What was Vorian Atreides' role in the Harkonnen-Atreides feud? Details from Dune: Prophecy, explored in depth

In the third episode of Dune: Prophecy, upon hearing about the return of Vorian Atreides from Uncle Evgeny Harkonnen (Mark Addy), Valya (Jessica Barden) gets agitated as she strives to take revenge against the man who killed Griffin (Earl Cave), her brother and also ruined House Harkonnen.

While he is referred to as a War Hero by rebel leader Horace (Sam Spruell) in Dune: Prophecy Episode 2, Valya Harkonnen vehemently disagrees with the tag. Though Valya only joined the Sisterhood because her family forced her to do so, she also plans on taking revenge against Vorian, who tagged her clan as cowards and presented himself as the hero.

Let us now explore who this Vorian Atreides is and how his relationship with Abulurd Harkonnen impacted the Harkonnen-Atreides feud.

Also Read: Dune: Prophecy Season 1 ending explained - Desmond's mysterious power, Emperor Corrino's fate, Tula's love for her son, and more

Vorian Atreides caused the Harkonnen-Atreides feud years before the happenings of Dune: Prophecy

Vorian Atreides led the famous Butlerian Jihad to fight the Thinking Machines. Despite being a human oppression cyborg and a Titan, Vorian rose to his position of prominence. The wars with the Machines finally ended in 88 BG following the Battle of Corrin.

Vorian Atreides led the battle, which gave humanity a clear victory over those machines and thus made Vorian a figure forever remembered and respected. However, besides leading a winning war, he also made sure that history would remember Abulurd Harkonnen, his best friend and the General of the Human Army, not as a hero but as a coward who tried to stop Vorian from emerging victorious.

This unexpected turn of events caused the bitter feud between the two families that would go on for centuries. What caused the friction in the first place was how Vorian and Abulurd approached the fight differently when they found out that there were two million human slaves in a cargo pod around the planet, which meant that if “Bridge of Hrethgir” was crossed by the human fleet, each one of those two million slaves would die.

However, Vorian seemed to be unaffected by this number as he had only one goal: to win the war. But Abulurd could not accept the fact that their winning depended on the death of two million humans, and thus, he did not want to proceed with the plan. Since he was already stripped of his power and sent to jail, Abulurd somehow managed to get out and turn off whatever weapons the fleet had.

Therefore, the initial plan of destroying the “Bridge of Hrethgir” did not work out, and Vorian went ahead with using Pulse-Atomic weapons, which claimed a huge amount of human lives.

Also Read: Dune: Prophecy: Streaming chart numbers and other reviews, explored

How did Vorian Atreides treat Abulurd Harkonnen, further intensifying the Harkonnen-Atreides feud?

Since Vorian emerged as the victor in the war against the Thinking Machines, he could write history as he wished, and he did precisely the same by tagging Abulurd as a coward.

Abulurd was to be killed because of his apparent treacherous behavior. Still, Vorian decided to make it worse for him and thus manipulated Abulurd’s brother Faykan Butler to send him to the planet Lankiveil. In this isolated place, Abulurd would have to live in exile.

In return, Vorian made Faykan the first Padishah Emperor after that devastating war. Unfortunately, Vorian did not stop there, and almost after 90 years, he killed Griffin Harkonnen, the young brother of Tula and Valya, as he went to confront Vorian about the restoration of the good name of the Harkonnens.

Since Vorian has only been referred to and has not yet made a physical appearance in Dune: Prophecy, how and if Valya will successfully get her revenge on him remains to be seen.

Dune: Prophecy can be streamed on Max.

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