WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for the Season 1 finale of Dune: Prophecy.
Desmond Hart has a shocking turn in the Dune: Prophecy season 1 finale that reveals the true origins of his magical powers powered by the Thinking Machines. Dune: Prophecy is a six-part series based on the 2012 novel Dune Brotherhoodwhich was written by the original Dune son of author Frank Herbert, Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson. The story takes place more than 10,000 years before the rise of Paul Atreidies, narrated in the book by Denis Villenueve. Dune (2020) and Dune: Part Two (2024). Dune: Prophecy reveals the origins of the powerful shadow brotherhood known as the Bene Gesserit and how they manipulated the destiny of humanity.
Dune: Prophecy episode 1 “The Hidden Hand” introduced Valya Harkonnen, a fierce and calculated leader, and her biological sister, Tula Harkonnen. Dune: Prophecy episode 2 reveals what happened to Lila and her grandmother, Reverend Mother Dorotea, after Tula and Valya encouraged her to endure the Agony. In Dune: Prophecy episode 3, Tula takes Lila's life into her own hands after she apparently died during the Agony ritual and attempts to resurrect her through the use of forbidden technology. Episode 4 reveals that Lila was resurrected through the Thinking Machine, Anirul. Episode 5 shows Desmond Hart's rise to power, while episode 6 shows Tula reconnecting with her abandoned half-Atreides son, Desmond Hart.
What happened to Desmond Hart and who put a thinking machine inside him?
Valya imagines a shadowy figure supervising the Thinking Machine's surgeons
Image via Max
After the truth about Desmond Hart's biological parents was revealed in Dune: Prophecy In Episode 5, the origins of his power to burn people alive are explored in the final moments of the Season 1 finale. Desmond, son of Tula Harkonnen and Orry Atreides, has been genetically manipulated by someone using the illicit power of Thinking Machine technologies. Just before Keiran Atredies and Princess Ynez Corrino escape Salusa Secundus and flee to Arrakis, Valya has a strange and shocking vision that shows Thinking machines altering Desmond's right eye.
During the Dune: Prophecy end of season 1. Valya confronts Desmond Hart, telling him to show her the end he claims to predict. Desmond unleashes the full power of his powers on Valya, which triggers a vision that leads her to discover the source of Desmond's magic. In his vision, a shadowy, hooded figure – who appears to be a member of the Brotherhood – oversees the Thinking Machine robots, surgically removing Desmond's right eye and placing some sort of electronic implant in it. Valya claims she can't make out who the shadowy figure is, but based on the person's silhouette, it appears to be a member of the Brotherhood.
What does it mean that Desmond Hart's eye is the virus?
He was programmed to come to power by the Thinking Machines
Image via Max
Tula learned that Desmond's magical power to burn people alive is actually the result of an airborne virus that spreads through fear. Although Valya tries to fight the virus based on fear, Tula tells her that it is not human but a machine, meaning that no one is capable of defeating it by force. Just as Valya begins to calm down and concentrate, the powerful fiery power of the virus eventually passes through her and leaves her unharmed. The virus inspired Valya's deepest fears and used them against herwhich is why she imagines her brother Griffin and him blaming her for his death, which she blames on Vorian Atreides.
Because the Thinking Machines implanted a fear-based virus into Desmond Hart's eyes, this makes him a sort of false idol with very deadly power. As seen throughout Dune: Prophecy In the first season, Desmond appears to be in complete control of the virus and who it affects. He initially kills Pruwett Richese and sister Kasha simultaneously using the virus, triggering the reaction by pressing on their right temple. It's unclear whether Desmond is doing this of his own free will. or whether the Thinking Machines programmed him to become the face of The Reckoning, essentially playing out an apocalyptic scenario for potential underlying gain.
How Dune: Prophecy Set Up Its Twist Desmond Hart/Thinking Machine
Desmond's extraordinary power was the main mystery throughout Season 1
Image via Max
One of the greatest mysteries of all Dune: Prophecy The first season was how Desmond Hart was able to gain such magnificent power that made him immune to the power of the Bene Gesserit Voice. If there may be any kind of power Desmond has, it's that he can't be controlled and manipulated by the Brotherhood, which is likely a power the Thinking Machines want to spread to others. The fact that Desmond was given this power suggests that he may not be the only one who has it. Whoever used the Thinking Machine to turn Desmond into a biological warfare weapon will probably do the same to someone else – or already has.
The hot desert sun shining in the background suggests that Desmond Hart was biologically altered by some Thinking Machines on Arrakis, where he lived before arriving on Salusa Secundus. Desmond's motivations beyond getting revenge on the Brotherhood remain unclear at the end of Dune: Prophecy season 1. The biggest unanswered question at this point is who instructed the Thinking Machines to implant the fear-based mechanical virus to be implanted in Desmond's eye. It is also likely that whoever implanted this virus also programmed Desmond to believe he was swallowed by Shai-Hulud and miraculously came back to life.
What Desmond Hart Twist Means for Dune: The Future of Prophecy
Desmond is not only a Harkonnen-Atreides hybrid, but also a kind of inhuman cyborg.
What was initially suggested to be Shai-Hulud's inner spirit – two glowing blue eyes surrounded by darkness – is revealed to be part of the Thinking Machines that installed Desmond Hart's superhuman virus. Valya apparently remembers Hart waking up on an operating table and witness the Thinking Machines removing his right eye from its socket and inserting blue mechanical implants. They also change the color of his cornea before reinserting his eye and revealing the shadowy figure of supervision with what appears to be a bright sun shining into the operating room.
Valya wants to remove Desmond's eye, but Tula doesn't let her because he is her son, using the Voice on her to stop her. Because of this newfound emotional element, Dune: Prophecy 2nd season I could see Tula and Desmond forming a relationship and working together to fight whoever implanted the virus inside him in the first place. In this case, Desmond would likely have to learn to control the power of his eye and resist the other “hidden hand” that programmed him in the first place. One of the greatest unsolved mysteries Dune: Prophecy that's what happened to Lila's mother, Dorotea's daughter. She could be the mysterious shadowy figure who appears in Valya's vision on Arrakis in season 2.