Paul Atreides’ rise to Godhood via political power (Final Part)
As we reach the end of Paul’s journey in the first two Dune films, it is time for him to utilise every form of legitimacy he has available to him if he wants to sway the rest of the Fremen.
Get Wallace Jr the III’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Paul finally arrives in the deep south, deep in Fremen land. But he is unwavering now. He enters the room of elders, and he must convince them that he is the one they have been waiting for. One problem, only elders can speak, and if he is to plead his case he must end Stilgar, his mentor, his most loyal follower, Paul cannot do this, so he choses another path. He gets up and challenges the waves of Fremen “There is no one in this room who can stand against me!” First up, Martial Legitimacy. Then he recites personal things about the surrounding Fremen, and even says Arrakis’ old name, Dune. All things outsiders shouldn’t know, only if he was the Lisan Al-Gaib, and there is the Religious Legitimacy. Stilgar then asks him what he plans for them, and he replies with the answer they all wanted to hear, “A Green Paradise”. Ideological Legitimacy. And to finish off his speech he takes off his father’s ring of Atreides, a callback to his Traditional Legitimacy, the very fist thing he was granted when he arrived here. And just like that the crowd cheers for him, they have accepted him as their leader, and there his Charisma is shown as well.
With the Fremen army behind him, it’s time for something from part 1, and that’s some good ol’ brute force to get him his power. Paul finally reaches his last challenge, he comes face to face with the Emperor. He must take away the Emperor’s Legitimacy if he wants the throne. He first takes the Princess’ hand in marriage to feed his Legitimacy, he no longer has any conflict in him and betrays Chani once again. And after a quick knife fight the Emperor is forced to kiss Paul’s ring, granting Paul the title of Emperor. Despite the Emperor having more Traditional Legitimacy than Paul, through means of blackmail and other forms of Legitimacy, Paul manages to avenge his family and become the Emperor of the Universe.
