fremen, who believe
Paul is their prophesied messiah, the Mahdi. Jessica gives birth to Leto's daughter, Alia; whom the Bene Gesserit call an
Abomination because Jessica, while still pregnant, underwent the ritual spice agony, thus inadvertently awakening Alia to full
consciousness in the womb. Paul himself decides to go through the spice agony to test whether he may be the Kwisatz Haderach,
and succeeds. As a result of Jessica's earlier choice to have a son, the goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program; the Kwisatz
Haderach was born a generation early, went unnoticed and lived outside of the Sisterhood's control. Soon Paul is able to amass an
army of Fremen, their fierce fighting skills enhanced by training in the Bene Gesserit weirding way. He and his Fremen concubine
Chani have a son they call Leto, but the boy is killed in infancy as the battle for Arrakis intensifies. Now called Muad'Dib, Paul
leads the Fremen forces to victory over the Emperor's Sardaukar on Arrakis, and by threatening the destruction of all spice
production manages to depose Shaddam and ascend the throne in his place.[2]

Dune Messiah
Over a decade later in Dune Messiah (1969), Emperor Paul remains in a political marriage with Shaddam's eldest daughter,
Princess Irulan, and has yet to beget another child with his true love Chani. His rule is threatened by a conspiracy spun by the other
major powers in the Imperium: the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Tleilax, Irulan herself and even some of the Fremen.
All have reasons to resent his stranglehold on the universe and the jihad it has unleashed. Paul lets these plots play out and manages
to keep his Empire intact, but not without a price; he is blinded by the explosion of a stone burner, and Chani dies giving birth to
his only heirs, the twins Leto II and Ghanima. Paul disappears into the desert, in accordance with Fremen custom for the blind,
leaving Alia as Imperial Regent and guardian of his son and daughter.

Children of Dune
In Children of Dune (1976), Leto II and Ghanima are uncertain of the future. Nine
years old but mature beyond their years due to their also being pre-born, the pair
maneuver around the ever-increasing machinations of their aunt Alia, who is slowly
but surely succumbing to Abomination. Alia herself is wary of the Lady Jessica,
returned from Caladan with questionable intentions. The ego-memory of the evil
Baron Harkonnen, Jessica's secret father, seduces Alia from within, promising his
help in fighting off the multitude of ancestral personalities struggling for control.
Soon, however, he himself has possessed her. Alia's subsequent attempt to
eliminate her mother as well as a Corrino plot to assassinate the twins sets
off a Fremen rebellion and puts the religion of Muad'Dib in turmoil. As Leto's eyes
are opened to the Golden Path that will save humanity, a mysterious blind man
known as The Preacher appears to undermine Alia and her priests in the eyes of
Alia Atreides, portrayed by Daniela Amavia
the people. He, of course, is Paul Atreides. Leto sacrifices his humanity and, for the
in the Children of Dune miniseries (2003).
sake of the survival of the human race, chooses to accept transformation into a
sandworm, the fearsome giant beasts of Arrakis which actually control the spice
cycle. He delves into a pool of sandtrout, which form a living skin around him; his resulting body is superhuman, becoming nearly
invulnerable, capable of tremendous speed and possessing the strength of many men. Paul is killed, but Leto's ascension is now
guaranteed. Alia, fully fallen into madness, manages to regain control of her body long enough to leap out a high window to her
death. Leto weds his sister Ghanima in a political union to consolidate power; unable to father children, he instead intends for her
to take Farad'n Corrino as a mate. This union will produce a long bloodline, which Leto will manipulate in his own breeding
program to achieve the goals of his Golden Path.

God Emperor of Dune

Over 3,500 years later, a seemingly-immortal Leto is the title character in God Emperor of Dune (1981). Known as the Tyrant,
he has dominated humanity to a breaking point; he himself has become a full human-worm hybrid, immense in size and physically
more sandworm than human. His breeding program has resulted in the birth of Siona Atreides (daughter of Moneo), who
possesses unique genes that make her invisible to prescience. Ready to let the final stage of his Golden Path play itself out, Leto
allows Siona's plan to assassinate him to unfold. He dies, leaving Siona and the latest Duncan Idaho ghola continue the Atreides
line and pass on Siona's precious genes.

Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune

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Another 1,500 years passes; in the interim, humanity has been thrown into chaos. The breakdown of Leto's empire, severe famine
on many worlds and the introduction of Ixian navigation machines have caused billions of people to leave the settled worlds,
striking off into unknown space in a diaspora known as the Scattering. This resettlement was one of Leto's goals for humanity's
ultimate survival: the exponential growth in human numbers and colonized planets, combined with the dissemination of Siona's
genes which render their bearer invisible to prescience, ensuring humanity's survival by making it impossible for any one force to
track down every human in the universe or to control them all through prescience (which forces the future to happen according to
the vision of the prescient).
In Heretics of Dune (1984), one descendant of Siona Atreides is Miles Teg, renowned commander of the military forces of the
Bene Gesserit, who bears a remarkable resemblance to his ancestor, Duke Leto I. Teg's secret daughter is Darwi Odrade (a
variant on Atreides), a Bene Gesserit sister who eventually becomes Mother Superior of the Sisterhood during their ongoing
struggle with the fierce Honored Matres.
1985's Chapterhouse: Dune finds the Tleilaxu Master Scytale a prisoner of the Bene Gesserit; one of his secret bargaining chips
is a nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia. These cells include those of
Paul Atreides, Duke Leto Atreides and Leto II, Lady Jessica, Chani and other legendary figures.

Prelude to Dune
The prequel trilogy Prelude to Dune (19992001) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J.
Anderson chronicles the upbringing of young Leto I prior to the events of Dune. Son
to Duke Paulus Atreides (born 10,089 A.G.) and Lady Helena (born 10,095
A.G.), Leto makes a lifelong friend in Rhombur Vernius, son of Paulus' own longtime
ally, Earl Dominic of the doomed House Vernius of Ix.
Icy and religious Lady Helena, daughter of Count Ilban of House Richese, is unhappy
with the alliance; Richese and Ix are rivals in the production of complex machinery,
and she believes the Ixians often flout the sacred proscriptions of the Butlerian Jihad,
which prohibit the creation of machines "in the likeness of the human mind." Helena
plots against her husband, hoping to rule through her son; she arranges for a Salusan
bull to be drugged to make it stronger and more savage, knowing that skilled
bullfighter Paulus is set to meet it in the ring. Paulus is killed, and soon Leto's
suspicions of his mother's involvement are proven correct. Preferring to have her
executed, he instead banishes her to the Sisters of Isolation, knowing it is in the best
interest of the people that no one ever knows of her treachery.

The Dukes Atreides

Name

Reign

Miklos Atreides [4]

Unknown

Kean Atreides [5]

Unknown

Paulus Atreides

??? - 10,156 A.G.

Leto Atreides I

10,140 - 10,191 A.G.

Emperor
Paul Atreides

10,191 - 10,209 A.G.

Imperial Regent
Alia Atreides

10,209 - 10,219 A.G.

Leto Atreides II
10,219 - 13,728 A.G.
"The God Emperor"
Abolition of Ducal and Imperial thrones

Mythological origins
In the original novels, House Atreides claims descent from Agamemnon, a son of Atreus, in Greek mythology. The descendants of
Atreus are called "Atreides" (plural "Atreidai", Latinized as "Atreidae") in the Greek language. This royal house included many
significant figures in Greek myth.
In the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson Legends of Dune novels, the Atreides family line goes back to the Greeks on Old Earth.
Vorian Atreides was the thirteenth son of the Titan Agamemnon, one of the twenty Titans who conquered the Old Empire, and
was a Human Trustee in Omnius' Machine Empire. He began the family house of the Atreides and was Muad'Dib's ancestor.

Atreides family tree

The following family tree assembles information from Frank Herbert's original novels as well as the prequel series Legends of
Dune, Schools of Dune, and Prelude to Dune.
Atreus

Agamemnon
B. CIRCA 1200
B.C.
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Agamemnon
(Cymek)
(born Andrew
Skouros)
CIRCA 1300 88 B.G.

Leronica
Tergiet
201 - 108
B.G.

Estes Vazz
B. 173 B.G.

Vorian
Atreides
B. 223 B.G.

Karida Julan

Hyla
D. 5 B.G.

Mariella
Atreides
D. 5 B.G.

Kagin Vazz
B. 173 B.G.

Bonda
Atreides

House
Vernius

Helmina
Berto-Anirul
D. 115 B.G.

Clar Atreides

House
Richese

Yvette Hagal
10,024 10,075 A.G.

Miklos
Atreides

Kean Atreides

Ilban Richese

Paulus
Atreides
10,089 10,156 A.G.

Kailea
Vernius
D. 10,174
A.G.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Atreides

Andros
D. 5 B.G.

Leto Atreides
I
10,140 10,191 A.G.

Raquella
Berto-Anirul
B. 137 B.G.

House
Corrino

Arlett

Elrood
Corrino IX
9,999 10,156 A.G.

Dorotea

Edwina
Corrino
10,070 10,123 A.G.

