Frank Herbert’s Dune places the reader in an interstellar feudal society set some 20,000
years into mankind’s future.
The various regions and planets in this civilization are governed by noble houses that control
planetary fiefs.
The great house that serves as the primary antagonist for Frank Herbert’s first book
is the ruthless and power hungry House Harkonnen.
In this video, I’d like to examine a few notable events in the history of this great
house as well as what makes them so relentless in their constant struggle for Imperial dominance.
Spoiler warning as I will be covering the timeline of House Harkonnen leading up to
and throughout Frank Herbert’s Dune saga.
The Harkonnen family name is derived from the Finnish word härkä which means ox.
This name dates back to ancient Earth and was believed to originate in the western Russian
Empire from the area that is currently Finland.
During the time of the League of Nobles and before the events of the Butlerian Jihad,
a war which resulted in the banishment of thinking machines, the Harkonnen family ran
mining operations on the planet Hagal/ Hagol which served as a basis for their flourishing
commercial empire.
Born some 18 years before the end of the Butlerian Jihad, Abulurd Harkonnen became the founder
of the family’s House.
The centuries-long feud with House Atreides began during the battle of Corrin, a major
military event which served as the final strike against the last haven of thinking machines.
During the course of this battle, Abulurd refused an order from commander Vorian Atreides
. As a result, Abulurd was branded as a coward and traitor.
He was subsequently banished from the worlds controlled by the League and exiled to the
backwater planet of Lankiveil.
From then on Vorian Atreides swore that his descendents would forever regard the Harkonnen
name as shameful.
Eventually the Harkonnens would acquire a planet called Giedi Prime which they filled
with cities, factories and arenas that were used to feature gladiatorial events and other
spectacles for the inhabitants.
The rule of House Harkonnen was marked by fear, terror, hatred and brutality.
Through their governance, the entire planet of Giedi Prime became a harsh, industrial
volcanic wasteland.
This oppressive environment combined with the restrictive living conditions stemming
from the tyrannical Harkonnen rulership served to produce effective conscripts for the house’s
military fhorces.
Because of the prevalence of treachery and punishment in their society, Harkonnen soldiers
would often climb the ranks through trickery, deceit and assassination if necessary.
Although they only held the status of a minor house for several centuries, their power and
influence gradually increased within the Landsraad by means of their crafty economical maneuvering.
Through their willful disregard of ethical business practices, the Harkonnens were able
to maximize output and minimize production expenses.
Many natives of Giedi Prime were used as slave labour to work the industrial machines littering
the planet's surface.
In the year 10130 AG, House Harkonnen won the planetary fief of Arrakis.
With this, they were responsible for the oversight of the mining and supply of the spice melange
to the universe.
The Harkonnens carried their harsh governing methods from their homeworld to Arrakis, resulting
in the persecution of the native Fremen people.
They continued to skimp on infrastructure maintenance and as a result after paying their
tithe to the Emperor, were able to retain a substantial amount of melange for themselves.
Over the 80 years of their rule of Arrakis, the Harkonnens had managed to amass considerable
wealth through spice mining.
Before the rise of Vladimir Harkonnen, his father Dmitri served as ruler of the House
and of their homeworld.
Dmitri had two wives: Victoria Harkonnen who was the mother of Vladimir; and later Daphne
Harkonnen who gave him two more sons Marotin and Abulurd.
Abulurd proved to be Dmitri’s preferred child and as such was granted control of House
Harkonnen and the Arrakis fiefdom upon his father’s death.
However Abulurd was good-hearted and lacked the brutality and ambitious thirst typical
of the Harkonnens.
As a result, he proved to be an ineffective leader for the house, causing a drastic decline
in spice production.
Subsequently he was removed and replaced by his older half-brother Vladimir.
In disgrace, he was sent to rule as the planetary governor of Lankieveil where he oversaw the
whale fur trade.
Abulurd was so repulsed by the brutal methods of his half-brother, that he petitioned the
Landsraad to let him adopt the maiden name of his wife Emmi Rabban with whom he had two
sons Glossu and Feyd-Rautha.
Unfortunately both of his sons were taken into the Harkonnen household.
Glossu proved to be a vicious brute who eventually killed his father strangling him to death.
This earned him the name "Beast Rabban".
While Vladimir saw the usefulness of Glossu’s brutality, he desired a more intelligent and
charismatic heir and turned his attention to developing and training Glossu’s younger
brother Feyd-Rautha.
As their leader, Vladimir Harkonnen greatly added to the House’s already notorious reputation
and he fostered and regularly acted on sadistic pedophilic tendencies.
He also utilized the methods of widespread torture, murder and slavery to maintain his
power.
Often he would neutralize threats by ordering executions of individuals over extremely trivial
matters.
The Baron’s thirst for power was so great that he grew to covet the authority of the
Imperial House Corrino.
In tandem with his inherited hatred for the Atreides, he plotted in secret against both
houses in order to destroy the Atreides and usurp the Corrinos.
Vladimir's remained unmarried and never claimed any children.
However it was revealed later that unbeknownst to him, Lady Jessica of House Atreides’
was actually his illegitimate daughter.
In the expanded Dune novels, it is detailed that the Baron was forced into conceiving
a daughter for the Bene Gesserit’s breeding program.
The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohaim was able to compel his cooperation by threatening
him with a Guild bank audit of his sinister activities and the possible revocation of
his temporary CHOAM directorship.
While it can be said that the Harkonnens operated regularly outside of the limits of ethical
boundaries, they still had to respect the power and authority held by the major institutions
of the universe such as CHOAM, The Spacing Guild and the Landsraad.
With the rise of Paul Atreides on Arrakis the Baron's plans for Imperial domination
were foiled.
Vladimir met his swift death at the hands of Paul's younger sister, and his biological
granddaughter Alia Atreides with a single poisonous prick from her Gom Jabbar.
The title of Baron passed briefly to Feyd-Rautha before he ultimately met his end being killed
by Paul in an act of kanly.
With Paul’s rise to power as the new Emperor, House Harkonnen effectively came to its end.
Control of the Harkonnen homeworld of Giedi Prime was handed to the people of Caladan.
Under the governance of one of House Harkonnen’s former slaves, the Atreides Warmaster Gurney
Halleck, Giedi Prime was renamed Gammu.
In the years that followed, most of the Harkonnens’ industrial machines were dismantled, and through
massive reforestation efforts, the planet’s natural ecosystem was largely restored.
And although dead in body and spirit, the terrible Vladimir Harkonnen would re-emerge
through Alia Atreides as she was possessed by the ego memory of her grandfather.
This was due to her status as a Bene Gesserit abomination who was unable to control her
ancestral genetic memories.
Also, due to the Bene Gesserit’s breeding program, while this sinister House met its
end early on in Frank Herbert’s series, the Harkonnen bloodline would continue on
through the Atreides as the rest of the Dune Saga unfolded.
But I’m curious to know what you think of House Harkonnen, are there any events or characters
in this House’s history that stand out to you?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
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Thank you all so much for your support and as always, have a very nerdy day.