court Their whispering campaigns began to have their effect, especially when, in the battle of Grumman (10176), Leto's Atreides forces again saved die day Shaddam IV, like all emperors, was a suspicious man, and realized that too much success on the battlefield is much worse than too tittle he knew, and his counselors agreed, that Duke Leto might become too powerful, too popular, to hold in check His incredibly loyal troops and his almost perfect rapport with diem made him a threat to the throne, in spite of his obvious loyalty Thus it was that by 10190 Shaddam IV was responsive fo a plan, hatched by enemies of House Atreides, to require the trans plantation of House Atreides from Caladan to Airakis, in the guise of a reward By 10191 Duke Leto was dead-the victim of a hideous plot by House Harkonnen which included forcing Dr Wellington Yueh, a trusted Atreides retainer to betray his Duke-and his House destroyed Leto s beloved Jessica now pregnant with a daughter Leto would never see, and son Paul were able to flee into the desert and escape the Harkonnen forces This, of course, is the beginning of the story of Paul Muad'Dib WA I Farther references ATREIDES HOUSE KJUNDATION OF ATREIDBS HOUSE PROMINENT MEMBERS ATREIDES HOUSE AND IMPERIAL RULE ATREIDES PAUL MUAD DIB Alvar Hoomwil The House of Atreides in Histort col Perspective 11 v (Caladan Apex) ATREIDES, LETO II- GOD EMPEROR OF DONE (10209-13724) Older than the fabled Noah more godlike than an) previous messiah, be it Mdometh his father Paul Muad Dib, or even Jehanne Butler, Leto II has proved more mercurial, more difficult of understand ing, even in the centimes since his timely/untimely death than any other figure in the entire history of humanity on hundreds of star systems or thousands of planets He is a myth enshrouded in legend and it may be that he himself created both myth and legend It may be in fact that we will never know the truth about this erratic genius, this preda tor of the galaxy, this wormhke, wormy god the epithets could be multiplied exponentially and we will never come near the final truth What then are the facts of his life9 Born to Paul Muad'Dib, the first Atreides emperor, and his consort, Chant Liet Kynes, he overthrew the tyrannical rule of the Abomination, Alia Atreides, his aunt, took on the sand-worm skin in a move that fundamental religionists have always hailed as the Incarnation, and ruled as God Emperor for over 3,500 years He died in a fall from a bridge, although the Church of the Divided God claims mat the stunted sandworms that still may be found m one small spare desert on Rakis are embodiments of Him-they use the capital letter-and that He will return as the fully grown, terrifying, majestic Shai Hulud, Old Father Eternity, to restore Arrakis, His home world, and the Fremen, Hib faithful disciples, to greatness We know of course, of the anarchy that ATREIDES, LETO II 67 ATREIDES LETO II followed his death, the Starvation and the Scattering that eventuated in our present civilization But we do not know Him The Rakis Finds, of course, have been immensely helpful m our quest for knowledge of his era We had long since studied and restudied the invaluable, priceless Stolen Journals, but they pale to virtual insignificance beside the richness of the materials m the Dar-es-Balat diggings So voluminous are they that several decades will elapse before even their cata logmg is completed, to say nothing of their analysis Of the God Emperor, severe) things are certain Hts voluminous dictatel recordings ate largely self-serving and completely lacking in objectivity Consider his famous statement, one he reiterated again and again, before any audience "Only fools prefer the past'" Yet has there been any person-if one may refer to Leto as a person-in the thousands of years of recorded history who was so totally dominated by the past as Leto himself? Did not his conversation continually concern the knowledge he had derived from his thou sands of ancestral voices'7 Did he not refer, again and again, to legendary, perhaps mythic Terran figures such as Chaucer or Alexander1? Have we forgotten the wisdom-for such it was, no matter our final assessment of Leto- contained in The Stolen Journals 'If you know all of your ancestors, you were a personal witness to the events which created the myths and religions of our past Recognizing this, you must think of me as a mythoiaker" What then did Leto mythologizc7 First of ail, himself He created more legends con cernmg his immutability, his omniscience, his omnipotence, indeed, his eternal nature, than anything else Yet, in reality, it was the brute physical strength of the biologic adapta tion of the saadworm that he had become that was the original source of his imperial power He capitalized on ttiat strength-and how many legends he created of his inhuman abilities'-to cement his position as emperor and to terrify entire populations From that moment on, religious awe and blind superstition, combined with the longevity of the saadworm he was becoming, made his rule inevitable An early Duncan Idaho the consummate Atreidean supporter, rebelled against Leto s increasing authontanamsm and questioned Leto's abuse of that same loyally Idaho-11099 initiated the last, sad Sardaukar campaign against the emperor, a move that resulted in Idaho s death, the final destruction of the Imperial Legions, and the founding of the Fish Speakers Historians, perhaps some of those incinerated by Leto on the pyre of their own works, have remarked on the almost tragic irony involved in this abortive campaign To be S.