Lista de personajes de Dune

Dune es una franquicia de ciencia ficción que se originó con la novela homónima de 1965 del autor estadounidense Frank Herbert . Dune es citada con frecuencia como la novela de ciencia ficción más vendida de la historia, ^{[1] [2]} y ganó el Premio Hugo de 1966 ^[3] así como el Premio Nébula inaugural a la Mejor Novela . ^[4] Herbert escribió cinco secuelas antes de su muerte en 1986: Dune Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1976), God Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984) y Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). ^{[5] [6] [7]}

Dune sigue a Paul , el descendiente de la Casa Atreides , mientras su familia se ve envuelta en peligrosas intrigas políticas centradas en el planeta desértico Arrakis , la única fuente conocida de la especia oracular melange , la sustancia más importante y valiosa del universo. La serie abarca 5000 años, centrándose en Paul y luego en sus diversos descendientes.

Dune fue adaptada como película en 1984 , ^{[8] [9]} y nuevamente en dos partes, las películas Dune (2021) y Dune: Part Two (2024). ^{[10] [11]} Además, la novela fue adaptada como miniserie de televisión en 2000 , ^{[12] [13]} y las dos primeras secuelas también fueron adaptadas como una sola miniserie en 2003. ^[14]

Desde 1999, el hijo de Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, y el autor de ciencia ficción Kevin J. Anderson han publicado 15 novelas precuelas , recopiladas en las series Preludio a Dune (1999-2001), Leyendas de Dune (2002-2004), Héroes de Dune (2008-2023), Grandes escuelas de Dune (2012-2016) y La trilogía de Caladan (2020-2022). También han publicado dos novelas secuelas: Cazadores de Dune (2006) y Gusanos de arena de Dune (2007), que completan la serie original. ^[15]

En Dune , Paul es el hijo adolescente y heredero del duque Leto Atreides y Lady Jessica , cuya familia se ve envuelta en peligrosas intrigas políticas centradas en el inhóspito planeta desértico Arrakis , única fuente conocida de la especia oracular melange , la sustancia más importante y valiosa del universo. Paul ha sido entrenado por su padre y varios asistentes Atreides en la lucha y el arte de la guerra, y por su madre en algunas de sus disciplinas Bene Gesserit . Paul también posee habilidades proféticas florecientes , que se desbloquean aún más por la exposición ineludible a la melange en Arrakis. La Casa Atreides pronto es traicionada y dispersada, con Leto asesinado, sus fuerzas devastadas y Paul y Jessica obligados a huir al desierto abierto. Son acogidos por los nativos Fremen , una población secreta de feroces luchadores que prosperan a pesar de la escasez de agua y la presencia de agresivos gusanos de arena gigantes . Paul se alza para liderar las fuerzas Fremen de todo el planeta contra el dominio imperial sobre Arrakis, finalmente tomando el control del planeta y deponiendo al Emperador Padishah Shaddam IV . En Dune Messiah , el imperio de Paul se ve desafiado por las conspiraciones de varias facciones que esperan destruirlo, mientras que una yihad en su nombre se desata en todo el universo. Children of Dune encuentra a los herederos de Paul tratando de mantener el imperio ya en decadencia que ha abandonado.

Paul es interpretado por Kyle MacLachlan en la adaptación cinematográfica de 1984 Dune , ^[8] y por Alec Newman en la miniserie de 2000 Frank Herbert's Dune ^[13] y su secuela de 2003, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune . ^[16] El personaje es interpretado por Timothée Chalamet en la película de 2021 Dune ^[17] y su secuela, Dune: Part Two (2024). ^[18]

En Dune , Lady Jessica es la concubina del duque Leto y la madre de su hijo Paul y su hija Alia . Jessica es una de las Bene Gesserit, una orden matriarcal secreta que logra habilidades sobrehumanas a través del condicionamiento físico y mental y el uso de la droga melange. Instruida por la Bene Gesserit para concebir primero una hija con Leto para promover el programa de reproducción de siglos de la orden , ella desobedeció por amor a Leto y le dio un hijo. Este paso en falso aparentemente menor pone al linaje de los Atreides en un curso de colisión con eventos que finalmente cambiarán el destino del universo. Embarazada de Alia, Jessica huye al desierto con Paul mientras la Casa Atreides es prácticamente destruida por las fuerzas del malvado barón Vladimir Harkonnen . Al encontrar refugio con los nativos Fremen, ella y Paul aprovechan las leyendas plantadas allí por la ingeniería religiosa Bene Gesserit, presentándose como el mesías profetizado y su madre. Jessica se somete a la versión Fremen del ritual de agonía de las especias Bene Gesserit , convirtiéndose en una Reverenda Madre y desbloqueando la Otra Memoria , las personalidades y recuerdos de todas sus antepasadas femeninas. Pero al hacerlo mientras está embarazada, Alia, que aún no ha nacido, se ve sometida a una avalancha de conciencia aumentada para la que su frágil conciencia no está preparada. Jessica regresa a Arrakis en Children of Dune y reconoce que Alia, que sirve como regente de los hijos gemelos de Paul y Chani, Leto II y Ghanima, ha sucumbido a los peligros de su nacimiento único y ha sido poseída. Jessica escapa de un intento de asesinato por parte de Alia y entrena a Farad'n, el nieto de Shaddam IV, en el camino Bene Gesserit.

Lady Jessica es interpretada por Francesca Annis en la película de 1984. ^[8] Saskia Reeves interpreta el papel en la miniserie de 2000, ^[13] y es reemplazada por Alice Krige en su secuela de 2003. ^[16] Rebecca Ferguson interpreta a Jessica en la película de 2021 ^[17] y su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

El duque Leto Atreides es el gobernador planetario del planeta oceánico Caladan , que se hace cargo de las lucrativas operaciones de extracción de especias en el planeta desértico Arrakis a instancias del emperador Padishah Shaddam IV. Sabiendo que se trata de una especie de trampa, pero incapaz de rechazar la tarea, Leto busca proactivamente una alianza con los nativos Fremen, un pueblo templado por las duras condiciones del planeta que Leto se da cuenta de que son un recurso subestimado y sin explotar. Lo acompañan a Arrakis su concubina Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica, de quien está enamorado pero con quien no se ha casado para permitir la posibilidad de un matrimonio políticamente ventajoso, y su hijo y heredero, Paul. Amenazado por la creciente influencia de Leto entre la asamblea de familias nobles del Landsraad , Shaddam se ha alineado con el enemigo de Leto, el barón Harkonnen. Los Harkonnen, secretamente respaldados por los feroces guerreros Sardaukar de Shaddam y ayudados por el médico personal de Leto, el doctor Suk Wellington Yueh, lanzan un ataque que devasta las fuerzas de los Atreides. Leto es tomado prisionero por el Barón y muere al intentar matarlo.

El personaje ha sido descrito como "regio y condenado", ^[19] y "cálidamente protector pero demasiado vulnerable". ^[20]

Leto es interpretado por Jürgen Prochnow en la película de 1984. ^[8] Ben Sherlock de Screen Rant calificó a Prochnow de "fascinante" en el papel, con "una presencia imponente en la pantalla" que "aportó un poco más de agallas" que las representaciones posteriores. ^[21] William Hurt interpreta a Leto en la miniserie de 2000. ^[13] Hurt fue el primer actor en ser elegido para la adaptación de 2000. Fanático de la novela, le dijo a The New York Times : "Yo era un adicto a la ciencia ficción... [El director John Harrison ] capturó la reflexión profética de Herbert sobre nuestra propia época, donde los estados-nación compiten con la nueva economía global y sus elementos corporativos". ^[13] Emmet Asher-Perrin de Tor.com escribió que Hurt "aporta una cierta calma reservada que funciona para el personaje". ^[22] Leto es interpretado por Oscar Isaac en la película de 2021. ^[17] Chaim Gartenberg de The Verge escribió: "Isaac exuda un sentido de honor justo, y es fácil ver por qué sus hombres lo seguirían a un mundo desértico y olvidado y por qué cae tan profundamente en las trampas políticas". ^[23]

En 2020, Funko produjo una figura de Duke Leto como parte de su línea POP! Television. Es una figura de vinilo de 4,5 pulgadas (11 cm) en estilo chibi japonés , que representa a Leto con armadura y está inspirada en la película de Denis Villeneuve de 2021. ^[24]

Leto también es un personaje principal en las trilogías de precuelas Preludio a Dune y La trilogía de Caladan de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson . En Preludio a Dune , la madre del joven Leto, Helena , hace que su padre, el experto torero Duke Paulus Atreides , sea asesinado por un toro salusano drogado para poder gobernar Caladan como regente de Leto. Él exilia a su madre a un convento lejano para evitar el escándalo de una ejecución pública, y como duque toma a Kailea Vernius del planeta industrial Ix como su concubina. Tienen un hijo, Victor, pero se distancian, y el resentimiento y las inseguridades de Kailea aumentan. Amenazada por la atracción de Leto por la acólita Bene Gesserit Jessica, Kailea intenta matarlo, pero en el accidente que sigue su hermano Rhombur resulta gravemente herido y Victor muere. Kailea se suicida y Leto toma a Jessica como su concubina. Aunque la Bene Gesserit le ha ordenado que le dé una hija a Leto, Jessica concibe intencionadamente el hijo que desea, Paul. Leto se rodea de personas leales y capaces, y llega a ser conocido como un político eficaz, un estadista justo y equitativo, y un líder capaz de su pequeño ejército. El nuevo emperador Padishah, Shaddam IV, admira a Leto y lo detesta como rival político. La victoria militar de Leto sobre las fuerzas tleilaxu que ocupan Ix, y su papel en la posterior censura política de Shaddam, le aseguran a Leto un enemigo vengativo en el emperador.

El barón Vladimir Harkonnen es el despiadado y astuto líder de la Casa Harkonnen, enemigos de la Casa Atreides desde hace siglos. La intención del barón de exterminar a la línea de los Atreides parece estar cerca de concretarse cuando el duque Leto es atraído a Arrakis con el pretexto de hacerse cargo de la lucrativa operación minera de especias que allí se encontraba, anteriormente controlada por los Harkonnen. El barón ha obligado al propio médico de Leto, el confiable doctor Suk Wellington Yueh, a ser su agente en la casa de los Atreides. Yueh desactiva los escudos protectores que rodean el palacio de los Atreides y las fuerzas Harkonnen (complementadas en secreto por los aparentemente imparables guerreros imperiales Sardaukar) atacan. Yueh le da a Leto, que está cautivo, los medios para asesinar al barón, quien sobrevive al intento mientras Leto muere. Tras escapar al desierto y luego ser dado por muerto, el hijo de Leto, Paul, le revela a su madre, Lady Jessica, que el barón es su padre. El plan de sucesión del Barón es instalar a su carismático pero letal sobrino más joven, Feyd-Rautha , como gobernante de Arrakis después de un período de mal gobierno tiránico por parte de su brutal sobrino mayor, Glossu Rabban, haciendo que Feyd parezca ser el salvador del pueblo. Una crisis en Arrakis comienza cuando el misterioso Muad'Dib emerge como líder de las tribus nativas Fremen, uniéndolas contra el gobierno de Harkonnen. Finalmente, una serie de victorias Fremen contra Rabban amenazan con interrumpir el comercio de la especia, atrayendo la atención del propio Shaddam IV. El emperador llega a Arrakis con varias legiones de sus Sardaukar, y él y el Barón se sorprenden al descubrir que el señor de la guerra Fremen Muad'Dib es en realidad Paul Atreides. Los Fremen, previamente subestimados por los Harkonnen, superan a las fuerzas imperiales y de los Harkonnen gracias a la estrategia militar de Paul, su propia ferocidad y su capacidad para utilizar las tormentas de arena y los gusanos de arena gigantes de Arrakis en su beneficio. La hermana de Paul, Alia, de cuatro años pero nacida como una Reverenda Madre Fremen completamente consciente, le revela al Barón que él es su abuelo antes de matarlo con una aguja envenenada llamada gom jabbar .

En Children of Dune , Alia sucumbe a los peligros de su nacimiento único y es poseída por la personalidad del difunto Barón Harkonnen. Mientras él promete su ayuda para sofocar la multitud de otras voces ancestrales que la asaltan, Alia gradualmente cede el control de sí misma al Barón y desciende a la depravación y a una sed de poder que seguramente destruirá el imperio Atreides desde adentro. Finalmente, al darse cuenta de que la conciencia de Harkonnen ha superado sus habilidades para contenerlo, Alia se suicida.

El barón Harkonnen es interpretado por Kenneth McMillan en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Ian McNeice en la miniserie de 2000 ^[13] y su secuela de 2003. ^[16] Stellan Skarsgård interpreta al personaje en la película de 2021 ^[17] y su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

Chani es la hija de Liet-Kynes, el planetólogo imperial de Arrakis, y su esposa Fremen, Faroula. En Dune , Paul Atreides ve a Chani en sus sueños proféticos antes de que su familia se mude de Caladan a Arrakis. Más tarde, Paul y su madre Jessica huyen del ataque Harkonnen que mata a su padre y devasta las fuerzas de los Atreides, y son acogidos a regañadientes por una tribu de los habitantes nativos del desierto del planeta, los Fremen. Chani, una feroz guerrera, es asignada para proteger y guiar a Paul en las costumbres Fremen. Pronto se convierten en amantes, y Paul, ahora conocido como Muad'Dib, se alza como líder militar y religioso entre los Fremen. Su rebelión contra los Harkonnen se intensifica, y el hijo pequeño de Paul y Chani es asesinado en una incursión Sardaukar. Los Fremen superan a las fuerzas imperiales y Harkonnen gracias a la estrategia militar de Paul, su propia ferocidad y su capacidad para utilizar las tormentas de arena y los gusanos de arena gigantes de Arrakis en su beneficio. Con su control absoluto sobre Arrakis y la especia, Paul depone al emperador Padishah Shaddam IV y se casa con su hija, la princesa Irulan, para asegurar el trono. Jura que Chani siempre será su único amor y la madre de sus hijos.

Doce años después, en Dune Messiah , Paul y Chani siguen sin tener hijos. Irulan, entrenada por la Bene Gesserit y cumpliendo sus órdenes, ha estado alimentando secretamente a Chani con anticonceptivos para evitar que conciba un heredero imperial. La Hermandad está desesperada por recuperar el control de la línea de sangre de Paul para su programa de reproducción y teme el efecto que los genes "salvajes" de Chani puedan tener en su descendencia. Pero cuando Chani comienza una antigua dieta de fertilidad Fremen rica en melange, Irulan pierde su capacidad de interferir y Chani queda embarazada. Chani finalmente descubre no solo el papel de Irulan en su infertilidad, sino también el hecho de que los anticonceptivos han causado un daño permanente y pondrán en peligro su embarazo. Chani intenta matar a Irulan, pero Paul lo prohíbe. En secreto, está algo agradecido a Irulan, ya que ha visto a través de su presciencia que el parto traerá la muerte de Chani, por lo que Irulan ha prolongado sin saberlo la vida de Chani. Chani muere tras dar a luz a los hijos gemelos de Paul, Leto II y Ghanima. Tras demostrar su capacidad para hacerlo, los tleilaxu ofrecen resucitar a Chani como ghola a cambio del control del imperio, pero Paul se niega. A través de su visión oracular, Paul ha visto que la muerte de Chani durante el parto es mucho menos dolorosa y cruel que sus posibles destinos futuros si hubiera sobrevivido.

Chani es interpretada por la actriz Sean Young en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Barbora Kodetová en la miniserie de 2000 ^[13] y su secuela de 2003. ^[16] Zendaya interpreta al personaje en la película de 2021 ^[17] y su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

Stilgar es el líder Fremen, o naib, del Sietch Tabr . En Dune , el duque Leto Atreides envía a su maestro de la espada, Duncan Idaho , para construir una relación con los misteriosos Fremen nativos de Arrakis, gente templada por las duras condiciones del planeta que Leto se da cuenta de que son un recurso subestimado y sin explotar. Leto le permite a Duncan, impresionado con los Fremen y sus formas, una doble lealtad tanto a los Atreides como a Stilgar. Cuando el hijo de Leto, Paul, y su madre Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica, huyen de un ataque Harkonnen, encuentran refugio con la tribu de Fremen de Stilgar. Paul, que se cree que es su mesías profetizado, llega a ser conocido como Muad'Dib y se eleva como un líder militar y religioso entre los Fremen.

Previamente subestimados por los Harkonnen, los Fremen superan a las fuerzas imperiales y Harkonnen que controlan Arrakis gracias a la estrategia militar de Paul, su propia ferocidad y su habilidad para usar tormentas de arena y gusanos de arena gigantes en su beneficio. En Dune Messiah , Stilgar es un fiel partidario y protector de Paul, y uno de su círculo íntimo de asesores. En Children of Dune , Stilgar es ferozmente leal a los jóvenes herederos de Paul, Leto II y Ghanima, y ​​está en conflicto cuando la regente, la hermana de Paul, Alia, cae en la locura. Duncan manipula a Stilgar para que lo mate, sabiendo que obligará a Stilgar a unirse a la rebelión contra Alia. Más tarde, con Leto presuntamente muerto, Stilgar ayuda a Ghanima y la princesa Irulan a escapar de la tiranía de Alia.

El novelista Brian Herbert , hijo y biógrafo de Frank Herbert, escribió: "Una vez le pregunté a mi padre si se identificaba con alguno de los personajes de sus historias, y para mi sorpresa dijo que era Stilgar, el rudo líder de los Fremen  ... Al reflexionar sobre esto, me di cuenta de que Stilgar era el equivalente a un jefe nativo americano en Dune , una persona que representaba y defendía formas consagradas por el tiempo que no dañaban la ecología del planeta". ^[25]

Stilgar es interpretado por Everett McGill en la película de 1984. ^[8] Uwe Ochsenknecht interpreta el papel en la miniserie de 2000, ^[13] y es sucedido por Steven Berkoff en su secuela de 2003. ^[16] Asher-Perrin llamó a Ochsenknecht "un Stilgar maravillosamente brusco", ^[22] pero luego escribió: "Steven Berkoff es un actor de personajes increíble, pero no hay nada en él que invoque ni remotamente al antiguo líder Fremen. En cambio, al principio se lee como el mayordomo de la familia Atreides antes de pasar al Viejo Perro de Guerra Supremo Británico". ^[26] Javier Bardem interpreta a Stilgar en la película de 2021 ^[17] y su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

En 1984, la compañía de juguetes LJN lanzó una línea de figuras de acción de Dune , inspiradas en la película de David Lynch , que incluía una figura de Stilgar. ^{[24] [27]} McFarlane Toys lanzó una figura de acción articulada de 7" de Stilgar en 2020, inspirada en la película de Denis Villeneuve de 2021. ^[24] En 2022, Super7 lanzó una figura de acción articulada de Stilgar de 3,75" como parte de su línea Dune ReAction, también inspirada en la película de Lynch. ^[24]

La vida temprana de Stilgar se explora en la trilogía de la precuela Preludio a Dune de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson, y es resucitado como un ghola en la conclusión de Brian Herbert/Anderson de la serie original, Sandworms of Dune . El personaje también aparece en las novelas de la precuela Paul of Dune y The Winds of Dune .

