Dune is one of the biggest, most epic sci-fi stories, alongside Star Wars and Star Trek. Originating with Frank Herbert's 1965 novel, this story has spawned several books, a couple of TV miniseries, and two film adaptations. These films include David Lynch's negatively received 1984 version, and Denis Villeneuve's Oscar-winning 2021 film with a sequel on the way.
Dune is a complex and fascinating saga about a future that revolves around various characters and a desert planet with spice as its primary resource. In the story's universe, though, the circumstances of the planet Earth are mysterious, leaving many to wonder what happened to it during the course of the story.
What Happened To Earth in Dune?
In Dune, Earth is also named Terra or Old Earth, and (just like reality) is the third planet in the solar system. As in real-world history, the human race started on Earth with several civilizations, explorations, empires, and world wars. However, an asteroid hit Earth thousands of years later, causing major destruction and damage to the planet.
After the asteroid, Earth took a long time to recover environmentally. Thanks to travelers who visited Earth during the time period called the Rescue of the Treasures, many historical relics were preserved through other planets in the Known Universe. Earth still had some people and was reconstructed as a national park with increased plant and animal life, but due to the major destruction Earth suffered, Ceres became the new capital of the human race for several centuries in the future. All the other planets in the solar system were colonized over time and ended up outnumbering Earth's population. This expansion period was called Little Diaspora.
Earth is barely mentioned throughout the Dune saga, aside from leaders and others acknowledging that the planet is generally gone, dead, and/or dying. However, some characters reference certain elements pertaining to the ancient planet. Twin siblings Leto Atreides II and Ghanima (children of Paul Atreides and Chani) speak French to each other during a private moment together, and the French language is considered old and extinct. When Leto reigns as the God Emperor of the Atreides Empire, Earth no longer exists, but Leto recalls historical references from the planet including the Greeks and Romans, as well as classical musicians like Bach and Mozart.
During his time, Paul mentions cruel and ruthless rulers such as Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan to Stilgar (the leader of the Fremen desert tribe) when talking about leaders in the history of the Golden Age of Earth (or Terra, as they also call the old planet). Gurney Halleck, Paul's trainer and one of the most powerful fighters for House Atreides, has a religious book called the Orange Catholic Bible, which is a text filled with beliefs and traditions involving Christianity. This shows that people from other planets like Caladan (the ancestral home of House Atreides) can be influenced by old traditional practices of the past.
How Did Humans Reach Other Planets?
In order to reach other planets in the world of Dune, people relied on space travel, giving them the opportunity to travel to other locations in the Known Universe for the sake of expanding the evolution of humanity. There's conventional space travel, which is considered the original method for long-distance space travel when it comes to going somewhere within a star system. However, for humans to do interstellar travel, the Spacing Guild formed FTL Travel (Faster Than Light Travel, or space-folding). The Spacing Guild (or Guild Navigators) is a group of elite and highly-trained individuals capable of flying starships (such as Heighliners) through any star, star system, and planetary system.
The spice called melange is not only a cultural resource for individual awareness and sensorial consciousness. It's also a primary source for interstellar space travel, since the spice is essential for Spacing Guild Navigators to control and pilot any starship quickly and safely. House Atreides travels from Caladan to Arrakis so that they can gain more access to melange and manage the spice on the desert planet. The Atreides household also engages in spice wars with House Harkonnen, because both sides want melange for military and commercial gain.
Why Earth's Mysteries Positively Impact Dune's Story
Frank Herbert's characters have only mentioned and/or referenced Earth in a limited capacity. However, the fact that the planet's history is mostly a mystery in the Dune universe only makes Herbert's story stronger. Since Earth is essentially gone, this allowed the sci-fi writer to develop peoples and cultures that come from various planets. Herbert's novel establishes the possibility that other worlds can exist after Earth, and that individuals can also learn about Earth's past history to improve upon the future of humanity (both environmentally and technologically).
After Herbert wrote Dune and five sequels, his son Brian and fellow author Kevin J. Anderson continued the series with more sequels and prequel novels. Perhaps Brian and Kevin could write another novel about the backstory surrounding Earth, the planet's evolution, and its destruction due to an asteroid, impacting the development of other planets in the solar system. Denis Villeneuve could also make a prequel to his Dune feature depicting the rise and fall of Earth, along with the formation of House Atreides in Caladan, House Harkonnen in Gammu, and the Fremen in Arrakis. The 2021 movie showed characters like Paul being influenced by certain values from Earth, which may affect his journey in future films and determine the type of ruler he intends to become in the fight for humanity.