Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Hello everyone!

I was reading the article at this page: http://www.jitterbugfantasia.com/origins/dune.html

Which I found very interesting and informative, but when I got to the end of the "Selected Sources" section, this is what it had to say about Spice:

"Spice: The most valuable commodity in the universe of Dune is the spice melange, since it extends the human lifespan and gives Guild Navigators the perceptions they need to carry transports between star systems. The most obvious influence on Spice is oil, the wealth under the deserts of our world (it's probably not a coincidence that Arrakis is pronounced Iraq-iss). But Spice also represents Frazer's "treasure guarded by the great serpent," which may be thought to be consciousness, or divinity. Herbert's friend Willis McNelly said that Herbert intentionally encoded the idea that spice is the sandworms' sperm, which is why they're so protective of it. This revelation supports the widespread perception that the sandworms represent, among many other things, giant phallic symbols."

Is this idea really that "widespread"? This is the first I have ever heard anything like that.

I can't believe where anyone would get that silly idea.

Image source: 'leywad' on deviantart

Well I can see how someone could equate worms as phalic symbols, but Ive never heard that FH insinuated that Spice was their sperm

I always assumed it was worm dung...


It seems Freak already raised the issue (on dungnovels of all places), and the OH provided their answer to that.

http://forum.dunenovels.com/viewtopic.p ... e24c24e2f6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the link lotek! After reading through the discussion about the FH interview its starting to make a little more sense.

"Spermatic material" acting as a catalyst for the metamorphosis of worms from the pupal stage to the giant sandworm stage is not quite the same as "Spice is worm sperm" lol.

Catch pocket water already tastes of dirt and ass, I think that's enough gross for one planet.

lotek wrote:Catch pocket water already tastes of dirt and ass, I think that's enough gross for one planet.

The taste of ass and dirt never changes unlike worm sperm.


In Dune, Lady Jessica notes that her first taste of spice "tasted like cinnamon."[2]Dr. Yueh adds that the flavor is "never twice the same .. It's like life – it presents a different face each time you take it...."

The author of the DE also claimed that it was spermatic fluid as the eggs of the worm. As was settled in another thread, the Spice is actually the dehydrated remains of blown-apart sandtrout as the resulting aftermath of a spice blow. It's a weird process, and it's not as straightforward as worm shite or semen which tastes and smells like cinnamon, but it works for me. Because there's a vast population of sandtrout and sandplankton, the little makers won't blow themselves into extinction every time they are undergoing a pre-spice mass.

Is there a link to the thread where this matter was settled?

If the consensus here was that the finished spice was dried and oxidized material from the spice blow, i.e. the exploded remains of the little makers along with the materials that were in the pre-spice mass itself, then is there also a consensus on what the pre-spice mass consisted of in the first place?

Maybe it would be reasonable to suggest that the pre-spice mass consisted of spermatic material that, when introduced to water by the little makers, would explode? The final melange on the surface wouldn't just be spermatic material, but the original component for the pre-spice mass could be. This is as opposed to the original material being bowel excretions, which personally I don't think they are for various reasons.

georgiedenbro wrote:Is there a link to the thread where this matter was settled?

If the consensus here was that the finished spice was dried and oxidized material from the spice blow, i.e. the exploded remains of the little makers along with the materials that were in the pre-spice mass itself, then is there also a consensus on what the pre-spice mass consisted of in the first place?

Maybe it would be reasonable to suggest that the pre-spice mass consisted of spermatic material that, when introduced to water by the little makers, would explode? The final melange on the surface wouldn't just be spermatic material, but the original component for the pre-spice mass could be. This is as opposed to the original material being bowel excretions, which personally I don't think they are for various reasons.

Try this: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=177" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;