The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is the primary antagonist of the first book of Frank Herbert’s
Dune saga.
His House’s rise to power was largely due to the treachery, greed, and ruthless brutality
characteristic of Harkonnen rule for many generations past.
While this cold-blooded ambition added greatly to House Harkonnen’s infamy, it can also
be said that this trait contributed to their undoing.
In this video, I’d like to talk about the fall of Vladimir Harkonnen which ultimately
led to the demise of his house.
Spoiler warning as I will be discussing major events which occur throughout Frank Herbert’s
Dune.
House Harkonnen had ruled Arrakis for some 80 years before the events of Dune.
Throughout this time, the Harkonnens had managed to amass considerable wealth due in large
part to their management of spice harvesting operations.
During Vladimir Harkonnen’s reign as Baron, he carried on the House’s already notoriously
brutal tactics commonly using torture, slavery and execution as methods to maintain his power.
In his quest for domination, the Baron set his sights on the Imperial throne, and worked
to eliminate any threats to his rule from the other houses of the Landsraad.
He also harbored a particular hatred toward his House’s centuries old rival the Atreides,
who under Duke Leto had been growing in popularity.
In order to eliminate the Atreides and make a play for the throne, the Baron plotted in
secret against both houses in order to destroy the Duke with his family and usurp the Emperor.
Without the restraints of ethics or any recognizable level of morality, the Baron’s schemes often
involved tactics which went directly against the laws of the Imperium and practices that
were generally considered distasteful.
In order to formulate a plan to reach his goals, the Baron relied on the abilities of
his twisted mentat, Piter De Vries.
Piter was a creation of the Bene Tleilax a xenophobic society of geneticists who often
pushed the moral limits of what was considered acceptable by humanity at large.
As is the case with Piter, the Tleilaxu products typically are the result of extensive physiological
and physical manipulation of human life.
The value of a twisted mentat was in its freedom from the restrictions of a conscience or ethics.
It was Piter who discovered a way to bend the imperial conditioning of a suk doctor
which was previously thought to be unbreakable.
By turning the Atreides doctor Wellington Yueh against the Duke, the Baron would be
able to ensure victory over his rival house.
As the Baron executed this plan, however, several key events occurred which weakened
his ability to maintain political dominance.
One major occurrence which greatly diminished the analytical prowess of House Harkonnen
was the death of Piter De Vries.
While Dr. Yueh served as the linchpin for the Atreides defeat at Arrakeen; he was by
no means loyal to House Harkonnen.
In his desire to destroy the Baron, the doctor placed a poison tooth in the mouth of the
Duke, which if timed correctly could be used to strike a crippling blow against the Harkonnens.
While this tooth was not effective in killing the Baron, the Duke was able to wipe out a
room full of Harkonnens including the Baron's Captain of the Guard, his Mentat Piter de
Vries, and several others.
The Baron was able to regroup from this loss but the death of his Twisted Mentat would
begin a chain of events that would ultimately lead to his fall.
After the Atreides defeat on Arrakis, it was Vladimir’s plan to place Piter in the seat
of power on Dune to rule as he saw fit in the Baron’s name.
After Piter had ruled over Arrakis for some time, it was his intention to replace the
twisted mentat with his preferred nephew, the young and charismatic Feyd-Rautha, who
would be propped up as a savior to the Arrakeen people.
Because of Piter’s death, however, the Baron was forced to adjust his plans.
Instead of having the genius mind of a mentat in the seat of power on Arrakis, Vladimir
would have to settle for his muscle-minded tank-brain nephew Beast Rabban.
The Baron then instructed Rabban to squeeze Arrakis for profits.
This pressure would serve a two-fold purpose, first this was necessary to replenish the
resources that House Harkonnen had spent to transport the forces and equipment required
to overwhelm house Atreides.
Because of the nature of the assault, the Spacing Guild, who held a monopoly on space
travel was able to charge Hazard rates resulting in an astronomical expense for the Harkonnens
to ensure the Atreides defeat.
The Baron told Rabban that even if he were to take every cent Arrakis could give them
for sixty years, they’d just barely pay for the expenses incurred from the assault.
The Baron had intended to offset this cost with the discreet sale of spice that he had
been hoarding, however that was made impossible after the Atreides successfully executed an
assault on the Harkonnen homeworld Giedi prime, resulting in the destruction of much of their
illegal spice hoards.
The second purpose of Rabban’s squeeze on Arrakis was to paint the Beast as a tyrannical
oppressor, which would pave the way for Feyd Rautha to replace his brother.
However, Rabban’s oppression resulted in heavy losses for the Harkonnens.
As they fought against the fremen they suffered an estimated 5 casualties for every one of
the fremen warriors they killed.
In an attempt to make up for the loss of Piter De Vries, the Baron forced the captured Atreides
mentat Thufir Hawat into his service.
To ensure his cooperation, Thufir was given a poison and subsequent antidote.
It was the Atreides mentat who revealed to the Baron one of his biggest oversights and
what would turn out to be the biggest factor in his demise, namely the underestimation
of the size and power of the Fremen population on Arrakis.
Thufir had seen first hand the might of the fremen and as a loyal servant of house Atreides
he recognized the wisdom of the Duke’s efforts to form an alliance with these warriors.
Thufir was successful in convincing the Baron to cut off additional aid to Rabban, forcing
the Beast to intensify his persecution of the people in order to meet his required spice
quotas.
This would fast-track Rabban’s replacement in the hopes that Feyd would be praised and
hailed as a savior, eliminating the causes of resistance from the locals.
However the Baron’s withdrawal of support from Rabban was viewed by the Fremen as a
golden opportunity to attack the Harkonnens.
And under the leadership of the new Duke Paul Atreides they were successful in overthrowing
the combined forces of the Harkonnens along with the imperial sardaukar.
Down to the end the Baron remained obstinate in his view of the fremen and because of his
hubris he failed to fully recognize their capabilities or understand their relationship
with Arrakis.
The inability to defeat Paul's fremen army resulted in the Emperor's personal intervention
on Arrakis leading to the capture of Paul's sister Alia Atreides.
It was Alia who made the killing blow against the Baron with a single strike from her Gom
Jabbar.
So came the end of the terrible reign of the Baron leaving House Harkonnen to be led by
Feyd Rautha who would die at the hands of Paul himself effectively destroying House
Harkonnen once and for all.
I'm curious to know what you think of the fall of Vladimir Harkonnen.
What factor do you think is the biggest reason for his failure?
Are there any lessons you can draw from the events leading to his demise?
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.