Duncan Idaho es el maestro de la espada de la Casa Atreides y uno de los maestros de Paul. En Dune , Leto envía a Duncan a construir una relación con los misteriosos Fremen nativos de Arrakis, personas templadas por las duras condiciones del planeta que Leto se da cuenta de que son un recurso subestimado y sin explotar. Leto le permite a Duncan, impresionado con los Fremen y sus formas, una doble lealtad tanto a los Atreides como a Stilgar, pero luego muere ayudando a Paul y Jessica a escapar de los Harkonnen. Duncan es revivido por la Bene Tleilax como el ghola Mentat Hayt en Dune Messiah , y trabaja con la hermana de Paul, Alia, para desentrañar la conspiración contra los Atreides. Los tleilaxu han programado en secreto a Hayt para seducir a Alia, debilitar psicológicamente a Paul y luego matarlo. El trauma del intento restaura sus recuerdos de ser Duncan. Está casado con Alia en Children of Dune , pero ella ha sucumbido a los peligros de su nacimiento único y ha sido poseída por la personalidad del difunto Barón Harkonnen. A medida que Alia se vuelve más hambrienta de poder e intenta asesinar a su madre Jessica, Duncan se lleva a los hijos de Jessica y Paul, Leto II y Ghanima. Manipula al naib Fremen Stilgar, un leal consejero de los Atreides, para que lo mate, sabiendo que el acto obligará a Stilgar a unirse a la rebelión contra Alia o será ejecutado por ella por necesidad política.

Tres mil quinientos años después, en God Emperor of Dune , una serie de gholas Duncan proporcionados por los tleilaxu han servido al aparentemente inmortal Dios Emperador Leto II Atreides uno tras otro. La mayoría de ellos han sido asesinados por el propio Leto, ya que los Duncan en serie, comprometidos con los Atreides en una época en la que reinaba la justicia, tienden a rebelarse contra la tiranía y la opresión características del gobierno de Leto. El Duncan más nuevo está tan desilusionado como sus predecesores y, después de enamorarse de la embajadora ixiana Hwi Noree (que está comprometida con Leto), se une a la descendiente de los Atreides, Siona, en su complot para asesinar a Leto. Les permite tener éxito y, cuando muere, Leto revela que su plan milenario para la supervivencia definitiva de la humanidad, llamado el Camino Dorado , se ha hecho realidad. Siona y sus descendientes serán invisibles a la vista del profético, y el fin de sus milenios de opresión desencadenará una diáspora masiva de la humanidad que llegará a conocerse como La Dispersión .

Mil quinientos años después, las Bene Gesserit se convierten en consumidoras de los gholas de Duncan en Herejes de Dune y Chapterhouse Dune . La Hermandad sospecha que los tleilaxu han implantado los gholas con algún propósito secreto, y cuando el último Duncan recupera sus recuerdos, acepta. Las Honoradas Matres , una violenta orden matriarcal con la capacidad de esclavizar a los hombres utilizando sus talentos sexuales únicos, han llegado desde los confines más lejanos del universo, causando estragos y destrucción, y aniquilando mundos tleilaxu. Un intento de la Honorada Matre Murbella de imprimir sexualmente a Duncan desencadena el propósito oculto de los tleilaxu: conquistar a las Honoradas Matres utilizando una versión mejor de sus propias técnicas sexuales. Todos los recuerdos de los Duncan anteriores se desbloquean en el actual cuando él y Murbella se imprimen mutuamente. Adictos el uno al otro, están confinados a una no-nave en el mundo natal de las Bene Gesserit, Chapterhouse . Allí, Duncan entrena a otros hombres para esclavizar a las Honoradas Matres, hasta que él y Sheeana escapan en la nave imposible de rastrear.

Duncan es interpretado por Richard Jordan en la película de 1984. ^[8] James Watson interpreta el papel en la miniserie de 2000, ^[28] y es sucedido por Edward Atterton en su secuela de 2003. ^[29] Jason Momoa interpreta a Duncan en la película de 2021. ^[17]

El Dr. Wellington Yueh es un médico Suk y el médico personal de confianza del Duque Leto Atreides. En Dune , el Barón Vladimir Harkonnen tiene la intención de destruir a la Casa Atreides, que ha sido atraída a Arrakis con el pretexto de hacerse cargo de la valiosa operación minera de especias allí. Aunque el Condicionamiento Imperial Suk supuestamente hace que el sujeto sea incapaz de infligir daño, el Barón ha tomado prisionera a la esposa Bene Gesserit de Yueh, Wanna, amenazándola con una tortura interminable a menos que Yueh cumpla con sus demandas. Conscientes del condicionamiento de Yueh y creyendo que Wanna fue asesinada por los Harkonnen, el Mentat Thufir Hawat de Leto y la concubina Lady Jessica están seguros de que el médico no es un espía Harkonnen.

Yueh desactiva los escudos protectores alrededor del palacio de los Atreides en Arrakis, y las fuerzas Harkonnen (secretamente complementadas por los aparentemente imparables guerreros imperiales Sardaukar) atacan. Yueh toma prisionero a Leto, pero deseando matar al Barón desafiando su condicionamiento, Yueh le proporciona al cautivo Leto un diente falso lleno de gas venenoso como un medio para matar al Barón, aunque Leto moriría también. Al entregar a Leto, Yueh confirma su creencia de que Wanna ya está muerto, momentos antes de que el retorcido Mentat del Barón, Piter De Vries, lo mate. El Barón escapa del veneno, que solo mata a Leto y De Vries. El hijo de Leto, Paul, huye al desierto con Jessica, ayudado por los kits de supervivencia que les dejó un compasivo Yueh.

Yueh es interpretado por Dean Stockwell en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Robert Russell en la miniserie de 2000. ^[30] Chang Chen interpreta al personaje en la película de 2021. ^{[31] [32]}

El personaje también aparece en la trilogía de precuelas Preludio a Dune de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson, y resucita como un ghola en Hunters of Dune y Sandworms of Dune , las secuelas de Brian Herbert/Anderson que concluyen la serie original. En Preludio a Dune , un joven Barón Harkonnen consulta con Yueh en busca de una cura para la enfermedad debilitante que lo está volviendo obeso de a poco pero de manera segura. Yueh es consciente de que no existe cura, pero sugiere correctamente que la fuente de la enfermedad puede ser la Bene Gesserit. Los primeros años de Yueh como médico de la Casa Atreides también se exploran en las novelas. En Hunters of Dune , ambientada 5.000 años después de Dune , Yueh resucita como un ghola para ayudar en la próxima batalla final con el "gran enemigo" de la humanidad. En Sandworms of Dune , el final de la serie original, el joven ghola Yueh se ve atormentado por sentimientos de intensa culpa por las acciones del Yueh "original". Aunque aún no posee esos recuerdos, teme repetir esos errores. Los recuerdos de un ghola se restauran al someterlo a un intenso trauma personal, específico para cada individuo, por lo que el gran miedo de Yueh a que le restauren sus recuerdos se convierte en el detonante utilizado por la Bene Gesserit para desbloquearlos. Más tarde, Yueh mata al ghola gestante de Leto, después de haber sido engañado para creer que era De Vries, y finalmente también mata al ghola del barón Harkonnen. Once años después, Yueh vive en el mundo natal original de los Atreides, Caladan, ayudando al ghola Jessica a restaurarlo a su antigua gloria.

La Reverenda Madre Bene Gesserit Gaius Helen Mohiam es la Decidora de la Verdad del Emperador Padishah Shaddam IV y la antigua maestra de Lady Jessica. En Dune , Mohiam somete a Paul Atreides, de 15 años, a una prueba de vida o muerte de su humanidad: se le inflige un dolor insoportable, pero debe ejercer control sobre su instinto de supervivencia y resistirlo, o morirá instantáneamente con una aguja envenenada. Paul pasa la prueba, habiendo sufrido más dolor que nadie antes que él. Mohiam, aunque todavía está furiosa con Jessica por desobedecer la orden de la Hermandad de que tenga una hija para su plan de reproducción, está intrigada por el potencial que ve en Paul y sus nacientes habilidades proféticas. Años después, en Arrakis, Mohiam se ve conmocionada por su encuentro con Alia, la hermana de cuatro años de Paul, quien por desventura había nacido como una Reverenda Madre completamente consciente. Mohiam se alarma aún más por la batalla ritual a muerte entre Paul y el heredero Harkonnen, Feyd-Rautha, que podría resultar catastrófica para el programa de crianza Bene Gesserit sin importar el resultado. Paul sale victorioso del duelo y, al tomar el control de Arrakis, la única fuente de la importantísima especia melange, obtiene un poder insuperable sobre toda la civilización. Al ver la inevitabilidad de la situación que Paul ha orquestado, Mohiam obliga a Shaddam a ceder a las demandas de Paul y cederle el trono imperial.

Doce años después, en Dune Messiah , Mohiam se une a una conspiración para derrocar el gobierno de Paul Atreides que incluye al bailarín facial tleilaxu Scytale, al navegante del Gremio Espacial Edric e incluso a la amargada consorte de Paul, la princesa Irulan, la hija de Shaddam. Paul ha jurado que solo su concubina Fremen, Chani, tendrá hijos con él. Sabiendo que las Bene Gesserit están desesperadas por recuperar el control de su linaje para su programa de reproducción y temen el efecto que los genes "salvajes" de Chani puedan tener en su descendencia, Paul le hace una oferta a Mohiam. A cambio de la seguridad garantizada de Chani y la aceptación por parte de la Hermandad de su decisión de no engendrar herederos con Irulan, Paul ofrece algo de máximo valor: su esperma . Esta es una propuesta complicada para Mohiam, porque la inseminación artificial está prohibida a raíz de la Jihad Butleriana anti-tecnología , y la idea de ello es tan horrible para la Hermandad como la pérdida de los preciados genes Atreides. La conspiración finalmente fracasa, y Paul mata a Scytale. Edric y Mohiam son ejecutados por orden de la hermana de Paul, Alia, a pesar de las instrucciones previas de Paul de perdonarle la vida a Mohiam.

Mohiam es interpretado por Siân Phillips en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Zuzana Geislerová en la miniserie de 2000 ^{[30] [33]} y su secuela de 2003. ^[34] El personaje es interpretado por Charlotte Rampling en la película de 2021 ^[17] y su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

Glossu "Bestia" Rabban es el violento y brutal sobrino mayor del Barón Harkonnen. Es tan cruel y sádico como su tío, pero carece de la inteligencia del Barón. El Barón le encarga a Rabban que gobierne el planeta Arrakis durante un tiempo de la manera más brutal posible, para que cuando su sobrino favorito Feyd-Rautha tome el poder, Feyd sea recibido como un héroe por la población.

Después de que el Barón recupera el control del planeta de los Atreides, Rabban le dice a su tío que los Harkonnen han subestimado lamentablemente tanto la cantidad como la amenaza de la población Fremen allí. Conocido como "la Bestia Rabban" en Arrakis por su agresión y crueldad, su apodo Fremen es " Mudir Nahya ", que se traduce como "Gobernante Demonio" o " Rey Cobra ". Rabban es asesinado por los Fremen y la gente de Arrakeen cuando Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides retoma Arrakis usando fuerzas Fremen.

Travis Johnson de Flicks.com.au describe a Rabban como "el sobrino asesino y notablemente menos maquiavélico del Barón". ^[35] Observando que los personajes de Dune encajan en arquetipos mitológicos, el novelista Brian Herbert, hijo y biógrafo de Frank Herbert, escribe que "Beast Rabban Harkonnen, aunque malvado y agresivo, es esencialmente un tonto". ^[25]

Rabban es interpretado por Paul L. Smith en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por László I. Kish  [de] en la miniserie Dune de 2000. ^[30] El personaje es interpretado por Dave Bautista en la película de 2021 ^[17] y su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

Rabban también aparece en la trilogía de precuelas Preludio a Dune de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson. En la serie, mata a los padres de Duncan Idaho y a la hermana de Gurney Halleck, y se gana el apodo de "Bestia" cuando estrangula a su propio padre.

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen es el carismático pero letal sobrino menor y heredero del barón Harkonnen. En Dune , el barón favorece a Feyd sobre su hermano mayor Glossu Rabban debido a la inteligencia de Feyd y su dedicación a la cultura Harkonnen de sadismo y crueldad cuidadosamente planificados y sutilmente ejecutados, en oposición a la brutalidad absoluta de Rabban. El plan de sucesión del barón es instalar a Feyd como gobernante de Arrakis después de un período de mal gobierno tiránico por parte de Rabban, haciendo que Feyd parezca ser el salvador del pueblo. Al igual que Paul Atreides, Feyd también es el producto de un programa de crianza de siglos organizado por la Bene Gesserit, que planeó criar un hijo Harkonnen con una hija Atreides con la expectativa de que su descendencia tendría una alta probabilidad de ser su súper ser esperado, el Kwisatz Haderach . Por esta razón, la decisión de Lady Jessica de desafiar a la Hermandad y producir un hijo Atreides, Paul, arruinó los planes de la Bene Gesserit y estableció una tensión irreconciliable entre Feyd y Paul como los vástagos de sus casas nobles amargamente opuestas. El riesgo de que uno o ambos de estos jóvenes sean asesinados, destruyendo miles de años de ingeniería genética, es tan grande que la Bene Gesserit envía una enviada, Margot Fenring , para seducir a Feyd y concebir un hijo, rescatando su material genético. Margot también usa una técnica de impronta para condicionar a Feyd para que sea vulnerable al control de la Bene Gesserit en el futuro. También se observa más adelante que el encuentro de Feyd con Lady Fenring produjo una hija. La ambición e impaciencia de Feyd por heredar el título y el poder del barón lo impulsan a intentar el asesinato de su tío. El intento fracasa, lo que lleva al Barón a revelarle a su sobrino los ambiciosos planes que tiene para él, posiblemente incluso para que ascienda al trono como Emperador. El Barón explica que la elevación de la Casa Harkonnen significa más para él que el poder en su propia vida, por lo que si Feyd promete renunciar a cualquier otro intento de asesinato, renunciará voluntariamente y dejará que su sobrino lo suceda, después de que su complot contra el Emperador haya tenido éxito. Feyd está de acuerdo, pero como castigo por el intento de asesinato fallido, el Barón obliga a Feyd a asesinar él solo a todas las esclavas que sirven como sus amantes para que Feyd aprenda el precio del fracaso. Mientras Paul toma el control del importantísimo planeta Arrakis y hace su último intento por usurpar el poder del Emperador Padishah, es desafiado por Feyd, el actual líder Harkonnen después de la muerte del Barón y Rabban. Aunque es famoso por su destreza en el combate singular, Feyd pretende garantizar la victoria rompiendo las reglas formales del kanly.(que gobiernan este tipo de desafío) y usando un espolón venenoso oculto en su equipo de combate. Casi logra matar a Paul en la lucha ritualizada, mientras Paul lucha entre probar la palabra-sonido de parálisis que le dio su madre y deberle la victoria a la Bene Gesserit, o arriesgar su vida contra Feyd en una pelea "justa". Paul logra derrotar a Feyd sin la orden, lo mata y continúa accediendo al trono imperial.

Feyd es interpretado por Sting en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Matt Keeslar en la miniserie de 2000. ^[36] El personaje no aparece en la película de 2021, pero es interpretado por Austin Butler en su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

La princesa Irulan es la hija mayor del emperador Padishah Shaddam IV y la Bene Gesserit Anirul. El personaje sirve como narrador de facto en Dune , con extractos de los escritos posteriores de Irulan utilizados como epígrafes antes de cada capítulo de la novela. En formas como entradas de diario, comentarios históricos, biografía, citas y filosofía, estos escritos marcan el tono y brindan exposición, contexto y otros detalles destinados a mejorar la comprensión del complejo universo ficticio y los temas de Herbert. ^{[37] [38]} En Dune , una rebelión generalizada de los nativos Fremen en Arrakis crea una interrupción en la producción de la importantísima especia melange, lo que lleva a Shaddam y su corte, incluida Irulan, al planeta para imponer el orden. Paul Atreides lidera a los Fremen en una victoria abrumadora sobre las fuerzas combinadas Harkonnen e Imperial Sardaukar y toma el control de Arrakis, la única fuente conocida de la especia. Paul exige que Shaddam le entregue el trono imperial o destruirá toda la producción de especias y hundirá el universo en el caos. Shaddam se enfada ante la sugerencia de Paul de que se case con Irulan, pero ella reconoce inmediatamente la inevitabilidad de la situación que Paul ha orquestado y le dice a Shaddam: "Aquí tienes un hombre apto para ser tu hijo". Una vez que Paul derrota al traicionero Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen en combate singular y el Conde Fenring se niega a cumplir la orden del Emperador de matar a Paul, Shaddam capitula.

Doce años después, en Dune Messiah , Irulan es la consorte y consejera de confianza de Paul, pero él ha jurado que sólo su amada concubina Chani tendrá hijos con él. Sin embargo, Paul y Chani siguen sin tener hijos porque una Irulan resentida, entrenada por la Bene Gesserit y que cumple sus órdenes, ha estado alimentando secretamente a Chani con anticonceptivos para evitar que conciba un heredero imperial. La Hermandad está desesperada por recuperar el control de la línea de sangre de Paul para su programa de reproducción y teme el efecto que los genes "salvajes" de Chani puedan tener en su descendencia. Pero cuando Chani comienza una antigua dieta de fertilidad Fremen rica en melange, Irulan pierde su capacidad de interferir y Chani queda embarazada. Chani finalmente descubre no sólo el papel de Irulan en su infertilidad, sino también el hecho de que los anticonceptivos han causado daños permanentes y pondrán en peligro su embarazo. Chani intenta matar a Irulan, pero Paul lo prohíbe. En secreto, está agradecido a Irulan, ya que ha visto a través de su presciencia que el parto traerá la muerte de Chani, y por eso Irulan, sin saberlo, ha prolongado la vida de Chani. Chani muere al dar a luz a los gemelos Leto II y Ghanima, y ​​un Paul recientemente ciego sigue la costumbre Fremen y deambula solo por el desierto para morir. Al darse cuenta de su amor por Paul, Irulan rompe lazos con la Bene Gesserit y se dedica a sus hijos.

Nueve años después, en Children of Dune , la hermana de Irulan, Wensicia, planea asesinar a Leto y Ghanima para reclamar el poder para la Casa Corrino a través de su hijo, Farad'n. Irulan también sirve como asesora principal de la hermana de Paul, Alia, quien reina como Santa Regente de los gemelos. Irulan intenta servir como guía y confidente de Ghanima, pero a menudo se siente desconcertada por la conciencia adulta que poseen los gemelos como resultado de haber nacido antes y tener acceso a la Otra Memoria. Ghanima se preocupa por Irulan, pero Alia nunca confía en la princesa, debido a la herencia Corrino de Irulan y la creciente paranoia de Alia. Irulan huye al desierto con Ghanima y Stilgar durante la rebelión Fremen contra la tiranía de Alia. Aunque los otros rebeldes son masacrados, Irulan y Stilgar son encarcelados tras su captura y presumiblemente liberados cuando Leto depone a Alia.

