Anirul Corrino/XD

Lady Anirul Corrino, née Sadow-Tonkin, was a Bene Gesserit of Hidden Rank who married Shaddam Corrino IV, the 81st Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. As such, she was the mother of Princess Irulan Corrino and the grandmother of Prince Farad'n Corrino.

She was born Anirul Sadow Tonkin, named after Raquella Berto-Anirul, the founder of the Bene Gesserit order. She was tall and strong-boned, but graceful, with short bronze-brown hair. Her features were long and narrow, giving her a doelike face, but her large eyes had a depth of millennia in them. Anirul trained and became a Reverend Mother of exceptional ability.

Kwisatz Mother
Anirul had a special gift to be exceptionally acute to Other Memory, the voices of past lives. Because of this exceptional ability, and her place in the genetic structure of the Order, Mother Superior Harishka chose Anirul to become the Kwisatz Mother. As the Kwisatz Mother, these past lives revealed everything concerning the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program to her, while keeping the details hidden from most Bene Gesserit. As she was in charge of the Project, Anirul was vested with full authority to make command decisions on the Project.

Late in the reign of Elrood IX, on Wallach IX, the headquarters of the Gesserit Order, Anirul revealed to some of her Sisters that the Kwisatz Haderach program was coming to its grand conclusion. She indicated that the Mating Index suggested that they needed a particular bloodline from an ancient House, that of Vladimir Harkonnen, to procreate a daughter. Of course, that surprised her Bene Gesserit Sisters, since they knew that the Baron had a preference to men and boys. This daughter would then have to mate with whom the Bene Gesserit would then choose. According to her plans, their offspring, also a daughter, would be trained on Wallach IX to become the mother of the Kwisatz Haderach.

Mohiam and Vladimir
Anirul and Harishska decided that Gaius Helen Mohiam would be impregnated by the Baron of House Harkonnen, and that Mohiam would conceive a daughter. After Mohiam's first daughter with the Baron was born sickly and deformed, the Order decided to murder and dispose of the child. On Mohiam's second try with the Baron, nine months later, the baby Jessica was born, and began her training on the Gesserit homeworld.

Marriage to Shaddam
After the death of Emperor Elrood IX, Crown Prince Shaddam waited to ascend to the Golden Lion Throne. It was decided by the Order, that Anirul would marry none other than Crown Prince Shaddam, to have control over his progeny. It was further decided in order to cement complete control over the Corrino Throne, that Anirul's assistant Margot Rashino-Zea, would marry Shaddam's close friend and main advisor, Count Hasimir Fenring.

Anirul agreed to, and was instructed by Other Memory to produce only daughters and no male heirs for Shaddam, and thus end the direct line of male Corrinos that had continued for over ten thousand years. This would smoothly pave the way for their yet to be born, Kwisatz Haderach.

Jessica and Leto I
Inexorably, the maternal line of the Kwisatz Program through Jessica moved forward; as Anirul, Harishka, and the Sisterhood had the Kwisatz program continue, by mating young unsuspecting Jessica with the up-and-coming Duke Leto Atreides I. This was done even though he already had a bound concubine on Caladan with Kailea Vernius, and a child, Victor Atreides.

As soon as Jessica arrived in the Atreides household, the Order pressed her to seduce and conceive a daughter that could be eventually married to the Harkonnen heir. When Victor died in a skyclipper accident over the Western Continent of the water-world, Jessica saw the deep mourning that Leto went into. As the skyclipper had actually been an assassination attempt by Kailea against him, Kailea committed suicide rather than face interrogation by Atreides Security Chief Thufir Hawat.

As these events spiraled around Leto, driving him deeper into depression, Jessica gave in one night, and secret disobeyed the Bene Gesserit Order, by conceiving a boy, instead of a girl. She kept this information completely to herself, as she knew the punishment would be swift and severe.

The Harkonnen Male
Concurrently, Anirul knew that the current House Harkonnen heir, Glossu Rabban Harkonnen was clumsy and inept. It was thought by the Sisterhood when he foolishly crash-landed a secret Harkonnen no-ship on Wallach IX; when his uncle was visiting the Bene Gesserit Keep, or headquarters; that he had faulty genes. Harishka knew that Rabban would not be able to supply the DNA to the next generation, to produce a superior Haderach candidate.

