Feyd's Cannibal Pets | Harkonnen Harpies Explained | Dune Lore

[@NerdCookies]

Thank you for watching this video! If you enjoy my content, please consider supporting me on PATREON: www.patreon.com/nerdcookies

[@DazHuang72]

I have been looking through the entire internet for a detailed explanation of how the Harkonnen Harpies exist. Thank you 😍

[@alexmalex82]

Please stop using ai voice tho.

[@koko40800]

@@alexmalex82 she keeps telling you ppl, it's not AI...mmkay?

[@Nia-zq5jl]

Hello, could you please source all songs/tracks in your video? What is the background track throughout the video?

[@neglectfulsausage7689]

"waaah women have it so bad in harkonnen land" everyone has it bad, sweet cheeks.

[@Omar_listenin]

I didn't put together that Feyd saw Chani as nothing more than Paul's pet. It makes sense given how twisted his perspective is

[@AnnaBellaChannel]

To be fair Chani is Paul's Pet in the series just treated much better in the books.

[@alexrator7674]

Or maybe he was just mocking him

[@apocalypsator6]

I wonder what he thought of Jessica, the perfect wife and outstanding mother who unleashed havoc on the universe.

[@SuperStella1111]

@@AnnaBellaChannel she’s the literal girl of his dreams, and he remains fully faithful to her. Book Chani has a discernment about him (Paul) that book Chani lacks. A much stronger character.

[@JackfrostAtreidesOmegaXZero]

​@@SuperStella1111Book Chani have that Book Chani lacks?

[@manuelkong10]

I think the cannibal harpies were introduced to replace the fact that in the books Baron Harkonen wanted s3x with little boys ....this way the harkonen could remain VERY EVIL yet the movie could avoid controversy

[@kellypowell6317]

Good call....

[@bebelfos]

i think it's also due to the fact feyd does not share the same interests to his uncle 😅

[@Norp-i7m]

Pedo-sadism? No way! Killing teenage girls/women for absolutely no reason? Sure thing! PG-13!

[@sevendeadlychins]

💯💯

[@neglectfulsausage7689]

They could've just used 12 year old boy actors and then heavily implied it and had corpses of them left over. Game of thrones style.

[@FaustianDaydreams]

Dennis had to change the perversions of the Baron so that Hollywood execs wouldn’t feel personally attacked.

[@cashwalk7253]

Sadly, that would track.

[@koko40800]

Well many of the Republicans pointing 'peddle file' fingers are historically the biggest closet pedos themselves, so....

[@rodrigobogado8756]

looooooooool

[@stevekillgore9272]

Agreed

[@richardalvarez2390]

Guess the baron no longer likes his homo relations in this movie

[@splunkmastah4609]

I think it's an excellent way of showing off Harkonnen depravity without devoting a large amount of runtime to it. Between their look, their world, their pets, and the way they treat their inferiors, you get a good look at who they are, and it's nasty.

[@Wolfrage76]

I think Everyone in The Harkonnen Homeworks has been celebrating big time knowing The Harkonnen House is completely extinct.

[@DraugSatan]

I would like to add, as a neuroscientist, eating human flesh does not in any meaningful way regress or diminish cognitive faculties in and by itself. What I presume the video is talking about is prion disease, or a very specific prion disease called "Kuru", an epidemic phenomenon amongst a tribe of people practising ceremonial cannibalism. The current best explanation for Kuru was that, at some point, a tribesman developed Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD; a known prion disease) and upon his death his brains were eaten by others who, in turn, developed the fatal neurodegenerative illness. The long incubation time of CJD (10-50 years) ensured that the brains of those infected could be ingested without anyone ever having seen its symptoms in the living before they were, well, harvested for consumption. Thus, unless you specifically eat uncooked brain tissue from someone with CJD, you will probably not regress to bestiality and lose cognitive functions. If you do, it will also take decades, so you'll never know. Just don't eat brains, folks. That being said, my picking at that loose thread is only meant as a helpful appendix to the video itself, I very much enjoyed it and it is well thought out and well made. Thank you for making it for us!

[@NerdCookies]

Thanks for the added context! Yes, that's what I was referring to. It was equal parts fascinating and horrifying to read about Kuru and CJD in researching this video.

[@DraugSatan]

@@NerdCookies Another consideration is, of course, that the harpies would be vulnerable to build-up of environmental toxins in the meat they cannibalize, similar to people with a very high tuna/whale consumption. Eating the top of the food chain on Giedi Prime would probably be pretty unhealthy. So who knows, maybe there's a Kreutzfeld-Harkonnen Disease that would affect them?

[@di3486]

@@NerdCookiesI would highly recommend the book “Deadly Feasts” is terrifying but fascinating.

[@afnanbogey]

Guess meat’s back on the menu 😶‍🌫️

[@joetaylor486]

I did wonder about Kuru when I saw that statement. Made me think about the prion diseases like Kuru, Scrapie and CJD. @@NerdCookies

[@MattsCollection]

Dr Yueh mentions in the first movie that the Harkonnens take his wife apart and put her back together again "like a doll." There may or may not be a nod to the Benne Teilax in the movies, or we're supposed to think that the Harkonnens do this to people just because they can.

[@JohnLloydDavis]

It was theorised that the Spider pet was Yueh's wife that the Harkonnens had taken apart and reassembled.