Irulan es interpretada por Virginia Madsen en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Julie Cox en la miniserie de 2000 ^[13] y su secuela de 2003. ^[16] El personaje no aparece en la película de 2021, pero es interpretado por Florence Pugh en su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

Shaddam IV de la Casa Corrino es el Emperador Padishah del Universo Conocido, cuyo poder está asegurado por sus ejércitos de feroces guerreros Sardaukar y el control del planeta desértico Arrakis, la única fuente de la importantísima especia melange. En Dune , Shaddam ha concedido al duque Leto Atreides el control de las lucrativas operaciones de extracción de especias en Arrakis, anteriormente gestionadas por la Casa Harkonnen, enemigos de larga data de los Atreides. Leto es consciente de que esta asignación es una especie de trampa, pero no puede negarse. Shaddam se ve amenazado por la creciente influencia de Leto entre la asamblea de familias nobles del Landsraad, y utiliza la disputa centenaria entre los Atreides y los Harkonnen para disfrazar sus movimientos contra Leto. Las fuerzas del barón Vladimir Harkonnen, reforzadas en secreto por el Sardaukar de Shaddam y ayudadas por un traidor en la casa de Leto, lanzan un ataque que devasta a las fuerzas de los Atreides. Leto es asesinado, y su concubina Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica, y el heredero Paul huyen al desierto y son dados por muertos en una tormenta de arena.

Años después, una rebelión de los nativos Fremen en Arrakis crea una interrupción en la producción de la importantísima especia melange, lo que lleva a Shaddam y su corte al planeta para imponer el orden. Paul Atreides está vivo y se ha alzado como líder militar y religioso entre los Fremen. Los lidera en una victoria abrumadora sobre las fuerzas combinadas de Harkonnen e Imperiales y toma el control de Arrakis. Paul exige que Shaddam le entregue el trono Imperial o destruirá toda la producción de especia y hundirá el universo en el caos. Shaddam se resiste, pero se ve obligado a capitular después de que Paul derrote a Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen en combate singular, y el Conde Fenring se niega a la orden de Shaddam de matar a Paul. Paul tiene la intención de tomar a la hija de Shaddam, la Princesa Irulan, como su consorte, y exiliar a Shaddam.

Shaddam es descrito como "pelirrojo" por Irulan a través de un epígrafe en Dune , y se señala que tiene 72 años, aunque no parece mayor de 35. Es hijo de Elrood IX y el 81.º miembro de la Casa Corrino en ocupar el Trono del León Dorado. Shaddam tiene cinco hijas (las princesas Irulan, Chalice, Wensicia, Josifa y Rugi) y ningún hijo legal con su esposa Anirul, una Bene Gesserit de rango oculto. Su amigo más cercano es el asesino Conde Fenring, primo y compañero de la infancia.

Shaddam es interpretado por José Ferrer en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Giancarlo Giannini en la miniserie de 2000. ^[39] Giannini también se dobló a sí mismo en la versión italiana de la miniserie. ^[40] El personaje no aparece en la película de 2021, pero es interpretado por Christopher Walken en su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

Shaddam también aparece en varias series de precuelas de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson: Preludio a Dune , Héroes de Dune y La trilogía de Caladan . En la trilogía Preludio a Dune , Shaddam está ansioso por suceder a su padre Elrood IX como Emperador Padishah, pero a pesar de su avanzada edad Elrood no muestra signos de mala salud. Shaddam finalmente le encarga a su viejo amigo y secuaz Fenring que administre a Elrood un veneno indetectable y de acción lenta. Shaddam había sido previamente cómplice del asesinato de su hermano mayor, el Príncipe Heredero Fafnir , y había administrado anticonceptivos en secreto a su propia madre, Habla , para que no pudiera concebir otro hijo que rivalizara con él. Elrood finalmente muere, y Shaddam asegura su trono pagando al Gremio Espacial con un suministro de la especia y organizando su propio matrimonio con una Bene Gesserit. Esta unión con Lady Anirul Sadow-Tonkin da como resultado cinco hijas, pero ningún hijo.

Gurney Halleck es el Señor de la Guerra del Duque Leto Atreides, entrenado por "los mejores luchadores del universo", quien a su vez ha entrenado al hijo y heredero de Leto, Paul, en el combate cuerpo a cuerpo . Gurney, Duncan Idaho y el Mentat Thufir Hawat sirven a Leto como un consejo de guerra sin igual en el Imperio. Gurney también es un talentoso trovador . En Dune , Gurney y 73 de sus hombres sobreviven al ataque de los Harkonnen que devasta las fuerzas de los Atreides, y se unen a los contrabandistas de especias locales para sobrevivir. Gurney y su equipo caen en una trampa Fremen (un falso tesoro de especias) y casi mueren antes de que Paul, ahora el líder Fremen "Muad'Dib", lo reconozca. Gurney casi mata a Jessica, creyendo erróneamente que traicionó a Leto, pero luego se convierte en su leal oficial jefe. En Children of Dune , Gurney regresa a Arrakis con Jessica y coordina una purga de disidentes con el líder Fremen Stilgar. Gurney sigue lo que cree que son las órdenes de Jessica de realizar una prueba al hijo de Paul, Leto II, para asegurarse de que no haya sido superado por sus recuerdos ancestrales. Al enterarse de que la prueba en realidad fue ordenada por la hermana de Paul, Alia, Gurney escapa y envía un mensaje a Duncan para iniciar su plan para obligar a Stilgar a unirse a la rebelión contra Alia. Gurney huye a un sietch rebelde y se une a Leto II y al misterioso Predicador, que en realidad es un Paul ciego. Después de que Leto II regresa a Arrakeen y recupera el trono de Alia, Gurney es asignado al Sietch Tabr como parte del consejo de Stilgar.

Gurney es interpretado por Patrick Stewart en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por PH Moriarty en la miniserie de 2000 ^[30] y su secuela de 2003. ^[29] El personaje es interpretado por Josh Brolin en la película de 2021 ^[17] y su secuela de 2024. ^[18]

El conde Hasimir Fenring es el amigo y consejero más cercano del emperador Padishah Shaddam IV, y esposo de la Bene Gesserit Lady Margot . Antes de los eventos de Dune , Fenring se desempeña como Ministro Imperial de Especias en Arrakis durante el régimen de los Harkonnen, y luego como Gobernador de Arrakis durante el período de transferencia entre la Casa Harkonnen y la Casa Atreides. En Dune , los Harkonnen, ayudados en secreto por los feroces guerreros Sardaukar de Shaddam, destruyen las fuerzas de los Atreides y recuperan el control de Arrakis. Fenring y Margot visitan el mundo natal de los Harkonnen, Giedi Prime , donde el Conde informa al Barón Harkonnen que Shaddam está disgustado con la forma en que se manejó la invasión de Arrakis y está frustrado por el fracaso del Barón en suprimir a la disruptiva población nativa Fremen. Fenring también está allí en nombre del Emperador para evaluar al heredero Harkonnen, Feyd, lo que irrita al Barón. Margot también está observando a Feyd para la Bene Gesserit, que lo considera una parte importante de su programa de reproducción. Fenring está impresionado con Feyd, pero lamenta su crianza entre los brutales Harkonnen. Más tarde, Paul Atreides lidera a los Fremen en una victoria abrumadora sobre las fuerzas combinadas de los Harkonnen y el Imperio y toma el control de Arrakis. Paul exige que Shaddam le entregue el trono imperial o destruirá toda la producción de especias y hundirá el universo en el caos. Shaddam se resiste, y Fenring, un luchador mortal y asesino rumoreado, es convocado y se le ordena matar a Paul. Él se niega, consciente de que Paul representa el éxito del programa de reproducción de la Bene Gesserit del que el propio Fenring es un fracaso. Paul depone a Shaddam y los Fenring se unen al ex emperador en el exilio.

Fenring no aparece en la película de 1984, pero es interpretado por Miroslav Táborský en la miniserie de 2000. ^[31]

Margot, Lady Fenring, es la esposa Bene Gesserit del Conde Hasimir Fenring. Aunque el Conde es amigo íntimo y consejero del Emperador Padishah Shaddam IV, la principal lealtad de Margot es hacia la Hermandad. En Dune , el Duque Leto Atreides es atraído al planeta desértico Arrakis con el pretexto de hacerse cargo de la lucrativa operación minera de especias allí, pero la asignación es parte de un complot de Shaddam y el Barón Vladimir Harkonnen para destruir a los Atreides. Margot deja un mensaje codificado para la concubina Bene Gesserit de Leto, Lady Jessica, advirtiéndole que los Atreides, especialmente el hijo de Leto y Jessica, Paul, están en peligro inminente por parte de los Harkonnen, y la alerta sobre la existencia de un traidor en la casa de los Atreides. Paul evade una trampa tendida para él, pero un ataque devastador de los Harkonnen deja a Leto muerto y obliga a Paul y Jessica a huir al desierto. Debido a las duras condiciones y a una tormenta de arena que se aproxima, pronto se los presume muertos. Margot es enviada por la Bene Gesserit para seducir a Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen y para "preservar el linaje" recuperando su material genético, a través de la concepción, para su programa de reproducción. Más tarde, ella da a luz a la hija de Feyd. Margot también usa una técnica de impronta para condicionar a Feyd para que sea vulnerable al control de la Bene Gesserit en el futuro. Paul y Feyd luego se baten a muerte, y Paul sale victorioso sin usar el comando implantado de Margot. Habiendo tomado el control del importantísimo Arrakis, Paul depone a Shaddam, y los Fenring se unen al ex emperador en el exilio.

Margot no aparece en la película de 1984, la miniserie de 2000 ni la película de 2021, pero es interpretada por Léa Seydoux en la película secuela de 2024. ^{[41] [42] [43]}

Thufir Hawat es un Mentat , un individuo condicionado para imitar la capacidad cognitiva y analítica de las computadoras, que sirve como Maestro de Asesinos y estratega militar principal del Duque Leto Atreides. En Dune , los Atreides son atraídos a Arrakis con el pretexto de hacerse cargo de la lucrativa operación minera de especias allí, pero pronto caen presa de un ataque catastrófico por parte de sus viejos enemigos, los Harkonnen, cuyas fuerzas son secretamente reforzadas por los feroces guerreros Sardaukar del emperador, Shaddam IV. Hawat es capturado, y el calculador Barón Vladimir Harkonnen lo toma como reemplazo de su propio Mentat retorcido Piter De Vries, quien fue asesinado después del ataque. El Barón espera canalizar el deseo de venganza de Hawat lejos de la Casa Harkonnen, y mantiene sus habilidades bajo control alimentándolo con datos falsos, específicamente, permitiéndole creer que la concubina de Leto, Lady Jessica, había sido la traidora responsable de la destrucción de los Atreides. A Hawat también se le administra en secreto un veneno residual que requiere dosis regulares de un antídoto para evitar la muerte.

A pesar de estos obstáculos, Hawat intenta derribar a los Harkonnen desde dentro. Se gana la confianza del sobrino y heredero del barón, Feyd-Rautha, al ayudarlo con un complot para desacreditar al amo de esclavos Harkonnen y reemplazarlo por alguien leal a Feyd. Hawat alienta las ambiciones de Feyd contra el barón, lo que lo lleva a intentar asesinar a su tío. El barón, advertido por Hawat, elude el intento y castiga a Feyd por su fracaso. Más tarde, Hawat se ve obligado a asesinar al hijo de Leto, Paul Atreides. Paul sospecha esto, pero por gratitud por la lealtad excepcional de Hawat, Paul le da la oportunidad de tomar cualquier cosa que Hawat desee de él, incluso su vida. Hawat elige la muerte en lugar de traicionar a Paul.

Hawat es interpretado por Freddie Jones en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Jan Vlasák  [cs] en la miniserie de 2000. ^[30] El personaje es interpretado por Stephen McKinley Henderson en la película de 2021 ^[44] y filmó escenas para su secuela de 2024. ^[18] Sin embargo, sus escenas no se incluyeron en el corte final.

El personaje también aparece en la trilogía de precuelas Preludio de Dune de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson, y resucita como un ghola en Hunters of Dune y Sandworms of Dune , las secuelas de Brian Herbert/Anderson que concluyen la serie original.

Alia es la hija del duque Leto y Jessica, y la hermana menor de Paul. Sometida a la agonía de la especia Fremen en el útero, nace como una Reverenda Madre completamente consciente. Entre las Bene Gesserit, un niño nacido de esta manera, llamado Abominación , es asesinado inmediatamente porque es susceptible de ser superado por sus personalidades ancestrales. Alia finge ser una niña mientras crece entre los Fremen. A los cuatro años, mata a su abuelo, el barón Harkonnen, mientras Paul toma el control de Arrakis. Como hermana de Paul, Alia es adorada por derecho propio en Dune Messiah . Ella y Hayt, que es el maestro de la espada Duncan Idaho traído de entre los muertos como ghola por medios tleilaxu, trabajan juntos para desentrañar la conspiración contra los Atreides. Se casa con Duncan, sus recuerdos restaurados, y es nombrada regente de los hijos de Paul y Chani, Leto II y Ghanima. En Children of Dune , el peligro de Abominación se ha materializado y Alia está poseída por la personalidad del Barón. Su creciente depravación y su ansia de poder bajo su control la llevan a planear el asesinato de Jessica. Enfrentada por Leto y vencida por el Barón, Alia tiene un fugaz momento de autocontrol y se lanza a la muerte.

Alia es interpretada por Alicia Witt en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Laura Burton en la miniserie de 2000. ^[30] Daniela Amavia interpreta a una Alia adulta en la miniserie secuela de 2003. ^{[14] [16]} El personaje no aparece en la película de 2021, que cubre la primera parte de Dune , ^[45] pero es interpretada por Anya Taylor-Joy en un cameo en la película secuela de 2024. ^{[46] [47]}

Mapes es la misteriosa ama de llaves Fremen en el palacio de Arakeen en Arrakis. En Dune , el duque Leto Atreides, su concubina Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica y su hijo Paul llegan cuando Leto se hace cargo de la gestión de las lucrativas operaciones mineras de especias del planeta. Los Fremen comienzan a creer que Paul es su mesías profetizado, que se predice que estará acompañado por su madre Bene Gesserit, y cuando habla con Mapes, Jessica usa frases que son parte de la leyenda. Mapes le da a Jessica un crysknife , un arma hecha con el diente de un gusano de arena gigante que los Fremen consideran sagrado y que rara vez ven los forasteros. Paul luego salva a Mapes de un cazador-buscador mortal que tenía la intención de matarlo, y ella advierte sobre un traidor en la casa de los Atreides. Mapes es asesinado por ese mismo traidor, el doctor Suk Wellington Yueh, mientras los Harkonnen atacan.

Mapes es interpretado por Linda Hunt en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Jaroslava Šiktancová en la miniserie de 2000. ^[30] Golda Rosheuvel interpreta al personaje en la película de 2021. ^[48]

Mapes es el personaje principal del cuento de 2022 " Dune: The Edge of a Crysknife " de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson, que tiene lugar antes de los eventos de la trilogía Preludio a Dune . ^{[49] [50]}

Liet-Kynes es el planetólogo imperial del planeta desértico Arrakis y el padre de Chani con su esposa Fremen, Faroula. En Dune , el duque Leto Atreides se reúne con Kynes poco después de llegar a Arrakis para hacerse cargo de las operaciones de recolección de melange allí. Escoltado por los Fremen nativos del planeta, Kynes es el enlace entre ellos y los imperiales. Kynes toma nota personal del hijo de Leto, Paul, que parece conocer las costumbres Fremen intuitivamente y muestra signos de ser un mesías Fremen profetizado. Los Atreides más tarde escuchan sobre una persona o deidad llamada "Liet" a quien todas las comunidades Fremen le dan lealtad.

Solo después de que Leto es asesinado, y Paul y su madre, Lady Jessica, se refugian entre los Fremen, se revela que Liet y Kynes son la misma persona. Él es el hijo de Pardot Kynes, el primer planetólogo imperial de Arrakis, y una mujer Fremen, y es el padre de Chani. Capturado por los Harkonnen y abandonado a su suerte en el desierto sin destiltraje ni agua, Kynes es asesinado por un golpe de especia , una erupción explosiva que forma parte del ciclo de la melange. En God Emperor of Dune , la esposa de Liet-Kynes y madre de Chani es identificada como Faroula, "una destacada herbolaria entre los Fremen".

Liet-Kynes es interpretado por Max von Sydow en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Karel Dobrý en la miniserie de 2000. ^[26] Sharon Duncan-Brewster interpreta una versión con intercambio de género del personaje en la película de 2021. ^[51]

Liet-Kynes también aparece en la trilogía de precuelas Preludio a Dune de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson. En esa serie se establece que su madre es Frieth, la hermana de Stilgar. Liet, que creció bajo la tradición Fremen, hereda la posición de su padre como planetólogo, así como su objetivo secreto de terraformar Arrakis para convertirlo en un planeta templado.

La Reverenda Madre Ramallo es una líder espiritual, o Sayyadina , entre los Fremen del Sietch Tabr en Arrakis, una versión "salvaje" de una Reverenda Madre Bene Gesserit. En Dune , Paul Atreides y su madre Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica, huyen de un ataque Harkonnen y encuentran refugio entre los Fremen. Cuando Ramallo sabe que se acerca el final de su vida, Jessica se somete a la agonía ritual de las especias para convertirla en la sustituta de Ramallo. La ordalía de los Fremen para convertirse en Reverenda Madre implica ingerir el venenoso Agua de la Vida , la exhalación de un gusano de arena moribundo. Jessica sobrevive y comparte mentes con Ramallo, adquiriendo las experiencias de vida de la mujer mayor y la Otra Memoria ancestral colectiva, y luego Ramallo muere.

Ramallo es interpretado por la actriz italiana Silvana Mangano en la película de 1984. ^[8] Drahomíra Fialková interpreta al personaje en la miniserie de 2000, con Petra Kulíková como una versión más joven de Ramallo. ^[30] Giusi Merli interpreta a la madre reverenda Fremen moribunda en la película de 2024 Dune: Part Two .

Ramallo también aparece en la trilogía de la precuela Preludio de Dune de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson.

Jamis es un formidable guerrero Fremen del Sietch Tabr. En Dune , Paul Atriedes y su madre Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica, huyen de un ataque Harkonnen y encuentran refugio con los Fremen del Sietch Tabr. El recién llegado Paul es desafiado inmediatamente por el desconfiado guerrero Fremen Jamis, y según la costumbre Fremen se involucran en una lucha ritual a muerte. Paul mata a Jamis y posteriormente se ve obligado a hacerse responsable de su esposa Harah y sus hijos.

Jamis es interpretado por Judd Omen en la película de 1984, Christopher Lee Brown en la miniserie de 2000 y por Babs Olusanmokun en la película de 2021. ^{[52] [53]}

Harah es la esposa Fremen de Jamis. Su primer marido fue Geoff, con quien tuvo un hijo, Kaleff. Jamis derrotó a Geoff en un duelo ritual y tomó a Harah como su propia esposa, y engendró a su hijo Orlop. Después de que Paul mata a Jamis en una lucha ritual a muerte en Dune , la costumbre Fremen exige que Paul herede sus posesiones, incluidos Harah y sus hijos. Paul debe tomarla en su casa como su esposa o su sirvienta, y después de un año si no se ha casado con ella, ella puede elegir lo que desee. Paul acepta a Harah como sirvienta. Al principio, ella se siente insultada por su renuencia a casarse con ella, pero se dedica a su servicio. Harah se vuelve muy cercana y protectora de la hermana menor de Paul, Alia, que nace como una Reverenda Madre completamente consciente y finge ser una niña mientras crece entre los Fremen. En Children of Dune , Harah está casada con Stilgar y es la amiga más cercana de Chani. Es testigo del nacimiento de los gemelos de Paul y Chani, Leto II y Ghanima, y ​​de la posterior muerte de Chani. Harah se dedica al cuidado de los gemelos. Cuando la tiranía de Alia, ya adulta, se vuelve demasiado grande y pone en peligro a Leto y Ghanima, Harah se esconde con Stilgar, la princesa Irulan y los niños.

