The series “Dune: Prophecy” has just landed on MAX, will immerse viewers in the universe imagined by Frank Herbert, 10,000 years before the events of the original novel, and follows the creation of the powerful Bene Gesserit brotherhood by Valya Harkonnen.
An extraordinary destiny. Adaptation of the novel “The Sisterhood”, written by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert, and part of the literary sub-cycle “Dune, the origins”, the “Dune: Prophecy” series returns to the genesis of the Bene Gesserit, this community of women to which the mother of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) belongs, whose influence has been exerted for millennia within the Imperium.
The six episodes will follow a character in particular: Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson), the one who founded this fraternity 10,000 years ago. The fiction takes place more precisely 80 years after the Butlerian Jihad, which designates the conflict which saw humans achieve victory against “thinking machines” (computers and artificial intelligence of all kinds) across the galaxy.
A defining event for the great families of the Imperium, House Butler becoming House Corrino, and inheriting the throne. House Atreides is recognized for its military heroism, unlike House Harkonnen, which finds itself relegated to the rank of pariah after the betrayal of one of its members during decisive battles.
The training years
The disgrace of House Harkonnen was caused by Abulurd Harkonnen’s refusal to follow the orders of Vorian Atreides, with the direct result of the deaths of several million human beings. The latter will accuse Abulurd of being a traitor and a coward, and House Harkonnen will end up being banished to the frozen planet Lankiveil.
All its members, including Valya, will pay the price for this decision. Far from the opulence in which we discover it in Frank Herbert’s original novel under the regime of Baron Vladimir, House Harkonnen leads a frugal existence. And it is Valya Harkonnen who will be the first to refuse to be satisfied with such treatment.
She began by joining the Fraternity of Rossak under the direction of the Mother Superior, Raquella Berto-Anirul, granddaughter of Vorian Atréides, with whom she established herself as one of her best disciples, like her sister, Dorotea Harkonnen. She manages to steal two tablets of “Rossak’s drug” – a hallucinogenic substance which precedes the ritual with the Spice described in the original novel – which allows the one who survives the poison to reach a higher psychic level with a capacity for foreknowledge. She gives one to Valya, and takes her own, allowing Dorotea to become the second Reverend Mother.
If she claims to have ingested it, Valya prefers to wait, anxious to see the effects produced in her sister. The existence of the Brotherhood, however, finds itself threatened when the Emperor learns that they continue to use computers to manage their archives. Which is strictly prohibited. Valya and Raquella Berto-Anirul’s efforts to destroy them all are in vain, and the Brotherhood is disbanded by order of the Imperium.
Limitless hatred
Valya therefore decides to return to the planet Lankiveil. It was there that she learned of the death of her beloved brother, Griffin, for whom she had developed a deep affection since their early childhood. The latter died on Arrakis where he had followed Vorian Atreides in his voluntary exile, in exchange for the protection of the inhabitants of the planet Kepler from which he came. The body is accompanied by a letter from Vorian who claims to have no responsibility for the death of Griffin – who was in fact killed by Hyla, Vorian’s sister. But Valya refuses to believe him, and from that moment on, swears to do everything possible to annihilate the lineage of House Atreides. A destructive spirit of vengeance that will never leave her, not hesitating to involve her other sister, Tula, in her evil objectives.
Valya then decides to swallow the pill given by Dorotea, and becomes the third Reverend Mother in the process. She then embarks, with twenty-eight other disciples, on a journey to join Raquella on the planet Wallach IX, where she has undertaken to rebuild the Brotherhood. Very quickly, she asks permission to go to training as a weapons master on the planet Ginaz, officially to help the community, unofficially with the aim of killing Vorian Atreides. It was also during this period that she managed to master the Voice, a mind control technique.
She will use this formidable weapon to order Dorotea to commit suicide after Raquella’s decision, then on her deathbed, to entrust the succession of the Fraternity to the two sisters. Alone at the helm, Valya makes the decision to disrupt the community’s mission in order to use it as a weapon of influence capable of profoundly changing the future of the galaxy. This is how the Bene Gesserit was founded. Strangely, she, who had a visceral hatred for House Atreides, did not succeed in anticipating the creation of the Kwisatz Haderach announced by the prophecy, via the manipulation of the genes of the Harkonnen and the Atreides.
