Battle of Arrakeen

The victory that put Muad'Dib on the Imperial throne.

The Battle of Arrakeen is the climactic battle of Frank Herbert's Dune, fought at the capital of Arrakis. Paul Muad'Dib's victory there puts him on the Imperial throne; before it, Sietch Tabr had been his centre of operations, and afterwards he moves his base to Arrakeen while the sietch remains a centre of Fremen culture and politics.

Lore & Background

To open the way, Paul uses an atomic device to blast a pass through the Shield Wall, the mountain range that protects the Imperial cities of Arrakis from the planet's violent weather. He argues that this complies with the Great Convention because the atomics are used against a natural feature of the desert rather than against humans. During the battle Emperor Shaddam wears a servo-receiver in his ear to follow updates, and before it begins Paul and the Fremen watch which flag the Emperor raises over his encampment; he raises the banner of CHOAM.