Harah es interpretada por Molly Wrynn en la película de 1984.

Piter De Vries es un Mentat , un individuo condicionado para imitar la capacidad cognitiva y analítica de las computadoras, que sirve al despiadado barón Vladimir Harkonnen. Piter tiene la distinción adicional de haber sido "convertido" en un sádico amoral por los tleilaxu. ^[54]

En Dune , Piter es el arquitecto del plan para destruir la Casa Atreides, enemiga de los Harkonnen desde hace mucho tiempo, mientras restaura la administración del Barón sobre el planeta Arrakis. Aunque el médico personal del Duque Leto Atreides, Wellington Yueh, se ha sometido al condicionamiento Suk que lo vuelve incapaz de infligir daño a sus pacientes, Piter lo subvierte secuestrando y torturando a la esposa de Yueh. Con la esperanza de liberarla, Yueh traiciona a los Atreides, lo que permite un ataque catastrófico de los Harkonnen y entrega a Leto al Barón. Yueh se entera de que su esposa ya está muerta y es asesinada por Piter. Yueh, sin embargo, le ha dado al cautivo Leto una dentadura postiza llena de gas venenoso con el que asesinar al Barón. Harkonnen evade el intento, pero Leto y Piter mueren. Piter es el creador del veneno residual , una toxina que requiere dosis regulares de un antídoto para prevenir la muerte. El Barón se lo administra en secreto al capturado Atreides Mentat Thufir Hawat como coerción para convertirlo en el reemplazo de Piter.

En la novela, Piter es descrito como "alto, aunque delgado, y algo en él sugería afeminamiento". Es adicto a la droga melange, y también tiene los labios de color rojo rubí característicos de quienes consumen jugo de sapho , una droga adictiva que mejora las capacidades de los mentat.

Piter es interpretado por Brad Dourif en la película de 1984, ^[8] y por Jan Unger en la miniserie de 2000. ^[55] David Dastmalchian interpreta al personaje en la película de 2021. ^{[55] [56]}

Piter también aparece en la trilogía de precuelas Preludio a Dune de Brian Herbert y Kevin J. Anderson. En la serie, Piter descubre la herencia Harkonnen de Lady Jessica y su hijo recién nacido Paul, e intenta secuestrar y pedir rescate por el bebé. El complot se frustra y el secreto se preserva cuando la Reverenda Madre Bene Gesserit Mohiam mata al Mentat y hace que su cadáver sea enviado a casa, al mundo natal de los Harkonnen, Giedi Prime. Un enfurecido Barón Harkonnen no tiene más opción que pedir un duplicado de la Bene Tleilax: el Mentat Piter que aparece en la novela original de Herbert, Dune .

• Otheym es uno de los leales comandos de la muerteFedaykinde PaulDune. EnDune Messiah, está enfermo después de luchar en la yihad de Paul, pero le revela a Paul evidencia de una conspiración Fremen en su contra. Otheym le da a Paul su sirviente enano Tleilaxu Bijaz, quien, como una máquina de grabación, puede recordar rostros, nombres y detalles. Paul acepta de mala gana, al ver los hilos de una trama Tleilaxu. La hija de Otheym, Lichna, también es asesinada y reemplazada por un Danzante Rostro Tleilaxu como un medio para infiltrarse en la casa de Paul. Otheym es interpretado por Honorato Magalone en la película de 1984 y por Jakob Schwarz en la miniserie de 2000 y su secuela de 2003.
• Korba es uno de los leales comandos de la muerte Fedaykin de Paul enDune. EnDune Messiah, se ha convertido en un fanático de la religión que ha surgido alrededor de Paul y el Sumo Sacerdote entre sus líderes Qizarate. Con la esperanza de aumentar su propio poder religioso, Korba se une a una conspiración para detonar un arma atómica llamadaquemador de piedrasparamartirizara Paul. La explosión mata a cientos de Fremen y ciega a muchos otros, incluido el propio Paul. Korba es juzgado por sus crímenes y ejecutado por Stilgar. Korba es interpretado porKarel Dobrýen la miniserie de 2003.
• Esmar Tuek es un contrabandista de especias en Arrakis. EnDune, asiste a una cena organizada por el duque Leto Atreides y su concubina Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica, en su palacio de Arrakeen. Esmar muere más tarde en el ataque de los Harkonnen a Arrakeen que destruye efectivamente la Casa Atreides. Esmar es interpretado por Pavel Kríz en la miniserie de 2000.
• Staban Tuek es un contrabandista de especias en Arrakis, al igual que su padre, Esmar Tuek. Después del ataque de los Harkonnen a Arrakeen, Staban le da refugio al Señor de la Guerra Atreides Gurney Halleck y a sus tropas sobrevivientes. Gurney y sus hombres se unen a los contrabandistas, mejorando su organización y eficiencia.
• El capitán Aramsham es el comandante de las fuerzas imperialesSardaukarque llegan a Arrakis con el emperador Padishah Shaddam IV para imponer el orden cuando los ataques Fremen interrumpen la producción de especia en el planeta. Los feroces soldados fanáticos Sardaukar son considerados imparables, pero los Fremen los superan gracias a la estrategia militar de Paul, su propia ferocidad y su capacidad para utilizar las tormentas de arena y los gusanos de arena gigantes de Arrakis en su beneficio. Paul utiliza la técnica de compulsión Bene Gesserit llamadala Vozpara obligar a Aramsham a humillarse rindiéndose. Sin embargo, el estoicismo Sardaukar de Aramsham es tan grande que ni siquiera dará su nombre hasta que Paul vuelva a utilizar la Voz. La derrota de los Sardaukar le permite a Paul tomar el control de Arrakis y deponer a Shaddam.
• Iakin Nefud is the Captain of the Guard for House Harkonnen, promoted from a corporal after the death of his predecessor Umman Kudu in Duke Leto Atreides' poison gas attack on Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Nefud is addicted to the drug semuta. Nefud is portrayed by Jack Nance in the 1984 film.^[8]
• Wanna Marcus is the Bene Gesserit wife of Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, the personal physician of Duke Leto Atreides. Prior to the events transpiring in Dune, she is kidnapped by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who uses the threat of her extended torture to subvert Yueh's Suk Imperial Conditioning, which normally prohibits him from doing harm, and coerce him to betray Leto. Yueh submits to the Baron's demands, lowering the Atreides defensive shields and delivering Leto to him, but also gives Leto the means to assassinate the Baron. Yueh discovers, as he suspected, that Wanna has already been killed, and is himself murdered by the Baron's twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries. However, Yueh's loyalty to the Atreides had prompted him to aid Leto's son Paul and concubine Lady Jessica escape from the Harkonnens.

Scytale is a Tleilaxu Face Dancer who executes a plot to dethrone Paul Atriedes in Dune Messiah. Scytale's conspiracy includes Spacing Guild Navigator Edric, the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Mohiam, and the Princess Irulan, Paul's consort. Unlike Face Dancers depicted later in the series, Scytale appears autonomous, and his high-level dealings with the other conspirators suggest a certain rank and level of trust among the Tleilaxu. Scytale notes of Face Dancers, "We are Jadacha hermaphrodites ... either sex at will." He subsequently kills and assumes the appearance of Lichna, the daughter of the trusted Fremen commando Otheym, in order to lure Paul from the Atreides Keep to Otheym's house, where Scytale has planted an atomic weapon. The attack fails to kill Paul, but the atomic blast blinds him. Scytale soon makes an attempt to force Paul's allegiance. With the Tleilaxu ghola of Duncan Idaho having regained the memories of the deceased original, Scytale has proven that the Tleilaxu can resurrect a human being. He offers Paul a ghola of his concubine Chani, who has just died giving birth to their twin children, in exchange for Paul surrendering his empire to Tleilaxu control. Though tempted, Paul refuses. Scytale holds a knife over the newborn twins, threatening to kill them instantly unless Paul accepts. Paul instead kills Scytale with a thrown crysknife, guided by a vision sent by his infant son.

In Heretics of Dune, 5000 years after the events of Dune Messiah, a ghola of Scytale is a Tleilaxu Master and one of Tleilaxu leader Tylwyth Waff's nine councillors. The novel establishes that after learning how to restore a ghola's memories in Dune Messiah, the Masters use this knowledge as a form of immortality, creating clones from their living cells which can be reawakened upon their deaths. Face Dancers are still Tleilaxu servants rather than emissaries, and Herbert does not explain how the Scytale of Dune Messiah—a Face Dancer, though autonomous—could ascend to become a Master, or how the Master/Face Dancer relationship may have evolved over the millennia.

In Chapterhouse Dune (1985), the fearsome Honored Matres have destroyed all of the Tleilaxu worlds in retaliation for the Tleilaxu role in programming the latest Duncan Idaho ghola with knowledge of how to sexually enslave Honored Matres. Scytale, likely the last surviving Tleilaxu Master, barely escapes the attack while leaving his homeworld and is given sanctuary by the Bene Gesserit. Essentially a prisoner, he is kept in a no-ship grounded on the secret Bene Gesserit planet Chapterhouse. In exchange for their protection, Scytale has given the Bene Gesserit the knowledge to create axlotl tanks to grow their own gholas. Desiring his own Face Dancer servants, axlotl tanks, and access to the ship's systems, Scytale has held back the secret to creating artificial melange for future negotiations. His secret bargaining chip is a nullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and covertly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including those of Tleilaxu Masters and Face Dancers, Paul, Chani, the original Duncan Idaho, Thufir Hawat, Gurney Halleck and Stilgar.

The character "The Baron's Doctor" in the 1984 film Dune, portrayed by Leonardo Cimino, was intended to be revealed as Scytale in Dune II, a planned sequel film adapting Dune Messiah which was never made. Posing as Baron Harkonnen's physician, Scytale would have absconded with Duncan Idaho's corpse and spent years reviving it.^[57] Scytale is portrayed by Martin McDougall in the 2003 miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune,^[34] which is an adaptation of both Dune Messiah and its sequel Children of Dune.^[14]

Scytale also appears in the sequel novels Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In Hunters of Dune, Scytale is desperate, as his current body is slowly dying, and he does not have another to replace it. Needing to grow a new ghola clone of himself, his only bargaining tool is the secret nullentropy capsule. Other cells in Scytale's possession include those of Leto I, Lady Jessica, Leto II and other legendary figures dating back to Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen from the Butlerian Jihad. The Bene Gesserit debate whether to create gholas of any of these historical figures, and despite the controversy, gholas are created a few at a time. Scytale is allowed to have his own once the first few have been born. In Sandworms of Dune, Scytale finally reawakens his own ghola's memories using the trauma of watching the elder Scytale die in front of his younger self. Along with gholas of the Tleilaxu Masters, Scytale grows Tleilaxu females from newly discovered cells, vowing to never again allow the Masters to corrupt the recovering Tleilaxu people.

Edric is a Spacing Guild Navigator and the Guild's ambassador on Arrakis. In Dune Messiah, Edric engages in a conspiracy to dethrone Emperor Paul Atreides, joined by the Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale, the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Mohiam, and Paul's embittered consort, Princess Irulan.^[58] As its Navigators require immense quantities of melange to navigate foldspace, the Spacing Guild has a vested interest in breaking Paul's stranglehold over the spice supply. Edric's involvement also protects the conspirators from discovery, as his prescience hides the activities of himself and those around him from other prescients, like Paul. The plot ultimately fails, and Edric and Mohiam are executed by Fremen naib Stilgar on orders from Paul's sister, Alia Atreides.

In Chapterhouse Dune, a "very powerful" Navigator is described as "one of the Edrics", suggesting a possible breeding plan or use of gholas.

Bijaz is a Tleilaxu dwarf in the employ of Otheym, one of the former Fedaykin death commandos of Paul Atreides. In Dune Messiah, Otheym reveals to Paul evidence of a Fremen conspiracy against him. Otheym gives Paul his dwarf Tleilaxu servant Bijaz, who has the ability to remember faces, names and details like a recording machine. Paul accepts reluctantly, seeing the strands of a Tleilaxu plot. Bijaz, actually an agent of the Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale, uses a specific humming intonation to implant a command that will compel the Duncan Idaho ghola, Hayt, to kill Paul under certain circumstances. Paul's concubine Chani dies in childbirth, and Paul's reaction to her death triggers Hayt's assassination attempt. Hayt's ghola body reacts against its own programming and Duncan's full consciousness is recovered, simultaneously making him independent of Tleilaxu control. Having proven that a ghola's memories of its originator can be restored, Scytale offers Paul a ghola of Chani in exchange for Paul surrendering his empire to Tleilaxu control. Paul refuses, and Scytale is killed. Later, Bijaz approaches Paul and repeats Scytale's offer, but is killed by Duncan on Paul's order.

Bijaz is portrayed by Gee Williams in the 2003 miniseries.

Lichna is the daughter of Otheym, one of Paul's former Fedaykin death commandos. In Dune Messiah, she is killed and impersonated by the shapeshifting Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale as a means to infiltrate Paul's household. Paul can see through the deception, but wants to see where the plot leads. Aware it is part of the conspiracy against him, Paul allows himself to be lured to Otheym's home in the city.

Lichna is portrayed by Klára Issová in the 2003 miniseries.

Farok is another of Paul's former Fedaykin. In Dune Messiah, he is one of many Fremen disillusioned by the changes Paul's regime brings to their culture, and joins the conspiracy to unseat Paul.

Farok is portrayed by Ivo Novák in the 2003 miniseries.

Princess Wensicia is the third daughter of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV and the Bene Gesserit Anirul, and the younger sister of Princess Irulan. In Children of Dune, Shaddam is dead and Wensicia plots from exile to restore House Corrino to its former glory by wresting control of the Imperial throne from the usurper, Paul Atreides, for her son, Farad'n. She attempts to assassinate Leto II and Ghanima Atreides, Paul's twin heirs, by sending mechanically controlled Laza tigers to hunt them in the desert. Leto's growing prescience allows him to thwart the attack on himself and his sister, and he pretends to be dead to escape the increasingly murderous ambitions of his father's sister Alia. Later, 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, which he does. Leto later returns and ascends the throne himself.

Wensicia is described as "fair-haired" with a "heart-shaped face," and is said to have learned "shifty trickiness" from her sister Irulan but not herself been trained by the Bene Gesserit. Shaddam IV's heir is Wensicia's son Farad'n, whose deceased father, Dalak, is related to Count Fenring.

Wensicia is portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the 2003 miniseries.^[14] Sarandon told The New York Times, "One of the reasons I always loved the books was because they were driven by strong women, living outside the rules." She added that the Dune series "is very apropos to some of what's going on in the world today. It's about the dangers of fundamentalism and the idea that absolute power corrupts."^[14] The actress said of Wensicia, "She's just evil, evil, evil. I'm practically unrecognizable. It was a blast."^[59] Laura Fries of Variety wrote, "it’s Susan Sarandon and Alice Krige [as Lady Jessica] who steal the thunder as opposing matriarchs of the great royal houses. Although the two never catfight, their ongoing struggle to rule the Dune dynasty gives this mini a real kick."^[29] Observing that Sarandon and Krige were "clearly relishing their roles", Fries added that "Sarandon makes a formidable enemy".^[29] Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted, "[Sarandon's] exiled princess may be the villain, cooking up deadly schemes, but we're right along with her in having a good time."^[60] Sarandon herself said, "it's always fun to play a smart villain."^[14] Not impressed overall with the acting in the miniseries, Ron Wertheimer of The New York Times wrote:

The exception is the piece's token movie star ... Susan Sarandon, having a high old time as the villain. Looking swell in slinky gowns and a collection of outer-space-deco headgear fitted with sensual silver antennas, Ms. Sarandon nearly winks into the camera. Her body language, her purring tone, the gleam in her evil eye, the curve of her evil eyebrow all declare, "Isn't this a hoot?" In another film, such a jarring note from a principal would sink it. But she's right; this is a hoot. Her mugging is part of the fun.^[16]

In the miniseries, Wensicia orchestrates the Dune Messiah conspiracy to assassinate Paul using a pre-programmed Tleilaxu ghola of his deceased friend Duncan Idaho, a plotline in which she is not involved in the novel. Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com wrote:

There are a few clever changes made in order to connect the two stories better, the primary one being that rather than having Princess Irulan work as a conspirator against Paul alongside the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Tleilaxu, her sister Wensicia is brought to the fore sooner and given that role. This has two advantages; it means that Irulan's love for Paul doesn't come out of left field the way it does at the end of Dune Messiah, and it means that the story spends more time with Wensicia ... who is played with antagonistic relish by Susan Sarandon.^[26]

Wensicia also appears in the novel Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Leto II Atreides is the son of Paul Atreides and his Fremen concubine Chani, and the twin brother of Ghanima. Born at the end of Dune Messiah, Leto is orphaned soon after, as his mother dies in childbirth and his blinded father, following Fremen custom, walks out into the open desert to die. Paul's sister Alia subsequently serves as regent for the twins in Children of Dune, and Princess Irulan steps into the role of surrogate mother. Like Alia, Leto and Ghanima are "pre-born", having been awakened to adult consciousness and their genetic memories in the womb. The danger to individuals born this way, called Abomination by the Bene Gesserit, is that they are susceptible to being overtaken by their ancestral personas. Leto solves this problem by constructing his own personality out of an executive committee of his ancestors. Influenced by all the important ones, he cannot be possessed by an individual. Alia, however, is increasingly falling under the control of her late grandfather, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, whose hatred of the Atreides puts the twins in danger and threatens to topple Paul's empire. Deposed Emperor Shaddam IV's daughter Wensicia, Irulan's younger sister, plots from exile to place her son Farad'n on the throne and executes an assassination attempt on nine-year-old Leto and Ghanima. The twins anticipate and survive the plot. Leto leaves to seek out the mysterious Preacher, who some believe is Paul himself, and Ghanima hypnotizes herself to believe that Leto is dead. Like his father Paul before him, Leto enters a spice trance induced by an overdose of melange. His visions show him myriad possible futures where humanity becomes extinct, and only one where it survives. He names this future "The Golden Path" and resolves to bring it to fruition—something that his father, who had already glimpsed this future, refused to do. Leto sacrifices his humanity to become a symbiont with the sandworm, beginning the transformation by allowing sandtrout, the larval stage of sandworms, to cover his body. The oversaturation of spice, and Leto's ability to adjust his body chemistry, fool the creatures into bonding with him, creating a membrane of "new skin" that bestows on him superhuman speed, strength and near-invulnerability. In addition, he will live for thousands of years, enough time to see his Golden Path to its completion. Leto returns to the capital where everyone has assembled for the wedding of Ghanima and Farad'n. Confronted by Leto and overcome by the Baron, Alia has a fleeting moment of self-control and leaps to her death. Leto declares himself Emperor, asserts control over the Fremen and restores Ghanima's genuine memories with a predetermined command. Farad'n pledges himself to Leto and delivers control of the remaining Sardaukar armies. Leto marries Ghanima to consolidate power, but Farad'n is her true consort so the Atreides line can continue.

