ated when the extensive Fremen colonization, the staggering potential wealth of the planet s spice and the beginnings of the Kynes-mspired ecological transformation became known Once established at the capital Hawat made only one error his readiness to believe the Lady Jessica a traitor-a belief born no doubt of his distrust of women, especially a Bene Gessent "witch " Although the Har-konnens had left Arrakis, they had no intention of turning the fief over to the Atreides Knowing Hawat's vigilance, the Harkonnen Mentat de Vnes arranged to feed Hawat false information in an intercepted letter implicating Jessica Even when Duke Leto refused to believe the Baron's letter and Jessica logicallj defended herself against the charge, Hawat could not eradicate his suspicion the bitter fruit of Anyya's bcttayal Aware of his problem without knowing its cause Jessica warned Hawat teat, although he could brilliantly apply logic to anything oulstde himself, he had difficulty with "those things most deeply personal " Unconvinced, Hawat nev ertheless left the interview with a "sense of supreme admiration ' (as he wrote to Rouse) for the Lady Jessica, who at one point had with remarkabk courage defied Hawat's knife by turning her back on him Except for this one mistake, those days when Hawat labored to establish his beloved House Atreides on Arrakis were Ac last fine hours for the aging Mental, indeed, they may have been his finest From the moment he heard the news of the Hafkonnen attack, bitterness became his daily companion Having prepared for random raids or an attack of no more than ten brigades (the aumber Hawat's intelligence corps warned him to expect), Hawat was staggered by the size of the Harkonnen force and their strategic deploy meet A rapid calculation revealed the attack consisted of more than one hundred brigades The entire spice income of Arrakis for fifty years could not have covered the cost of such a venture What Hawat could not possibly know was that much of the cost had been paid from the Imperial cofiers from that moment Until the day he died, Hawat was convinced that the Lady Jessica had been then- betrayer One can only conjee ture that his experience with Anyya, which must have been devastating, continued to cloud his judgment of women Although helpless himself to assist his Duke as the Harkonnens advanced Hawat was heartened by the unbelievable Fremen capture of an omithopter manned by Sardaukar and a karm kaze destruction of a troop earner before he was captured by Sardaukar disguised in Harkonnen livery In Baron Harkonnen's papers (in an Appendix to House Harkonnen) we learn of the Baron's delight that not only was Thufir Hawat, Duke Lelo s Master of Assassins, taken alive, but also that he could be used against the Atreides The Baron's strategy was simple by allowing Hawat to believe Jessica was alive and never revealing that Dr Wellington Yueh was the true betrayer, the Baron could feed Hawat s desire for revenge The Baron summarized "The way to control and direct a Mentat is through his information False information-false results ' Much as he wanted a Mentat after Piter de Vnes was dead at Leto's hands, the Baron had too much healthy fear of Hawat not to take some precautions he instructed lakin Zefud, his guard captain, to impregnant Hawat's body with the residual poison developed by de Vnes and to administer the antidote regularly in the Mental's meals Without the antidote, Hawat would die within a few days Hawat s scantily recorded career on Giedi Prime remains enigmatic His actions seem, on the one hand, to be depraved, and yet on the other to mask perhaps some plan of his own to destroy the Baron One of Hawat's less worthy projects was a perverted alteration of the jousting techniques he had developed in the old days in Duke Mmtor's bullnngs two such adaptations were distractors to be earned by Harkonnens m the Gladiator Games and crippling handicaps for their slave opponents Hawat also devised a plan where by Feyd-Rautha could give a spectacular albeit ngged, performance before an elite audience Instead nf being drugged as was usual with slave gladiators, the victim was conditioned by Hawat to be overcome by a key word Thus, it would appear that Feyd-Rautha had brilliantly defended himself against an undrugged slave who had been slipped into the arena to kill the na-Baron.