ByGraves
Dune is one of those ever-present works of fiction that could be discussed forever, with endless derivations. From its dense themes to its many influences, Dune has maintained this dominance on cultural conversation for many reasons, but none moreso than the journey of its protagonist, Paul Atreides. Or, to be proper, Padishah Emperor Paul Maud’Dib Atreides Usul, Duke of Arrakis, the simultaneous Kwisatz Haderach, Mahdi, and Lisan al-Gaib, son of Bene Gesserit witch and Reverend Mother, Lady Jessica.
It might be said that, while Arrakis is a world borne of ecology and anthropology, Dune is a universe borne of titles and heredity. Much has been said of Paul’s rise to power: of Bene Gesserit plots and visions formed from the Waer of Life, but we don’t want to focus on that. Instead, we want to go through Paul and Jessica’s many titles, in order of acquisition, and how they factor into the narrative.
We will examine how each allowed Paul, at the end of the original Dune book and the most recent movie adaptations, to defeat the Harkonnens and the former Emperor Shaddam IV to become Emperor himself (for better or worse). We will also include Lady Jessica’s titles and names, which proved equally essential to the plan.
Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead. With that out of the way, let’s begin.
The earliest title presented chronologically to either of our two focal characters is that of Bene Gesserit. In Dune, the Bene Gesserit are an elusive organization of all-female witches (yes, Witches) who implant themselves in strategically important positions across the Imperium, often by way of concubineship and reproduction, but also — through the “Missionaria Protectiva” — via cultural and religious implants.
Interestingly, it is from this earliest title that many of the most explicit “powers” in the book come from. From Lady Jessica’s Bene Gesserit training, she is able to:
Each of these powers, as well as the status and knowledge that being a Bene Gesserit confers, are essential to the journey of Paul and Jessica.
Paul Atreides is born from Lady Jessica and Duke Leto Atreides. And, while he is not yet Duke, he is an Atreides. The Atreides — at the start of the story headed by Duke Leto Atreides — are a respected and venerated family, one of the “Great Houses of the Landsraad,” who rule planets and regions under the Padishah Emperor. The Atreides had a reputation of nobility, cunning, and benevolence.
It is hardly a question why the Atreides name is critical to Paul’s mission: after the Harkonnens were dispossessed of Arrakis by the Emperor, the governorship of the planet was granted to the Atreides family. While this was a ruse to ensure the Atreides destruction, Paul was nonetheless able to use this claim as a method to rally support and legitimacy toward his conquest of the planet.
Not only this, but the good name of the Atreides, and the luxuries being a member of a Great House affords, ensured Paul would often be surrounded by loyal servants (such as Duncan Idaho or Gurney Halleck), willing to fight and die to protect him.
From birth, Paul was the Kwisatz Haderach, though this was only confirmed when he was 15 after being subjected to the torturous Gom Jabbar. But what is the Kwisatz Haderach (aside from fun to say)? Well, it is the product of the Bene Gesserit that we discussed before. The careful product of over 10,000 years of cultivated breeding projects between the Great Houses, the Kwisatz Haderach is, essentially, just a male version of a Reverend Mother (the leaders of the Bene Gesserit).
That “just” is doing a lot of heavy lifting, though. Because what a Reverend Mother can do that a regular Bene Gesserit cannot (as we will explore later) is recall the ancestral memories of every female ancestor in their line. This is what gives the Bene Gesserit the abilities to plan over the course of millennia, with a seemingly unbroken chain of plots and heritages, and to recall the ancient works and cultural implantation of the Reverend Mothers which came before.
The thing about the Kwisatz Haderach, though, is that they can remember not only the memories of their female ancestors, but also their male ancestors, forming a complete line back through history. This power gives them a unique perspective, letting them view humanity holistically, which Paul later uses — after embracing his role as the Lisan al-Gaib — to extrapolate from the past in order to find the “narrow path forward,” enabling him to survive and become the Emperor.
A title bestowed by the Padishah Emperor, the Duke of Arrakis is the planetary governor of the most strategically important planet of Dune… Dune itself. Previously, for an unknown amount of generations, the cruel Harkonnens controlled the spice-rich planet, but when the story begins, the Atreides family were given control over the planet. Later, when the Atreides are betrayed and attacked by the Harkonnen forces and the Emperor‘s Sardaukar army at the same time, Paul’s father Leto is killed, thus passing his title of “Duke of Arrakis” (and technically also of Caladan) to Paul.
This title, then, has two purposes for Paul. Firstly, it is a ducal title, meaning that the holder of it is the head of Great House of the Landsraad, giving many privileges (the equivalent to a feudal Duke, in fact). One such luxury is the ability to communicate — though messages delivered with the family’s wax seal — with the Padishah Emperor, which Paul uses to lure the Emperor to Arrakis in order to attack him and the Harkonnens at the same time.
Secondly, Paul uses the title “Duke of Arrakis”, as previously mentioned, to garner support for his cause. Without that title, Paul would have no claim amongst the Landsraad to Arrakis. Without that, the Fremen he encounters halfway through the novel (and at the end of Dune: Part 1 in the movie) would have no reason to keep him alive, even for long enough for him to try to prove that he might be the Mahdi.
A Fremen word meaning, essentially, “messiah”, Paul received this label long before he took on the much-more-official mantle of “Lisan al-Gaib.” He did not apply it himself, instead simply falling into an existing prophecy, created thousands of years prior by the Bene Gesserit‘s Missionaria Protectiva. The word — or at least the prophetic meaning of it — was made specifically for use in a case like Paul’s, where the Kwisatz Haderach (or perhaps other useful person to the Bene Gesserit) would find themselves stranded amongst Fremen culture and in need of protection.
