Wensicia Corrino
schemer of the exiled House
Wensicia Corrino was the third daughter of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and the mother of Farad'n Corrino. From exile on Salusa Secundus she plotted to restore her family to the throne, culminating in a failed attempt on the lives of the Atreides twins.
Wensicia Corrino was the third daughter of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and the Lady Anirul, and a member of House Corrino. She married Dalak, a relative of Count Hasimir Fenring, and bore a son, Farad'n Corrino, in whom she invested her ambition for the family's restoration. After Shaddam's defeat by Paul Atreides and the Fremen, she followed her House into exile on Salusa Secundus, where she schemed to return the Corrinos to the imperial throne. (Dune; Children of Dune)
Exile and ambition#
Wensicia was the third of Shaddam's daughters by the Lady Anirul. When her father was deposed following the rise of Paul Atreides, she accompanied the remnant of House Corrino into exile on Salusa Secundus. There she fixed her hopes on her son Farad'n, determined to prepare him to reclaim the imperial throne. (Dune; Children of Dune)
To that end she appointed the Sardaukar bashar Tyekanik as Farad'n's principal instructor. She went so far as to order her son to take up the religion of Muad'Dib, calculating that he would come to see the advantage of controlling the new Imperium by manipulating religious belief rather than confronting it directly. (Children of Dune)
The plot against the Atreides twins#
Wensicia had placed a spy, Javid, in the household of Alia Atreides as her lover. Soon afterward she attempted to assassinate Leto Atreides II and Ghanima Atreides. The plot turned on a royal gift of fine cloaks presented to the twins. A pair of servo-controlled laza tigers had been conditioned to recognize those garments as the markers of prey, the animals trained on Salusa Secundus using human twins dressed in similar cloaks. (Children of Dune)
The attempt ultimately failed. When word spread that Leto Atreides II had apparently been killed by the tigers and Ghanima seriously injured, the Bene Gesserit lodged a formal protest against House Corrino through Sabit Rekush of the Landsraad Internal Security Commission. (Children of Dune)
Estrangement and banishment#
Wensicia revealed the plot to Farad'n only after the fact. He was angered and disgusted by it, particularly by the use of human children to condition the tigers. The episode confirmed a growing judgement in him that his mother's schemes were ham-fisted, clumsy, short-sighted, and distasteful. (Children of Dune)
That judgement sharpened once the Lady Jessica became his Bene Gesserit trainer on Salusa Secundus. Her mode of teaching let Farad'n draw a contrast with his mother, whom he increasingly saw as a hindrance to his ascent to statesmanship rather than an asset. Possessing none of Wensicia's ambition, vindictiveness, or appetite for vengeance, he refused to cooperate with her plans and finally had her banished to an isolated area of the planet. (Children of Dune)
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Wensicia Corrino?
- Wensicia Corrino was the third daughter of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and the Lady Anirul, and a member of House Corrino. She married Dalak, a relative of Count Hasimir Fenring, and bore a son, Farad'n Corrino, in whom she invested her ambition to restore the family to the imperial throne.
- What did Wensicia Corrino do in exile on Salusa Secundus?
- After Shaddam's defeat by Paul Atreides and the Fremen, Wensicia followed House Corrino into exile on Salusa Secundus and fixed her hopes on her son Farad'n. She appointed the Sardaukar bashar Tyekanik as his instructor and ordered him to take up the religion of Muad'Dib so he could control the new Imperium by manipulating religious belief.
- How did Wensicia Corrino try to assassinate the Atreides twins?
- Wensicia attempted to assassinate Leto Atreides II and Ghanima Atreides using a royal gift of fine cloaks. A pair of servo-controlled laza tigers had been conditioned to recognize the garments as markers of prey, trained on Salusa Secundus using human twins dressed in similar cloaks.
- Did Wensicia Corrino's plot against the twins succeed?
- The attempt failed. After word spread that Leto Atreides II had apparently been killed and Ghanima seriously injured, the Bene Gesserit lodged a formal protest against House Corrino through Sabit Rekush of the Landsraad Internal Security Commission.
- What happened to Wensicia Corrino?
- Farad'n was angered and disgusted when he learned of the plot, especially the use of human children to condition the tigers, and came to see his mother's schemes as clumsy and distasteful. Possessing none of her ambition or appetite for vengeance, he refused to cooperate with her plans and finally had her banished to an isolated area of the planet.
Gallery
Images via Dune Wiki
Sources
- BookDune, Frank Herbert, Chilton Books, 1965
- BookChildren of Dune, Frank Herbert, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1976
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Farad'n Corrino: the scribe Harq al-Ada
Farad'n Corrino was the grandson of the deposed Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, raised to reclaim the throne but turned instead toward scholarship by the Lady Jessica. Renouncing his mother's ambitions, he became the official scribe of the Atreides Empire under the pen name Harq al-Ada and the concubine of Ghanima Atreides.
