Who Is Valya Harkonnen in ‘Dune Prophecy’?

The big picture

• Valya Harkonnen causes the feud between Harkonnen and Atreides, seeking revenge for her family's misfortune after the Butlerian Jihad.
• Valya plays a crucial role in the founding of the powerful Bene Gesserit order, beginning as the Brotherhood of Rossak and evolving into its influential form.
• The origins of the Bene Gesserit will be explored in
  Dune: Prophecy
  showing Valya's journey from a vengeful nobleman to a formidable leader.

The first trailer of Dune: Prophecy is here, taking viewers into a new era of the universe created by Frank Herbert. The HBO series is set 10,000 years before the events of the original novel, showing the origins of the order that eventually became known as the Bene Gesserit. What surprised most people is that most the trailer is actually narrated by a character named Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson). There is also virtually no mention of House Atreides in the video, other than its name in Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) when contextualizing when prophecy takes place. So who is Valya and what role does she play in the origins of the Bene Gesserit?

'Dune: Prophecy' adapts one of the many prequels to Frank Herbert's novels

The dune The universe is vast, spanning a total of 26 novels. Frank Herbert wrote the original hexalogy of dune novels, documenting the saga of House Atreides from Paul Atreides' arrival on Arrakis to his becoming emperor. The rest was written by Herbert's son, Brian Herberti Kevin J. Anderson, setting up the universe as it was before the original dune noveland going further after the last of Frank Herbert's books, Chapter house: Dune. Dune: Prophecy will adapt Brotherhood of Dunethe first novel in a prequel trilogy known as Great Schools of Dune.

Brotherhood of Dune takes place about 10,000 years before the original dune novel, but more importantly, is set 80 years after the end of the Butlerian Jihad. This is the conflict that ultimately resulted in the victory of humans over artificial intelligence (referred to in the novels as “thinking machines”) and banished all computer types from the universe. The Butlerian Jihad also creates the board for the Great Families to take their place in the Empire.with House Butler becoming House Corrino and taking the throne, House Atreides established as military heroes, and House Harkonnen falling from grace after one of its members is labeled a traitor and coward in one of the key battles of the Jihad

House Harkonnen's misfortune began when one of its first members, Abulurd Harkonnen, refused to follow an order that would involve sacrificing nearly two million humans in the final battle against the thinking machines of his superior, Vorian Atreides. Instead, he disabled the weapons of the entire human fleet, which ended up causing even more casualties. Vorian then calls Abulurd a traitor, and he and his house are banished to the ice planet Lankiveil. This is the cause of the grudge between houses Atreides and Harkonnenwhich would then last for millennia.

Valya Harkonnen perpetuates her family's grudge against House Atreides

Valya Harkonnen is one of the most fascinating characters in the dune continuity House Harkonnen greatly felt the consequences of Abulurd's actions in the Butlerian Jihad, even if his intentions and moral point of view were indeed justified. But instead of answering why they were disgraced after the war, the Harkonnen accepted the punishment and were left to themselves. Lankiveil is a harsh planet to live on, and they lead a poor life, quite unlike the opulence associated with them when Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) heads the family.

The first Harkonnen to confront the way her family is treated is Valya. From his earliest years, he understands that the person responsible for his family's misfortune is Vorian Atreides, and that he had no more right to act like him than Abulurd. So he promises to end the Atreides bloodline, convince his brothers Griffin and Tula to help him. She is the person who effectively ignites the feud between Harkonnen and Atreides, and mobilizes the people around her to help her. For example, Griffin follows Vorian Atreides to Arrakis when he is exiled by Emperor Salvador Corrino, who fears Vorian's status as a war hero, and although Vorian and Griffin eventually get along, Griffin dies in Arrakis. Tula, on the other hand, successfully kills Orry Atreides on their wedding night.

Although her parents and uncles did not share Valya's hatred of House Atreides, they did nothing to stop her either. He spends a year honing his own combat skills until he reaches the rank of Swordsman, only so he can finally challenge Vorian to a duel and kill him. Until that happens, however, Valya decides to devote herself to another flourishing order in the Empire, the Brotherhood of Rossak. And, thanks to her, the Brotherhood will eventually grow to become the powerful institution known as the Bene Gesserit.

Valya Harkonnen plays a key role in making the Bene Gesserit a powerful order

The main theme of Dune: Prophecy is the origin of the Bene Gesserit, an all-female order of priestesses that, at the time of the original dune novel, is the most influential in the universe. They have members in all the Great Houses of the Landsraad, and carry out a secret eugenics program that crosses the genes of all the noble houses to create a superior being, a powerful male Bene Gesserit, whom they call the Kwisatz Haderach. It all starts with Valya Harkonnen, com she is the person who creates the order as it is.

At first, however, they were not known as the Bene Gesserit and were confined to a single planet called Rossak. The local flora is extremely rich and produces the drug Rossak, a hallucinogenic substance that the Brotherhood of Rossak used as a precursor to mixing species to achieve the required levels of prescience. Valya begins her career as a student of Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul, who, unknown to her, is actually a granddaughter of Vorian Atreides. She and sister Dorotea are Raquella's best students, and are quickly initiated into using the drug Rossak, but Valya only pretends to use it, so she can first observe what its effects really are. Dorotea takes it, gains prescience and becomes the second Reverend Mother. However, the Brotherhood still used computers for archival purposes, and this practice had been banned since the end of the Butlerian Jihad. Valya and Raquella destroy the machines, but Emperor Salvador Corrino still disbands the Brotherhood, some of them moving to the planet Wallach IX.

This causes a schism in the Brotherhood. Some of them remained in Rossak under the watchful eye of Emperor Salvador and became known as the Orthodox Brotherhood, led by the Reverend Mother Dorothea. Mother Superior Raquella tries to appease both factions, but can only do so on her deathbed, when she calls both Valya and Dorotea to make them co-Mothers. They agree, but Valya soon turns the tables. After taking the drug Rossak herself, Valya developed a voicethe Bene Gesserit mind control practice used extensively in the dune movies and novels. She uses the Voice on Dorotea, ordering her to kill herself, thus becoming the only Mother Superior of the Brotherhood.

As Mother Superior, Valya Harkonnen is the person who effectively gives the Brotherhood a broader mission. She starts with renaming the order, now called Bene Gesserit. It also creates a school for mothers, where the new sisters are trained in what will be known as the paths of brotherhood from a young age. It is also then that the idea of ​​the eugenics program is first launched, as a way to always keep the Bene Gesserit behind the powers that rule the universe. Little did Valya know that the Kwisatz Haderach would end up being created by crossing the Harkonnen and Atreides genes, an idea she would probably hate.

dune is available to watch on Max in the US.

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