Crysknife
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A crysknife is a fictional weapon in the In the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is made from the crystal tooth of Shai-Hulud, the giant sandworms that live below the sands of the desert planet Arrakis.
A crysknife is the formal weapon of the planet's native Fremen. It is a double-edged curved knife, the blade about 20 centimeters long. The crysknife comes in two forms, fixed and unfixed. Unfixed knives are raw sandworm teeth used as weapons. They need to be stored in proximity to an electrical field produced by the human body or they will disintegrate after a period of time. Fixed Crysknives are put through chemical processes to keep them permanently intact.
According to the religious beliefs of the Fremen, a crysknife must draw blood each time it is unsheathed before being sheathed again.
All young Fremen must go through a ritual, confirming their adulthood. This ritual is sealed with the gift of a crysknife to the adolescent warrior.
The first use of the weapon was by Selim Wormrider during the events of the Butlerian Jihad.
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[edit] Noted uses of crysknives
The Fremen combat style is based around the use of the crysknife, not on the use of offworlder projectile weaponry, though they have been known to use rifles with terrifying results over long range.
Since large plants and large pieces of woody materials are not common on Arrakis, the knife is not a utilitarian style like a Bowie knife or kukri. It is designed mainly with fighting in mind. It can be broken, and Jamis before his fatal duel with Paul Atreides says "May thy knife chip and shatter." The Fremen have a strict code against possession by a foreigner of their knives, and have been known to kill outworlders who they think will smuggle one off Arrakis. A Fremen warrior facing capture might kill himself, but before dying will shatter his knife on the nearest hard object.
At the end of Dune, Paul Atreides uses his own crysknife in single combat with Baron Harkonnen's nephew, Feyd Rautha, defeating and killing him.
Before his metamorphosis Leto II used a potently poisoned crysknife to kill one of the assailing Laza tigers who were intent on killing him and his sister, Ghanima.
Experienced Fremen knifefighters using crysknives were frequently able to defeat Sardaukar swordmasters in single combat, provided that the Fremen were not taken by surprise. Nonetheless, that feat was never portrayed as something that was easy for the Fremen to do.
[edit] Other Media
- There is a metal band named Crysknife, inspired by the weapon from Dune.
- In the game NetHack, killing a long worm leaves behind a tooth that can be made into a crysknife with a scroll of enchant weapon.
- In the game World of Warcraft, there is a rare knife called Dib'Muads Crysknife.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Herbert, Frank. Dune. 1965 (reprint). ISBN 0-441-17271-7
[edit] External links
- Official
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