Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy Episode 3.
The second episode ofDune: Prophecyputs Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson), the calculating Mother Superior of the Sisterhood (which will eventually come to be known as the Bene Gesserit) on the defensive, revealing that Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), the mysterious soldier with a grudge against the Sisterhood, is immune toValya’s mystical mind controlling Voice. The series’ third episode shows Valya strategizing a response to this frightening development, but it also makes the Sisterhood’s future seem even more uncertain, as important vulnerabilities of Valya’s sister, Tula (Olivia Williams), are also revealed. Tula certainly has ruthless qualities to match her sister’s, but the former also has a compassionate, nurturing side to her personality that, while admirably human, may also prove to be a liability in relation to the cutthroat political affairs of the Sisterhood.Tula’s relationship with Sisterhood studentLila (Chloe Lea), in particular, could lead to the creation of the very threat the organization fears.
Tula Refuses To Lose Lila in ‘Dune: Prophecy’
In Episode 2, on Valya’s orders, Tula successfully urges Lila to undergo“the Agony”, a ritual that will allow Lila to access the memories of her female ancestors, though only after being exposed to poison. Valya and the Sisterhood leadership hope that Lila will specifically be able to commune with the memory of her great-grandmother, deceased Mother Superior Raquella (Cathy Tyson), the Sisterhood’s founder, to learn more about a disastrous event known as the Reckoning, which Raquella prophesied and Valya believes is imminent. Although Raquella does briefly speak through Lila, giving some additional, but still cryptic, descriptions of the Reckoning,the latter is also possessed by the memory of Raquella’s granddaughter Dorotea (Camilla Beeput), who was killed by Valya, and is subsequently rendered comatose.
InEpisode 3, Tula’s peers remind her that no sister has ever recovered from the state Lila is in after a problematic Agony. Tula eventually pretends to reluctantly accept this and suspends Lila’s life support measures. However, after the girl’s classmates bid her farewell with a funeral, Tula takes Lila’s body to a hidden chamber in the Sisterhood headquarters that Valya gave her access to while the latter is off-planet. In the chamber are thinking machines similar to those humanity warred against in the conflict theDunenovels refer to asthe Butlerian Jihad. Since the war, thinking machines have been completely banned from the galactic Imperium. However, a prior flashback reveals that Raquella confided to Valya thatthe Sisterhood uses them for their genetics research.Tula places Lila inside a machine and orders it to keep her alive.
Tula’s contradicting ruthlessness and compassion are also highlighted in the flashback sequences. During their childhood,Tula (Emma Canning), Valya (Jessica Barden), and their family lived in exile on the planet Lankiveil, supposedly because the girls’ great-grandfather had been falsely accused of committing a war crime during the Jihad by Vorian Atreides. Shortly after the girls’ brother, Griffin (Earl Cave), promises to use his position with the Landsraad to argue for the family’s innocence, he dies, with Valya asserting that he was killed by Vorian. Subsequently, while Valya begins her training with the Sisterhood,Tula kills nearly everyone in House Atreides after seducing a member of the group, Orry (Milo Callaghan), while using a false name. Despite seeming to have genuine romantic feelings for Orry (who even proposes marriage to her), Tula kills him as well butallows a younger member of the family, Albert (Archie Barnes), to flee.
While Albert’s survival could amount to nothing more than an example of how Tula is not completely without mercy and an acknowledgment that the Atreides lineage continues, it could also play a part in the events of the series’ main time period. Albert could be closely related to Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason), the swordmaster who works for the royal House Corrino but is secretly part of a burgeoning rebellion against the Imperium. Or if this part of Tula’s history proves to be even more central to the narrative,Albert could be connected to, or even grow up to be, Desmond Hart.
‘Dune: Prophecy’ Episode 3 Recap: A Tale of Two Sisters
Valya starts plotting her revenge against Desmond Hart, while Tula struggles to come to terms with Lila’s death.
And even if Albert’s survival doesn’t have later ramifications, the attempted revival of Lila almost certainly will, regardless of whether it’s actually successful or not. First of all, if and when more people discover that the Sisterhood utilizes thinking machines,the organization will face even more scrutinythan it is currently under, given the intense fear Imperial subjects have of the machines, which are even criticized in popular religions and among the Sisterhood itself. But posing an even greater danger is the fact that, if she is revived, Lila may no longer side with the Sisterhood.
When Raquella possesses Lila during the Agony, the former states that “The key to the Reckoning is one born twice. Once in blood, once in spice.” Valya immediately assumes this refers to Hart, who supposedly survived being swallowed by one of the giant sandworms of the planet Arrakis, which create the rare mineral known asspice or melange. Spice is used in the version ofthe Agonypracticed on Arrakis in theDunefilms directed byDenis Villeneuve, so it could easily also be involved in this early Sisterhood iteration of the ritual, or the mineral could be used by the machines attempting to heal Lila. In either of these cases,Lila would fit the description of the one born twice and could turn against the Sisterhooddue to the influence of her ancestors’ memories, the machines, or other factors. This would be a fitting addition to the series’ critique of the Sisterhood’s ruthless methods and would be an especially emotional twist in Tula’s story.
New episodes of Dune: Prophecy premiere Sundays at 9 p.m ET on HBO and Max.
Dune: Prophecy
Set in the universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune series, this sci-fi epic follows the political and spiritual struggles on the desert planet of Arrakis. As factions vie for control of the prized spice melange, a prophesied hero emerges, challenging the balance of power and the fate of the galaxy.
