Dune: Baron Harkonnen’s Creepy Pet Explained

Dune introduced House Harkonnen as sinister villians but the Harkonnen pet is perhaps the creepiest part about them. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is a transhumanist social sci-fi space opera that’s based on the cult 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. And while the Dune reboot’s depiction of the Baron Harkonnen is relatively faithful to the novel, Herbert’s book doesn’t mention a creepy Dune spider pet creature with human hands, which appears on Geidi Prime in the scene where the Baron, Piter de Vries, and Reverend Mother Mohiam discuss the House Harkonnen plot.