Wallach IX is a notable fictional planet in Frank Herbert's science fiction universe of Dune. Wallach is the ninth planet of Laoujin, and best known for being the site of the Mother School of the Bene Gesserit.
History
In the Legends of Dune trilogy, Wallach was one of the Synchronized Worlds, and was given to Yorek Thurr after his defection from the human worlds. It was subsequently destroyed by the fleet of the Butlerian Jihad during their systematic destruction by atomics of all the Synchronized Worlds. Later, in the original series, Wallach IX is the home of the Bene Gesserit Mother School. In Heretics of Dune, the base of operations for the Bene Gesserit is known as Chapter House Planet:
The woman standing in Chapter House Planet's morning light across the table from the Reverend Mother Superior Alma Mavis Taraza was tall and supple.
It is not made clear whether this is a renamed Wallach or another world until Chapterhouse Dune, when it is explicitly stated that one of the planets captured by the Honored Matres is Wallach, and that the location of planet Chapterhouse is known only to some Reverend Mothers (for security purposes). In Chapterhouse Dune, the Bene Gesserit antagonize the Honored Matres into destroying Rakis, the only known source of melange. As Rakis is being destroyed, the Bene Gesserit flee with a single sandworm. They drown the sandworm in essence-concentrated water and the sandworm, like Leto Atreides II, splits into several sandtrout. These sandtrout begin to transform (or "Duniform") the green planet Chapterhouse, the first step in the Sisterhood's plan to renew the spice cycle under their own control.
Debate
The event of Wallach IX being slagged by the Army of Humanity is seen by some fans/readers as being contradictory to its later role as home of the Bene Gesserit Mother School. However, the original series contains no description of conditions on Wallach IX, so it is completely possible that the Bene Gesserit have built their headquarters on a completely ruined and desolate planet. Alternatively, it is completely possible that natural ecological processes have reclaimed the planet in the ten thousand years between the Butlerian Jihad and the life of Paul Atreides. The other point of view is that there is no way that the Bene Gessert could start the Dune life cycle again on a desolate and empty world.
Name
In the German language, a Wallach is a neutered male horse.
