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Gurney Halleck
Dune character
Patrick Stewart plays Halleck in the1984 film.
First appearance	Dune (1963–65)
Last appearance	Dune: Part Two (2024)
Created by	Frank Herbert
Portrayed by	Patrick Stewart (1984 film) P. H. Moriarty (2000 miniseries /2003 sequel) Josh Brolin (2021 /2024 films /2026 sequel)
In-universe information
Occupation	Atreides Weapons Master
Affiliation	House Atreides
Significantother	Lady Jessica[a]
Relatives	Beth Halleck (sister)[b]

Gurney Halleck is a fictional character in theDune universe created byFrank Herbert. He is a major character in Herbert'sDune (1965) andChildren of Dune (1976) as the War Master of House Atreides, acting as mentor, friend, and advisor toPaul Atreides. He also appears in some of theprequel/sequel novels byBrian Herbert andKevin J. Anderson.

Gurney is portrayed byPatrick Stewart in the 1984David Lynch filmDune.P. H. Moriarty plays the role in the 2000Sci-Fi Channel TVminiseriesFrank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel,Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. The character is portrayed byJosh Brolin in the 2021Denis Villeneuve filmDune, its 2024 sequel,Dune: Part Two, and the upcoming third film,Dune: Part Three.

Halleck is a talented minstrel skilled in the use of thebaliset, a stringed musical instrument. His jawline bears a scar from aninkvine whip wound inflicted byGlossu Rabban in theHarkonnen slave pits. A loyal friend to DukeLeto Atreides and his concubineLady Jessica, many years after Leto's death it is suggested inChildren of Dune that Gurney and Jessica have become lovers.^[a] Leto's sonPaul Atreides refers to him as "Gurney the valorous" inDune, and Duke Leto comments that Paul has named Gurney well.

Halleck is Paul's weapons teacher, as well as a skilled musician. He is one of Leto's chief officers, and serves alongsideDuncan Idaho as the Weapons Master of House Atreides. According toDune, Gurney was trained by "the best fighters in the universe", and alongside Idaho andThufir Hawat gave Leto a war council almost unparalleled in the Imperium. He manages to survive the fall ofHouse Atreides onArrakis with 73 men. In the years after the attack, he falls in with themelange smugglers, eventually becoming a powerful figure. His smugglers fall for a Fremen trap—a fake hoard of spice—and are almost killed before Paul, now the Fremen leader "Muad'Dib", recognizes him. Halleck later becomes Jessica's loyal chief officer after nearly killing her, mistakenly believing she betrayed Duke Leto.

InChildren of Dune, Gurney returns to Arrakis with Jessica from Caladan. He coordinates a purging of dissidents along withFremen leaderStilgar, an operation that he kept secret. He goes to the sietch Jacurutu under what he believes are Jessica's orders to test that Paul's sonLeto II has not fallen toAbomination. When the Fremen Namri reveals that the testing was ordered by Alia, he kills the man and escapes, sending a message to Duncan to set off the course of events that will force Stilgar to act. He takes temporary shelter with a new batch of smugglers before stealing anornithopter. With it, he escapes to a rebel sietch, where Leto II and The Preacher arrive. Leto II takes him to Shuloch. After Leto II returns to Arrakeen and takes the throne, Gurney is assigned to Sietch Tabr as part of Stilgar's council.

Gurney's character is further explored in thePrelude to Dune prequels (1999–2001) written by Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son, and Kevin J. Anderson.

According to the prequels, Gurney Halleck was born onGiedi Prime, the homeworld of House Harkonnen. After an incident with the local militia and the murder of his sister, he escaped Giedi Prime and aligned himself with the rogueHouse Vernius. Eventually, after a string of conflicts and the death ofEarl Dominic Vernius, Gurney Halleck arrived at the Atreides homeworld ofCaladan seeking the exiled PrinceRhombur Vernius. After helping reclaim the planetIx for House Vernius, Halleck served House Atreides, eventually becoming Paul Atreides' weapons teacher.

InChapterhouse: Dune (1985) it is revealed that theTleilaxu MasterScytale possesses a hiddennullentropy capsule containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including the cells of Paul Atreides, Duke Leto, Jessica, and Gurney. A ghola of Gurney is "conceived" inSandworms of Dune (2007), a sequel to the original Frank Herbert series written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, but is killed during gestation in an act of sabotage.

Gurney is portrayed byPatrick Stewart in the 1984David Lynch filmDune.^[1]P. H. Moriarty plays the role in the 2000Sci-Fi Channel TVminiseriesFrank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel,Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. The character is portrayed byJosh Brolin in the 2021Denis Villeneuve filmDune, who reprised the role in the 2024 sequelDune: Part Two.^[2] Brolin will return to the role forDune: Part Three in 2026, which will be based on the novelDune Messiah.^[3]

A line ofDune action figures, styled after David Lynch's film, was released in 1984 by toy company LJN to lackluster sales. A figure of Gurney previewed in LJN's catalog was never produced.^[4][5]

• Dune (franchise) characters
• Fictional martial arts trainers
• Fictional string musicians
• Fictional swordfighters in literature
• Literary characters introduced in 1963
• Literary characters introduced in 1965
• Male characters in literature

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