Sandworm (Dune)

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Sandworms are fictional desert-dwelling creatures from Frank Herbert's science fiction series Dune. According to the Encyclopedia of Dune their scientific name is Geonemotodium arraknis (also Shaihuludata gigantica), though this point is debatable, as will be covered below. Among the Fremen of Arrakis (Dune) they are known as Shai-Hulud. The Fremen believe that the actions of the sandworms are the direct actions of God, and so the worms have been given numerous titles such as the Great Maker, the Worm who is God, Old Man of the Desert, Old Father Eternity, and Grandfather of the Desert. Shai' hulud is Arabic for "a thing of eternity."

Sandworms are presumed to be animals, apparently similar to terrestrial annelids, though probably only through convergent evolution. They are cylindrical creatures with no significant appendages, though with trifaceted jaws. The Encyclopedia of Dune's identification of their genus as "Geonemotodium" is most likely invalid, as the segmentation is like that of the terrestrial annelids, rather than simple round-worm nematodes. Like terrestrial annelids, each segment has its own autonomous nervous control; thus a worm can only be killed by destroying every one of its segments. The book describes Shai-hulud as "incredibly tough." The only known ways an adult worm can be killed is by the electrocution of every segment, by another sandworm, or by exposure to a large enough amount of water, which is poisonous to the adult sandworm. It also is hinted at in the original novel that a nuclear explosion might be capable of destroying an entire worm at once.

Sandworms grow up to hundreds of meters in length. The largest worms officially observed reach 400 meters in length and 40 meters diameter, although Paul Atreides becomes a sandrider by summoning a worm around half a league in length, or 2,778 meters.^[1] As the worms seem to retain an aspect ratio of 10:1 of body length to diameter, a worm encountered in the deep desert by Muad'Dib that had an oral diameter of 80 meters could have been as long as 800 meters. These gigantic worms burrow deep in the ground and their constant motion around Arrakis is presumed to be the cause for the sand covering the globe.

Contents 1 The Sandworm Life Cycle 2 Sandworms and the Spice Melange 3 Melange and sandworm exploitation by humans 4 Sandworm Teeth 5 Paul-Muad'Dib, Leto II and the Sandworms 6 The Emperor Worm 7 Derivative works 8 References

[edit] The Sandworm Life Cycle

Sandworms begin their life as simple creatures known as sandtrout, or "Little Makers" to the Fremen. These creatures are similar to the trocophore larvae of terrestrial annelids and molluscs: simple haploid ciliated creatures. Sandtrout are drawn to water in the open desert and together multiple sandtrout will gather to encapsulate water, creating deserts safe for the adult worms. Once they have done so, they begin to make chemical alterations to the water to produce pre-spice mass, a potential water-safe nourishment for adult worms. Eventually, this process creates a build-up of gases that causes an eruption of the pre-spice mass, blasting carbon dioxide gas, water and the unique product of sandworms, the spice melange, out into the open desert. The water evaporates, leaving behind dried spice in the characteristic spice blow sought after by human harvesters. Spice blows can be identified by a large purplish colored patch of sand, smelling strongly of cinnamon.

Most of the sandtrout die off in this eruption, but the few survivors band together and bind themselves into cysts. Inside of these cysts they undergo a metamorphosis, emerging a few years later as a miniature sandworm.

The sandworm begins the adult stage of its life at only about a meter long, rarely surfacing before reaching two meters, but their final size, as indicated above, can be several hundred meters. They seem to have a near indefinite life-span, living for thousands of years. The adult sandworm seems to be immune to all sources of heat (quite good for a species living under the yellow giant star Canopus), but are vulnerable to electrocution and water.

A joke among imperial ecologists goes:

Question: What do the sandworms of Dune eat?

Answer: Humans.

While sandworms are capable of eating humans, the latter do contain a level of water beyond the preferred tolerances of the worms. The main diet of the worm seems to consist primarily of inorganic compounds of the Arrakeen soil, pre-spice mass and "sandplankton"—tiny organisms that may even be immature sandtrout. They also seem to enjoy eating melange-harvesting equipment. The sandworm is equipped with a fearsome array of crystalline teeth (something not unheard of even in the worms of Earth), used primarily for rasping rocks and sand.

[edit] Sandworms and the Spice Melange

As metabolic byproducts, sandworms produce three notable substances: oxygen, which is expelled from their trailing body, replacing the need for photosynthesizing plants on Arrakis; sand from the constant consumption and excretion of rock; and the extremely valuable spice melange, which is released along with water as a waste product of sandtrout. It is from the production of melange that sandworms receive their title of "Maker," but it is unclear whether or not sandworms actually generate the melange or if the process is limited to sandtrout. There are implications, especially in the latter books, that sandworms may leave behind some melange, and all attempts to create melange-systems on other planets have been highly sandworm-oriented. Sandworms poisoned by water will also generate a melange-concentrate known as Spice Essence or the Water of Life.

