Melange: Dehydrated Exploded Sandtrout, or Worm Waste?
Posted: 25 Mar 2012 16:53
Many Fremen warriors of the Jacurutu sietch: I seek your counsel in clearing up the matter of the Spice Melange for me.
I originally assumed that the Spice was the fecal matter of the Arrakian Worms, but after seeing the Harrison miniseries, I checked the glossary and appendices, and learned what the Spice is actually composed of (though it was a little vague).
I checked the appendices again, the part on Pardot Kynes, in case it gave more information as to how it was created, or if the adult worms gave it something extra. This was all that it said:
In the special edition DVD of FRANK HERBERT's DUNE directed by Harrison, there is a sepcial feature called "Willis McNelly on Frank Herbert and Dune," and his conclusion is not quite right, but interesting.
He probably didn't read the appendices of DUNE, or DUNE itself in quite a awhile, so I guess he missed the appendices and glossary which explained that spice was made up of dead sandtrout anyway, so the worms really don't need to protect the spice. If the worms were protecting the pre-Spice masses, where the sandtrout were still alive, then his statement would make more sense. It's still an interesting idea that Spice might be sandworm sperm.
Do you, my wise planetologists, understand specifically the creation of the Spice works? Are there any details on the Spice that I've missed?
I originally assumed that the Spice was the fecal matter of the Arrakian Worms, but after seeing the Harrison miniseries, I checked the glossary and appendices, and learned what the Spice is actually composed of (though it was a little vague).
From that definition, the Spice sounds like it a combination from the dehydrated remains of exploded sandtrout bodies and water flooded sandtrout excretions. What Herbert means by "excretions," I'm guesing it could be sandtrout urine, but I'm too stupid to know for sure.PRE-SPICE MASS: The stage of fungusoid wild growth achieved when water is flooded into the excretions of Little Makers. At this stage, the spice of Arrakis forms a characteristic "blow," exchanging the material from deep underground for the matter on the surface above it. This mass, after exposure to sun and air, becomes melange. (509)
I checked the appendices again, the part on Pardot Kynes, in case it gave more information as to how it was created, or if the adult worms gave it something extra. This was all that it said:
So the adult worms scatter it around, so maybe shreds of their dried out skin and their own defecations may add to the spice, except the appendices state that the only thing worms could defecate is sand.Now they had the circular relationship: little maker to pre-spice mass; little maker to shai-hulud; shai-hulud to scatter the spice which fed microscopic creatures called sand plankton; the sand plankton, food for shai-hulud, growing, burrowing, becoming little makers. (481)
I guess that means that worms defecate sand instead of Spice-like waste, though it is possible that the worm defecates both. Interesting that the worms both eat and release sand, much like an earthworm's relationship to soil.sand of Arrakis was mostly a product of worm digestion
In the special edition DVD of FRANK HERBERT's DUNE directed by Harrison, there is a sepcial feature called "Willis McNelly on Frank Herbert and Dune," and his conclusion is not quite right, but interesting.
Where does the Spice come from? Have you worked it out into the book? Has anyone really worked it out? I tell you, I'll cut it short. The Spice is probably the spermadic material of Shai-hulud itself or himself, or "Father Eternity" as they call him. And so they're going to guard their eggs!
He probably didn't read the appendices of DUNE, or DUNE itself in quite a awhile, so I guess he missed the appendices and glossary which explained that spice was made up of dead sandtrout anyway, so the worms really don't need to protect the spice. If the worms were protecting the pre-Spice masses, where the sandtrout were still alive, then his statement would make more sense. It's still an interesting idea that Spice might be sandworm sperm.
Do you, my wise planetologists, understand specifically the creation of the Spice works? Are there any details on the Spice that I've missed?
I ran into precisely the same problem yesterday.
Two steps are missing in the cycle, I see: how else sandplankton and worms are related, and where sandplankton come from. It's probable that the sandplankton are the products of their own assexual fission, and then a majority gradually metamorphose into sandtrout. Are there any other ideas about the sandplankton?