[@MattsCollection]

@@JohnLloydDavis I don't believe the spider pet was her, mainly because when the Baron says to Yueh that he could join her, he immediately killed him. That leads me to believe that she had already died.

[@JohnLloydDavis]

@@MattsCollection yes, that’s why I said theorised but I think your right. It shows the utter depravity of the Harkonnens being able to have those ‘pets’ as playthings.

[@clandestine736]

@@MattsCollectionwell she could've died as a person but her body was still functioning as a pet or it could also have been a wordplay on Baron's part. Not like his wife matters to him.

[@alexrator7674]

@@MattsCollection Another reason is that Dr Yue's wife is a Bene Gesserit and Reverend Mother Gaius would definitely know when she sees it

[@joshDammmit]

Fayd utters the phrase, “you fought well, atreides,” twice; once when killing a member of the house, and then again when being killed by Paul.

[@appa609]

Paul pulled the same move Feyd used on the Asian guy

[@neglectfulsausage7689]

@@appa609 Asian is an antiquated notion in a post earth universe. He's not asian. He's a migrant from one of the great hosues.

[@seadee2834]

@@neglectfulsausage7689 Cool, but we are on Earth in our universe rn, so describing the actor as "Asian" is correct and you're being weird for no reason

[@neglectfulsausage7689]

@@seadee2834 shush orc

[@sarantsogtmunkhbaatar6974]

@@seadee2834 yeah man asian is outdated he looks yellow just call him yellow.

[@alden1132]

In Chapterhouse Dune, they confirm the Axolotl tanks ARE in fact the Bene Tleilaxu women. The last Tleilaxu divulges the secrets of the tanks, which the Bene Gesserit find abhorrent, but not so much so that they refuse to adapt their own women for the purpose, including for the production of artificial Spice.

[@swordmonkey6635]

Yeah, there's no speculation. It's displayed.

[@orirune3079]

Unless I recall wrong though, the BGs create the spice themselves, they don't create braindead female bodies to do that for them. They just produce their own spice endogenously for their own use.

[@codename495]

But their tanks volunteered to be tanks.

[@swordmonkey6635]

@@codename495 That's the story the males tell. The females... well.

[@neglectfulsausage7689]

Honestly I cant wait for birthing tanks. Women will lose their stranglehold on reproduction they currently have, because they'll have artifical wombs as competition, which heavily depriciates their value in our society, so men don't need to beg women to mate with them. That would bring about true equality between the two groups.

[@westofthemoon]

The lack of food he was referring to on the trip over were corpses. Aka: he didn't get a chance to murder anyone to feed to his harpies during the ride over. It has nothing to do with feeling responsible for anyone. Its actually a thinly vailed threat to anyone in the room who might oppose him. In essence "watch out cause I haven't killed anyone in a while and I'm looking for a reason to do it".

[@aaron4820]

This video was entirely written by ChatGPT presumably.

[@bos9824]

@@aaron4820 entirely written is doubtful but assisted probably

[@bos9824]

@@aaron4820 but also why does it matter

[@DieHardjagged]

@@aaron4820 Jesus Christ if thats true.

[@westofthemoon]

@@aaron4820 😆you're probably right. Voice definitely sounds AI.

[@quentincollins1825]

I think the Harpies are an homage to Dracula's brides in the Coppola film. Clever and fitting.

[@julesjma]

Ahhh, right. Great.

[@fredgaine1330]

yes, they do seem to serve exactly the same purposes.

[@RIPbennyharvey]

No doubt, they even referenced black hawk down in the first one

[@zacharymoss2994]

I also thought of them being female human skeksis with them being called harpies

[@martinharris5017]

I just made the same comment and scrolled down and found yours. I agree1

[@300mirrors]

Great video! Studying Feyd, I don't think it's affection like we would have for other people or actual pets. He's giving Ramsay Bolton energy with his dogs. He starves them on purpose to kill. Feyd is voicing a threat that they're hungry, letting everyone know they could be his next victim. He's described as a psychopath and sociopath. These people are not known to have remorse or deep emotional connections. Denis describes him as a Rockstar, and a Rockstar isn't complete without groupies. They're like having the latest designer handbag.

[@Ysckemia]

agreed. "throw her to the dogs. this is good meat."

[@crystalcole888]

Well said👍

[@quantumtheo]

Funny that he describes him as a rockstar considering Sting played Feyd in the 1984 version.

[@ST4X-0N-ST4X]

Sociopaths develop emotional attachments. Psychopaths don't.

[@300mirrors]

@@ST4X-0N-ST4X Limited that they might as well not exist.

[@bdso9593]

May we also discuss the dark horned " bull like" lancers in the arena as well? Is it ironic that the "bulls" and their lancing of victims is also reminiscent of bull fighting? An effigy of House Atreides and the old Duke's demise??

[@erikrungemadsen2081]

That is one option another one is the Gladiator official playing the role of Chairon that would wear a beaked mask and wield a brand to poke at dead gladiators, and a sledgehammer to dispose of any gladiators caught playing dead.

[@joetaylor486]

Oooh - Nice parallel! The mocking of the old Duke Atreides would be totally Harkonnen behaviour.

[@gabriellaschweska2054]

Yeah to

[@julesjma]

Dig even deeper....Hãrkä in Finnish is "Ox" or "Bull".

