In one of the surprising scenes in Dune: Prophecy, younger Tula Harakonnen (Emma Canning) kills all the lads in Home Atreides, together with her boyfriend, Orry Atreides (Milo Callaghan) on this week’s episode, “Sisterhood Above All.” The celebration was making ready to hunt a Salusan bull on Caladan, and, after all of them died, the creature seems to Tula however calmly walks away as a substitute of attacking. The Salusan bull is an iconic Dune creature, and, though it carries a variety of symbolism about Tula’s personal character, it additionally has ties to Home Atreides.

The Salusan Bull Is Notably Necessary to Home Atreides

The Salusan bull has this title as a result of it is a species from Salusa Secundus, the capital of the Imperium in Prophecy, however an inhospitable poisonous planet on the time of the Denis Villeneuve films. They’re largely linked to Home Atreides, since Duke Paulus Atreides, Duke Leto’s (Oscar Isaac) father, used to struggle these beasts for his topics’ amusement, even being killed by certainly one of them.

Earlier than Paulus’ final struggle, his spouse, Duchess Helena Richese, secretly medication the bull, leading to his loss of life. They by no means had relationship, and Paulus usually had affairs and took concubines. After Paulus dies, Leto turns into Duke and exiles Helena, his mom, to the far facet of Caladan to reside in solitude. Within the authentic Frank Herbert novel, this bull’s head is mounted on the partitions of Fortress Caladan and is delivered to the palace on Arrakis, together with a small statue of a bullfight.

It isn’t clear whether or not Paulus’ bulls are the one ones to have ever been on Caladan or if Home Atreides had them introduced earlier than that. Due to Paulus, nevertheless, they turned largely related to Home Atreides and their homeworld, embodying the fatalistic nature of energy.

The Salusan Bull Now Has Its Personal Symbolism for Tula

In “Sisterhood Above All,” Tula explains to younger Albert (Archie Barnes) how you can bait a Salusan bull utilizing a neighborhood rabbit species, mentioning that they’re “uncommon, shy creatures” who “want a scent to lure them.” First, she removes the innards, specializing in a small sac of poisons the rabbit carries, in any other case it contaminates the entire bull. It is the identical toxin she makes use of to painlessly kill the wounded horse and certain what she makes use of to kill the Atreides males.

Whereas the celebration believes themselves to be the bull’s predators, they do not notice that the bull is definitely the bait, and Tula is the predator. Disguised as “Tula Veil” to cover her Harkonnen heritage, she seduces Orry, desiring to kill his kinfolk from the very starting, and makes use of the bull hunt as a pretext to kill the Atreides males. She is the one lady there, which possible exhibits simply how a lot thought she put into her plan.

In “Sisterhood Above All,” we see how Tula needed to let go of her harmless nature and develop into a predator below younger Valya’s (Jessica Barden) affect; in a approach, Tula has to develop into the Salusan bull, in any other case she risked the identical destiny as their brother, Griffin (Earl Cave), who’s killed by an Atreides. As for Home Atreides, for each Duke Paulus and the lads Tula kills, the bull is an emblem of how they usually lose sight of their tasks. As the Aristocracy, searching and bullfighting might look like typical hobbies, however they’re really harmful, particularly for individuals in positions of energy and rather a lot to lose. For predators just like the Salusan bull and Tula, they make for the proper prey.

Dune: Prophecy is accessible to stream on Max within the U.S. New episodes air weekly on Sundays.

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