Shaddam Corrino IV
Shaddam Corrino IV was the 81st and final Padishah Emperor of the Corrino Empire. Threatened by the popularity of Duke Leto Atreides, he conspired with House Harkonnen to destroy him, only to be brought down himself by Paul Muad'Dib and the Fremen during the Desert War.
Alia Atreides
Alia Atreides was the preborn daughter of Duke Leto Atreides and Lady Jessica, sister to Paul. Granted full ancestral memory in the womb, she ruled the Atreides Empire as Regent before succumbing to possession by her Harkonnen grandfather and taking her own life.
Ghanima Atreides
Ghanima Atreides was the pre-born daughter of Paul Muad'Dib and Chani, and the twin sister of the God Emperor Leto Atreides II. Married in name to her brother and consort to Farad'n Corrino, she seeded the Atreides, Harkonnen and Corrino bloodlines across the Empire.
House Corrino: ten thousand years enthroned
The imperial House ruled from Kaitain and held Salusa Secundus as its fief. Paul Atreides forced Shaddam IV to give up the Golden Lion Throne.
Lady Jessica: the concubine who bore a son
The Bene Gesserit ordered Jessica to bear Duke Leto a daughter. She had Paul instead, and that single disobedience broke the breeding programme.
Mentioned in14 entries
Children of Dune Explained: Plot Summary and Ending
The full plot of Frank Herbert's Children of Dune in order, from the tiger attack on Paul's twins to Leto II taking the throne, with the ending explained: what happened to Alia, who the Preacher was, and what Leto's Golden Path costs him.
Dune Timeline: from the thinking machines to the end of Kralizec
A dated chronology of the Dune universe, from the first age of space travel and the Butlerian Jihad to Paul Atreides, the God Emperor, the Scattering and the last war with the machines. Events run oldest first, era by era, and every entry says which book it comes from.
Farad'n Corrino: the scribe Harq al-Ada
Farad'n Corrino was the grandson of the deposed Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, raised to reclaim the throne but turned instead toward scholarship by the Lady Jessica. Renouncing his mother's ambitions, he became the official scribe of the Atreides Empire under the pen name Harq al-Ada and the concubine of Ghanima Atreides.
Ghanima Atreides
Ghanima Atreides was the pre-born daughter of Paul Muad'Dib and Chani, and the twin sister of the God Emperor Leto Atreides II. Married in name to her brother and consort to Farad'n Corrino, she seeded the Atreides, Harkonnen and Corrino bloodlines across the Empire.
House Corrino: ten thousand years enthroned
The imperial House ruled from Kaitain and held Salusa Secundus as its fief. Paul Atreides forced Shaddam IV to give up the Golden Lion Throne.
Leto Atreides II
Leto Atreides II was the third and final ruler of the Atreides Empire and its first and only God Emperor. The pre-born son of Paul Muad'Dib, he bonded with a colony of sandtrout to gain near-immortality and ruled mankind for thirty five hundred years to set humanity upon the Golden Path.
Princess Irulan: chronicler of the Atreides Imperium
Princess Royal Irulan Corrino was the eldest daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV and the wife in title only of Emperor Paul Atreides. A historian of Paul's rise, she eventually turned from House Corrino to become guardian of his children.
Rebels: uprisings against the Atreides Imperium
The Rebels were the diverse movements, uprisings and revolts that rose against the Imperium across the centuries of Atreides rule, from armed revolution and terrorism to subversion and sabotage. They ranged from the Great Houses that refused Paul Muad'Dib's succession to the desert rebels of Alia's reign and the cell of Siona Atreides that finally brought down the God Emperor himself.
Salusa Secundus: the prison that bred terror
House Corrino's first homeworld became the empire's penal planet once the court moved to Kaitain. Its cruelty was said to breed the Sardaukar.
Sardaukar: the Emperor's prison-world troops
Raised on the penal planet Salusa Secundus and feared across the Known Universe. The Fremen beat them on Arrakis and put Paul Atreides on the throne.
Sietch Jacurutu: the water thieves the Fremen erased
Sietch Jacurutu was a legendary settlement of the deep desert whose people, the Iduali, murdered other Fremen for the water in their bodies until the tribes banded together and destroyed them. The survivors rebuilt under the name Fondak and sold passage off Arrakis to whoever could pay, and the sietch became the place where the nine year old Leto Atreides II found the shape of his Golden Path.
The Atreides Family Tree: from Agamemnon to Leto II and Beyond
Paul Atreides is a grandson of the Baron Harkonnen, a son-in-law of the Emperor he deposed and the father of a God Emperor. This is the Atreides family generation by generation, with Frank Herbert's novels first and the expanded books marked as such.
+ 2 more
Get new articles in your inbox
No spam. New lore drops, canon conflicts, and deep dives only when they’re worth reading.
Some links on Lore Fortress are affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.