[@joshvega5469]

My first thought was they were like picadors glad I wasn’t the only one

[@unityvirtualproduction]

Funny. During my viewings, I interpreted 'The lack of food during the trip' as one additional layer of Feyd's brutality. I imagined durations of starvation were a means by which Feyd forced 'his pets' into cannibalism and a means by which he kept them ravenously enthusiastic for whatever meat we would provide them.

[@jalifritz8033]

I assumed he was unable to kill anyone because everyone on board was strictly needed for survival so he could not give into his impulses.

[@evanramp536]

Feyd's twisted sense of love, honor, and responsibility are integral components to his character in the book, and I love how Denis Villeneuve translated this to screen. Given how much of a minimalistic director he is, combined with Feyd only getting a few minutes of screentime, the addition of his little harpe cult to show this side of him is pure genius.

[@Nom_AnorVSJedi]

Why are the Harkonnens so depraved? How can a dynasty like that survive? Why don’t the people of Giedi Prime revolt? In our history you see this Ancient Rome overthrowing the tyrant King Tarquinius and the Zhou Dynasty overthrowing the depraved Shang dynasty.

[@AntiEstablishmentRhetorician]

I don't think all of those maniacs in the stalls saluting and shouting, "Feyd-Rautha!" were in any mood to revolt.

[@honkler5974]

It’s just as easy to rule through fear as it is through love.

[@samhinnant4416]

Because it's a depraved world. Not that unlike our own current world.

[@SK4M_Freal]

They lived off slaves and depravity and plus they were extremely wealthy, even more than The Emperor himself. "Can you imagine all that wealth?" "You've never met a Harkonnen before, they're BRUUUUUUTAL!" :-Old man with heavy footsteps.😉

[@javiervasquez625]

I attribute the apparent impotence of the entire society in Geddi Prime to their ever addictive need for Spice with which the Harkonnens are able to subjugate the entire population of the planet by outright denying them the consumption of spice and forcing them to endure the effects of spice withdrawal.

[@RoboJules]

You need to feed and care for your cannibal harpies. Make sure to buy them insurance while they're young enough, and you'll save boatloads on vet bills.

[@kamarraimo4391]

They did remind me of my cats. Cute, but obligatory predators who will mercilessly kill and devour anything they can.

[@snigie1]

That's wise advice, once I had a cannibal harpy and it got sick, cost me an absolute fortune.

[@heiniknallkopp9688]

@@snigie1and make sure it gets enough food. You know, after a really hard day i once forgot to feed my harpy. And well, that evening my mother in law came over. It was a mess, i can tell you...

[@oldschooloverlord]

A cannibal harpy is for life, not just for Sanguination Day

[@snigie1]

@@heiniknallkopp9688 'forgot'... I completely understand

[@emilywilhite5807]

The Harkonnens need to meet the Cenobites.

[@mike2312p]

Thatd be a dope book or movie

[@markusfreund6961]

Now that you mention it, the bald, black and white aesthetics are pretty similar.

[@thedarkone9552]

Perhaps, only Cenobites can make Harkonnens pay for any vile thing they do in their miserable lives, and not just to themselves, but unfortunately to many other people.

[@FrothingFoulness]

They’d imprison and torture the Cenobites😂

[@isomeme]

Pinhead: "I will bring you to ecstasy and agony you can barely imagine." Feyd (offscreen): "Like...THIS?" Pinhead (chokes down vomit, staggers back a few steps): "No, NOT like that, you sick fuck! What the hell WAS that??" Feyd (smiling): "Here, let me show you..."

[@butterchuggins5409]

My sister got harpies from her ex boyfriend

[@somerandomname3124]

They must be very hungry.

[@butterchuggins5409]

@somerandomname3124 I don't know if they're hungry, but they sure are itchy

[@AnthonyDee-c7j]

In my defense I didn’t know I had it yet.

[@jpyt7022]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 ​@@AnthonyDee-c7j

[@bbsaid218]

So you got it now then

[@aliasfakename3159]

In the novel, Feyd does something to piss off the Baron so he orders the boy to kill his entire harem. He does so and only feels bad cuz he lost some toys, not because he just murdered a room full of sex slaves

[@ndhickson3599]

The more I found out about the Harkonnens the worse they get, fucking hell 😂

[@becausebuzzbomb6133]

@@ndhickson3599 Then you'll love to learn about an assassination attempt on the Baron that involved a poisoned needle hidden on a young boy's thigh, simply because that's where the Baron would put his hand.

[@erichpizer1]

all I remember of that scene after seeing this vid , was how disturbing the whole thing was. well written , 10/10 Denis.

[@Kintabl]

It's not well written. It's just written comically evil, nothing more.

[@DarkSamael55]

@@Kintabl Better than Lynch's version at least

[@vercot7000]

@@Kintabl No. I think it works well to show the evil nature of the Harkonens. As the video mentioned, they ARE meant to be evil. The idea that extreme evil becomes comical is only really true in children's shows.

[@clandestine736]

@@KintablIt's not comical. These signs of depravity are prevalent among the wealthy elite in the real world. Lookup porta potty in Dubai or child trafficking among the elites.

[@RudeAndObscene]

​@@Kintabl Lol, the Harkonnens are even more "comically evil" in the books

[@charlesmiller6281]

What I found most shocking was the fireworks that look like evil dark oily cancerous chemicals in the sky.

