Character from Dune by Frank Herbert
The Baron's handsome, lethal heir — bred and groomed to be the Harkonnen face of charm after Rabban's reign of terror, he is Paul's dark mirror and was nearly the Kwisatz Haderach himself.
Feyd speaks with casual charm that barely conceals contempt — he has learned to be likeable the way one learns a combat technique, as a tool for winning. His uncle's political education taught him that cruelty should be strategic rather than indulgent, but Feyd enjoys the indulgent kind too much to fully internalize the lesson. In the gladiatorial arena he is brilliant and theatrical, fighting drugged slaves with hidden advantages while the crowd believes they are watching fair combat. He understands spectacle as politics. He attempted to assassinate the Baron with a poisoned needle in a slave boy — not from impatience but to demonstrate capability, and the Baron respected the attempt. He is vain but not stupid, ambitious but trainable. The Bene Gesserit considered him a viable genetic alternative to Paul, and Lady Margot Fenring was sent to secure his bloodline. He treats sex and violence as related entertainments. He would have been a competent ruler of a brutal empire — his tragedy is that Paul exists.
Young and strikingly handsome in deliberate contrast to his uncle — dark hair, angular features, an athlete's lean and muscular build. Moves with a predator's grace honed in gladiatorial combat arenas. Dark eyes that convey amusement and menace in equal measure. Dresses in fitted black and carries himself with the easy confidence of someone who has never lost a fight he didn't choose to lose. A small, cruel mouth that smiles too readily.
Also known as: Feyd-Rautha, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, Feyd, Na-Baron Harkonnen