Dune: How is Orry Atreides related to Paul?
HBO/Warner BrosDune: Prophecy Episode 3 revealed Tula’s ill-fated encounter with a tight-knit, nomadic family… including Orry Atreides, part of a long, complicated lineage that connects to Paul.
Dune may have inspired Star Wars, but its lore is far more complicated – and contested; even Dune: Prophecy is based on a book that some fans deny as canon.
I don’t blame you if you’re not au fait with the Atreides and Harkonnen family tree. After all, the history of both houses spans millennia, and Frank Herbert’s world hasn’t been extensively adapted on screen (we’ve had Denis Villeneuve’s two movies, David Lynch’s infamous 1984 effort, two SyFy adaptations, and HBO’s prequel spinoff).
You may be feeling a bit lost with Dune: Prophecy, especially after Episode 3 introduced new characters from Tula and Valya’s past (including two Game of Thrones cameos) – and Orry Atreides is one of the most notable.
Orry Atreides is Paul’s distant uncle
HBO/Warner BrosIf you track Paul Atreides’ lineage, Orry Atreides is technically his great-uncle… but it’s hard to specify exactly how many generations separate them.
Dune: Prophecy predominantly takes place just over 10,000 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. That’s a big gap, and considering how knotty Dune’s lore is across Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s extended universe, it’s a minor miracle we can establish any sort of ancestry at all.
However, one diligent fan (Flashmac2010) has created an enormous family tree that (mostly) tracks the lineage between Paul and Orry.
Orry is the brother of Willem Atreides, the great-great-great-grandson of Vorian Atreides, the founder of House Atreides, and the first member of the family to represent them in the Landsraad League. He died in 9 AG.
There’s a brief gap in the ancestry (Willem likely had a child, but we don’t know their names) before Westheimer Atreides was born in 22 AG. There’s another gap, and this one appears to be pretty substantial – the next name on the family tree is Miklos Atreides, the house’s 23rd duke.
He had a son, Kean Atreides, with an unknown woman. Kean’s son Paulus was born in 10,089 AG, and 51 years later, he had Leto I Atreides – Paul’s father.
That’s only six names across 10,000 years, so there’s more than a few we’ll probably never know – but there is a relation, albeit an extremely distant one.
What happens to Orry Atreides?
HBOOrry Atreides is murdered by Tula Harkonnen in Dune: Prophecy Episode 3.
After Tula and Valya’s brother Griffin is killed by Vorian Atreides, both sisters go their separate ways… in pursuit of the same mission. While Valya joins the Sisterhood and vows to restore the reputation of the Harkonnens, Tula ingratiates herself with a traveling Atreides clan and becomes intimate with Orry.
At first, it seems like she’s happier with them than her own family; they welcome her with open arms, she helps prepare traps to hunt animals, and she even accepts Orry’s marriage proposal.
However, it was all part of an elaborate plan. She poisons the whole family, and when Orry stumbles out of his tent and sees everyone’s corpses, she poisons him too.
In the meantime, check out our recaps of Dune: Prophecy Episode 1 and Episode 2, find out why Salusa Secundus looks so different, and read our list of the best TV shows of 2024.