Star Wars' Spice Explained: Canon, Legends & Dune Comparison

Summary Star Wars' spice differs in canon and Legends, but it works in essentially the same way, as a general term for mind-altering narcotics.

George Lucas' inspirations include westerns and samurai films, shaping Tatooine and other themes.

Star Wars' continuity shift from Expanded Universe to Legends brought different depictions of spice.

The Star Wars franchise’s two continuities, canon and Legends, both feature spice, a mind-altering drug that was inspired by a somewhat similar substance of the same name in Frank Herbert’s Dune novels and their adaptations. Spice is mentioned in some Star Wars movies, but most of its appearances are in the Star Wars franchise’s canon and Legends non-movie material. There are many similarities between Dune and Star Wars, and one of them is the fact that both franchises feature a drug called spice. While spice differs slightly in canon and Legends Star Wars material, both are quite different from the substance seen in the Dune franchise.

George Lucas and Star Wars were inspired by a plethora of films, comic books, novels, and mythology when developing the first Star Wars film. Among the clearest examples of this are westerns, like The Searchers, and classic samurai films, such as the films of Akira Kurosawa. Along with spice, Dune’s desolate planet Arrakis heavily inspired Tatooine. In a broader sense, both franchises feature themes of anti-totalitarianism, as the plots involve the toppling of oppressive authoritarian regimes. It's clear that Dune was an inspiration for Star Wars' version of spice, but examining how it worked in both canon and Legends shows some big differences.

Spice In Star Wars Canon

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In the Star Wars canon timeline, spice is a blanket term used to describe a variety of mind-altering substances. While some spice variants are used for medical and scientific purposes, most were highly-addictive recreational drugs, making the spice trade a key component of the criminal underworld. Spice was mentioned occasionally in The Clone Wars; Hondo Ohnaka demanded it in exchange for a captured Count Dooku and later being traded with him for delivering rocket launchers to the Onderon Rebels. The infamous spice mines of Kessel and the difficult Kessel run to get there appear in both Star Wars Rebels and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Despite its illegal status during the reign of the Galactic Empire, some Imperial Moffs, such as Delian Mors, were infamous users of the substance. Another Moff, Ghadi, used a spice aerosol spray to cover fellow Moff and Regional Governor Arihnda Pryce in an expensive spice variant to blackmail her. Spice made its live-action debut in The Book of Boba Fett, which saw Boba steal spice from a repulsorlift train that belonged to the Pyke Syndicate. Spice, unsurprisingly, remained an illegal substance during the age of the New Republic.

Spice In Star Wars Legends

The Star Wars saga initially only had one continuity, whose non-movie material was eventually marketed as the Expanded Universe. This additional material worked in tandem with the films to broaden the Star Wars franchise, exploring the universe and enriching its lore and character development. In 2014, as part of preparations for the then-upcoming sequel trilogy, the Star Wars franchise relegated the Expanded Universe to an alternate continuity and rebranded it Legends, rebooting the continuity with only the original six saga films and 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Canon and Legends often differ in large and small ways, such as in their depictions of spice.

Much of the lore surrounding spice originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity. Like canon, there are numerous varieties of the drug, such as the mild ryll, the euphoric giggledust, and potent glitterstim. Combining ryll and glitterstim created the powerful glitteryll, whose amnesia-inducing effects were used on Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura in Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics. Spice is mentioned several times in the original and prequel trilogy films (which belong to both canon and Legends), with C-3PO mentioning the spice mines of Kessel, Han Solo indirectly mentioning the substance as the shipment he jettisoned while working for Jabba the Hutt, and more.

The most powerful and highly sought-after spice variant, glitterstim, came from Kessel’s hazardous spice mines. The Legends-era process of mining glitterstim was far more dangerous, requiring miners to work in complete darkness, risking the loss of fingers from the sharp mineral and certain death by energy spiders, deadly Kessel arachnids whose webs contained the valuable glitterstim. While glitterstim is extremely addictive and can easily become lethal with prolonged use or in large doses, it gives users telepathic abilities for a brief time, as shown in the Han Solo novel, The Paradise Snare.

Did Star Wars Steal Spice From Dune?

Spice Melange is one of the most important aspects of the Dune franchise. In the Dune franchise, spice was an invaluable commodity that could only be naturally produced on Arrakis. Spice was so important because it made space travel possible, as the Spacing Guild required it to calculate routes. Enough spice could even grant users the ability to see into the past and future. Spice was not without drawbacks, however, as it was also an addictive narcotic. While the two Star Wars continuities used Dune as inspiration for their version of spice, their iterations of the substance aren’t direct copies of Frank Herbert’s concept.

How Star Wars' Spice Compares To Dune's

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The spice shown in Dune has both benefits and drawbacks, making it necessary in some regards (such as space travel), but easily abused. The Star Wars canon timeline’s spice is simply a term for illegal narcotics used throughout the galactic underworld. The discoloration of Lom Pyke’s face and hands, however, seems to be referencing Dune’s spice, which made the eyes of frequent users a bright blue color. The Star Wars Legends timeline’s spice is similarly a term for illegal narcotics, except for glitterstim, whose characteristic of imbuing its users with temporary telepathy is similar to spice’s perception-enhancing properties in Dune.

Why Some Of The Galaxy's Best Pilots Are Spice Smugglers

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Two of the best pilots in Star Wars, Han Solo and Poe Dameron, were both involved in the spice trade at some point in their lives. Han's bounty in the original Star Wars was due to him leaving behind a shipment of spice he was smuggling, while Poe had an extensive history with the spice runners of Kijimi. Both Han and Poe took on the less than savory work because of their love for flying. That passion gave them a dark past, but it's also unlikely they would have been such talented pilots if they weren't willing to do anything in their power to fly.

While spice running may have been a regrettable part of their pasts, it actually helped make them the pilots they were by their respective trilogies. In Han's case, his time running spice forced him to make the infamous Kessel Run faster than anyone else had previously. That gave him a boost to his reputation, and taught him lessons about taking risks and flying in extremely dangerous conditions. Poe likely also benefited similarly to Han, as the high-stress environment of spice running surely taught him to stay cool while fighting the First Order's ships.

Spice is often a very subtle background element of the Star Wars universe, but it has some far-reaching effects. From creating two of the galaxy's best pilots to being the very reason criminal syndicates existed in the first place, spice is a very important substance in Star Wars. It's also a great example of one of the franchise's best characteristics: its depth. Something that was only referenced in passing in a few lines of dialogue of the original movies can safely be ignored in most cases, but for those who want more, Star Wars has ample stories about spice to tell.