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The feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen was an ancient vendetta which began during the Battle of Corrin and ended ten thousand years later due to the annihilation of the Harkonnens on Arrakis.
History[]
Battle of Corrin[]
By the year 88 BG, the League of Nobles had all but defeated the thinking machines of the Synchronized Empire under the computer evermind, Omnius, who had only one outpost on the planet of Corrin. At this time, Vorian Atreides was Supreme Bashar of the Army of Humanity, the military of the League. Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen, who served under Vorian, was the grandson of Primero Xavier Harkonnen, who had once been his closest friend. When the League, fuelled by the fanaticsm of the Cult of Serena Butler, launched the Battle of Corrin to finally destroy Omnius. a space ring of orbiting cargo pods with humans in around the planet, the Bridge of Hrethgir, was revealed. It was rigged with explosives to trigger as soon as the fleet passed it.
Bashar Harkonnen disagreed with Vorian, his commanding officer and refused to cross the Bridge, not wanting to play a role in the deaths of two million. Refusing to back down from his position, Vorian relieved him of his duties and confined him. Abulurd violated his confinement and deactivated the weapons for the entire League fleet. This, however, did not stop the League from achieving victory: it only made it more bloody.
For this, he was branded a coward: initially he was sentenced to death, but Vorian proposed that he be named a coward and banished from the League, to which Viceroy Faykan Butler agreed. He also specified that Abulurd would retain the shameful name of Harkonnen: Vorian sworn that for ever his descendants would spit upon the name Harkonnen. After that, it was impossible to restore his grandfather's memory. Abulurd was exiled to the backwater planet of Lankiveil, where he made a family of his own and had Dirdos, who founded House Harkonnen and two sons. The kids grew up with tales of the Jihad and came to hate the name of Atreides.
Griffin on Arrakis[]
In 4 BG, Vorian himself was exiled to the desert planet Arrakis in exchange for the protection of his homeworld Kepler, but was followed by Griffin Harkonnen, the ambitious great-gandson of Abulurd who tracked him down after finding out he had been on Kepler from his sister Valya. Griffin confronteds Vor in a Zensunni Freemen sietch deep in the Arrakeen desert.
Naib Sharnak told Griffin and Vorian they had to fight to end their blood feud. During the fight, Griffin revealed to Vorian that his wife on Kepler was dead, catching him off guard and ultimately getting him at his mercy, although he decided not to kill him out of honor, declaring the feud supposedly over and the two were placed in the desert. However, Vor was also being followed by the twins Hila and Andros, two children of his father Agamemnon who had survived for years in an isolated robotic outpost. They eventually caught Vor in the desert and killed Griffin. Pursuing Vor, attempting to convert him to their beliefs in a new Time of Titans, they awere swallowed with the sand around them when a sandworm arrived. Vor sent a message of condolence to Griffin's sister, Valya who spurnned the offer and planned revenge, leading to the feud being far from over despite Griffin's intentions.
Initial climax[]
Feeling guilty for Griffin's death, Vorian tried to help his struggling family with a secret infusion of funds to their whaling business on Lankiveil. He then travelled to Caladan to meet his descendants with Leronica, who included Orry Atreides, Shander Atreides and Willem Atreides, but soon tragedy began to befall the Atreides and Vorian realized too late that Griffin and Valya's younger sister Tula was visiting Harkonnen vengeance on them in the name of the feud. Vorian ultimately dueled Valya on Wallach IX and was believed to be dead by his Caladanian relatives, although in reality he survived and decided to once again begin a new life. His relatives, however, continued the feud, Willem Atreides founding House Atreides itself in Vorian's honor and in opposition to House Harkonnen, which was gaining more and more power under Danvis Harkonnen.
Nine years later, Danvis and Willem were in competition to became chamberlain to the new emperor Javicco. Working with his cousin Gerhard to frame and then murder Willem, Danvis was betrayed by Gerhard, who supplanted him as Baron. Meanwhile Willem, on his deathbed, pleaded for the feud to stop, but this was hopeless.
Conclusion[]
In 10191 AG, the Atreides fought the Harkonnens in the Desert War back on Arrakis, a conflict emerging from a Harkonnen alliance with the ruling Corrino family. In this conflict, the feud finally ended, as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was killed by Alia Atreides, along with his nephew and intended heir Feyd-Rautha by her brother Paul, leading to the end of the Harkonnens.