Editing Paul Atreides (section)

===''Dune Messiah''===
In ''[[Dune Messiah]]'' (1969), Paul has been Emperor for twelve years. His [[jihad]] has killed sixty-one billion people across the known universe, but according to his [[prescience (Dune)|prescient]] vision, this is a fate far better than what he has seen. Paul is beleaguered by a need he ''sees''—to set humanity on a course that does not lead to stagnation and destruction, while at the same time managing both the Empire and the religion built around him.

A Fremen conspiracy attempts to assassinate Paul using a [[stone burner]]. The attempt fails, but the effects of the weapon destroy Paul's eyes. Although he becomes physically blind, his prescience allows him to "see" by tightly locking in reality with his prescient visions. Despondent as a result of his prescience, Paul faces another assassination attempt by a conspiracy of the [[Bene Tleilax]], the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild. This attempt, made using a [[ghola]] (a resurrected clone) of Paul's friend and mentor Duncan Idaho also fails, but the ordeal seemingly helps the Duncan ghola to regain his memories. At the same time, Chani dies in childbirth, bearing twins: a boy, [[Leto II Atreides|Leto II]], and a girl, [[Ghanima Atreides|Ghanima]] (which means "spoil of war"). Paul, who did not foresee the birth of twins, loses his prescience after Chani's death and becomes truly blind, although he conceals this. With a knife over the babies, the Tleilaxu [[Scytale (Dune)|Scytale]] offers to make a ghola of Chani and restore her to life, in exchange for all of Paul's [[CHOAM]] holdings and his effective abdication from the throne. However Paul, seeing through his newborn son's eyes, kills Scytale. Immediately afterwards, the dwarf Tleilaxu Master [[Bijaz]] makes the same offer regarding the Chani ghola; Paul orders Duncan to kill Bijaz. The blind Paul then walks into the desert to die alone, in accordance with Fremen law. He leaves his children in the care of the Fremen, with Paul's sister [[Alia Atreides|Alia]] set to rule the empire as regent.