The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is the primary
antagonist of the first book of Frank Herbert’s Dune saga. His House’s rise to power was largely due
to the treachery, greed, and ruthless brutality characteristic of Harkonnen rule for many
generations past. While this cold-blooded ambition added greatly
to House Harkonnen’s infamy, it can also be said that this trait contributed to their
undoing. In this video, I’d like to talk about the
fall of Vladimir Harkonnen which ultimately led to the demise of his house. Spoiler warning as I will be discussing major
events which occur throughout Frank Herbert’s Dune. House Harkonnen had ruled Arrakis for some
80 years before the events of Dune. Throughout this time, the Harkonnens had managed
to amass considerable wealth due in large part to their management of spice harvesting
operations. During Vladimir Harkonnen’s reign as Baron,
he carried on the House’s already notoriously brutal tactics commonly using torture, slavery
and execution as methods to maintain his power. In his quest for domination, the Baron set
his sights on the Imperial throne, and worked to eliminate any threats to his rule from
the other houses of the Landsraad. He also harbored a particular hatred toward
his House’s centuries old rival the Atreides, who under Duke Leto had been growing in popularity. In order to eliminate the Atreides and make
a play for the throne, the Baron plotted in secret against both houses in order to destroy
the Duke with his family and usurp the Emperor. Without the restraints of ethics or any recognizable
level of morality, the Baron’s schemes often involved tactics which went directly against
the laws of the Imperium and practices that were generally considered distasteful. In order to formulate a plan to reach his
goals, the Baron relied on the abilities of his twisted mentat, Piter De Vries. Piter was a creation of the Bene Tleilax a
xenophobic society of geneticists who often pushed the moral limits of what was considered
acceptable by humanity at large. As is the case with Piter, the Tleilaxu products
typically are the result of extensive physiological and physical manipulation of human life. The value of a twisted mentat was in its freedom
from the restrictions of a conscience or ethics. It was Piter who discovered a way to bend
the imperial conditioning of a suk doctor which was previously thought to be unbreakable. By turning the Atreides doctor Wellington
Yueh against the Duke, the Baron would be able to ensure victory over his rival house. As the Baron executed this plan, however,
several key events occurred which weakened his ability to maintain political dominance. One major occurrence which greatly diminished
the analytical prowess of House Harkonnen was the death of Piter De Vries. While Dr. Yueh served as the linchpin for
the Atreides defeat at Arrakeen; he was by no means loyal to House Harkonnen. In his desire to destroy the Baron, the doctor
placed a poison tooth in the mouth of the Duke, which if timed correctly could be used
to strike a crippling blow against the Harkonnens. While this tooth was not effective in killing
the Baron, the Duke was able to wipe out a room full of Harkonnens including the Baron's
Captain of the Guard, his Mentat Piter de Vries, and several others. The Baron was able to regroup from this loss
but the death of his Twisted Mentat would begin a chain of events that would ultimately
lead to his fall. After the Atreides defeat on Arrakis, it was
Vladimir’s plan to place Piter in the seat of power on Dune to rule as he saw fit in
the Baron’s name. After Piter had ruled over Arrakis for some
time, it was his intention to replace the twisted mentat with his preferred nephew,
the young and charismatic Feyd-Rautha, who would be propped up as a savior to the Arrakeen
people. Because of Piter’s death, however, the Baron
was forced to adjust his plans. Instead of having the genius mind of a mentat
in the seat of power on Arrakis, Vladimir would have to settle for his muscle-minded
tank-brain nephew Beast Rabban. The Baron then instructed Rabban to squeeze
Arrakis for profits. This pressure would serve a two-fold purpose,
first this was necessary to replenish the resources that House Harkonnen had spent to
transport the forces and equipment required to overwhelm house Atreides. Because of the nature of the assault, the
Spacing Guild, who held a monopoly on space travel was able to charge Hazard rates resulting
in an astronomical expense for the Harkonnens to ensure the Atreides defeat. The Baron told Rabban that even if he were
to take every cent Arrakis could give them for sixty years, they’d just barely pay
for the expenses incurred from the assault. The Baron had intended to offset this cost
with the discreet sale of spice that he had been hoarding, however that was made impossible
after the Atreides successfully executed an assault on the Harkonnen homeworld Giedi prime,
resulting in the destruction of much of their illegal spice hoards. The second purpose of Rabban’s squeeze on
Arrakis was to paint the Beast as a tyrannical oppressor, which would pave the way for Feyd
Rautha to replace his brother. However, Rabban’s oppression resulted in
heavy losses for the Harkonnens. As they fought against the fremen they suffered
an estimated 5 casualties for every one of the fremen warriors they killed. In an attempt to make up for the loss of Piter
De Vries, the Baron forced the captured Atreides mentat Thufir Hawat into his service. To ensure his cooperation, Thufir was given
a poison and subsequent antidote. It was the Atreides mentat who revealed to
the Baron one of his biggest oversights and what would turn out to be the biggest factor
in his demise, namely the underestimation of the size and power of the Fremen population
on Arrakis. Thufir had seen first hand the might of the
fremen and as a loyal servant of house Atreides he recognized the wisdom of the Duke’s efforts
to form an alliance with these warriors. Thufir was successful in convincing the Baron
to cut off additional aid to Rabban, forcing the Beast to intensify his persecution of
the people in order to meet his required spice quotas. This would fast-track Rabban’s replacement
in the hopes that Feyd would be praised and hailed as a savior, eliminating the causes
of resistance from the locals. However the Baron’s withdrawal of support
from Rabban was viewed by the Fremen as a golden opportunity to attack the Harkonnens. And under the leadership of the new Duke Paul
Atreides they were successful in overthrowing the combined forces of the Harkonnens along
with the imperial sardaukar. Down to the end the Baron remained obstinate
in his view of the fremen and because of his hubris he failed to fully recognize their
capabilities or understand their relationship with Arrakis. The inability to defeat Paul's fremen army
resulted in the Emperor's personal intervention on Arrakis leading to the capture of Paul's
sister Alia Atreides. It was Alia who made the killing blow against
the Baron with a single strike from her Gom Jabbar. So came the end of the terrible reign of the
Baron leaving House Harkonnen to be led by Feyd Rautha who would die at the hands of
Paul himself effectively destroying House Harkonnen once and for all. I'm curious to know what you think of the
fall of Vladimir Harkonnen. What factor do you think is the biggest reason
for his failure? Are there any lessons you can draw from the
events leading to his demise? Let me know your thoughts in the comments
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as always have a very nerdy day.
