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This article or section refers to elements from Expanded Dune |
- "Threats are only words, and have the detrimental effect of warning your opponent, which allows him to prepare a defense or offense. I don’t believe in threats. I believe in hard, decisive action."
- ―Valya's personality[src]
Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen [b. 26 BG] was a member of House Harkonnen from Lankiveil who became the second Reverend Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit Order, its first Mother Superior under that name, after transforming into one of the first Reverend Mothers in history.
Biography[]
Early life (26-10 BG)[]
Valya was born on Lankiveil to Vergyl and Sonya Harkonnen. From childhood, Valya blamed the downfall of House Harkonnen on Vorian Atreides and vowed vengeance on House Atreides. She groomed her brother Griffin and younger sister Tula to murder everyone of the Atreides bloodline, and her younger brother Danvis to help Griffin, who aspired to become the leader of House Harkonnen, to give them prominence in the Landsraad.
When Valya and Griffin were thirteen and twelve, respectively, his father and uncle took them out on a boat into the frigid northern waters, tracking a fur-whale pod. Riding into choppy seas, they both enjoyed the adventure. Valya's teenage brother failed to see the wave that came from the starboard side and washed him overboard with the casual unexpectedness of someone swatting an insect. Stunned, he plunged into the arctic water, but Valya went in after him and kept him afloat just long enough for the boat to come around again.
Rise in the Sisterhood (10-4 BG)[]
She began her career as a promising young student of Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul within the Sisterhood of Rossak, which she was recruited to in 10 BG by Sister Arlett, who stopped in out-of-the-way places to discuss the Rossak School. Although Griffin was sad to see his sister go, and their mother dismissed the girl’s aspirations, Valya made up her mind quickly and left for Rossak.
She excelled in her training and proved to be one of Raquella’s most faithful and talented Sisters; she worked closely with Sister Karee Marques, one of the last pureblood Sorceresses, studying new drugs and poisons to be used in the testing process.
Valya became one of the few Sisters with whom Raquella entrusted the secret of the Sisterhood's computers in 5 BG. After this, she accompanyed Mother Superior Raquella and other Sisters to Salusa Secundus to negotiate with Emperor Salvador Corrino. On Salusa, she witnessed Vorian Atreides, who she had not even known was still alive, come to the Emperor to request protection for his planet, Kepler. She informed Griffin of this, who travelled to Kepler, where he learnt that Vorian had gone even deeper into exile on Arrakis in exchange for the safety of the Keplerians.
Meanwhile, her fellow Sister Dorotea, a sympathiser of the Butlerian movement who Raquella had her spying on, along with her small group of Butlerian Sisters, stole two pills of the Rossak drug. Dorotea gave one to Valya, who she thought to be a friend of her and her cause, and encouraged her to take it alongside her. While Dorotea became the second-ever Reverend Mother after taking and surviving it, Valya merely pretended to take it, but kept the pill. When Emperor Salvador came to Rossak to discover the Sisterhood's computers in 4 BG, she helped the Mother Superior destroy them in advance.
After Emperor Salvador disbanded the Rossak Order, she went back to Lankiveil. Shortly after Valya's return the Harkonnens recieved the news of the death of Griffin on Arrakis, his body sent back by Vorian Atreides with a letter. While he had in reality been killed by Vorian's sister Hyla, and he expressed that he was not involved in her brother's death in the letter Valya still believed that he had been the one to do it, declaring that the feud would never be over. She decided to take the Rossak drug and become the third Reverend Mother, and after surviving, she was among the twenty-eight Sisters to follow Raquella to Wallach IX to rebuild the Sisterhood.
Ginaz (3-2 BG)[]
In 3 BG, Mother Superior Raquella allowed Valya to travel to Ginaz to train as a Swordmaster, obstensibly to help the Sisterhood but in reality in preparation to kill Vorian Atreides, an act she had long prepared for. It was in this period that she perfected her technique of Voice, which had already been achieved by Raquella following her transformation decades earlier but which Valya was only now developing as a trained method. She used it to best her trainer, Master Placido, and gave him a scar on his forehead to remember it.
Meanwhile, she sent her sister Tula to the ocean planet of Caladan after she uncovered a whole new extensive branch of the Atreides family dating back to Vorian's relationship with Leronica Tergiet there during the Butlerian Jihad. Following her marriage to Orry Atreides, Tula murdered him on their wedding night, per Valya's orders. Tula, feeling guilt for Orry, who she had in part truly loved, fled to Chusuk afterwards.
