Is Paul Atreides in Dune Awakening?

With Dune Awakening launching in June 2025, a question many potential players are curious about is, can you find Paul Atreides on Arrakis? Is he somewhere among the sands, perhaps with the missing Fremen? Easily the most powerful character in the entire franchise, Paul Atreides serves as a sort of Messiah figure, and his ability to see future is but one of the many reasons he’s so powerful. However, the real question is, is he somewhere in the game?

Unfortunately, if you’re hoping to control or be linked to Paul Atreides in some way throughout Dune Awakening, you’re going to be disappointed. He won’t appear in any way, at least, at this time, since, according to this alternate timeline, Paul Atreides never existed. Here’s what we know.

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Can you find Paul Atreides in Dune Awakening

Sorry, Dune fans, but Paul Atreides is not anywhere in Dune Awakening. This was confirmed during Dune Awakening Direct Episode 2 by the game’s developers. Technically, this was revealed at Summer Game Fest 2024, but more information was actually given about the circumstances of Atreides’ existence during the aforementioned Direct.

(Story discussion begins at 1:35)

Funcom's Dune MMO exists on a new timeline, where Paul Atreides is never born. Lady Jessica, instead of choosing to have a son, and birthing the Messiah, opted to have a daughter instead. While this will no doubt disappoint some players, it gives the players far more agency, not being bound to the omnipotent Paul Atreides.

However, Lady Jessica’s daughter, Ariste, is similar in some ways to Paul Atreides in Dune Awakening’s overarching story. She wass trained as a Bene Gesserit, a Mentat, and has Sword Master Teachers.

Where they differ primarily is that she doesn’t have to struggle and suffer like Paul did, and her endgame is to marry the Harkonnen heir, ultimately creating their Kwisatz Harderach instead of Paul Atreides serving in that role as he did in the books/films.

Paul Atreides doesn’t seem like he would serve the purpose of this game's narrative, anyway. If the Fremen were missing, Paul would likely have almost no trouble finding them himself. This takes away a lot of the fun of the actual main story, the reason your character is on Arrakis in the first place.

Not being bound to Paul Atreides also gives you, as a player, the freedom to align yourself with either House Harkonnen or House Atreides. I think it ultimately is a much better creative decision to leave the Messiah out of the game, and instead focus on what if Lady Jessica instead had a daughter. Only time will tell if Ariste winds up in a similar role to Paul, later down the line.

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Check out our other Dune Awakening guides and features

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• Dune Awakening’s Beta was a mixed bag: weak combat, amazing base building
• Dune Awakening: What’s the best starting class?