Helena
Richese
B. 10,095
A.G.

Oren Atreides

House
Harkonnen

Bene
Gesserit

Vladimir
Harkonnen
10,110 10,193 A.G.

Tanidia Nerus
(Gaius Helen
Mohiam)
D. 10,207
A.G.

Lady Jessica
10,154 10,256 A.G.

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Victor
Atreides
10,168 10,174 A.G.

Paul Atreides
10,176 10,219 A.G.

Leto Atreides
(10,193 10,195 A.G.)

Leto Atreides
II
10,207 13,728 A.G.

D.

Chani
10,207
A.G.

Alia Atreides
10,191 10,219 A.G.

Ghanima
Atreides
B. 10,207
A.G.

Farad'n
Corrino
B. 10,198
A.G.

Moneo
Atreides
13,61013,728 A.G.

Duncan Idaho

Siona
Atreides

Miles Teg

Darwi Odrade

The Atreides in the Dune games

House Atreides has been featured in all of the Dune computer games:

Emblem of House Atreides from

Emperor: Battle for Dune.

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Game
Dune

Notes
The game casts the player as Paul Atreides, with the goal of driving the
Harkonnens out of spice management.
- House Atreides' color is blue in this game, green being taken by House
Ordos.

- House Atreides' special weapon, the Sonic Tank is a powerful fighting

vehicle. Although it has only medium armor and slow moving speed, its sonic
oscillator fires heavy sonic shockwaves to long distances, being particularly
effective against infantry and structures. The sonic waves damage everything
Dune II in their path, therefore the Sonic Tank must be used with caution.
- The native population of Dune, the Fremen are fighting alongside House
Atreides. Groups of Fremen troopers may be called from time to time, they
shall attack any hostile units the player can see. They ignore structures, unless
the player have chosen another house. When Fremen are enemies, they DO
attack buildings as well. - House Atreides can build Ornithopters in their
High-tech Facilities, once it gets upgraded.
- Combat tanks of Atreides design are adequate in both armor and speed.
The Harkonnen version is stronger in armor but slower, whilst the Ordos
version is faster but has less armor.
- When an Atreides High-tech Facility is built, it can be upgraded to provide
airstrikes. The airstrike is free and recharges time to time, it can be ordered
to any location. Three Ornithopters shall arrive, dropping bombs to the target
zone three times. Only Missile tanks and Rocket turrets pose a threat to
them.
Dune
2000

- The Dune 2000 version of the Sonic Tank is a tad different. Its armor is
much stronger, and its speed is also slower. The sonic oscillator it uses has a
slightly shorter range, and the tank has a weak spot right at the front. If an
enemy unit is right in front of the Sonic Tank (at the focal point), it suffers
very little damage.
- Once the Atreides Palace is built, two Fremen can be summoned at once.
Fremen in Dune 2000 are stealth units, they cannot be seen by enemies until
they are next to infantrymen or base defense turrets. Their guns are effective
against vehicles and infantry as well.

Emperor:
The alliance between the Atreides and the Fremen is dissolved, but can still
Battle for
be forged. Atreides are still blue.
Dune
Frank
Cast as Paul Atreides, the player must win the trust of the Fremen on Arrakis
Herbert's
and defeat Baron Harkonnen.
Dune

References
1. ^ Dune: Creating the Audiobooks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL9kkQ6Hw2s) (Official promotional video, includes
images of Frank Herbert's pronunciation notes for some terms). Macmillan Audio. December 23, 2008. Event occurs at 4:04.
Retrieved January 23, 2010.
2. ^ a b c d e Herbert, Frank (1965). Dune.
3. ^ a b Herbert, Frank (1965). Dune. "The Harkonnens won't rest until they're dead or my Duke destroyed. The Baron cannot forget
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that Leto is a cousin of the royal blood no matter what the distance while the Harkonnen titles came out of the CHOAM
pocketbook. But the poison in him, deep in his mind, is the knowledge that an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice
after the Battle of Corrin."
4. ^ Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. Dune: House Harkonnen. "THE STATUE of Leto's paternal great-grandfather, Duke Miklos
Atreides, stood tall in the courtyard of the Cala City Hospital, stained by time and moss and guano. As Leto passed the serene
visage of an ancestor he had never known, he nodded in habitual respect, then hurried up a set of wide marblecrete stairs."
5. ^ Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. Dune: House Atreides. "Faces from his past scrolled across his mind, and he locked on to a
memory of his paternal grandfather Kean Atreides gazing at him with expectation, his face a crease-map of his life experiences.
Gentle gray eyes like his own held a disarming strength that his enemies often overlooked, to their great peril."

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