Sandworm (Dune): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:53, 19 March 2006

Revision as of 22:02, 19 March 2006

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[[Image:sandwormtripartite.jpg|thumb|Sandworms as envisioned by David Lynch for his ''Dune'' film.]]

Sandworms are presumed to be [[animal]]s, most likely related to Terran [[annelids]], though probably only through [[convergent evolution]]. The ''Encyclopedia of Dune's'' identification of their genus as "Geonemotodium" is most likely invalid, as the segmentation is like that of the terrestrial annelids, rather than simple round-worm [[nematodes]]. Like terrestrial annelids each segment has its own autonomous nervous control and, thus, a worm can only be killed by electrocution of ''every'' segment, by another sandworm, or else by exposure to [[water]],a whichlarge isenough poisonous to the adult sandworm. However, according to [[Brian Herbert]] and [[Kevin J. Anderson]]'s prequels to ''Dune'' sandworms ''can'' also be destroyed by massive explosions, especiallyamount of nuclear weapons. In these books, [[Glossu Rabbanwater]] attempted(poisonous to hunt sandworms with explosives and in the process killed one, but the worm's body disintegrated into sandtrout (see below for theadult sandworm life-cycle), which burrowed into the sand, leaving Rabban trophyless. BothIt thealso deathis ofhinted a worm by explosives and the creation of sandtroutat in this manner seem contradictory with the original ''Dune''novel seriesthat anda isnuclear amongexplosion reasonsmight whybe manycapable fansof questiondestroying whether the prequels are canonone.

Sandworms grow up to hundreds of [[metre|meters]] in [[length]]. The largest worms officially observed reach 400 metres in length and 40 in diameter but larger ones can be inferred to exist. As the worms seem to retain an aspect ratio of 10:1 of body length to diameter, thus, a worm encountered in the deep desert by [[Muad'Dib]] that had an oral diameter of 80 meters could have been as long as 800. These gigantic worms burrow deep in the ground and their constant motion around Arrakis is presumed to be the cause for the sand covering the globe.