Changes: Alia Atreides

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Alia Atreides

Film series
2003 miniseries
2000 miniseries
1984 film

Aliases

St. Alia of the Knife, Abomination, Coan-Teen, Hawt the Fish Monster, Womb of Heaven

Political Information

Titles

Regent, Mahdinate

Great House

House Atreides

Affiliation and Relationships

Loyalty

Family members

Leto Atreides I (father)
Jessica Atreides (mother)
Duncan Idaho (husband)
Paul Atreides (brother)
Irulan Corrino (sister-in-law)
Leto Atreides II (nephew)
Ghanima Atreides (niece)

Romances

Duncan Idaho (husband)
Javid

Biographical Information

Physical Characteristics

Eyes

Blue within blue

Behind the Scenes
First appearance	Portrayed by
Dune (1965)	Anya Taylor-Joy (film series) Daniela Amavia (2003 miniseries) Laura Burton (2000 miniseries) Alicia Witt (1984 film)

"The Fremen see her as the Earth Figure, a demi-goddess whose special charge is to protect the tribes through her powers of violence. She is Reverend Mother to their Reverend Mothers. To pilgrims who seek her out with demands that she restore virility or make the barren fruitful, she is a form of anti-mentat. She feeds on that strong human desire for the mysterious. She is living proof that the 'analytic' has limits. She represents ultimate tension. She is the virgin-harlot - witty, vulgur, cruel, as destructive in her whims as a coriolis storm."

―St Alia-of-the-Knife as taken from The Irulan Report^[src]

Alia Atreides (November^[1] 10191 AG - 10219 AG), also known as Saint Alia of the Knife and later Coan-Tean ("the female death-spirit who walks without feet") to the Fremen and called Hawt the Fish Monster on the outer worlds, was the posthumous daughter of Duke Leto Atreides I and his Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica, born on the planet Arrakis. She was the younger sister of Paul Atreides. As regent of the Atreides Empire, she established an autocratic government based on the cult of her personality. She later leapt to her death in defiance of the possession by the spirit of a younger Vladimir Harkonnen retained in her Other Memory.

Biography

Early years

Alia was still in the womb when Jessica took the Water of Life. Thus she was pre-born, and highly susceptible to Abomination from before birth. After living with the Fremen for several years, she was present in the palace on Arrakeen when her brother and his forces successfully conquered the combined forces of the Emperor's Sardaukar and House Harkonnen.

During the invasion she poisoned Baron Vladimir Harkonnen with a Gom Jabbar, although not before revealing to the latter her familial ties to Harkonnen, and slew dying soldiers on the battle field for their water, earning her the title "St. Alia of the Knife."

Regency

Establishing her rule

When the blind Paul walked to his death in the desert, both his children Leto and Ghanima were infants. As such, Alia, as the revered sister of the Emperor, became the logical choice of Regent of the Atreides Empire during the twins minority. She was eventually corrupted by power and established a cult of personality, using rich trappings and grandiose titles such as the Mahdinate to build considerable political weight.

Into Abomination

Shortly thereafter, Alia fell fully into Abomination, and was secretly tormented by the ego-memories of countless ancestors. Chief among these was the personality of Vladimir Harkonnen, who sought to use his granddaughter as a tool to reclaim power from beyond the grave.

Relationships

Alia's first words to her Fremen nurse, were "I love you, Harah." But while her relationship with Harah was warm, many of her other relationship with Fremen as a child were strained. Her unique abilities and maturity made her an object of fear and superstition in her sietch. Her relationship with her mother was strained at best, and simmered with deep resentment. As an adult, she found "nothing strange in loving and hating her mother simultaneously.”

While it's fair to say that Alia, as pre-born, understood Leto II and Ghanima better than most, their relationship was challenging. While recognizing that they, like her, were never really children, she was frustrated that they refused to experiment with the spice. They, in turn, could only pity her as they understood the psychological and social strain she experienced throughout her life.

