The true seat of power in Frank Herbert’s universe of Dune is on the desert world of
Arrakis as it is the only source of the precious spice melange . It can be said without question
that whoever controls the spice controls the universe.
On this deadly jewel of a planet, however, one lifeform, the mighty sandworm, reigns
supreme.
Like the legends treasure hoarding dragons of old, these fiercely territorial beasts
prove themselves to be a formidable deterrent to any who wish to collect the precious spice.
As such, seekers of this treasure must go to great lengths to protect themselves from
an inevitable attack whenever they step foot into the mighty sandworm’s domain.
While these massive creatures are certainly one of the biggest threats to human life on
Arrakis, they are not invincible.
So in this video I’d like to discuss a few ways in which a sandworm can be killed within
the parameters of what was established in Frank Herbert’s Dune series.
Spoiler warning if you haven’t read the books.
While many of the details regarding the biology of the sandworms remain shrouded in mystery,
a few facts are generally known throughout the imperium.
These creatures are incredibly long lived, with lifespans extending into the thousands
of years.
This provides evidence supporting their hardy nature suggesting that they are difficult
to kill.
They are also quite massive as those who ventured into the deep desert of Arrakis have reported
specimens measuring up to 450 meters in length with rumors that in the southern regions of
the planet they had grown up to 700 to 1000 meters or even longer.
At any length, mature sandworms are protected by armor like plating on their skin consisting
of scales measuring a few feet in diameter.
These scales interlock so tightly that it prevents the entry of sand and other foreign
matter.
While proving impervious to most common projectile weaponry, the Fremen people discovered a method
to manipulate the sandworms by prying open the edge of one or multiple scales, forcing
the giant to instinctively roll over positioning the exposed area away from the desert sand.
The fremen utilize this method to force a sandworm to travel along the surface until
it exhausts itself.
After which, they would typically dismount from the beast and allow it to submerge.
However if it was the intention to kill the sandworm, theoretically this same method might
be effective in forcing the beast to remain on the surface while another method is used
to destroy it.
Given the immense size of the creature and the thickness of its armor plating, formidable
firepower would certainly be required for those wishing to accomplish this task with
the use of weaponry.
Sandworms also possess a tremendous healing factor enabling them to repair wounded tissue
quickly.
As such, direct shots from weapons such as a lasgun would likely prove ineffective.
While not commonly used, atomic weaponry does exist in the Dune universe along with a bomb-like
weapon called a stone burner.
A stone burner, while not considered an atomic itself, uses nuclear energy as a fuel source
which it can redirect as it emits "J-Rays" capable of burrowing into and even destroying
the core of a planet.
This kind of weaponry would certainly make quick work of a sandworm, however their use
is discouraged or in certain cases even outright banned by the Imperium due to the historical
devastation that had been caused by the reckless use of such devices.
Readers of Dune often wonder about the deployment of shield technology to lure and potentially
destroy the sandworms by means of a well placed lasgun beam.
In Frank Herbert’s series, it’s established that an interaction of a lasgun beam with
a holtzman shield is capable of producing a devastating explosive reaction.
However, the result of this interaction is notoriously inconsistent and unreliable with
no way to control the blast.
There’s always a possibility that the explosion will happen only on the shooter's end in such
a situation as well.
All that being said, even if you were successful in triggering a large enough explosion to
kill a sandworm with a lasgun and shield combo, it would likely be viewed as a violation of
the Great Convention’s ban on atomics.
And again, in order to successfully implement such an attack one would have to lure out
and possibly find a way to prevent the submersion of a Sandworm during the assault.
The biggest issue with using this method was brought out by the Imperial planetologist
Liet-Kynes in the first book when he said they "They can be stunned and shattered by
explosives, but each ring segment has a life of its own.
Barring atomics, he knew of no explosive powerful enough to destroy a large worm entirely.”
Liet also brought out that the only other known means to kill and preserve one of these
creatures whole was through the use of a "High voltage electrical shock applied separately
to each ring segment".
If it weren’t for the lack of the substance on the planet, perhaps the simplest way to
destroy one of these creatures is with water.
Even relatively small doses of water can prove fatal to a sandworm if it is able to make
it into the creature’s system.
As such, readers have often wondered why sandworms wouldn’t die after they swallow up water
heavy objects like humans or animals in the open desert.
Perhaps the biggest reason why this wouldn’t harm the sandworm is due to the extreme heat
produced by its furnace-like insides.
Because of this it’s likely that smaller amounts of water that make their way into
the maw of the beast would evaporate as it came into contact with such heat.
Also, given the immense size of these creatures, even if a worm swallowed a few humans at a
time it would likely only prove to introduce trace amounts of water into the worm’s system
and not enough to kill it.
These occurrences are rather rare as the sandworms do not rely on any water rich creature for
food.
That being said, if one were able to get enough water into a sandworm, the result would be
a violent and painful death for the creature.
This is evidenced by the Fremen’s use of water to drown small stunted sandworms to
retrieve the toxic liquid needed for their Reverend Mother’s Water of Life ceremony.
Being able to find enough water on Arrakis however, is another rather large hurdle as
countless larval sandworms called sandtrout continuously work to rid the environment of
open water as a part of their life cycle.
So it can be said that one of the sandworm’s biggest defenses against the threat of water
is the very nature of the planet itself, which they have effectively terraformed to suit
their needs.
Through the course of Frank Herbert’s series it is revealed that the sandworm's life cycle
is responsible for the production of spice melange.
During the course of the Dune saga the powers of the Imperium are made to recognize that
he who can destroy a thing, controls a thing.
So in order to ultimately control precious spice melange, one would need to control or
limit the sandworms that produce it.
This is largely accomplished by the Fremen’s terraforming efforts of Arrakis as allowed
and overseen by Paul Atreides and his son Leto II.
The terraforming of the planet would be accomplished in part through the introduction of a predator
fish which would prevent the sand trout from locking water away.
As the planet grew greener and as more water qanats were established, the sandworm’s
numbers would diminish over time along with the sand trout’s ability to adequately dry
out the environment.
While terraforming is certainly the most drastic and time consuming method to eliminate these
creatures, this is the method in which most of the sandworms on Arrakis die during Leto’s
reign as God Emperor.
Even he himself, as a human sandworm hybrid, died by drowning in the Idaho River on Arrakis.
Shortly thereafter his body disintegrated into thousands of Sand Trout starting yet
another sandworm cycle which would prove to turn Arrakis into a desert once again.
But I’m curious to know which tactic for killing a sandworm you think would be most
feasible?
Is there a method I didn’t mention in this video that you think would be effective?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Dune and other sci-fi and fantasy news and lore.
Thank you all so much for your support and as always have a very nerdy day.