thumb|upright|As a child actress, [[Alicia Witt portrayed Alia in the 1984 film Dune.]]
Alia Atreides ()<!--or --> is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. She was introduced in the first novel of the series, 1965's Dune, and was originally killed in Herbert's first version of the manuscript. At the suggestion of Analog magazine editor John Campbell, Herbert kept her alive in the final draft. During the events of Dune, Alia is born on the planet Arrakis in the year 10,191 A.G., eight months after her father's death.
Because of the unique nature of her birth she possesses the consciousness of an adult Reverend Mother; thus she is considered an Abomination by the Bene Gesserit. An adult Alia is described by Herbert in Dune Messiah:
Novelist Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, describes Alia as a "virgin witch" archetype. William Touponce explains, "Alia is the archetypal virgin-harlot, a Reverend Mother without motherhood, virgin priestess, witch, and object of fearful veneration for the superstitious masses".
Appearances
Dune
In Dune (1965), Alia is born a full Reverend Mother when she is exposed to the Water of Life (the bile of a drowned sandworm) in the womb as Lady Jessica undergoes the spice agony. Children born this way, called Abominations, are killed by the Bene Gesserit whenever possible because they have little defense against the personalities contained in Other Memory, the Bene Gesserit ability to access ancestral egos and memories. Without the existence of a strong personal identity, a child awakened to consciousness in utero is highly susceptible to becoming possessed by one of her ancestors. Jessica, despite her awareness of this likelihood, brings her baby to term, and Alia slowly learns to control the powers she has been granted as Reverend Mother and sister of the Kwisatz Haderach. Alia soon communicates with Paul the same way: