Summary

• Sandworms are massive creatures that inhabit the desert planet of Arrakis, playing a pivotal role in the Dune series.
• Sandworms are the apex predator on Arrakis and are responsible for generating oxygen and creating the valuable Spice.
• Sandworms are incredibly dangerous due to their size, natural armor, and ability to swallow vehicles and buildings whole.

You’re in the middle of the desert, trudging along under the harsh sun and cutting sands, alone and lost, there&rsꦫquo;s no one around for miles. Over the wind and through your feet you can feel a rumble growing stronger, like an earthquake but headed right for you. From among the sands emerges the largest creature of the desert planet of Arrakis, the Sandworm, a monstrous, towering beast of teeth and flesh, ready to devour you in sec꧅onds.

The sandworms in the massive and often confusing world of the Dune saga play a pivotal role in the rise of Paul Atreides during his journey throughout the books. But what are the sandworms, where do they come from, and꧋ what role do they🐠 play in the series?

What Are The Sandworms?

Sandworms are, much like the name implies, worms that💜 live and thrive in the mass👍ive deserts of Arrakis, where the events that shape Paul Atreides take place. The sandworms, known as Shai-Hulud to the Fremen society, are the apex predator of the planet, and also the source, in a way, of the Spice that makes Arrakis so valuable to many major people and governments in the Dune universe.

Calling the sa✨ndworms large would be the understatement of the century. They are gargantuan, surpassing anything mankind has encountered on Earth by several factors. While they range in size like most animals, the sandworms can be up to 450 meters long, or about four football fields long from head to tail. For comparison, the largest animal on earth is the blue whale, which averages in at about 23 meters, or about 77 feet in length.

This imposꦦsibly large scale is near inconceivable to most, but it possibly isn’t even the largest a sandworm can reach, with ꦐrumors that among the southern pole of Arrakis lies worms that reach anywhere between 700 and 1000 meters in length.

Sandworms are incredibly dangerous, which feels like a given with their awe-inspiring size, but also 🌞thanks to many natural elements to their bodies. The skin of a sandworm is thick and so har🅠d that it seems metallic at times, making for a natural armor against all but the most powerful weapons. Then there are the teeth, rows upon rows of dagger-like teeth line a maw that can swallow entire vehicles and buildings at a time, and a person easily if it so desires.

On Arrakis, the sandworms play a vital role in keeping the planet habitable for life there. They are responsible for generati🉐ng oxygen from inside t♛heir bodies, a process necessary given the lack of plant life found on the desert planet. They also play a key role in the creation of the Spice that makes Arrakis so important in Dune.

The sandtrout, the larval and much smaller form of the sandworm, is essential to the creation of Spice, as well as for transforming Arrakis into the desert world it is in the books. Sandtrout consume water, which is naturally deadly to the much larger sandworms. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:By consuming water on the planet, the sandtrout excretes a raw form of Spice with the help of a fungus and help keep the world of Arrakis dry so the adult sandworms can thrive. This process produces massive explosionꦿs called Spice blows, which can prove deadly if you’re caught unawares.

Why Are The Sandworms So Important?

The sandworms of Arrakis play a vital role in the ecosystem of the planet, while at the same time affecting the peoples who live on Arrakis in different ways. To the greater galactic empire, including House Aဣtreides, the sandworms are a deadly necessity to the continuous production and harvesting of Spice Melange, which provides a huge economic boon to the empire, both in the value of the harvested spice and the benefits it provides.

The Spice is the rarest material in the known universe in Dune, both from a heavy desire to obtain consistent quantities of it and for the rarity of the narcotic drug. When consumed, Spice can enhance the mental capabilities of the user, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:even granting 💃precognitive abilities at t🐷imes, while also increasing the user’s life span, with the draw back of being highly addictive, ✱with deadly withdrawals. Sandworms will attack harvesters at times, drawn to even the subtlest sound or movement on the surface of the planet, making Spice harvesting a deadly occupation.

To the native people of the Fremen, the sandworm, or Shai-Hulud, plays a different role in their societ🌳y. The Fremen believe that the sandworms are the physical embodiment of the One God, who both created the universe and controls i💙t. In this way, they treat the sandworms with a reverence, believing themselves to be in the presence of their god in a way when they encounter a worm.

Why Doesn't The Sandworm Eat Paul?

There is a scene in the 2021 D🔯une film💙 where Paul and Jessica are facing down a sandworm that stops just before eating them. There’s a few reasons for this, first and foremost, sandworms don’t necessarily want to eat humans. There’s a lot of water in the human body and even a little can kill an adult sandwꦓorm. There’s also the fact that the two humans took refuge on a rock, which could potentially hurt the worm if it crashed down on the rock, not to mention they do most of their feeding by sifting sand for microorganism and sucking up smaller prey from the desert surface.

It also likely is a reference to the character Sheeana from the novel Heretic of Dune, who possesses the rare ability to control the sandworms, allowing her to ride the sandworms with ease, almost as if she has bonded with the sandworms in a way ꦑunlike how the Fremen ride the sandworms.

You…You Can Ride Them?

You absolutely can. In the world of Dune, where technology is often replaced with more naturalꦫ approaches, the Fremen have developed a way to ride and influence the sandworms into tra♛nsporting them across the vast stretches of nothingness of Arrakis.

By using a device called a thumper, which creates a rhythmic sound on the sand surface that attracts the sandworms, the Fremen can manipulate the gaps in the sandworm’s armor-like plates to pry it open and expose the inner skin to sand. This causes the sandworm🅰s discomfort, causing them to rotate the sandy part to the open air, and keeping the sandworm from descending belo💟w the surface.

From there, the Fremen can use hooks as a type of reign to direct the sandworm in the direction they want. This method has plenty of risks, especially when dealing with the gargantuan sandworms, but also runs the risk of ꦑexhausting the sandworm before they reach their destination.