House Harkonnen
Encyclopedia
House Harkonnen (ˈhɑrkɵnən) is a powerful noble family
in Frank Herbert
's fictional Dune universe
. The Harkonnens are featured prominently in the original 1965 novel Dune
, and are also a major presence in both the Prelude to Dune
(1999-2001) and Legends of Dune
(2002-2004) prequel
trilogies
by Brian Herbert
and Kevin J. Anderson
. The Harkonnen bloodline itself extends throughout all of the original Dune novels.
begins, House Harkonnen is headed by the cruel yet cunning Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
. Human life is of little consequence to the Baron or his nephews, the brutish Glossu Rabban
and Harkonnen's heir Feyd-Rautha
; both are the legal sons of the Baron's youngest demibrother, Abulurd Rabban, who had "renounced the Harkonnen name and all rights to the title when given the subdistrict governorship of Rabban-Lankiveil." The Harkonnen homeworld Giedi Prime
itself is an industrial wasteland with a low photosynthetic potential
, its once-rich natural resources exhausted and the environment fouled with industrial pollution. The Baron himself is "the direct-line male descendant of the Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen who was banished for cowardice after the Battle of Corrin," and House Harkonnen's return to power "generally is ascribed to adroit manipulation of the whale fur market and later consolidation with melange wealth from Arrakis
." A millennia-long feud exists between the decadent Harkonnens and House Atreides
of Caladan
; the Harkonnens have essentially bought their status while the Atreides are related to the Emperor by blood, and the fact that an Atreides once had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice in ancient times is still bitterly remembered some 10,000 years later.
The Baron's intent to exterminate the Atreides line seems close to fruition as Duke Leto Atreides
is lured to the desert planet
Arrakis on the pretense of taking over the valuable melange operation there. Harkonnen has an agent in the Atreides household and the secret assistance of the Padishah Emperor
Shaddam IV
; the Baron manages to kill Leto, and the Duke's concubine
Lady Jessica and son Paul
are left to die in the open desert. But this Harkonnen treachery sets in motion Paul's rise to power among Arrakis' native Fremen
, and positions him as a threat to the Imperial interests there. The Baron later dies at the hand of Paul's sister Alia
, and Feyd is killed shortly thereafter by Paul himself. Now in control of Arrakis, the source of the all-important spice melange, Paul unseats the Emperor.
House Harkonnen is effectively crippled; Paul's son Leto Atreides II
ultimately rules the Known Universe for 3500 years as the "God Emperor," or the "Tyrant." An ancient, Harkonnen-built no-globe is discovered in Heretics of Dune
(1984) on Gammu, the planet formerly called Giedi Prime, and it is noted that "the Tyrant must have known about this place." Miles Teg
asks himself:
It is later said that "Gammu was Giedi Prime, a Harkonnen place ... They were rich... Rich enough to accomplish the secret installation of a no-room ... even of a large no-globe ... Bribes, third-party purchases, many transshipments ... The Famine Times were very disruptive and before that there were all those millennia of the Tyrant ... When the Harkonnens kept their heads down or lost them." Miles also notes in Heretics of Dune that the Harkonnen bloodline possesses "genetic lines tracing far away into the dawn times of Greek and Pathan
and Mameluke
."
is just and honorable, and becomes close friends with Vorian Atreides
. Ultimately he destroys his own family's reputation by killing the evil and corrupt—but perceived as a holy martyr by the masses—Grand Patriarch Iblis Ginjo. Ginjo's own political machine paints Xavier as a traitor, and the surname Harkonnen is abandoned by his immediate descendants. When Vorian tells Xavier's grandson (the first Abulurd Harkonnen) the truth, he takes his grandfather's name with pride. However, the close relationship between Abulurd and Vorian comes to an end at the Battle of Corrin, the battle that ends the Butlerian Jihad
and founds the Imperium. Abulurd refuses a direct order from his commander, Vorian, to kill a multitude of humans enslaved by the thinking machines
. Though he had only wanted to save innocent people, Abulurd is demonized by Vorian and labeled a coward and a traitor. Abulurd's own brother Faykan Corrino exiles him from the League Worlds to the frosty planet of Lankiveil, where his descendants learn to believe they had been unjustly vilified by the Atreides family despite their noble deeds. House Harkonnen ultimately works its way back into the graces of the Imperium.
