| Arrakis - Caladan - Giedi Prime - Kaitain | |
|---|---|
| Universe | Dune universe |
| Creator | Frank Herbert |
| Genre | Science fiction |
Below is a list of fictional planets named in the novels of the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. In the Appendix of Dune (1965), Herbert notes that there are over 13,300 worlds under Landsraad influence immediately after the Butlerian Jihad.[1] The desert planet Arrakis is the primary planet featured in the Dune series of novels; it is the only known source of the all-important spice melange in the universe.[2] Other notable planets introduced in the originating novel Dune are Caladan (ancestral home of House Atreides) and Giedi Prime (homeworld of House Harkonnen).[2]
Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-world nomenclature of plains (planitia) and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.[3] To date, Arrakis, Chusuk, and Sikun have been used.[4][5]
III Delta Kaising is one of two planets on which shigawire is grown (the other being Salusa Secundus).[6]
Al Dhanab is an "artificial world," location of a Bene Gesserit creche and "one of the original Sisterhood safe planets." A "planet of constant testing," it is considered "an equivalent of Salusa Secundus"[7] and in some ways "worse than Dune."[8] The environment is characterized by "high cliffs and dry gorges, hot winds and frigid winds, little moisture and too much."[7][8] At some point the Sisterhood considers converting the whole planet into a no-chamber, but abandons the plan due to the prohibitive energy requirements.[7]
Arrakis, (derived from the Arabic name ar-rāqiṣ, "the dancer", originally a star-name for Mu Draconis) later Rakis (known colloquially throughout as Dune), is a desert planet home to the Fremen (Zensunni wanderers) and later, the Imperial Capital under Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides.[2] Arrakis is the third planet orbiting the star Canopus,[9] and it in turn is orbited by two moons, one of which has the image of the desert kangaroo-rat, Muad'Dib, on it; the other possesses the image of a human fist.[2] The planet is the only known source of the all-important spice melange in the universe.[2] By the time of Heretics of Dune, its name has been shortened to "Rakis."[7]
Bela Tegeuse is the "fifth planet of Kuentsing: third stopping place of the Zensunni (Fremen) forced migration."[9][10]
Buzzell is a cold planet, covered mostly by ocean with "hardscrabble islands, none bigger than a large no-ship",[8] Buzzell is known for its soostones, valuable iridescent gems produced by the abraded carapaces of monoped sea creatures called Cholisters, much in the manner of pearls. Used as a "punishment planet" by the Bene Gesserit.[8] Buzzell is eventually the home of the new breed of aquatic sandworms.[11]
Caladan, later Dan, is the "third planet of Delta Pavonis"[9] and the ancestral fiefdom of House Atreides. The Atreides live on Caladan for twenty-six generations in the ancient Castle Caladan prior to the events of Dune, and it is the home of Paul Atreides for fifteen years until the Atreides take up residence on Arrakis.[2] The farming of pundi rice, supplemented by fishing and wine making, is the primary economic activity of Caladan.[12] By the time of Heretics of Dune, its name has been shortened to "Dan."[7]
Chapterhouse is the planetary base of operations of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood in Heretics of Dune, over 5000 years after the events of Dune (when the Bene Gesserit Mother School had been located on Wallach IX).[7] After the dreaded Honored Matres destroy the desert planet Rakis – the only known source of the all-important spice melange – the Bene Gesserit begin to terraform the surface of green Chapterhouse into a desert in order to breed and begin a new life-cycle of sandworms and renew the spice cycle under their own control.[8] Hiding from the dreaded Honored Matres, the Bene Gesserit keep the location of Chapterhouse secret and shield the planet behind a wall of no-ships, spaceships invisible to the naked eye and hidden from the power of prescience.[8]
In Dune, Chusuk is the "fourth planet of Theta Shalish; the so-called 'Music Planet' noted for the quality of its musical instruments." [9] The Appendix of Dune mentions "the Navachristianity of Chusuk."[13]
On August 4, 2009, a real-world plain of Saturn's moon Titan was named Chusuk Planitia after Herbert's fictional planet.[14]
In Dune it is noted that the Atreides-Harkonnen feud had begun millennia before when "an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice after the Battle of Corrin."[2] Taking place "near Sigma Draconis in the year 88 B.G.," this battle had "settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus," who then had taken the name House Corrino.[15]