Though she loved and admired her brother, she also felt the burden of being the sister of an emperor worshiped as a god. And while her love for the original Duncan Idaho ghola may have been genuine, her gradual descent into Abomination, and her affairs with Javid, among others, slowly destroyed this relationship.

After increasing pressure and control from the internal council of Vladimir Harkonnen, Alia orders the assassination of The Preacher, despite knowing it was her beloved brother. Upon Leto's return from the desert and a subsequent battle, he gives her a choice, the Trial of Possession or suicide. In a final act of defiance against the surmounting internal control from the Baron, Alia throws herself from a high window to her death, a death that was witnessed by her mother Jessica, the Atreides twins, and Farad'n Corrino.

Legacy

Alia's religious influence was long-lived. Revered in life, she was still worshiped by some thousands of years after her death. In the months prior to Leto II's death, a Cult of Alia was discovered on Giedi Prime by Duncan Idaho's agents. Ultimately, however, Alia's influence vanished after Leto's death, some three and a half thousand years after her own death.

Images

Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides in 2024's Dune- Part Two

Behind the Scenes

In the Children of Dune TV mini-series, Alia kills herself with a crysknife, instead of committing suicide by autodefenestration.
Alicia Witt portrayed Alia in the 1984 movie. While still directly responsible for Harkonnen's demise, her method of killing him is slightly different, as she instead telekinetically shoves him out of a window and has a sandworm devour him.
Laura Burton portrayed the child Alia in the Dune 2000 miniseries, while Daniela Amavia took over the role of the teenaged and adult Alia in the 2003 Children of Dune miniseries.
- Amavia is actually nine years older than Alec Newman who played Alia's much older brother Paul.
In Dune: Part Two, the book's two-year time skip is removed, and Alia remains unborn at the end of the film. However, an adult Alia, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, briefly appears to Paul in a vision after he takes the Water of Life.

Trivia

The name Alia (also spelt Alya or Aaliyah) means "sky, heaven, loftiness" in Arabic and "other, another, else" in Latin. In the 1984 film, Alicia Witt portrays the character wearing a Hijab, a headscarf commonly worn by Arab and Muslim women.

Though it was not shown in the miniseries, in the books Alia was stated to have begun to gain weight toward the end, A "plumpness which had begun to bulge her body", showing she might have been overindulging due to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen's influence.

Appearances

Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune (Mentioned only)
Heretics of Dune (Mentioned only)
Dune: Part Two

References

↑ Book II of Dune ends in mid-autumn, which is late October or early November. Alia has still not been born. Early in Book III, Alia is stated to be about two years old. We also know that it is still 10,193 at the end of Book III, due to Appendix IV. It seems very unlikely that Book III covers just a month, so we can make a fair assumption that Alia was born in November 10,191.

Preceded by
Paul Atreides (Emperor)

Regent of the Atreides Empire
10210 AG - 10219 AG

Succeeded by
Leto Atreides II (Emperor)

v • d • e House Atreides
Dukes	Old Duke • Leto Atreides I • Paul Atreides • Leto Atreides II
Family	Atreides at Corrin • Jessica Atreides • Alia Atreides • Chani Kynes • Leto Atreides II the Elder • Ghanima Atreides • Moneo Atreides • Siona Atreides
Retainers	Duncan Idaho • Gurney Halleck • Thufir Hawat • Wellington Yueh • Fedor • Mattai • Arkie • Stilgar

[1] Book II of Dune ends in mid-autumn, which is late October or early November. Alia has still not been born. Early in Book III, Alia is stated to be about two years old. We also know that it is still 10,193 at the end of Book III, due to Appendix IV. It seems very unlikely that Book III covers just a month, so we can make a fair assumption that Alia was born in November 10,191.

