Helena Atreides

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Lady Helena Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. She is featured in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Helena Richese of the House Richese was born was born in the year 10,095 A.G. (after the formation of the Spacing Guild) and married Duke Paulus Atreides in 10,140 A.G. Lady Helena bore Leto Atreides I, father of Paul Atreides.

Lady Helena plotted against her husband; she knew that by killing him, her son, Leto Atreides, would ascend and she believed she could use Leto to rule the Dukedom as she saw fit. Helena arranged that a stable worker, who was also from the home planet of House Richese, was to poison a Salusan bull with a stimulant that would make it stronger and more savage.

When the Old Duke, who was a skillful bullfighter, fought the bull, he found that it did not seem to tire at all. Then, when he started to suspect that something was amiss, Paulus stabbed the Bull with his prod and injected it with the lethal substance that was supposed to kill it. However, the substance, instead of killing the bull, made it angrier and it rampaged and soon killed the Duke.

Thufir Hawat, loyal mentat to the Duke, shot the bull dead but was too late to save the Old Duke.

Leto suspected his mother was behind this, and when it had been proven, he had her banished to live with the Sisters in Isolation, a religious group sequestered in the terraced hills of the eastern continent of Caladan. He would rather have had her executed, but thought it in the best interest that the people should never know of her treachery. The followers of House Atreides were the most loyal anywhere; they loved their leaders. Knowledge of the treachery of Helena would cause much havoc.