Residual Poison



The Residual Poison was an innovation attributed to the Mentat Piter de Vries. It was a water-borne substance that could be introduced into a victim, whereby the victim must receive the antidote repeatedly. Withdrawal of the antidote at any time would bring death after several days.

The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen had the poison administered secretly to Thufir Hawat and provided the antidote in his food. The Harkonnens remained suspicious of Hawat's loyalties and debated withdrawing the antidote.

In the 1984 Dune film Hawat did not receive the antidote in food, but had to extract it each day from a biologically engineered cat. The poison thus served not only to control him but to degrade him as well.