Thirty-five hundred years later in God Emperor of Dune, the God Emperor Leto II is now almost fully transformed into a sandworm, retaining only his human face and arms. He is seemingly immortal and invulnerable to harm, but also prone to instinct-driven bouts of violence when provoked to anger. As a result, Leto's oppressive rule is one of religious awe and despotic fear. Widely known as the Tyrant, he has killed all other sandworms by terraforming Arrakis into a verdant planet, and his control of the remaining supply of melange guarantees his stranglehold on civilization. All of the former major powers, like the Bene Gesserit and Spacing Guild, have capitulated. Following his Golden Path, Leto has forced the human population into a state of trans-galactic stagnation: space travel is non-existent to most people in his Empire, which he has deliberately kept to a near-medieval level of technological sophistication. A string of Duncan Idaho gholas have served Leto over the millennia, though they are prone to eventually rebel against him. Ghanima's descendant Moneo Atreides is Leto's majordomo and closest confidant, while Moneo's daughter Siona has become the leader of a local rebellion against Leto. The Ixians send a new ambassador named Hwi Noree, and though Leto realizes that she has been specifically designed and trained to ensnare him, he cannot resist falling in love with her. Exposure to concentrated spice essence awakens Siona to Leto's Golden Path, and though she sees its importance, she remains dedicated to his destruction. Siona and the current Duncan Idaho overcome a searing mutual hatred of each other to plan Leto's assassination, of which the God Emperor is aware and has made possible. As Leto's wedding procession moves across a high bridge, the conspirators destroy the support beams, and Leto's entourage, including Hwi, plunge to their deaths into the river below. Leto's body rends apart in the water, the outer layer of sandtrout encysting the water and scurrying off, while the rest burns and disintegrates on the shore. A dying Leto reveals to Siona a secret aspect of his Golden Path: she is the result of a breeding scheme to produce a human who is invisible to prescient vision. Siona and her descendants will possess this ability, and Leto explains that humanity is now free from the domination of oracles, free to scatter throughout the universe, never again to face complete domination or complete destruction. After revealing the location of his secret spice hoard, Leto dies, leaving Duncan and Siona to face the task of managing the empire.

Leto is portrayed by James McAvoy in the 2003 miniseries.^[14][16]

Ghanima Atreides is the daughter of Paul Atreides and his Fremen concubine Chani, and the twin sister of Leto II. Born at the end of Dune Messiah, Ghanima is orphaned soon after, as her mother dies in childbirth and her blinded father, following Fremen custom, walks out into the open desert to die. Paul's sister Alia subsequently serves as regent for the twins in Children of Dune, and Princess Irulan steps into the role of surrogate mother. Like Alia, Leto and Ghanima are "pre-born", having been awakened to adult consciousness and their genetic memories in the womb. The danger to individuals born this way, called Abomination by the Bene Gesserit, is that they are susceptible to being overtaken by their ancestral personas. Leto solves this problem by constructing his own personality out of an executive committee of his ancestors. Influenced by all the important ones, he cannot be possessed by an individual. Alia, however, is increasingly falling under the control of her late grandfather, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, whose hatred of the Atreides puts the twins in danger and threatens to topple Paul's empire. Deposed Emperor Shaddam IV's daughter Wensicia, Irulan's younger sister, plots from exile to place her son Farad'n on the throne and executes an assassination attempt on nine-year-old Leto and Ghanima. The twins anticipate and survive the plot. Leto leaves to seek out the mysterious Preacher, who some believe is Paul himself, and Ghanima hypnotizes herself to believe that Leto is dead. The intense mental discipline needed for this self-deception builds a safe haven in Ghanima's mind for her own personality to safely develop, with the persona of Chani acting as a guardian. Recognizing Alia as worsening threat, Fremen naib Stilgar takes Ghanima into hiding. Farad'n denounces his mother, and Alia, having retaken Ghanima, arranges a marriage between them. Knowing that Ghanima has sworn to kill him on their wedding night in revenge for Leto's "death", Alia intends to exploit the resulting chaos to weaken her enemies. Leto, having seen a prescient vision of humanity's only path to survival, has vowed to bring it to fruition and begun the necessary transformation to a human-sandworm hybrid. He returns to the capital where everyone has assembled for the wedding of Ghanima and Farad'n. Confronted by Leto and overcome by the Baron, Alia has a fleeting moment of self-control and leaps to her death. Leto declares himself Emperor, asserts control over the Fremen and restores Ghanima's genuine memories with a predetermined command. Farad'n pledges himself to Leto and delivers control of the remaining Sardaukar armies. Leto marries Ghanima to consolidate power, but Farad'n is her true consort so the Atreides line can continue.

Ghanima is portrayed by Jessica Brooks in the 2003 miniseries.^[14][16] Laura Fries of Variety wrote, "the mini picks up a great deal of charisma when [James] McAvoy [as Leto] and Brooks come aboard as the next generation of the house of Atreides."^[29] The characters Leto and Ghanima were aged from ten-year-olds to teens for the miniseries, which Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called "a smart move here, as finding two ten year old kids who had the ability to behave as though they had millennia of ancestral memory bubbling up inside of them was always going to be an impossibility."^[26] Asher-Perrin also called the rapport between Brooks and McAvoy "dazzling".^[26]

Tyekanik is a Sardaukar officer who serves Princess Wensicia in Children of Dune. He is instrumental in her plot to assassinate the Atreides twins, Leto II and Ghanima, using mechanically controlled Laza tigers.

Tyekanik is portrayed by Marek Vašut in the 2003 miniseries.

Namri is the Fremen naib of Sietch Fondak, formerly known as Sietch Jacurutu, in Children of Dune. The Fremen of Fondak are called Iduali, or "water stealers", and shunned for a past transgression. Believing he is acting on orders from Lady Jessica, Gurney Halleck abducts a nine-year-old Leto II and brings him to Fondak, where Namri assists him in administering an overdose of the spice to Leto as a test. However, the test has actually been ordered by Leto's aunt Alia, possessed by the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and Namri has been told to kill Leto no matter the result. Leto escapes and Namri attempts to kill Gurney, who kills him instead.

Namri is portrayed by Predrag Bjelac in the 2003 miniseries.

Ziarenko Javid is the son of Namri and a High Priest of the Qizarate, the leaders of the religion which has risen around Paul Atreides. Possessed by the persona of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Paul's sister Alia takes Javid as her lover, infuriating her husband, Duncan Idaho. Duncan later kills Javid publicly in Sietch Tabr, partly out of revenge and partly to manipulate Stilgar into killing Duncan as a means to force Stilgar to join the rebellion against Alia.

Javid is portrayed by Rik Young in the 2003 miniseries.

Farad'n is the son of Princess Wensicia, and the grandson of Shaddam IV. In Children of Dune, Shaddam is dead and Wensicia plots from exile to restore House Corrino to its former glory by wresting control of the Imperial throne from the usurper, Paul Atreides, for Farad'n. She attempts to assassinate Leto II and Ghanima Atreides, Paul's twin heirs, and though she fails, Leto pretends to be dead to escape the increasingly murderous ambitions of his father's sister Alia. Paul and Alia's mother, Lady Jessica, trains Farad'n in the Bene Gesserit ways as a preamble to an offer to marry Ghanima and share the throne. His part of the deal is to "denounce and banish" Wensicia for Leto's murder, which he does, but Ghanima intends to murder Farad'n on their wedding night as revenge. Leto reappears, now beginning the transformation into a human-sandworm hybrid, and ascends the throne himself. Leto, who is now physically incapable of siring children, commands Farad'n to father the future Atreides line as Ghanima's mate. Farad'n is also appointed as the Royal Scribe and renamed "Harq al'Ada" (the "breaker of habit"), and relinquishes his control of the remaining Sardaukar to Leto, effectively surrendering House Corrino's claim to the Imperial throne. 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.

Farad'n is portrayed by Jonathan Brüün in the 2003 miniseries.^[61][62]

• Sabiha is Namri's niece and Javid's cousin, who cares for Leto II while he undergoes the spice trance at Fondak. Through his prescience, Leto sees a possible future in which Sabiha is his mate, but he chooses another path. They meet again later at Shuloch, where Leto begins his transformation into a human-sandworm hybrid, and Sabiha is among the first to witness his subsequent superhuman abilities. Sabiha is portrayed by Lana Likic in the 2003 miniseries.
• Assan Tariq is the teenage Fremen boy who serves as a guide to the Preacher, a mysterious blind man who is actually Paul Atreides. Tariq is the son of Muriz, a Fremen from the outcast Sietch Fondak. Tariq is portrayed by Viliam Docolomansky in the 2003 miniseries.
• Muriz is a Fremen Iduali from the outcast Sietch Fondak, and the father of Assan Tariq. After the mysterious Preacher, secretly a blinded Paul Atreides, publicly challenges the current state of his own religion, Muriz stabs him to death. Muriz is in turn killed by Gurney Halleck. Muriz is portrayed by Zdenek Maryska in the 2003 miniseries.
• Buer Agarves is a Fremen warrior whom Alia Atreides takes as a lover after Stilgar joins the rebellion against her tyrannical rule. Alia sends Agarves to negotiate with Stilgar, naib of Sietch Tabr, for the return of her niece Ghanima Atreides and Princess Irulan, promising Agarves leadership of Tabr if he kills Stilgar. She uses a hidden tracker in Agarves' boots to raid the secret meeting, and Stilgar kills Agarves, as she planned.

Siona Atreides is the daughter of God Emperor Leto II's attendant and confidant Moneo, and a direct descendant of Leto's twin sister Ghanima and Farad'n Corrino. In God Emperor of Dune, Siona objects to Leto's tyrannical stranglehold on civilization, and leads a group of like-minded dissidents determined to depose Leto by any means necessary. Leto allows her to steal secret records from his archives, and she loses ten of her cohorts to Leto's D-wolves, barely escaping with her own life. Forced to join the Fish Speakers, an all-female army who obey Leto without question, Siona is further bristled by Leto's obvious desire to breed her with the latest Duncan Idaho ghola. Leto, who over the millennia has become a human-sandworm hybrid thanks to his fusion with sandtrout, the larval stage of sandworms, tests Siona by taking her out to the middle of the desert. She is careless in the use of her stillsuit to preserve moisture, and dehydration forces her to accept Leto's offer of spice essence from his body to replenish her. Awakened to Leto's Golden Path, the prophetic vision he follows to avert humanity's complete destruction, Siona is convinced of its importance, and better understands why he has ruled so harshly. But she remains dedicated to Leto's destruction, and an errant rainstorm demonstrates for her his mortal vulnerability to water. Leto has planned a Royal Procession to travel to his wedding to the Ixian ambassador Hwi Noree, and Siona and Idaho overcome a searing mutual hatred of each other to plan his assassination. As the procession moves across a high bridge over the Idaho River, Siona's associate, the Fish Speaker Nayla, destroys the support beams with a lasgun. The bridge collapses and Leto's entourage, including Hwi, plunge to their deaths into the river below. Leto's body rends apart in the water, the outer layer of sandtrout encysting the water and scurrying off, while the rest burns and disintegrates on the shore. A dying Leto reveals a secret aspect of his Golden Path: Siona is the result of a breeding scheme to produce a human who is invisible to prescient vision. Siona and her descendants will possess this ability, and Leto explains that humanity is now free from the domination of oracles, free to scatter throughout the universe, never again to face complete domination or complete destruction. After revealing the location of his secret spice hoard, Leto dies, leaving Duncan and Siona to face the task of managing the empire.

Hwi Noree is the Ixian ambassador to Arrakis, and the niece of Malky, a previous Ixian ambassador who had been close to Leto II. In God Emperor of Dune, Leto is enchanted by the beautiful and charismatic Hwi, and though he realizes she has been specifically designed and trained to ensnare him, he cannot resist falling in love with her. Raised in secret in a no-chamber, she has been bred to appeal to what remains of Leto's humanity, a process guided by Malky himself. Though his transformation into a human-sandworm hybrid makes him incapable of physical intimacy, Leto proposes marriage and Hwi agrees. Duncan Idaho also falls in love with Hwi, and they fall into bed together. The resulting rivalry only worsens the rift between Leto and Duncan, who is driven to join Siona in her assassination plot against Leto. Hwi dies with Leto when their wedding procession crosses a sabotaged bridge, which collapses into the Idaho River below.

Bene Gesserit Truthsayer Tertius Eileen Anteac comes to Arrakis with Luyseyal in God Emperor of Dune for an audience with the God Emperor Leto II that coincides with the Royal Festival held every ten years. They receive a message from Othwi Yake, Assistant to the Ixian ambassador, that Face Dancers have infiltrated the Ixian embassy, and are planning to assassinate Leto II. They try to warn Leto, but the message does not reach his convoy in time, though the plot fails, as Anteac and Luyseyal knew it would. They achieve little in their meeting with Leto II, and he takes the priceless vial of spice-essence with which they hoped to test his mortality. Leto reminds Luyseyal of the lesson learned from past over-machined societies: "The devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines." Later, Leto enlists Anteac's aid in detecting the Face Dancers, who by that time have replaced everyone in the Ixian embassy except the new ambassador, Hwi Noree. In particular, Anteac identifies the duplicate of Yake, who has been killed and replicated since the original sent his warning to Anteac. Leto's chief minister Moneo Atreides suggests to the God Emperor that Anteac is a secret Mentat, a skill prohibited in the Empire by Leto himself. Leto agrees but says that it amuses him. Hwi shares her knowledge of the environment in which she was brought up with Anteac, who has been conscripted by Leto to lead a Fish Speaker assault on Ix to wrest the secret of Hwi's origins. Anteac is shocked at the knowledge that Hwi is to marry Leto, and at the same time annoyed that The Bene Gesserit had allowed so talented a woman as Hwi to pass through their training program without turning her into one of them. With Anteac's faithful assistance, Leto's forces successfully invade Ix and capture Malky, Hwi's uncle and Leto's former friend, but Anteac is killed.

Some 1,500 years later in Chapterhouse: Dune the Duncan Idaho ghola recalls his past incarnation from the time of Leto II, noting that he had met with Anteac on orders from the God Emperor to suppress the Mentat school the Bene Gesserit had hidden on Wallach IX. It is also revealed that Reverend Mother Bellonda is a descendant of Anteac's.

Moneo Atreides is Leto II's longtime majordomo and close confidant, the descendant of one of the Duncan Idaho gholas, the father of Siona with the Fish Speaker Seyefa, and a direct descendant of Leto's twin sister Ghanima and Farad'n Corrino. Like Siona, he was rebellious as a young man, leading a group of rebels dedicated to ending Leto's oppressive reign. He recognized that eliminating Leto would cast the universe into chaos, but that it would prompt a beneficial rebirth for humanity. In God Emperor of Dune, Moneo has long given up these efforts and now serves Leto with the utmost dedication, having seen the Golden Path for himself and recognized its importance in saving humanity from destruction. Moneo is killed during Leto's assassination, orchestrated by Siona and Duncan, when the bridge that Leto's procession is crossing is destroyed.

Nayla is a fanatical Fish Speaker in the service of the God Emperor. Knowing of Siona Atreides and Duncan Idaho's plot against him, Leto has instructed Nayla to follow any order Siona gives her. When Siona tasks Nayla to assist in Leto's assassination by sabotaging the bridge he is traveling on, Nayla complies with fervor, damaging the supports with a lasgun. Leto, Hwi Noree and Moneo Atreides are among those killed in the collapse, and Duncan kills Nayla for her role in Hwi's death.

Quintinius Violet Chenoeh, specially trained as an oral recorder, is sent by Syaksa to Arrakis with Tawsuoko on a fact-gathering mission in the same year as Anteac, prior to the events God Emperor of Dune. She is invited to converse with the God Emperor himself, and he is uncharacteristically indulgent of her questions and somewhat generous with his own information, however cryptic. Leto tells Chenoeh that he plans to restore "outward spiritual freedom" for mankind, and then refers to Siona Atreides as his "achievement", which the Sisterhood correctly interprets as being related to Leto's own breeding program. Leto then says, "You will return to your Superiors with my message, but these words keep secret for now. I will visit my rage upon your Sisterhood if you fail." Chenoeh complies, following Syaksa's own warning: "You must do nothing which will bring down his wrath upon us." Leto relates how he and his sister Ghanima were able to escape the disaster of Abomination, and also makes one of the earliest references to his secret journals, later found at Dar-es-Balat. He knows he will ultimately be perceived as a tyrant, and wishes to preserve his "feelings and motives ... lest history distort them too much." At the same time, he warns "Beware of the truth," and shares what he calls "the greatest mystery of all time" by which he composes his life: "The only past which endures lies wordlessly within you." Leto tells Chenoeh that by virtue of his taking her into his confidence, "You will become here an integral part of my myth. Our distant cousins will pray to you for intercession with me!" He also foretells her later death during her attempt at becoming a Reverend Mother through the spice agony. Chenoeh's account of their secret conversation is found after her death, and it is later noted that "the persistent Cult of Sister Chenoeh assumes new significance because of the journals' disclosures." Chenoeh and Tawsuoko also bring back to Chapterhouse proof (in the form of a written eyewitness account of Leto's statement) that, as rumored, Leto executed nine historians four centuries prior.

• Malky is the Ixian ambassador to Arrakis prior to the events of God Emperor of Dune. In this capacity he becomes a close confidant to Leto, discussing controversial subjects and challenging the God Emperor as a subtle attempt at manipulation. Malky is recalled to Ix, and replaced by Iyo Kobat. In the novel, Malky's niece, Hwi Noree, is installed as the new Ixian ambassador. Leto soon learns that she has been designed and trained to ensnare him, and that Malky was complicit in the process. Leto sends a Fish Speaker force to Ix to capture Malky, who is brought back to Arrakis and murdered by Moneo.
• Luyseyal is a Bene Gesserit Truthsayer who comes to Arrakis with Anteac in God Emperor of Dune for an audience with the God Emperor Leto II that coincides with the Royal Festival held every ten years. They receive a message from Othwi Yake, assistant to the Ixian ambassador, that Face Dancers have infiltrated the Ixian embassy, and are planning to assassinate Leto II. Anteac and Luyseyal try to warn Leto, but the message does not reach his convoy in time, though the plot fails, as Anteac and Luyseyal knew it would. They achieve little in their meeting with Leto II, and he takes the priceless vial of spice-essence with which they hoped to test his mortality. Leto reminds Luyseyal of the lesson learned from past over-machined societies: "The devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines."
• Tawsuoko is a Bene Gesserit sent by Syaksa to Arrakis with Chenoeh on a fact-gathering mission the same year as Anteac, prior to the events God Emperor of Dune. In addition to the record of Chenoeh's somewhat enlightening conversations with the God Emperor, she and Chenoeh bring back to Chapterhouse proof (in the form of a written eyewitness account of Leto's statement) that, as rumored, Leto executed nine historians four centuries prior.
• Syaksa is a Bene Gesserit who sends Chenoeh and Tawsuoko to Arrakis on a fact-gathering mission the same year as Anteac, prior to the events God Emperor of Dune. Syaksa's warning to Chenoeh that "You must do nothing which will bring down his wrath upon us" encourages Chenoeh to obey the God Emperor's command to withhold certain of his statements from the Sisterhood. Syaksa and four other Reverend Mothers (Yitob, Mamulut, Eknekosk and Akeli) incorporate information gleaned from this mission into an "assessment of the state of the Empire" for that year. Syaksa believes that the religious character of the Fish Speakers is slowly being devolved under Leto II. She further attributes to him a motive based on the concept of hydraulic despotism, in which a government structure maintains power and control through exclusive control over a basic resource needed to live (in this case, melange), proposing that he is building the Empire toward an even greater dependence on the spice.

