Dune
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98 free Dune trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free Dune trivia questions with answers. Are you a true Dune fan? Test your knowledge of Frank Herbert's groundbreaking science fiction masterpiece with our comprehensive trivia quiz. From the sands of Arrakis to the intricate politics of the Imperium, see how well you know the lore, characters, and events that shaped this legendary universe.
30 of 98 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Before it was published as a book in 1965, Dune appeared as two serials in which magazine?
Analog
Analog, edited by John W. Campbell, ran the two Dune serials between December 1963 and May 1965; Herbert expanded them into the novel published later that year.
Q 02What are the sandstorms of Arrakis called, with winds that can reach 700 kilometres per hour?
Coriolis storms
The planet's own rotation amplifies the winds across the open flatlands, which is why the storms are so lethal to anyone caught outside.
Q 03What title is given to the Guild Navigators who pilot ships through folded space?
Steersmen
Steersmen is the Guild title: Edric in Dune Messiah is a Guild Steersman, a Navigator so saturated with melange that he floats in a tank of spice gas and foresees safe paths through folded space.
Q 04By what name do the Fremen reverently refer to the giant sandworms of Arrakis?
Shai-Hulud
The indigenous Fremen of Arrakis revere the colossal sandworms as Shai-Hulud, often translating the term as "Old Man of the Desert" or "Old Father Eternity."
Q 05What is the dangerous test a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother uses to determine a subject's humanity called?
Gom Jabbar
The needle is tipped with meta-cyanide; the test asks whether a person can override animal instinct and endure pain rather than pull away.
Q 06Who is Paul Atreides' Bene Gesserit mother?
Lady Jessica
Lady Jessica is a Bene Gesserit adept and the concubine of Duke Leto Atreides, who defied the Sisterhood's breeding program by bearing a son instead of a daughter.
Q 07Which planet serves as the ancestral homeworld of the ruthless House Harkonnen?
Giedi Prime
Giedi Prime is depicted as an industrialized and polluted world, the seat of power for the House Harkonnen, rivals of House Atreides.
Q 08In Dune, which brutally efficient military force secures the Padishah Emperor's power?
Sardaukar
The Sardaukar's reputation as unstoppable ends in Dune, when Paul's Fremen army defeats them and the Emperor is deposed.
Q 09With thinking machines outlawed, which trained humans do the computing for noble houses?
Mentats
Herbert calls them 'human computers'; both House Atreides and House Harkonnen keep one as chief strategist.
Q 10Who is the author of the original "Dune" novel series?
Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert created the "Dune" universe, with the first novel published in 1965, laying the groundwork for one of science fiction's most influential sagas.
Q 11What is the primary goal of the Bene Gesserit's millennia-long breeding program?
To produce the Kwisatz Haderach
The Bene Gesserit's intricate breeding program, spanning thousands of years, aimed to create the Kwisatz Haderach, a male with prescient abilities who could access both male and female ancestral memories.
Q 12Which lush, oceanic planet is the ancestral home of House Atreides?
Caladan
Caladan, a lush ocean world and the opposite of Arrakis, was the Atreides home for twenty-six generations before Duke Leto moved the household to Dune.
Q 13What is the name of the Fremen leader who becomes Paul Atreides' mentor on Arrakis?
Stilgar
Q 21Heavy melange use can unlock what ability to glimpse possible futures?
Prescience
Prescience is the limited foresight melange can unlock; Guild Navigators depend on it to plot safe courses through folded space, and Paul's visions grow once he breathes spice-laden air on Arrakis.
Q 22What is the violent eruption on Arrakis that brings melange to the desert surface called?
Spice Blow
The eruption starts when water floods the excretions of the sandtrout, forming a pre-spice mass that builds up gas until it bursts through the sand.
Q 23What are the Fremen's personal combat knives, made from a sandworm's tooth, called?
Crysknife
Crysknives are sacred weapons among the Fremen, crafted from the teeth of dead sandworms and requiring special care to prevent their disintegration.
Stilgar is the Naib (leader) of Sietch Tabr, a prominent Fremen community, and teaches Paul the ways of survival in the deep desert.
Q 14What specialized garment conserves the body's moisture in the deserts of Arrakis?
Stillsuit
A stillsuit is a full-body suit worn by the Fremen and others on Arrakis, designed to reclaim nearly all of the body's moisture through a complex filtration system, making survival possible in the arid climate.
Q 15In Dune, what do the Bene Gesserit call their trained power to control others with nothing but selected tone shadings of speech?
The Voice
The Voice works through tone alone: a Bene Gesserit sister compels obedience merely by choosing the exact shadings of her speech.
Q 16What is the name of the musical instrument Gurney Halleck is known for playing?
Baliset
The baliset is a nine-stringed, zither-like instrument favored by Gurney Halleck, a loyal warrior and minstrel of House Atreides.
Q 17In Dune, what is the sandworm's larval stage called, a small leathery creature that locks away water to keep Arrakis dry?
Sandtrout
Sandtrout keep Arrakis dry on purpose: they sequester water in the sand so the desert stays arid enough for adult sandworms to thrive.
Q 18Which Fremen woman haunts Paul Atreides' prescient dreams before he reaches Arrakis?
Chani
Chani, daughter of Liet-Kynes, is the Fremen woman Paul saw in his dreams on Caladan; she becomes his concubine and later bears the twins Leto II and Ghanima.
Q 19What are the enormous Guild starships called that carry other ships between star systems?
Heighliner
Heighliners are the Spacing Guild's giant transports; in Dune, Duke Leto notes that all of House Atreides' frigates and transports fit into a single corner of one heighliner's hold.
Q 20In Dune, which Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, the Imperial Truthsayer and Lady Jessica's old mentor, tests young Paul with a poisoned needle?
Gaius Helen Mohiam
Gaius Helen Mohiam takes an interest in Paul because she trained his mother; by Dune Messiah her eyes are 'dark with the blue brilliance of her melange addiction'.
Q 24Which ancient crusade led to the ban on thinking machines throughout the Imperium?
The Butlerian Jihad
The Butlerian Jihad left the commandment 'Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind' in the Orange Catholic Bible, a ban that holds more than 10,000 years later when Dune begins.
Q 25What is the process by which a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother accesses her female ancestors' memories called?
Other Memory
Only the female line is available; the Sisterhood's whole breeding programme exists to produce a male who can reach the male ancestors too.
Q 26Who serves as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen's twisted Mentat?
Piter De Vries
De Vries is credited with inventing the residual poison, and dies alongside Duke Leto when the captured Duke releases poison gas meant for the Baron.
Q 27Who is the Imperial Planetologist of Arrakis, secretly leading the Fremen effort to green the desert?
Liet-Kynes
Liet-Kynes, son of Pardot Kynes, is the Imperial Planetologist who meets Duke Leto soon after the Atreides arrive; he secretly leads the Fremen plan to green Arrakis, a dream they carry on after his death.
Q 28What gave Gurney Halleck the scar along his jawline?
An inkvine whip
Inkvine is a creeping plant from Giedi Prime used as a whip in the slave pens; its beet-coloured marks keep hurting for years.
Q 29What is the term for a small, winged aircraft used for reconnaissance and transport on Arrakis?
Ornithopter
Ornithopters are aircraft designed to fly by flapping wings, commonly used for transport and scouting missions, particularly in environments like Arrakis.
Q 30What is the primary danger that makes spice harvesting on Arrakis a perilous undertaking?
Sandworm attacks
The presence of colossal sandworms, which are attracted to rhythmic vibrations on the sand, makes harvesting the valuable spice melange an extremely dangerous activity.