Doctor Yooh – Dr. Wellington Yueh
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Doctor_Yooh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(franchise)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dune_characters#Wellington_Yueh
Doctor Yooh is Baron Hairkonnen’s doctor. He is treating the Baron for an illness that leaves the Baron confused and prone to fits of violence.
Dune, also known as the Dune Chronicles, is an American science fiction media franchise that originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert and has continued to add new publications. Dune is frequently described as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. It won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Hugo Award in 1966, and was later adapted into a 1984 film, a 2000 television miniseries, and a 2021 film. Herbert wrote five sequels, the first two of which were concomitantly adapted as a 2003 miniseries. Dune has also inspired tabletop games and a series of video games.
The Dune saga is set thousands of years in humanity’s future. Faster-than-light travel has been developed, and humans have colonized a vast number of worlds. However, a great reaction against computers has resulted in a ban on any kind of “thinking machine”, with the creation or possession of such punishable by immediate death. Despite this prohibition, humanity continues to develop and advance other branches of technology, including ESP and instruments of war. At the time of the first book’s setting, humanity has formed a feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, run by several Great Houses that oversee various planets. Of key interest is the planet Arrakis, known as “Dune”. A desert planet with nearly no precipitation, it is the only planet where a special life-extending drug, melange or “the spice”, can be found. In addition to life extension, melange enhances the mental capacity of humans: it allows for the mutated Spacing Guild pilots to navigate folded space and travel the distances between planets; and triggers some of the powers of the Bene Gesserit, a religious group that secretly seeks to control the direction humanity takes. Melange is difficult to acquire, not only due to the harsh environment of Arrakis, but also the presence of giant sandworms that are drawn towards any rhythmic sounds on the sands of the desert. Control of Arrakis, its spice production, and the impact on humanity’s development become the centerpoints of a millennia-long conflict that develops through the series.
Dr. Wellington Yueh is a Suk doctor and the trusted personal physician of Duke Leto Atreides. In Dune, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is intent on the destruction of House Atreides, who have been lured to Arrakis on the pretense of taking over the valuable spice mining operation there. Though Suk Imperial Conditioning supposedly makes the subject incapable of inflicting harm, the Baron has taken Yueh’s Bene Gesserit wife Wanna prisoner, threatening her with interminable torture unless Yueh complies with his demands. Aware of Yueh’s conditioning and believing Wanna was killed by the Harkonnens, Leto’s Mentat Thufir Hawat and concubine Lady Jessica are assured that the doctor is not a Harkonnen spy. Yueh disables the protective shields around the Atreides palace on Arrakis, and the Harkonnen forces (secretly supplemented by the seemingly unstoppable Imperial Sardaukar warriors) attack. Yueh takes Leto prisoner, but desiring to slay the Baron in defiance of his conditioning, Yueh provides the captive Leto with a fake tooth filled with poisonous gas as a means to kill the Baron, though Leto would die as well. Upon delivering Leto, Yueh confirms his belief that Wanna is already dead, moments before the Baron’s twisted Mentat Piter De Vries kills him. The Baron escapes the poison, which only kills Leto and De Vries. Leto’s son Paul flees into the desert with Jessica, aided by survival kits left for them by a compassionate Yueh.
Yueh is portrayed by Dean Stockwell in the 1984 film, and by Robert Russell in the 2000 miniseries. Chang Chen plays the character in the 2021 film.
The current list of all the (known) Mirage references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Doctor Yooh image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment
Covers of the various Dune novels are copyright Chilton Publishing
Dean Stockwell as Dr. Wellington Yueh image is copyright Universal Pictures
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
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