In Dune, one recurring image of House Atreides revealed a family weakness that will continue to haunt them when the story resumes in Part 2. The House Atreides was mighty but not invincible. This became painfully obvious in Dune when Duke Leto met his doom at the hands of Baron Harkonnen. In a recent interview, Dennis Villeneuve revealed that the curse of House Atreides is far from lifted.
Dune protagonist Paul Atreides certainly had the odds stacked against him. He was not even supposed to be brought into this world, but his mother, who had the power to decide the gender of her offspring, went against her coven and gave birth to a boy instead of a girl. This made Paul an unwanted pawn in the Bene Gesserit sisterhood’s plan to breed forth the almighty Kwisatz Haderach. On top of this, Paul was the heir of House Atreides, a family who flaunted their most significant weakness in everyone’s face and never could rise above illusions of grandeur.
Paul often returned to the painting of his matador grandfather and the bull statuette placed thereunder. His grandfather fought bulls for sport and the head of the bull that killed him had since become a treasured heirloom of House Atreides. There was even a bull on the grandfather’s tombstone. These images of the bull told a tale of pride and conceit. The grandfather had the arrogance to think that he could survive the charge of a bull. Likewise, Duke Leto had the audacity to readily accept Arrakis even though he knew it was a trap. House Atreides was plagued by a neurotic pattern passed down through generations. In Villeneuve’s opinion, they were predisposed to challenge faith. House Atreides had the family psychology of daredevils. Innate arrogance was their key weakness, effectively symbolized by the bull metaphor.
Villeneuve was fascinated by the unconscious impulses that drove House Atreides. The belief that they could survive anything was in their blood, a heritage passed on from grandfather to father and lastly to Paul. It begged the question of how to break free from instinctive compulsions. The force that led to Duke Leto’s downfall would inevitably become Paul’s cross to bear. How and when the House Atreides’ weakness would catch up with Paul was one of the biggest unanswered questions in Dune. It is certain, though, that Paul soon will have to face the demons of his ancestors. The question is if he will buckle under like his grandfather and father, or if he will rise to the occasion and vanquish the Atreides arrogance in Dune Part 2.
Dennis Villeneuve was famously obsessed with Frank Herbert’s Dune books. One of the things that fascinated him was the inner journey of Paul Atreides. The Dune protagonist was born into a world of immense responsibility and expectations. On top of it all, his family genetics left him susceptible to developing a superiority complex. In other words, the plot of Dune Part 2 will almost certainly reveal more hardships for Paul Atreides as a result of his familial flaw.