The Prelude to Dune series, also by Brian Herbert and Anderson, explores the decades immediately prior to the events in Dune. This series establishes Vladimir's father Dmitri Harkonnen as a benevolent man who leaves House Atreides in peace. It is during Dmitri's reign that House Harkonnen grows in status and is rewarded with the governorship of Arrakis by Shaddam's father, Padishah Emperor Elrood Corrino IX. According to Prelude to Dune, Dmitri's first wife Victoria bore Vladimir; the marriage had ended with a bitter divorce. Dmitri had two sons with his subsequent wife Daphne; Marotin, a mentally retarded
son who had died at age 28 of natural causes, and Abulurd, eventually Dmitri's favorite child. A peace-loving man and the polar opposite of his older brother Vladimir, Abulurd is happy to relinquish the Harkonnen name, adopt his wife's surname "Rabban," and retire to Lankiveil to distance himself from the self-serving, underhanded, and violent actions of both his brother and of his own son, Glossu. Abulurd is later enraged when Glossu goes on a whale-hunting rampage, driving the Bjondax whales away from the area indefinitely and crippling the whale fur industry disastrously. When Abulurd later discovers one of his brother's illegal spice hoards on Lankiveil, he distributes it to his people; Glossu returns and strangles his father to death.
House Harkonnen features prominently in the Dune computer games.
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
in Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
's fictional Dune universe
Dune universe
Dune is a science fiction franchise which originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Considered by many to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Dune is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history...
. The Harkonnens are featured prominently in the original 1965 novel Dune
Dune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
, and are also a major presence in both the Prelude to Dune
Prelude to Dune
Prelude to Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe....
(1999-2001) and Legends of Dune
Legends of Dune
Legends of Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe.* Dune: The Butlerian Jihad * Dune: The Machine Crusade * Dune: The Battle of Corrin...
(2002-2004) prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
trilogies
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
by Brian Herbert
Brian Herbert
Brian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Herbert....
and Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson is an American science fiction author with over forty bestsellers. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune prequels...
. The Harkonnen bloodline itself extends throughout all of the original Dune novels.
Original series
As the novel DuneDune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
begins, House Harkonnen is headed by the cruel yet cunning Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Vladimir Harkonnen
The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is a fictional character from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, in which he is the secondary antagonist, and is also a major character in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson...
. Human life is of little consequence to the Baron or his nephews, the brutish Glossu Rabban
Glossu Rabban
Glossu Rabban is a fictional character in the science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert.The Appendix IV: The Almanak of en-Ashraf Glossu Rabban is a fictional character in the science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert.The Appendix IV: The Almanak of en-Ashraf Glossu Rabban is a fictional...
and Harkonnen's heir Feyd-Rautha
Feyd-Rautha
The na-Baron Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert.The younger nephew of the cruel, powerful and cunning Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the dark-haired, 16-year old Feyd is as lean and muscular as the Baron is morbidly...
; both are the legal sons of the Baron's youngest demibrother, Abulurd Rabban, who had "renounced the Harkonnen name and all rights to the title when given the subdistrict governorship of Rabban-Lankiveil." The Harkonnen homeworld Giedi Prime
Giedi Prime
Giedi Prime is a fictional planet in Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune. A planet of Ophiuchi B , it is the homeworld of the vicious House Harkonnen, the sworn enemies of House Atreides.-Description:...
itself is an industrial wasteland with a low photosynthetic potential
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...
, its once-rich natural resources exhausted and the environment fouled with industrial pollution. The Baron himself is "the direct-line male descendant of the Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen who was banished for cowardice after the Battle of Corrin," and House Harkonnen's return to power "generally is ascribed to adroit manipulation of the whale fur market and later consolidation with melange wealth from Arrakis
Arrakis
Arrakis — informally known as Dune and later called Rakis — is a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. Herbert's first novel in the series, 1965's Dune, is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and it is...
." A millennia-long feud exists between the decadent Harkonnens and House Atreides
House Atreides
House Atreides is a fictional noble family from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. One of the Great Houses of the feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, its members play a role in every novel in the series. It is suggested within the series that the root of the Atreides line...
of Caladan
Caladan
Caladan is a fictional planet in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, first mentioned in the 1965 novel Dune.-Overview:Caladan, the third planet of Delta Pavonis, is the ancestral fiefdom of House Atreides, who have ruled it for twenty-six generations, from the ancient Castle Caladan...
; the Harkonnens have essentially bought their status while the Atreides are related to the Emperor by blood, and the fact that an Atreides once had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice in ancient times is still bitterly remembered some 10,000 years later.