Lucilla is a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother and Imprinter. In Heretics of Dune, Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Taraza sends the young and attractive Lucilla to Gammu, formerly the Harkonnen homeworld Giedi Prime, to teach the teenage Duncan Idaho ghola whom the Sisterhood is raising there. Lucilla is also tasked with binding his loyalty to her, and thus the Bene Gesserit, through imprinting, while also protecting him from the negative influence—and possible peril—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 Miles Teg, a male military commander of the Bene Gesserit 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, during which time Teg is able 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. Teg arranges an extraction by his protégé Burzmali, but they are ambushed, and Teg sacrifices himself to capture while Lucilla and Duncan escape. Duncan attempts to get off Gammu undetected in the guise of a diminutive Tleilaxu Master, but is taken hostage. Lucilla and Burzmali arrive at a Bene Gesserit safehouse, but discover that it has been taken over by the fearsome Honored Matres, a violent matriarchal order from the farthest reaches of the universe who have been wreaking havoc and destruction on Tleilaxu worlds. Lucilla manages to impersonate an Honored Matre as one of their number, escaping with Duncan and an Honored Matre prisoner, Murbella. Teg commandeers an Honored Matre no-ship and flees with Lucilla, Duncan and a captive Murbella.

In Chapterhouse: Dune, Lucilla has been transferred to the planet Lampadas to oversee a Bene Gesserit education center located there. She manages to escape before the Honored Matres destroy the planet, carrying the shared memories of its millions of Reverend Mothers. Her ship is damaged by a mine and she is forced to land on Gammu, where she takes refuge with a hidden colony of Jews, knowing that they will be sympathetic to her. The Jews had fled Earth thousands of years earlier in order to escape relentless persecution, and they now practice their religion in secret to maintain their ties to ancient history. The Bene Gesserit, with their own method of connecting to their past, have cultivated a relationship with the Jews. The leader of this settlement gives Lucilla shelter, but ultimately has to turn her over to the Honored Matres in order to save his people from destruction at their hands. Before doing so, however, he introduces Lucilla to 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. The Honored Matres capture Lucilla and bring her before the Great Honored Matre Dama, who surprises everyone present by declining to kill her outright. Dama tries to persuade Lucilla to join the Honored Matres, preserving her life in exchange for Bene Gesserit secrets. Dama is especially interested in the Bene Gesserit ability to modify their biochemistry and render toxins harmless, prompting Lucilla to speculate that the Honored Matres were driven out of the Scattering by an enemy who used biological weapons. These conversations with Lucilla continue for weeks, and 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 when she discovers that the Bene Gesserit teach this dangerous knowledge, and she kills Lucilla.

Lucilla is described as a near copy of the elite Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade, from her physical appearance to the sound of her voice. The two women are not directly related, but are instead the products of parallel breeding lines.

Miles Teg is a Mentat and the former Supreme Bashar of the Bene Gesserit, their leading military commander. In Heretics of Dune, Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Taraza summons Teg out of retirement to take over the weapons training of the newest Duncan Idaho ghola, still a teenager, on Gammu. Teg, Duncan and Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Lucilla flee an attempt on Duncan's life, and hide in a long-forgotten Harkonnen no-globe discovered by Teg's aide, Patrin. Teg uses his strong resemblance to his ancestor Duke Leto Atreides, to whom the original Idaho was fiercely loyal, and a variety of relentless physical and mental attacks to awaken Duncan to his original memories. Teg arranges an extraction by his protégé Burzmali, but they are ambushed, and Teg sacrifices himself to capture by the Honored Matres to allow Lucilla and Duncan to escape. Teg is tortured using a T-Probe, and under the severe stress and agony produced by the probe's attempts to gain control of his body and his knowledge, his Mentat abilities and Atreides genes elevate him to a higher level of being. He is able to move faster than the eye can see by accelerating his metabolism, and he gains mild prescience, which he describes as a doubled vision which gives him intimations of danger. His accelerated speed comes at the cost of incredible energy expenditure, requiring him to consume enormous amounts of food. After escaping his captors, he finds that his safehouse had been taken over by Honored Matres, who attempt to gain his allegiance. Seeing the terrible state their constant drive for power and contempt for the masses has lowered them to, he uses his incredible speed to slaughter them and escape once more. Teg gathers a force of veterans who had served under him on previous campaigns from the bars of Ysai and captures an Honored Matre no-ship using his tactical genius and new abilities. He flees the planet with Lucilla, Duncan and a captive Honored Matre, Murbella. Journeying to Rakis, Teg hands off Duncan and Lucilla to the Bene Gesserits Sheeana and Darwi Odrade, the latter of which is revealed to be his daughter. As the others escape, Teg goads the Honored Matres, who incinerate the entire planet with their Obliterator weapons to be sure Teg is killed.

A ghola of Teg is birthed in Chapterhouse: Dune on orders from Odrade, who is now Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit after Taraza's death in the battle at Rakis. Odrade needs Teg's military abilities to thwart the worsening threat of the Honored Matres. The Bene Gesserit later reawaken him to his full memories prematurely by using Sheeana to imprint him. As the original Teg has been trained by his mother to resist such manipulation, the attempt subjects the Teg ghola to a heightened amount of stress which also unlocks the superhuman abilities previously acquired by Teg under Honored Matre torture. A reawakened Teg leads the final assault upon the Honored Matres, but is captured when the Matres pretend to surrender. Murbella, a captive Honored Matre indoctrinated into the Bene Gesserit, kills the Honored Matre leader Logno at the same time Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Odrade is killed, and Murbella manages to secure the leadership of both groups. Teg is released, later joining Sheeana and Duncan Idaho when they escape Bene Gesserit control in a no-ship.

The adult Teg is described as 296 years old but still vital, and has a striking resemblance to his ancestor, Leto Atreides. The son of the Bene Gesserit Lady Janet Roxbrough (a Fish Speaker descendant) and Loschy Teg, a "CHOAM station factor" who was chosen for breeding by the Sisterhood for his "gene potential," Miles had been instructed in the Bene Gesserit ways by his mother before being sent to Lampadas to train as a Mentat. Teg is a military genius, having a very strong sense of honor, loyalty, and many of the characteristics of House Atreides, his ancestors. He is well known for doing the unexpected. Teg is also not a spice addict, as is common with most other people, not even resorting to the spice at old age when most others might wish to use it to extend their lives. By the time of Heretics of Dune, Teg's wife had been dead for 38 years, his grown children living elsewhere except for his eldest daughter Dimela. She and her husband Firus take control of Teg's farm when he leaves his homeworld Lernaeus, and the couple have three children. Teg had a younger brother, Sabine, who had been poisoned on Romo. In Heretics of Dune, it is revealed that Teg had fathered other children during his younger years, one of whom is Odrade.

Teg also appears in the sequel novels Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In Hunters of Dune, Duncan and Teg run the affairs on the no-ship, being the only two passengers with experience in military leadership. Teg considers himself responsible for the security of the ship and its vital cargo of historical gholas, produced in transit from genetic material possessed by captive passenger Scytale, purportedly the last Tleilaxu Master. In Sandworms of Dune, mysterious saboteurs conduct crippling attacks on the no-ship's systems. Teg and Duncan discover that Face Dancers have infiltrated the ship, but not before they are led directly to the "Unknown Enemy" who have been stalking the ship for years: Daniel and Marty, incarnations of the ancient thinking machines Omnius and Erasmus. The critically damaged no-ship is caught in the thinking machine tachyon net, and Teg uses his accelerated metabolism to both repair the ship and launch countermeasures against the attacking machines. Though he has consumed vast quantities of melange and carbohydrates from the ship's stores to complete his task, Teg dies from massive cellular exhaustion. Duncan is unable to free the ship, and it is taken to the machine world Synchrony. En route, Duncan and Sheeana release the husk that is left of Teg's body into space, vowing that the Bashar will never be captured by the Enemy. Later, after the machines are defeated, Duncan asks Scytale for a new ghola of Teg, whom he will need at his side in his new position as the bridge between both mankind and machines.

Murbella is a young Honored Matre who defects to the Bene Gesserit. In Heretics of Dune, the violent Honored Matres capture the teenage Duncan Idaho ghola, who is loyal to their enemies, the Bene Gesserit. Young Honored Matre Murbella is tasked to use her sexual imprinting talents to enslave Duncan to force his allegiance to them. The Tleilaxu have secretly programmed the ghola with the male equivalent to the Honored Matres' imprinting power, which is unlocked by Murbella's attempt. Duncan and Murbella imprint each other, and in her weakened condition Murbella is easily captured by the Bene Gesserit. Her new addiction to Duncan keeps Murbella subdued, and Bene Gesserit soon begin to train her as one of them, though they do not completely trust her. In Chapterhouse: Dune, Duncan and Murbella's mutual imprinting has made them reluctant lovers. Murbella collapses under the pressure of training and her pregnancy, but realizes that she admires and wants to be Bene Gesserit. Murbella submits to the spice agony to become a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, and survives. During a Bene Gesserit attack on the Honored Matres, Murbella kills the Great Honored Matre Logno with her Bene Gesserit-enhanced fighting skills, and the Honored Matres are awed by her physical prowess. The Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Darwi Odrade is also killed, and Murbella secures the leadership of both groups, per Odrade's plan. Murbella intends to merge the two orders into a New Sisterhood, which displeases some of the Bene Gesserit. The dissenters flee Chapterhouse with Duncan, Miles Teg, and Sheeana in a no-ship, and Murbella realizes their plan too late to stop them.

Murbella also appears in the sequel novels Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In Hunters of Dune, Murbella takes the title Mother Commander. She has four daughters by Duncan: Rinya, Janess, Tanidia and Gianne. Murbella searches her Other Memory for the origin of the Honored Matres. She discovers that they are descendants of rogue Bene Gesserits and Tleilaxu females, originally used as axlotl tanks and freed by Fish Speakers, who allied in the Scattering. Murbella also discovers that the Honored Matres' "outside enemy" are thinking machines, provoked when the Honored Matres stole technologically advanced weapons, including Obliterators, from them. In Sandworms of Dune, Murbella now knows that the sentient computer network Omnius and his thinking machine forces are coming, and attempts to rally humankind for a last stand against the thinking machines. She commissions the scientists of Ix to copy the destructive Obliterators for use on the fleet of warships she has ordered from the Spacing Guild. However, Ix is now secretly controlled by Face Dancer leader Khrone. When Murbella is ready to launch her fleet, the Obliterators and Ixian navigation devices all suddenly fail, which Murbella realizes is sabotage. The Oracle of Time appears, destroying Omnius and the thinking machines with her own armada. Murbella is reunited with Duncan, who intends to end the divide between humans and thinking machines, allowing the two to co-exist.

Darwi Odrade is an elite Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother and Atreides descendant. In Heretics of Dune, the "wild talents" of the Atreides bloodline that Odrade displays intermittently are what the Bene Gesserit both fear and desperately need. The suspicious Reverend Mother Bellonda scrutinizes Odrade continually, looking for reasons to terminate her, while Mother Superior Taraza senses that the Sisterhood needs Odrade's limited Atreides prescience to avert imminent destruction at the hands of the Honored Matres. Taraza tasks Odrade to take over the Bene Gesserit Keep on the planet Arrakis, and take under her protection the foundling girl Sheeana, who has the natural ability to control the giant sandworms. Recognizing Sheeana's value to the Sisterhood, Odrade begins training her as a Bene Gesserit acolyte. Meanwhile, an anonymous document referred to as the Atreides Manifesto surfaces, attacking all religions in the known universe except for that of the Bene Tleilax. This creates a furor with the intensely religious Tleilaxu, who have long nursed dreams of hegemony, dominating the universe with their religion. The Tleilaxu council decides to treat the Manifesto as a gift from God, and they spread it far and wide. It is later revealed that the Manifesto was in fact written by Odrade. When Taraza is killed after a showdown with the Honored Matres on Arrakis, Odrade becomes Mother Superior.

In Chapterhouse Dune (1985), Odrade is accompanied by Tamalane, Dortujla and the acolyte Suipol to meet the Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction, as retired Bene Gesserit Supreme Bashar Miles Teg leads a force to attack Gammu. With the planet about to fall, the Honored Matres activate their "weapon of last resort", turning victory into defeat and holding Odrade captive. Tamalane, Dortujla, and Suipol are killed. As planned with Odrade previously, Honored Matre-turned-Bene Gesserit Murbella travels to Junction alone, pretending to have escaped the Bene Gesserit with their unique abilities and the location of their hidden homeworld, Chapterhouse. Murbella is brought before the new Great Honored Matre Logno, who has just killed her predecessor Dama and has Odrade standing nearby, unrestrained in a gesture of contempt. Murbella provokes and kills Logno, while simultaneously the Honored Matre Elpek kills Odrade. With both of these deaths, Murbella becomes the new Mother Superior as well as Great Honored Matre, fulfilling Odrade's intentions.

Odrade is secretly the daughter of military commander Teg, and her "care with details" makes her, like Teg, most suited for duties related to security. The younger Reverend Mother and Imprinter Lucilla is described a near copy of Odrade, from her physical appearance to the sound of her voice. The two women are not directly related, but are instead the products of parallel breeding lines. As the Bene Gesserit are wary of the historical unpredictability of Atreides genes, it is noted in Heretics of Dune that her offspring receive "careful examination", and that "two of those offspring had been quietly put to death."

Sheeana Brugh is a young girl native to Rakis (formerly Arrakis) who possesses the unique ability to control the giant sandworms that roam the desert planet. In Heretics of Dune, Sheeana's talent is revealed after her impoverished village is wiped out by a sandworm which refuses to harm her, and then whisks her to the capital city of Keen (formerly Arrakeen) when she climbs on to its back in the long-forbidden Fremen tradition. Sheeana is soon recognized as the "sandrider" predicted by the Leto II, and worshipped by the priesthood of Rakis. As she matures to adulthood, Sheeana effectively assumes control of the priesthood. Her popularity and religious aura have increased both on and off Rakis, and the priests, believing her a prophet, are compelled to follow even her most unorthodox commands. The Bene Gesserit, who have their own plans for Sheeana and have secretly guided her education, thwart an assassination attempt on her, and unofficially take control of Sheeana, the priesthood and Rakis. Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade begins Sheeana's formal Bene Gesserit training. Mother Superior Taraza is soon pleased with Sheeana's progress, and considers a secondary plan of seeding other planets with sandworms with Sheeana's help. Rakis itself is destroyed by the vengeful Honored Matres. In Chapterhouse: Dune, Sheeana is now in charge of the project to breed sandworms on the secret Bene Gesserit world, Chapterhouse. She becomes a full Reverend Mother but remains very independent, with mysterious depths. Disagreeing with the plans of new Bene Gesserit leader Murbella, Sheeana chooses to escape Chapterhouse on an untraceable no-ship with the like-minded Duncan Idaho ghola and a number of other passengers.

Sheeana also appears in the sequel novels Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In Hunters of Dune, Sheeana and Duncan lead the no-ship in their journey to flee the Unknown Enemy that pursues them. Sheeana decides that they need to make new gholas of former heroes using the genetic material carried by the last Tleilaxu Master, Scytale.

Tylwyth Waff is a Tleilaxu Master and 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. Waff is described 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". In Heretics of Dune, Waff successfully replaces High Priest Hedley Tuek with a Face Dancer duplicate loyal to the Tleilaxi, but loses control of the impostor due to its eventual complete assimilation into its new form. Traveling to Rakis, Waff decides to ally with the Bene Gesserit after he is tricked into believing that they share the secret religious beliefs of the Tleilaxu. He is killed along with the entire population of Rakis when the Honored Matres destroy the planet in revenge for Miles Teg's slaughter of their members. Meanwhile, he has a replacement ghola growing for himself in Bandalong, the capital city of the Tleilaxu homeworld, Tleilax.

Waff also appears in the sequel novels Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In Hunters of Dune, the Honored Matres who conquered Tleilax have 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 Rakis, original homeworld of the sandworms, and sacrifices himself to a worm, which to him is an embodiment of God.

Bellonda is a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother and the chief Mentat-Archivist counselor to Mother Superior Taraza in Heretics of Dune. After Taraza's death, Bellonda serves new Mother Superior Darwi Odrade in the same function in Chapterhouse: Dune. During a conversation with the Duncan Idaho ghola it is revealed that Bellonda is a descendant of Anteac, an important Reverend Mother from the time of the God Emperor Leto II.

Bellonda also appears in the sequel novel Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. In the novel, Bellonda is one of the few Bene Gesserit with access to the Bene Gesserit's sensitive breeding records, and one of even fewer possessing the memories of all the Mothers Superior. Bellonda suspects that the Honored Matres had originally been Reverend Mothers sent out in the Scattering, and calculates that melange withdrawal and hypnosis had caused them to deny their origins. Bellonda is later killed in a duel by her Spice Operations Director partner and nemesis, the former Honored Matre Doria. An outraged Mother Commander Murbella, leader of the merged New Sisterhood of Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres, forces Doria to share minds with Bellonda before her memories are lost forever.

Alma Mavis Taraza is the Bene Gesserit Mother Superior in Heretics of Dune who brings former Supreme Bashar Miles Teg reluctantly out of retirement to guard the latest Duncan Idaho ghola. Taraza blackmails Tleilaxu Master Waff to find out all he knows about the invading Honored Matres, as well as the fact that the Bene Tleilax have programmed their own agenda within the ghola. She also manages to divine that Waff is a secret Zensufi, which finally gives the Sisterhood a way to manipulate the Tleilaxu. Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade subsequently uses this knowledge of Waff's religious beliefs to form an alliance with him. As Tleilaxu axlotl tanks are the only other source of melange besides Rakis, this alliance will be essential when Taraza executes her ultimate plan: to destroy Rakis and free humanity from Leto II's own plan. The discovery of a girl with the ability to control sandworms prompts Taraza to consider a secondary plan of seeding other planets with them. The Honored Matres are goaded into attacking Rakis and Taraza is killed, but not before she is able to share Other Memory with Odrade, who escapes.

Alef Burzmali is Miles Teg's protégé in the Bene Gesserit military who became Supreme Bashar after Teg's retirement. In Heretics of Dune, he aids Teg in extracting the Duncan Idaho ghola and Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Lucilla from their hiding place on Gammu. When Duncan is captured by the Honored Matres, Lucilla impersonates one of them, with Burzmali playing her sexual slave, to access the building where Duncan is being held. Burzmali dies attempting to protect the planet Lampadas from a catastrophic attack by Honored Matres in Chapterhouse Dune.

Hedley Tuek is the High Priest of the Rakian Priesthood, and a descendant of the melange smuggler Esmar Tuek. Tleilaxu Master Waff has Tuek killed and replaced by a Face Dancer, a genetically engineered mimic, but loses control of the duplicate due to its eventual complete assimilation into its new form.