Unfortunately, the exact process by which spice is generated is unknown. However, around the 15000s AG (After Guild) the Bene Tleilax did develop an effective means of melange-synthesis using their axolotl tanks.

Allegedly, Herbert left it ambiguous as to whether or not the spice was the sperm of sandworms, used to incite the reproduction of sandtrout. There is no evidence within the books that the adult worms sexually reproduce, though it is suggested the species is propagated by asexual sandtrout reproduction. The Encyclopedia of Dune hypothesizes an interesting and very elaborate ritual of adult sandworm copulation, but due to the non-canonical nature of the book it is questionable.

[edit] Melange and sandworm exploitation by humans

Following its discovery, the cinnamon-scented melange became a commodity of central importance to the universe due to its rarity and numerous remarkable properties. The most common of these properties is that it serves as a geriatric narcotic — a drug capable of extending human life well beyond its natural limits. This comes at the cost of great addiction and the denial of spice to an addict can only result in death. Spice addicts are easy to spot by their blue-in-blue eyes and are common among the aristocracy, Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild and Fremen, although all these groups except the Fremen generally wear contact lenses to mask the blue color.

A second, and more remarkable property of melange is that it allows for users to experience prescience: to be able to see the future before it happens. This capability was taken advantage of by the Spacing Guild who saturated their navigators in melange gas, allowing them to see safe flight paths for heighliners and safely fold space using the Holtzman effect. Not everyone has the ability to obtain this prescience, as it requires a very high tolerance for melange. Paul-Muad'Dib and his son Leto Atreides II took their special role in history partly because they had especially high melange tolerances which allowed them to see the future. This ability appears to have become one carried down dominantly in all of the descendants of House Atreides since.

A third property of melange pertains to the spice essence. Spice essence is a bile-like extract from a worm poisoned by water. This blue fluid is then ingested by Bene Gesserit acolytes as the last stage of their training. The fluid is highly poisonous and the object of the trial is to use the power of their minds over their metabolic systems to transmute the fluid into something non-toxic. This ritual is known as the Spice agony and it awakens the genetic "Other Memory" of Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers. Independently of the Bene Gesserit, the Fremen practiced it, drowning captive 9 meter "dwarf" worms of the Minor Erg to produce the fluid. They then have their "wild" Reverend Mothers transmute a large quantity of the fluid to produce a liquor used to incite celebratory orgies in the Fremen sietch dwellings. Paul-Muad'Dib and Leto II are notable as the only men in history to undergo the spice agony, making them the male equals of Reverend Mothers, something the Bene Gesserit call the Kwisatz Haderach. Their experiences will be discussed below.

Due to these properties spice is, perhaps, the most valuable commodity in the entire universe, made especially so by the fact that it is produced on only one planet. Humans desperately seek it out across the planet to sell on the market. It is a very dangerous activity, as sandworms are territorial creatures and eagerly defend spice-blows. Harvesting is carried out by a gigantic machine called a Harvester. The Harvester is carried to and from a spice blow by an enlarged version of the ornithopter known as a Carry-All. The Harvester on the ground will have three scouting ornithopters patrolling around it watching for wormsign — the motions of sand indicating that a worm is headed towards the Harvester. The activity is made especially dangerous because sandworms are attracted to rhythmic vibrations on the ground — such as those generated by the Harvester as it extracts melange from the sand. The Fremen, who base their entire industry around the sale of spice and the manufacture of materials out of spice, have their own means for harvesting, as do smugglers. Both engage in these activities outside of the safe polar regions of Arrakis.

Sandworms, due to their size and territorial nature, can be extremely dangerous even to Fremen. Sandworms are attracted to and maddened by the presence of Holtzman force fields used as personal defence shields. Due to this, these force fields have very limited utility to soldiers on Arrakis. A peculiar Fremen weapon is the pseudoshield which attracts and maddens a worm, which then goes berserk smashing anything it finds near the pseudoshield. The device is sometimes used therefore in the same manner as a time bomb, land mine or grenade.

The Fremen managed to develop a unique relationship with the sandworms. For one, they learned to avoid most worm attacks by mimicking the motions of desert animals and moving with the natural sounds of the desert, rather than the rhythmic vibration patterns that attract worms. However, they also developed a device known as a thumper with the express purpose of generating a rhythmic vibration to attract a sandworm. This can be used either as a diversion, or to summon a worm for the Fremen to ride.