Mother Superior (2 BG -)[]
Towards her death, the Mother Superior summoned both Valya, now graduated as a Swordmaster, and Dorotea with her Orthodox Sisters to Wallach IX in 2 BG, to try and settle the schism in the Sisterhood. Raquella announced that Valya and Dorotea would be the co-leaders before her death. However, Valya used her newly discovered powers of Voice to force Dorotea to commit suicide and declared herself to be the sole Reverend Mother Superior of the reunited Order.
In her first three years as Mother Superior, Valya began to change the focus of the Sisterhood, shaping its modern form, renaming it the Bene Gesserit and erecting the historic first Mother School. She also captured Tula from Chusuk, where she had nearly been killed by Vorian and Orry's brother Willem Atreides, and attempted to remove the guilt and sympathy for the Atreides from her, as she now wished her to kill Willem and finish the Atreides bloodline.
Hearing word from former Orthodox Sisters on Salusa that Vorian had travelled to Corrin, rumours which he had in fact deliberately fostered, she travelled to the planet. There, her Truthsayer Cindel attempted to tell her that Vorian had in fact not killed Griffin after he once again affirmed this, but she dismissed this, thinking that he had tricked himself into thinking this or arranged his death without actually killing him.
She then duelled Vorian as Tula duelled Willem, who had come with Vorian against his wishes. Valya attempted to use a method of Voice on Vorian to freeze his muscles, but his mental strength was too strong for this. Valya attempting to protect Tula from Willem, who had nearly killed her, but Vorian prevented this by throwing himself against her. Willem did not kill her, however, as she revealed that she carried his brother's child. At the last moment, Korla, Queen of Corrin, also interfered, forcing an end to the fighting. Vorian left the planet and Valya believed him dead after his ship exploded, but he did in fact survive.
Satisfyed for the present, Valya travelled to Salusa to give her brother Danvis advice as he entered the court of Emperor Roderick Corrino for the first time, then returned to her duties as Mother Superior on Wallach IX.
Abilities and skills[]
- Voice: Valya developed and first used the audio-neuro control mechanism of Voice later frequently used by the Sisterhood to achieve complete control over a reciever, demonstrating the possibilities of this technique many times, using it most notably to force the suicide of Dorotea and nearly killing Vorian Atreides in their duel by freezing his muscles.
- Unarmed combat: Valya often sparred with her siblings Griffin and Tula, and later boosted her hand-to-hand skills ever further on Ginaz. As a result, Valya became an even more skilled combatant than her other siblings.
- Swordfighting: Valya received some training as a Ginaz Swordmaster, which made her an incredible swordswoman. She demonstrated this by defeating Vorian Atreides (who had fought evenly with Griffin and Tula) on Corrin.
- Petit perception: As a highly skilled Sister, Valya could monitor minutiae in others, to detect concealed emotions, motivations, agendas, or even physical things, such as concealed weapons, a false accent, surgery, or deception in general.
Relationships[]
Raquella Berto-Anirul[]
Valya held respect for her Mother Superior throughout her time with the Sisterhood, and became one of her most promising students, allowing Raquella to eventually show her the Sisterhood's hidden computers. As demonstrated with her essential murder of Dorotea, her intended co-leader as Mother Superior, after Raquella's death, however, she did not fully respect her teacher's wishes enough to carry out her plans as intended. Earlier, during her initial encounter with Vorian Atreides, Valya also noted that although her teacher seemed stunned, she had a peculiar sparkle in her eyes which hinted at admiration. Unbenknownst to Valya, the reason for this was that Vorian was the Mother Superior's own grandfather. It seems likely that if she had known this, she might have placed her family desires above her loyalty to the Sisterhood and held less respect and more anger towards Raquella.
Griffin Harkonnen[]
- Griffin: "That was stupid. You shouldn’t have jumped in after me."
- Valya: "You would have done the same for me."
- Griffin: "We both could have died."
- Valya: "But we didn’t—because we can count on each other."
- — Valya and Griffin Harkonnen after Valya saved him[src]
Valya had a connection with her brother which went beyond that of siblings. After the incident early in both their lives when Griffin nearly drowned, after Valya saved him, he clutched his sister, refusing to let go, and kept his frozen fingers knotted into her wet blouse. He lost consciousness, but never released his grip. Afterward, when they were both dry, Griffin told him that they both could have died, but she told him how they could count on each other. After her brother's death on Arrakis, which Valya strongly believed to have been caused by Vorian Atreides despite the untruth of this, a new hatred was sparked in her, and she declared that the feud would never end.