The Baron's intent to exterminate the Atreides line seems close to fruition as Duke Leto Atreides
Leto Atreides I
Duke Leto Atreides I is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He features in the novel Dune by Frank Herbert and in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson....
is lured to the desert planet
Desert planet
A desert planet is a single-biome planet on which the climate is mostly desert, with little or no natural precipitation. Desert planets are known to exist; Mars is often considered a prime example. Indeed, many terrestrial planets would be considered desert planets by this definition...
Arrakis on the pretense of taking over the valuable melange operation there. Harkonnen has an agent in the Atreides household and the secret assistance of the Padishah Emperor
Padishah Emperor
Padishah Emperor is the title given to the hereditary rulers of the Old Empire in the science fiction Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.-Original series:...
Shaddam IV
Shaddam Corrino IV
Shaddam Corrino IV is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is Padishah Emperor of the known universe in Herbert's 1965 novel Dune. Shaddam's accession to the throne is chronicled in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.Born...
; the Baron manages to kill Leto, and the Duke's concubine
Concubinage
Concubinage is the state of a woman or man in an ongoing, usually matrimonially oriented, relationship with somebody to whom they cannot be married, often because of a difference in social status or economic condition.-Concubinage:...
Lady Jessica and son Paul
Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Paul is a prominent character in the first two novels in the series, Dune and Dune Messiah , and returns in Children of Dune . The character is brought back as two different gholas in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J...
are left to die in the open desert. But this Harkonnen treachery sets in motion Paul's rise to power among Arrakis' native Fremen
Fremen
The Fremen are a group of people in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. First appearing in the 1965 novel Dune, the Fremen inhabit the desert planet Arrakis and are based on the desert-dwelling Bedouin and Kalahari Bushmen. In Herbert's novels, Arrakis is the sole known source...
, and positions him as a threat to the Imperial interests there. The Baron later dies at the hand of Paul's sister Alia
Alia Atreides
Alia Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Introduced in the first novel of the series, 1965's Dune, the character was originally killed in Herbert's first version of the manuscript. At the suggestion of Analog magazine editor John Campbell, Herbert kept...
, and Feyd is killed shortly thereafter by Paul himself. Now in control of Arrakis, the source of the all-important spice melange, Paul unseats the Emperor.
House Harkonnen is effectively crippled; Paul's son Leto Atreides II
Leto Atreides II
Leto Atreides II is a fictional character from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Born at the end of Dune Messiah , Leto is a central character in Children of Dune and is the title character of God Emperor of Dune . The character is brought back as a ghola in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J...
ultimately rules the Known Universe for 3500 years as the "God Emperor," or the "Tyrant." An ancient, Harkonnen-built no-globe is discovered in Heretics of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Heretics of Dune is a 1984 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, fifth in a series of six novels. It was ranked as the #13 hardcover fiction best seller of 1984 by The New York Times.-Plot introduction:...
(1984) on Gammu, the planet formerly called Giedi Prime, and it is noted that "the Tyrant must have known about this place." Miles Teg
Miles Teg
Miles Teg is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.-Description:In Heretics of Dune , Miles Teg — the former Supreme Bashar of the Bene Gesserit — is noted to be 296 standard years old and to have a striking resemblance to his ancestor, Leto Atreides I...
asks himself:
Why did the Tyrant permit Family Harkonnen to squander so much of their last remaining wealth on such an enterprise? Perhaps for that very reason — to drain them. The cost in bribes and GuildSpacing GuildThe Spacing Guild is an organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. With its monopoly on interstellar travel and banking, the Guild is a balance of power against the Padishah Emperor and the assembled noble Houses of the Landsraad...
shipping from the Ixian factories must have been astronomical.
It is later said that "Gammu was Giedi Prime, a Harkonnen place ... They were rich... Rich enough to accomplish the secret installation of a no-room ... even of a large no-globe ... Bribes, third-party purchases, many transshipments ... The Famine Times were very disruptive and before that there were all those millennia of the Tyrant ... When the Harkonnens kept their heads down or lost them." Miles also notes in Heretics of Dune that the Harkonnen bloodline possesses "genetic lines tracing far away into the dawn times of Greek and Pathan
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
and Mameluke
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
."
