Hasimir Fenring/XD

Count Hasimir Fenring (10133 AG - 10225 AG) was a renowned assassin and political tactician, and the adviser to Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. Fenring was a genetic eunuch and a failed Kwisatz Haderach.

Count Fenring was notably the strategic genius behind the assassination of Crown Prince Fafnir, the assassination of Emperor Elrood IX, Project Amal, the posthumous framing of Hidar Fen Ajidica, the Great Spice War, an assassination attempt on Emperor Muad'Dib, and the creation of Shaddam's ghola army.

Fenring's combat skills surpassed that of any Sardaukar, with Fenring even overpowering the combat mimicry of his own style by Face Dancer Zoal, and only being rivalled in skill by a Ginaz Swordmaster, as Fenring fought evenly against Duncan Idaho, and lost only due to his combat knife suddenly breaking. Moreover, Shaddam Corrino IV confidently believed that Fenring would have been able to slay Paul Muad'Dib in a duel.

Fenring was also a prominent member of House Fenring, a House Minor that had long been aligned to House Corrino, and he was also the cousin of Dalak Fenring.

Appearance
Hasimir Fenring was a small man with oversize dark eyes and a weasel face.

History
Fenring was a part of the Bene Gesserit breeding program and was one of the Kwisatz Haderach candidates, but was crippled by his being a genetic eunuch. Fenring's talent concentrated into furtiveness and inner seclusion, and rendered him invisible to prescient vision, even to the prescience of someone as powerful as Paul-Muad'Dib, the first Kwisatz Haderach.

Friend of Crown Prince Shaddam IV
Fenring was the son of Lady Chaola Fenring, who served as the wet nurse to Shaddam. The two boys were born very close together, and thus they became crib mates, and later close friends, and they would often play shield-ball.

He honed his deadly assassin skills, and kept his private penthouse impeccably shielded and regularly scanned for spying devices. Hasimir also liked to read the Assassins' Handbook. When he was barely 19, he slipped out of the Imperial Palace at night and killed two civil servants at random, just to prove he could do it.

As a young man, Hasimir was bisexual, and had lovers of both sexes, some of whom he eventually assassinated. He took a measure of pride in being a killer, who could face the victim or strike behind his back, without compunction.

He was also one of the deadliest fighters in the Imperium, single-mindedly ferocious that could be compared with any Sardaukar. Elrood IX had made use of him in a number of clandestine operations. Over the years, Fenring had murdered at least fifty men and a dozen women.

Assassination of Crown Prince Fafnir & Emperor Elrood IX
With Fenring's aid, Shaddam IV disposed of his older brother Fafnir but still the Golden Lion Throne seemed no closer, and Shaddam began to lose his ambitions. First off, Fenring initiated conact with the Bene Tleilax, and convinced Elrood to help the gnome-like men invade and conquer Ix from House Vernius, eventaully trying to develop synthetic spice, an endeavor called Project Amal. After the Tleilax sealed their grip on Ix; with Shaddam's go-ahead, Fenring administered an N'kee catalyst into the cranial glands of Elrood, while he slept. Over the course of the next two years, as Elrood drank spice beer, the catalyst converted the substance into the poison chaumurky, and eventually Elrood died.

In the interim between Elrood's death, and the coronation of Shaddam; the Crown Prince had to endure a scathing rebuke by his cousin, Duke Leto Atreides I. The newly ascended nobleman from Caladan spoke in front of the Landsraad, and castigated House Corrino for its' lack of action in not supporting House Vernius during the Tleilaxu take-over. Matters were further complicated when Leto demanded a Trial by Forfeiture when the teenage Duke was falsely accused for destroying a Tleilaxu freight lighter, and Leto's penalty would have been capital punishment.