• Schwangyu is the Bene Gesserit in charge of the Duncan Idaho ghola project on Gammu in Heretics of Dune. As the leader of a faction of the Sisterhood who believe that such gholas are a danger to the order and its goals, she has been subtly encouraging the ghola's failure. By the time Lucilla arrives to teach Duncan and bind his loyalty to the Sisterhood with sexual imprinting, he has already been tarnished by Schwangyu, and nurses hatred for the Bene Gesserit and a desire to escape their control. Despite Schwangyu's efforts to seduce Lucilla to her side, Duncan blossoms under the training of Lucilla and Miles Teg, and Schwangyu begins to realize that she has much underestimated Lucilla. Schwangyu betrays Teg, Lucilla, and Duncan to the Tleilaxu, allowing them to attack the keep on Gammu where Duncan is being trained, but the Tleilaxu forces kill her during the strike.
• Tamalane is a Bene Gesserit who is one of the Duncan Idaho ghola's first chief instructors on Gammu in the events before Heretics of Dune. Tamalane is one of Mother Superior Odrade's advisors in Chapterhouse: Dune, and accompanies Odrade, Dortujla and the acolyte Suipol to meet the Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction as Miles Teg leads a force to attack Gammu. Tamalane and her party are eventually slain by the Honored Matres, but the Bene Gesserit conquest proves successful with Murbella left as leader to both the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres.
• Hesterion is the Bene Gesserit Archivist counselor and advisor to Mother Superior Taraza in Heretics of Dune. She is one of very few sisters with access to sensitive breeding records, and is the first advisor to correctly suggest that the Tleilaxu ambition is to produce a complete prana-bindu mimic.
• Lady Janet Roxbrough is the Bene Gesserit mother of Supreme Bashar Miles Teg, who teaches him the Bene Gesserit ways in his youth, prior to Heretics of Dune.
• Carlana is a young Bene Gesserit acolyte whom Miles Teg meets as a child. While the Honored Matres interrogate an adult Miles with a T-Probe in Heretics of Dune, he recalls a visit from the Sisterhood to his Bene Gesserit mother, Lady Janet Roxbrough. Miles is left talking with one of the visitor's young acolytes, Carlana, who unsuccessfully tries her "fledging skills" on the eleven-year-old Teg. Miles, who has been well-instructed by his mother, can easily see through Carlana and manipulates her in return. Carlana is described as having red-blond hair, a doll's face with green-gray eyes and upturned nose, and an "inflated view of her own attractions."
• Geasa is a Bene Gesserit who had been the Duncan Idaho ghola's first chief instructor prior to the events of Heretics of Dune. She had become very attached to him, but had been sent away after allowing him to discover (at age eight) that he is a ghola.

Rebecca is a "wild" Reverend Mother who lives among a secret community of Jews on Gammu. In Chapterhouse: Dune, Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Lucilla is fleeing the destruction of the planet Lampadas by the Honored Matres and is forced to land on Gammu. Once there, she seeks out a hidden settlement of Jews, whom she knows will give her sanctuary. They are obligated to turn her over to the Honored Matres to assure their own survival, but Lucilla, who is carrying the priceless shared-minds of all the Reverend Mothers of Lampadas, is able to share minds with Rebecca and pass on this knowledge before being captured by the Honored Matres. Rebecca and the Jews eventually escape Gammu with the Bene Gesserit forces, and Rebecca is able to pass on the 7,622,014 Lampadas shared-minds to the Sisterhood.

In the sequel novel Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca is aboard the untraceable no-ship which Sheeana and Duncan Idaho use to flee the Bene Gesserit planet Chapterhouse. Rebecca later offers herself as a volunteer to become one of the axlotl tanks used to produce the important gholas of Paul Atreides, Leto II and others.

Daniel and Marty are a pair of mysterious observers with advanced technological powers introduced in Chapterhouse: Dune. Duncan Idaho sees the duo in a vision and determines that they are likely Face Dancers, the shapeshifting minions of the Tleilaxu, though atypically autonomous ones. In the final chapter of the novel, Daniel and Marty observe the escape of the no-ship from Chapterhouse and confirm that they are independent Face Dancers.^[63] They acknowledge that Tleilaxu Masters created them and express some deference, but also assert their independence and indicate that their ability to absorb the memories and experiences of other people made their autonomy inevitable. 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.

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 and Sandworms of Dune.^[7]

In Hunters of Dune, Daniel and Marty are in constant pursuit of the escaped no-ship, 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. It is eventually 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 by Brian Herbert and Anderson. In the third Legends novel Dune: The Battle of Corrin, Omnius had sent out a last blast of information before being destroyed in the Battle of Corrin. This signal had eventually connected with one of the probes disseminated from Giedi Prime several years earlier, uploading versions of Erasmus and Omnius.

In Sandworms of Dune, 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".

William F. Touponce states unequivocally that Daniel and Marty are Face Dancers in his 1988 book Frank Herbert, explaining "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".^[63] 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.^[7] 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".^[7]

Great Honored Matre Dama is the Honored Matre leader on Junction in Chapterhouse Dune, and is called the "Spider Queen" by the Bene Gesserit leader Darwi Odrade. Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Lucilla flees the destruction of Lampadas by the Honored Matres, but is forced to land on Gammu. She is captured and brought before Dama, but not killed outright. Dama tries to persuade Lucilla to join the Honored Matres, preserving her life in exchange for Bene Gesserit secrets. Dama does not try to hide the fact that the Matres dearly want to learn to modify their biochemistry as the Bene Gesserit do. These conversations with Lucilla 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 when she discovers the Bene Gesserit teach this dangerous knowledge. Dama kills Lucilla, and then meets with Mother Superior Odrade. Dama at first seems surprisingly cooperative, but Odrade soon realizes that Dama intends no reasonable negotiation. Under cover of Odrade's diplomacy, the Bene Gesserit forces under Miles Teg attack Junction with tremendous force. Dama's chief advisor Logno assassinates Dama with poison, and assumes control of the Honored Matres.

Logno is the chief advisor to Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction. In Chapterhouse Dune, Logno assassinates Dama with poison while the Bene Gesserit forces are attacking Junction. Logno assumes control of the Honored Matres and immediately surrenders. Bene Gesserit leader Odrade is surprised, but she and Miles Teg soon realize they have fallen into a trap. The Honored Matres use a weapon of mass destruction and turn defeat into victory. Murbella saves as much of the Bene Gesserit force as she can, and they begin to withdraw to Chapterhouse. Odrade, however, had planned for the possible failure of the Bene Gesserit attack and left Murbella instructions for a last desperate gamble. Murbella pilots a small craft down to the surface, announcing herself as an Honored Matre who, in the confusion, has managed to escape the Bene Gesserit with all their secrets. She arrives on the planet and immediately announces her intentions by killing an overeager Honored Matre with blinding speed enhanced by Bene Gesserit training that makes her faster than any Honored Matre before her. Murbella is taken to Logno, and immediately declares herself hostile. Logno cannot help herself and attacks, and Murbella handily kills her and some of her allies. Murbella takes charge of the Honored Matres, who are awed by her physical prowess.

Dortujla is the head of the Bene Gesserit keep on the cold aquatic planet Buzzell, having been sent there as punishment for the so-called "Jessica crime"—a love affair, forbidden by the Bene Gesserit as a weakness that could compromise their performance. In Chapterhouse: Dune, Dortujla comes to Odrade on Chapterhouse to report that humanoid Handlers and their half-man/half-cat enslaved Futars have offered alliance against the Honored Matres, who have yet to make a move on Buzzell. Dortujla's Mentat analysis, however, suggests that the Handlers somehow intend dominance, and that the Matres intend to colonize Buzzell. Odrade sees an opportunity, and orders Dortujla to return to Buzzell and make contact with the Honored Matres, brokering a meeting between Odrade and their leader in which the Bene Gesserit will supposedly surrender. Dortujla is tortured by the Honored Matres and forced to watch her party be murdered and fed to captive Futars. However, she witnesses a Futar using its immobilizing scream, which has "qualities of Voice", against the Honored Matres. Later, Dortujla accompanies Odrade, Tamalane and the acolyte Suipol to meet the Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction, the old Spacing Guild complex above Gammu, as Miles Teg leads a force to attack Gammu. Dortujla and her party are eventually slain by the Honored Matres.

• Suipol is a Bene Gesserit acolyte in Chapterhouse: Dune. She is chosen to serve and accompany Odrade on her voyage with Tamalane and Dortujla to meet the Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction, as Miles Teg leads a force to attack Gammu. Odrade describes her as a "dark little thing with a round, calm face and manners to match. Not one of our brightest but guaranteed efficient." However, after interaction with Suipol, Odrade realizes that she is much more capable than anticipated and judges her ready to undertake the spice agony and become a full Reverend Mother. Suipol and her party are eventually slain by the Honored Matres. Odrade is upset by the Suipol's death, lamenting the fact that the young acolyte died without being able to share her memories with another sister.
• Sabanda is a young Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother in Chapterhouse: Dune who is captured and interrogated by Great Honored Matre Dama on Junction. Sabanda dies without revealing anything to the Honored Matres, except the fact that Sheeana is alive and, to Sabanda's amusement, the fact that Mother Superior Odrade calls the Honored Matre leader "Spider Queen."

Since 1999, Herbert's son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson have published 15 prequel novels, collected in the series Prelude to Dune (1999–2001), Legends of Dune (2002–2004), Heroes of Dune (2008–2023), Great Schools of Dune (2012–2016), and The Caladan Trilogy (2020–2022). They have also released two sequel novels—Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007)—which complete the original series.^[15]

Anirul is a Bene Gesserit of Hidden Rank, wife of the 81st Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV and the mother of his five daughters, the Princesses Irulan, Chalice, Wensicia, Josifa and Rugi. Anirul is referred to only three times in Herbert's 1965 novel Dune, and only once by name, but is a major character in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy. In Dune: House Atreides (1999), Anirul is described as having "short bronze-brown hair," and that her "features were long and narrow, giving her a doelike face, but her large eyes had a depth of millennia in them." In the novel, she is the Bene Gesserit Kwisatz Mother, the Reverend Mother chosen every generation to guide the Bene Gesserit breeding program. She calculates that the culmination of the program, the creation of a male superbeing called the Kwisatz Haderach, is imminent. This eventuality is contingent on a daughter of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen being bred with an Atreides male. The resulting daughter would then be bred with another Harkonnen heir, to produce the male Kwisatz Haderach. The Bene Gesserit Margot Fenring arranges for Anirul to marry Shaddam as a means for the Sisterhood to gain influence over the Imperial throne by ensuring that Shaddam will never have a son. During the events of Dune: House Corrino (2001), Anirul is murdered by the Harkonnen Mentat Piter De Vries while trying to save the young Paul Atreides from being kidnapped.

Elrood IX of House Corrino is the Padishah Emperor, and father of Shaddam IV. He is mentioned twice in Appendix IV of Dune, where it is noted that he "succumbed to chaumurky" (poison), rumored to have been administered by Count Hasimir Fenring. In Dune: House Atreides, Elrood shows interest in Project Amal, an early attempt by the Bene Tleilax to create synthetic melange and eliminate dependence upon Arrakis. Success would guarantee Elrood total control over spice production. To further this goal, Elrood allows the Tleilaxu to invade and occupy the industrial planet Ix, with the help of Elrood's Sardaukar army, and remake it into a laboratory station for the project. Elrood's other motivation is revenge against Earl Dominic Vernius, the ruler of Ix, whose wife Shando had been one of Elrood's concublines. Shaddam is eager to become emperor, but despite Elrood's advanced age, he shows no signs of ill health. Shaddam finally tasks his longtime friend and minion Fenring to administer Elrood with an undetectable, slow-acting poison. Elrood finally dies, and Shaddam secures his throne by paying off the Spacing Guild with a supply of melange and by arranging his own marriage to a Bene Gesserit.

• Chaola Fenring is the Bene Gesserit mother of Count Hasimir Fenring. Before the events of the Prelude to Dune trilogy, Chaola (also known as Cirni) is lady-in-waiting to Habla, the fourth wife of Elrood IX, and serves as wet nurse to both her son and Crown Prince Shaddam (later Shaddam IV). It is also hinted that Chaola may secretly be Elrood's sister. Chaola's son Hasimir proves to be a failure for the Bene Gesserit breeding program. In Dune, Paul Atreides notes, "Fenring was one of the might-have-beens, an almost Kwisatz Haderach, crippled by a flaw in the genetic pattern — a eunuch, his talent concentrated into furtiveness and inner seclusion." Nonetheless, the bloodline manipulations of the Bene Gesserit produce a supremely intelligent and perceptive killer in Fenring, who later serves as Emperor Shaddam's chief counselor.
• Harishka is the Bene Gesserit Mother Superior during the Prelude to Dune trilogy, as the Sisterhood nears the fruition of its breeding program.
• Tessia is the Bene Gesserit wife of Prince Rhombur Vernius of Ix in the Prelude to Dune trilogy.
• Hidar Fen Ajidica is a Tleilaxu Master who leads Project Amal, an early attempt by the Bene Tleilax to create synthetic melange in order to eliminate dependence upon Arrakis.
• Duke Paulus Atreides, ruler of the ocean planet Caladan and father of Leto I
• Helena Atreides, wife of Paulus and mother of Leto I
• Victor Atreides, son of Leto and Kailea Vernius of Ix
• Edwina Richese, daughter of Elrood IX
• Tyros Reffa, illegitimate son of Elrood IX
• Pardot Kynes, first Imperial Planetologist on Arrakis and father of Liet-Kynes (mentioned in Dune)
• Faroula, wife of Liet-Kynes, and Chani's mother (mentioned in God Emperor of Dune)
• Abulurd Harkonnen II, half-brother of the Baron; father of Glossu Rabban and Feyd-Rautha (mentioned in Dune)
• Dmitri Harkonnen, father of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and Abulurd II
• Earl Dominic Vernius, head of House Vernius and ruler of Ix, father of Rhombur and Kailea
• Shando Balut-Vernius, wife of Dominic and mother of Rhombur and Kailea
• Rhombur Vernius, son of Dominic and Shando, later the cyborg ruler of Ix
• Kailea Vernius, daughter of Dominic and Shando, Leto's concubine and mother of Victor
• Cammar Pilru, Ixian ambassador and father of twins C'tair and D'murr
• D'murr Pilru, Spacing Guild Navigator and twin brother of C'tair
• C'tair Pilru, twin brother of D'murr

Serena Butler is a prominent politician and voice of the human rebellion who becomes the namesake of the Butlerian Jihad against the oppressive rule of the thinking machines in the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy. The daughter of League of Nobles Viceroy Manion Butler and his wife Livia, Serena is romantically involved with Xavier Harkonnen, who leads the military force on the League capital world of Salusa Secundus. The universe is under threat of total domination by the thinking machine empire, which consists of the evermind Omnius, the independent robot Erasmus and their army cymeks, fearsome weaponized machines controlled by disembodied human brains. The thinking machines control many worlds, and continue to conquer more, enslaving or exterminating any humans they encounter. In Dune: The Butlerian Jihad (2002), Serena is captured by the thinking machines and studied by Erasmus, who seeks to understand humans completely so that the thinking machines can be truly superior. Though his methods of study often entail human vivisection and torture, Erasmus takes a liking to Serena, as does the young Vorian Atreides, a human trustee who serves the thinking machines. Serena realizes she is pregnant with Xavier's child, and later gives birth to a baby boy she names Manion. Eventually finding this distraction inconvenient, Erasmus not only removes Serena's uterus, but kills her young son in front of her and his slaves by dropping the child from a high balcony. This event, broadcast across the universe, incites a formal jihad against the thinking machines. Seeing Serena subsequently attack and destroy a sentinel robot with her bare hands encourages Erasmus' slaves, already groomed for rebellion by slave leader Iblis Ginjo, to rise up. Vorian, witnessing the murder and realizing the lie he lives as a machine trustee, flees with Serena and Ginjo. In Dune: The Machine Crusade (2003), Ginjo (now Grand Patriarch of the Holy Jihad) and Serena (Priestess of the Jihad) have become the religious leaders of the human rebellion, now known the Butlerian Jihad, which elevates young Manion to a martyr. Serena is named interim Viceroy upon her father's retirement, but is later relegated to a figurehead by Ginjo as he consolidates his power. The humans begin to tire of war, but Serena and Ginjo know that true peace is not possible, and that the thinking machines must be destroyed. Serena visits Omnius as an emissary of the Jihad under the pretense of negotiating peace, but secretly intends to provoke Omnius into killing her, thereby making her a martyr and reenergizing the Jihad. Although Erasmus stops Omnius from murdering Serena, one of her Seraphim bodyguards, on orders from Ginjo, kills her instead. Ginjo manufactures images of Serena being tortured at length and murdered by the thinking machines, silencing anti-war dissenters and galvanizing the Jihad back into action.

Xavier Harkonnen is the courageous and honorable leader of the military force on the League of Nobles capital world of Salusa Secundus in the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy. In Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, Xavier is romantically involved with Serena Butler until she is presumably killed in an attack by the thinking machines, who seek to conquer the universe and enslave or exterminate all humans. Xavier marries Serena's sister Octa and starts a family. Serena, actually a prisoner of the thinking machines, reappears after Manion, Serena and Xavier's infant son, is martyred by the independent robot Erasmus and sparks a jihad against the machines. In Dune: The Machine Crusade, Serena and the formerly enslaved Iblis Ginjo have become the religious leaders of the human rebellion, with Xavier and Vorian Atreides its two generals. A hero of the Jihad, Xavier achieves many military victories over the machines. When he realizes the extent of Ginjo's corruption, Xavier sacrifices his own life and reputation by steering the ship carrying himself and Ginjo into a sun. His secrets dying with him, Ginjo becomes a martyred saint, and Xavier a traitor to humanity.

Vorian Atreides is the human son of the Titan Agamemnon, and later the founder of House Atreides, in the Legends of Dune trilogy. In Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, he serves the thinking machines as a human trustee, his primary function being to deliver updates of the thinking machine ruler, the evermind Omnius, to machine-controlled worlds alongside his robot co-pilot, Seurat. Vorian falls in love with Serena Butler, a human captured by the independent robot Erasmus, and is horrified when Erasmus murders her child. Vorian betrays the thinking machines and flees with Serena and the human former slave leader Iblis Ginjo. In Dune: The Machine Crusade, Serena and Ginjo have become the religious leaders of the human rebellion, with Vorian and Xavier Harkonnen as its two generals. A hero of the Jihad, Vorian achieves many military victories over the machines. Having become a close friend to Xavier, Vorian tries to clear Harkonnen's name after Xavier is branded a traitor for assassinating the corrupt Ginjo in a suicide flight into a sun. In Dune: The Battle of Corrin (2004), Vorian commands the final assault on Omnius. Trapped on Corrin, the thinking machines have surrounded the planet with a human shield of slave ships, and Xavier's grandson Abulurd Harkonnen defies Vorian's orders to reactivate their weapons and attack. Abulurd is ultimately relieved of duty and charged with treason and cowardice, for which he is exiled, igniting the Atreides-Harkonnen feud which will last for millennia.

Having previously begun a family on Caladan which would become House Atreides, and fathering children on many worlds, Vorian is settled on the backwater world Kepler in Sisterhood of Dune (2012). His father Agamemnon's life-extension treatments have kept Vorian in his prime for generations, and he foils a group of slavers targeting his village. Vorian meets with Padishah Emperor Salvador Corrino, and is welcomed as a hero of the Jihad. The populace ask that he take the throne from the Corrinos, and though he declines to do so, Salvador and his brother Roderick worry that Vorian's presence may incite a revolution. In exchange for Vorian retreating into deeper exile, Salvador agrees to protect Kepler with Imperial forces. Vorian travels to Arrakis and is confronted by a vengeful Griffin Harkonnen, Abulurd's grandson, whose family ekes out a meager existence but hopes to improve its fortunes. Vorian and Griffin reconcile, but Griffin is later killed by the assassins Hyla and Andros, Vorian's twin half-siblings who are still loyal to the vanquished thinking machines. Vorian sends a message of condolence to Griffin's sister, Valya Harkonnen, who spurns the offer and plans her own revenge. In Mentats of Dune (2014), Vorian is wracked with guilt over Griffin's death, and tries to help his struggling family with a secret infusion of funds to their whaling business on Lankiveil. On Caladan, Vorian's descendant Orry Atreides is murdered on his wedding night by his new bride, who is secretly Tula Harkonnen, Griffin and Valya's younger sister. Vorian and Orry's brother, Willem, confront Valya and a remorseful Tula in Navigators of Dune (2016). Willem spares Tula's life when he learns that she is pregnant with Orry's child. Valya believes Vorian is dead when his ship explodes, but he survives.

