'Dune: Prophecy' Episode 1 Recap & Ending Explained: Is Pruwet Richese Dead?

Following the amount of success that Denis Villeneuve’s films adapted from Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, HBO has come up with a new prequel series titled Dune: Prophecy, adapted from the novel of Herbert’s son, Brian. Set 10,000 years before the events of the films, the series is about the group of women known as the Sisterhood, where individuals receive training to become Truthsayers and serve in the courts of the powerful houses in the world. Episode 1 does a decent job introducing us to the world and the context, making it very clear that the show is definitely only for fans of Dune and is perhaps not very interesting to new viewers.

Spoiler Alert

What Is The Show About?

Dune: Prophecy begins with a voiceover from Valya Harkonnen as she speaks of the devastating wars between the humans and the thinking machines that had enslaved them, with the humans fighting for their liberation. According to the historical records, an Atreides had led the humans in this war and had delivered them the freedom that was yearned for by defeating the robots and bringing an end to the conflict that is known as the Butlerian Jihad in the Dune universe. But Valya’s great-grandfather, the head of the Harkonnen family at the time, had supposedly deserted the fight and therefore gone against the humans. As a result, the Harkonnen family were branded as cowards, and the members were banished to some desolate world after the end of the war. However, Valya refutes this claim, suggesting that her great-grandfather had not willingly left the battlefield, and some conspiracy must have been in the works against him. She states that the history, which had been recorded by the Atreides family members (quite obviously, as they were on the winning side), had been falsified to make the Harkonnens seem like villainous and spineless traitors. Valya Harkonnen makes a determined claim to challenge this narrative and reveal the real truth, to cleanse the image of her family, and to call out the real traitors of humankind, who have been lying to the world for so long. This seems to be the main premise of Dune: Prophecy, and we are taken on a journey of Valya’s life as she sets about achieving this personal goal of hers.

Who are the Sisterhood?

In order to uncover the truth of the Butlerian Jihad, Valya joined the Sisterhood, a sect of brave and determined women receiving training to become Truthsayers, whose purpose in life is to easily distinguish between truth and lie and use this power to help the Great Houses. The Sisterhood was founded by Raquella Berto-Anirul, a strong and enigmatic woman who had heroically fought on the battlefront against the thinking machines before starting this clan of hers. Raquella became the first Mother Superior, meaning the leader of the Sisterhood, and when young Valya joined the group, she looked up to the woman as her only true mother. Although her main purpose was to train other women into becoming Truthsayers employed by the Great Houses, meaning the influential families, Raquella also wanted to create a network of her own that would ensure that the Sisterhood itself became an important and influential force in governing the world. 

But as the operations of the Sisterhood began and Truthsayers started to be hired by the powerful families, Raquella understood that there was a need for her to take another crucial step. While the Truthsayers were responsible for differentiating between truths and lies spoken by people at the council of these families, they were also regularly approached for advice and suggestions regarding important decisions to be taken. The greed and power that evidently existed among the members of these Great Houses made the Mother Superior realize that simply providing guidance was no longer appropriate, but she also needed to help transform humanity for its own sake.

Thus, Raquella started a secret genetic archive, vast in proportion, with the sole intention of breeding better and stronger leaders who would bravely fight for humanity in the future. Based on the result of the research that was constantly carried out at the genetic archive, the Sisterhood began ensuring that marriages and formal unions took place between the right individuals of the right families so that genetically strong and powerful individuals were bred from these marriages. Although this secret genetic breeding program was not appreciated by all the members of the Sisterhood, Valya saw no harm in it and rather even felt it was the correct way forward. 

Thus, when Raquella Berto-Anirul was on her deathbed on Wallach IX, the Homeworld of the Sisterhood, she called for Valya and wanted to speak to her in private, most probably because she knew the young woman shared her vision. Raquella now made a prophecy and seemingly made Valya see the vision that she was suddenly getting, in which a gigantic sandworm was devouring and destroying Sisterhood headquarters amidst a desert, and there were flashes of cruel deaths as well. The dying Mother Superior asks Valya to protect and grow the Sisterhood using all the powers at their disposal, warning that the sect will otherwise fail to exist in some decades’ time. Right before taking her last breath, Raquella also tells Valya that she will be the one to see and know the truth that others will remain unaware of, putting immense importance on the character.

Following the prophecies made by Raquella, and her ultimate death, Valya shares the information with her close group of associates, which also includes her younger sister, Tula. Valya makes it clear that the target of the Sisterhood, or of this small sub-group, at least, should be to place a Sister on the throne of the Imperium and make their sect as powerful as possible. Although all the superiors in the group agree to make Valya the next leader because she had been chosen by Raquella before the founder’s death, Mother Dorothea, a senior member of the group, earnestly feels that the secret genetic breeding program should be stopped at all costs. She believes the program to be immoral and unlawful and thus wants to destroy the archive and the breeding index. 

