What does the “prophecy” of Dune: Prophecy‘s title refer to? Before the show’s first episode, the answer seemed obvious and easy. The prequel series takes place 10,000 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. That long ago era marked the early days of the Sisterhood that put in motion a grand plan to breed the super being of Frank Herbert’s seminal novel. But—fittingly considering the nature of prophecy—dark visions, conflicting objectives, a fearsome power, and the prescience of what awaits the galaxy makes divining the true meaning of Dune: Prophecy‘s title less clear. As does the presence of a powerful and mysterious figure who was “reborn” amid the sands of Arrakis.
Mother Superior Raquella’s Deathbed Prophecy on Dune: Prophecy
Raquella Berto-Anirul, a hero of the wars against the thinking machines, founded the Sisterhood that will become the Bene Gesserit. She wanted her group to help “govern the future.” To bring about “transformation” she began a secret breeding program with the goal of creating “better leaders” the Sisterhood would covertly guide. We know that plan, carried on at all costs by Valya Harkonnen, will eventually become focused on bringing about the Kwisatz Haderach. Yet, Dune: Prophecy‘s first episode raised serious questions about whether or not its own title specifically refers to that project.
On her deathbed, Mother Raquella saw an ominous vision of the future, a prophecy, as it were. “It’s coming,” she said as she saw red dust, a sandworm on Arrakis devouring buildings from other planets, blood, fire, and lights— maybe eyes? maybe a spaceship?—among the stars. In Dune: Prophecy‘s first episode, Raquella named the ominous forewarning “Tiran-Arafel.” Her most devoted followers called that a “reckoning,” a “holy judgment brought on by a tyrant.” That unimaginable darkness could destroy the Sisterhood and all of humanity completely.
Raquella trusted Valya with ensuring her prophecy did not come to pass on Dune: Prophecy. The dying Mother Superior made Valya her successor. “You will be the one to see the burning and know the truth,” she told Valya. By episode’s end that burning became quite literal.
Kasha’s Nightmare Vision on Dune: Prophecy
Reverend Mother Kasha guided the group’s choice to rule the Corrino Empire, Princess Ynez, from the time she was a child. She was also instrumental in pushing Ynez to agree to marry the young Richese boy, which the Emperor was willing to allow because of his vulnerability on Arrakis. (A position he’s in because the Sisterhood weakened his position on the vital planet full of spice melange specifically to force the royal union.)
Days before their promise ceremony, though, Kasha had her own nightmarish vision. She saw Ynez wearing a gown of blood, the Princess and herself both swallowed by a sandworm, a rotten pomegranate representing a rotten marriage union, and the same lights in space Raquella had seen in her deathbed prophecy. The episode did not explore the full meaning of Kasha’s horrible vision, but it did validate her fears. And her death indicated who might bring about Tiran-Arafel, a vision confirmed during episode two’s most terrifying sequence.
Desmond Hart sees the Sisterhood for what it is. Thinking machines might be outlawed, but “the witches” are controlling mankind same as machines once had. (And, it turns out, using those very same thinking machines to help them.) More than anyone else alive, he might also be the only person able to stop the Sisterhood.
On Arrakis, during an attack caused by the Sisterhood, a sandworm ate him. Only, somehow, he survived. And when he was “reborn” from the sands of Arrakis he emerged with a fearsome ability and a sacred purpose. Using only his mind, he burned the young Richese boy alive from the inside out. As he committed that murder, across the galaxy on Wallach IX, he also killed Kasha. She suffered the same horrible fate as the child.
Episode 2 of Dune: Prophecy Reveals More About Raquella’s Prophectic Vision
When Valya found the dying Kasha she had her own vision, which she called “the burning truth,” the one Raquella had spoken of. In episode two, she then had Lila undergo the Agony so she could unlock her genetic memory and speak to her ancestor Raquella. It was the only way to learn more about the Mother Superior’s deathbed warning. Before the memory of Dorotea took Lila, Raquella spoke through her descendant. Raquella offered a continuation of Dune: Prophecy‘s prophecy, revealing, “The key to the reckoning is one born twice. Once in blood, once in spice. A revenant full of skulls. A weapon born of war, on a path too short.”
For now, it seems like the title of Dune: Prophecy and the prophecy itself revolves around Desmon Hart. Desmond Hart, a soldier of the Imperium who survived a sandworm and emerged with enormous powers, is the key. Clearly, he was born twice, once in blood and once in spice. He is also the burning truth Raquella warned against, complete with literal firey powers. Whatever happened in that sandworm changed him and made him a fearsome foe of the Sisterhood. Or so it certainly seems. Prophecy can be fickle and impossible to truly understand until it comes to pass like Shai-Hulud in a sand storm.
The Sisterhood’s Acolytes Experience Extensions of the Prophecy in Their Nightmares
In Dune: Prophecy episode four, prophetic dreaming of doom spreads to all the acolytes of the Sisterhood. All the young sisters experience violent dreams with the same common themes, anxieties that lead to mounds of sand that lead to the gaping maw of a sandworm or Shai-Hulud. Additionally, they all see the same ominous lights in their dreams and then nothing more. The prophecy seems to overtake the girls in Dune: Prophecy episode four, with one girl almost killing herself and the rest almost unable to break out of the nightmare when Sister Tula walks them back through it. The prophetic dreams seem to awaken a kind of religious zeal in some of the girls, who feel that a god-like force has come to them. The lights, they say, are the eyes of god. We don’t know what the lights in Dune: Prophecy‘s prophecy are exactly, but we bet they are more machine than spirit.
Sister Tula herself also has a dark dream with the same hallmarks of Dune: Prophecy‘s prophecy, but in with the rest, she sees the crimes she has tried to hide unfurl before her. This includes Sister Dorotea’s murder and Tula’s massacre of the Atreides family. Tula also dreams she murders an acolyte. What these new iterations of the prophecy indicate are yet to be determined on Dune: Prophecy.
What Else Could Dune: Prophecy‘s Prophecy Mean?
From what we see now, it seems that Dune: Prophecy‘s titular prophecy means that Desmond Hart will bring doom to the world. But what if Desmond is not destined to be ‘the tyrant” who might bring about a holy judgment? What if he is the only one who will try and stop this prophecy of doom? He did stop a wedding Kasha herself came to view as ruinous for all involved. Is that the “prophecy” of the show’s titles?
Or does the series’ title refer to Kasha’s warning to Valya—that the Sisterhood’s plan to create a supreme leader could “cause the very thing” they seek to prevent? We know that will happen. Ten thousand years later, billions will die because the Kwisatz Haderach the Bene Gesserit created will launch a holy war on the galaxy.
Even if Dune: Prophecy‘s title is as obvious as we thought before the first episode and does refer to the Kwisatz Haderach, it’s not nearly as simple as it seems. Even those responsible for putting mankind on a path that leads to Paul Atreides don’t yet know exactly what prophecy they should fear.
Editor’s Note: Dune: Prophecy is a Legendary Entertainment production. Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.
Originally published on November 17, 2024.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
