The Dragons of Arrakis | Frank Herbert's Sandworms | Dune Lore

An examination of how Frank Herbert was influenced by dragons of ancient mythology in his conception of the sandworms and discuss the many parallels to the classic fire-breathing serpent. Spoiler warning if you are unfamiliar with Frank Herbert’s Dune.
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Thumbnail Art by Anato Finnstark www.artstation.com/anto-finns...
Art Credits
(if I missed your credit or miscredited a photo please let me know via email at [e-mail])
Several images sourced from the Dune RPG Game (Adventures in the Imperium) modiphius.net/pages/discover-dune-roleplaying-game
Black Sandworm artworks by Alex Jay Brady - Check out Alex Jay Brady’s Instagram! / alexjaybrady
Several Dragon Images by Anato Finnstark www.artstation.com/anto-finns...
Bless the Maker and His water by Luke Oram lukeoram.com/
Beowulf & The Dragon by Armin Rangani www.artstation.com/artwork/Oo...
Dune Concept Art Illustration 01 by Maxime Desmettre www.artstation.com/maxisland
DUNE by Mark Molnar www.artstation.com/markmolnar
Shai-Hulud and the God Emperor by Erik Shoemaker www.artstation.com/kire
Smaug Concept Art by Nick Keller www.nickkellerart.com/
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Background Music: Marion - Night Passage
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[@NerdCookies]

Thank you for watching this video! If you enjoy my content, please consider supporting me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/nerdcookies

[@joeclaridy]

Did Mr. Herbert draw his inspiration from Middle Eastern lore or from various lore and cultures?

[@mrmh6096]

Frank Herbert brilliantly created a creature in the sandworm that became just as iconic in literary history as the many famous tales of Dragons and mythical creatures.

[@rayjinflo]

The dragon's teeth sprouting warriors where sown was an interesting way to see how the crysknife nearly defines a Fremen fighter. It reminds me of how samurai souls were represented by their sword. A crysknife dissolves at the death of its owner

[@thumbsprain42]

You know what, I hadn't thought about it too much until now but your video made me think one thing - The dragon and the maiden. In this case it would be Leto II and Siona.

[@gerhard7988]

You tube being a visual medium, your choice of artwork to go along with your videos is fantastic. It's so engaging to not only listen to your analysis, but to watch along...transfixed by the imagery.

[@combichristed]

I hope they would make it that when the worm is enraged, it would fire up inside for that furnace effect. Hope they do it for part two!

[@joshualogan7798]

Well done on the video! The Sandworm and it's spice cycle are also an allegory for Oroboros...The Serpent eating it's tail, symbolizing birth, death, and rebirth/the mystery of mysteries, the end and the beginning.

[@debiesubaugher]

I read Beowulf in high school and when I came to the part where the slave steals the cup I went "hey I've read this somewhere before". My brain jumped to Tolkien first but then right to Dune afterwards.

[@adamsinger123]

And then Aladdin 🪔 “TOUCH NOTHING BUT THE LAMP!!!” 🧞‍♂️🪔

[@debiesubaugher]

@@adamsinger123 exactly

[@dmac3183]

When a great start to a relaxing Sunday , Nerd Cookie to listen to whilst enjoying breakfast.

[@tedball8677]

Very nice deep dive into the etymology of worm, dragon, and snakes from proto-German, old German, old Norse (?), and old English. Very nicely done.

[@ArnaudLance]

Good points for the mention of Beowulf and Tolkien. I think that another similarities could be find in a more modern tale like Game of Thrones from GRR Martin. Fremens ride the sandworms as easy as the Targaryens their dragons! ;)

[@adrianmcmahon5731]

This is one of my favourite videos of yours, I do love the tying in of themes form the Dune universe that have mythological and historical roots in European and Middle Eastern cultures primarily but not exclusively so.

[@cosmacgrandpa]

Very interesting comparison. Great video!

[@philipgard6762]

I love the series but never really figured out where the Fremen acquired the sandworm teeth for their knives. It's never addressed in the books or movies. I assume they found dead sandworms and took the teeth.

[@chrisshorten4406]

Another thing about wyrms (though this only applies to a modern context), in the Yugioh trading card game the monster type by that same name usually depicts dragon-like creatures of great spiritual power. So, even if it became a thing several decades after the Dune books were written, it is interesting something called a "worm" have a great spiritual power over an entire people like the Fremen.

[@keithyoung5015]

Fear not "Worm" Jacob...

[@chrisshorten4406]

@@keithyoung5015 "Worm" Jacob is here?

[@keithyoung5015]

@@chrisshorten4406 not here friend. But in the Bible. (Isaiah 41:14)There is a passage there that speaks about how seemingly insignificant things can become significant. Your original post (imo) speaks to that.

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Awesome vid, loved the parallels of the dragon guarding treasure. Nice that was. Cheers

[@Jacob-Ironside]

Great video! I love the Tolkien quote from Smaug

[@RNemy509]

Awesome video, Elaine! I can't get enough Dune lore!

[@carloscrecelius9597]

I'd love your thoughts on the original "Spice World " story that Herbert wrote before reworking it into Dune.

[@hanik3342]

Love these dune lore videos details, aesthetic ,music and all Keep it coming

[@AynenMakino]

Much of the writing revolves around what understanding people have of the worms and their life cycle. This synergizes with the importance of ecology in the series. And, especially in the case of the worms, acceptance that you do not require to be the center of the system you're a part of.

[@Marcelo83uk]

Cannot and I repeat cannot get enough of cookies/dune :) The artwork of the sandworms are incredible

[@NameNotAChannel]

Just personally, without Herbert's direct comments about it, I wouldn't have made that connection myself... I mean, I wouldn't have thought it was intentional.

