Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 5, “In Blood, Truth.”
Dune: Prophecy Season 1’s penultimate installment, “In Blood, Truth,” seemingly drops a major bombshell about enigmatic soldier Desmond Hart’s origins. But is Desmond really Tula Harkonnen’s son, and if so, what does it mean for wider Dune canon?
Are Tula Harkonnen and Desmond Hart Mother and Son?
The shocking revelation concerning Desmond Hart’s lineage comes late in Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 5’s runtime. After running a high-tech DNA test, Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen discovers that Hart’s parents were an Atreides and a Harkonnen. Given the fierce rivalry between the two Houses, the number of couplings that could’ve produced a guy Desmond’s age is tiny– and one of them is Tula and Orry Atreides. As seen in Episode 3’s flashback narrative, Tula and Orry got it on the night before she murdered him, so she could easily have fallen pregnant then. This possibility clearly crossed Tula’s mind, if her shocked expression upon seeing the test results was anything to go by.
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That’s more than enough evidence to suggest that Tula is Desmond Hart’s mom, however, Episode 5 manages to squeeze in one more supporting detail before the credits roll. During a passionate exchange with Empress Natalya, Desmond reveals that his mother is an unnamed Bene Gesserit sister. What’s more, said sister abandoned him at birth – something Tula almost certainly would’ve done, if she were carrying Orry’s kid. So, despite Dune: Prophecy Season 1’s second-last entry stopping short of outright confirming that Desmond is Tula’s son, we’ll be very surprised if he isn’t!
Is Desmond Hart Related to Dune’s Paul Atreides?
Distantly, yes. Remember, Dune: Prophecy Season 1 takes place over 10,000 years before the events of Dune: Part One and Part Two. So, while Desmond Hart and Paul Atreides are both part of the Atreides bloodline, Desmond’s not Paul’s grandfather or anything like that. That said, Desmond’s unique abilities – he can burn people with his mind and resist Bene Gesserit Voice commands – could hint that Desmond is a proto-version of the Kwisatz Haderach messiah figure Paul eventually becomes millennia later.
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Paul isn’t the only big screen Dune character Desmond Hart’s related to, either. Obviously, he’s also the ancestor of Paul’s dad, Leto. But just as importantly, his Harkonnen heritage means that he’s part of the same family tree as Vladimir Harkonnen, Lady Jessica, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and Glossu Rabban Harkonnen. If that all sounds a bit incestuous, the massive gap between Desmond’s birth and that of everyone mentioned above should’ve kept the two Houses’ overlapping gene pools from getting too shallow.
Dune: Prophecy is currently airing on HBO and Max. Season 1’s sixth and final episode premieres on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024.
Published: Dec 17, 2024 11:04 am