Pol Atraydies – Paul Atreides
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Pol_Atraydies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(franchise)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Atreides
Pol Atraydies is the true claimant to lordship of House Tabbi, in Caterwaul Canyons. He is of pure bloodlines and has been tested by the Binny Jezzerit since he was a Qhitten.
After your wizard helps Pol finish his trials he assumes leadership over House Tabbi. Pol then commits House Tabbi to joining the Aggrobah Alliance against Xerxes.
Dune, also known as the Dune Chronicles, is an American science fiction media franchise that originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert and has continued to add new publications. Dune is frequently described as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. It won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Hugo Award in 1966, and was later adapted into a 1984 film, a 2000 television miniseries, and a 2021 film. Herbert wrote five sequels, the first two of which were concomitantly adapted as a 2003 miniseries. Dune has also inspired tabletop games and a series of video games.
The Dune saga is set thousands of years in humanity’s future. Faster-than-light travel has been developed, and humans have colonized a vast number of worlds. However, a great reaction against computers has resulted in a ban on any kind of “thinking machine”, with the creation or possession of such punishable by immediate death. Despite this prohibition, humanity continues to develop and advance other branches of technology, including ESP and instruments of war. At the time of the first book’s setting, humanity has formed a feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, run by several Great Houses that oversee various planets. Of key interest is the planet Arrakis, known as “Dune”. A desert planet with nearly no precipitation, it is the only planet where a special life-extending drug, melange or “the spice”, can be found. In addition to life extension, melange enhances the mental capacity of humans: it allows for the mutated Spacing Guild pilots to navigate folded space and travel the distances between planets; and triggers some of the powers of the Bene Gesserit, a religious group that secretly seeks to control the direction humanity takes. Melange is difficult to acquire, not only due to the harsh environment of Arrakis, but also the presence of giant sandworms that are drawn towards any rhythmic sounds on the sands of the desert. Control of Arrakis, its spice production, and the impact on humanity’s development become the centerpoints of a millennia-long conflict that develops through the series.
in the 1984 film adaptation
Paul Atreides (later known as Paul Muad’Dib, and later still as The Preacher) is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is a main character in the first two novels in the series, Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969), and returns in Children of Dune (1976). The character is brought back as two different gholas in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels which conclude the original series, Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), and appears in the prequels Paul of Dune (2008) and The Winds of Dune (2009). According to Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert’s son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological House Atreus.
Paul rises to leadership through military strategy and political maneuvering, but his superhuman powers and ability to fit himself into pre-existing religious infrastructure allow him to force himself upon mankind as their messiah. As “Muad’Dib”, Paul becomes the central figure of a new religion, and reluctantly unleashes a bloody jihad in his name across the universe. Paul struggles with the idea of potentially seizing divine control over his newly minted empire, but by following the path of his destiny, he escapes from the burden of it. He lets an assassination plot against him play out, blinding him, and follows the Fremen tradition of the blind going out into the desert to die. The burden of the empire is then placed upon Paul’s sister Alia, and his children Leto II and Ghanima. Paul later reappears as the Preacher, seeking to end the religion founded around him, but is assassinated.
Paul is portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation, by Alec Newman in the 2000 Dune miniseries and its 2003 sequel, and by Timothée Chalamet in the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film Dune and its upcoming 2024 sequel.
The current list of all the (known) Mirage references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Pol Atraydies image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment
Covers of the various Dune novels are copyright Chilton Publishing
Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides image is copyright Universal Pictures
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
Vulcan Stev's Database 