Last Updated on September 1, 2024 by “Talha Saqib”
I recently got to watch Dune 2 and I must say it was a great film. From the direction to the music to the whole cast, everything was splendid, What I particularly liked about the movie was it didn’t transform into a typical action film with just a bunch of explosions and fight sequences. Instead, it delivered a solid plot and a twist in the later half of the movie. I loved the reveal about Paul Atreides’s lineage but there was something eerie about that whole scene and even the rest of the film. It reminded me of something or someone. After discussing it with my brother, we realized that we had seen similar stuff happening with the main character of the famous Attack on Titan series, Eren Yeager.
In this post, I will share some similarities between Eren Yaeger and Paul Atriedes that I noticed. There will be potential spoilers for both Dune and Attack on Titan. Regarding the scope of similarities, I will stick to only Dune 2 as I haven’t read the books and don’t want to spoil anything for myself by researching more. For Eren Yeager, I will consider his complete storyline.
Without further ado, let’s jump to the similarities between Eren Yeager and Paul Atreides.
Revenge
Both Eren Yeager and Paul Atreides’s journeys started with something in common which was to take revenge. For Eren, it was against the whole of Titans that caused the brutal death of his mother and the destruction of his hometown while for Paul it was the revenge against Harrkonens who killed his father and wiped out almost the complete House Atreides.
Now, this is not a very shocking similarity between these characters; at this point, a young protagonist’s revenge story is pretty cliché. However, it does lay the foundation for the future events that happen in the character arcs of both Eren Yeager and Paul Atriedes.
Witnessing Future
This is where things get interesting. So, one of the major twists in the Attack on Titan series was when Eren witnessed all the possible outcomes in the future through the powers of Founding Titan. This made him realize that out of all the scenarios, there was only one way of achieving his true goal. Does all of this sound familiar? If you have watched Dune that it definitely should be. Because Paul Atriedes had the exact happened to him.
In Dune 2, we saw that Paul also managed to see all the possible futures regarding the war against the Harkonnens and the Great Houses. He too like Eren Yeager ultimately concluded there was just a single way to come out victorious.
The only difference here was that Eren got the future-seeing ability through the power of Titans and coming in contact with Historia while Paul Atriedes had to drink the Water of Life to achieve that.
Change of Personality
It would have been fine if both Eren Yeager and Paul Atriedes had only seen the future events but this is not where the similarities of these characters end. The major shock for me was how both characters’ personalities changed drastically after witnessing the future paths. Before watching Dune 2, I had only seen this sudden 180-degree character change happening with Eren Yeager and it felt very original to me. But now that I have seen Paul’s character develop the same way, I am kind of surprised to see that Eren Yeager was perhaps inspired by Paul Atriedes.
Both characters changed from very standard revenge-seeking protagonists to independent cold-looking seeing-the-big-picture serious-type characters. Both characters immediately took matters into their own hands as they knew that only they could achieve the desired outcome. Paul Atreides’s character in Dune 2 felt like watching the high-budget live-action Attack on Titan film. As I mentioned, this was bizarre to me as I always wondered how impressive and interesting Eren’s character arc was, which it still is but now the idea seems inspired by another remarkable source.
Cult Following
Both Eren Yeager and Paul Atreides found themselves unintentionally thrust into the role of leaders, with people rallying behind them even though that was never the main goal of these characters. Eren, in Attack on Titan, gained power and became entangled in the complex politics and history of his world, people started viewing him as a symbol of hope and resistance that quickly escalated into a cult following.
Similarly, Paul Atreides in Dune never sought to be the messianic figure that people came to see in him. Raised as the heir to a noble house, Paul’s destiny took a drastic turn when he was thrust into the harsh world of Arrakis. His unique abilities and the fulfillment of ancient prophecies made him a figure of reverence among the Fremen, who began to follow him as their long-awaited savior. Paul’s leadership grew not from a desire to lead but from a series of events and powers beyond his control, leading to a following that elevated him to a god-like status.
In both cases, Eren and Paul ended up with a cult following, their followers projecting onto them the hopes and dreams of entire communities, despite neither initially seeking such a role.
Bonus: Sacrificing Love
Now, this might be a stretch and full of assumptions but judging from the ending of Dune 2, Paul intentionally distanced himself from his Fremen lover, Chani knowing that by doing this she would have a major role to play in the future. Eren did the same to Mikasa as he also purposefully turned against both his lover and best friends knowing how it would all end.
I don’t know how much similar Mikasa and Chani’s characters would be in the future but the vision in Dune 2 showed Chani holding a blood-soaked dagger. If this implies that she will be responsible for the death of Paul Atriedes then we can say Chani will follow the footsteps of Mikasa Ackerman. I hope it doesn’t happen like this as we have already seen this happening in Attack on Titan and it would make the once-so-original anime series a very inspired project.
I guess we will have to wait till Dune 3 to see how the story for Paul Atriedes and Chani will unfold and if would it be more similar to the plot of Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman. Till then, keep visiting this website for more content like this.
