Description
In Dune (1965), Duncan is described as a handsome man with "curling black hair" to whom women are easily attracted. Paul Atreides notes Duncan's "dark round face" and "feline movements, the swiftness of reflex that made him such a difficult weapons teacher to emulate." Lady Jessica calls him "the admirable fighting man whose abilities at guarding and surveillance are so esteemed." Duncan is fiercely loyal to House Atreides, is a skilled pilot, and as a Swordmaster of the Ginaz is a gifted hand-to-hand fighter. In the fight which ends with his death in Dune, Duncan kills an unheard-of 19 Sardaukar, the Padishah Emperor's fearsome supersoldiers. The Sardaukar sell his body to the Tleilaxu; subsequent gholas of Duncan possess the rebellious streak of the original.
In 1976's Children of Dune, the Lady Jessica tells Duncan that he was drawn to her daughter Alia because "you wanted a girl you saw as a younger version of me." In God Emperor of Dune (1981), the latest Duncan ghola discovers that one of his predecessors had fathered a child with a woman named Irti who closely resembles Jessica.
Read more about this topic: Duncan Idaho
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