Duke Leto Atreides I was a character in Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune and an important figure in the Dune universe. He was the head of the noble House Atreides and father of Paul Atreides. Beloved by his subjects as well as being highly popular in the Lansraad, Duke Leto embodied all the great aspects that House Atreides was renowned for: courage, justice, honour and integrity. Due to his great popularity, he was considered a potential threat by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV who plotted with the Atreides' mortal enemies, House Harkonnen, to have the Duke and his entire House eliminated.
In the 1984 Dune film directed by David Lynch, Duke Leto was portrayed by Jurgen Prochnow.
History[]
In the year 10191, House Atreides was ordered by the Emperor to relocate its fiefdom to the desert planet of Arrakis (Dune). Though the desolate world was notoriously difficult to manage, it was also the sole source of the spice melange which was vital to interstellar travel. Whoever occupied Arrakis and controlled its spice mining operations effectively controlled the universe, and so Duke Leto led his House from their former fief on the oceanic world of Caladan and assumed control of spice production on Dune.
However, the Emperor did not intend to allow the Atreides to keep their power for long and conspired with Baron Vladimir Harkonnen to have Leto killed and his House destroyed. Harkonnen spies were planted in the Atreides keep on Arrakis and the Baron had successfully manipulated Leto's Suk doctor, Wellington Yueh, to sabotage their defences and incapacitate the Duke. The Harkonnens would then invade Arrakis with the Emperor's blessing, destroying House Atreides and seizing spice mining operations.
Death[]
When the time came, Yueh sabotaged the Atreides' defences and ambushed Duke Leto in a corridor, shooting him with a paralytic dart. Yueh did not kill him outright as Baron Harkonnen wanted the pleasure of doing that himself, but Yueh gave the Duke the opportunity to kill the Baron. The doctor implanted a poison gas tooth in Leto's mouth; the plan was for the Duke to bite down on the tooth and exhale the toxic gas in the Baron's face while he gloated over him. However, Leto was bound and drugged while the Baron tormented him, and in his delirium he saw the twisted mentat Piter DeVries as the Baron. He then bit the poison gas tooth and breathed the gas in Piter's face, killing the mentat and himself at once.