The first episode of “Dune: Prophecy” allowed us to discover the character of Desmond Hart, a character played by Travis Fimmel, with mysterious powers, who has the particularity of not existing in the literary saga. Here’s what we know about him.
A smashing entrance. Adaptation of the novel “The Sisterhood”, written by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert, registered in the literary sub-cycle “Dune, the origins”, the “Dune: Prophecy” series goes back 10,000 years before the birth of Paul Atreides, about the genesis of the powerful community known as the Bene Gesserit and their growing influence within the Imperium. The first episode introduced Emily Watson in the role of Valya Harkonnen, Mother Superior, but also Travis Fimmel in the role of Desmond Hart, a mysterious character who does not exist in the books.
A mighty power
He is introduced in the series as “a former soldier with an enigmatic past who seeks to gain the trust of Emperor Javicco Corrino.” We learn that he is the only survivor of a unit that carried out several missions on Arrakis, where the precious spice is located. Desmond Hart was presumed dead after a sandworm attack that he believed was orchestrated not by the Fremen people, but by traitors operating within the Imperium to embezzle spice.
He also claims to have inherited a mysterious power since his encounter with a sandworm, which allows him to kill his victims by burning them from the inside without coming into contact with them. Desmond Hart expressly requested to be assigned to the palace, near the Emperor, whose trust he quickly gained. To the great dismay of the Community led by Valya Harkonnen, whose power of influence is consequently threatened, especially after the assassination of Pruwet Richese, the boy supposed to marry the Emperor’s daughter. A union ardently desired by the Sisters.
In his dialogue with Pruwet, before the latter is “sacrificed” in his words, Desmond explains to the boy that an invisible war pitting humanity against an invisible force which seeks to control thought (which refers to the Community of Sisters) is being played out. More troubling, Mother Kasha Jinjo, who was the Emperor’s personal advisor and who had just joined the Community on the planet Wallach IX to speak with Valya Harkonnen, died in the same circumstances as the young prince. Which suggests that Desmond Hart’s power is active over long distances.
When Valya Harkonnen witnesses the death of the one who was one of her most faithful disciples, she understands witnessing the manifestation of the prophecy made by the Mother Superior, Raquella Berto-Anirul, on her deathbed: “You will be the one who will see the fire and know the truth,” she said. “I see, Mother,” Valya Harkonnen then agreed in front of her friend’s agony, “the burning truth” as she herself had clarified then, years earlier.
Is Desmond Hart the predicted tyrant?
Heroine of the war against intelligent machines, Raquella Berto-Anirul founded the Community of Sisters with the idea of ”governing the future” by piloting in the greatest secrecy a program of reproduction of elites through royal unions in order to shape society according to their will. The ultimate goal is to allow the arrival into the world of the “Kwitatz Haderach”, a being gifted with prescience capable of “seeing” the future, like Paul Atreides in the “Dune” saga.
On her deathbed, however, Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul shared an apocalyptic vision of a sandworm devouring cities on planets other than Arrakis, blood and fire, as well as two lights – eyes? a spaceship? – emanating from what she called “Tiran-Arafel”. According to her, it is a “divine judgment pronounced by a tyrant”, an unspeakable darkness likely to endanger the very existence of the Community of Sisters. And all of humanity.
Is Desmond Hart the human manifestation of the threat Raquella spoke of? Is he the tyrant who has come to pass divine judgment? Among fans, some wonder about the origin of his powers, which he potentially inherited after being swallowed by the sandworm where he was in contact with the Water of Life – like Paul Atreides millennia later – making him a singular being (a first version of Kwitatz Haderach?). One thing is certain, this power to burn people from the inside, from anywhere, without direct contact, is an extraordinary weapon capable of counterbalancing the play of influences.
Also noteworthy are Kasha’s words to Valya Harkonnen who, before her death, questioned the Sisterhood’s strategy, saying that their actions risked creating “the very thing” they are trying to avoid. The “Dune” saga answers this question, since Paul Atreides will be the chosen one born from the consecutive actions of the Bene Gesserit over several millennia at the origin of the outbreak of a Holy War across the galaxy. It now remains to be seen what role Desmond Hart will play at this precise moment in the story.