The Fremen secretly mastered a way to ride sandworms for transportation across the open desert. First a worm is summoned with a thumper, the worm-rider then runs along side it and catches one of the ring-segments with a special maker-hook. The hook is used to pry up the front of the segment, exposing the soft inner-tissue to abrasive sand. To avoid irritation, the worm will rotate this to the top of its body, carrying the rider with it. The worm will then safely remain above the surface until the hook is released. Other Fremen may then plant additional hooks for steering, or act as "beaters", hitting the worm's tail to make it increase speed. A worm can be ridden for several hundred miles and for about half of a day, at which point it will become exhausted and sit on the open desert until the hooks are released, when they will burrow back down to rest. The worm-riding ritual is used as a coming-of-age ritual among the Fremen. Worm-riding was then used by Paul-Muad'Dib for troop transport into the city of Arrakeen after using atomic weapons to blow a hole in the shield wall during the Battle of Arrakeen.

After the reign of Leto II sandworms became unrideable, for reason elaborated on below. There was one remarkable exception, however, a young girl named Sheeana, an Atreides-descendent possessed a unique ability to control the worms and safely move around them.

Due to the value of melange, attempts have been made to replicate it on countless planets, always meeting with failure. In many experiments an adult worm was transplanted (often smuggled with funds going to the Fremen), which prevented the complete cycle from existing; while in others sandtrout were transplanted into an existing desert, denying them the necessary water to begin the cycle. A solution to this was realized by Leto II, as it had perhaps been before by ecologists Liet-Kynes and Pardot Kynes. The large salt-flats of Arrakis indicate that it was not always a desert, but once had oceans that were dried up by the sandtrout (this may even stand as evidence that the sandtrout are not even native to Arrakis), thus, placing sandtrout on a water-rich planet will allow them to start the complete spice cycle at the cost of turning the planet into a desert, another Dune.

The Honored Matres destroyed Arrakis and the Tleilaxu (who held the secret to axlotl tank Spice production) in the hopes of eliminating the substance to damage the "Old Empire" but were thwarted when the Bene Gesserit escaped with a single sandworm. Using a process discovered by Leto II, they submerged the worm in Spice-rich water, causing it to separate into sandtrout, rather than simply die. With that they transformed their own Chapterhouse planet into another Dune and sent countless sandworms out into space.

[edit] Sandworm Teeth

Sandworms possess remarkable teeth inside their maws. Fremen extract these teeth and use them as knives. This special type of knife is known as a Crysknife. They are usually about as long as a standard kindjal. There are two types, fixed and unfixed. Unfixed knives are raw sandworm teeth used as weapons. They need to be stored in close proximity to a magnetic field produced by the human heart or it will disintegrate after a period of time. Fixed Crysknives are put through chemical processes to keep them permanently intact. A traditional Freman battlecry ("May your blade chip and shatter!") stems from the brittle quality of knives that are not kept in close proximity to a human.

Fremen tradition dictates that once a Crysknife is drawn, it must not be sheathed until it has drawn blood.

[edit] Paul-Muad'Dib, Leto II and the Sandworms

Paul-Muad'Dib and Leto II had a unique experience with melange in their high tolerances and experiences of the spice agony. In Muad'Dib even a slight exposure to melange triggered prescience in him, but he built up an ever increasing resistance to it. When he went through the spice agony he was given complete prescience, a complete map of the future, as well as a complete awakening as the Kwisatz Haderach.

Leto II, wishing to avoid complete prescience avoided high concentrations of melange, but was eventually kidnapped and forced to consume large amounts of it and the spice essence by Fremen Rebels. He went through the same experience as Muad'Dib, but became so super-satured with spice that he was able to interact with sandworms and sandtrout in a different way. So saturated with spice, he was able to coax sandtrout onto his body, where they, convinced it was water, encapsulated him and buried their cilia thus fusing them into one being. The sandtrout skin gave him super-strength, super-speed and made sandworms wary of him, as the presence of sandtrout indicated he was a mass of water. However, with the increased strength he was able to summon worms using only his foot as a thumper and ride them using his hands as maker-hooks.

This was not all good though, fused into the sandtrout skin Leto's physical development ended as a pre-pubescent child, but the concentrations of spice allowed his sandtrout-body to develop. Over 3,500 years it gradually transformed itself into a worm-body, absorbing Leto into itself. It granted him near immortality, and a special role as a half-human, half-worm monster which he used to elevate himself to the role of the pharaonic God-Emperor of the universe. However, now forced to the sensitivities of the worm he could not eat, nor drink, nor have any contact to water without extreme physical pain, as well as occasionally being reflexively taken over by the worm-body in stressful situations and generating spice essence directly in his body. He retained the notable features of highly dextrous hands, but useless, undeveloped flipper-feet as well as a brain expanded into large neural-ganglia throughout the worm-body.