Prequels
The Legends of Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson explores the origins of House Harkonnen, and later their feud with the Atreides. As the series begins, brave Xavier HarkonnenXavier Harkonnen
Xavier Harkonnen is a character in the fictional Dune universe. Xavier's role existed in the Legends of Dune series, in the books Dune: The Butlerian Jihad and Dune: The Machine Crusade. He was also referenced in Dune: The Battle of Corrin....
is just and honorable, and becomes close friends with Vorian Atreides
Vorian Atreides
Vorian Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. The ancestor of Paul Atreides, Vorian is a key character in the Legends of Dune trilogy created by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.-Family history:...
. Ultimately he destroys his own family's reputation by killing the evil and corrupt—but perceived as a holy martyr by the masses—Grand Patriarch Iblis Ginjo. Ginjo's own political machine paints Xavier as a traitor, and the surname Harkonnen is abandoned by his immediate descendants. When Vorian tells Xavier's grandson (the first Abulurd Harkonnen) the truth, he takes his grandfather's name with pride. However, the close relationship between Abulurd and Vorian comes to an end at the Battle of Corrin, the battle that ends the Butlerian Jihad
Butlerian Jihad
The Butlerian Jihad is an event in the back-story of Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe. Occurring over 10,000 years before the events chronicled in his 1965 novel Dune, this jihad leads to the outlawing of certain technologies, primarily "thinking machines", a collective term for computers...
and founds the Imperium. Abulurd refuses a direct order from his commander, Vorian, to kill a multitude of humans enslaved by the thinking machines
Thinking machines (Dune)
Thinking machines is a collective term for artificial intelligence in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. The Butlerian Jihad a human crusade against thinking machines is an epic turning point in the back-story of the Dune universe...
. Though he had only wanted to save innocent people, Abulurd is demonized by Vorian and labeled a coward and a traitor. Abulurd's own brother Faykan Corrino exiles him from the League Worlds to the frosty planet of Lankiveil, where his descendants learn to believe they had been unjustly vilified by the Atreides family despite their noble deeds. House Harkonnen ultimately works its way back into the graces of the Imperium.
The Prelude to Dune series, also by Brian Herbert and Anderson, explores the decades immediately prior to the events in Dune. This series establishes Vladimir's father Dmitri Harkonnen as a benevolent man who leaves House Atreides in peace. It is during Dmitri's reign that House Harkonnen grows in status and is rewarded with the governorship of Arrakis by Shaddam's father, Padishah Emperor Elrood Corrino IX. According to Prelude to Dune, Dmitri's first wife Victoria bore Vladimir; the marriage had ended with a bitter divorce. Dmitri had two sons with his subsequent wife Daphne; Marotin, a mentally retarded
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
son who had died at age 28 of natural causes, and Abulurd, eventually Dmitri's favorite child. A peace-loving man and the polar opposite of his older brother Vladimir, Abulurd is happy to relinquish the Harkonnen name, adopt his wife's surname "Rabban," and retire to Lankiveil to distance himself from the self-serving, underhanded, and violent actions of both his brother and of his own son, Glossu. Abulurd is later enraged when Glossu goes on a whale-hunting rampage, driving the Bjondax whales away from the area indefinitely and crippling the whale fur industry disastrously. When Abulurd later discovers one of his brother's illegal spice hoards on Lankiveil, he distributes it to his people; Glossu returns and strangles his father to death.
Harkonnen family tree
The following family tree assembles information from Frank Herbert's original novels as well as the prequel series Legends of Dune and Prelude to Dune.Harkonnen in the Dune games
| Game | | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dune II Dune II Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a Dune computer game released in 1992 by Westwood Studios... |
If you choose the Harkonnen campaign, you can build a unique tank called the Devastator. The Death Hand is a superweapon which fired to a specific target. House Harkonnen's color is red in this game. | ||
| Dune 2000 Dune 2000 Dune 2000 is a real-time strategy video game, released by Westwood Studios in 1998 for Microsoft Windows, and later ported to the PlayStation. It is a partial remake of Dune II, which is also based on Frank Herbert's Dune universe. The story of the game is similar to Dune II, and is continued in... |
Like Dune II as before, but the Sardaukar can be trained. | ||
| Emperor: Battle for Dune Emperor: Battle for Dune Emperor: Battle for Dune is a Dune video game, released by Westwood Studios on June 12, 2001. It is based in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe.... |
The alliance between the Harkonnen and the Sardaukar is dissolved, but can still be forged. Harkonnen are still red. Harkonnen are also the only main faction unable to ally with the Fremen. | ||