Timothée Chalamet is being widely loved by fans worldwide as the protagonist of the first book in the Dune novel series, Paul Atreides. But those die-hard fans who have read the entire — or at least the first and second books — of the Dune novel series and have even watched the anime Attack on Titan know just how parallel one key element of both Paul Atreides and Eren Yeager’s storylines is.
What further glorifies the similarity between the initial protagonists of both Dune and Attack on Titan is the heart-wrenching scene in Dune: Part One where Timothée Chalamet has a dream of a genocide happening, led by him. And after watching Dune: Part Two as well, fans just can’t help but call Chalamet’s Paul Atreides the real-life version of Eren Yeager, and vice versa.
Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides Draws Parallel to Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan
In Dune: Part One, there is a scene when Rebecca Ferguson‘s Lady Jessica and Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides are sitting in a Fremen stilltent in the desert, and Paul has a vision of the galactic war happening in his name after he takes the place of the emperor.
This further leads to him seeing himself overseeing a genocide with Zendaya‘s Chani on a planet. As Paul screams while getting the vision, “Fanatical legions worshipping at the shrine of my father’s skull, a war in my name!”, fans couldn’t help but compare him to Eren Yeager.
For those who may not know, Eren Yeager was introduced as the lead protagonist of the Attack on Titans saga, just like Paul Atreides. However, Eren also holds an intense hatred for the Titans and longs for vengeance after having watched his mother get devoured by one when Wall Maria broke.
Going further into the story, it is Eren Yeager himself who takes the genocidal measure and sets the deadly Rumbling into motion in the final season of Attack on Titan, leading to everyone and everything perishing because Eren believes this to be the only way to save the people of Paradis.
As for Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides: At the end of Dune: Part Two and Book One, Paul follows the vision he got which showed him leading a genocide, and declares war against the armada of powerful Houses who try to prevent him from his exploding power.
To put it in a nutshell, Timothée Chalamet‘s Paul Atriedes and Eren Yeager are both initially recognized as the protagonists. However, with the passing of time and their doing bad things for good reasons, both of them eventually transform from presumed saviors to genocidal maniacs.
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Fans Claim Eren Yeager is the Anime Version of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides
Ever since this striking similarity between the duo was made visible to the fans, they can’t help but compare Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and Attack on Titan‘s Eren Yeager to being each other’s real-life and animated counterparts.
Drawing parallels to both the storylines as well as the character, here’s what fans are saying on X:
The “fall from grace/savior to doom because of visions of the future” is just a goated trope😂
— RG (@RikkRB1) March 4, 2024
this basically eren all of season 4 in AoT
— K (@grimcarrey__) March 3, 2024
Paul Atreides with huge Eren Yeager vibes
— Carlos Villarreal (@crlosvllarreal) March 4, 2024
I think Paul Atreides and Eren Yeager are the same person pic.twitter.com/gUhRjkojvb
— karthi (@kadaisisoprano) March 4, 2024
the similarities between eren yeager and paul atreides are uncanny pic.twitter.com/AqItIaCi7V
— sic (@siciiily) March 3, 2024
well i just watched dune part 2 again today and i need someone on reddit to write a long ass essay comparing paul atreides and eren yeager because that shit is insane like i cannot unsee it now 🤌🏻
— megumi fushiguro's gf ⋆ (@under400lux) March 3, 2024
Seeing parallels between Paul Atreides and Eren Yeager. pic.twitter.com/xQxJTL6m49
— G. Wilson (@gwilsoncreates) March 3, 2024
While the uncanny resemblance between Paul Atreides and Eren Yeager’s personalities and life stories is confirmed after this, the debate of whether these two are actually anti-heroes or simply villains is perhaps a dead-ended one. Thus, we’ll leave it to fans to figure out.
Attack on Titan and Dune: Part One can be streamed on Hulu and HBO Max respectively, while Dune: Part Two is in theatres now.
