Shield Wall
the great rock barrier of Arrakis
The Shield Wall was a towering mountain range in the northern reaches of Arrakis that sheltered a small region from the planet's coriolis storms and kept the sandworms from human settlements. Paul Atreides breached it with the Family Atomics during the Battle of Arrakeen.
The Shield Wall was a mountainous, rocky geographic feature in the northern reaches of Arrakis. It sheltered a small area from the full force of the planet's coriolis storms, rising to as much as 4,500 metres in certain places. Though it was not a work of human hands, it held back the storms and barred the sandworms from the human settlements that gathered in its lee, among them the capital city of Arrakeen. (Dune; Dune (appendix))
A natural barrier#
The Shield Wall stood in the northern reaches of Arrakis as a barrier of rock and mountain, reaching heights of up to 4,500 metres in some places. It was not built by any hand, yet it shielded a small region from the full violence of the planet's coriolis storms and, crucially, kept the sandworms away from the human settlements that sheltered behind it. In this protected band lay many of the most important sites of Arrakis, including the city of Arrakeen, capital under House Atreides; Carthag, the capital during the Harkonnen tenure; the Skull Tomb; and the Plains of Arrakeen, the battlefield on which Muad'Dib's armies broke the Sardaukar. The Cave of Birds, Mount Idaho, the Imperial Basin, the Minor Erg, and Tsimpo also appear on the map printed with Dune in the land the Wall guards. (Dune; Dune (appendix))
The breach at Arrakeen#
When Paul Atreides halted all spice production on Arrakis, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV travelled to the planet to restore the flow of melange and to crush the rising. He arrived aboard a Starship Lighter carrying a hutment full of Sardaukar and set down within the Shield Wall. When Paul's Fremen forces struck, Paul used the Family Atomics to blast an opening in the Shield Wall itself. Through the breach poured Fremen wormriders, who fell upon the Sardaukar on the Plains of Arrakeen and defeated them. (Dune)
The slow ruin#
By the time of Heretics of Dune, thousands of years after the Battle of Arrakeen, the Shield Wall had crumbled. As the great terraforming of Arrakis reshaped the world, the Wall was at last reduced to little more than a small plateau. It was within this remnant that Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade later discovered the spice hoard of Leto II. (Heretics of Dune)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Shield Wall on Arrakis?
- The Shield Wall was a mountainous, rocky feature in the northern reaches of Arrakis, rising to as much as 4,500 metres in places. Though not built by human hands, it sheltered a small region from the full force of the planet's coriolis storms and barred the sandworms from the human settlements behind it.
- What settlements did the Shield Wall protect?
- Within the band protected by the Shield Wall lay many important sites of Arrakis, including Arrakeen, the capital under House Atreides, and Carthag, the capital during the Harkonnen tenure. It also sheltered the Skull Tomb, the Plains of Arrakeen, the Cave of Birds, Mount Idaho, the Imperial Basin, the Minor Erg, and Tsimpo.
- How did Paul Atreides breach the Shield Wall?
- When Shaddam IV travelled to Arrakis to restore spice production and set down within the Shield Wall with his Sardaukar, Paul used the Family Atomics to blast an opening in the Wall itself. Through the breach poured Fremen wormriders, who fell upon the Sardaukar on the Plains of Arrakeen and defeated them.
- What happened to the Shield Wall over time?
- By the time of Heretics of Dune, thousands of years after the Battle of Arrakeen, the Shield Wall had crumbled. As the great terraforming of Arrakis reshaped the world, it was reduced to little more than a small plateau, within which Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade later discovered the spice hoard of Leto II.
Gallery
Images via Dune Wiki
Sources
- BookDune, Frank Herbert, 1965
- BookDune (appendix), Frank Herbert, 1965; the appendices and Terminology of the Imperium printed with Dune
- BookHeretics of Dune, Frank Herbert, 1984
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Arrakis
Arrakis, known as Dune and later as Rakis, was a harsh desert world in the Canopus system and the only natural source of the spice melange. Home to the Fremen and the sandworms, it became the seat of the Atreides empire and the center of the known universe.
Carthag
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Fremen
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Leto Atreides II was the third and final ruler of the Atreides Empire and its first and only God Emperor. The pre-born son of Paul Muad'Dib, he bonded with a colony of sandtrout to gain near-immortality and ruled mankind for thirty five hundred years to set humanity upon the Golden Path.
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