The use of this informal title was relatively minor in comparison to other titles like “Duke“, “Lisan al-Gaib,” and even “Maud’dib,” but it is what allowed Paul to survive his initial encounter with the Fremen. The mere chance that he could be the savior of the Fremen (however that myth was implanted) is what enabled him and Jessica to survive and use the rest of the glut of names in this article.
The Reverend Mother may be a Bene Gesserit concept, but the Bene Gesserit have left their influence all over the galaxy. While we first meet a Reverend Mother in the form of Gaius Mohiam on Calaban, when she tests if Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach. But, when we next see a Reverend Mother, it is within the Fremen, where they have embraced the concept and carried on a lineage of Reverend Mothers in the same way.
When Jessica and Paul come into Sietch Tabr, it is at a fortunate time for them: they come right as the Sietch’s Reverend Mother is dying. Jessica, due to Stilgar’s knowledge and her own, knew that the Fremen prophecy required the mother of the Lisan al-Gaib to be one such a Reverend Mother, and so made sure to step in to fill the dying Reverend Mother’s place.
This had several effects. The most immediate was that the prophetic line was maintained — by becoming a Reverend Mother, Jessica ensured that Paul’s claim toward being Lisan al-Gaib would have legitimacy.
However, Jessica’s trial to become Reverend Mother also required drinking the Water of Life, which granted her the ability to see back through her entire female family line. This also granted her unborn child, Alia, to speak to her in the womb and, later (past the point where we will be analyzing), to develop quickly and become wise beyond her years. Both of these facts Jessica uses to maneuver Paul toward the “narrow path” before he can see it himself.
Every Fremen has a war name and a secret name, which they gain in order to become Fremen. In Paul’s case, he only earns these names after proving himself capable of becoming a Fremen through trial and combat with their enemies, the Harkonnens. After all, the Lisan al-Gaib needs to be Fremen, as part of the prophecy.
The actual names that Paul received — Maud’dib as his war name, Usul as his secret name — are actually of surprisingly little importance to his plan. While they both carry deep thematic relevance to the narrative of Dune, the practical effect that they have for Paul is that the names mean that the Fremen considered Paul to be one of them. Like “Mahdi,” then, both of these names actually serve as something of a connecting point, allowing Paul to slot himself into the prophecy which would, eventually, allow him to claim the title of Lisan al-Gaib.
Technically discovered by Jessica when she became a Reverend Mother and accessed her memories, Dune revealed this connection to Paul later, when he consumes the Water of Life. The discovery in question? That Jessica is the secret daughter of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the main antagonist of Dune and sworn enemy of the Fremen and House Atreides.
The way in which Paul and Jessica both use this information is much more esoteric than the other titles on this list, but no less important: they both use their bloodline in a literal sense to be like Harkonnens. That is, to be cruel, calculated, and uncompromising. Normally, one might assume that bloodline would not inform personality and ability so clearly, until you remember that the reason they both learn of this lineage is because they can access the ancestral knowledge of their Harkonnen family.
In this case, the ability to act like a Harkonnen isn’t just an assertation that Jessica and Paul are willing to be cruel and conniving in order to get what they want, but a literal ability that they have: to access the deep-seated Harkonnen betrayals and knowledge in order to wage war against them, essentially giving them insight into their enemy and allowing them to outplay them.
Perhaps the single most important title in the story — rivalling that of even the Kwisatz Haderach — the Lisan al-Gaib is an invention of the Bene Gesserit, thousands of years prior to Dune. As part of the Missionaria Protectiva, the Bene Gesserit influnced the Fremen over generations in order to create and maintain a prophecy, wherein a chosen person would become the “Lisan al-Gaib,” who would be prophesized to bring paradise to Arrakis and freedom to the Fremen.
Of course, this prophecy was designed to be exploited by the Bene Gesserit: from its stipulations to its predictions, everything about it was tailored to ensure that the Kwisatz Haderach would be able to exploit it to gain power amongst the Fremen. While Paul may have arrived a generation early, this does not prevent him and Jessica from making use of this.
While Paul did leverage the prophecy earlier in the narrative, it is only after he drinks the Water of Life and sees the “narrow path forward” that he fully claims the title of Lisan al-Gaib. Having already been considered mahdi, having his mother be a Reverend Mother, and having joined the ranks of the Fremen as Maud’dib, Paul was able to make a successful case that he was, in fact, the long-fabled Lisan al-Gaib and, using that, he garnered the mass support of the Fremen across Arrakis.
While claiming this title did set into motion events that would end in the deaths of billions, it was essential for Paul to reign victorious on Arrakis.
At the end of the story, Paul uses his many titles and names, one by one, to lay claim to the Imperial throne. It is clear that Paul becomes Padishah Emperor at the end, and one can read into Dune: Messiah to see where that leads, but let’s take this section as a moment to reflect on all that was required for him to get to the point of becoming the supreme Emperor of the entire Imperium in Dune:
What Paul later does with this title of Padishah Emperor, and how he later abandons it and all other titles to take on a different mantle, is an even grimmer story, beyond the scope of the original Dune. But, what can be seen from this exercise, is just how much power names and titles have in Dune.
Almost all of the real, hard power which is obtained (and subsequently critiqued) in Dune and its sequels comes directly from names and their meanings. Whether we are talking about the superhuman abilities that characters possess or the titles that they leverage for the sake of power and control, everything in Dune comes back to a name.
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