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This article refers to elements from The Dune Encyclopedia Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons: |
For the Emperor: Battle for Dune character, see Gunseng Harkonnen (Emperor: Battle for Dune)
Gunseng Harkonnen (10079 AG — 10130 AG) was the Siridar Baron of Giedi Prime and son of Granuk Harkonnen.
Granuk had all of his other sons killed, fearing that one would assassinate him to usurp the barony, leaving Gunseng as his sole heir. The wanderer poet-diarist Sil, Reeve Perrin - a key source on Gunseng's life, who visited the Harkonnen court multiple times starting from Gunseng's early reign - described Gunseng as atypical for the Harkonnen bloodline, being slight and fair in appearance, and having acquired musical proficiency in the baliset and corpedal during that chaos of Granuk's household affairs.
He succeeded his father in 10102 AG at the age of twenty-three after Granuk succumbed to a nervous disease and isolated himself in his barricaded chambers. Knowing he was seen as weak and with his survival at risk from potential rivals and claimants, Gunseng convinced his paranoid father on his deathbed to order the execution of military officers and commanders of the elite guard who threatened his succession, ensuring a smooth transition of power when Granuk died days later.
He married Baroness Muertana Sarobella (later known as the "Black Widow"), a dark beauty with the disposition of a scorpion, whom Gunseng had married to form an alliance with the then-powerful House Sarobella. His first son died in infancy. The second, Araskin, was a clubfooted, simple-minded 2-meters tall giant. Their third and last son was Vladimir Harkonnen. He also fathered several children by concubines, of whom only Abulurd Rabban (né Harkonnen) by Gunella Sorvag survived.
From around 10128 AG at the age of forty-nine, Gunseng initiated an unofficial kanly with House Sarobella, using market manipulations to acquire CHOAM gains to rival House Sarobella's economic sectors while avoiding a provocation to open war. On Gunseng's orders, the Mentat Chardin Klees finally orchestrated a procès verbal against Duke Fernandez Sarobella on charges of conspiracy to embezzle House Corrino's CHOAM holdings, resulting in Fernandez's assassination and the Sardaukar occupation of the Sarobellan planet.
Gunseng did not acknowledge Vladimir as his natural son, though he never denied it publicly. Muertana explained to Araskin that his condition was due to the genetic shortcomings of Gunseng, whom she loathed and also reared the ostensible na-Baron herself, poisoning his mind against his father. Muertana's manipulation eventually incited Araskin to murder Gunseng at a formal dinner to celebrate the victory over House Sarobella in 10130 AG, inflicting a fatal blow to his head with a goblet following a toast to the prosperity of House Harkonnen.
Gunseng possessed a keen understanding of political realities, along with the necessary ruthlessness to manipulate them. Each of these qualities was passed on to Vladimir, whom seemed the answer to his father's dream of improving their House; on his part, Gunseng saw that his son received training in the martial arts, music, and politics from the best tutors he could afford.
Sources[]
- HARKONNEN, GUNSENG
- HARKONNEN, VLADIMIR
In other media[]
- A character named Gunseng Harkonnen appears in Emperor: Battle for Dune, though he is not intended to be the same character.
Categiry:The Dune Encyclopedia