(Ed. remark: This post contains spoilers for the end of Dune: Prophecy episode 1.)
In our world, most Dune lore is known. While Duneas a story, is rooted in picking apart the messy intricacies of propaganda and prophecy, we – as readers and viewers of the Dune franchise – know more or less what the world is all about (give or take a new entry here or there) .
But then this bastard named Desmond Hart comes in Dune: Prophecy and everything changes.
Desmond, played by Travis Fimmel, is a bit of an enigma in the world of Dune: Prophecy: He comes from Arrakis, where he claims his crew has been attacked by the Emperor’s enemies in an attempt to damage his position. He is invited to stay, even though the Emperor’s truthteller knows he is lying. She sees him in the herb-filled deserts of Arrakis staring at a giant sandworm, though we don’t know much more about her vision. He wanders around the palace and ends up burning a child with only his spirit. In our world, such pyrokinesis is not a known element in the mythos of Dune, making Desmond a very curious specimen indeed.
Like all things Prophecyit’s safe to say that his telekinetic powers are an extension of the book’s lore, and not something actually found in it. What all the greatest mysteries of Prophecy after just one episode: Who is he, how did he get these powers and how will his life find its place in the annals of history? Of Dune What could Desmond be here, 10,000 years after the events here, to introduce the franchise’s cinematic history?
This early on, there are a few different ways we could go about it – so here are some of our best guesses at what Desmond might do here (and, ultimately, what that might mean he’s capable of).
He is the beginning of the Sardaukar
Image: Warner Media
A desert-trained warrior who was not born into court life, but whose experience and skill earn the respect of those of higher rank, with a normal human personal name? Maybe a little at normal?
That’s your Duncan Idaho type, my friend. A character who started life as the swordmaster of House Atreides eventually became something of a mascot for the wider Dune canon. No matter how many times Idaho dies, Brian Herbert keeps finding ways to bring him back and put him at the center of galactic trouble again (usually via cloning).
That is, if you’re doing a Dune story, you have to have a Duncan Idaho. But what is Desmond Hart actually doing in this story? I have no idea, but if I had to take a yank on the bong and guess something, it would be this:
Dune: Prophecy has promised us the rise of the Bene Gesserit order, but there are plenty of other pillars of Dune’s setting that haven’t yet been formed in its time period. And since the show really leans against the opposite of expectations – rooting for the Harkonnens, making the Atreides quite devious – what if Duncan Idaho befriends the Fremen instead, Desmond Hart ends up being a crucial figure in the creation of the Emperor’s infamous Sardaukar army? ? —Susana Polo
He is the Kwisatz Haderach (sort of)
Image: Warner Bros.
Just one episode later, this show already seems very interested in telling the origin story of some of the key tenets of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. With that in mind, I’m going to throw out a wild card thought about Desmond: maybe he’s the proto-Kwisatz Haderach.
Not that he is the real one, or even what the Bene Gesserit would eventually develop the concept into, but rather that he is the Sisterhood’s first inkling that a man could gain magical powers through strange interactions with Shai-Hulud.
Maybe no matter what Dune: Prophecy will lead the Bene Gesserit to decide that pursuing a Desmond Hart of their own, one perfectly and selectively bred so that they can have maximum control over him, might be a mission worth pursuing. Furthermore, the idea of Desmond as a powerful supernatural force could perhaps help the Sisterhood create the Missionaria Protectiva as well, giving them the idea to plant the seeds of supernatural belief throughout the universe, including on Arrakis itself. —Austen Goslin
Image: Sony Images
Listen, my equation is simple. Desmond Hart spent crucial time on Arrakis. Arrakis, as is known, is filled with desert. Deserts are, as we know, hot. And that includes the cursed fire magic Desmond used on that poor child. Desert is hot + fire is hot = Desmond uses desert power. It’s just simple math. —Piet Volk