The Legends of Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson explores the events of the Butlerian Jihad, the human crusade against thinking machines which culminates with the Battle of Corrin. During that time, Corrin is the most important of the Synchronized Worlds, being the homeworld of machine leader Omnius. To commemorate mankind's final victory over the thinking machines on Corrin, Viceroy Faykan Butler takes the name of "Corrino," founding the House which would rule humanity for over 10,000 years.[16]
Ecaz is the "Fourth planet of Alpha Centauri B; the sculptors' paradise, so called because it is the home of fogwood, the plant growth capable of being shaped in situ solely by the power of human thought."[9] Ecaz is also home to a variety of plant growths from which numerous drugs are extracted, including the elacca drug,[9] sapho juice,[9] semuta[9] and verite,[9] and is the source of hufuf vine strands used to weave krimskell fiber and krimskell rope.[9]
Gamont is the "third planet of Niushe; noted for its hedonistic culture and exotic sexual practices."[9]
Gansireed is a planet with a village named London, pondered upon by Leto Atreides II in Children of Dune.[17]
Giedi Prime, later Gammu, is a planet of Ophiuchi B (36) and the homeworld of the vicious House Harkonnen,[9] sworn enemies of House Atreides. It is "A median-viable planet with a low active-photosynthesis range;"[9] bleak and dark, it is heavily industrialized and its people are very oppressed.[2] By the time of Heretics of Dune, its name has been changed to "Gammu" by Gurney Halleck.[7]
Dune notes that House Ginaz are "one-time allies of Duke Leto Atreides" and are "defeated in the War of Assassins with Grumman."[9] Duncan Idaho is noted to be a Swordmaster of the Ginaz,[2] which leads to his body later being sold to the Tleilaxu as "a master swordsman, an adept of the Ginaz School."[18]
The Legends of Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson establishes that the planet Ginaz is oceanic with multiple, small tropical archipelagos that constitute its only surface land on which all the major population centers are situated. During the Butlerian Jihad, Ginaz mercenaries are renowned for their skill against Omnius.[16] In the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson prequel series Prelude to Dune, House Moritani of Grumman attacks Ginaz after some of their students are sent home in disgrace from the Swordmaster School.[19]
According to Dune, Grumman is the "second planet of Niushe, noted chiefly for the feud of its ruling House (Moritani) with House Ginaz."[9] In the novel, a drunken Duncan Idaho states that his sword was "first blooded on Grumman," killing a Harkonnen in service of Duke Leto Atreides.[2]
The Legends of Dune prequel trilogy relates how the great mercenary Jool Noret is raised here during the Butlerian Jihad.[16]
In Paul of Dune the planet is described as so completely exploited that little exists of commercial value, and the local population barely surviving as nomads wandering between the few areas with remaining resources. The capital fortress of Ritka survives only on food imports from other worlds in exchange for the few minerals that can be extracted from the extensive subterranean mining. Other than base minerals, a local breed of horse is also profitable.[20]
According to Dune, Hagal is called "the 'Jewel Planet' (II Theta Shaowei), mined out in the time of Shaddam I."[9] In Dune it is also noted that the Golden Lion Throne of the Padishah Emperors is "carved from a single piece of Hagal quartz—blue-green translucency shot through with streaks of yellow fire."[2]
The Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy establishes that Yvette Hagal of House Hagal is one of Emperor Elrood IX's wives, and an ancestor of Paul Atreides.[19][21]
Harmonthep is a "no longer existing satellite of Delta Pavonis," and "the sixth stop in the Zensunni migration."[9]
In Paul of Dune, Ipyr is the homeworld of Earl Memnon Thorvald, a nobleman who leads the resistance against the rule of Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides after the events of Dune.[22] When Paul discovers Thorvald's intent to devastate the Atreides planet of Caladan, he forces the Spacing Guild to eject Thorvald and his followers into deep space and leave them to die.[22] Paul's forces then "sterilize" Ipyr, using "weapons, explosives, highly toxic chemical bombs, defoliants, and wide-dispersal incendiaries" to destroy every living thing and render the planet uninhabitable.[22]
In Dune it is noted that the planet Ix is classed with Richese as "supreme in machine culture," and that Ixian solido projectors "are commonly considered the best."[9] In Dune Messiah it is explained that the planet's name is derived from the fact that it is the ninth planet of its sun.[18] Ixian devices are commonplace and considered essential throughout the rest of the series, though they sometimes test the limits of the anti-technology proscriptions of the Butlerian Jihad.
