Prophecy Reveals the Vulnerability in Dune’s Greatest Power

Seems like every time you turn around, there’s another episode of Dune: Prophecy treading new ground that the films never dared to explore. From the outset, it didn’t pull any punches by taking out its youngest character in the pilot episode. But the latest twist? It’s a shocker: the supposedly unstoppable force from the Dune universe is getting outmaneuvered, but we’re talking a cool 10,000 years before the storyline of the movies even begins.

Now, anyone familiar with Dune and its follow-up might remember the deadly arsenal in play—fake poison teeth, laser shoots, and missiles that could obliterate pretty much anything. But let’s face it, The Voice outstrips them all with its almost divine aura. This eerie vocal trick, used by the powerful Bene Gesserit, allows the user to command others to their will. Remember how Lady Jessica Atreides made a soldier turn on his comrade? And Chani, reviving Paul by giving him a dose of her tears mixed with the Water of Life? That’s how powerful this is. Well, it turns out we have young Valya Harkonnen, played by Jessica Barden, to thank—she invented this unnerving skill, debuting it with a bang by forcing Reverend Mother Dorotea to sacrifice herself, all in a bid to safeguard the Sisterhood’s genetic index created by Mother Raquella.

Up until this episode, The Voice seemed unbeatable—no one had shaken off its grip, let alone thwarted it. And then there’s Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), who arrives on the scene and blows expectations out of the water. Literally, mind you. In a jaw-dropping climax, Valya tries to bring the mighty Bene Gesserit influence back to the Corrino family fold, following motives rooted in the murder of Reverend Mother Kasha, a pivotal player as the Emperor’s trusted Truthsayer.

In a sneaky private talk with Emperor Javicco Corrino, plot twist: it’s Hart, not the Emperor, who shows up. And, as expected, Valya moves to strike using The Voice. Her plan? To make Hart eliminate himself, avenging Kasha while simultaneously asserting control. Her powers seem to work at first—Hart is at the brink, knife in hand, ready to comply. But then he doesn’t. Instead of obeying, he delivers a verbal blow that might well go down as the chillest of all time on Bene Gesserit record: “I always wondered what your greatest fear would be. Now I have seen it. It’s not that no one will hear you. It’s that they’ll hear you and just won’t care.”

Hart’s intriguing defiance brings to light a beguiling truth—or rather, the sandworm Shai-Hulud’s timeless existence. Fremen hold these creatures in divine regard. Dr. Liet-Kynes remarks in part one of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune that Shai-Hulud is the sole master she serves. The Bene Gesserit, to ascend as Reverend Mothers, must ingest the venomous essence of a dying sandworm. It figures that to topple the Bene Gesserit’s towering skills, the source of their might must come into play—the sandworm itself.

Hart, having been swallowed by this mystic creature and emerging empowered, seems like he could be the Bene Gesserit’s worst nightmare—in theory, that is. Though he claims to be on a crusade to obliterate all that is Bene Gesserit, the films show that they persist and thrive even thousands of years ahead. Yet, what Dune: Prophecy hints at is a narrative turn: enemies wielding Shai-Hulud’s power could pose a very real threat. As it tells this epic saga, it leaves us wondering how the Sisterhood could have possibly adapted to such a significant threat and managed to endure through the ages.

With Dune: Prophecy in full swing, it’s clear that it’s unraveling everything we’ve come to understand about the Dune world from the silver screen. It’s a bold new journey—buckle up!