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Or-DE,Ex}}
-'''Alia Atreides''', aka '''Saint Alia of the Knife''' ([[10191 AG]] - [[10219 AG]]), born in planet [[Arrakis]]. Posthumous daughter of Duke [[Leto Atreides I]] and his [[Bene Gesserit]] [[concubine]] [[Lady]] [[Jessica Atreides|Jessica]], was the younger sister of [[Paul Atreides]].
+{{Character
-[[Regent]] of the [[Atreides Empire]], she established an autocratic government based on the cult of her personality.
+|name       = Alia Atreides
+|image      = <gallery>
+Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides in 2024's Dune- Part Two .jpg|Film series
+Alia01.jpg|2003 miniseries
+Alia.png|2000 miniseries
+Alia.EyesofIbad.jpg|1984 film
+</gallery>
+|alias      = St. Alia of the Knife, [[Abomination]], Coan-Teen, Hawt the Fish Monster, Womb of Heaven
+|title      = [[Regent]], [[Mahdinate]]
+|house      = [[House Atreides]]
+|job        =
+|loyalty    = *[[House Atreides]]
+*[[Fremen]]
+*[[Vladimir Harkonnen]]
+|family     = *[[Leto Atreides I]] (father)
+*[[Jessica Atreides]] (mother)
+*[[Duncan Idaho]] (husband)
+*[[Paul Atreides]] (brother)
+*[[Irulan Corrino]] (sister-in-law)
+*[[Leto Atreides II]] (nephew)
+*[[Ghanima Atreides]] (niece)
+|romances   = *[[Duncan Idaho]] (husband)
+*[[Javid]]
+|birth      = [[10191 AG]]
+|birthplace = [[Arrakis]]
+|death      = [[10219 AG]]
+|deathplace = [[Arrakeen]], [[Arrakis]]
+|eyes       = Blue within blue
+|hair       =
+|height     =
+|debut      = ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]''<br/>(1965)
+|portrayed  =*[[Anya Taylor-Joy]] (film series)
+*[[wikipedia:Daniela Amavia|Daniela Amavia]] (2003 miniseries)
+*Laura Burton (2000 miniseries)
+*[[wikipedia:Alicia Witt|Alicia Witt]] (1984 film)
+}}
+{{Quote|The [[Fremen]] see her as the Earth Figure, a demi-goddess whose special charge is to protect the tribes through her powers of violence. She is [[Reverend Mother]] to their Reverend Mothers. To pilgrims who seek her out with demands that she restore virility or make the barren fruitful, she is a form of anti-[[mentat]]. She feeds on that strong human desire for the mysterious. She is living proof that the 'analytic' has limits. She represents ultimate tension. She is the virgin-harlot - witty, vulgur, cruel, as destructive in her whims as a [[coriolis storm]].|St Alia-of-the-Knife as taken from The Irulan Report|Dune Messiah}}
-She leapt to her death in defiance of the possession by the spirit of a younger [[Vladimir Harkonnen]] retained in her [[Other Memory]].
+'''Alia Atreides''' (November<ref>Book II of ''Dune'' ends in mid-autumn, which is late October or early November. Alia has still not been born. Early in Book III, Alia is stated to be about two years old. We also know that it is still 10,193 at the end of Book III, due to Appendix IV. It seems very unlikely that Book III covers just a month, so we can make a fair assumption that Alia was born in November 10,191.</ref> [[10191 AG]] - [[10219 AG]]), also known as '''Saint Alia of the Knife''' and later '''Coan-Tean''' ("the female death-spirit who walks without feet") to the [[Fremen]] and called '''Hawt the Fish Monster''' on the outer worlds, was the posthumous daughter of Duke [[Leto Atreides I]] and his [[Bene Gesserit]] [[concubine]] [[Lady]] [[Jessica Atreides|Jessica]], born on the planet [[Arrakis]]. She was the younger sister of [[Paul Atreides]]. As [[regent]] of the [[Atreides Empire]], she established an autocratic government based on the cult of her personality. She later leapt to her death in defiance of the possession by the spirit of a younger [[Vladimir Harkonnen]] retained in her [[Other Memory]].
-==Early Years==