In Chapterhouse: Dune, the planet Junction — once controlled by the Spacing Guild — has been taken over by the fierce Honored Matres as a stronghold for their leader, the Great Honored Matre Dama.[8] Its buildings possess what Miles Teg calls "that special Guild flavor ... compounded of Ixian technology and Navigator design — buildings wrapped around space in the most energy-conserving way ... And that permanent grayness to all construction — not silver but as dull as Tleilaxu skin.[8] Chambers and hallways are immense, to accommodate "convocations of Guild Navigators" in their enormous tanks.[8] It is also noted to be "like other Junction planets. Somewhere in Guild records there doubtless was a serial number and code for it."[8]
Kaitain is the capital planet of the Imperium and the seat of power of House Corrino, the Royal Court being previously located on Salusa Secundus.[23]
Kolhar is the site of the first shipyard to produce space-folding ships (eventually called heighliners) during the Butlerian Jihad.[16]
Lampadas is a center for Bene Gesserit education, where Miles Teg is trained as a Mentat in his youth.[7] The planet falls to the Honored Matres in Chapterhouse: Dune.[8]
In Dune, Baron Harkonnen's sadistic nephew Glossu Rabban is titled "Count of Lankiveil," and it is noted that his father Abulurd Harkonnen had "renounced the Harkonnen name and all rights to the title when given the subdistrict governorship of Rabban-Lankiveil."[24] Herbert states that a variant of the ancient Buddislamic religion is "dominant at Lankiveil."[13] House Harkonnen's return to power from their centuries-old disgrace is "ascribed to adroit manipulation of the whale fur market and later consolidation with melange wealth from Arrakis."[25]
In the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy, the original Abulurd Harkonnen is exiled from the League of Nobles in 88 B.G. for cowardice, and given the governorship of Lankiveil, now established as a planet.[16] The Prelude to Dune series describes Lankiveil as a cold and windy planet ruled by House Harkonnen, its main economic asset being its monopoly on the valuable whale fur trade.[19] The planet is covered in seas choked with pack ice and icebergs, and seat of government and foremost city is the village of Tula Fjord.[19] A peace-loving man and the polar opposite of his older brother Vladimir, Abulurd is happy to relinquish the Harkonnen name and retire to Lankiveil to distance himself from the self-serving, underhanded, and violent actions of both his brother and of his own son, Glossu.[19] Abulurd is enraged when Glossu goes on a whale-hunting rampage, driving the Bjondax whales away from the area indefinitely and crippling the whale fur industry disastrously.[19] When Abulurd later discovers one of his brother's illegal spice hoards on Lankiveil, he distributes it to his people; Glossu returns and strangles his father to death in 10,174 A.G.[19]
As Heretics of Dune begins, Miles Teg is retired on Lernaeus, in the home of his Bene Gesserit mother Lady Janet Roxbrough, "of the Lernaeus Roxbroughs."[7]
In Dune Messiah, a female supplicant asks Alia Atreides for word of her son, who she has heard has been killed on Muritan.[18]
In Dune Messiah, Farok notes that his son "lost his eyes in the conquest of Naraj" — also referred to as "the Naraj worlds" — due to the after-effects of a stone burner.[18]
Palma is a Bene Gesserit planet sacrificed to destruction by the Honored Matres in Chapterhouse: Dune.[8]
Parmentier is a former Synchronized World, recolonized by the League of Nobles.[16] After Parmentier is ravaged by the Demon Scourge, a catastrophic virus genetically engineered and unleashed by the thinking machines to destroy humanity, Rayna Butler begins her personal crusade against the machines. This anti-technology movement becomes the fanatical Cult of Serena.[16]
Poritrin is the "third planet of Epsilon Alangue, considered by many Zensunni Wanderers as their planet of origin, although clues in their language and mythology show far more ancient planetary roots."[9]
The Legends of Dune series notes it as once being home to inventor Tio Holtzman and the proud Lord Bludd, and that it is severely devastated in several Buddislamic uprisings.[16]
Richese is the "fourth planet of Eridani A, classed with Ix as supreme in machine culture. Noted for miniaturization.[9]
