Dune’s Atreides & Harkonnen Family Tree Explained

Warning: Contains major spoilers for “Dune: Part Two” and “Dune: Prophecy.”

The story of “Dune” is, on many levels, a story about family. At the heart of Denis Villeneuve’s lauded science fiction films (based on the seminal novels written by Frank Herbert) is the coming-of-age story of young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), whose journey into manhood is closely guided by his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and the shadow of his father Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac).

Shifting the lens from the intimate to the intergalactic, however, we see the universe is largely controlled by the sprawling families of three Major Houses: the Imperial House Corrino, the ostensibly altruistic House Atreides, and their bitter, badder rivals House Harkonnen. When 2021’s “Dune” begins, the latter two houses are engaged in a feud almost as old as the Corrino Empire itself.

Their relationship is made all the more complicated in “Dune: Part Two” (which delves into the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program meant to bind them to the will of the mysterious Bene Gesserit) and in the HBO series “Dune: Prophecy.” Setting the books (mostly) aside for the time being, we’ll explain the Atreides & Harkonnen family tree in “Dune” as comprehensively as possible — as well as the implications their lineage have for the future of the Imperium. 

Bear in mind that while we won’t be spoiling the “Dune” novels (or sharing potential spoilers for future films and series adapting them), this task can’t be done without dropping major spoilers for both “Dune: Part Two” and “Dune: Prophecy.”

At the center of these two feuding families — and indeed the entire “Dune” universe, for the time being — is Paul Atreides, Timothée Chalamet’s princely, messianic war lord who serves as the protagonist of Denis Villeneuve’s two-part epic. Though Frank Herbert’s novels came many years before most of the films and television shows that define the popular science fiction genre (including “Star Wars”), the author’s obvious skepticism of charismatic leaders like Paul gave him surprising, dark character beats that subvert the traditionally heroic tropes reinforced by the slew of sci-fi heroes that followed him. This inversion of the “chosen one” archetype is what initially drew Chalamet to the project, proving why Villeneuve wanted no other actor to play the role.

What Paul is “chosen” to be is the Lisan al Gaib, the product of a breeding program shrouded in prophecies shepherded (read: manufactured) by the Order of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. Their end goal is to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a physically, spiritually, and culturally all-powerful being who also does their bidding in order to increase the Sisterhood’s influence in the Imperium. However, due to the actions of his parents (which we’ll get to further down), Paul’s claim to the title is somewhat ambiguous in its validity. There are others who could be, and indeed are, better groomed for this role — yet it is ultimately Paul who steps up (again, at least for the time being), using his powers to defeat the Harkonnens, end the over 10,000 year reign of the Corrino Empire, and take the title of Padishah Emperor for himself.

Arguably one of the most normal (and certainly one of the best) characters in the “Dune” cinematic franchise thus far, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) is the leader of House Atreides, steward of planet Caladan, and the father of Paul Atreides. Leto is shown in the first film to be a fair ruler, earning the respect of his people and the other Great Houses.

Nailing this dynamic in the film required a light touch from all involved to lend Leto credibility as both a ruler and a father. “I can try to give off dad vibes as much as I want, but it’s that old acting adage that it’s the court that tells everybody who the king is, not the king,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “How the court treats the person of higher status tells you everything you need to know about them.” As a result, Paul and Leto’s visit to the family cemetery — wherein Leto reassures Paul that, should he refuse his birthright as heir to House Atreides, he will still be proud to call him son — is the film’s most meaningful depiction of Leto’s place in this world while he’s still living.

Wielding near-universal respect and an immense amount of military power earned Leto the fear of Paul’s imperial predecessor, Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV (Christopher Walken), who thus collaborated with the Harkonnens to have Leto and his house extinguished during their isolation on Arrakis. This plot was temporarily successful in large part, resulting in Leto’s assassination.

Though Duke Leto never married, he had a long and deeply intimate romantic partnership with the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). Jessica was Leto’s concubine, tasked by her order with conceiving a daughter with him in order to advance the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program. Leto and Jessica’s daughter would subsequently mate with a son from House Harkonnen, thus creating the desired Atreides-Harkonnen child who would become the true Kwisatz Haderach.

Jessica, however, overcome by a combination of hubris and a genuine love for Leto, disobeyed her order (who can control the birth sex of their offspring) and gave birth to Paul — a son who could be Leto’s heir. She further agitated them by training Paul in the ways of the Bene Gesserit, a right which was to be reserved only for the true Kwisatz Haderach. Though she truly loves Paul, consuming the Freman Water of Life changes her perception of the world and compels her to become a fanatical Reverend Mother, insidiously paving the way for her son’s own corruption and violent ascension to power. This change in personality is caused by a factor the former Reverend Mother didn’t consider when she forced Jessica to drink the concoction — Jessica was, in fact, already pregnant with Paul’s sister.

