Paul Atreides

Fifteen-year-old Paul Atreides lives at Castle Caladan, the ancient stone keep that has housed the Atreides for twenty-six generations. In the week before the move to Arrakis, an old crone looks in on him in his bed. She remarks that he is small for his age and sees that he is awake and listening. She tells him he will need all his faculties the next day to face her gom jabbar.

Thufir Hawat has explained Arrakis to Paul. The Harkonnens, the family's mortal enemies, are leaving it after eighty years of mining the spice melange, which looks like a victory for Duke Leto. Hawat sees the deadliest peril in that appearance, since the Duke is popular among the Great Houses and a popular man draws the jealousy of the powerful.

That night Paul dreams of an Arrakeen cavern, of silent people in dim light and the drip of water, and knows even inside the dream that he will remember it.