As the Bene Gesserit had a vested interest in Leto producing offspring for their secret Kwisatz Haderach Project, the Sisterhood sent Shaddam and Hasimir a message that Leto knew about Project Amal. In the secret message, they inferred that Leto would go public about the Project in a lengthy Landsraad Trial, and would cause Shaddam to have to renounce the Throne. To prevent this, Hasimir and Shaddam agreed, and Shaddam personally appeared at the opening of Leto's Trial, and demanded that the galactic tribunal exhonorate his cousin. He even gave Leto the Corrino heirloom, the Emperor's Blade, as a sign of fealty.

Marriage to Margot Zashino-Rea
The Sisterhood decided that harm had come too close to Leto, and they also needed to keep a close eye on the future Emperor. Margot Rashino-Zea, a beautiful Sister, who specialized in flash-memorization, encouraged Hasimir to convince Shaddam to marry Anirul Sadow Tonkin, a Sister of Hidden Rank. Hasimir agreed, as he knew the Bene Gesserit would strengthen Shaddam's grip on the Throne. Anirul married Shaddam, though she was secretly the Kwisatz Mother, and would intentionally only produce daughters for the Corrino Emperor in the years to come. Hasimir also married Margot in a quiet out of the way ceremony, and brought monogamy and true happiness to his existence, for the first time in his life.

The year 10,156 AG was one of great tumult and stress for Hasimir's best friend, now the Emperor. The death his father, the rebuke by Leto in the Landsraad, and Shaddam's show of fealty at Leto's Trial, caused the rise of paranoia in Shaddam. He began to believe that Hasimir looked down upon him, and was too involved in the day to day runnings of the Empire. In a moment of short-sightedness, Shaddam appointed Hasimir Spice Minister of Arrakis, and forced him and Margot to move to the Dune-world.

Spice Minister
While stationed on Arrakis, Hasimir tried to install as many creature comforts as could allowed on the desert world. In his residence in Arrakeen, Fenring had a conservatory built for Margot, where she could walk amongst plants and fauna from around the galaxy. He also doubled the size of the residency itself, and tried to construct a home that Fenring believed was befitting his position.

After ten years had passed, it was at the Arrakeen residence that the Fenrings invited all important persona to a grand banquet. While there, many of the invited guests listened to stories of the Deep Desert told by Imperial Planetologist Pardot Kynes and his son, Liet. As the night passed, however, House Moritani diplomat, Ord Lupino; killed House Ecaz ambassador Bindikk Narvi. Fenring was forced to imprison Ord, and reported Shaddam the growing animosity between the two Houses.

Testing Amal
As the decade passed, and Project Amal came to fruition on Ix, Shaddam secretly appointed Fenring to spy on the Tlelaxu Master, Hidar Fen Ajidica. Being guided by misinterpreted false data, Ajidica believed that his synthetic spice was ready to be mass-produced, and replace genuine melange. Both Ajidica and Fenring agreed that the Amal compound had to be tested, and secretly came to the agreement that it would be tested on two Guild Navigators, while they folded space.

Fenring, along with an Enhanced Face Dancer given to him by Ajidica, discreetly replaced genuine melange with amal on the two heighliners as they docked in space above Junction. Using subterfuge and murder, Fenring and the Face Dancer were successful, although Hasimir had to kill the Tleilaxu mimic, as the doppleganger was under order from his Master, to kill Fenring. As the Guildships went on their appointed routes, Fenring took a different ship back to Margot, who was waiting for him on Kaitain.

Unknown to Fenring at the time, one Guildship crashed into the planetary defense system above Wallach IX. The second, carried the advanced Atreides scout group, which was planning to gather information for a House Vernius re-takeover of Ix. The near-doomer heighliner was piloted by Steersman D'murr Pilru, and temporarily veered far off course, most likely near unknown Thinking Machine space. When word got back to Fenring about the doomed star-craft, he knew that Amal was a complete failure.

Siridar-Absentia of Caladan
Years later, after the ascent of Shaddam to the role of Padishah Emperor, Hasimir became his vital adviser, often guiding him away from foolish political decisions. During the transition of power on Arrakis between House Harkonnen and House Atreides, Fenring served as interim Governor, no doubt finalizing some of the elements that would later be instrumental in the fall of House Atreides. Between 10,191 and 10,193 he served as Siridar-Absentia of Caladan.

