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Vladimir Harkonnen

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This article refers to elements from the cinematic universe established with Dune (2021).
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"I said I would not harm them. So I shall not. But Arrakis is Arrakis... and the desert takes the weak. My desert. My Arrakis. My Dune."
―Vladimir Harkonnen[src]

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was the head of House Harkonnen and the nemesis of House Atreides. Vladimir and his Mentat Piter de Vries concocted and executed a plan to destroy their enemy the Atreides, giving them the Fief of Arrakis thereby luring them into a trap which would be executed when the Atreides traitor, Suk Doctor Wellington Yueh, opened the Shield Wall and allowed the Harkonnens to retake Arrakeen. This scheme was succesful and the House Harkonnen once again controlled Arrakis and had killed Duke Leto Atreides. Unbeknownst to Vladimir, his son Paul had survived and had become the leader of the Fremen, eventually storming Arrakeen and killing Vladimir.

Character description[]

Greed and tyranny personified, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is a force of malevolence, determined to feed his addiction to brutality. A gravity-defying monster of a man, gliding through the air like a phantom, the imposing figurehead of House Harkonnen ensures his family stands in stark opposition to House Atreides, ruling through fear, and determined to exploit the natural resources of Dune no matter the cost to its people.[1]

History[]

Early History[]

Little is known at this moment about Vladimir's early history or how he — and House Harkonnen — came to reside over Arrakis. It is known, however, that during his reign Vladimir made an enemy of the Fremen through his violent tendencies and activities surrounding the spice harvesting upon Arrakis.

At some point, Vladimir took his nephews, Rabban and Feyd-Rautha, under his wing due to him not possessing any male heirs of his own. Despite this, Vladimir had conceived a daughter as part of the Bene Gesserit's breeding program.

Removal from Arrakis[]

Some years after their instillation upon Arrakis, Vladimir and House Harkonnen are removed from the planet by royal decree of the Emperor. Vladimir wilfully removes his troops from the planet, but unbeknownst to the rest of the Landsraad, Vladimir had made a deal with the Emperor that would see him usurp Atreides from Arrakis with the aid of the Sardaukar.

After House Atreides leaves for Arrakis, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam visits Vladimir and confirms the Emperor's support for the removal of Duke Leto Atreides and his forces. The Reverend Mother does, however, explain that Jessica Atreides, who unbeknownst to him was his daughter, is under the protection of the Bene Gesserit and by extension, her son Paul too; she explicity states that they should not be harmed, a condition to with the Baron agrees to, but has no intention in keeping, as he believes that no one will survive in the desert on Arrakis.

Attack on Arrakeen[]

Only days after the Atreides' arrival on Arrakis and their settling in Arrakeen, Vladimir executes his attack after the walls around Arrakeen are lowered by Wellington Yeuh. Hundreds of Atreides soldiers are killed and Arrakeen is destroyed. When Leto is brought before Vladimir by Yueh — who believes he will be reunited with his wife for his actions — Vladimir decapitates him, citing that he is reuniting him with his wife in death.

Gloating about his victory and taunting Leto about the downfall of House Atreides, Vladimir is surprised when Leto crushes an implant within his tooth, emitting a poisonous gas that severely cripples Vladimir and kills the majority of his court, including his advisor Piter de Vries; Vladimir survives thanks to his shield.

Orders for Arrakis[]

Later on, while recovering, Vladimir is alerted by Rabban of the death of Jessica and Paul, thereby bringing an end to the Atreides house. Vladimir is ecstatic, and orders that spice harvesting resume upon Arrakis once more. With this, he also orders that stores of spice be sold from Giedi Prime, but not too fast as to lower the value. He then orders Rabban to squeeze his hold over the planet's spice production, and to kill all of the Fremen.

Rabban's failure[]

"Tighten your grip Rabban..."
"Uncle."
"Or feel mine on your neck."
―Vladimir and Rabban discuss the Fief of Arrakis[src]

With the death of Piter, Vladimir promoted Rabban to planetary governor of Arrakis, and placed the ceremonial necklace on his nephew during his ceremony on Arrakis. However, Spice production would end up facing raids from the Fremen. The Emperor began threatening to take the space trade out of the Harkonnens control. Enraged, Vladimir killed his maids, and told Rabban to tighten his grip or he will feel his around his neck.

Soon, one of their spice facilities came under attack from the Fremen. Rabban attempted to lead a counter attack, but it ended up failing, with Rabban himself almost being killed. Angered by his eldest nephew's betrayal, Vladimir decided that he would demote Rabban and install Feyd-Rautha as planetary governor of Arrakis.

Feyd-Rautha's holy birthday[]

Vladimir attended Feyd-Rautha's birthday celebration at the arena on Giedi Prime. Beforehand, he had the Atreides slaves that Feyd would be fighting drugged so they would be weak, but he had one slave sent in without being drugged. During the fight, one of Vladimir's attendants noticed the slave walking straight, and said that they should cancel the fight, but Vladimir immediately told him off. Feyd ended up winning the fight, and was celebrated as a hero for killing the last remnants of House Atreides, which was Vladimir's gift to Feyd through not drugging the one slave.

Later that day, Feyd met with his uncle and expressed that he should drown him in his tub for his action today, but Vladimir surprised him when he announced he was handing control of Arrakis to him. Vladimir then said that if he restores Spice production he will make him Emperor through revealing his role in the liquidation of the Atreides to the Great Houses.

Attack on the Fremen[]

The Emperor's wrath[]

Death of the Baron[]

Physical appearance[]

Personality[]

Differences from the original character[]

Vladimir Harkonnen is adapted from the character of the same name from the original Dune novel. Unlike in the book and prior adaptations, he is not killed by Alia Atreides but is instead killed by Paul Atreides. The Emperor is also shown to have played a direct role in the Baron's ultimate demise as he had the Sardaukar irreparably damage both his repulsorlift device and his life support system after deducing that Harkonnen had failed to investigate the southern region of Arrakis regarding the Fremen despite it teeming with life contrary to the reports of it being uninhabitable. He is also depicted as being slightly more ruthless in the film compared to in the novel, as he explicitly ordered Rabban to completely exterminate the Fremen forces, in contrast to the novel where Vladimir was reluctant to completely eradicate the Fremen due to seeing them as a valuable work force to be conquered.

Vladimir Harkonnen, while still retaining his preference for men to an extent, was also depicted as having an interest in women, having concubines of females and was implied to have willingly sired a daughter in the Water of Life visions. This is a stark contrast to the novel where Vladimir is heavily implied to be homosexual.

Trivia[]

Gallery[]

Promotional images[]

Navigation[]

Characters from Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two

References[]

  1. ↑ https://www.dunemovie.com/
  2. ↑ Yahoo: Stellan Skarsgård says he spent seven hours in make-up every day for 'Dune' (exclusive) by Tom Beasley. September 4, 2020.
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