Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 6, “The High-Handed Enemy.”
Dune: Prophecy just wrapped up its initial six-episode run – and there’s a sandworm-sized amount of twists and turns to take in. So, what happens at the end of Dune Prophecy Season 1, and does any of it set-up Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming big screen sequel, Dune Messiah?
Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 6’s Ending, Explained
Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 6, “The High-Handed Enemy,” culminates in a mental showdown between Valya Harkonnen and Desmond Hart (officially confirmed as Tula Harkonnen’s son). Hart unleashes his machine virus-powered pyrokinesis on Valya, and the resulting battle of wills floors them both. A trippy vision sequence follows, during which the Sisterhood’s Mother Superior faces her greatest fear – that her brother Griffin’s death was her fault – and it nearly kills her. Fortunately for Valya, Tula arrives and coaches her through the ordeal. Instead of fighting back, Valya lets her negative emotions wash over her. This counteracts the virus, as it’s triggered by its victims’ fears.
Related: Who Is Tabu’s Sister Francesca in Dune: Prophecy?
From here, Valya’s perspective (and ours) shifts to Desmond Hart’s resurrection. It turns out the glowing blue eyes the bulk of the Sisterhood saw in their nightmares don’t belong to Desmond. They’re the electronic peepers of a Thinking Machine that oversaw Desmond’s rebirth – and implanted a virus dispenser in his optic nerve for good measure. Valya can’t make out the shadowy figures behind the grisly procedure; all she knows is that they’re hellbent on bringing down the Sisterhood. So, while Tula stays behind, Valya, Keiran Atreides, and Princess Ynez flee to Arrakis, with Valya portentously declaring that the spice planet is where their fight back begins.
How Does Dune: Prophecy’s Ending Tie Into Dune Messiah?
To be honest, anyone going into Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 6 expecting any major Dune Messiah foreshadowing will leave disappointed. If anything, the season finale is more directly connected to Dune: Part One and Part Two. The final scene in “The High-Handed Enemy” seemingly implies that Valya is gearing up for the 10,000-year-long masterplan to engineer a Sisterhood savior figure. Said plan culminates in Dune protagonist Paul Atreides, although he arrives a generation early and isn’t the puppet the Bene Gesserit hoped for. Of course, this does affect Dune Messiah – since Paul’s still the lead character in the sequel – but it’s not Messiah-centric.
Related: Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 4 Ending Explained
That said, the Desmond Hart bit of the equation may have major knock-on effects for Dune Messiah‘s story – specifically, its villains. The unidentified faction behind Hart’s weaponization could be the machine-obsessed Ixians, who barely rate a mention in Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah novel. Alternatively, they might be the Tleilaxu: creepy genetic engineers who could easily revive and alter someone as depicted in Prophecy Season 1’s finale. The Tleilaxu aren’t exactly cozy with Sisterhood early on in wider Dune canon, however, by the time of Dune Messiah, the two groups team-up to end Paul’s reign. So, assuming that really is the Tleilaxu at the end of Dune: Prophecy Season 1, the show is low-key introducing them ahead of their big screen debut!
All six episodes of Dune: Prophecy Season 1 are currently available on HBO and Max.
Published: Dec 22, 2024 10:21 pm