History Literature / LegendsOfDune

* CycleOfRevenge: The opening salvos of the Atreides-Harkonnen feud in the ''Great Schools'' Trilogy. Vorian even grimly cites the Trope in his reflection after [[spoiler: Tula Harkonnen murders Orry Atreides and his brother vows murderous revenge. Vorian fears they've started something neither family will ever be able to end. Indeed, the very last scene of the Trilogy sees Wilem working on a plan to kill Valya's surviving brother to avenge Vorian's 'murder''...]]
a fear that comes to pass as the vendetta will continue for the next 10,000 years.]]

* CycleOfRevenge: The opening salvos of the Atreides-Harkonnen feud in the ''Great Schools'' Trilogy. Vorian even grimly cites the Trope in his reflection after [[spoiler: Tula Harkonnen murders Orry Atreides and his brother vows murderous revenge. Vorian fears they've started something neither family will ever be able to end -- a fear that comes to pass as the vendetta will continue for the next 10,000 years.]]

** Valya Harkonenn later [[spoiler: blames Vorian for Griffin's murder, even though he didn't and even after her own Truthsayer confirms he isn't lying. She instead rationalizes it as LoopHoleAbuse or other trickery. She refuses to acknowledge that Griffin would never have died if ''she'' sent him to track and kill Vorian in the first place.

** In ''Navigators of Dune'', Valya Harkonenn [spoiler: sets up the final confrontation with Vorian Atreides on Corrin to be this. If she and her Sisters can kill Vorian, great. If by chance Vorian manages to kill her or escapes without killing her, she'll still get the last laugh -- because she and the Sisters locate Vorian's ship and sabotage it before moving in for the kill. However, Valya's backup plan unknowingly fails because Vorian detects the sabotage -- and uses it to fake his death in the hopes of ending the feud for good.]]

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Iblis' plan to kill Serena in ''The Machine Crusade'' after they receive the cease-fire offer from Omnius. Iblis encourages her plan to serve as the Jihad's representative to Corrin, as they both know Serena will deliberately tank the negotiations and goad Omnius into killing her to achieve martyrdom. If by chance Omnius ''doesn't'' execute Serena (as indeed happens), her accompanying bodyguards have secret orders from Iblis to finish the job. Either way, Iblis can now reclaim lost political power and use the now-martyred Serena to rally the Jihad (with a fake recording of the 'execution' to help goose things along in either scenario).]]

* Really700YearsOld: Vorian and Gilbertus Albans thanks to the life-extension treatments they're given by Agamemnon and Erasmus. They're not immortal, but they still appear to be in their 30s by the time of the ''Great Schools'' Trilogy 80 years later. [[spoiler: This also ends up biting Gilbertus in the ass when one of Manford Torondo's lieutenants finds photographic proof of Gilbertus' presence at Corrin and is able to deduce his real identity from testimony about Erasmus' human 'pet'.]]

[[spoiler: ''Hunters of Dune'' retroactively reveals the entire Butlerian Jihad was this, as Omnius' last ditch-transmission managed to successfully deposit a copy of his program in one of his deep space probes. The Thinking Machine Empire thus rebuilds in secret on the other side of the universe for the next 15,000 years and long after the heroes and sacrifices of the Jihad have been ground to dust by history.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: [[spoiler: Vorian admits during ''Sisterhood of Dune'' that banishing Abulard and leaving him in exile, in hindsight, was this. There is no forgiving Abulard's cowardice and betrayal in his eyes. But while Vorian knew Abulard would never forgive him, Vorian expected the grudge would die out after a generation or two. He genuinely didn't foresee that Abulard's descendants would keep the grudge alive and burning 80 years later and long after the inciting incident.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough'' [[spoiler: Vorian admits during ''Sisterhood of Dune'' that banishing Abulard and leaving him in exile, in hindsight, was this. There is no forgiving Abulard's cowardice and betrayal in his eyes. But while Vorian knew Abulard would never forgive him, Vorian didn't forsee that Abulard's descendents would keep the grudge alive and burning 80 years later.]]

