Another day, another Dune: Prophecy the episode will be where it doesn’t Dune the movie was already there. After killing his youngest character on screen in the pilot episode, the latest episode showcases the powerful power of both Dune movies had been foiled over 10,000 years earlier.
When it comes to Dune AND Dune: part twoall those poison-filled false teeth, laser beams and nuclear missiles are deadly, but the Voice is almost divine. Used by the Bene Gesserit, the Voice is an almost distorted inflection of the natural voice that can cause almost anyone to do anything they are told. Lady Jessica Atreides (Rebecca Ferguson) forced a soldier to slit her partner’s throat, and Chani (Zendaya) fed Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) a mixture of her tears and the Water of Life to revive him. IN Dune: Prophecynewborn Valya Harkonnen (Jessica Barden) proves to be the creator of a powerful ability, first using it to force Reverend Mother Dorotea (Camilla Beeput) to stab herself in the neck in order to protect the Order’s genetic index established by Reverend Mother Raquella (Cathy Tyson).
Until the latest episode, we’ve never seen anyone immune to The Voice’s influence. On the other hand, we also hadn’t seen someone burn another person from the inside by blowing into their mouths until Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) came into our lives. In the climatic moments of the second episode, Valya seeks to reassert the influence of the Bene Gesserit on the ruling Corrino family after the death of Reverend Mother Kasha (Jihae), a truthteller and confidante of Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong).
Her initial attempt to do so during a private conversation with the Emperor was thwarted when Hart appeared in his place. It was then that she tried to exploit her contingency plan in case people started doing stupid things, such as exercising their free will: making anyone who got in her way kill themselves. Plus, she would avenge Kasha’s death – two birds with one vote. After her powers seemed to work on Hart, forcing him to take out the blade and place it to his neck, her final order for him to plunge it into his throat fell on ears she never thought she would ever hear rise. Not only did Hart not kill himself, but he uttered on camera the harshest words ever uttered by a Bene Gesserit:
“I always wondered what you were most afraid of. Now I saw it. It’s not like no one will hear you. The point is, they’ll hear you and they just won’t care.
Shai-Hulud vs. Bene Gesserit
While Hart’s defense of Valya may seem surprising, it reinforces the fact that Shai-Hulud has been around longer than The Voice. The Fremen worship sandworms as divine beings, as famously stated by Dr. Liet-Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) in the first part of Denis Villeneuve’s novel Dune saga that Shai-Hulud is the only master he serves. Bene Gesserit cannot become Reverend Mothers unless they ingest poisonous bile or a dying sandworm called the Water of Life. It would make sense that the only way to defeat the Bene Gesserit’s strongest trait is to exploit the one being responsible for their rise to the highest position.
Remember that Hart was swallowed by Shai-Hulud and supposedly imbued with his deadly powers. Although Hart clearly tells Valya that his mission is to erase all traces of the Bene Gesserit, we know from Dune films that 10,000 years later they remain as influential as ever. What Dune: Prophecy I just introduced the idea of humans who could be infused with the powers of Shai-Hulud and who pose a threat to the Bene Gesserit. You also wonder how the Bene Gesserit have adapted to this existential threat to survive as long as possible.
One thing is clear Dune: Prophecy is here to shake up everything you’ve learned about Dune world from movies. Have fun!