Ultimately, Leto was assassinated by a ghola of Duncan Idaho and Siona, an Atreides descendant, by being thrown into the Idaho River. Due to his high spice saturation his worm body decomposed into sandtrout, which immediately began to undo the terraforming of Dune. Each one, according to Leto, carries in it a tiny pearl of his consciousness, trapped forever in an unending prescient dream. With the increased amount of neural-ganglia and human-like adaptiveness the worms would become too irritable to ride, but would also be able to finally be transplanted to a variety of worlds across the universe. Over the next 1500 years Arrakis, now Rakis, would be returned to a desert and the worms would thrive once more.

However, Darwi Odrade became aware that humanity was being limited by the prescient dream of Leto, that he was still controlling humanity through his worm revenants, and thus she welcomed the destruction of Rakis by the Honored Matres as it freed humanity, and the one remaining worm and its descendants were not enough to restore Leto's control--perhaps the ultimate intent of his Golden Path all along. The remaining worm she took back to Chapterhouse, submerged in a spice bath to generate sandtrout which then turned Chapterhouse, and other planets, into new Dunes, with new worms and infinite potential for gathering spice.

[edit] The Emperor Worm

Towards the end of Emperor: Battle for Dune, it is revealed that both the Tleilaxu and the Spacing Guild have been secretly experimenting with the sandworms of Arrakis in a remote research facility in the desert as the three great Houses of the Landsraad, the Atreides, Ordos and Harkonnen are busy waging the War of Assassins amongst each other. It appears that the Tleilaxu have discovered the link between the Spice Melange and the sandworms as mentioned above. They plot to seize the Golden Lion Throne by breeding a man-worm, known as the Emperor Worm, and then fusing it with the Water of Life, mercilessly taken from the Lady Elara — who was held prisoner by the Reverend Mother (in truth a Tleilaxu Face Dancer) since the beginning of the game — giving it almost god-like powers.

All three Houses will be fighting against the Guild in a race against time to destroy the Emperor Worm before it awakes, with a different ending for each House depicting their units destroying the Worm.

[edit] Derivative works

This concept of giant sandworms has been used for other fictional works, such as the films Beetlejuice and Tremors. They are a common enemy in many computer role-playing games, such as Phantasy Star IV and the Final Fantasy series.

• An obvious homage appears in the anime series Trigun, which not only takes place on a desert planet, but also features sandworms that can be summoned by movement.

• In F-Zero GX, a sandworm can be seen jumping the track in the background during Lap 1 of the first Sand Ocean level.

• In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, there exist Sandworm-like creatures called Amorbis who are the guardians of the Dark Agon Temple.

• In the song "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim, the phrase "Walk without rhythm, and you won't attract the worm" alludes to the sandworms of Dune.

• The computer game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy features a mission set on the desert planet of Blenjeel where the player must evade numerous giant worms called Sand Burrowers which are virtually identical to those in Dune.

• Antlions, from the computer game Half-Life 2 bear some similarities to Sandworms, being creatures which burrow underground, are attracted by vibration and are adverse to water. However, large thumper devices within the game drive away Antlions, at least in a radius around the thumper, rather than attracting them, as in Dune.

• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm" , Sandy sees a sign which reads "worm" and exclaims "Wormsign!" This is a reference to the disturbance in the sand created by a sandworm in Dune. Later in the same episode, Sandy and Spongebob perform a daring stunt which lands them on top of a Giant Worm, riding it much like a Fremen would.

• The heavy metal band Iron Maiden have a song "To Tame a Land" which tells the story of Dune.

• In the 1988 film Beetlejuice sandworms exist on Saturn, where the dead are transported to if they leave the location of their "hauntings", as Arrakis sandworms would if they were taken out of their native surroundings.

• The massively-multiplaying online roleplaying computer game Guild Wars features a giant worm-like enemy named Wurm that travels beneath the desert sand, only reaching the surface for attacking unprepared travellers. As the game progresses, player may encounter a few variants of this creature that are able to travel beneath earth or even volcanic rocks.

• World of Warcraft also has a giant sandworm as a boss that a 40-man raid must conquer. He drops various items relating to Dune such as Jom Gabbar, a reference to the Bene Gesserit Gom Jabbar.

[edit] References

1. ^ Herbert, Frank [1965] (1987). Dune. Ace Books, 391. ISBN 0-441-17266-0. “It [the sandworm] appeared to be more than half a league long, and the rise of the sandwave at its cresting head was like the approach of a mountain.”