I Know People Like To Interpret Paul As An Outright Villain Of The Story And While That's Not Unreasonable,

Daniela Amavia as Alia Atreides

CHILDREN OF DUNE (2003) season 1 • episode 3

What is THE SON but  an extension of THE FATHER?

St. Alia of the Knife cosplay for Dune at Worldcon.

Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides in Dune (1984) dir. David Lynch

We’re Harkonnens. So this is how we’ll survive, by being Harkonnens.

Dune: Part Two (2024) dir. Denis Villeneuve

I think people don't really understand why Baron was always supposed to be a ridiculous kind of villain and he was meant to die almost on accident, with no bang whatsoever.

There is a reason why Paul wasn't the one that killed him in the books. Baron was a shadow of a pawn and by the end of the story, Paul is so far above him, that he really couldn't care less. When he hears about his death, he doesn't give a single fuck.

He doesn't even care enough to kill Mohiam. He is beyond Guild's control, not to mention Emperor's or Jessica's.

They should all fear him. They can't do anything to stop him.

And Baron? This dude wouldn't even be able to bring down Leto, if it wasn't for Peter and him breaking an imperial conditioning for doctor Yueh.

What the movies fail greatly to present is how much the scale shifts over the story. What the message behind it all means. Because Harkonnes are the easiest kind of villains to spot, but in the end, maybe they are not the worst.

Maybe Paul himself is the worst.

Plans within plans don't exist in new Dune movies. It's as simple as that.

Even Feyd doesn't die because he's a Harkonnen. That's what Gurney thinks, that's what Fremen and even Emperor believe is happening. But Feyd dies because Feyd is almost Paul himself.

Baron is only as important as far Alia's story goes.

He was always her villain. Not Paul's.

The entire weight of her arc in Messiah shifts now, and I honestly hate it.

[..] You’ll bear my sister: St. Alia of the Knife.

DUNE 2021 | Denis Villeneuve

I'm rereading Dune in honour of the movie, and I had genuinely forgotten how absolutely vicious Leto's wit can be. Two examples:

Halleck stirred, said: "I think what rankles, Sire, is that we've had no volunteers from the other Great Houses. They address you as "Leto the Just" and promise eternal friendship, but only as long as it doesn't cost them anything."

"They don't yet know who's going to win this exchange," the Duke said. "Most of the Houses have grown fat by taking few risks. One cannot truly blame them for this; one can only despise them."

Pretty sure some of the heads of other houses just woke up several planetary systems away in a cold sweat, with the vague feeling of just having been verbally flayed.

"This is a carryall," Hawat said. "It's essentially a large 'thopter, whose sole function is to deliver a factory to spice-rich sands, then to rescue the factory when a sand-worm appears. They always appear. Harvesting the spice is a process of getting in and getting out with as much as possible."

"Admirably suited to Harkonnen morality," the Duke said.

I think the Baron is beyond feeling someone else roasting him from a system away, as it happens far too often, but still.

Finally, a gentler example:

"Gurney, take care of that smuggler situation first."

" 'I shall go unto the rebellious that dwell in the dry land,' " Halleck intoned.

"Someday I'll catch that man without a quotation and he'll look undressed," the Duke said.

I wish we'd had time to see this in the movie, because even though a fair amount of this is him putting on a bit of a show for his men, it's still hilarious.

What is the future if you die?