‘Dune: Prophecy:’ What’s the deal with Desmond Hart’s demonic powers?

Plans within plans are being positioned by all the major players of the Imperium in HBO/Max’s “Dune: Prophecy” and the sophomore episode, “Two Wolves,” amplifies all those evolving machinations tenfold.

Here in the turbulent galactic timeline 10,000 years before the birth of Paul Atreides and after the Butlerian Jihad where thinking machines were outlawed and the Bene Gesserit sect rises, Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong) needs the fleet of spaceships promised by House Richese with the marriage alignment between the two noble families to maintain spice control on Arrakis, and meanwhile Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) and her secretive Sisterhood is attempting to manipulate the bloodline with this recent union to reclaim the tarnished Harkonnen name.

But that grand plan has vanished after last week’s scorching conclusion to the premiere episode of this “Dune” prequel series when all was joyous after the engagement party between Prince Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior) and the Princess Ynez Corrino (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina). Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), the mysterious Arrakis solider, invokes some infernal magic to literally burn Pruwet alive (and the Emperor’s truthsayer Reverend Mother Kasha!) and thus crushing the nuptial alliance between the royal houses just a short time before Ynez was due to enroll in Mother Superior Valya’s university for prodigal “witches.”

Desmond Hart’s exact powers are unmeasurable at this time, yet he seems to have the ability to incinerate someone with his mind, possibly a paranormal ability he obtained after being swallowed by a sandworm in the archival footage screened by Emperor Corrino last week. His resistance to The Voice as administer by Valya Harkonnen as punishment for his heinous acts at the end of this new episode will no doubt be explored and explained further as “Prophecy” progresses.

However, let’s leap back to the beginning of episode two in the aftermath of the two deaths as political chaos erupts. On Wallach IX, the Sisterhood wants answers regarding Kasha’s strange incineration and calls upon a doctor from the Suk Medical School to examine her body. Results are inconclusive so Valya, told that Pruwet was also killed, travels to see the Emperor on Salusa Secundas as Pruwet’s death might be Mother Superior Raquella’s cryptic “Burning Truth” prophecy.

And to decipher more of the deathbed premonition that could bring down the Bene Gesserit in The Reckoning, it’s decided that the young prodigy, Sister Lila, needs to reconnect with her ancestors via their collective memory in an ancient ritual called The Agony to help unravel this mystery. 

Back at the Imperium capital of Salusa Secundus, Duke Ferdinand Richese (Brendan Cowell) is livid at claims that Pruwet’s toy robot lizard killed him, implying that his son’s death was part of a plan to destabilize House Richese and seize his fighter fleet. In another chamber, Desmond Hart confesses to the crimes by admitting that he was only doing the Emperor’s unspoken bidding. Javicco is rattled by the accusation and has the soldier arrested and tossed in the palace’s suspensor prison.

But Empress Natalya (Jodhi May), sensing the Desmond might be an ally, reminds her husband that they mustn’t rush to execute their friends to please their enemies. 

It’s also unveiled that the Emperor’s Swordmaster and Ynez’s lover, Keiran Atreides, (Chris Mason) was part of the rebel force that attacked Desmond Hart’s Imperial regiment on Arrakis and he’s crafted a total 3-D blueprint of the palace to use in an organized revolt against their galactic wealth and oppression. We then learn in a secret meeting between the Fremen spy Mikaela (Shalom Brune-Franklin) and Valya that the rebel attack on the harvester on Arrakis was actually orchestrated by the Sisterhood to keep the Emperor in check and in need of their influence.

Within the Sisterhood’s stronghold headquarters, Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams) convinces Lila to aid them in their quest. She’s given Rossak poison in her eyes which allows her to enter this shadowy ghost realm where deceased Bene Gesserit wander empty halls. It’s revealed that Lila is Raquella’s granddaughter and that conversing with her will glean more info on how to combat the great evil of The Reckoning.

Inside this haunting genetic memory netherworld, Lila encounters Raquella who divulges more details of the prophecy: “The key to the reckoning is one born twice: Once in blood, once in spice. A revenant full of scars. A weapon born of war on a path too short.” Could this be a reference to Desmond Hart? Or someone else?

Mother Dorotea, the girl that young Valya killed in episode 1, then appears to Lila and declares that it was Valya who murdered her thirty years ago. She takes possession of Lila’s body to tell Tula that because her life was taken early, she will steal her hope and crush Lila’s in exchange. The sacrificial girl is too inexperienced to transmute the Rossak poison in her body and she sadly dies to Tula’s horror.

In the throne room, Javicco faces off with an insulting Duke Ferdinand Richese and unleashes his pitbull, Desmond Hart, on him as a show of cruel power, ultimately showing mercy to the overheated noble and telling the Duke to return home and forget everything that’s happened on Salusa Secundus.

The finale finds Valya coming back to the palace to warn the Emperor of a rebel threat, but finds Desmond Hart in his office instead, who tells her that House Corrino no longer requires her services. Eradicating the Sisterhood is apparently his sole endgame, but Valya attacks using The Voice to sway him. He’s ordered to cut his own throat but shockingly he’s able to resist. She’s truly shaken to the core and flees.

Can Desmond Hart be trusted by Javicco? Will his decision to side with this superhuman ex-soldier be his downfall? Is Hart telling the truth about the Sisterhood compromising the Emperor’s reign from the shadows, and will he cause or prevent The Reckoning that Raquella foresaw on her deathbed? Arrakis is the grand prize. 

Remember, as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen says more that 10,000 years later, “He who controls the spice, controls the universe!”