#pspspsps gurney halleck stans come talk angst with me

[spacepunksupreme]

Wait … I wanna hear these Gurney Rabban angsty slave days dynamic headcanons 👀 please

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh I have so many thoughts, I’m not even gonna rein myself in on this one, I hope you’re actually ready lol. 

Disclaimer: I’ve never read any of the Brain Herbert prequels and I never will, this is all Hannah BRAIN Gurney youth not Brian Gurney youth. Also gonna clarify again that I was Not talking about shipping dynamics lolol

Okay head canon time under the cut let’s goooooo

Alright, where to start ... my little pet dude who wants to kill me. Right. 

So, we’re never told in Dune at what age Gurney and his sister were enslaved by the Harkonnens, nor for how long, or by what means. I imagine Gurney was in his early-mid teens when they were first taken and remained in enslavement until his early twenties or so before being freed by the Duke. I don’t really have thoughts as to how they ended up slaves (being sold to the Harkonnens by another party vs being captured directly by the Harkonnens in some kind of siege on their home world, etc.), regardless though, I don’t think Gurney was any kind of fighter prior to his capture. He was a big enough kid to have him selected to be put in the fighting pits, but it was there that he became a formidable fighter out of necessity. 

We’re also never told how long his sister was enslaved before being killed or the details of what happened to her aside from her being “in a pleasure house for Harkonnen troops”. My thoughts are that she and Gurney were probably immediately separated upon arrival at the Harkonnen keep, and he went a long time not knowing where she was or what became of her at all. Even after learning she’d been killed, I still don’t think Gurney ever found out exactly what happened to her, or (and this is where Rabban comes in, I promise I’m getting to Rabban lol) who killed her. Gurney says a little later in the book that he “owes [Rabban] for the lives of my family”, but I wonder if Rabban really was directly responsible or if, at a young age, Gurney just sort of decided on Rabban as an object of his revenge. If it was troopers under Rabban’s command who did it, then the buck stops with Rabban, like aim high with your revenge goals, you know. I think of this as something Gurney would do to keep himself going. He has absolutely no hope for rescue prior to the day it happens, the only thing he has during his enslavement is his revenge, and killing some random trooper who killed his sister is just too easy. Some dude he might even conceivably fight in the pits if they fall out of favor with the Baron for any reason. Like, He might have killed that dude yesterday. It would be over too quick, and what would he have left to live for after that? But Rabban? like Beast Rabban? Extremely high revenge goal for some lowly little slave kid. Like second highest goal next to the Baron himself. Completely inconceivable. But that’s exactly why he’s the perfect choice, because Gurney can tell himself he has to keep living until he gets to a point where it’s not so unlikely anymore.   

Now where the relationship dynamic actually comes in. In my mind Rabban hears about this little slave kid who wants to kill him so bad. And this isn’t that impressive all on it’s own, every other slave and their mother has beef with him, he can’t get anywhere near the slave-gladiators’ quarters without having dudes left and right yelling about how they’re going to personally kill him one day. But like, we know Gurney, Gurney is just like extra feisty about it. And he’s good in the fighting pit. I think he very quickly attracts attention for being just like an untouchably good fighter, which eventually leads to like special attention from Rabban. (finally Cue: my little pet dude who wants to kill me era) 

Rabban is so incredibly amused by Gurney that I think he inadvertently has a hand in Gurney’s survival. Like eventually every trooper who works around Rabban knows about this one slave that they’ll get literally slaughtered over if they fatally roughed him up by accident. He’s not being pampered, his fights aren’t being completely rigged, it’s obviously still an awful existence for Gurney, but it’s all just careful enough to keep Rabban’s personal entertainment going for as long as possible. He’ll get bored of him soon and probably kill him himself like he has with any other slaves he’s come to see as personal favorites in the past. But the Duke’s raid spoils that and the day never comes.   

Jump forward to like more present Dune times. Something that I always thought was interesting in Dune is how all of the Harkonnens just like name-drop Duncan, Gurney, and Thufir? Like of the hundreds of Atreides troopers and staff and council whatever, Gurney is among those who are enough of a big deal to be known to other houses. Like imagine Rabban coming to this realization that some random slave-gladitor under his ownership came to make such a name for himself. Like Gurney Halleck? My Gurney? My little pet dude?? Who I was gonna kill eventually for fun, but just happened to get caught up in some Atriedes bitch slave raid. Insane. Like having had Gurney’s life in his hands before, for years, and not taken it, he helped Gurney get that far and has a sense of pride over it that Gurney would hate. Especially because It’s not something Rabban did on purpose at all, he had no idea not killing someone could be so good, it’s not his type of cruelty, he’s just not naturally patient enough for that kind of prolonged evil pleasure. Gurney is like the one exception, and the satisfaction at the occasional thought of finally killing Gurney himself, like he figured he would way back when, after Gurney’s risen so high. Oof. 

It’s a mutual fucked up thing in the end. Like living in each other’s brains for completely different reasons that the other could never understand.