-Alia was still in the womb when Jessica took the [[Water of Life]]. Thus she was [[pre-born]], and highly susceptible to [[Abomination]] from before birth. After living with the [[Fremen]] for several years, she was present in the palace on [[Arrakeen]] when her brother and his forces successfully conquered the combined forces of the [[Emperor|Emperor's]] [[Sardaukar]] and [[House Harkonnen]].
-[[File:Alia.StAlia.jpg|thumb|272px|St. Alia of the Knife]]
-During the invasion she poisoned Baron [[Vladimir Harkonnen]] with a [[Gom Jabbar]] and slew dying soldiers on the battle field for their water, earning her the name St. Alia of the Knife.
-==The Regency==
+==Biography==
+===Early years ===
-[[Image:Alia01.jpg|left|thumb|Alia as Imperial Regent]]
+Alia was still in the womb when Jessica took the [[Water of Life]]. Thus she was [[pre-born]], and highly susceptible to [[Abomination]] from before birth. After living with the [[Fremen]] for several years, she was present in the palace on [[Arrakeen]] when her brother and his forces successfully conquered the combined forces of the [[Emperor]]'s [[Sardaukar]] and [[House Harkonnen]].
+During the invasion she poisoned Baron [[Vladimir Harkonnen]] with a [[Gom Jabbar]], although not before revealing to the latter her familial ties to Harkonnen, and slew dying soldiers on the battle field for their water, earning her the title "St. Alia of the Knife."
-===Establishing Her Rule===
-Later, upon the death of Paul, and with his children [[Leto Atreides II|Leto]] and [[Ghanima Atreides|Ghanima]] still too young to effectively rule, Alia went from being a Princess to being the Imperial [[Regent]] of the [[Atreides Empire]]. She was corrupted by power and established a cult of personality, using rich trappings and grandiose titles such as the [[Mahdinate]] to build considerable political weight.
-===Into Abomination===
+===Regency===
+==== Establishing her rule====
-Shortly thereafter, Alia fell fully into Abomination, and was secretly tormented by the living personalities of countless ancestors. Chief among these was the personality of Vladimir Harkonnen, who sought to use his granddaughter as a tool to reclaim power from beyond the grave.
+When the blind Paul walked to his death in the desert, both his children [[Leto Atreides II|Leto]] and [[Ghanima Atreides|Ghanima]] were infants. As such, Alia, as the revered sister of the Emperor, became the logical choice of [[Regent]] of the [[Atreides Empire]] during the twins minority. She was eventually corrupted by power and established a cult of personality, using rich trappings and grandiose titles such as the [[Mahdinate]] to build considerable political weight.
-===Relationships===
+====Into Abomination====
+Shortly thereafter, Alia fell fully into Abomination, and was secretly tormented by the [[Ego-memory|ego-memories]] of countless ancestors. Chief among these was the personality of Vladimir Harkonnen, who sought to use his granddaughter as a tool to reclaim power from beyond the grave.
-[[Image:Alia02.jpg|thumb|250px|As Abomination, Alia takes comfort in the metaphorical arms of Baron Harkonnen]]
-Alia had few close, genuine relationships, largely due to her mentally and emotionally imbalanced state. Her relationship with her mother was strained at best, and simmered with deep resentment. And her interaction with [[Fremen]] was tarnished at an early age by their fear of her abilities and knowledge.
+==== Relationships====
-Though she loved and admired Paul, her brother, she also partly resented his influence. And her love for the original [[Duncan Idaho (gholas)|Duncan Idaho ghola]] was ultimately destroyed by a casual affair with [[Javid]], one of her priests who secretly served the [[Fremen]] insurgents who plotted against her.
+Alia's first words to her [[Fremen]] nurse, were "I love you, [[Harah]]." But while her relationship with Harah was warm, many of her other relationship with Fremen as a child were strained. Her unique abilities and maturity made her an object of fear and superstition in her sietch. Her relationship with her mother was strained at best, and simmered with deep resentment. As an adult, she found "nothing strange in loving and hating her mother simultaneously.”