[@TheCorrodedMan]

Because that’s probably exactly what they were. House Harkonnen doesn’t give two shits about the environment of worlds they claim, it’s just there for their pleasure after all. If they have to use harmful chemicals to create a spectacle, then so be it.

[@frank3508]

And along those lines l thought the depiction of Geidi Prime's star as a "black sun", or a sun with a black hole eating away at its core, thereby killing the full light spectrum and instead bathing everything exposed to its rays in blinding, glaring shades of black, white, and grey, was a stroke of genius that accentuated the starkly brutal nature of Harkonnen society.

[@AntiEstablishmentRhetorician]

Yeah, I think they complimented Herbert's vision of the Harkonnens quite well, but if it had been truer to the book I suppose they would have been children, which wouldn't have been acceptable to viewers.

[@SK4M_Freal]

With red hair.

[@javiervasquez625]

That would have been so messed up while also multiplying the Harkonnen's Evil-o-meter up to 9000.

[@Broomy718]

Yes, good call on Denis part for leaving children (mostly) out of the Harkenon carnage. If you read the book, you know what the Baron would do to young male children. Audiences couldnt handle that.

[@ahuman4386]

@@Broomy718Basically Disney and Hollywood.

[@javiervasquez625]

@@Broomy718 Not just to young children but even his own nephew given some of his dialogues when he "admires" Feyd's physical prowess.

[@kamarraimo4391]

I really liked their addition. In the book Feyd just has pleasure slaves. Here he has pets that he feeds people to and promises them choice bits from the corpses he creates in the arena. It shows nicely that even in a society with slavery there are some who are more special and privileged. Extensive cannibalism can cause prion disease which is neuro-degenerative and leads to loss of motor function and ultimately death, but if the girls are bio-engineered as you speculate then they may be resistant to it.

[@oldschooloverlord]

Prion diseases exist primarily in the nerve tissue. If you remove the brain and spinal cord an infected corpse is, uh, relatively safe-ish.

[@kamarraimo4391]

@@oldschooloverlordI guess that's why he offered them lungs 😆

[@ravijay4561]

kuru

[@KahlessTheUnforgettable]

In the book bio-engineering is strictly forbidden by the Orange Catholic Bible and the commandments set forth post Butlerian Jihad.

[@whitetower67]

I had assumed that the Harkonnen spider pet was Villanueve's hint to the audience for what happened to Wanna.

[@alphax4785]

Yueh and his wife were just means to an end, the Baron wouldn't jeopardize getting the Duke just to inflict extra torment on those he DNGASF about personally.

[@dustinmiron4298]

"Cannibal Harpies" sounds like a band name!

[@thelostcosmonaut5555]

There's a band called Cannibal Corpse. You're one typo away from a strange promo poster though with Cannibal Harpies.

[@30chillipalmer]

I think it was a very artistic and deep addition to the movie that let us see why they are so hated in the galaxy.

[@stevekillgore9272]

It's over the top, the Emperor and Landsraad wouldn't tolerate it.

[@30chillipalmer]

@@stevekillgore9272 😂 probably not.

[@that1otherJake]

I just realized how much the Harkonnens remind me of the Cenobites from Hellraiser, both in look and behavior.

[@DinerLingo]

So far we haven’t been introduced to a number of things created by the Bene Tleilaxu: chairdogs, sligs, Face Dancers, gholas & more. Even beyond that we’ve barely glimpsed the Spacing Guild & no mention at all of the Ix (& Tleilaxu for that matter). There’s so much to tell in Dune’s story-rich universe. I hope this is just the beginning of telling those stories.

[@riftplut0474]

Definitely get most of it in messiah

[@danielplainview2584]

I have a hard time believing we wouldn't see more of the Spacing Guild or Navigators in Messiah.

[@disconnected22]

Not Bene Tleilax, but these films almost completely ignore Mentats as well

[@sammiller6631]

@@riftplut0474 They should split Messiah into two movies.

[@cthulawha]

there were no gholas , or face dancers in Dune, they were introduced in Dune Messiah when the Bene Tleilaxu gave Paul the mentat ghola Hayt (Duncan Idaho) as a gift/trap

[@robynswan2072]

He calls them Pets - He called Chani a “pet” - need we say more

[@IllaWilliams]

He wants to look after chani ?

[@Nimeleth]

Yeah, you need to say more

[@iksarguards]

Still less disturbing than the Harkonen Heart Plugs from the 1984 film.

[@julesjma]

Or Baron's pus filled face.

[@kellypowell6317]

That was in the book...

[@matrixtrollmarine]

Sadly they were cannon

[@kosk8800]

Not canon and never in Herbert's books as falsely mentioned above

[@kellypowell6317]

@@kosk8800 sorry, but your wrong ...the Barron mentions them when he captures their.

[@jayjackson676]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Elena I was wondering when someone was gonna make a video answering those questions about his pets I had no idea what they were and where they came from. Thanks for a great video.

[@dollsAlFox]

Same!

[@evanthienes661]

I'm amazed they're even given clothes. With some sort of artistic censor, obviously, it would have made sense that Feyd-Rautha would have made them remain nude.

[@jonathantan2469]

The Harkonnen slave girls wore semi-opaque gowns. In fact, they are uncannily similar to the frosted plastic-sheet gowns worn by Kanye West's current wife.

