Dune Part Two is gonna be seeing the introduction of a big villain and throughout this video we’re gonna be going through everything you need to know about Austin Butler’s Feyd. If you’ve seen the original David Lynch movie then this is the same character that Sting played but there’s far more depth to him than what we got in that.
Though he stood around looking like an evil Ed Sheeran with a constant Smirk on his face, he actually has deep ties with Paul and the Kwisatz Haerach.
He’s such an interesting character and it’s important to bear in mind that Feyd is supposed to be Paul’s opposite in more ways than one. Now when looking at storytelling we often get the idea of a doppelganger to reflect what the hero could be had they taken a different path. The Hitchcockian double is something that’s laced throughout a lot of film and these doubles act as a way where we can compare and contrast certain characters.
On the surface Feyd is Paul’s double and both represent the sons in their families that will eventually rule their houses one day. Whoever is the more powerful out of the two has been thought to rule the galaxy and that’s where there’s a lot of focus on the atredies and harkonnens.
Now these two sides are clearly bitter rivals in the Dune universe and that first film centered around them destroying the Atreides and taking back Arrakis.
Bene Gesserit Plans Explained
This feud is something that has gone back centuries but there were plans to unite the pair before they were born. Just like Paul, Feyd was part of the Bene Gesserits breeding program and if you’re still kind of getting up to speed on Dune then we have some stuff that we need to touch upon before we go further into who the character is.
Now the Bene Gesserits goal at this point is to create a supreme being known as the Kwisatz Haderach.
In the Dune world ingesting spice can give you certain abilities and some can tap into the genetic memories of their ancestors which gives them access to a wealth of information. However the Bene Gesserit being all women means that they can only access memories on the female side. However with the Kwisatz Haderach being male this will allow them to tap into the male side as well as the female and thus they’ll have access to information spanning tens of thousands of years.
The Gesserits have been carrying out the breeding program for roughly ten thousand years with the goal almost being complete. Now they’ve also used religion as a way to manipulate and control the masses. They have spread the idea that this great being is coming and labelling it as prophecy
However theyre of course using science to make sure it happens but when it does theyll also be seen as the religious figures to get behind.
has meant that people are simply waiting for this figure to arrive so that they can follow them.
That’s why people flock to Paul so easily but the Bene have their own plans too.
They see the Kwisatz Haderach as being their pawn that they can place on the throne and then through him they’ll be able to control the galaxy.
They’d have to oust the emperor to do it but it would give them unrivalled control and power.
Now the first film doesn’t really go into this but there were actually multiple people that were being groomed to be the Kwisatz Haderach. The fact of the matter is that Paul also wasn’t originally planned to be the person either but the shoe ended up fitting and thus the Bene went for it.
Throughout Dune we often get lip service paid to the fact that Lady Jessica was supposed to have a daughter but the Duke wanted a son and thus she selected this instead. Spice can allow one to select the gender of their child and she did this out of love for the duke instead of going with what the order wanted.
Now this destroyed their plans a bit and it also sealed the fate of the Atreides.
Originally the plan was to have this daughter marry the Harkonnens son who…as you guessed it was going to be Feyd.
This would unite the houses and stop them from continuing their feud and it was then there child that was going to be the kwisatz haderach.
That’s also sort of why he’s the opposite to Paul as he was originally supposed to be the Son that would bring them altogether.
However I think had Feyd got in power that the universe would have suffered for it. In the new trailer we get some brief shots of him in which he looks extremely ruthless and he probably doesn’t ever hit the thumbs up buttons on videos even though it takes two seconds and he looks violent and vicious in these black and white flashbacks.
Now Feyd was born on the planet Lankiveil and he’s the younger brother of Glossu Rabban who’s played in the film by Dave Bautista.
Feyds father Abulurd was well aware of how poisonous the Harkonnen name was throughout the universe and he saw that Rabban had continued to bring in the dishonour. In Feyd he hoped that he could right the wrongs of the past but Feyd was taken by the Baron whilst Rabann killed their father. He gained the nickname the Beast Rabban and the Baron raised Feyd on Giedi Prime as an heir to the throne.
Austin Butler’s Feyd Explained
Now the Bene realised that these two houses going to war would not only be bad for the galaxy but also bad for their plans which had taken 10,000 years to put together.
Realising that if both died they’d have lost all the genetic material they sent out a spy in Margot Fenring to seduce Feyd so that a child could be born carrying on his DNA.
In the film Margot will be played by Lea Seydoux and we get some black and white shots of her looking over Feyd as he fights in a combat arena. Talked about this in our trailer breakdown but I think this black and white style actually shows that this is all a flashback and we will have the blanks filled in as to what Feyd was up to when everything was happening with the Atredies.
Margot fell pregnant and she gave birth to a daughter named Marie who we’ll touch upon briefly towards the end of the video.
Now in order to talk about what happens with Feyd we need to go into spoiler territory about what happens with him and Paul. There’s a big fight between the pair and I think it would go into too much spoilery stuff that it will ruin the ending of the movie so check out now if you don’t want to know.
Anyway the Barons original plan was to have Feyd marry the Emperors daughter Irulan. Played by Florence Pugh in the movie this will give the Baron complete control over the universe due to them having their quote unquote son on the throne. His plan this entire time was to gain an alliance with the Emperor, allow the Atreides to take over Arrakis, kill them there and then retake the planet and usher in their rule.
The emperor was jealous that the Atreides were growing in popularity and that their military strength too was getting to a point where they were too powerful to combat.
The Baron actually allowed The Beast to rule over Arrakis for some time and the tyranny he brought with him destroyed a lot of the villages and settlements. This wasn’t The Beast going crazy with power though and the Baron was well aware that this would be the outcome of placing him in that position of power.
Thus when Feyd showed up and was more merciful he’d seem like a savior and this would make people flock to him and allow him to gain power.
How Paul Ruined The Plans
However they didn’t count on Paul being alive and after he became leader of the Fremen he started an uprising. Waging war on Arrakis and the Harkonnens he started to take the planet back which got the attention of the emperor and also
This all came to a head in the knife fight that we see teased at in the trailer. Eventually Paul and Feyd came face to face with him besting the baddie in combat.
Eventually it was Paul who married Irulan and even though he’d been hooking with Chani this wedding stop the war escalating beyond Arrakis.
Now he would go on to lead but it wouldn’t be the big peaceful reign everyone hoped for and millions were murdered in his name. Described as a holy war this ravaged the galaxy and countless people lost their lives in service of his new vision of what the universe should be like.
It caused a lot of unrest and this is where we get back to Marie.
She was entrusted with assassinating Paul but unfortunately this failed.
Now there’s lot’s of complicated things going on with him and Paul does kind of right some of the wrongs of the past in the aftermath of all the battles.
That ties in with the whole Children of Dune saga in which his kids end up taking over the reigns whilst he goes off out into the desert and has an awakening.
Sort of like a big Jesus metaphor with him returning to stop further bloodshed and it’s a really interesting story.
Pauls a flawed hero and very much the outcome of people around him attempting to gain power for themselves. That’s also the case with Feyd and though thye’re painting him out like a complete psycho he’s as much groomed and manipulated as Paul was.
It’s gonna be interesting to see how it all goes down and I can’t wait for the movie when it releases later this year.
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