The story of Dune spans millennia - even if you’re a purist sticking to the core canon - so to make any kind of meaningful statements, we’ll be taking a page out of Princess Irulan’s book (one of her books anyway) and placing everyone in their time → looking at everyone in the year 10,191 AG, the year the first book begins.
A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your study of the life of Muad‘Dib, then, take care that you first place him in his time: born in the 57th year of the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV. And take the most special care that you locate Muad’Dib in his place: the planet Arrakis. Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Caladan and lived his first fifteen years there. Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, is forever his place.
Unlike Paul, some of the main characters don’t get immediately age-checked as soon as Herbert introduces them to us - for them, we’ll be looking at the Dune Encyclopedia and/or the Expanded Universe of BH&KJA books.
(Don’t worry, I’ll always be clear what’s core canon and what isn’t.)
Explore the lore - what we’re covering today:
SPOILER WARNING
Includes content from the Core Canon, Dune Encyclopedia, and the Expanded Universe.
The Atreides
Paul Mud’Dib Atreides
He’s fifteen and scrawny. It’s established in the first epigraph of the book (see above) and then repeated just a few paragraphs later to really hammer the point home.
He’s young, and he’s small. Even for his age.
“Is he not small for his age, Jessica?” the old woman asked. Her voice wheezed and twanged like an untuned baliset.
Paul’s mother answered in her soft contralto: “The Atreides are known to start late getting their growth, Your Reverence.”
“So I’ve heard, so I’ve heard,” wheezed the old woman. “Yet he’s already fifteen.”
“Yes, Your Reverence.”
ngl Timothée Chalamet looks the youngest - but I prefer Alec Newman for Muad’Dib’s final form
Duke Leto Atreides
There’s no age or birth year mentioned in the Core Canon, but according to the Dune Encyclopedia he was born in 10,140 - making him 51 at the start of the book.
The age tracks with what we know about him and his reputation in the Landsraad - it must’ve taken him a few decades to achieve the fame and respect that started to threaten the Emperor.
please note the sad absence of the battle pug in the 2000 and 2021 adaptations
Lady Jessica
Although you have to keep reading past the actual story, we not only get a birth year from Dune, but also the year she died.
LADY JESSICA (Hon. Atreides) (10,154—10,256)
A natural daughter (Bene Gesserit reference) of the Siridar-Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Mother of Duke Paul Muad’Dib. She graduated from the Wallach IX B.G. School.
Which means she was 37 at the start of Paul’s story and lived to 102.
Fun fact: Rebecca Ferguson was 37 in 2021
Thufir Hawat
We know from the Core Canon that he served three generations of Atreides - Paul, Leto and the Old Duke - so we know he’s been around, but we don’t ever get an actual age.
The Dune Encyclopedia lists his birth year as 10,075 AG, making him 116 when we meet him.
Let’s be honest: only one of them looks close to 116
Duncan Idaho
We know he’s the Atreides swordmaster, part of the senior staff, entrusted with delicate assignments, but we don’t get an age for him either.
Again, the Dune Encyclopedia helps us out, providing his birth year: 10,158 which would make him 33. Now for a bit of a canonical discrepancy, Dune: House Atreides says he was born in 10,146 which would make him 45.
I’ll leave this quote here from the first book and let you decide which seems more appropriate.
“They’re always calling on Idaho for special surveillance of the ladies.”
And Jessica thought: So they are.
The ladies man, Duncan Idaho
Gurney Halleck
An ugly lump of a man, warrior-poet, a veteran with an inkvine scar on his face. While the core canon doesn’t provide an age for him, I always felt like he should be Leto’s senior by a decade or so.
The Encyclopedia says he’s 56, born in 10,135.
Baliset-playing troubadour.
Dr. Wellington Yueh
The good doctor is maybe the biggest surprise on the list - because you would not think he’s the second oldest in the cast.
YUEH (ya’ē), Wellington (weling-tun), Stdrd 10,082-10,191; medical doctor of the Suk School (grd Stdrd 10,112); md: Wanna Marcus, B. G. (Stdrd 10,092-10,186?); chiefly noted as betrayer of Duke Leto Atreides.
(Cf: Bibliography, Appendix VII Imperial Conditioning and Betrayal, The.)
You read that right: he’s 109.
Tbh none of them look over a century.
The Harkonnen
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Another surprise, if you ask me - but canonically the Baron is 81.
VLADIMIR HARKONNEN (10,110–10,193) Commonly referred to as Baron Harkonnen, his title is officially Siridar (planetary governor) Baron. Vladimir Harkonnen is the direct-line male descendant of the Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen who was banished for cowardice after the Battle of Corrin.