[@hukihuki4135]

Their clothes kinda reminds me of a dominatrix full latex suit, I wonder if it's a way to hint at the fact that they're here to inflict not only sex but also (and maybe more importantly?) pain on demand to Feyd My other theory is that they have nice clothes because they are important in feyd's eyes, contrary to the other slaves who only have a kind of a simple plastic sheet for clothes. It would be an indication of their status

[@koko40800]

@@hukihuki4135 That's right Feyd dresses his dominatrix cannibal hoes in nothing but the finest black latex lol

[@becausebuzzbomb6133]

You can notice that Villeneuve is very decent with depiction of intimacies. I can imagine that there was pressure on him to depict more sex and I'm glad he didn't. If he wanted to be really true to the source material, he would have no shortage of opportunities (to name one above all, the Fremen orgies in which even children participated), but he had to leave some things out completely. I'm no purist, far from it, but I think sex is overused in movies and TV shows. It's just a way too cheap attention grabber that Villeneuve didn't need.

[@hukihuki4135]

@@becausebuzzbomb6133 orgies with children ?? What ? 😭

[@andrewschneider2121]

Initially Read this as Feyds Herpies. But given Leto 2s story arc it’s not the craziest thing to be written about in the Dune universe.

[@johna1427]

I don’t think Feyd’s behavior indicates a sense of responsibility or affection for his pets. I see nothing to indicate he would care if they, individually, live or die. They are a tool and like all tools must be maintained. However, that is not his goal. If he just wanted to make sure they were fed, it would be done. His goal is to inspire terror as a means of control (and perhaps amusement). He uses these moments theatrically, to be most advantageous to him.

[@cerberusisagoodboy6054]

Feyd, is a predator. A predator can appreciate another predator, but only from a sense or place of superiority over it.

[@_buttonmasher]

Id love to know your thoughts on the men chanting around the holographic map of arrakis in the scene where rabban became infuriated with one of his advisors.

[@sectorgovernor]

Yes, it was very creepy scene, I wanted it to be longer.

[@Audisknfj]

Since computers and all forms of automation are banned, I suppose the Harkonnens need mentats in training to manually write the data on the hologram (which should be allowed).

[@TheMattJacks]

That spider pet was the wife of The Doctor, who betrayed Leto.

[@hedgeearthridge6807]

I think they had very little screentime to display for everyone how evil and screwed-up the Harkonnens are, but the cannibalism plus Feyd being Feyd, Rabban and Feyd killing anyone who annoys them, the gladiatoria, the Baron's ruthlessness towards failure, etc get the point across VERY well. It's really well done.

[@Chimera_XXI]

With all the nuance and complexity in Frank Herbert’s writing of The Dune Saga, I always wondered why he chose to unambiguously have The Atreides be ‘good’ and The Harkonnens unambiguously ‘bad’. Is this the inspiration of ‘The Light Side’ wielding Jedi and ‘The Dark Side’ wielding Sith in Star Wars? Paul grew up with no siblings or companions. A Bene Gessert mom and Thufir Hawat, Gurney Hallack and Duncan Idaho were his teacher-companions. Meanwhile Feyd had Rabban, Piter De Vries and his cannibal babes…and his addiction to fixed gladiatorial fights? Admirable, noble, honorable but otherwise broke-ass House Atreides against evil, decadent, murderous , but literally filthy-rich House Harkonnens…for 10,000 years?!? What kind of imperium you running, around here, House Corrino??

[@alden1132]

I believe the relevant distinction, as explored in the books, is more along the lines of 'animal vs human' than 'good vs bad.' The greatest fear of the Bene Gesserit was the rise of a Kwisatz Haderach who was animal, not human. The Harkonnens are undeniably animalistic, whereas the Atreides were generally human, but with the same susceptibility to animalistic urges that any sentient being may be subject to. I find the exploration of human-animal hybrids in the later books compelling, as deeper explorations of these themes.

[@funtecstudiovideos4102]

Atrides arent really broke-ass. They have second best army in Imperium (Behind House Corrino). They also had a lot of political influence . Leto even make plans to replace house Corrino with army of Fremen and spice.

[@snakeplissken1933]

@@funtecstudiovideos4102 You are missing the point. Do you know who Leto the 2nd is and have you heard a thing called Golden Path in his tyranny?

[@funtecstudiovideos4102]

@@snakeplissken1933 it have nothing to do with house atreidess being supposed broken ass.

[@ekaterinastaneva9922]

But there is ambiguity. The noble and loving Jessica turned to be the Barons only child! Paul and more so his son turn into tyrannical dictators.

[@wayofbumpyroads]

as always, excellent job Nerd Cookies. i wasn't sure where you were going with the pets theme until the end, but yeah, that really creates a lot of psychological depth to a character that could otherwise be dismissed as an all out sociopath.

[@GholaMuadDib]

Great video. I liked the cannibal addition to Dune. I always thought of the Harkonnens as a future version of the Roman Empire. If Rome never fell, and just continued through the years.

[@WhitePony-zu5pi]

Personally they remind of the Caananites of the Old Testament

[@sbel6626]

Thats interesting because in my mind they were Russians (to parallel Caladan being the US and Arrakis being the middle east) and I definitely got that in the movie with the brutalist architecture, the grey palette, the wealth disparity, the militaristic culture. Obviously it’s not a very culturally sensitive thing but this is a book written by an american during the cold war so what do you expect lol.

