Warning: This article contains spoilers for Dune Part Two.
Many things are certain in this life. Fear is the mind-killer. The desert takes the weak. And Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) deserves to die.
At its core, Dune is a story about the dangers of power and perhaps the most prominent example of that is Baron Harkonnen. The immensely greedy and wealthy Baron was the controlling power over Arrakis for decades, using his resources to mine spice from the desert planet. One day, Emperor Shaddam IV(Christopher Walker) takes that power from him, but it isn’t for long. He enacts a plan to destroy the Atreides line by killing them in the night. While he is murderous and unrepentant, his death does not appear certain in the films at first.
Paul (Timotheé Chalamet) and Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) barely make it out with their lives and are left to die in the desert. Of course, as we know, Paul comes back for revenge in a big way. With an army of Fremen and sandworms, he returns the favor tenfold. And though the Baron does get what he deserves, it doesn’t exactly play out like book fans had expected.
The Baron creates his own demise in Dune Part Two
When watching Dune Part Two for the first time, book fans were probably waiting for an event that would never come to pass. In the book, the Baron’s end comes at the hand of Paul’s little sister, Alia. Unlike the film, Alia is born during the desert war when Paul takes power. Because she is in utero when Jessica takes the Water of Life, she too receives all the memories of the Reverend Mothers. When she is born, she quickly develops sentience and makes her what the Bene Gesserit call an Abomination.
During one of the last conflicts between Paul and the Sardaukar, Alia allows herself to be captured and brought to the Emperor. Only a child, she kills the Baron with the Gom Jabbar. This is one of the big differences from book to screen, but it makes sense. Creating a cursed child on par with Renesmee from Twilight would have been difficult to pull off. Instead of Alia killing the Baron, that honor goes to Paul.
In a similar fashion to the book, Paul storms the Emperor’s ship with his forces of Fremen warriors. Taken aback by this Maud’Dib and his audacity, no one lifts a finger when Paul calls the Baron grandfather and kills him. The reveal that Harkonnen was Jessica’s father was a surprise to many, including the Bene Gesserit herself.
And just like that, the Baron’s reign of terror is over. But with the absence of one treacherous beast comes the rise of another. Paul rises to his terrible purpose and takes the throne from the Emperor. Even though the Baron’s death is satisfying, it is cold comfort as Paul becomes the true villain of the story.