Leto II Atreides
Leto II Atreides is a male literary character who features in Dune.
Contents |
Biography
Leto II Atreides and his twin sister Ghanima were born as the children of Emperor Paul Atreides and his love Chani. The children were born in the Fremen stronghold of Sietch Tabr on Arrakis on the final day of their blinded father's rule. Their mother died shortly afterward, succumbing to the dangerous amounts of spice needed to counteract the contraceptives put in her food by Paul Atreides' legal wife, Princess Irulan Corrino. Paul's prescience had anticipated the birth of his daughter, but Leto's subsequent arrival was unexpected. Their spice saturation not only caused a rapid gestation but full pre-born awareness like their aunt before them. Following their mother's death and the apparent demise of their father after his exile into the deep desert, Leto and his sister became the legal responsibility of Paul's Regent sibling, Saint Alia of the Knife. Though they were granted a fine upbringing — mostly by their great-uncle Stilgar at Sietch Tabr — little attention was bestowed upon them by their pre-born aunt, who was possessed by Abomination and enthralled by her own power and the fervent mysticism around her family name.
At nine years old, Paul's twins gained the attention of their paternal grandmother, Reverend Mother Jessica Atreides, returning from Caladan to interview them as part of her reconciled obligations to the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, who were concerned about potential Abomination but eager for an opportunity to salvage their Kwisatz Haderach. Realizing that their considerable latent power could be a threat to her psychologically unstable daughter, Jessica pressed her Fremen allies to protect them. At this time, Leto's prescient powers began to emerge. Guided by visions involving the long-lost sietch of Jacurutu and a mysterious 'skin that was not his own', he discovered the Golden Path previously attempted by his father — now rumored to have returned from the deep desert as a decrepit preacher giving heretical sermons to the people of Arrakeen. Unlike Paul, his son developed a greater understanding of its implications, revealing not only its dangers but the painful necessities to prevent mankind's peril at the hands of stagnation and violent machines.
After Leto and Ghanima fought off an attack by trained Laza tigers deployed by the vengeful Wenscia Corrino, the twins separated, with Ghanima conditioning herself to believe her brother was dead so that no Truthsayer would learn of his whereabouts in the deep desert. There were suspicions about his survival, however, and Jessica knew of his obsession with Jacurutu. Leto slipped into total anonymity, using this time and seclusion to build a foundation of power and knowledge through which the full impact of the Golden Path could be realized. To enact such steps required a monstrous grip on both power and longevity to outlast the shortsightedness and impatience of mankind, and Jacurutu was somehow a key figure.
Overview
Personality and attributes
Independently, Leto and Ghanima both solve the problem of the pre-born. Leto constructs his own personality out of an executive committee of his ancestors; with all the important ones possessing him, none can possess him individually.
Powers and abilities
Because of the melange ingested by their mother, which causes unusual effects for the Atreides bloodline, the twins were 'pre-born', meaning that as fetuses they had been awakened to consciousness and to their genetic memories; they had been born as fully matured human beings in the bodies of infants. Leto was not prescient to the degree that his father Paul had been, but he senses the test his father had faced — to embrace a prescient vision of the universe is to set the universe on that path, a terrible responsibility that comes with terrible power.
After millennia of prana-bindu experience, not only did his mastery of the Voice know no equal, Leto was also capable of perfect vocal mimicry - typically when channeling ancestors such as his parents and paternal grandparents - much to the discomfort of everyone around him.
By the age of thirty-five centuries, Leto II had grown to an immense size bearing only vestigial remnants of humanity.
Notes
- Leto II Atreides was created by Frank Herbert where he featured in the setting of the Dune universe.
In other media
Television
Appearances
- Dune:
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
