Piter De Vries

Piter De Vries is a fictional character from Frank Herbert's Dune science fiction series.

History

De Vries was an evil mentat in the service of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. This mentat was a particular favorite of the Baron because the Tleilaxu had shown him to be an amoral sadist, making an ideal candidate for chief torturer.

Personality

De Vries' loyalty to his master is unusual in that he continues to serve the Baron with great enthusiasm, even though his Mentat abilities and great intelligence confirm his suspicions that his master plans to eventually kill him.

De Vries pioneered a type of poison called "residual toxin" , which remains in one's body for years. One such fatal poison was used by Harkonnen on Thufir Hawat, in order to keep the Mentat's allegiance by being the only provider of the antidote (which only stays the effects of the poison, and does not remove it from the body.)

De Vries is generally regarded as architect of the plan to destroy the Harkonnen's long-time enemy, House Atreides, while returning the Baron's stewardship over Arrakis. He died on Arrakis shortly after House Harkonnen's troops and Imperial Sardaukar had captured Duke Leto Atreides. He was killed by Leto, who had been given a false tooth by Wellington Yueh, the Suk doctor who betrayed House Atreides. When the tooth was crushed, a poisonous gas was released. The attack was meant to kill the Baron, but failed.

Unknown to most, there are actually two ghola-mentats who assume this identity in the Dune universe. The original Piter De Vries was secretly killed by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, as depicted in Dune: House Corrino. This occurred after the mentat discovered the Harkonnen heritage of Lady Jessica and newly born Paul Atreides, attempting to kidnap the infant as ransom. Mohiam effectively preserved this secret by murdering De Vries and arranging for his corpse to be shipped home to Giedi Prime. An enraged Baron was left with no choice but to order a duplicate from the Bene Tleilax, who would become the mentat popularly featured in Herbert's original Dune. This has caused some consternation among fans, who cite inconsistencies between the prequel and original series. However, both versions of this character continue to be popular among casual and die-hard fans alike.

In David Lynch's adaptation of the first novel, De Vries was played by Brad Dourif.

Trivia

His name appears to be a reference to editor and critic Peter De Vries.