Wensicia Corrino
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Princess Wensicia Corrino is a fictional character and member of House Corrino from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. She is portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the Sci-Fi Channel's 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 when her family was stripped of its imperial powers.
Her late husband, Count Dalak Kenola, is the father of their firstborn son, Crown Prince Farad'n Corrino, who was born on Salusa Secundus in the year 10,198 A.G. Unfortunately for Wensicia, her husband was killed suspiciously in an ornithopter accident in 10,204 A.G., and their son’s last name Kenola was changed to Corrino.
In the TV miniseries Children of Dune, Wensicia appears older than her eldest sister, Irulan.
In the novel 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 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 the Children of Dune miniseries, Wensicia is given a much larger role than in the novel. In addition to attempting to kill Paul's children, she 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 actually occurred in Dune Messiah) Wensicia also conspires with the Spacing Guild to capture a worm from Arrakis and transport it to Salusa Secundus in an attempt to break the House Atreides' monopoly on the spice melange. She agrees to give Lady Jessica and Duncan Idaho sanctuary from her daughter Alia on Salusa Secundus in exchange for Bene Gesserit training for Farad'n and a marriage alliance between him and Ghanima.
