Wensicia Corrino

Princess Wensicia Corrino is a fictional character and member of House Corrino from the "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert. She appears in the novel "Children of Dune".

Born in 10,166 A.G., Wensicia is the third daughter of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and Lady Anirul Sadow-Tonkin Corrino, and the second younger sister of Princess Irulan (her other sisters are Chalice, Josifa, and Rugi.) Unlike Irulan and their mother, Wensicia was not trained in the Bene Gesserit ways. She followed her father into exile on the planet Salusa Secundus after her family was stripped of its Imperial powers during the events of "Dune".

Her late husband, Count Dalak Kenola, was the father of their son Farad'n Corrino, who was born on Salusa Secundus in the year 10,198 A.G. Count Kanola was killed suspiciously in an ornithopter accident in 10,204 A.G., and their son’s last name was changed to Corrino.

"Children of Dune"

In "Children of Dune", Wensicia plots to restore House Corrino to its former glory and wrest control of the empire for her son. She attempts to assassinate Leto II and Ghanima Atreides (the heirs to the Empire) by sending mechanically-controlled Laza tigers to hunt them in the desert, but her plan is foiled by Leto's growing prescience. Her son Farad'n has her exiled after forcing her to pass over the powers of House Corrino to him.

In adaptations

Wensicia is portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the Sci-Fi Channel's 2003 miniseries "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune" (which makes the character appear older than her sister Irulan).

In the miniseries, Wensicia is given a much larger role than in the novel. In addition to later attempting to kill Paul's children, she first attempts to kill Paul himself by conspiring with the Tleilaxu to create a ghola of Duncan Idaho programmed to assassinate Paul under the right circumstances (these events occurred in the novel "Dune Messiah", but Wensicia was not involved). Wensicia also conspires with the Spacing Guild to capture a worm from Arrakis and transport it to Salusa Secundus in an attempt to break House Atreides' monopoly on the spice melange. She agrees to give Lady Jessica and Duncan Idaho sanctuary from Jessica's daughter Alia on Salusa Secundus, in exchange for Bene Gesserit training for Farad'n and a marriage alliance between him and Ghanima.