Tula Harkonnen[]
Valya had enough trust in her sister that she would be able and up to the task of killing those in the Atreides bloodline, which she wished to eliminate, and thought that her skills were good enough for her to be deserving of joining the Sisterhood, which she brought Tula into on Wallach IX. While she was not disappointed in her affirmation of Valya's hopes for her with her successful assassination of Orry Atreids on Caladan, Valya did not accept her sister's sympathy towards the Atreides, which began to contrast with her own hatred, and wished to condition her back to her views. However, while Valya and Griffin had always enjoyed a close bond, a large gap of age separated them from both Tula and her brother Danvis.
Vorian Atreides[]
There was no one in the Known Universe who Valya hated more than Vorian Atreides, who had caused her family's downfall during the Battle of Corrin. Her hatred for Vorian led to her wish to eliminate all of the Atreides, repeatedly putting this plan above her loyalty to the Sisterhood due to her rage towards him. One of the main reasons why Valya spent a year training as a Swordmaster at the Ginaz School was because she wished to use these skills in her upcoming fight with Vorian. The rest of her family were significantly less passionate in their hatred for the Atreides, most of all her parents and her uncle, but did not attempt to stop her from pursuing her vengeance.
Anna Corrino[]
In Princess Anna Corrino's time at the Rossak School, Valya was entrusted with keeping her safe as the daughter of Emperor Salvador Corrino, as Mother Superior did not wish for the Emperor's rage to come upon the Sisterhood and Rossak (which it eventually did). She recognised plainly that the young Princess was in desperate need of a friend, and no doubt had been for years, and intended to fill that role, partly out of pity, but primarily for her own reasons. Later, she desperately tried to stop Anna from taking the Rossak drug but failed.
Dorotea[]
Valya despised Sister Dorotea, the Sister who most adamantley supported the Butlerian view, as she herself, despite having a surface level anathema for thinking machines, essentially disliked the mindless smashing of the movement under Torondo, and held no fear for the computers which were revealed to her by the Mother Superior, partially because of her own views, after recovering from the initial shock of the machines. Raquella, however, entrusted Valya to pretend to be the Butlerian Sister's friend and a member of her anti-technology circle of Sisters during her time still loyal to Rossak before becoming the first Reverend Mother and founding the Orthodox Sisterhood. This was so convincing that Dorotea chose Valya to take the Rossak drug with her.
She also held a deeper contempt for Dorotea and the Orthodox Sisters than Raquella after the move to Wallach IX, the Mother Superior thinking they were indeed true Sisters, with aims not too different from those of Rossak, just with diffferent loyalties. At the last, Valya forced Dorotea to commit suicide using the Voice, partly because of her reasonable and pragamtic recognition of the instability of a shared leadership over the Sisterhood between the two, but in no small part due to her dislike of the Reverend Mother.
Appearances[]
| Preceded by Raquella Berto-Anirul |
Reverend Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit Order 2 BG - ??? |
Succeeded by Unknown, eventually Harishka |
House Harkonnen
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Barons |
Dirdos Harkonnen • Weller Harkonnen • Danvis Harkonnen • Gerhard Harkonnen • Dmitri Harkonnen • Vladimir Harkonnen • Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen | ||
| Family |
Ulf Harkonnen • Katarina Harkonnen • Piers Harkonnen • Xavier Harkonnen • Roella Harkonnen • Omilia Harkonnen • Wandra Harkonnen • Abulurd Harkonnen • Vergyl Harkonnen • Sonya Harkonnen • Valya Harkonnen • Griffin Harkonnen • Tula Harkonnen • Daphne Harkonnen • Victoria Harkonnen • Marotin Harkonnen • Abulurd Rabban • Emmi Rabban • Glossu Rabban | ||
| Retainers |
Piter de Vries • Rautha Rabban • Janess Milam • Kryubi • Chiara Rash-Olin • Kalo Whylls • Rubien Scheck • Umman Kudu • Iakin Nefud • Thufir Hawat • Czigo • Kinet • Pardee • Guild Bank Agent | ||
| |||
Bene Gesserit Order
| |
|---|---|
| Mother Superiors |
Raquella Berto-Anirul • Valya Harkonnen • Harishka • Alma Mavis Taraza • Darwi Odrade • Murbella |
| Reverend Mothers |
Dorotea • Anna Corrino • Gaius Helen Mohiam • Anirul Corrino • Jessica Atreides • Tertius Eileen Anteac • Marcus Claire Luyseyal • Lucilla •Bellonda • Tamalane • Sheeana Brugh |
| Sisters |
Karee Marques • Esther-Cano • Hietta • Parga • Tula Harkonnen • Margot Fenring • Irulan Corrino • Quintinius Violet Chenoeh • Serena Butler |