[@koko40800]

​@@WhitePony-zu5pi The Canaanites were portrayed and demonized in the Old Testament as evil, decadent "Ba'al worshippers" but none of this was true...they were not evil or decadent, nor did they really worship Ba'al...he was a lesser god in the Canaanite pantheon... Ba'al's wife, the Goddess Astarte (Ashtoreth), was their primary, most powerful God...the Canaanites of Sodom and Gemorrah were really Goddess worshippers....and they were portrayed as immoral and decadent b/c part of their Goddess worship ceremonies included ceremonial sex in the temple....with a large conch shell in the temple as a holy artifact, representing the Goddess 'vagina' and birthplace of all Creation (this is all truth of course, I couldn't possibly make this up)

[@dukeandfsu682]

Your videos are very well done NerdCookies! You got me interested in the Dune universe a year or two before Dune part 1 came out and I’m so glad you did! It’s an amazing story and world. I love your deep dives into this world!

[@johnjungkook2721]

I wish this had been an R rated movie, with more Geidi Prime. And more Feyd. and less timothee being pensive sadboi in the desert over and over again

[@hangarrat]

Pensive sandboi 😂

[@ekaterinastaneva9922]

Well, they were adapting a book after all, so naturally they followed muadip. And they showed a lot of the harconens, they only left out the baron being pdf file and so.e mass murder scenes that don't move the plot forward. As a matter of fact the movie could have been R with Paul's storyline too! They completely missed the water of life orgy for starters

[@Evarakeus]

I agree, but pensive sadboi is like 90% of the latter half of Dune

[@flannigan7956]

I mean it's great production design etc but I wasn't exactly in a hurry to check back with Harkonnens for more violence cruelty and perversion. I guess I remember wishing for films to be rated R when I was 12

[@RicardoMoralesMassin]

Found the Transformers fan

[@jacobnavarro3675]

Love the behind the scenes pics of the harpies. Its too bad we have to say goodbye to Feyd so soon. I agree he's not without honor as seen during the arena fight when he doffs his shield. I mean, he was expecting an effortless kill and when it turned out to be a much more dangerous situation, he seemed invigorated by the surprise and even leaned into it. He still got mad at his uncle for setting it all up, but maybe that's meant to enforce his impatient attitude toward the Baron in general winning out even over his own personal enjoyment.

[@sammiller6631]

The Baron is Feyd's uncle, not his father. Feyd's father is Baron Harkonnen's youngest half-brother, Abulurd Rabban, who had renounced the Harkonnen name and all rights to the title when given the subdistrict governorship of Rabban-Lankiveil.

[@andrewmitchell5807]

​knew this guy would enter the chat as soon as I read dad.

[@julesjma]

​@andrewmitchell5807 He's right though. If you make a comment, check your facts.

[@andrewmitchell5807]

@@julesjma ofc he's right, I was gonna make the correction if he hadn't already

[@jacobnavarro3675]

*uncle ... wasn't exactly important to my comment, lol but correction noted. I knew he was the baron's nephew. Just brain-farted.

[@iAkis4]

we want a spinoff Feyd's Cannibal Pets movie

[@ndhickson3599]

Definitely would be rated R

[@ryanartward]

It kinda makes sense why the Harkonnens salute the way they do. It symbolizes the discarding of the heart.

[@OLDMANTEA]

“How’s your lung and liver?” Questions from a Harkonnen HR department.

[@hvitekristesdod]

I think it’s interesting that Feyd is oddly honorable while also casually threatening to drown his uncle and smiling at his eventual demise

[@danielplainview2584]

Feyd is a product of his environment, like Paul, and he acknowledges that Paul's code of honor is harder to uphold than Feyd's throatslitting frenzies.

[@hvitekristesdod]

@@danielplainview2584 That’s very interesting. Thank you

[@johnjungkook2721]

I want them to make a spin-off about Feyd

[@di3486]

The whole Harkonnen sequence was stunning!!! The best part of the movie hands down!!

[@bubby14]

Very true to the source material. It isn’t a stretch that cannibals would be a part of a pleasure wing.

[@shanenolan5625]

Thanks Elaine

[@MrUnboxerVideos]

I actual thought Geidi Prime was the closest we have to pinheads dimension since hellraiser 2, it really was beautiful!

[@wojciechgrodnicki6302]

Feyd is one sick puppy

[@chrysm6842]

It's an offense to puppies actually XD.

[@trentdevlaminck9927]

It's good to see you again Nerd, keep it up you're doing great

[@MrTerrrrible]

I really wish this had been a series on HBO or something> I would of liked more of Feyd's character.

[@DreaD040380]

I have read pretty much all novels of dune, however I don't remember the harkonnen having spider pets or cannibal pets. House harkonnen is a dinasty of rulers, some good, some bad. Baron Vladimir harkonnen was particulary depraved yes, but don't remember any pets like the ones portraited in villeneuve movie. I don't think House harkonnen is more or less evil than House atreides, if this was true during the time of Paul atreides, in the distant past, the leader of house atreides agammenon was a General Cymek that had enslaved the whole humanity and he was quite brutal. At the very same time, the leader of remaining free humans military resistance was Xavier harkonnen that was quite honorable. When talking about houses, all depends on the leader at the time.

