History Characters / DuneDenisVilleneuveHouseHarkonnen

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** Because the events leading to the assault on the Atreides are compressed, a lot of the layers and complexities of the plan never make it to screen, making it seem that for all his genius, the Baron's entire plan was "Get the Emperor's dudes to help me". In the book the Baron and Pieter deliberately let it leak that they have a mole, to plant paranoia among the Atreides. They also make sure the Atreides find them smuggling Lasguns, as to plant in them doubts about using shields. [[note]]In the book, laser impacting shields detonate both of them in a blast that can compare to a nuclear blast at high levels. But it's also possible to put a lasgun on a timer or remote, so that it'll fire at a static shield with no one in the blast zone.[[/note]] Then employing what would be archaic artillery normally rendered useless by shields to supplement their assault when the Atreides have turned their shields off. He even goes so far as to, as Thufir Hawat comes to suspect, plant false intel about how much money the Harkonnens have made from Arrakis so as to muddle just how much money he has on hand to move troops to Arrakis.

The ruthless and sadistic head of House Harkonnen, who conspires with Emperor Shaddam IV to destroy the Atreides.

The head of House Harkonnen, who conspires with Emperor Shaddam IV to destroy the Atreides.

A servant of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and the supervisor of the GladiatorGames organized for Feyd-Rautha's birthday.

* LudicrousMeleeAccuracy: he slits the throat of a handmaiden ''without looking'' just to test the blade.

* AdiposeRex: He rules a Great House, and he's enormously fat.

->''"Feed him to my pets. They're hungry, they didn't get to eat anything on the journey here."''\\

** [[spoiler:When Leto releases the poison gas in his tooth, the Baron goes visibly OhCrap and rapidly escapes to the farthest, highest corner of the ceiling he can find to remove himself from the threat. He is still clinging to that spot when his servants unseal the room the next morning, and is moaning in pain, fear or both.]]

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Feyd is still very much a psychotic despot-to-be, but the film's AdaptationalBadass treatment makes him much more of an honorable warrior than the original CombatPragmatist from the book. His attempts to assassinate the Baron are also omitted, with him reacting to his own assassination attempt with the disgust of someone who considers himself over treachery, and it's stated Feyd intends to inherit his uncle's titles legitimately. Margot outright notes that he values honor and this is a lever they can use to control him.

* AdaptationalSympathy: ZigZagged. On one hand, in the novels, Feyd was depicted in a somewhat sympathetic light as the product of the Baron's abuse -- with the prequels revealing he had been stolen from his loving parents -- and it was noted that he could easily have turned out like Paul had he not been corrupted by the Baron. Here, he murdered his own mother and is implied to have been a sociopath from the get-go. But on the other hand here he's depicted as far more troubled and insecure than his book counterpart, which we see when Margot seduces him, and his disappointment at his uncle's attempt on his life, with a subtle implication that the brash fierce persona is a facade he has to maintain.

* DirtyCoward: Rabban swears to kill Muad'Dib and leads an assault force into the desert, but panics and flees the instant he sees his adversary stalking towards him while the Fremen make mincemeat of his troops. He again tries to run away during the final battle, [[spoiler:although when Gurney comes to challenge him, Rabban ''does'' stand and fight, [[PaperTiger albeit not for that long]]. Presumably he didn't think he could get away if he ran.]] Dave Bautista discussed it during [[https://youtu.be/qIKcKD6SO7k?si=z7oZbsKSu2Kw2XJV an interview]], stating that Rabban at his core is a coward and that his actions all stem from that.

* PaperTiger: While Rabban is very intimidating in both appearance and demeanor, ''Part Two'' proves that unless his targets are helpless or taken by surprise, he's all but useless in a fight. [[spoiler:He flees in cowardice from Paul, is laid out and humiliated by Feyd, and is killed by Gurney in a few swift moves during the final battle.]]
* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Implied as Dave Bautistia is over two decades older than Aaron Butler who plays Rabban's brother Feyd.

* UnskilledButStrong: For all his size and strength, although he surely knows how to break a neck with his hands, Rabban doesn't seem to have fighting skills to speak of, immediately fleeing when directly confronted by Muad'Dib and almost being killed by a random Fremen during his retreat. Rabban doesn't fare any better in any other altercation, with Feyd-Rautha and [[spoiler:Gurney Halleck]] dealing out a CurbStompBattle on separate occasions.

** Notably, this version of Feyd is subjected to the ''gom jabbar'' and successfully passes, something that never happens in the novel and would seem pretty improbable given that he lacks Paul's Bene Gesserit training, the only thing that allowed Paul to survive his own test. This also means the filmic Feyd passed solely thanks to his natural mental resources, giving credence to the Bene Gesserit's notion that he could have fathered the Kwisatz Haderach had Jessica followed their instructions to have a daughter.

* CasualKink: It isn't depicted onscreen[[note]]unless one interprets his success at the gom-jabbar test as being the product of his masochism[[/note]], but Lady Margot reports that Feyd derives sexual satisfaction from receiving pain and humiliation, a quality that, unlike his sadistic tendencies, isn't treated as one of Feyd's moral failings.

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"My Lord, you gave your word to the witch, and she sees too much."'']]

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"I said I will not harm them, and I shall not. But Arrakis is Arrakis, and the desert takes the weak. My desert. My Arrakis. My Dune."'']]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rabban.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"RATS! HAIRY RATS! KILL THEM!! KILL THEM!! KILL THEM ALL! KILL... THEM... ALL! RATS!"'']]