I guess I can believe Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron to be 81
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
Like Paul, Feyd is age-checked a few times.
Once at the beginning:
In one sat a dark-haired youth of about sixteen years, round of face and with sullen eyes.
And more famously, a few months later, at his birthday celebration.
On his seventeenth birthday, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen killed his one hundredth slave-gladiator in the family games.
This seventeen-year-old fella does not care for t-shirts.
Count Glossu Rabban
If you get the sense that he’s the elder of the two nephews, you’re absolutely right.
Although the core canon does not give us an actual age for him, the Encyclopedia establishes his year of birth as 10,132 - making him 59 years old.
Older than Duke Leto or even Gurney Halleck.
Rabban has less hair with each iteration.
Piter de Vries
The twisted mentat of House Harkonnen did not get an age check in the core canon, but again, the Dune Encyclopedia helps us out.
Apparently he was only 53, born in 10,138 AG.
“It is by will alone I set my mind in motion”
The Fremen
Chani
Remember how Paul is only 15? So how old do you think Chani was when they first met?
The core canon doesn’t really elaborate on that, but Encyclopedia says she was a year younger, born in 10,177, making her only 14.
“Tell me about the waters of your homeworld, Usul”
Liet Kynes
Based on the descriptions and the amount of influence Kynes had with the Fremen, I certainly assumed he would be the contemporary of Duke Leto - a middle-aged man.
The core canon doesn’t give us any indication, but the Encyclopedia makes him out to be 35, born in 10,156 AG.
Fun fact: Karel Dobrý was closest to the canonical age of Kynes - he was 31 in 2000
Stilgar
Being a Naib of Sietch Tabr, he’s another person I imagined as a contemporary of Duke Leto - especially after he takes over as Paul’s father figure.
And while the core canon is silent about his exact age, the Encyclopedia says his year of birth was 10,141, making him 50 at the start of Dune.
“Do it simply and directly—nothing fancy”
The Imperial Court
Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
His imperial majesty’s age is a bit contentious.
On the one hand, it’s provided by his eldest daughter.
My father, the Padishah Emperor, was 72 yet looked no more than 35 the year he encompassed the death of Duke Leto and gave Arrakis back to the Harkonnens. He seldom appeared in public wearing other than a Sardaukar uniform and a Burseg’s black helmet with the Imperial lion in gold upon its crest.
On the other hand, we have the Almanak en-Ashraf that says he’s 57.
SHADDAM IV (10, 134—10,202): The Padishah Emperor, 81st of his line (House Corrino) to occupy the Golden Lion Throne, reigned from 10,156 […]
Now given Irulan’s age (below), we can safely assume that the Almanak is wrong.
“If Feyd-Rautha wishes it, he may meet you with my blade in his hand.”
Princess Irulan Corrino
Thankfully, Irulan has written so much about others that sometimes a self-reference slips by. Including this one time, talking about her dad.
My father was 71 at the time and looking no older than the man in the portrait, and I was but 14, yet I remember deducing in that instant that my father secretly wished the Duke had been his son, and disliked the political necessities that made them enemies.
This also confirms Shaddam’s age, and since we know he was 72 at the start of Dune, we can safely assume Irulan to be 15.
Count Hasimir and Lady Margot Fenring
The ultimate power couple deserves not to get separated into two entries.
For him, we have the Almanak en-Ashraf
COUNT HASIMIR FENRING (10,133—10,225): A distaff cousin of House Corrino, he was a childhood companion of Shaddam IV.
But given how that had an incorrect date for Shaddam, we can only assume it’s also incorrect for his childhood friend, Hasimir. So instead of 58, I’d say he’s gotta be around 70-75.
As for his wife, the core canon makes her younger than him but doesn’t provide dates - the Encyclopedia says she’s 38, born in 10,153 AG. Basically the same age as Jessica.
Sadly, they don’t get enough attention in the movie adaptations: 1984 skipped them completely, the 2000 mini-series only included him, and the Villeneuve movies only included her.
“Um-m-m-m-ah indeed hmmm,” the Count said.
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
I honestly considered excluding her from the list because none of canons provide any indication of her exact age - we know she’s ancient, with the Encyclopedia noting that she has undergone rejuvenation treatments. (Although it’s unclear why that would’ve been necessary, given the Bene Gesserit ability to control their aging processes.)
The notorious GHMs
Did I miss anyone you were interested in?
Let me know in the comments.
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Stay curious,
Martin
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