Iblis Ginjo is a human trustee, the enslaved head of a legion of other slaves, for the thinking machines in Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. Initially loyal to machine leader Omnius and hoping to eventually secure his immortality by becoming a cymek, Ginjo is manipulated into fostering ideas of rebellion as part of a psychological experiment by the independent robot Erasmus. Ginjo begins to see the extent to which the thinking machines do not value human life, and when Erasmus murders the child of human captive Serena Butler, Ginjo spurs the slaves to revolt. He flees with Serena and fellow disillusioned trustee Vorian Atreides. In Dune: The Machine Crusade, Ginjo (now Grand Patriarch of the Holy Jihad) and Serena (Priestess of the Jihad) have become the religious leaders of the human rebellion, now known as the Butlerian Jihad, with Vorian and Xavier Harkonnen as its two generals. Ginjo marries noblewoman Camie Boro, and fathers a daughter, Ticia Cenva with Zufa Cenva, the powerful leader of the telekinetic Sorceresses of Rossak. Serena is named interim Viceroy upon her father's retirement, but is later relegated to a figurehead by Ginjo as he consolidates his power. The humans begin to tire of war, but Serena and Ginjo know that true peace is not possible, and that the thinking machines must be destroyed. Serena visits Omnius as an emissary of the Jihad under the pretense of negotiating peace, but secretly intends to provoke Omnius into killing her, thereby making her a martyr and reenergizing the Jihad. Although Erasmus stops Omnius from murdering Serena, one of her Seraphim bodyguards, on orders from Ginjo, kills her instead. Ginjo manufactures images of Serena being tortured at length and murdered by the thinking machines, silencing anti-war dissenters and galvanizing the Jihad back into action. As the war against the thinking machines continues, Ginjo becomes more and more corrupt, and focused more on his own power and legacy. He creates the Jipol (Jihad Police) to eliminate his political enemies, and orders organ raids on other League Worlds, casting blame on the thinking machines, to meet the demand for replacement human organs for injured Jihad troops. When Xavier realizes the extent of Ginjo's corruption, he sacrifices his own life and reputation by steering the ship carrying himself and Ginjo into a sun. His secrets dying with him, Ginjo becomes a martyred saint, and Xavier a traitor to humanity.

Norma Cenva is the inventor of foldspace technology, first mentioned in God Emperor of Dune. In the Legends of Dune trilogy, she is the daughter of Zufa Cenva, the powerful leader of the telekinetic Sorceresses of Rossak. Norma is short and unattractive as compared to her tall, beautiful mother, and though her lack of telekinetic abilities disappoints Zufa, Norma is a mathematical genius who is excited to assist the famed Tio Holtzman, discoverer of the Holtzman effect, which makes Holtzman shields possible. These force shields, capable of scrambling the gel-circuitry of thinking machines, are employed in Dune: The Butlerian Jihad to protect entire planets from invasion. However, the machines soon realize that their human-machine hybrid cymeks can slip through the field to destroy the transmitters because they possessed human brains which were unaffected by the scrambler fields. Norma then has the idea to use the field as an offensive weapon, projecting it with portable transmitters to knock out machines and their installations. During this time, she also uses the Holtzman effect to invent suspensors and glowglobes, for which Holtzman takes credit. In Dune: The Machine Crusade, Holtzman calculates that the field could be modified to prevent penetration from physical projectiles, and Norma agrees, correcting the flaws in his concept but noting that objects could still pass through the shield at a slow enough speed. She also predicts that when hit by a laser, the shield would react violently, resulting in an explosion with the same effects of a nuclear weapon. Norma next studies Holtzman's original field equations to find a way to fold space, soon inventing the theory of space-folding and building a prototype space-folding ship. She is sent away by Holtzman, who is threatened by her genius, shortly before he is killed by an explosive lasgun-shield interaction during a slave revolt. Norma's ship is then used to fold space successfully by Zensunni slaves fleeing the violent rebellion. Norma is captured and tortured by the Titan Xerxes in Dune: The Battle of Corrin, which unleashes her latent psychic abilities. She destroys Xerxes and six cymeks, and then uses these powers to rework her own body into a more beautiful, appealing one based on the many women of her ancestry. The next year she and her mother's former lover, industrialist Aurelius Venport, establish a shipyard on Kolhar to produce space-folding ships, which will come to be known as heighliners. Ever uncaring about her own fame, Norma credits the invention to Aurelius as a gift to him. Aurelius puts the space-folding technology and shipyards at the disposal of the Jihad forces. Initially, navigation for foldspace travel is fundamentally inexact, and only about nine out of every ten heighliners arrive at their intended destination safety. Realizing that the spice melange amplifies her psychic and calculative abilities, Norma pioneers the use of massive concentrated doses to employ prescience to safely navigate foldspace. Aurelius and Norma's son, Adrien Venport, establishes the Foldspace Shipping Company, and finds the first ten volunteers to undergo, like Norma before them, the process to become Navigators. The Foldspace Shipping Company later becomes the Spacing Guild, monopolizing space commerce, transport, and interplanetary banking.

In the Great Schools of Dune trilogy, the highly evolved Norma periodically advises her great-grandson, Josef Venport, a ruthless businessman and the head of Venport Holdings. Her prescience allows her to envision long-term plans for her Navigators, and she manipulates Josef into evolving the company toward her goals. She is also able to fold space without a Holtzman drive. When Josef assassinates Emperor Salvador Corrino to protect his business interests, Norma intervenes to protect Josef from the wrath of Salvador's brother and successor, Roderick. She eventually negotiates with Roderick: Norma will leave Josef and his research facility unprotected against Roderick's avenging forces in exchange for sparing all current and future Navigators, the creation of an independent Spacing Guild and a guarantee that the flow of spice will continue. He agrees, but Norma saves Josef's life by beginning the process of making him a Navigator, exploiting the loophole she created in her deal with Roderick.

Norma reappears as the Oracle of Time in the sequel novels Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, which conclude the original series. She warns the Guild Navigators that the "final battle" is upon them, and they must locate the wandering no-ship Ithaca, which is fleeing both the Bene Gesserit and the mysterious observers Daniel and Marty. The ship contains the ultimate Kwisatz Haderach, whom both sides in the great war between humanity and thinking machines want for their victory. Daniel and Marty are in fact reincarnations of thinking machine leaders Omnius and Erasmus, poised to finally conquer humanity and seize control of the universe. In Sandworms of Dune, the Spacing Guild has begun replacing its Navigators with Ixian navigation devices at the prompting of Face Dancer infiltrators with their own plot to take over the universe. Their supply of melange cut off, the obsolete Navigators are dying one by one. As Navigator Edrik pursues alternate sources of the spice, he and the remaining Navigators seek the Oracle's assistance, but she is occupied with finding the Ithaca. As the forces of humanity make a last stand against the thinking machine forces and the ultimate Kwisatz Haderach, Duncan Idaho, faces Omnius, the Oracle gathers the last of the Navigators. The weaponry and navigation of the human ships fail due to Face Dancer manipulations, but the Navigators intervene and are able to hold back the first wave of the machine attack. The Oracle emerges on the capital of the new Synchronized Empire, and takes all traces of Omnius with her to an alternate dimension. This paves the way for Duncan to bridge the gap between the humans and machines and guide the two into a peaceful coexistence.

Raquella Berto-Anirul is the founder of the Bene Gesserit, and the granddaughter of Vorian Atreides. In Dune: The Battle of Corrin, Raquella and fellow doctor Mohandas Suk assist the Sorceresses of Rossak with a new outbreak of the plague deployed by the thinking machines to decimate humanity. After being infected herself, Raquella is miraculously cured by "healing water" found on the planet. Paranoid and fearing the doctor might somehow usurp her power as leader of the Sorceresses, Ticia Cenva poisons Raquella with the Rossak Drug. Raquella's recovery has unlocked the genetic ability to render the poison harmless using her body chemistry, and she experiences the first iteration of what will ultimately be known as the spice agony. Raquella is awakened to her genetic memories, becoming the first Reverend Mother. Soon she also discovers the new ability to command others with Voice. Raquella conceives a daughter with Suk, but remains on Rossak to continue her work as he pursues his goal to form the greatest medical school ever seen (later known as the Suk School). Ticia dies, and Raquella assumes authority over the Sorceresses and their breeding programs, forming the Sisterhood.

In Sisterhood of Dune, Raquella thwarts Butlerian sympathizers within her own ranks, including her own granddaughter, Dorotea. They correctly suspect that Raquella and her inner circle, including Valya Harkonnen, are using forbidden computers to manage their breeding index, which contains an immense amount of family data from across the Imperium. Dorotea takes the Rossak Drug, and survives to become the second Reverend Mother. She learns of the secret computers and alerts Emperor Salvador Corrino, who invades Rossak. Raquella and Valya destroy the computers in advance, and Salvador disbands the Sisterhood. Dorotea establishes an Orthodox Sisterhood sanctioned by Salvador, and Raquella and her followers find refuge on Wallach IX. Valya becomes the third Reverend Mother. In Mentats of Dune, Raquella believes that the only hope for the Sisterhood to survive is for the Wallach IX sisters to reconcile with Dorotea's Orthodox faction. Her health failing, Raquella summons Dorotea and forces her and Valya to put their differences aside and agree to work together for the good of the Sisterhood. Naming them co-leaders, Raquella dies. Valya however, still bitter about Dorotea's betrayal, uses her newly discovered power of Voice to force Dorotea to commit suicide. Valya declares herself to be the sole Mother Superior, and ingratiates herself to the new Emperor, Salvador's brother Roderick.

• Aurelius Venport is an ambitious industrialist who encourages Norma Cenva's scientific pursuits. He eventually markets her inventions and helps her build a shipyard to produce her space-folding ships, and realizes the potential of the drug melange. Aurelius and Norma marry and have five children, including Adrien.Later, Aurelius and Norma's mother, the Rossak Sorceress leader Zufa Cenva, are intercepted in space by the Titan Hecate. Not knowing that Hecate is assisting the Jihad forces against the thinking machines, Zufa unleashes a telekenetic blast that kills herself, Aurelius and Hecate.
• Omnius, the Evermind, an artificial intelligence which is the leader of the thinking machines
• Erasmus, an independent robot who serves Omnius and is fascinated by the human race
• Agamemnon, leader of the Titans, a human brain within a fearsome machine body, and biological father of Vorian Atreides
• Gilbertus Albans, adopted human son of Erasmus, founder of the Order of Mentats
• Dr. Mohandas Suk, a physician instrumental in fighting a catastrophic thinking machine-created plague among humans who later founds the Suk School of medicine
• Zufa Cenva, the powerful leader of the telekinetic Sorceresses of Rossak, and the mother of Norma and Ticia
• Ticia Cenva, daughter of Zufa Cenva and Iblis Ginjo, half-sister of Norma
• Tio Holtzman, scientist who discovered the Holtzman effect, which makes interstellar space travel possible
• Lord Niko Bludd, Holtzman's greedy patron
• Seurat, co-pilot to Vorian Atreides
• Manion Butler Sr., League of Nobles Viceroy and father of Serena Butler
• Livia Butler, wife of Manion Sr. and mother of Serena, abbess of the City of Interspection
• Manion Butler, "Manion the Innocent", Serena's martyred infant son
• Octa Butler, Serena's sister and wife of Xavier Harkonnen
• Wandra Butler, daughter of Xavier Harkonnen and Octa Butler
• Quentin (Vigar) Butler, Wandra's husband
• Faykan Butler, grandson of Xavier Harkonnen and Octa Butler, and son of Wandra and Quentin, who takes the name Faykan Corrino after the Battle of Corrin and founds the Imperial House Corrino
• Rikov Butler, Faykan and Abulurd's brother, governor of Parmentier and primero of the Jihad, father of Rayna
• Abulurd Butler, Faykan and Rikov's brother, who later takes the name Abulurd Harkonnen. He defies Vorian and ignites the Atreides-Harkonnen feud.
• Rayna Butler, Great-granddaughter of Xavier Harkonnen and Octa Butler who founds the Cult of Serena
• Adrien Venport, ruthless son of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva who founds the Foldspace Shipping Company, the precursor of the Spacing Guild
• Jool Noret, legendary Ginaz mercenary
• Yorek Thurr, head of the Jipol, Iblis Ginjo's secret police
• Warrick, best friend of Liet-Kynes, killed while attempting the spice agony
• El'him Wormrider, son of Selim
• Selim Wormrider, leader of Zensunni outlaws on Arrakis and the first wormrider
• Estes Atreides, Vorian's son by Leronica Tergiet, twin of Kagin
• Kagin Atreides, Vorian's son by Leronica Tergiet, twin of Estes
• Ajax, a Titan
• Barbarossa, a Titan
• Beowulf a Neo-Cymek, a new generation of human-machine hybrids created by the Titans
• Chirox, reprogrammed robot used as a battle trainer on Ginaz
• Dante, a Titan
• Hecate, a Titan
• Juno, a Titan
• Tamerlane, a Titan
• Tlaloc, a Titan
• Xerxes, a Titan

Doria is an ambitious Honored Matre who reluctantly joins the Bene Gesserit as Murbella hopes to unite the opposing factions in Hunters of Dune. Though Doria seeks to learn the impressive skills of the Bene Gesserit, her Honored Matre impulsiveness and resistance to authority are difficult to shake. A chief advisor to Murbella, Doria is one of the few assimilated Honored Matres with access to sensitive Bene Gesserit breeding records. Doria and Bellonda are on opposite sides from the beginning. Hoping to force them to at least respect each other's differences, Murbella makes them partners managing the spice operations on Chapterhouse. Years later, Doria kills Bellonda in a final confrontation. An outraged Murbella forces Doria to share minds with Bellonda, and makes her the sole Spice Operations Director. Six years later, driven to the brink of insanity by Bellonda's incessant chatter within her mind, Doria is devoured by a sandworm.

Hellica is the self-declared Matre Superior of the largest renegade Honored Matre force, based on the conquered planet Tleilax in the former capital Bandalong. In Hunters of Dune, Hellica forces captive Lost Tleilaxu Uxtal to employ the secret of the Tleilaxu axlotl tanks to produce increased quantities of the orange spice substitute used by the Honored Matres. When Guild Navigator Edrik seeks Uxtal's knowledge of producing melange in the tanks, Hellica's price for his expertise is Edrik's help transporting a certain cargo. He agrees, delivering by heighliner the Obliterators that destroy the planet Richese, where the Bene Gesserit are mass-producing weapons and armed battleships. Later, Hellica attempts an Obliterator attack on Chapterhouse itself, but the plan fails. Murbella's forces conquer Tleilax, and Hellica is killed, but Murbella realizes that the Matre Superior and some of her elite guard had actually been Face Dancer duplicates.

• Rinya is the eldest daughter of Murbella and Duncan Idaho, born a few minutes before her twin sister Janess. In Hunters of Dune, Rinya and Janess are prodigies: ambitious, impatient, and unquestionably talented, but Janess possesses just a hint more caution. Janess is obsessed with learning more about her father Duncan, and she often quotes his philosophical works. Rinya always has to be first for everything, and she demands to be allowed to undergo the spice agony, wanting to become a Reverend Mother at the age of 14, just like Sheeana had done. Though Janess tries to stop the ritual, Rinya insists, and dies in the ordeal.
• Janess Idaho is the second daughter of Murbella and Duncan Idaho, born a few minutes after her twin sister Rinya. In Hunters of Dune, Janess and Rinya are prodigies: ambitious, impatient, and unquestionably talented, but Janess possesses just a hint more caution. Janess is obsessed with learning more about her father Duncan, and she often quotes his philosophical works. Rinya always has to be first for everything, and she demands to be allowed to undergo the spice agony, wanting to become a Reverend Mother at the age of 14, just like Sheeana had done. Though Janess tries to stop the ritual, Rinya insists, and dies in the ordeal. Janess later undergoes the agony herself at age 17, and is successful. Ranked as a lieutenant in the forces of the combined Bene Gesserit/Honored Matre New Sisterhood, her first military assignment is to exterminate a renegade Honored Matre group who control a portion of the planet Gammu. Janess is later promoted to Regimental Commandant, and adopts her father's last name.
• Iriel is a Bene Gesserit tasked to cultivate the Cult of Sheeana on Gammu. In Hunters of Dune, she discovers the Honored Matre plan to send Obliterators on a Spacing Guild heighliner to destroy Chapterhouse. She and some of her followers barely escape Gammu with their lives, but manage to reach Chapterhouse and warn Murbella in time. Soon after, Iriel is killed in the Bene Gesserit takeover of Gammu.
• Corysta is a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother banished to the aquatic planet Buzzell to work in the operation harvesting valuable soostones. In Hunters of Dune, Murbella's forces retake Buzzell from the conquering Honored Matres. Murbella shares minds with Corysta, learning all she can about the situation on Buzzell but also experiencing Corysta's past. She recognizes Corysta's value and loyalty and puts her in charge of the soostone operation. Corysta manages to improve the efficiency and output of the operation, which is the Sisterhood's only source of revenue besides melange, and is essential to their plan to amass arms for a final battle with the Unknown Enemy. Corysta's past is explored in the 2006 Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson short story "Dune: Sea Child", in which Corysta is banished to Buzzell because she resists handing over to the Sisterhood the baby they had tasked her to conceive. The Honored Matres later conquer the planet, enslaving the Bene Gesserit there. Corysta nurtures a foundling Phibian until it, too, is taken from her by the Honored Matres when she refuses to tell them the secret location of Chapterhouse.
• Khrone is an enhanced, autonomous Face Dancer who appears to serve Daniel and Marty, but has his own agenda for domination of the universe.
• Uxtal is a second-rank Lost Tleilaxu sent to Bandalong by Khrone in Hunters of Dune. Uxtal is tasked to pacify Honored Matre leader Hellica by producing the orange adrenaline-enhancing drug used by the Honored Matres with axlotl technology. Khrone, however, has his own agenda for domination of the universe, and has Uxtal producing gholas for him as well.
• Elder Burah is the leader of the Lost Tleilaxu who is ultimately killed and replaced by one of Khrone's Face Dancers
• Edrik is a Spacing Guild Navigator who seeks an alternate melange supply for his Navigators as the Guild begins replacing them with Ixian navigation machines.

• Griffin Harkonnen, the heir of a once-mighty family who seeks to restore their fortunes through service to the Landsraad
• Valya Harkonnen, Griffin's ambitious younger sister who joins the Sisterhood on Rossak
• Tula Harkonnen, the youngest Harkonnen sibling
• Salvador Corrino, Padishah Emperor and Roderick's brother
• Roderick Corrino, Emperor Salvador's brother and trusted advisor
• Anna Corrino, the flighty younger sister to Salvador and Roderick
• Dorotea, leader of an anti-technology faction within the Sisterhood who is Valya's nemesis
• Manford Torondo, the popular leader of the anti-technology Butlerian movement
• Anari Idaho, a Ginaz Swordmaster in the service of Manford Torondo
• Josef Venport, an unscrupulous businessman who holds a near-monopoly on space travel, and the great-grandson of Norma Cenva
• Cioba Venport, Josef's wife and advisor
• Dr. Ori Zhoma, a former Rossak Sister and the new director of the Suk Institute