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This article refers to elements from Original Dune Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons: |
- "Oh, yes. I remember Gammu when it was Giedi Prime - the oil-soaked, blood-soaked hell hole of the Imperium![15]"
- ―Duncan Idaho
Giedi Prime, later renamed Gammu, was a planet orbiting the star Ophiuchi B. It was the historical homeworld of House Harkonnen.[4]
Characteristics[]
Giedi Prime had a day length of approximately 31.27 standard hours and a local year lasting 2.6 standard years.[16] The planet was of average temperatures and maintained a low level of photosynthesis. This low level of photosynthesis was largely due to the heavy industrialisation of the planet under the Harkonnens.[citation needed 1] However, the Harkonnens did maintain some of the planet's original forests, mainly of pilingitam trees for logging and export. Its atmosphere was notably rich in ozone, giving the air an invigorating quality.[17]
During the time of the Padishah empire, the planet sported numerous factories, arenas, and many, many cities. The arenas were used to hold spectacles for the populace, including gladiatorial events. During the rule of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, his nephew Feyd-Rautha would often perform in these arenas as a means of gaining popularity among the civilian population as well as the Houses Minor. The main climate was harsh, industrial volcanic wasteland.
History[]
The planet became the homeworld of the House Harkonnen for many generations following that house's return from exile.
After the fall of the Harkonnens and the rise of the House Atreides, administration of the planet was taken over by the people of Caladan. During this time it was renamed Gammu by Atreides Warmaster Gurney Halleck, although this name did not remain for long before it became known as Giedi Prime again.[3] It was a historical irony that Halleck would come to have total power over Giedi Prime, as many years prior, he and his family were slaves to the Harkonnens when they ruled there.
At some point after God Emperor Leto II’s rule, the planet started to be called Gammu again.
The Bene Gesserit had an investment there, which they had to write off as a total loss, and offset the cost by fees charged for services relating to the Star Jewel Project. As part of Caladanian (later Danian) administration of Giedi Prime (Gammu), most of the machines of industry were dismantled, and the planet's natural ecosystem was regenerated by large-scale replanting that lasted over thousands of years. Despite this however, some five thousand years after Harkonnen rule had ended, oily residue could still be found in the planet's soil.
Eventually, much of Gammu came under the control of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. It became the base from which they grew Duncan Idahos for their breeding programs. However, many parts of Gammu's cities were also under the control of Houses Minor and organisations returning from the Scattering, organisations that had managed to amass significant wealth. Indeed, Gammu appeared to become a popular destination of people returning from The Scattering, and upon their return they brought with them many new and strange customs that found a home there.
Population[]
The Harkonnen military forces were conscripted from the general populace of Giedi Prime. These forces were fairly effective because many of them had managed to channel their oppressed upbringing into military endeavours. Indeed, much of the planet's population lived a meagre and oppressed existence due to the harsh rule of the Harkonnens. Many natives of Giedi Prime were used as slave labour to work the machines of heavy industry that occupied so much of the planet's surface.[citation needed 2]
Gammu natives were often small, with a squarish head and beady eyes.[18]
Giedi Prime natives had a distinct speech pattern which was recognizable to an expert.[19] A common mannerism on Giedi Prime was clapping one's hands together for emphasis.[20]
Gallery[]
Illustrations[]
.jpg "Baron Harkonnen-John Schoenherr-Illustrated Dune (1978).jpg (116 KB)")
.jpg "The Illustrated Dune - The Baron and Piter (art by John Schoenherr).jpg (364 KB)")
Apocrypha[]
Adaptions[]
.png "Concept art Giedi Prime (Frank Herbert's Dune, 2000, Sci-Fi Channel).png (276 KB)")
Leitmotifs[]
Some of the screen adaptations also use particular themes or leitmotifs to represent the planet Giedi Prime.
Behind the scenes[]
- The name comes from al-Jadii (Lit. The Goat), the Arabic name for the binary star system Alpha Capricorni, which is also known by western astronomers as Prima Giedi.
- In Dune: Part Two the planet is depicted as being monochromatic during daylight hours due its orbit around a black sun. Shots of the planet from Dune heavily imply that the planet is an ecumenopolis (covered entirely in urban sprawl).
- In the same film, the parade of the Harkonnen army in their capital almost directly quotes one of the Nazi military parades depicted in the famous propaganda film "Triumph of the Will", which was apparently intended to emphasize the Nazi and militaristic implications of their faction.
