Giedi Prime

Giedi Prime
Giedi Prime, from David Lynch's Dune (1984)
Universe	Dune universe
Notable people	House Harkonnen
Created by	Frank Herbert
Genre	Science fiction

Giedi Prime /ˈɡeɪdi/ is a fictional planet in Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune. Herbert used this planet as an allegory warning against the potential costs and dangers of running a military–industrial complex driven by fear and greed. In contrast, the Atreides home planet Caladan, run on principles of respect and loyalty, is portrayed as a green and pleasant land. A planet of Ophiuchi B (36), Giedi is the homeworld of the vicious House Harkonnen, the sworn arch-enemies of House Atreides.

Giedi Prime is an industrial wasteland with a low photosynthetic potential, the planet's bio-resources depleted and its environment fouled with industrial pollution. Rich in mineral resources, the economy of the planet is based on mining, refineries, and industrial manufacture. In Dune, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his heirs live in the "family city of Harko."

Due to its ravaged environment, Giedi Prime has to import almost all of its food. Society on Giedi Prime has evolved around power and conquest, and the weak rarely survive. Gladiatorial games are a common form of entertainment, particularly for nobility, and vocational combat training from an early age is the norm in all classes of society. Slavery is legal and widely practised, while judicial punishment is usually . Such conditions form the basis for a vast military-industrial complex and an army conditioned by fear, which make House Harkonnen the sole contender for House Atreides — or the throne — in terms of military power.

Following the events of God Emperor of Dune, Giedi Prime is renamed "Gammu" (it is noted in Heretics of Dune that Gurney Halleck had been responsible for the renaming) and has drastically changed. Its main city is renamed "Ysai" and is oppressed by a massive building complex referred to as either "The Keep" or "Barony" (formerly "Harkonnen Keep"), one of the few remaining buildings from the Harkonnens (apart from a secret no-chamber). The efforts of various new settlers to Gammu have slowly improved the planet's environment considerably, though the cities remain dreary and overcrowded.