Anirul Corrino
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Lady Anirul Sadow-Tonkin Corrino is a fictional character and member of House Corrino in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.
A Bene Gesserit of Hidden Rank and wife of the 81st Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, Anirul was the mother of Princess Irulan (Saint Irulan-The-Virgin) and the grandmother of Harq al-Ada (Farad'n Corrino). Anirul is little more than a footnote in Dune, but is a major character in the Prelude to Dune trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
In Dune: House Atreides, she is described as having "short bronze-brown hair," and it is said that her "features were long and narrow, giving her a doelike face, but her large eyes had a depth of millennia in them." She took her name from the first Bene Gesserit Mother Superior, Raquella Berto-Anirul.
The non-canon Dune Encyclopedia (1984) by Dr. Willis McNelly invents an extensive, alternate biography for Anirul.
In her epigraphs in Dune, Irulan revealed that her mother had been instructed by her Bene Gesserit superiors to produce only daughters for Shaddam, therefore leaving him no male heir. Anirul complied with the Sisterhood's orders, giving birth to five daughters: Irulan, Chalice, Wensicia, Josifa, and Rugi.
[edit] Prelude to Dune
[edit] Dune: House Atreides
In Dune: House Atreides, Anirul was the Bene Gesserit Kwisatz Mother, the Reverend Mother chosen every generation to guide the Sisterhood's breeding program. The youngest Kwisatz Mother ever, Anirul had been the most qualified since the Reverend Mothers in Other Memory had revealed everything to her, while keeping the details of the program hidden from most Bene Gesserit. Anirul soon determined that the goal of the program, a male superbeing called the Kwisatz Haderach, was no more than three generations away. She calculated that a daughter of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen had to produce a daughter by an Atreides; this daughter would then be bred with another Harkonnen heir, to produce the male Kwisatz Haderach.
Anirul hand-selected Margot Rashino-Zea, one of the Bene Gesserit's best commandos, to infiltrate the household of Abulurd Harkonnen on Lankiveil. The Sisterhood hoped to find incriminating evidence, perhaps hidden there by the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, that they could use to coerce the Baron into particpating in their breeding program.
Later, Margot convinced Emperor Shaddam IV to marry Anirul:
The Sisterhood can help you secure your power base — more than an alliance with any single Great House of the Landsraad ... in these difficult times, we believe you would gain the greatest advantage by allying your throne with the power and resources of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood ... The Bene Gesserit are quite influential, you know. We can work behind the scenes to smooth over any difficulties you currently have with the Landsraad. This would free you to perform the work of being Emperor and secure your place in history. A number of your grandfathers have done this, to good effect ... You are now the most powerful man in the universe, Sire, but your political rule is balanced between yourself, the Landsraad Council, and the powerful forces of the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit. Your marriage to one of my Sisters would be ... mutually beneficial.
Margot's future husband Count Hasimir Fenring added:
Besides, Sire ... an alliance with any other Great House would bring with it certain ... baggage. You would join with one family at the risk of spurning another. We don't want to trigger another rebellion.
Anirul married new Emperor Shaddam IV in 10,156 A.G.; through this arrangement the Bene Gesserit sought influence over the Imperial throne by ensuring that Shaddam would never have a son.
[edit] Dune: House Corrino
Anirul died in 10,176 A.G., during the events of Dune: House Corrino, murdered by the Harkonnen Mentat Piter De Vries while trying to save the young Paul Atreides from being kidnapped. This was quite a mystery for the other Bene Gesserit, who regarded Paul as a failure in the scheme to create the Kwisatz Haderach.They could not understand why the Kwisatz Mother herself would do that, althrough the reader gets to know that the Empress's Other Memory had been deeply concerned lately when they had realised that the Kwisatz Haderach would be born a generation earlier.
