Diksha Sundriyal
In its penultimate episode, HBO’s ‘Dune: Prophecy’ ups the stakes tenfold by making several new revelations. Valya’s efforts to win over the control of the Imperium continue as she makes some very bold moves, one of which involves bringing back another Sister who seems to be the only one to be able to turn the tables in the Sisterhood’s favor now. Meanwhile, Desmond Hart embarks on a quest of his own that proves to be very fatal for the rebellion. As things get more tense between them, the reason behind Desmond Hart’s hatred for the Sisterhood is revealed, which makes the situation even more complicated, especially for Tula, who has already done something that might come back to haunt her. SPOILERS AHEAD
What Happens to the Rebels and Kieran Atreides?
Following the events of the previous episode, Desmond Hart receives more authority under the Emperor’s command. He is given his own battalion to wage war against the rebels and weed them out completely. Desmond, however, is more concerned about exposing the connection between the rebels and the Sisterhood because he knows that they are trying to keep the problems in Arrakis and other parts of the Imperium alive. His raid on the rebels continues, but he gets a great tip when Harrow Harkonnen comes in with the proposal of making peace in return for leading him to the rebels.
Of course, Desmond doesn’t know (or if he does, he doesn’t show) that Harrow is working on his aunt’s command. She told him to give Desmond the hint that would take him to the headquarters of the rebels, where Sister Mikaela would be ready to blow up the place with Desmond Hart inside it. Things go a bit astray when Kieran Atreides shows up, with Desmond and his men following shortly after. She succeeds in blowing up the place, though not before Desmond finds her robe that proves she is from the Sisterhood and before Kieran sees her in action and realizes, through her knife, that she is from Bene Gesserit.
With Mikaela’s cover blown, she is sent back to Arrakis, and she doesn’t shy away from showing she is sour about it. Meanwhile, Kieran’s secret is discovered by Constantine, who finds the map of the palace along with the placement of the bombs within it. This gives Constantine the opportunity to win his father’s heart, which already seems to be turning in his favor since his mother’s arrival. He has Kieran arrested. When Ynez finds out about it, she confronts Kieran, but by this time, she is so disillusioned with her father that she finds it better to trust Kieran, even if he has betrayed her. Her decision to believe his good intentions might turn out to be in his favor. As of now, he is in the suspension cell, but considering Ynez’s intention, he might not have to be there for long.
Do Sister Francesca and the Emperor End Up Together? Do Empress Natalya and Desmond End Up Together?
Following Kasha’s death and Desmond’s arrival, it seems that Valya has lost her advantage in Salusa Secundus, but it turns out that she has another card up her sleeve. It turns out that the Emperor’s son, Constantine, is from Sister Francesca, one of Valya’s closest allies, who has been with her and believed in her plan to run the Imperium under the Sisterhood’s rule since Day One. However, Valya knows that if she contacts Francesca and it is intercepted by Desmond Hart, the Emperor will be led to believe that Francesca is working for Valya, which would ruin the dynamic between them.
Francesca is brought to Salusa Secundus under the assumption that Constantine called for her. Even though she thinks her son did so, she discovers that he had no idea she was coming. Moreover, she also seems to have no idea about Kasha’s death and the events that followed. It seems that she has been completely out of touch from the series of events that have transpired so far. When she meets Valya, things are cleared up, and Francesca is told to find her way back into the Emperor’s heart. It seems that she doesn’t have to try too hard as he already has his heart set on her. Due to her, Constantine is made the leader of his fleet, which doesn’t sit well with Natalya, from whom the Emperor’s love for Francesca is not hidden. This drives her to Desmond Hart, who seems to be the only one loyal enough to her at the moment.
Francesca’s tugging at the Emperor’s heartstrings works her magic, and the Emperor ends up entirely in her spell by the end of the episode, if he wasn’t already. Now that Valya has a Sister whispering into the Emperor’s ears again, she has some hope of fighting back against Desmond. In fact, the whole thing about giving up the rebels and exploding their headquarters was to keep Desmond busy enough for Francesca to work her magic. So, even when Desmond survives the blast, by the time he comes back to the palace, he will find that the hold he had on the Emperor has loosened considerably. The only thing that works in his favor is that he now has the Empress in the palm of his hand.
Is Desmond Tula’s Son?
Before she joined the Sisterhood, Tula Harkonnen did something horrible at her sister’s bidding. To avenge her brother, Griffin, she found Vorian Atreides and killed him and his entire family. Only one boy survived that day, and that, too, was entirely by chance. But he wasn’t the only Atreides. To worm her way into the Atreides clan, Tula seduced Vorian. She didn’t tell him her real identity, and as he fell in love with her, she used it to find his people, and then she massacred them. But at the same time, she also fell for Vorian, and even as she killed him, she was heartbroken. However, that was the price she had to pay to avenge her brother. Or so Valya told her.
When Tula joined the Sisterhood, she followed her older sister to give her life to the cause of the Sisterhood completely. At the time, she didn’t know that she was pregnant with Vorian’s child. When the baby was born, he was given away. He wasn’t just the reminder of her love for Vorian but also the bloodshed that she was responsible for. The baby was left on an obscure planet to fend for himself, and while the circumstances weren’t in his favor, he turned out to be a fighter. That baby grew up to be Desmond Hart.
Because Tula and the Sisterhood never kept tabs on the baby, they had no idea what happened to him. They had left him to his own devices, not realizing that he would someday come back to become their biggest problem and threaten to destabilize the order that they’d so meticulously created for the Imperium. Desmond, however, was aware of his mother’s origins, even if he didn’t know her identity. He felt rejected by the woman who gave birth to her and was heartbroken over the fact that she’d so easily discarded him. If this wasn’t enough to make him hate the Sisterhood, the events transpired such that he found himself in direct defiance of them and now seems completely dedicated to destroying them for good.
Meanwhile, on Wallach IX, Tula receives Desmond’s blood sample and discovers that he has both Atreides and Harkonnen blood in him. This leads her to the startling realization that he is, in fact, her son. However, she has other things to worry about as well. While Lila is alive again, she is still trying to get back full control of her body from her ancestors, who flow in and out of her. In the time Raquella takes over her, Tula receives her help to discover that the marks on Kasha’s brain from her death are similar to the ones caused by the virus created by the thinking machines during the war that humans won. This means that Desmond’s gift has something to do with the machines, and he is not even aware of it yet.
Read More: When Does Dune: Prophecy Take Place? How is it Connected to the Dune Movies?