As we shift focus to the Harkonnen side of this twisted tree, a natural root to examine is the Baron himself, Vladimir Harkonnen. For the majority of the two films released so far, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) is simply a despotic, greedy dictator looking to maximise his own power while destroying House Atreides. It isn’t until Paul drinks the Water of Life himself that we learn the Baron is actually his biological grandfather — confirming to Paul and his mother (the Baron’s daughter) that he is indeed the Atreides-Harkonnen-blooded Kwisatz Haderach the Bene Gesserit planned for.

The films don’t explicitly state who Baron Harkonnen conceived Lady Jessica with, aside from noting that she was a powerful Bene Gesserit herself. It is left up in the air whether or not that Bene Gesserit sister could be Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (played by Charlotte Rampling in the films), who administered the Gom Jabbar test to Paul and is indeed revealed to be his grandmother in the expanded “Dune” literary canon. Either way, the Baron dies just as soon as he begins to understand his secret lineage at the hands of Paul, leaving the future of this once great house in major turmoil.

Lady Jessica’s parentage makes Baron Harkonnen’s disgusting nephews her cousins — and, by extension, Paul’s as well (first cousins, once removed). In the books, the Baron’s half-brother Abulurd Rabban (dropping the Harkonnen surname to distance himself from the family) sired two children, whom the Baron was forced to groom as his heirs, given his apparent reluctance to have children of his own (suffice it to say, it is strongly implied in arguably homophobic fashion that Baron Harkonnen has some disturbing sexual proclivities). The eldest of his nephews was the brute Glossu Rabban, referred to in the films as Count Rabban Harkonnen (played by Dave Bautista).

There isn’t much to suggest the films have or plan on changing the Harkonnen family tree from what we’ve described here, beyond that they’ve seemingly tweaked Rabban’s name and side-stepped speculation on the Baron’s sexuality (Stellan Skarsgård portrays him as a sociopath so grotesque that you couldn’t place him on any spectrum, which works perfectly with Denis Villeneuve’s vision for this universe). The Count was slain by Atreides Warmaster Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) in “Dune: Part Two” after being given a brief rule over Arrakis. Rabban’s rule ended when his younger brother arrived on the planet to take control.

Rabban’s younger brother is Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (née Rabban, in the books), the fascinatingly wicked and sadistic chosen heir to House Harkonnen. He is portrayed in the films by Austin Butler, who swapped his “Elvis” voice for an eerie replication of Stellan Skarsgård’s, emphasizing their close familial ties and immediately signaling to the audience that he’s the only logical successor to the Baron’s title.

Baron Harkonnen prefers Feyd-Rautha over Rabban because he mistakes the former’s cruel clear-headedness as genuine intellect — where Rabban is a blunt instrument of destruction, Feyd-Rautha is a deadly and precise blade. Like the rest of the ruling Harkonnens, Feyd-Rautha is slain during Paul’s takeover of Arrakis, killed in a ceremonial duel between the two cousins. However, his death and those of his immediate family do not represent the end of House Harkonnen as a bloodline — the Bene Gesserit made sure of that.

Lady Margot Fenring (Léa Seydoux) is a loyal member of the Bene Gesserit who conspires with Reverend Mother Mohiam and House Corrino in the aftermath of the Harkonnen ambush on Arrakis. Measuring their plans in centuries, the Bene Gesserit want to ensure that whatever chaos caused by Paul’s survival and potential ascension is mitigated by the deliberate preservation of the Harkonnen bloodline. Should Paul (an obviously powerful individual making use of the Bene Gesserit myth-making on the planet) succeed in his vengeful aims, there would be no Harkonnens left to create a true Kwisatz Haderach for them to control.

To avoid this outcome, Lady Margot is sent to Geidi Prime ahead of Feyd-Rautha’s journey to Arrakis. She seduces him with the deliberate goal of conceiving a female child, succeeding in keeping future prospects open despite his demise.

The last piece of the contemporary branchwork of the Atreides-Harkonnen family tree is Princess Irulan Corrino (Florence Pugh), the daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV who is, by all appearances, going to be wed to the new Padishah Emperor Paul Atreides. After killing Feyd-Rautha and decisively winning the three-way war between the Great Houses, Paul asks for her hand to consolidate his power.

In the books, Irulan sees some political advantage in marrying Paul, as their children would then maintain Corrino-Atreides hegemony throughout the Imperium. The only issue with this plan is, of course, Chani (played by Zendaya in the films). In both versions of the story, Paul’s decision to marry Irulan is in conflict with his profound love for the Freman warrior — without spoiling anything, that’s a love triangle that will have to be resolved before any Corrino heir can come to be.

