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Ordune This article or section refers to elements from Original Dune
There are separate pages for this subject as it appears in the other canons such as Piter de Vries in Expanded Dune and Piter de Vries in the Dune Encyclopedia

Piter de Vries [d. 10191 AG] was a Twisted Mentat developed by the Bene Tleilax. He served House Harkonnen under the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. De Vries was an ambitious and impatient sadist whose evil rivalled that of the Baron. The only mistake in his calculations he ever made was that Lady Jessica would bear Duke Leto a daughter, not son.

Biography[]

A devious, cunning individual, de Vries was responsible for discovering how to break the Imperial Conditioning of a Suk doctor. He discovered that if he held a loved one of the Suk doctors to ransom, he could control their behaviour any way he wished. He forced the betrayal of House Atreides by Dr. Wellington Yueh. De Vries had kidnapped Yueh's wife, murdered her, and convinced Yueh that she was still alive. De Vries had promised that he would return his wife to him if he were to do the Harkonnens' bidding. The breaking of Yueh's Imperial Conditioning led to the betrayal and death of Duke Leto Atreides and the destruction of the Duke's royal house.

Death[]

De Vries was killed by Duke Leto when he mistakenly perceived de Vries to be the Baron Harkonnen. In a drugged state, Leto bit down on a poison gas tooth embedded in his jaw by Yueh just before Leto was captured during the invasion of Arrakis. The Baron narrowly escaped, but de Vries was killed. In this way, Yueh managed to exact vengeance on the man that killed his wife.

Physical Appearance[]

Piter De Vries was a tall, slender man with effeminate features. He had inky blue-within-blue eyes, red lips due to consumption of sapho juice, a pointed chin and frizzy hair.

Images of Piter de Vries[]

Behind the Scenes[]

In Other Media[]

In the 1984 Dune movie, Piter de Vries is portrayed by Academy Award-nominated actor Brad Dourif.

The mentat mantra he recites in the film is as follows: "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."

Jan Unger portrayed Piter in the Frank Herbert's Dune mini-series.

David Dastmalchian portrayed Piter in the 2021 Dune film.

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