Appearances[]
- Dune
- Children of Dune (mentioned only)
- God Emperor of Dune (mentioned only)
- Heretics of Dune (renamed Gammu)
- Chapterhouse: Dune
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapterhouse: Dune - Chapter 26: She liked to roll the names of captive planets silently on her tongue. Wallach, Kronin, Reenol, Ecaz, Bela Tegeuse, Gammu, Gamont, Niushe
- ↑ Chapterhouse: Dune - Chapter 45: "It'll be a bloody union, this joining of Bene Gesserit and Honored Matre."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Heretics of Dune - Chapter 3: Gammu, the planet was called now. Once, it had been known as Giedi Prime but someone named Gurney Halleck had changed that.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dune - Terminology of the Imperium: GIEDI PRIME: the planet of Ophiuchi B (36), homeworld of House Harkonnen. A median-viable planet with a low active-photosynthesis range.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dune - Chapter 35: In honor of the na-Baron's nativity and to remind all Harkonnens and subjects that Feyd-Rautha was heir-designate, it was holiday on Giedi Prime. The old Baron had decreed a meridian-to-meridian rest from labors, and effort had been spent in the family city of Harko to create the illusion of gaiety: banners flew from buildings, new paint had been splashed on the walls along Court Way.
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 29: It was a script that one part of him identified as an ancient thing from the old Harkonnen times but that another part of him found to be an all-too-familiar Galach.
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 16: With a start, Teg came out of the memories and awoke to find himself in the Gammu Keep.
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 29: Towns vanished under Teg's updating. Some cities remained but received new labels. "Ysai," the nearest metropolis, had been marked "Barony" on the original map.
- ↑ Dune - Terminology of the Imperium: INKVINE: a creeping plant native to Giedi Prime and frequently used as a whip in the slave cribs. Victims are marked by beet-colored tattoos that cause residual pain for many years.
- ↑ Chapterhouse: Dune - Chapter 5: Sea Child could not forget Gammu, the smells, the breeze-blown substance of ocean weeds, the ozone that made every breath oxygen-rich, and the splendid freedom in those around her so apparent in the way they walked and spoke.
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 33: In the time of the Old Empire and even under the reign of Muad'dib, the region around the Gammu Keep had been a forest reserve, high ground rising well above the oily residue that tended to cover Harkonnen land. On this ground, the Harkonnens had grown some of the finest pilingitam, a wood of steady currency, always valued by the supremely rich.
- ↑ Dune - Chapter 22: "The Harkonnens!" he sneered. "Put those twisted humans out of your mind." He stared at his mother, studying the lines of her face in the light of the glowtab.
- ↑ God Emperor of Dune - Chapter 5: “We have discovered a Cult of Alia on Giedi Prime,” Idaho said.
- ↑ Chapterhouse: Dune - Chapter 16: The stimulant, when it came, tasted of a bitter herb he was a moment identifying. Casmine. A genetically modified blood strengthener from the Gammu pharmacopoeia. Did she intend to remind him of Gammu? They were so devious, these witches!
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 24
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 14: Gammu was a yellow-green variation with a day of 31.27 standard hours and a 2.6 SY.
- ↑ Chapterhouse: Dune - Chapter 5: Sea Child could not forget Gammu, the smells, the breeze-blown substance of ocean weeds, the ozone that made every breath oxygen-rich, and the splendid freedom in those around her so apparent in the way they walked and spoke.
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 35: He had the squarish face Teg had seen on some Gammu natives -- small, beady eyes that stared straight through Teg.
- ↑ Dune - Chapter 16: Now, sitting at table with her son and her Duke and their guests, hearing that Guild Bank representative, Jessica felt a chill of realization: the man was a Harkonnen agent. He had the Giedi Prime speech pattern--subtly masked, but exposed to her trained awareness as though he had announced himself.
- ↑ Heretics of Dune - Chapter 33: Very good. But I will have to instruct her. She must make no mistakes or they will have both of you like that!" Sirafa clapped her hands for emphasis. Where have I seen that gesture? Lucilla asked herself. Duncan touched the back of Lucilla's right arm, his fingers secretly quick-talking: "That hand clap! A mannerism of Giedi Prime." Other Memories confirmed this for Lucilla.