Salusa Secundus and Tleilax
After the ascent of Paul Atreides to the Emperor's throne, Hasimir was banished to Salusa Secundus, where he stayed with his wife, Margot Fenring; for just a short time. After the birth of his adopted daughter, Marie Fenring, sired by the late Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen; he, Margot, and Marie, made Tlulax their home. Hasimir and Margot decided that Marie was to be raised as an assassin and in Bene Gesserit Training, as she had the potential to be a Kwisatz Haderach. The Fenring parents decided early on, however, that Marie was not be trained by the Gesserit. They wanted her to be independent of the Sisterhood, although they accepted a nanny, Tonia Obregah-Xo, as a gift.

While on Tleilax, and under the guidance of the Tleilaxu Master, Dr Ereboam, they learned of the concept of Twisted personalities; which they decided against doing for Marie. In one of the main Tleilaxu cities of Thalidei, the three of them were introduced to Thallo, the Masters attempt to create a Kwisatz Haderach. When Thallo realized he was a failed super-being, he decided to commit mass genocide and suicide. Marie turned out to be exceptionally trained by her parents; and easily dispatched of Thallo, saving Thalidei, and its' inhabitants.

Assassination Attempt on Muad'Dib
The Fenrings then sent Marie to live with Paul at the Imperial Palace on Arrakis, and Marie ingratiated herself with the Atreides family, and became the playmate of young Alia Atreides. Later, at a banquet, Hasimir and Margot sprung their trap on the Emperor, and Marie slipped into assassin mode. Despite heavy security and safety precautions, Marie almost succeeded in reaching Paul by stabbing him with needle-wire, but was stabbed to death by Alia; Alia earning the nickname 'Alia of the Knife'.

As security surrounded the couple, Margot told Paul that Marie's father was Feyd. This caused Paul to momentarily hesitate, and Hasimir drove the Emperor's Blade deep into Muad'Dib. Paul's concubine Chani gave Paul the Water of Life, which forced him to repair his body on a cellular level; and Paul survived. The Emperor's blade itself was stolen by the fanatic Korba and was stored in a no-field, leaving a small amount of blood on the knife from deteriorating. Several thousand years later, the Enhanced Face Dancer Khrone gave the knife to Uxtal who created a ghola out of the blood.

"I would gladly abase myself for the life of my Lady."

- Hasimir Fenring

As punishment for the attempt, the Emperor permanently exiled Hasimir and Margot to Salusa Secundus; and chastised them that they had raised their only daughter to be an instrument of death.

Re-Exiled to Salusa
After Hasimir was re-exiled with his wife to Salusa Secundus, in 10200 AG, Lady and Duchess Jessica Atreides visited Salusa with her daughter-in-law Chani to inspect the attempts at terra-forming the planet back into a more hospitable environment. While there, Atreides was peppered constantly by Hasimir and Shaddam as to the wisdom and valor of Paul's Imperial Rule, in light of the planets he had sterilized. Jessica left without providing Hasimir an answer.

Later that year, Hasimir's wife, Margot was visited by the Bene Gesserit Guilt-caster Stokia, who did not announce her intentions of trying to put Margot into a comatose state. As Stokia tried to inflict upon Margot Psychic waves of remorse, Hasimir drove a knife-blade deep into Stokia's back, killing her—and saved his wife's life.

All during this time, Fenring helped Shaddam oversee the creation of a massive ghola army that the former Emperor was going to use to try to take back the Empire from Muad'Dib. This attempt would eventually prove to be unsuccessful as the Atreides stayed on the Golden Lion Throne.

Behind the Scenes
Hasimir Fenring was played by Miroslav Táborský in the Dune miniseries.

Appearances

 * Dune: House Atreides
 * Dune: House Harkonnen
 * Dune: House Corrino
 * Dune
 * Paul of Dune
 * The Winds of Dune