A sandworm (Latin: Vĕrmis harēnōsus) is a fictional extraterrestrial creature that appears in the Dune novels written by Frank Herbert, first introduced in Dune (1965). Sandworms are colossal, worm-like creatures that live on the desert planet Arrakis. The sandworms' larvae produce a drug called melange (known colloquially as "the spice"), the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe because it makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. Melange deposits are found in the sand seas of Arrakis, where the sandworms live and hunt, and harvesting the spice from the sand is a dangerous activity because sandworms are aggressive and territorial. Harvesting vehicles must be airlifted in and out of the sand sea in order to evade sandworm attacks. The struggle over the production and supply of melange is a central theme of the Dune saga. Conception The sandworms in Dune were inspired by the dragons of European mythology that guard some sort of treasure. Favorites of Frank Herbert included the dragon in Beowulf that guarded a hoard of gold in a cave, and the dragon of Colchis that guarded the Golden Fleece from Jason. Like these dragons, the sandworms of Arrakis will attack anyone who attempts to take the treasure that is spice from the desert sands, as if they were guarding it (the sandworms actually do not care for the spice as it is waste matter). In Children of Dune (1976), a character even refers to sandworms as "the dragon on the floor of the desert." In the plot of Frank Herbert's novel Dune, Herbert used the sandworms (along with the spice they produce) as a plot device to provide Paul Atreides with the trials through which he ascends to a superhuman state of being. Herbert believed that a memorable myth must have something profoundly moving that could either empower the hero or overwhelm him completely. The force in question must be dangerous and terrifying, yet somehow essential. In Dune, the sandworms serve this function. To earn the spice, humans must cope with sandworm attacks on their harvesting expeditions. To earn an even greater prize (his apotheosis into the all-seeing Kwisatz Haderach), Paul undergoes even more dangerous and transformative trials in which he risks madness and death, one of which involves the ritual sacrifice of a juvenile sandworm, and another in which he must learn to ride a sandworm. Sandworms are attracted to rhythmic vibrations in the sand,