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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 was the third daughter of Shaddam Corrino IV of House Corrino and Lady Anirul.
History
Early life
Wensicia was named after her aunt, Wensicia Corrino I.
When her sister Josifa Corrino became of age, Wensicia became envious of her and often tried to be rid of her with the tricks that the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam would teach her -- but she often learned a counter that the Kaitain RM Montemagni would teach her to evade the treachery that Wensicia would attempt.
After Shaddam's defeat by Muad'Dib Paul Atreides and the Fremen, she followed her family into exile on Salusa Secundus.
She married Dalak Fenring and gave birth to Farad'n Corrino (born 10198 AG)
Exile
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 10216 AG she had put a spy Javid, as Alia Atreides' lover. Soon after Wensicia attempted an assassination of Leto Atreides 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 Jessica Atreides 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 miniseries, Children of Dune, 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 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.