Dune is in many ways all about Duke Leto Atreides, the father of Paul and head of one of the most powerful houses in the universe of the sci-fi epic. His actions and ultimate death motivate much of what comes after. But there is much more to the powerful regent of House Atreides than the movie might suggest, as readers of the Dune books know.
The shadow of Duke Leto is long in the sequels of the first Dune novel, and his legacy plays an instrumental role in the lives of Paul's successors. His past is also explored in many prequels to the original novel, all of which have expanded the world significantly since the death of author Frank Herbert in the 1980s.
A detail the Dune movie leaves out is why Duke Leto never married Lady Jessica. Though the two are clearly in love, Leto's decision not to marry his concubine is purely political. He chooses not to marry her because it leaves open the option of potentially marrying into another house in the Landsraad, the body of Great Houses in the Dune universe.
Lady Jessica would have remained in his concubine in such an event, but a potential marriage would have likely diminished her and Paul within House Atreides, potentially upending the plans of the Bene Gesserit.
Though Leto's death motivates Paul in his journey to become the Muad'Dib, his legacy is profound within the books. One of the starkest examples of this is the Skull Tomb on Arrakis. Some years after defeating House Harkonnen, Paul retrieved his father's remains and placed them in the Skull Tomb in the desert of Arrakis.
It became a prominent place of worship for Fremen. It stands a chance to appear in the sequel to Dune, as Paul relates a vision he has of waging a holy war in his father's name and references his father's skull as well.
Paul is one of the most powerful characters in Dune, and that power will likely be evidenced in the sequel through Other Memory. Other Memory is a genetic memory of great knowledge maintained by the Bene Gesserit and which Paul also possesses. He is able to use it to effectively communicate with his father, or at least his memory, well beyond his death.
This occurs in the immediate sequels to Dune, indicating that Oscar Issac could return for the live-action sequels in some capacity, allowing father and son to communicate as Paul carries out his revenge against the Harkonnens.
In the movie, it seems Paul Atreides is Leto's only child. This isn't the case. The movie teases that Lady Jessica is pregnant with his second child, who book readers will know becomes Alia Atreides, or Saint Alia of the Knife, eventual regent of what will become the Atreides Empire. But Leto also had a child before Paul, a son named Victor.
His first son died young in tragic circumstances, but Leto actually declined to name Victor as his heir. This is a result of the same reason he doesn't marry Jessica, to keep open the promise of political marriages.
Victor is the product of Duke Leto's relationship with Kailea, a woman he fell in love with while stationed on the planet Ix. Though Leto had many concubines in the books, as related in some of the prequels, Kailea was significant in that she was the first major relationship he maintained. He didn't marry her or favor Victor as his heir though, leading to tragedy.
Once Jessica enters the picture, and Leto takes her as his new concubine, Kailea's prospects collapse. She attempts to kill Leto but fails. The attack results in the death of Victor instead, and she ultimately takes her own life.
Despite being a sci-fi movie set in the far, far future (tens of thousands of years), Dune remains strongly linked to the past. So does Duke Leto, who trained as a matador in his youth. House Atreides leans heavily on the symbology of bullfighting, as seen in the movie with numerous icons of matadors visible throughout the Atreides household.
Leto trained a matador in the ring, as his father did. Both men were expert bullfighters as Paul alludes to in the movie, though Paulus Atreides, Leto's father, died in the ring.
Despite their immense power and wealth derived from being the regents of Arrakis, House Harkonnen wasn't all-powerful. Leto successfully led an attack against them and their homeworld Giedi Prime in his youth. After the Harkonnens attacked an ally of Atreides, Leto assembled an alliance of other houses and led a raid on Giedi Prime.
The success of the raid inspired awe and anger among the Landsraad, leading in part to the eventual bloodshed on Arrakis. Leto freed Gurney Halleck from the slave market on Giedi Prime in this raid.
Dune might seem familiar to fans of Game Of Thrones in its political intrigue. Some of the most fraught political maneuverings involved Leto's mother, who conspired to kill his father. Helena feared that Paulus Atreides was undermining his political position in the Landsraad and so she drugged a bull to become uncontrollable, and the bull killed Paulus in the ring.
When Leto found out what his mother had done - his birth mother had died in childbirth, though Helena raised him - he exiled her to another planet, where she lived out her days.
Leto is one of the bravest characters in Dune, and that goes far beyond his actions in the movie. He earned the name Leto The Just for his actions on Giedi Prime, where he freed over 20,000 slaves and then released them to their freedom. Leto also took in many orphans, offering them a home within the palace on Caladan until he found homes for them.
Duke Leto also had a habit of giving his concubines their freedom. The practice in the world of the novels is disturbingly archaic, with concubines sold into relationships. But Leto would often sell them their own contracts, sometimes for only a penny, giving them their freedom.
The Emperor sets up Duke Leto to fail in the book and movie, but book readers will know the two men were once friends. The Emperor was once very taken with Leto's early exploits, including his attack on Giedi Prime. The Emperor favored Leto until Leto's success relative to the other houses started to make him a threat.
Leto was clearly angling for more power all the time, leaving open a political marriage and seeking the 'desert power' of the Fremen to bolster his already considerable army. This led the jealous Emperor to plot his death.
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