What happened to Earth in Frank Herbert’s science fiction world?

In 1965, Frank Herbert delivered an epic tale of families waging war over spices, sandworms, and planets as far from Earth as space travel would allow—a story that would be adapted in the future. One of the best sci-fi movies of all time, “Dune.” But how does the land figure in the broader “Dunes” narrative, huh? What does a civilization have to do to get involved in the intense knife-slicing affairs of the Atreides and Harkonnen? Sure, Arrakis is cool and his Jedi Prime might have his hype men sending soldiers off to war, but then again, what about our little blue dot in the universe? Get it to work?

Well, it turns out that our little speck in space was, in fact, mentioned during the reign of Paul Atreides. However, it goes by several different names and does not have the same amount of influence as the world formerly known as Dune. In fact, Earth had become a largely forgotten piece of land floating among the stars when Paul Atreides eventually took charge of Arrakis. However, the remaining records of its place in history end up providing some valuable lessons for both Paul and the next generation of Atreides. Furthermore, Earth in the Dune universe has a different history than ours. It’s also an area that has changed as much as the Sands of Arrakis, depending on who you ask.

The history of planet Earth, often referred to as Terra, Old Earth, or Old Terra, can be difficult to piece together in the Dune mythology, thanks in part to Frank Herbert and various books written after his death. Initially, the Earth in the original Dune novel was presented as similar to our novel. However, according to “The Dune Encyclopedia” (itself a work approved by Herbert before his death and an existing document within the “Dune” universe, although some people don’t consider it entirely canonical), the “Dune” version of Earth was hit by an asteroid In our distant future (or Paul Atreides’ distant past), making it uninhabitable for any form of life. Years later, work was done to restore the land to its former glory, turning it into a world-class national park where plant and animal life could flourish.

By that point in the Dune timeline, additional planets in the solar system had been colonized by humanity and were inhabited by people in large numbers, leaving Earth in limbo. So much so that by the time Paul joined the Fremen on Arrakis, the land had become an almost mythical place, although the details of its existence remained public knowledge. Subsequent entries in Frank Herbert’s sci-fi saga would eventually return to Earth’s past when Paul searched for forgotten names in the darkest chapters of human history (in hopes of gaining some perspective on his own problems).

While Earth may be a forgotten point in space in Frank Herbert’s original books, that doesn’t stop Paul from researching where humanity came from and those who have tried a similar approach like him, but on a smaller scale.

In Herbert’s third book, Dune: Christ (Which Denis Villeneuve wants to adapt after his epic success in the movie “Dune”), Paul asks Stilgar to research Earth’s Golden Age and study the likes of Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler, to whom Paul actually compares himself in terms of death toll. “There’s another emperor I want you to notice in passing — Hitler. He killed more than six million,” Paul says. “Very good for those days.”

While this is a chilling example of how far Paul had fallen by that point (having killed 61 billion individuals and “sterilized” the planets), it also shows that Earth’s history has not been completely forgotten. It was later revisited by Paul’s sons, Leto II and Ghanima. In “Children of the Dune”, the two speak French privately with each other, even though it is considered a forgotten language. Likewise, in The Emperor of Divine Dunes, Leto II refers to historical figures such as Napoleon and Bach. However, in the expanded stories of the history of the “Dune” universe written by Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert’s son, things have become a little unclear regarding Earth, regardless of what a particular Max series might tell you.

Besides the problems caused by the asteroid, there was also a point in time when Earth was destroyed by humanity. It was only mentioned lightly in Frank Herbert’s original “Dune” books, but 13,000 years after the asteroid made an impact on our world, it became the base for Butler’s Jihad (which was depicted in different ways depending on “Dune”). The book you are reading).

In Frank Herbert’s original novels, the Butlerian Jihad was a crusade against computers after they had become “thinking machines” that attempted to overthrow humanity, leading to rebellion. However, in the tradition of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, the network of machines known as Omnius has led the charge against the human race in a manner similar to how Skynet took control of Earth in the “Terminator” films. This was explored in 2002’s “Dune: The Butlerian Jihad” as part of the “Legends of Dune” prequel trilogy. The actual conflict left the land in ruins as well A major event highlighted in “Dune: Prophecy”, although it has not yet been shown in the “Dune” films..

This chapter of human history left Earth uninhabitable for centuries and, as a result, resulted in the planet becoming more of a memory in the universe than the shining foundation of humanity it once was. It’s really understandable. When you have other planets with building-sized worms to visit, boring Earth doesn’t seem as interesting anymore.