The sandworm is a fictional form of desert-dwelling creature from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. They first appear in the 1965 novel Dune, considered to be among the classics in the science fiction genre, and are iconic of the Dune series.
In the series, the sandworms – called Shai-Hulud among the Fremen of the desert planet Arrakis (Dune) – are worshiped as manifestations of "the earth deity of Fremen hearth superstitions." The Frem...
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The sandworm is a fictional form of desert-dwelling creature from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. They first appear in the 1965 novel Dune, considered to be among the classics in the science fiction genre, and are iconic of the Dune series.
In the series, the sandworms – called Shai-Hulud among the Fremen of the desert planet Arrakis (Dune) – are worshiped as manifestations of "the earth deity of Fremen hearth superstitions." 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" and the "Worm who is God." Virtually indestructible and with indefinite lifespans of potentially thousands of years, the giant sandworms are also referred to as the "Old Man of the Desert", "Old Father Eternity" and "Grandfather of the Desert".
In the essay "The Biology of the Sandworm" in The Science of Dune (2008), Sibylle Hechtel analyzes and deconstructs the concept from a real world...
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