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This article or section refers to elements from Expanded Dune There are separate pages for this subject as it appears in the other canons, the reasons for this are explained here |
Wensicia, portrayed by Susan Sarandon.
Wensicia Corrino [b. 10166 AG] was the third daughter of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and Lady Anirul Sadow-Tonkin.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Wensicia was born on Kaitain and named after her aunt, Wensicia Mutelli. In 10175 AG, when Lady Jessica Atreides visited Kaitain, Wensicia asked her questions about the Atreides homeworld of Caladan, about the ducal castle, and about how much wealth the watery planet could generate. Jessica noted that the girl's 'probing voice' seemed 'businesslike and incisive, almost challenging'.
Exile[]
After Shaddam's defeat by Muad'Dib (Paul Atreides) and the Fremen in 10193 AG, she followed her family into exile on Salusa Secundus. She married Dalak Fenring and gave birth to Farad'n Corrino in 10198 AG.
Attempting to prepare her son for rule she ordered Sardaukar Bashar Tyekanik as his principle instructor. She even ordered him to follow the religion of Muad'Dib hoping that Farad'n would see the benefit of controlling his new Imperium by manipulating religious belief.
By 10217 AG she had put a spy, Javid, as Alia Atreides' lover. Soon after Wensicia attempted an assassination of Leto II and Ghanima Atreides. The plot involved providing Ghanima and her brother with a royal gift of fine cloaks which had transmitters in them that would attract laza tigers when they would next be in the desert. As a result, the Bene Gesserit filed a formal protest against House Corrino through Sabit Rekush of the Landsraad Internal Security Commission.
When Lady Jessica escaped to Salusa Secundus, she became Farad'n's Bene Gesserit trainer. Jessica's mode of teaching helped him to draw contrasts with his mother, whom Farad'n increasingly saw as a hindrance to his ascendancy to statesmanship, and not an advantage.
He concluded that his mother's schemes to ascend him to the imperial throne were ham-fisted, clumsy, short-sighted and distasteful. This is evidenced by his expression of anger and disgust when learning of his mother's plot to kill the Atreides twins.
Despite his mother's best efforts, Farad'n possessed none of the ambition, vindictiveness or desire for vengeance inherent in his mother. As a result, he refused to cooperate with her plans, and had her banished to an isolated area of Salusa Secundus.
Behind the Scenes[]
In the 2003 TV miniseries, Wensicia was portrayed by Susan Sarandon and reimagined as being older than Irulan.
When Irulan wrote "My father was 71 years old at the time and looking no older than the man in the portrait, and I was only 14 years old" in her work "In My Father's House", this created a timeline inconsistency regarding her age relative to that of Wensicia. Irulan is said to be the older sister throughout the books.
Wensicia's birth year is given as 10170 AG, but if one cross-references Shaddam's age in the entry (71 years old), this places the event of which Irulan wrote at the year 10189 AG. If Irulan was indeed 14 at that year, this would place her birth year at 10175 AG, making her 5 years younger than Wensicia.