Another Dune question

In Frank Herbert’s Dune, the desert planet is named Arrakis. Is this supposed to orbit around the star Mu Draconis (also traditionally known as Arrakis) or is the name just coincidence?

IIRC, it was identified in the Appendix as a satellite of Canopus. Whether Herbert took the name from mu Draconis, I don’t know.

WAG: it’s a coincidence. According to eSky,

I don’t recall in Dune that Arrakis was in a trinary start system. I think Herbert got the name from the Arabic word.

I’ve another Dune question.

I just re-read Dune for the first time since the early 80’s and caught something I missed the first time (I was in Jr. High and didn’t appreciate the full depth and scope of the book).

Did Thufir Hawat set up the Baron Harkonnen with the Emperor? It seems like it.

When the Baron is brought before Shaddam at the end of the novel, the Emperor reamrks about the “fake dispute with Duke Leto” and “how beautifully you maneuvered it”. He then asks if the Baron doesn’t recognize Alia, “the daughter of your ally, Duke Leto”. Reverend Mother Helen Gaius Mohiam then whispers in his ear and the the Emperor asks “Is it possible, Baron? Could you be as simpleminded as my Truthsayer suggests?”

Did Hawat seize upon the fact that the Baron had mentioned to Count Fenring that he [the Baron] was thinking of making Arrakis a prison planet ala Salusa Secondus. Did then Thufir plot his revenge by leading the Emperor to believe the Baron wanted to train the Fremen as a force capable of defeating the Emperor’s Sardaukar? It seems like the Emperor comes to Arrakis to deal with the Baron and then stomp on Maud’Dib and the Fremen with his Sardaukar, overconfident and not having any idea as to what he’s about to face.

In a word, yes.

Remember that for almost all of the novel after the Harkonnen attack, Hawat believes that the Atreides have been destroyed as a dynasty and as a political force (at most, he thinks that some top Atreides commander may have survived to teach Atreides techniques to the Fremen). He therefore has nothing to live for except revenge on the Harkonnens. Remember also that, whilst the Baron has dosed Hawat with de Vries’ residual poison, he then co-opts him, taking no other steps to ascertain his loyalty or control him, apparently assuming that Hawat will deduce that he has been poisoned and that his fear of death will be sufficient to induce him to co-operate with the Baron.

I do not know that Hawat uses the conversation with Count Fenring per se, but he certainly urges the Baron to consider Arrakis as a military training ground, first setting up the necessary harsh conditions through Rabban, and then presenting them with Feyd-Rautha as a savior hero, who the Arrakeen will then (so the Baron thinks) follow.

Although I can’t remember enough of the Dune saga to comment on the current discussion, I would suggest that you find yourselves a copy of House Atriedes.

This is a recently published prequel to the Dune series, written by Frank Herbert’s son, Brian, and a co-writer who’s name escapes me at this moment. The novel deals with the adolescence of Duke Leto Atriedes (Paul’s father) and his turbulent coming of age. The book nicely fleshes out the “history” behind concepts such as CHOAM, the fall of House Ix, murder of the Emperor by his son, the Guild of Navigators, the rise of Baron Harkonnen, the Bene Gesserit breeding program, the “dirty” Tleilaxu, Dr Kynes and his grand plan for the Fremen and transformation of Dune, and the takeover of Arrakis by House Harkonnen.

In an appendix, the authors state the lengths they went to ensure that the book was entirely faithful to Frank Herbert’s vision of the Dune “universe”. Brian Herbert acknowledges that much opf the book was based on many fascinating conversations with his father, and on plot development notes and drafts made as the series grew.

I found the book to be so fascinating that it prompted me to dust off the original Dune and read again. Suddenly the story had much more depth, simply because I now had an insight into “big picture” that Paul Atriedes is abruptly confronted with.

Suffice to say, a must for any fan of the Dune saga.