Dune: Prophecy‘s fourth episode was full of political and familial intrigue, moves and countermoves, and Desmond Hart murdering people with his mind once more. But the episode’s most shocking moment came at the end, after an angry Valya Harkonnen let her uncle die. She turned to find her long-dead brother Griffin standing in the room. Only it was no vision or ghost she embraced. It was a real person: Sister Theodosia. How did Theo physically transform into a totally different person? For these Dune: Prophecy answers, we need to look at the Known Universe’s shape-shifters, also known as Face Dancers…even though they won’t make their presence felt in Dune for another 10,000 years.
Are There Shape-Shifters in Dune? The Face Dancer, Explained
Frank Herbert introduced shape-shifters to Dune in his second novel Dune Messiah. Known as Face Dancers, they are a “sterile race of metamorphic transhumans” created by the Bene Tleilax, an elitist race of people who specialize in bioengineering.
The Tleilax make their genetically-enhanced Face Dancers in their secret Axlotl tanks. Those are the same machines that can also make a type of clone (gholas) from the cells of a human cadaver, another important technology in Dune lore that could be explored in future adaptations.
Dune: Prophecy showed where Dune‘s Face Dancers get their name. When they physically change into another human their face appears to be “dancing.” They can do that thanks to additional muscles and nerves normal humans don’t have. These Dune shapeshifters also rely on advanced training that gives them control over their body. Face Dancers can also perfectly mimic voices as well.
The transformation of the Face Dancers is far more than just physical, though. They’re also highly skilled at understanding human psyches and can accurately capture and portray the personality of those they copy. That ability to totally inhibit another makes them highly valuable for spying, infiltration, and killing. Only Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit could identify Face Dancers via their highly attuned observational skills.
Who Are the Bene Tleilaxu of Dune?
The devoutly religious isolationists who lived on the planet Tleilax were a secretive group. For thousands of years no one ever encountered a female member of the race. The Tleilax had been around for many years, existing on the fringes of the Imperium outside the Empire. They became major figures in the Known Universe starting with the reign of Emperor Paul Atreides. (For those hoping to avoid spoilers for a potential Dune Messiah adaptation from Denis Villeneuve, we won’t go into their future story.)
In many ways, the chauvinistic, spiritual Bene Tleilaxu stand as the opposite side of the same coin as the science-based women of the Bene Gesserit. Unlike the Sisterhood, though, the rest of the universe found the Tleilaxu repulsive for their manipulation of the human body.
Only, none of that should matter until 10,000 years after the setting of HBO’s series.
Did Face Dancers Exist During the Time of Dune: Prophecy?
There’s nothing from official Dune lore, either Frank Herbert’s own works or his son’s expansion of the franchise, that indicates the shapeshifting Face Dancers existed ten thousand years before the birth of Paul Atreides. But people did live on the planet Tleilax, then called Tlulaxa, during the Butlerian Jihad that freed humanity from the Thinking Machines. And during that battle one of the things the “flesh merchants” of Tlulaxa did was grow and sell body parts to doctors, a forerunner to the technology the Bene Tleilax would employ millennia later.
Is it possible the highly secretive civilization was also covertly creating early versions of shape-shifters that long ago? Yes, it is possible, even if it might seem improbable. A ten thousand-year gap between the first Face Dancers and the ones who emerge in Dune Messiah isn’t that hard to accept. The Known Universe won’t change much over all that time thanks to spice and the covert work of the Bene Gesserit, a group who measures its own plans in centuries and longer. It’s not impossible another group with strong convictions also made plans designed to unfold over a large swath of time.
With Dune: Prophecy exploring/creating its own lore, we can only speculate over Theo’s story, but the show did give us some insight into her past.
Why Did Theo Shape-Shift Into Griffin Harkonnen on Dune: Prophecy?
Theo has never wanted to talk about her past or where she comes from. In episode four, she also said she had one rule for joining the Sisterhood. No one was ever supposed to ask her to use her secret ability. We now know that Theo’s secret Dune: Prophecy power is shape-shifting. A desperate Reverend Mother Superior Valya brought Theo with her to Salusa Secundus to ask Theo to do the only thing Theodosia said she wouldn’t.
After learning who Griffin is and how Valya still holds on to her late brother’s memory, Sister Theodosia transformed into the dead Harkonnen. Valya, who, more than anyone alive, would know what was happening in that moment, still succumbed to Thea’s transformation. Valya’s emotional, raw reaction captured the true power of Face Dancers, even a seemingly early version of the group like Theo.
Seeing the Mother Superior’s reaction helped Theo understand the kind of sacrifice Valya had made in returning to the family that ostracized her. By becoming Griffin, she was able to recognize Valya isn’t asking anything of her that Valya isn’t willing to do it herself. Now Theo, secret Face Dancer, is seemingly willing to put “Sisterhood above all.” She knows what she must do now, even though that means doing the one thing she never wanted to.
What will that mean for Valya and Theo? The Sisterhood and the Imperium? Desmond Hart and the Emperor? Those are just questions for Dune: Prophecy. Considering what we know will happen 10,000 years later we also are left to wonder how Theo’s emergence will influence the Bene Tleilax for generations to come.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist and definitely not a Face Dancer, no need to check. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.