Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen

TL;DR: The Baron's serpentine seventeen-year-old heir — the Bene Gesserit-shaped Kwisatz Haderach candidate the Sisterhood was breeding to marry an Atreides daughter — killed by Paul in the closing kanly knife-duel in Chapter 47.

Spoilers through Chapter 47.

Snapshot

Lean, sinuous, gladiator-toned, seventeen. The Baron's chosen successor. The Bene Gesserit's intended marriage to an Atreides daughter that would have produced the controlled Kwisatz Haderach. Killed by Paul in the throne-room duel.

Role in the story

Na-Baron of House Harkonnen. The Baron's favored nephew and heir. Killed in the kanly knife-duel in Chapter 47.

Personality

Vain, lethal-elegant, theatrically cruel. The kind of seventeen-year-old who knows he is beautiful and uses it. Carries the Harkonnen sadism with the lacquered surface of a court favourite — where Rabban is the fist, Feyd is the dancer's blade.

What they want

The Barony. The Imperial throne. The Bene Gesserit-arranged marriage to an Atreides daughter. The recognition of being designed.

What they fear / hide

Outliving the Baron's approval. Being upstaged by Rabban. Losing a duel he has not arranged in advance.

Key relationships

• Baron Vladimir Harkonnen — uncle and patron; the man grooming him for the throne.
• Glossu Rabban — older brother and cover; the cat's-paw whose hatred Feyd will be the cure for.
• Mohiam and the Bene Gesserit — the Sisterhood that has been quietly conditioning Feyd toward the Kwisatz Haderach program; the chapter epigraphs hint that his Bene Gesserit shaping is more advanced than the on-page text shows.
• Paul Atreides — the Kwisatz Haderach the Sisterhood actually produced; Feyd's eventual killer.

Visual identity

Lean, sinuous, gladiator-toned, seventeen. Narrow vertical face with prominent cheekbones and a pointed chin. The shaved left temple with the Harkonnen-griffin tattoo in deep black ink set into the bare scalp — load-bearing identifying mark. Top-long sides-shaved hair with dark near-black top-hair slicked severely back. Plucked-and-painted dark brows. Almond dark-brown eyes spaced wider with outer corners tilted up and long dark lashes. Pale Giedi-Prime smoother-than-Rabban skin. Faint dark cosmetic stain on the lips. Black-and-purple silk fighting silks; thin gold Harkonnen-griffin at the breast; two long thin blades and a hidden poison-needle in the left-hand spur.

Aliases

The following names and references in the book all point to this character. Use any of these as link anchors back to this page.

• Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (canonical — the most common form)
• Feyd-Rautha
• Feyd
• Na-Baron Harkonnen
• the Pretty One
• the Snake

Book club discussion questions

1. Feyd is seventeen years old and was being shaped as the Bene Gesserit's controlled Kwisatz Haderach candidate. How does that frame change your read of the closing duel?
2. Frank Herbert deliberately lets Feyd be a real opponent in the duel even after Paul has already won the throne. Why?
3. Compare Feyd's vanity to Paul's discipline. What is the novel saying about which kind of seventeen-year-old wins?
4. The Atreides crysknife — Duncan Idaho's blade — kills Feyd. What does that closing of the inheritance loop tell you?