Arrakis

The desert planet called Dune, the only source of melange.

Arrakis, informally known as Dune and later called Rakis, is the fictional desert planet at the centre of Frank Herbert's Dune novels. In Dune it is the most important planet in the universe because it is the only source of the spice melange. Its Imperial cities all lie in the far north, sheltered from the planet's violent weather by the Shield Wall, and its capital is Arrakeen.

Quick Facts

Series: Dune universe
First: Dune (1965)
Creator: Frank Herbert
Genre: Science fiction
Locations: Arrakeen, Sietch Tabr
Ethnic group: Fremen

Lore & Background

The Zensunni wanderers, driven from planet to planet, settled on Arrakis and became the Fremen, living in cave-like sietches and developing the stillsuit. Imperial Planetologist Pardot Kynes and his son Liet-Kynes began a plan to terraform the world into a green one by collecting water from the atmosphere, much of it in the unexplored southern latitudes, and the effort continues after Paul's rise. Under Leto II the greening kills all the sandworms except himself; after his death the sandtrout return it to desert within a few centuries, by which time it is called Rakis. In Heretics of Dune the Honored Matres slag its entire surface in a failed attempt to kill the latest Duncan Idaho ghola.