+While it's fair to say that Alia, as pre-born, understood Leto II and Ghanima better than most, their relationship was challenging. While recognizing that they, like her, were never really children, she was frustrated that they refused to experiment with the spice. They, in turn, could only pity her as they understood the psychological and social strain she experienced throughout her life.
-===Spiralling Downward===
+Though she loved and admired her brother, she also felt the burden of being the sister of an emperor worshiped as a god. And while her love for the original [[Duncan Idaho (gholas)|Duncan Idaho ghola]] may have been genuine, her gradual descent into Abomination, and her affairs with [[Javid]], among others, slowly destroyed this relationship.
-During the same years in which she held herself aloof from family and friends, Alia indulged in massive doses of [[spice melange|melange]], ostensibly for the purpose of broadening her [[prescience|prescient]] vision. However, Alia lacked her brother's prescient ability, and the [[spice trance]] most often failed her. The same drug which had initially keyed her sensitivity to her ancestral voices could be depended upon to keep those same voices from becoming blurred or unavailable. As a result, Alia's heavy melange consumption became a means of maintaining contact with her internal advisors and gave them power.
+After increasing pressure and control from the internal council of Vladimir Harkonnen, Alia orders the assassination of [[The Preacher]], despite knowing it was her beloved brother. Upon Leto's return from the desert and a subsequent battle, he gives her a choice, the Trial of Possession or suicide. In a final act of defiance against the surmounting internal control from the Baron, Alia throws herself from a high window to her death, a death that was witnessed by her mother Jessica, the Atreides twins, and Farad'n Corrino.
-Alia's actions during her Regency were those of a power-hungry woman aided by the memories of generations of ambitious rulers and princelings. Her people began to mistrust and fear her, calling her, by the time of ''Children of Dune'', Coan-Teen, the "female death-spirit who walks without feet." Her every maneuver including her marriage to the first Duncan Idaho ghola, was seen as having been performed in order to solidify her own position, and her manipulation of the children in whose names she ruled was also considered a devious maneuver. Not content with having destroyed herself, she set about to lead her niece and nephew into similarly destructive ways. Since the most direct way of achieving this goal involved the children's becoming enmeshed in their ancestral memories, Alia continually tried to interest them in the spice trance.
-===Death===
+===Legacy===
+Alia's religious influence was long-lived. Revered in life, she was still worshiped by some thousands of years after her death. In the months prior to Leto II's death, a [[Cult of Alia]] was discovered on [[Giedi Prime]] by Duncan Idaho's agents. Ultimately, however, Alia's influence vanished after Leto's death, some three and a half thousand years after her own death.
+== Images==
-Alia ordered the assassination of [[The Preacher]], despite knowing it was her beloved brother. Upon Leto's return from the desert, he gave her a choice, Trial of Possession or suicide. Realising that she would not pass the Trial, Alia threw herself from a high window to her death, a death that was witnessed by her mother Jessica, the Atreides twins, and Farad'n Corrino.
+[[File:Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides in 2024's Dune- Part Two .jpg|thumb]]
