WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Dune: Prophecy episode 3.
The HBO prequel series Dune: Prophecy may have just retconned a crucial characteristic of the Bene Gesserit in Denis Villenueve’s Dune films. Dune: Prophecy is a six-part series based on the 2012 novel Sisterhood of Dune, which was written by original Dune author Frank Herbert’s son, Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson. The story takes place more than 10,000 years before the rise of Paul Atreidies, which is chronicled in Denis Villenueve’s Dune (2020) and Dune: Part Two (2024). Dune: Prophecy reveals the origins of the powerful shadow sisterhood known as the Bene Gesserit and how they manipulated the fate of humankind.
Dune: Prophecy episode 1 “The Hidden Hand” introduces Emily Watson’s Valya Harkonnen, a fierce and calculated leader, and her biological sister, Tula Harkonnen. Dune: Prophecy episode 2 reveals what happened to Lila and her grandmother, Reverend Mother Dorotea, after Tula and Valya Harkoennen encouraged her to prematurely endure a life-threatening ritual known as The Agony. Valya had been anticipating The Reckoning, otherwise known as the Tiran Arafel, for years, and wanted Lila to visit the spirit of her great-grandmother, Mother Superior Raquella, for guidance. In episode 3, Tula takes Lila’s life into her own hands after she had apparently died during The Agony ritual.
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Why The Bene Gesserit Use Forbidden Technology In Dune: Prophecy
Tula uses a Thinking Machine to keep Lila alive after The Agony
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As shown at the end of Dune: Prophecy episode 3, “Sisterhood Above All”, Tula has seemingly betrayed the Bene Gesserit and her sister, Mother Reverend Superior Valya Harkonnen, by attempting to bring Lila back to life following her tragic death in The Agony. Not only is Tula going against her fellow sisters, but she is also committing a heinous crime against the Imperium and Emperor Corrino by utilizing forbidden technology that had been banned since humankind defeated the Thinking Machines during the war known as the Butlerian Jihad. This technology had previously surfaced in Dune: Prophecy when Prince Pruwet Richese revealed his robotic salamander.
Extended flashback scenes displayed in Dune: Prophecy episode 3 reveal that Tula obeyed her sister when they were younger and killed Orry Atreides, a man who she seemingly loved. Valya led the effort to exact revenge from House Atreides after Vorian Atreides had accused their Harkonnen ancestor of cowardice. House Harkonnen was shunned by the Imperium as a result, reduced to harvesting whale fur on the harsh planet of Lankiveil. Tula raised Lila like her own even though she was the granddaughter of Dorotea, who Valya murdered using the Voice in an earlier episode. Tula accessed the forbidden technology in an attempt to bring Lila back to life.
Do The Bene Gesserit Secretly Use Thinking Machines In The Dune Movies?
It’s not shown in either of the recent Dune movies
Even before her death, Dorotea discouraged the use of Thinking Machine technology, teaching the sisters in training the “Great Commandment” which reads, “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.” As she instructs this sentiment around the 40-minute mark in Dune: Prophecy episode 3, she sees her mother, Raquella, and Valya walking to a hidden layer. Raquella explains to Valya her vision of the Bene Gesserit, which is to cultivate and index superior genetic lines in order to create sustainable and just rulers of the Imperium.
Although Valya and Raquella are not shown interacting with the Thinking Machines in the tunnels, Tula’s visit to them at the end of episode 3 reveals that Thinking Machine technology has been harbored there and is still usable/accessible to the Bene Gesserit. This would contradict the traditional understanding of the Bene Gesserit’s methods as shown in the two recent Dune movies and as illustrated in Frank Herbert’s Dune books. Neither the Dune movies nor Frank Herbert’s Dune novels suggest that the Bene Gesserit broke the Great Commandment by using Thinking Machines to advance their agendas over the Imperium.
Does The Bene Gesserit Using Technology Come From The Dune Books?
They do in Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
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Dune: Prophecy adapts the novel Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, which does include the use of Thinking Machine technology by the Bene Gesserit. Raquella uses the Thinking Machines’ computer-based technology to further her secret plan to create a massive breeding index with Valya’s help. Only she and Valya were aware of this powerful and forbidden technology at first but Valya must have brought Tula into the inner circle over time. Tula uses Raquella and Valya’s genetic indexing computers at the end of Dune: Prophecy episode 3 in a last-ditch attempt to bring Lila back to life with a carefully regulated dose of spice.