* ClearTheirName: [[spoiler: In the aftermath of ''The Machine Crusade'', Vorian is determined to clear Xavier's name and legacy and to help Abulard be proud of his Harkonnen heritage. Vorian and Abulard plan to have Xavier formally, posthumously exonerated once the Jihad ends and the political climate improves, but this plan goes to hell after the Battle of Corrin. Abulard's actions during the Battle destroys the friendship between the two men and makes it impossible to rehabilitate the Harkonnen name.]]
** [[spoiler: 80 years later during the ''Great Schools'' Trilogy, Vorian eventually admits that as angry as he was with Abulard's betrayal, he ''should'' have at least kept his promise to clear Xavier's name. Not doing so has only ignited the flames of the Atreides-Harkonnen feud in the interim.]]

* DidntThinkThishrough'' [[spoiler: Vorian admits during ''Sisterhood of Dune'' that banishing Abulard and leaving him in exile, in hindsight, was this. There is no forgiving Abulard's cowardice and betrayal in his eyes. But while Vorian knew Abulard would never forgive him, Vorian didn't forsee that Abulard's descendents would keep the grudge alive and burning 80 years later.]]

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Iblis' plan to kill Serena in ''The Machine Crusade'' after they receive the cease-fire offer from Omnius. Iblis encourages her plan to serve as the League's representative to Corrin, as they both know Serena will tank the negotiations and goad Omnius into killing her. If by chance Omnius ''doesn't'' execute Serena, her accompanying bodyguards have been secretly ordered by Iblis to finish the job. Either way, Iblis can now reclaim political power and the dead Serena becomes a martyr to rally the Jihad (with a fake recording of the 'execution' to help goose things along in either scenario).]]

* FrameUp: [[spoiler: Played with in ''The Machine Crusade'' when Iblis frames Omnius for Serena's death to revitalize the Jihad and reclaim his political power. Iblis technically has no way of knowing what exactly happened on Corrin, but this scheme was structured to produce two possible outcomes (see XanatosGambit). So he's structured it to function either as a standard Frame-Up or as FramingTheGuiltyParty.]]

* InsaneTrollLogic: Rayna Butler and her cultists, oh so much. The cultists hate machines, yet use spaceships (which she justifies as as a necessary evil). This gets pointed out In-Universe both during ''The Battle of Corrin'' and in the ''Great Schools'' Trilogy.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Xavier Harkonnen [[spoiler: killing Iblis Ginjo at the end of ''The Machine Crusade''. Yes, it stops Iblis' corruption and avenges Serena Butler. But he also leaves no way for Vorian to exonerate him and expose that truth without breaking the spine and spirit of the Jihad. So Iblis is instead martyred, Xavier is branded a coward and a traitor, and it sets off the chain of events that will birth the Atreides-Harkonenn blood feud (and the fanatical anti-Machine Cult of Sernea). Worse, Xavier's posthumous exposure of the Tleaxliu organ farms leads to Rekur Van going on the run...and into the arms of the Thinking Machines, who uses the geneticist's expertise to develop the Omnius Scourge.]]
** Vorian Atreides' [[spoiler: CruelMercy towards Abulard at the end of ''The Battle of Corrin''. By forcing Xavier's grandson into exile and living with the shame of 'cowardice', Vorian instead ends up sowing the seeds of the feud between their families that will formally ignite in the ''Great Schools'' Trilogy and endure for the next 10,000 years.]]

* FrameUp: [[spoiler: Iblis frames Omnius for Serena's death in ''The Machine Crusade'' to revitalize the Jihad and reclaim his political power. It's also a complex example in that Iblis has no way of knowing what exactly happened on Corrin (see XanatosGambit). So it's structured to work either as a standard Frame-Up or as FramingTheGuiltyParty.]]

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: The long-range probes that the Omnius on Giedi Prime dispatches early on during ''The Butlerian Jihad''. As will be later revealed at the end of ''Hunters of Dune'', one of these Probes will ensure Omnius' survival after the Battle of Corrin and lead to the reborn Thinking Machine Empire over the next 15,000 years.]]

* NeverMyFault: Played with at the end of ''The Battle of Corrin'' with [[spoiler: the exiled Harkonnens. While understandably bitter about his banishment and Vorian's betrayal, Abulard at least still feels his actions during the Battle of Corrin were the right ones. His children, on the other hand, choose instead to blame Vorian and the Atreides Family for their fallen fortunes and this only get worse with each successive generation -- leading to the familiar blood feud of the original novel.]]