The Prelude to Dune series establishes that it is under the rule of the Count of House Richese, and is orbited by Korona, an artificial moon created for scientific and industrial research.[19] This moon is later destroyed by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV when he discovers that it is the hiding place for an illegal hoard of melange.[19]
In Hunters of Dune, Murbella of the New Sisterhood contracts Richese to build as many armed ships and as much weaponry as possible, in preparation for their pending confrontation with the unknown enemy. The Honored Matre forces on Tleilax subsequently incinerate the entire planet of Richese with Obliterators.[26]
In Heretics of Dune, Miles Teg notes that his younger brother Sabine had been poisoned on Romo.[7]
As noted in Dune, Rossak is the source of the Bene Gesserit's original poison drug, predecessor of the Water of Life.[27]
The Legends of Dune series establishes it as the fifth planet of Alces Minor, and one of the stopping places for the Zensunni Wanderers. Its jungles are the source of many pharmaceutical riches; as the homeworld of the Sorceresses of Rossak, it is the origin of Bene Gesserit order itself and also the birthplace of Norma Cenva.[16]
Salusa Secundus is the third planet of the Gamma Waiping system and the homeworld of the Imperial House Corrino; also noted as the second stopping point in the migrations of the Zensunni Wanderers. The Royal Court is moved to Kaitain, and Salusa is designated the Imperial Prison Planet.[23] It is also the secret training ground for the Emperor's elite Sardaukar troops,[2] and one of two planets on which shigawire is grown (the other being III Delta Kaising).[6]
A planet in the 70 Ophiuchi A system, Sikun is home to the useful plant akarso.[28] In Dune it is noted that a variant of the ancient Buddislamic religion is dominant at Sikun.[13]
On January 6, 2010, a real-world feature of Saturn's moon Titan was named Sikun Labrynthus after Herbert's fictional planet.[5]
In Sandworms of Dune, Synchrony is established as the capital world of the reincarnated thinking machine empire, led by the evermind Omnius and independent robot Erasmus.[11]
Tleilax is the sole planet of the star Thalim, noted as "renegade training center for Mentats," specifically "twisted" Mentats.[9] The homeworld of the Bene Tleilax, its capital is named Bandalong and most of the planet is off-limits to outsiders, as the majority of it is considered holy by the religious Tleilaxu.[7][8]
Tupile is the "so-called 'sanctuary planet' (probably several planets) for defeated Houses of the Imperium. Location(s) known only to the Guild and maintained inviolate under the Guild Peace."[9] Tupile is said to be "outside the Imperium", though this is probably not meant in the literal sense that it is physically far beyond the borders of colonized space. Rather, because the Spacing Guild controls space travel to and from Tupile, its location (or locations) could easily be anywhere within the Imperium.
As noted in Dune, Wallach IX is the "ninth planet of Laoujin, site of the Mother School of the Bene Gesserit."[9] Five thousand years later in Heretics of Dune, the primary base of operations for the Bene Gesserit has been moved to a planet called Chapterhouse.[7] The subsequent novel Chapterhouse: Dune notes that the antagonistic Honored Matres have captured Wallach.[8]
In the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy, Wallach is one of the Synchronized Worlds under thinking machine control. It is subsequently devastated by atomics as the human forces of Butlerian Jihad systematically destroy all of the machine-controlled planets. At some point within the next 10,000 years before the events of Dune, the Bene Gesserit assume control of the planet.[16]
A recreational world featured in Dune: House Corrino, Zanovar is controlled by House Taligari. Attacked and partially destroyed by Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV's Imperial Sardaukar under the pretense of enforcing a ban on the hoarding of melange.[19]
In The Stars and Planets of Frank Herbert's Dune: A Gazetteer by Joseph M. Daniels,[29] the distance from Earth in light-years (ly) is provided for many planets in the Dune universe, based on the real-life distances of the stars and planetary systems referenced by Frank Herbert when discussing these planets in the glossary of the novel Dune. However, though Herbert used the names of actual stars and planetary systems in his work, there is no documentation supporting or disputing the assumption that he was, in fact, referring to these real-life stars or systems. The Gazetteer suggests the following:
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