With the scale in place, we can then measure exactly how far it is from one side of the 60° N line to the other, through the northern polar ice cap. The map is also useful because it gives us longitude lines but, more usefully, the latitude line for 60° N. At one point it is said that Arrakeen is located more or less exactly 200 kilometers from Carthag, which is a firm distance (just about the only reliable, hard distance between two landmarks given in all six books).Įxtrapolating this onto the map provided at the start of the book gives us a firm scale, which is quite useful. The Atreides determine that it is too dangerous to take up residence in the Harkonnen capital of Carthag due to the number of booby traps and Harkonnen agents left behind, so they fortify the smaller city of Arrakeen instead. Fortunately, both are provided in the novel.ĭuring the early part of the book, House Atreides moves to Arrakis and takes possession of the planet from House Harkonnen.
To determine the size of Arrakis, we require several things: distances and some way of determining the overall size of the planet that works with those distances. The latter was a mystery, as Arrakis possesses neither extensive plant life nor oceans, until Frank Herbert clarified in a later sequel that the atmosphere of Arrakis is the result of gaseous emissions by the sandworms. Most importantly, these rocky outcroppings are the only areas safe from sandworms, subterranean leviathans that can emerge from the dunes and consume people and equipment.Īrrakis is presented as a world with Earth-like gravity (or at least, not noticeably less) and a breathable atmosphere.
The only exceptions are the two poles, which are cooler and where clusters of mountains, rocks, plateaus and ridges provide some respite from the heat and also allow for the construction of permanent settlements. In the novels, Arrakis is presented as a hot, desert world, essentially an entire planet covered by giant sand dunes similar to those of the Sahara.
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