Ornithopter

Flapping-wing aircraft, the main way to fly on Arrakis.

An ornithopter, from the Greek for bird and wing, is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. In the Dune universe ornithopters, or thopters, are one of the primary modes of transportation, and the Terminology of the Imperium defines them as aircraft capable of sustained wing-beat flight in the manner of birds, one of the main ways of getting around the desert planet Arrakis.

Lore & Background

For Dune (2021) the production built practical thopters: according to VFX production supervisor Paul Lambert the machines had a fully hydraulic ramp that opened and closed and were lifted by cranes for take-off and landing, with the wings added in post-production as computer graphics.