Piter de Vries
From Dune
This article or section refers to elements from both Original Dune and Expanded Dune.
Piter de Vries was a twisted mentat developed by the Bene Tleilax. He served House Harkonnen while it was headed by Vladimir Harkonnen.
Contents |
[edit] Upbringing
This article or section refers to elements from Expanded Dune.
De Vries had been trained as a Twisted Mentat by the Bene Tleilax; Vladimir Harkonnen did not want a mere data-processing human but a calculating and clever man with corrupt imagination in order to assist him.
The Mentat welcomed Gaius Helen Mohiam and her assemblage to Harkonnen Keep on Giedi Prime. Mohiam threatened the reluctant Baron with revealing his secret spice stockpile from Arrakis to the Emperor. When the Baron told him that Mohiam sought him to impregnate her for the Bene Gesserit's own ends, De Vries suggested that the safest way was to comply with her.
The Baron then suggested spreading the stockpiles on Lankiveil, under the nose of his brother.
[edit] Life and works
This article or section refers to elements from Original Dune.
A devious, cunning individual, de Vries was responsible for discovering how to break the Imperial Conditioning of a Suk doctor of never taking a life. He discovered that if he held a loved one of the Suk doctors to ransom, he could control their behaviour any way he wished. This was demonstrated by 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. This effectively broke Yueh's Imperial Conditioning, and lead to the death of Duke Leto Atreides.
[edit] Death
De Vries was killed by Leto when he mistakenly perceived de Vries to be the Baron Harkonnen. In a drugged state, Leto bit down on a poison gas tooth imbedded in his head 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.
[edit] Behind The Scenes
In the Prelude to Dune trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, it is revealed that the Piter de Vries from the original Dune novel is actually a ghola of the original De Vries from the prequel trilogy. The first death that the Mentat received was by fighting Gaius Helen Mohiam, after he tried to kidnap the newborn Paul Atreides on Kaitain. After the corpse of de Vries was presented to Vladimir Harkonnen, the Baron decided to request another de Vries to be grown from the axolotl tanks.
In the 1984 Dune movie, Piter de Vries was portrayed by Academy Award nominated actor Brad Dourif.
The mentat mantra he recites is as follows:
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sappho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."
