Xavier Harkonnen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Xavier Harkonnen is a character in the fictional Dune universe. Xavier's role existed in the Legends of Dune series, in the books Dune: The Butlerian Jihad and Dune: The Machine Crusade. He was also referenced in Dune: The Battle of Corrin.

He seems to be the antithesis of the future Vladimir Harkonnen; unlike his descendant, Xavier was noble in nature, courageous, and possessed unshakable integrity. In the series, Xavier Harkonnen was born to wealthy nobles, Ulf and Katarina Harkonnen. At the age of six, Xavier's parents were killed by Thinking Machines, and he was later adopted by Emil and Lucille Tantor. He received a military commission at age 19. Xavier courted Serena Butler, daughter of viceroy Manion Butler Senior, and later, Priestess of the Jihad. It was by Xavier that Serena conceived the martyr, Manion Butler, or, Manion the Innocent. Xavier was credited for the strategy which overcame the cymek attack on Salusa Secundus, after which he was awarded the rank of Segundo. After Serena's disappearance from the League of Nobles, Xavier married Octa Butler. Through this union, Xavier became the patron of both House Butler and House Harkonnen. At the start of the Jihad, it was Xavier's idea to bombard Earth with a massive nuclear strike, destroying the primary stronghold of Omnius.

Xavier became a primero (general) in the Army of the Jihad alongside Primero Vorian Atreides; while the two initially were rivals for Serena Butler's love, they eventually became good friends and battle comrades. For most of his career, Xavier was highly regarded as one of humanity's champions. Xavier later sacrificed his life and his reputation in order to eliminate the corrupt Grand Patriarch of the Jihad, Iblis Ginjo. Through Jihad propaganda, Iblis was revered as a martyr and Xavier was marked as a traitor. The Harkonnen name became tarnished and Xavier's descendants adopted the surname, Butler. It was Xavier's grandson, Abulurd, who after learning the truth from Vorian, decided to revive the Harkonnen name and, to the dismay of the League and the disapproval of his father, Quentin Butler, he changed his name to Abulurd Harkonnen.

Another ironic twist was that even though Xavier was seen as being one of the greatest traitors of humanity of all time, each and every Padishah Emperor ever to rule humanity were actually straight line-descendants of Xavier Harkonnen.