#I also always wondered if aryas name was inspired by saint alia of the knife

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“Genre” fans know that given Dunes status as a hugely influential cornerstone of SFF, there are a lot of characters who are suspiciously similar to Maud’Dib himself. Some are blatant knockoffs, while others are more lovingly inspired. Two of my favorite series that I regularly blog about have their own characters who remind me suspiciously of Paul: Daenerys Targaryen (possibly unintentional) and Rand al’Thor (no way RJ didn’t notice.) Now the real question: who reminds you more of Paul.

Dany propaganda-The surviving heir to a once powerful House brought down by their political enemies that she is working to restore who finds herself living among a people stereotyped by the outside world as brutal savages, but as she integrates into their culture and begins to show omens of power, they come to see her as a prophesied leader and eventually consolidate behind her to fight for her cause (admittedly there is some Winds speculation there but it where the story was set up to go.) She takes a fearsome legendary beast as a mount and bases many of her decisions off of a series of visions. She is disturbed by the violence and death that comes with her campaign and fears that she’s a monster.

Rand propaganda-A young man born to a mother who planned on fulfilling an ancient prophecy with his existence, backed by a cunning member of an powerful but mysterious all female organization who have special abilities, unique as a male wielder of the same power as them while their training is typically reserved for women. He is adopted as a leader and messiah from an ancient prophecy by the insular warrior people of the desert who are regarded as violent savages by the rest of the world (and who hold water as sacred.) He develops a strong personal connection to his new people, who select leaders of their tribe find out through vision quests were once peaceful in long ago history but were hardened by brutal events that forced them into their current unforgiving homeland, and falls in love with a young woman who teaches him about her culture, though he also ends up involved with a princess. They lead a crusade out of their harsh homeland to help him form his empire, where he is alternately feared and worshipped, though he is tormented by his destiny and the violence he is both forced to commit and (much more prevalently) the violence committed in his name. In the end, he reclaims his humanity after securing the future and disappears.