Melange (fictional drug)
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Melange (/meɪˈlɑːnʒ/[1]), often referred to as "the spice", is the fictional psychedelic drug central to the Dune series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert and derivative works.
In the series, the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe is melange, a drug that gives the user a longer life span, greater vitality, and heightened awareness. In some humans, the spice can also unlock prescience, a form of precognition based in genetics but made possible by use of the drug in larger dosages. Among other functions, prescience makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. However, melange is also highly addictive, and withdrawal is fatal. Harvesting melange is also hazardous in the extreme, as its only known source is the harsh desert planet Arrakis, and melange deposits are guarded by giant sandworms.
Description
Properties
Melange is a drug that prolongs life and bestows heightened vitality and awareness, and in some humans unlocks prescience, a form of precognition based in genetics but made possible by use of the spice. In the story, the
By the events of Dune, the spice is used all over the universe and is a sign of wealth.
Physiological side effects
Extensive use of the drug tints the
The taller of the two, though, held a hand to his left eye. As the Emperor watched, someone jostled the Guildsman's arm, the hand moved, and the eye was revealed. The man had lost one of his masking contact lenses, and the eye stared out a total blue so dark as to be almost black.
Melange is also highly addictive,[10] and withdrawal means certain death.[3] Paul Atreides notes in Dune that the spice is "[a] poison—so subtle, so insidious... so irreversible. It won't even kill you unless you stop taking it."[4] When aerosolized and used as an inhalant in extremely high dosages—the standard practice for Guild Navigators—the drug alters the physiology of its user. In the first chapter of Dune Messiah, Guild Navigator Edric is described in his tank of spice gas as "an elongated figure, vaguely humanoid with finned feet and hugely fanned membranous hands—a fish in a strange sea."[5]
In Children of Dune, the term "spice trance" is used to describe the effects of an overdose of spice. Alia had previously subjected herself to such an overdose late in Dune Messiah, hoping to enhance her prescient visions. She achieves some success, but in Children of Dune,
Appearance
Herbert is vague in describing the appearance of the spice. He hints at its color in Dune Messiah when he notes that Guild Navigator
Sources
In Dune, there is only one source of melange: the sands of the planet Arrakis, colloquially known as Dune,[3][13] and millennia later called simply "Rakis".[11] Herbert notes in Dune that a pre-spice mass is "the stage of fungusoid wild growth achieved when water is flooded into the excretions of Little Makers",[14] the "half-plant–half-animal deep-sand vector of the Arrakis sandworm".[15] Gases are produced which result in "a characteristic 'blow', exchanging the material from deep underground for the matter on the surface above it."[14] This blow is explosive in nature, erupting with enough force to kill anyone in the vicinity of it. Frank Herbert describes such a spice blow in the following passage from Dune:[4]
Then he heard the sand rumbling. Every Fremen knew the sound, could distinguish it immediately from the noises of worms or other desert life. Somewhere beneath him, the pre-spice mass had accumulated enough water and organic matter from the little makers, had reached the critical stage of wild growth. A gigantic bubble of carbon dioxide was forming deep in the sand, heaving upward in an enormous "blow" with a dust whirlpool at its center. It would exchange what had been formed deep in the sand for whatever lay on the surface.
Herbert writes that the pre-spice mass, "after exposure to sun and air, becomes melange".[14] He later indicates its color in Children of Dune, when Leto II passes "the leprous blotches of violet sand where a spiceblow had erupted".[6]
Collecting the melange is hazardous in the extreme, since rhythmic activity on the desert surface of Arrakis attracts the worms, which can be up to 400 meters (1,300 feet) in length and are capable of swallowing a mining crawler whole. Thus, the mining operation essentially consists of vacuuming it from the surface with a vehicle called a
Within the 1500 years between the events of God Emperor of Dune (1981) and Heretics of Dune (1984), the
Prequels and sequels
Project Amal
In the
Although Tleilaxu Master Hidar Fen Ajidica manages to create an artificial melange (called "ajidamal", or "amal") that seems to have the original's properties, it does not work properly. Test-
Ultraspice
In
Analysis
In Mycelium Running, mycologist Paul Stamets argues without sources that Herbert's creation of melange was related in part to his own personal experiences with psilocybin mushrooms.[18] Carol Hart analyzes the concept of the drug in the essay "Melange" in The Science of Dune (2008).[19][20][21] Also in Science of Dune, Csilla Csori analyzes the concept of prescience in the essay "Prescience and Prophecy".[22]
See also
- Nootropics
- Synthetic cannabinoids, a real-life class of drugs sometimes called "spice"
- Psilocybin mushrooms
- Psilocybin
References and notes
- ^ Herbert, Frank (1976). Children of Dune.
melange (me'-lange also ma,lanj)...spice of Arrakis (Dune) with geriatric properties ...
- ^ a b Michaud, Jon (July 12, 2013). "Dune Endures". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
- ^ a b c Ross, Bella (November 5, 2021). "Dune's Sandworms Explained: Why They're So Important". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Herbert, Frank (1965). Dune.
- ^ a b c Herbert, Frank (1969). Dune Messiah.
- ^ ISBN 9780425043837.
- ^ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium: Ibad, Eyes of". Dune.
Ibad, Eyes of: characteristic effect of a diet high in melange wherein the whites and pupils of the eyes turn a deep blue (indicative of deep melange addiction).
- Farad'ntouched his own eyelids, feeling the hard surfaces of the permanent contact lenses which concealed the total blue of his spice addiction.
- Lucilla a piercing expression that went with her long oval face." Herbert later writes of Duncan Idahothat "His first glimpse of Schwangyu had confronted him with eyes concealed behind contact lenses that simulated non-addict pupils and slightly bloodshot whites."
- ^ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium: Melange". Dune.
The spice... is mildly addictive when taken in small quantities, severely addictive when imbibed in quantities above two grams daily per seventy kilos of body weight.
- ^ a b c d e Herbert, Frank (1984). Heretics of Dune.
- ^ Herbert, Frank (1981). God Emperor of Dune.
- ^ Watercutter, Angela (October 25, 2021). "How the Dune VFX and Sound Teams Made Sandworms From Scratch". Wired. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
- ^ a b c Herbert, Frank (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium: Pre-Spice Mass". Dune.
- ^ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium: Little Maker". Dune.
- ^ Prelude to Dune.
- ^ Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. (2007). Sandworms of Dune.
- ^ Stamets, Paul (July 18, 2014). "Magic Mushrooms were the Inspiration for Frank Herbert's Science Fiction Epic Dune". Mycelium Running. Retrieved March 26, 2019 – via Daily Grail.
- ISBN 978-1-933771-28-1.
- ^ "The Science of Dune". January 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2010 – via SmartPopBooks.com.
- ^ Evans, Clay (March 14, 2008). "Review: Exploring Frank Herbert's 'Duniverse'". Daily Camera. Archived from the original on March 19, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
- ^ Csori, Csilla (2008). "Prescience and Prophecy". In Grazier, Kevin R. (ed.). The Science of Dune. pp. 111–126.