Chani

Chani is a fictional character featured in Frank Herbert's novels Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969). Known mainly as the Fremen wife and legal concubine of protagonist Paul Atreides, Chani is the daughter of Imperial Planetologist Liet-Kynes and his Fremen wife Faroula, and later the mother of the twins Ghanima and Leto II Atreides. The character is later resurrected as a ghola, appearing in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's novels which complete the original series. Chani is portrayed by actress Sean Young in the David Lynch film Dune (1984), and by Barbora Kodetová in the 2000 John Harrison miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. The character is played by Zendaya in the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film Dune and its 2024 sequel. Character overview Dune In Dune, Paul's prescience begins manifesting itself through dreams while he is still living in his ancestral home on the planet Caladan; he sees Chani in these visions, though they have not yet met. Paul and the Atreides come to the desert planet Arrakis, but Paul's father Duke Leto is soon killed by the Harkonnens and Paul and his mother Lady Jessica are forced to flee into the desert. They are reluctantly taken in by a tribe of the planet's native Fremen, and Chani is the Fremen woman put in charge of protecting and guiding Paul. They soon become lovers, and Paul rises as a religious leader among the Fremen, and is called Muad'Dib.