[@ItsTMP]

Great video!

[@gregorygreenwood-nimmo4954]

The Sandworms of Dune are one of the most alien life forms in science fiction. Monstrous and terrifying at one level obviously, but far more interestingly in my eyes the defining influence on the ecology of Arrakis. The Worms shape Dune and Dune shapes the Fremen and by extension the whole Imperium through the critical importance of Spice to the galactic economy.

[@OtherWorldExplorers]

I really need to read these books This is getting more and more interesting. Time to spend some money on Kindle.

[@michaelcalibri3620]

"feral function..." the more I learn the more I'm convinced Frank Herbert was some kind of genius. He legitimately comprehends an array of things consciously and forced them into narrative in a way that's not as bad as others (no offense, but Ayn Rand). A merger of Ayn Rand and Frank Herbert would have been Leibniz capability level. I have to go find wherever these Frank Herbert interviews are.

[@ninjabreadman8166]

Another great video! Ya hya chouhada!

[@Sean-wq5fg]

Great job extrapolating an archetype that dwells both within humanity’s collective unconsciousness and across the mythos of millennia so concisely. Edith Hamilton’s, Mythology and Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero with A Thousand Faces, are great resources for a deep dive into the human drama.

[@ThompPL1]

Forced Wyrm Evolution (also The Minotaur/Man in the Maze) . . . 🪱🐉❤‍🔥

[@shanenolan5625]

Thanks, Elaine. wonderful work as always. . Leto called them dragons in children of Dune. ( conversations with sibia) .

[@quentincollins1825]

Thank you Elaine for your delightfully nerdy treasure trove of knowledge. Such legends and traditions are becoming increasingly lost. Keep the light aflame! (Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen also touched upon this theme)

[@b_g_c3281]

_"....Bless the Maker and His water._ _Bless the coming and going of Him._ _May His passage cleanse the world._ _May He keep the world for His people..."_ ~ Ancient Fremen prayer

[@General_reader]

Beautiful artwork. Where can I see more?

[@Lord_RFAS]

"He who controls the worm-poop, controls the universe!"

[@eaglesclaws8]

This was the only thing missing from sand worms in dune movie. No fire in the center of the mouth.

[@camerongunn7906]

I often wonder why dragons live so large in our Collective human consciousness? If you want to mark something as Great and Powerful, you call it a Dragon.

[@subbywan1422]

With that much sand, and that much heat, how are they not pooping glass??

[@saweric5731]

There is also sea worm and Ultraspice

[@creightonleerose582]

Whoopsie!?... I'd mistakenly thought you'd began the vid with a Bliblical Bible verse, warning of transformative events of Biblical proportions that only Bibles can truly deliver in a Biblical manner.... Always begins with flames, dragons, lurking shadows, impending wrath & DOOM arising in the East somewheres...;) Wonderful, insightful & educational presentations as always N.C...

[@NguyenQuangLuan802]

Sabre Durant, the Dragon of Dune

[@brentwilbur]

I'd like to more about the sandworms' metabolism. What in the world could they be consuming that generates so much heat? Are these suckers nuclear or what?

[@theeffete3396]

They consume sand plankton. Their biology is a mystery, however, and is not easily explained. About 20 years ago I found an article by a biochemist who attempted to explain sandworms. Ultimately, it was "inconclusive," but the gist was that they are a plant/animal hybrid (likely an advanced colony organism) that somehow chemically breaks the oxygen bonds in silica (SiO2). Frank mentions that the oxygen a worm produces is expelled near its tail (like worm farts) so that fixes the problem of it being consumed by their internal furnaces. Those fire, however, need to be fueled by some other means, such as hydrogen or helium. This is were problems start, since according to the article (and my poor memory) these chemical interactions are nearly impossible to explain within a single organism. It would stand to reason, then, that sandworms are actually two or more separate lifeforms in a true symbiotic relationship (eerily echoing Leto's transformation).

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

​@NerdCookies >>> 👍👍

[@Davepool-hs7vr]

I would not want to meet a sandworm. It doesn’t matter if it’s angry or happy.

[@slayerstenis]

Don't some bad guy use dragon teeth to grow skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts.

[@marknovak6498]

The sand worms both a mo nster and involved with the creation of the product they defrnd are on step beyond a dragon role.Frank Herbert creates the creature thrn tell why you can not simply destroy the creature.

[@maxmercer1931]

I want a shai-hulud... I could sell the spice online

[@moroteseoinage]

❤

[@worldtraveler930]

Soooooooo, just exactly what is it that they eat?? 🤔

[@theeffete3396]

Microscopic sank plankton... like baleen whales. This was explained in one of the books (I think Dune Messiah, but it may have been CoD).

[@worldtraveler930]

@@theeffete3396 So? There kinda like Cannibals? 😳

[@theeffete3396]

@@worldtraveler930 No, they eat sand plankton, not sand trout. Sandworms actually avoid sand trout since they're usually found near moisture.

[@garycarter6773]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@thomriley1036]

So... Sheeana Brugh was the original Khaleesi?

[@timothyhenegar7484]

Mmmm, Shai-Hulud! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Drew-uv5wi]

I was the 889th like so I broke the triple infinities on a video about Shai Hulud. That must mean something, right?

[@therakshasan8547]

SPICE is worm poop .

[@vikingskuld]

I have known a lot of women over the years and I have never found one that was into tolken dune and books like that. Not one ever, so I have to ask are you real or a fiction like the novels lol. Seriously not one women ever. Anyway jokes aside thank you you do such a good job with the videos I appreciate all the effort you put into them, so I just wanted to take a minute and say thank you.

[@NerdCookies]

Thank you for the support and kind words!

[@theeffete3396]

Great video!