20 Things You Didn’t Know About Dune
3. The Giant Sandworms Aren’t Native To Arrakis
A revelation presented to the reader in an almost throwaway fashion is the fact that Shai-Hulud isn’t native to Arrakis. In the 3rd book - Children of Dune - Leto II casually reveals in one passage that Arrakis used to be a lush, biodiverse jungle paradise.
The worms were brought to the planet by means and motivation unknown and began to transform the world into the arid, hostile environment we know and love. Another wonderfully overexplained element of worm biology is their ability to terraform extremely quickly.
In Herbert’s original run of novels, this revelation is never explained or expanded upon, adding a wonderful layer of mystery to the lore of the Dune universe. Herbert wasn’t really into the idea of aliens or using extraterrestrials in sci-fi narratives, which might explain his reluctance in revealing who did the deed. Some fans of the text theorize that it was actually ancient, pre-earth humans however as...