House Harkonnen

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Emblem of House Harkonnen from Emperor: Battle for Dune

For the novel of the same name, see Dune: House Harkonnen.

House Harkonnen is a powerful noble family in Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe.

"You failed me at the moment I needed you most. Never again will I look upon your face. This I swear: From this day forth, let all who bear the name Atreides spit on the name of Harkonnen!"
– Vorian Atreides, Dune: The Battle of Corrin

"House Harkonnen, from the volcanic wastelands of Giedi Prime. The Harkonnen know only malevolence, hatred and brutality. Their leader is the corrupt and vile Baron Rakan. Rakan's power-hungry sons — Gunseng and Copec — eagerly await the Baron's death. Each plots to take his place. But while he lives, they feed upon him like parasites."
– Lady Elara giving a brief description of the House, Emperor: Battle for Dune

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 History
2 Origin of the name
3 Harkonnen family tree
4 Harkonnen in the Dune games

[edit] History

One of the Great Houses of the Imperium, House Harkonnen is driven by a kanly (vendetta) against House Atreides. The vendetta originated at the Battle of Corrin, the battle that ended the Butlerian Jihad and founded the Imperium. The first Abulurd Harkonnen had refused an order from his superior Vorian Atreides to kill a multitude of humans enslaved by the thinking machines.

Though he had only wanted to save innocent people, Abulurd was demonized by Vorian and labeled a coward and a traitor. Abulurd's own brother Faykan Corrino exiled him from the League Worlds, to the frosty planet of Lankiveil. House Harkonnen worked its way back into the graces of the Imperium, manipulating the price of whale-fur to purchase its way into the nobility.

By the time of the original Dune novels, some 10,000 years later, the House Harkonnen has built its power on a simple foundation of fear and terror, two tactics that make the Baron Harkonnen's underlings that much more dangerous: risk death on the battlefield or suffer a slow, excruciating death in the Baron's chambers as he watches with relish. With an order based on treachery, soldiers rise through the ranks through deceit, trickery and, if necessary, assassination. The Harkonnen homeworld at this time is an industrial wasteland with a low photosynthetic potential, called Giedi Prime, whose once-rich natural resources have been exhausted, and whose land, water, and air have been fouled with industrial pollution, by the House.

House Harkonnen is ruled by a Siridar Baron. In the first Dune novels, the baron is Vladimir Harkonnen. The twisted mentat Piter De Vries serves as the baron's mentat and advisor. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is later killed by Alia Atreides, and his heir Feyd-Rautha is killed shortly thereafter by Paul Atreides, effectively crippling the House; during the reign of the God Emperor, the House dwindled and died, after a disastrous venture that sank all their remaining fortunes into a no-globe. It should be noted that Vladimir's father Dmitri Harkonnen was, according to the Prelude to Dune series, a more benevolent man who left House Atreides in peace.

Some folk historians in the fictional series hint that the Harkonnens once had some sort of connection with the legendary House of Steel of Old Earth. The name itself came from a region of Earth called Suomi, also Finland. There is no verifiable record of any Harkonnen in any position of power in the House of Steel that existed in a time period called the 20th Century. The House of Steel was named after a dictator, Joseph Stalin, whose last name meant steelman. In addition, in Heretics of Dune a character mentioned Harkonnen ancestry as being a blend of "Greek, Mameluke, and Pathan."

[edit] Origin of the name

Härkönen is a Finnish family name (härkä = a bull) and Finnish " rauta " means iron. Intentional or unintentional relations of these observations to names of Rautha and Harkonnen are unknown.
Frank Herbert said in later interviews that he modeled the fictional Harkonnens after the Nazi Party.
The official seal of House Harkonnen bears the image of a blue griffin within Herbert's continuity. This was altered to a red ram for Westwood Studios's video game adaptations.