[@cthulawha]

they didn't have any of these things , its just a body horror gotcha by hollywood to titillate desensitized audiences

[@megnetic21]

I LOVED all of Harkonnen choices in Denis’ adaptation and me being full on attracted to Austin Butlers Feyd-Rautha was not on my 2024 Bingo card but oops 😬😂

[@essa6315]

Just goes to show how skilled Denis Villeneuve is that small changes he made like the spider pet and the cannibal darlings are so discussed

[@RX552VBK]

I found the scene with the harpies both interesting and startling tbh. I thought they were sex slaves or something akin to a harem-they still may be but with a sub human cannibalistic bend. Denis does this often in his work-there will be a quick image of “something” or unexpected form of violence (Love’s breaking Coco’s spine in Blade Runner 2046 for instance). That’s what made me jump out of my seat watching the spider creature walk around in the dimly lit quarters of the Baron. I’m hesitant to call them jump scares though-Denis is good of a filmmaker to resort to foolishness like that.

[@whiskey_tango_foxtrot__]

So who on their right minds would put the Harkonnens in charge of the most important planet in the galaxy?

[@topherhaynie7358]

While I can appreciate the directors version of Feyd , I believe he missed the mark in relation to the printed material. The movie Feyd was a mindless thug like his bother Rabban. The book Feyd was much more intelligent, calculating, and cunning.

[@112Famine]

They remind me of the creatures from the movie *"Pandorum (2009)"* with ‎‎Dennis Quaid

[@erikadlloyd5586]

All Feyd needs is several pins sticking out of his head😅

[@erichpizer1]

glad for this video since that scene in the movie was very quick and stunted me, warranting some explanation here so i can revisited what i saw too quick

[@SK4M_Freal]

Good call Elaine, as creepy as they were they still sort of intrigued me.😟🤨

[@joy2000cyber]

Can any one tell me what’s the flying fat boss of Harkenon doing to the screaming women behind closed door when his underlings anxiously waiting outside?

[@samariapenaloza6106]

Agreed I was thinking the same thing.

[@koko40800]

Well considering the fact the women are dead and bloodied when they open the door, it is assumed y'all could draw your own conclusions

[@rodrigobogado8756]

he threw them to the wall, you can see they corpses for a moment

[@honeybadger1810]

All the scenes on Giedi prime were easily the best parts of the movie. By far. It was just so frightening and alien.

[@baraka99]

The colosseum scene was filmed using infrared cameras.

[@00xanawolf00]

The Human Spider Pet is likely traitor Dr. Yueh’s wife, who was held by the Baron and used to subvert his Imperial Conditioning of ultimate trustworthiness. This is a terrifying thought.

[@kronoscamron7412]

damn, I though feyd was an upstanding and decent harkonnen citizen...I will be utterly shocked if there is dirt on the baron. whowouldathunk?

[@ArchTeryx00]

Couple points about why Baron Harkonnen ordered Feyd to kill all of the women in the pleasure wing. This was due to a botched assassination attempt. This did *not* actually bother the Baron - what bothered him was that it was *too soon,* and Feyd was not yet ready to assume the headship of House Harkonnen. So he was given, what to the Baron, was a slap-on-the-wrist punishment. What set it apart was that he expected Feyd to do the deed *with his bare hands.* This, too, wasn't just a punishment: It was part of Feyd's training in brutality and dehumanization. The Baron couldn't afford to let him get too attached to *anything,* lest he develop feelings that would blunt his effectiveness as a weapon. The Fenrigs, on the other hand, only saw Feyd as a vital part of the Kwisatz Haderach Project, genes they couldn't afford to lose. So they hatched their own plan to control him. While Margot Fenrig's sexual congress with Feyd Rautha was shown in the movie, he was ALSO given the gom jabbar test as a way of making sure he was controllable by the Bene Gesserit. He passed with flying colors - not because he was human, but because he was *anti-human.* He was simply too kinky to torture, and not in any sort of a good way. The spider-pet and the Harpies, neither present in the books, were possibly ways to soft-introduce the Bene Tleilax to the audience. The Bene Tleilax may play a much bigger role in events in the third movie.

[@genzu1111]

I could see chairdogs making a cameo in the next film

[@scraperindustry]

The video I've been waiting for!!

[@mitchellglaser]

Just like with the Lynch version, all of the newly invented material is not as good as the book and tends to detract from the original story. Feyd is not the sick psycopath in the book, the Baron is. Feyd is just a brutal and horny young relative that the Baron wants to insert into the savior role, exploiting the same religious lever - planted by the Bene Gesserit - that Paul eventually uses to control the population of Arrakis. The beauty of the situation is that neither House (the Atreides nor the Harkonnens) knows that the other is attempting this, right up to the final duel between Paul and Feyd.

[@OfficialSapphirePhoenix]

Thank you for making a video! I was thinking about these characters and wanted to know more about their backstory. 🖤

[@freelancenerd4804]

lol, I read that as Herpes. Great movie. Always a good video

[@BouncingTribbles]

The training of super specialists is core to the lore of dune. It's not hard to see the harpies as the sadism version of a mentat. While i'm not discounting alteration, even a simple agression increase would be significant, the simple training of a monster is very possible. Great video.

[@NavajoJoe66]

I have a theory that they are futars, or some kind of Tleilaxu progenitors of futars.

[@anish87]

Not gonna lie, read that title as "Harkonnen Herpies Explained".