Valya tries to make Dorothea understand the importance of the archive and the need for it to protect the Sisterhood in the future. Dorothea remains unconvinced, though, and she sets about unlocking the archives to destroy them when Valya uses the power of her Voice to control the woman and make her stop. She reveals that she has gained this power very recently and has not had the chance to show it to anyone, and Dorothea is perhaps even more determined to stop the breeding program now. Therefore, Valya has to take matters in her own hands for the sake of the protection of the Sisterhood and makes Dorothea kill herself, using her mind-controlling Voice. Valya now becomes the Mother Superior, with simply no opposition in her way, and becomes the most important member of the sect. 

Why does Valya refuse to listen to Kasha’s advice?

Thirty years later, on the planet of Salusa Secundus, which is the Homeworld of the Imperial House, the ruling authority of the world, Emperor Javicco Corrino plans to secure his position on the throne. The Fremen on Arrakis, a rebellious group, has been creating a lot of trouble for Javicco and the Imperium, launching raids and attacking the emperor’s troops on multiple occasions. The emperor is desperate to stop these rebels and ensure that there is no opposing force against the Imperium, and for this he has to meet with Duke Richese, the patriarch of a powerful business family. Richese makes an offer to Emperor Javicco in which his young son, Pruwet Richese, will become the husband to the royal princess, Ynes, and in return, the duke will help the emperor fight off the rebel forces. Although his wife does not agree to this deal, mainly because she does not like the Richese family much, Javicco agrees to it and makes preparations for the wedding to take place soon.

Ynes does not mind the idea of the wedding either, as she wants to become a Truthsayer, and this matrimonial tie will help her in achieving this goal. Pruwet is just nine years old at the time, and so Ynes will have ten long years to spend with the Sisterhood, learning the skills and receiving training to become a powerful Truthsayer. But as preparations for the wedding ceremony are taking place, the Truthsayer at the emperor’s court, Kasha, has a horrific vision of the future. One night, as she retires to her chambers, Kasha dreams of Ynes being killed and eaten by a giant sandworm while she is wearing her wedding dress. She also holds herself responsible for this destruction, and so Kasha immediately contacts the Sisterhood and explains why she feels the marriage between Ynes and Pruwet should be called off. However, Valya does not pay heed to this warning, and she does not want to call off the wedding, as it is quite important to the Sisterhood’s mission of genetic breeding. Although Kasha had been a member of the sect for as long as Valya, and the two were good friends since childhood, the Mother Superior finds it more important to secure the position of the Sisterhood. Hence, she does not want to intervene in the marriage plans, and the ceremony takes place as scheduled. 

Did Desmond Hart Kill Pruwet?

Dune: Prophecy episode 1 also introduces the character of Desmond Hart, a soldier of the Imperium, who is bound to be a crucial part of the series. Hart first appears at the court of Emperor Javicco after he successfully survives a rebel raid at an outpost, during which his entire troop had been killed. Although Javicco believes that this attack had been carried out by the Fremen, Hart states that he is not of the same opinion, for some other rebellious insurgents belonging to the other Great Houses had seemingly been the ones behind it. During a later conversation with the emperor, he also tries to suggest that a more powerful and controlling force, much higher than the Imperium or the rebels, might have had a part to play in the attack. When Javicco has doubts about this claim and gets Hart’s mind read by Truthsayer Kasha, she too states that Hart must be speaking the truth, according to her assessment.

Desmond Hart stays at the palace during the marriage ceremony and is quite instrumental in dealing with an emergency situation when Pruwet’s pet robot manages to free itself and creates chaos among the gathered guests. This is particularly alarming because all robots had been banned after the Butlerian Jihad, as mechanical beings are seen as the biggest enemies and threats to humankind. It is Hart who gets the pet under control and returns it to Pruwet, much to the delight of the young groom. Therefore, Hart initially seems like a nice fellow who likes helping those around him, but at the end of the episode, his character takes a completely different turn. On the very night of the wedding, Hart meets Pruwet wandering the halls of the castle, seemingly because he does not feel like sleeping. The man now mysteriously states that sacrifices are needed to win wars, and that of Pruwet will not go to waste. Following this, Hart burns Pruwet to death by using some secret power of his, which makes him seem like a member of some other secretive, but powerful, clan. It might be that Desmond Hart had sabotaged his troops at the outpost and he himself had attacked and killed them. In fact, Emperor Javicco is seen watching a recording of the incident, and a sandworm is seen approaching a solitary man in the desert, who then bows down and worships the creature before being killed by it. Just after Pruwet Richese is killed, Truthsayer Kasha also suffers the same fate, meaning that she had been right all along, and the Sisterhood should have paid heed to her warnings. 

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