Thufir Hawat

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Thufir Hawat is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Hawat is a major character in the landmark novel Dune.

In Dune, the Mentat Master of Assassins who served under the Atreides family for multiple generations, until Duke Leto Atreides is killed by a Harkonnen attack.

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, recognising good talent, and seeking a replacement for the late Mentat Piter De Vries, wishes to utilize Hawat's immense abilities. The Baron manages to press Hawat into service by making him chemically dependent on a substance provided by the Harkonnens, but also by suggesting Hawat can achieve revenge for the assassination of Duke Leto by helping the Harkonnens to destroy House Corrino. The Baron, himself a dangerous intellect, also keeps Hawat's abilities in check by feeding him false data, specifically, permitting him to believe that Jessica Atreides was the traitor responsible for the Atreides' destruction.

In spite of these immense obstacles, Hawat very nearly brings down the Harkonnens from within, playing the ambitions of the na-Baron Feyd-Rautha against his uncle, and facilitating an assassination attempt that is nearly successful. 'Several years' previous to this attempt, Hawat engineered an attempt against Feyd's life, in co-operation with Feyd, who hoped to win greater support on Giedi Prime, and impress the onlooking Count Fenring (who, along with his wife, still managed to uncover the conspiracy) by sabotaging his appearance in the combat arena. Instead of facing a drugged slave, Hawat arranges for Feyd to confront a trained Atreides soldier with his capacities fully intact. These schemes underscore the deadly cunning of Hawat, who had clearly earned his legendary reputation as a formidable commander.

At the conclusion of the novel, Hawat chooses death rather than betrayal of Paul Atreides.

In Hunters of Dune, Scytale, the last Tleilaxu Master, had a nullentropy capsule embedded in his chest, containing cells from many important past figures, including Hawat. Out of desperation, the aging Master revealed the existence of the capsule to his Bene Gesserit captors, and offered to assist in the production of gholas in exchange for a ghola of his own body. The venerable warrior-Mentat was one of the resurrected. He has a deep admiration for Miles Teg, a warrior-Mentat himself.

[edit] Portrayal in other media

Hawat was portrayed by Freddie Jones in the 1984 movie and by Jan Vlasák in the Dune miniseries. None of these adaptations feature his later life and death. In the 1984 Dune movie, Thufir is seen in the crowd scene at the end of the movie. However, a later camera shot of where he was standing shows him no longer there. In truth, Thufir's death scene was shot but eventually cut from the movie. This lost scene, however, was not restored in the four-hour "Alan Smithee" version of 1984 movie edited and expanded for syndicated TV release. But it can be seen as one of the deleted scenes extras on the 2006 special edition DVD release.