So Harishka dispensed Mohiam to Lankiveil, a Harkonnen secondary world, which was administered by the Baron's half-brother Abulurd Rabban Harkonnen. Kind, gentle, and smart; the Sisterhood knew that any genetic male offspring from the union of Abulurd and his wife, Emmi Rabban, would have superior genetic stock. Mohiam, disguised as a local birth and fertility expert, convinced Abulurd and Emmi to conceive another child, and gave them herbs to ensure a male conception. The child born, was named Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. Eventually, internal Harkonnen politics, saw the death of Abulurd and Emmi at the hands of their son, Glossu; and little Feyd delivered to the Harkonnen homeworld of Giedi Prime to be raised by Vladimir and Glossu.

The Corrino Children
In keeping with Other Memory and Harishka's orders, Anirul dutifully complied with the strictures of the Kwisatz Program, and gave birth to five daughters: Irulan, Wensicia, Josifa, Chalice and Rugi. Shaddam was chagrined year after year, as his wife produced no male heirs, and as he had no live brothers or sisters; Shaddam saw the ensuing twilight of the Corrino Dynasty.

Anirul trained all five of her daughters in the instructions of the Bene Gesseirt way, as they grew older. Princess Irulan, the eldest excelled at all Sisterhood lessons, especially in the Weirding Way, and Prana-bindu fighting methods.

Jessica on Kaitain
To keep a close eye on the upcoming birth of what she though was Jessica's daughter, Anirul arranged for Lady Jessica Atreides to be a lady-in-waiting for the Imperial family, and moved her alone to the Imperial Opal Palace in Corrinth City on Kaitain. Jessica was somewhat unwilling to do this, but bent to Anriul's will, even though Leto protested.

Anirul soon learned that Jessica could not be completely prtected from all Palace intrigue. Jessica was almost severely injured, as was Shaddam, when the entire Royal Family and Jessica went over to the Hassik III Center for the Performing Arts. There Anirul discovered the true identity of her husband's long-lost half-brother, Prince Tyros Reffa and his allies, the Jongleurs, who were seeking vengeance on Shaddam for attacking the people of the planet Zanovar. A few days later, the conspirators were executed for their crimes against the Corrino Empire.

Anirul and Madness
She eventually succumbed to a sort of madness due to Other Memory pointing out a problem with the breeding program, namely Jessica having a son instead of a daughter. Anirul started to complain of headaches and migraines, and soon afterwards she started to "black out" for hours, having deep prescience dreams, but not understand their meaning.

A few days later, Anirul heard and finally was able to ascertain what the voices in Other Memory were telling her, that Jessica was having a boy, and that the Kwisatz Haderach may come a generation early. As Jessica went into labor, Anirul saw an intruder in the Corrino Palace Complex, the Harkonnen Mentat Piter de Vries. Disguised as a Palace Sardaukar, de Vries was secretly stalked around Jessica's birthing chamber, to kidnap, and possiblly kill the child.

Anirul and de Vries


As the flustered Gesserit sisters attended to Jessica, and conspired amongst themselves what to do with the male child, the disguised de Vries snatched the child away, and vanished into the Palace. Just down the corridor from Jessica's room, Anirul saw de Vries quickly run down the intricate Palace hallways with the new-born Atreides heir. She pursued and stopped him in view of her daughter Irulan's bedchamber, as Irulan peeked through the door. A fight ensued between de Vries and Anirul with Anirul gaining the upper hand.

Just as the Emperor's wife was set to deliver a fatal blow to Piter, the voices of Other Memory shouted out to Anirul that the infant Paul was indeed the Kwisatz super-being, startling her. This enabled Piter to deliver a fatal blow by stabbing Anirul deeply; and as Anirul died, she knew she had fulfilled her role as Kwisatz Mother. A few moments later, near the Palace exits, Mohiam killed de Vries, and delivered the infant Paul safely back to the newly arrived Duke Leto and Jessica.

Aftermath
Anirul was not mourned by her husband, Shaddam, who saw her death as a way to get rid of a secretive woman who could bear no male heirs. Shaddam gave an extravagant funeral for his wife, but the exact circumstances of her death were not known by the Imperium, as Mohiam shared her near-eyewitness account with no one. Shaddam later tried for male heirs and married Firenza Thorvald of Ipyr, but since Anirul had made Shaddam secretly sterile, she was unable to bear male children, either.

Anirul was the last Kwisatz Mother that the Bene Gesserit Order had, as all of her memories died with her. Since she died alone in the Palace corridors, she was unable to share with anyone her knowledge or revelation about Paul. This caused the Bene Gesserit Order to be unsure of Paul's lineage, or if he was indeed, the Kwisatz Haderach.