At this juncture, we begin venturing into somewhat uncharted territory. Unlike Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” the HBO series “Dune: Prophecy” does not directly adapt any of the books, instead telling an mostly original story with concepts, ideas, and plot points sourced from both Frank Herbert’s original “Dune” series and the expanded (and hotly contested) canon of the follow-up novels written by his son Brian Herbert and sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson. Though “Dune” purists have strong opinions about what aspects of the expanded canon actually matter to the original universe, some major story elements were made canon in the film universe by “Prophecy.” This is your final spoiler warning for the series, as we’re about to dive into its biggest twist.

The primary antagonist of the series is Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a character original to the film universe with a secret allegiance to the dangerous and thought-to-be vanquished thinking machines. As it turns out, he is also the first person chronologically to possess both Atreides and Harkonnen ancestry — his father hailing from the former house, his mother hailing from the latter.

Desmond’s mother is Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams), a character originally from the expanded canon novel “Mentats of Dune.” In the film universe, the Harkonnens had been exiled to the planet Lankiveil in retaliation for their ancestor Abulurd Harkonnen (for whom Abulurd Rabban was derisively named) deserting the Imperium during the Butlerian Jihad. Abulurd’s act put him in conflict with Vorian Atreides, thus beginning their millennia of feuding.

At the time of “Dune: Prophecy,” however, only a few decades have passed since Abulurd’s desertion. The family is thus split over how to respond, particularly to the perceived betrayal by House Atreides. After an attempt at peace seemingly results in the death of her brother, Tula chooses vengeance.

Orry Atreides (Milo Callaghan) is a distant ancestor of the great house whom Tula Harkonnen romanced as a young girl. He was so smitten with her that he asked to marry her. When she said yes, they immediately set about conceiving a son — Desmond Hart.

The night after the proposal, however, Tula fatally poisoned Orry along with the rest of the Atreides ancestors present. When she discovered she was pregnant afterward, the Bene Gesserit breeding index revealed that the child would be incredibly important to the future of the universe. Though her sister Valya (Emily Watson) wanted to raise the child under the influence of the Sisterhood — a plan that feels similar to that which was to create the Kwisatz Haderach — Tula chose to send him away for his own good. Destiny could not be avoided it seems, as Orry’s son eventually proved to be just that powerful — for better and, mostly, for worse.

The Atreides have a long and storied bloodline in the books, including King Atreus, a real-world figure in ancient Greek mythology who ruled Mycenae and sired sons Agamemnon and Menelaus. Aside from that bit of trivia, however, we’ll keep things focused on what we’ve seen in the films and television show in order to avoid spoilers and unnecessary confusion.

As of writing, the only other known Atreides ancestors are Leto’s father (unseen in the films, known as “Old Duke” in the books), Orry’s slain family members (Uncle Shander and cousin Ronan among them), and the lone survivor Albert. Tula had mercy on Orry’s younger cousin and allowed him to flee. Many years later, he sired a son — Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason), who became a Swordsmaster prior to the ascension of House Atreides.

Keiran is an example of how the Atreides-Harkonnen feud has been able to persist and escalate through traded acts of violence, Albert having passed down to Keiren his trauma from witnessing the death of his entire family. Keiran is also unknowingly Desmond Hart’s cousin, though he considers Desmond an enemy due to his apparent Imperial allegiance. The former Atreides ancestor ironically resents powerful houses — the likes of which House Atreides would one day become — due to their irresponsible use of resources. It is yet unknown how any of these Atreides (save Old Duke) lead to Paul.

The remaining Harkonnens seen in the “Dune” film cannon are direct relatives of Tula. Most important among them in terms of “Dune: Prophecy’s” plot is Valya, her elder sister who reigns as Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit (a position she obtained through violent means). Given the impact and power demonstrated by the Atreides-Harkonnen-born Desmond Hart, it is possible that her arrival in Arrakis at the end of the first season (alongside Keiran and an ancestor from House Corrino) could see her inspired enough to begin spreading those prophecies which will later help Paul establish credibility as the Lisan al Gaib. It could also be a sign of the coming dawn of the trio of Great Houses that exists at the beginning of the first “Dune” movie.

Other Harkonnens shown in “Prophecy” are Baron Harrow Harkonnen (Tula’s nephew, played by Edward Davis), Uncle Evgeny (Mark Addy), and parents Sonya (Polly Walker) and Vergyl (not seen in the series). Tula and Valya also had a brother Griffin who died before the series begins, seemingly as a consequence of trying to reason with Vorian Atreides. The truth is a bit more complicated in the books, but we won’t spoil that here in the likely case it plays a part in a future “Prophecy” storyline (Griffin’s story is chronicled in the book “Sisterhood of Dune”). Once again, this shows just how much this feud is fueled by rash action and, often, pure misunderstanding. Much of the “Dune” film/TV franchise will likely chart how the violence escalated from traded lives to full-scale military conflict.