-Had it not been for her death, Alia could have continued to rule for several centuries by regenerating her cellular structure. According to Fremen tradition, as with all Abominations the only cure was death.
-==Legacy==
-The impact of Alia's religious powerbase was long-lived. Many considered her a revered figure for several hundreds of years after her death. In the months prior to Leto II's death, a cult of Alia was discovered on [[Giedi Prime]] by Duncan Idaho's agents. Ultimately, Alia's influence vanished after Leto's death, some three and a half thousand years after her own death.
 ==Behind the Scenes==
 *In the ''[[Children of Dune]]'' TV mini-series, Alia kills herself with a [[crysknife]], instead of committing suicide by autodefenestration.
-*[[wikipedia:Alicia Witt|Alicia Witt]] portrayed Alia in the [[Dune (1984 movie)|1984 movie]].
+*[[wikipedia:Alicia Witt|Alicia Witt]] portrayed Alia in the [[Dune (1984 movie)|1984 movie]]. While still directly responsible for Harkonnen's demise, her method of killing him is slightly different, as she instead telekinetically shoves him out of a window and has a sandworm devour him.
 *Laura Burton portrayed the child Alia in the [[Dune (2000 miniseries)|Dune 2000 miniseries]], while [[wikipedia:Daniela Amavia|Daniela Amavia]] took over the role of the teenaged and adult Alia in the [[Children of Dune (2003 miniseries)|2003 Children of Dune miniseries]].
+**Amavia is actually nine years older than [[wikipedia:Alec Newman|Alec Newman]] who played Alia's much older brother Paul.
+*In ''[[Dune: Part Two]]'', the book's two-year time skip is removed, and Alia remains unborn at the end of the film. However, an adult Alia, played by [[Anya Taylor-Joy]], briefly appears to Paul in a vision after he takes the [[Water of Life]].
-==Trivia==
+== Trivia==
-The name Alia (also spelt Alya or Aaliyah) means "[http://www.behindthename.com/name/alya sky, heaven, loftiness]" in [[wikipedia:Arabic language|Arabic]]. In the [[Dune (1984 movie)|1984 film]], [[wikipedia:Alicia Witt|Alicia Witt]] portrays the character wearing a [[wikipedia:Hijab|Hijab]], a headscarf commonly worn by [[wikipedia:Arab people|Arab]] and [[wikipedia:Muslim|Muslim]] women.
+The name Alia (also spelt Alya or Aaliyah) means "[http://www.behindthename.com/name/alya sky, heaven, loftiness]" in [[wikipedia:Arabic language|Arabic]] and "other, another, else" in Latin. In the [[Dune (1984 movie)|1984 film]], [[wikipedia:Alicia Witt|Alicia Witt]] portrays the character wearing a [[wikipedia:Hijab|Hijab]], a headscarf commonly worn by [[wikipedia:Arab people|Arab]] and [[wikipedia:Muslim|Muslim]] women.
+Though it was not shown in the miniseries, in the books Alia was stated to have begun to gain weight toward the end, A "plumpness which had begun to bulge her body", showing she might have been overindulging due to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen's influence.
-==Appearances==
+== Appearances==
 *''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]''
-*''[[Dune Messiah (novel)|Dune Messiah]]''
+*''[[Dune Messiah]]''
-*''[[Children of Dune (novel)|Children of Dune]]''
+* ''[[Children of Dune (novel)|Children of Dune]]''
+* ''[[God Emperor of Dune]]'' {{Mo}}
+*''[[Heretics of Dune]]'' {{Mo}}
+*''[[Dune: Part Two]]''
+==References==
-[[ru:Алия Атрейдес]]
+{{Reflist}}
+{{Succession
+|Title    = [[Regent]] of the [[Atreides Empire]]
+|Years    = [[10210 AG]] - [[10219 AG]]
+|Previous = [[Paul Atreides]] (Emperor)
+|Next     = [[Leto Atreides II]] (Emperor)
+}}<br />
+{{House Atreides}}
+[[de:Alia Atreides]]
+[[ru:Алия Атрейдес]]
+[[tr:Alia Atreides]]
 [[Category:Fremen|Atreides, Alia]]
 [[Category:House Atreides|Atreides, Alia]]
 [[Category:Saints and martyrs]]
-[[Category:Females|Atreides, Alia]]
+[[Category:Females|Atreides Alia/A]]
+[[Category:10191 births]]
+[[Category:10219 deaths]]