[@Pileven]

Plz keep making dune videos we will keep watching them

[@judemeadows3545]

Harkonnens be wildin

[@redwolf4611]

That Cheshire grin is unsettling. lol

[@martinharris5017]

The three brides of Dracula. Classic Bram Stoker reference.

[@zedovski]

Ironic that in the end Chani was treated like a pet by Paul when she was let go in his pursuit of the golden path

[@royllamas8173]

She abandoned him and the rest of the Freman. A departure from the book.

[@ToeKnife166]

Harpies? How dare you. They are his darlings.

[@CoinSlotKitty]

My question is how is it when someone does thier "interpretation" that they can change so much and claim that they had to cut important scenes but they always have time to add things that were never there?

[@richardbourton4523]

I don’t mean this rudely; but I think you’re thinking of an adaptation as just a remake of an existing product, but it’s not, especially when it’s a new medium from the original. When you choose to adapt something, making the new version good on its own merits becomes more important than preserving original features. So if an editor thinks a well known scene is dragging down the pacing and only exists to include a feature of the book; then they might recommend it is removed to enhance the new version. Similarly, they will add things where the new version seems to be lacking. The mind may have conjured up any number of Harkonnen horrors that are not written down in Dune, but the film production needs to make these explicit. Meanwhile, (I’m sorry to pick this example because there are plenty of more neutral examples I’m sure, but it’s the first that came to mind) they excised a lot of the book’s homophobia regarding the portrayal of the Harkonnens. They are decadent, indecent and incestuous, but that can be shown without the homophobia, so they took that out to make the film more in keeping with modern sensibilities. Whether the project succeeds as an adaptation is not the same as whether it succeeds as it’s own project, which is more important in the moment (as the original still exists, but the new version needs to be well received to make money). Sometimes they are terrible adaptations and terrible movies and sometimes the original property was poor and an adaptation can’t save it, but filmmakers are nearly always trying to make a decent product in the moment, rather than focussing just on being faithful to an original. If you’ve not seen it Dominic Noble has a series on here called Lost in Adaptation that looks at films through the lens of whether they made good or poor choices when adapting it which is very good and I would recommend it.

[@mattwakefield1216]

Keep up the amazing work!!

[@stevendavis1243]

I Would like to make a request. I would love for to you delve into the paradigm of Giedi Prime's inhabitants in the context of their relationship with House Harkonnen. Is it purely a relationship based on fear or on some semblance of loyalty to that house.

[@lynnwood7205]

I need to re read Frank Herbert's Dune. Read it on a troop train from Minneapolis to Fort Lewis in the summer of 1969. One of the last trains chartered for transport of recruits to Basic Training. Awesome scenery. Awesome book.

[@transformersrevenge9]

Denis went a bit overboard with Feyds psycho personality. Novel Feyd was cruel, impulsive and cunning, but only time he really went psycho, was when the Baron forced him to murder his harem of slave girls, as punishment. And that was an order. Other times, Feyd is just a schemer, who thinks he is smarter than he is, as the Baron sees through him, and Thufir has him twisted around his finger. Movie Feyd is somehow of Paul's level without the BG training, somehow passes the gom jabbar test, and murders people left and right for his cannibalistic slaves, all the while having a sense of honor, and being above dirty tricks. Also, I didn't care for the fact that the powerful psycho villain murders helpless slaves thing, was already done with Jared Leto's character in Blade Runner 2049. I really think that in the next Denis movie, a psychopathic and powerful character will get introduced by having him slice up some slave girls, just because he can.

[@sagan1976]

I always considered the spider to be Wanna Marcus, Yueh's wife, altered by the Bene Tleilax.

[@citizenearth71]

Feyd's view of women as disturbingly creepy but "exotic" pets to be maintained in captivity with controlling benevolence - so many men in reality have this view of women! Cudos to the creator of these characters for capturing something so subtle yet real in our world!

[@TheToekutter]

I always assumed the Harkkonen spider things was Yueh's wife after they took her apart like a doll and put her back together.

[@katdroidd]

As others have noted here, Frank Herbert's original depiction of the Harkonnens was based in his virulent homohobia, so every filmmaker has had to find a way to depict their depravity without relying on homophobic tropes. David Lynch did it with heart plugs which was crude but very effective (freaked me out for sure). Villeneuve is going in a different direction which I also like.

[@urthondurdie]

I am a Dune fan for more than 40 years. Villeneuve's take is on point, and so are the harpies.

[@nsv674]

It’s so strange that people are accusing Nerd Cookies of being an AI bot. It’s not very hard to go back and look at her videos from four years ago.

[@SamuelHonore-lr4tf]

I appreciate very much as soon as you explain this term, because I heard Fayd Rotha mention giving this dead general in his hands to his concubines who did not eat (I wanted to know if he was canons thank you! I've been a fan of Dune since 1986 but I haven't read the books 🙏🏿thank you for amability !

[@shanenolan5625]

They creeped me out . In the book. It seemed like her had a special someone in the pleasure wing . The baron wasn't sure which girl so he had fely kill them all . Feyd was spending an unusual amount of time visiting. ( the baron noticed and noticed how to hurt him , punish him ) The varon binds people via the pleasures or needs . But it seems like all those in the barons service his military for example had access to sex slaves via military brothels. Slavery was legal in the imperiam , and concubines contracts can be bought. The freman kept slaves and paul would as well ( to entertain the troops)

[@olejaker02]

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Except for Harpies, that schitt will follow you back.