Wellington Yueh

From Dune

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Wellington Yueh (10082 AG-10191 AG) was a Suk Doctor for House Atreides.

According to the Dictionary of Muad'Dib by the Princess Irulan, Yueh was a Doctor of the Suk School of Medicine. He was married to a Bene Gesserit adept named Wanna Marcus. Yueh graduated from the Suk School in 10112 AG, at the age of 30. Little is known of his life between this point and 10,185 when he entered into the service of House Atreides, at the age of 103. He was described as a tall, thin man with long, grey hair tied in a braid with a suk ring that hung around his shoulder, a droopy moustache, and of course the diamond tattoo emblazoned on his forehead.

As a graduate of the Suk School, Yueh was imparted with Imperial Conditioning which prevented him from taking human life. However, for Yueh's devotion to his work and his life, he would go down in history as the first instance that Imperial Conditioning could be broken, and the betrayer of Duke Leto Atreides.

Contents 1 In the Service of House Atreides 2 Betrayal 3 Legacy 4 Behind the Scenes

[edit] In the Service of House Atreides

When Yueh entered into Atreides service, Paul Atreides was nine years old. Paul was quite fond of Yueh and Yueh felt an avuncular affection for the young Atreides, even to the point of giving Paul a special gift, an Orange Catholic Bible once the possession of Yueh's beloved wife Wanna.

Indeed, it was for Wanna that Yueh would eventually betray his friends. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen Mentat, Piter de Vries, developed a method to drive Yueh mad and thereby defeat his Imperial Conditioning. Ultimately, Wanna was part of de Vries' scheme to destroy House Atreides. She was abducted by the Harkonnens approximately seven years before Yueh's death. Yueh therefore entered into Atreides service a year after she was abducted. For the Atreides, no other Suk Doctor could be more appropriate; as far as they were concerned, Yueh and his wife were simply more victims of Harkonnen cruelty. Unfortunately for the Atreides, whatever the Harkonnens did to Wanna only served to emotionally enslave the doctor to the Harkonnens.

It was made known to him by de Vries that if he performed Harkonnen bidding and betrayed Duke Leto, his beloved wife would be freed, or at least, he would know the truth about her fate. Yueh had become a weak-willed, confused, desperate and lonely man who would do anything in his power to learn the truth about Wanna. Thus, receiving inconsistent Harkonnen messages about Wanna, Yueh was driven to madness, and the Imperial Conditioning was broken. Finally his love for Wanna and his love for his Duke moved him in opposite, contradictory directions. He acted as a loving husband who could hope to save only one of the two people he loved most. He hoped to save Wanna. It is possible that he believed that no matter what he did he could not save Duke Leto from his fate. It is also possible that he attempted to redeem himself in some way by helping the Lady Jessica and Paul escape the Harkonnen trap.

[edit] Betrayal

Yueh laid a trap for Duke Leto in the Keep at Arrakeen, just before the Harkonnen invasion. Yueh stabbed the Duke with a poison dart, and while he was paralysed he replaced one of the Duke's teeth with a false one that could expel poisonous gas. The idea was that the Duke would have an opportunity to kill the Baron, using the poisoned gas tooth. Unfortunately, the plan failed, and the Duke was killed. Yueh died by the hand of de Vries, stabbed in the back by the twisted Mentat who had come to the logical conclusion that the traitor had outlived his usefulness. He died with the knowledge that his wife had in fact been dead for years, slain by the Harkonnens and kept a secret, so that he could do their bidding.

[edit] Legacy

Yueh played a crucial role in the annals of history. Were it not for Yueh, it is likely there would have been no Paul Muad'Dib, no fall of the Corrino dynasty, no rise of the Fremen, no liberation of Arrakis, nor even the great God-Emperor Leto II and The Scattering in which humankind was released from its unitary destiny

Like the Lady Jessica, out of a love misguided Yueh set in motion events that ultimately led humanity through the desert of the ancient feudal rivalries, into the long peace and Golden Path of the Atreides Imperium. Like the Lady Jessica, he lost the one he loved out of betrayal. Unlike the Lady Jessica, he was driven mad by it, and lost his own life in the process. However, both Jessica's and Yueh's lives illustrate the point that there can sometimes be immense consequences, when love gets in the way of duty.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

In the 1984 Dune movie, Dr. Wellington Yueh was portrayed by actor Dean Stockwell.