While many questions find their answers in the Season 1 finale of Dune: Prophecy, others are only now being asked. Likewise, other plot elements are introduced that will find themselves developed further in the next season. This includes any new appearances by the show’s main antagonist, who’s been a breakout character in the show.
The Truth of Desmond Hart Is Revealed
The Antagonist’s Origins Save His Life
Building upon the reveal of the penultimate episode, the finale of Dune: Prophecy dives more into the revelation that Desmond Hart is Tula Harkonnen’s son. It’s shown that he was Tula’s son by way of Orry Atreides, making him a potential gap-breacher between the two embittered families. In a flashback, Tula, not wanting her son to be raised or connected to herself or her sister Valya Harkonnen, fakes the boy’s death and has him raised elsewhere. She reveals this to Valya when her sister almost kills Desmond in the finale. Both also realize the truth behind Desmond Hart’s mysterious powers, which are more and less than they initially seemed.
Desmond’s powers are derived from the Omnius plague, which is a virus connected to the anti-human machinations of the infamous thinking machines. Having been experimented upon by an esoteric force, Desmond’s right eye was reconfigured with other thinking machines and turned into a sort of conduit that activates the virus among his targets. This is what causes him to accelerate the “burning” death in others. Though wounded, he’s comforted by his mother and allowed to live by his aunt, who goes elsewhere. Valya is stopped from removing his eye and killing him when Tula finally uses the Voice for herself. Both of the Harkonnen sisters realize how monstrously they’re viewed, illustrating further why Tula wanted him to have nothing to do with their family.
The Fall of the House Corrino
The Show’s Political Intrigue Has Many Victims
The political plot in Dune: Prophecy has centered around the court of Emperor Javicco Corrino, who’s a weak man caught in between his enemies. This is until Desmond Hart comes along, with the former soldier acting as Javicco’s personal attack dog. Both Javicco’s wife and their daughter, Princess Ynez, begin to turn against them for these actions, and this comes to a head in the finale of Dune: Prophecy. Having taken to his former Bene Gesserit concubine Francesca once again, Javicco seeks to start a new life with her and end his charade of a political marriage with Empress Natalya.
Unfortunately, the fallout from this is a series of deaths, with Francesca’s former lover choosing a moment of agency and killing himself before his wife kills Francesca. Francesca and Javicco’s illegitimate son, Constantine, finally took initiative when the family’s weaponsmaster, Keiran Atreides, is revealed to have plotted against the family. Upon finding out that Keiran (whom she had feelings for) was imprisoned, Ynez tries to break him out, only for her mother to have her imprisoned, as well. When Javicco notes that he will take the counsel of the formerly rejected Valya Harkonnen over Desmond Hart, the latter turns on the emperor and instead sides with his wife, who remains loyal to the Imperium as a whole.
Even Valya sees fit to finally let Javicco know that he was only a useful puppet for so long, with no one in his circle still respecting him. Of course, much of this is a ruse perpetrated by the shapeshifting acolyte Theodosia, who uses her power and disguises herself as Ynez and later, a wounded soldier, before nearly assassinating Desmond Hart. Ynez, Keiran and Valya escape, with the goal being to wait things out until Ynez can be installed as the empress.
This was Valya Harkonnen’s plan all along, with Javicco and Natalya mere pawns in the Bene Gesserit’s game. They had sought an empress who would be loyal to them and trained in their ways, with Ynez being her own Truthsayer. In the final moments, the trio arrives on Arrakis, hoping to bide their time there. Of course, with Empress Natalya still alive and Desmond Hart loyal to her, this will likely be a major plot point in the show’s second season.
The True Bene Gesserit Will Be Restored
The Sisterhood Is Going Back to Basics
Secondary protagonist Tula Harkonnen had previously revived the fallen Bene Gesserit’s sister Lila through the unauthorized use of spice and thinking machines, but this misplaced maternal instinct had unintended dire consequences. Now with the voices of her ancestors (namely Raquella and Dorotea) in her head, the resurrected and shaken Lila makes her presence known to the rest of the acolytes, many of whom are still unaware of her true nature.
Through this and flashbacks, it’s shown how Valya held an iron grip on the Bene Gesserit, killing those who stood against her as she followed both the deceased Raquella’s ambitions and her own. Dorotea/Lila reveals the mass grave full of what’s left of those in the sisterhood who opposed the eldest Harkonnen sister, and she embarks to restore the group to its former righteous path. To this end, she smashes Anirul, the thinking machine used for Raquella’s breeding program. Valya’s nephew, Harrow, is shown acquiring a recording of the Bene Gesserit’s doings, and while this point isn’t belabored for too long, it’s another plot point that’s certain to manifest down the road.
Valya and Tula’s confrontation with Desmond Hart also sees the former having to contend with the virus that her nephew activates, forcing her to face her fears and the guilt over the death of her brother, Griffin. Coaching her older sister into surviving, Tula tells Valya that she has to let her fear pass through her. This sequence suggests that Valya’s experience is what inspires the iconic mantra from the Dune series that notes fear as the “mind-killer.” The phrase is taught to future “messiah” Paul Atreides generations later by his Bene Gesserit mother, Lady Jessica, showcasing how important the concept is to the sisterhood’s teachings.
Tula is not seen after letting her son live, but she and Valya are likely both anathema to the rest of the Bene Gesserit in Dune: Prophecy Season 2. Given how the series so far diverts from the book’s lore, it’s possible that this could see them forming offshoots of the group, with the Bene Tleilax group being one potential name for this group. No matter how this manifests, the final scenes show that Valya is ready to fight from the shadows, seeking out their true enemy and the force behind the weaponization of Desmond Hart.
Dune: Prophecy is now streaming on Max.
