Hasimir Fenring
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Count Hasimir Fenring is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is featured in the science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert, and is also a key character in the Prelude to Dune trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
The non-canon Dune Encyclopedia (1984) by Dr. Willis McNelly invents an extensive, alternate biography for Fenring.
Contents |
Hasimir Fenring has always been a figure of mystery throughout the Imperium; with much of his origin and activities, beyond being the childhood companion of Shaddam Corrino IV, remaining mysterious.
Depending on which source is relied upon, Fenring was born in either 10,118 A.G. (After Guild) or 10,133 A.G. on Kaitain. His mother, Lady Chaola or Cirni Fenring, was a Bene Gesserit and lady-in-waiting to Habla, the fourth wife of Padishah Emperor Elrood Corrino IX, and served as wet nurse to both her son Hasimir and Crown Prince Shaddam. According to one source, Fenring's mother may also have been a sister to Elrood. Of her it was written in Dune: House Atreides:
His mother Chaola, an introspective lady-in-waiting, had settled into a quiet home and lived on her Imperial pension after the death of the Emperor's fourth wife Habla. In raising the two young boys together while she attended the Empress Habla, Chaola had given Fenring the chance to be so much more — almost as if she had planned it that way ... These days Chaola pretended not to understand what her son did at Court, though she was Bene Gesserit-trained. Fenring was wily enough to know that his mother comprehended far more than her station suggested, and that many plans and breeding schemes had gone on without his knowledge.
House Fenring, a House minor long allied with House Corrino, was a significant part of the Bene Gesserit breeding program to produce the Kwisatz Haderach. Hasimir Fenring was a prime candidate for this genetic potential, but this did not eventuate, in part due to Fenring being a genetic-eunuch. As Paul Atreides himself noted in Dune, "Fenring was one of the might-have-beens, an almost Kwisatz Haderach, crippled by a flaw in the genetic pattern — a eunuch, his talent concentrated into furtiveness and inner seclusion." Nonetheless, the bloodline manipulations of the Bene Gesserit produced a supremely intelligent and perceptive killer in Fenring
Fenring was no stranger to assassination, and killed with his bare hands at least as often as he engineered accidents or paid for thugs. Sometimes he liked blood work, while on other occasions he preferred subtleties and deceptions. When he was younger, barely nineteen, he had slipped out of the Imperial Palace at night and killed two civil servants at random, just to prove he could do it. He still tried to keep in practice. — Dune: House Atreides
Fenring would later serve as Emperor Shaddam's chief counsellor. For this reason Fenring was frequently described as "the Emperor's errand boy" in Dune, as Shaddam often deployed Fenring to deal with the most troublesome issues within the Empire. Fenring was also, interestingly, known to have seduced both women and men to his own personal advantage, before meeting his Bene Gesserit wife, Lady Margot Fenring:
Emperor Elrood IX, aware of Hasimir Fenring's deadly skills, had made use of him in a number of clandestine operations, all of which had been successful ... Over the years, Fenring had murdered at least fifty men and a dozen women, some of whom had been his lovers, of either sex. — Dune: House Atreides
In Dune, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen described Fenring as "a killer with the manners of a rabbit ... the most dangerous kind." Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen had this impression of Fenring: "a small man, weak-looking. The face was weaselish with overlarge dark eyes. There was gray at the temples. And his movements — he moved a hand or turned his head one way, then he spoke another way. It was difficult to follow." In her work In My Father's House (referenced via an epigraph in Dune), Shaddam's daughter Princess Irulan later wrote of Fenring: "My father had only one real friend, I think. That was Count Hasimir Fenring ... one of the deadliest fighters in the Imperium." She went on to describe him as "a dapper and ugly little man." In Dune: House Atreides, the Imperial Concubines call Fenring "the Ferret" (and others see him that way as well) because of "his narrow face and pointed chin."
[edit] Prelude to Dune
Prior to the events of Dune: House Atreides, Fenring had murdered the Crown Prince Fafnir, older brother to Shaddam, to secure Shaddam's position as heir.
According to Appendix IV: The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected Excerpts of the Noble Houses) in Dune, "the frequently discredited Pirate History of Corrino related the curious story that Fenring was responsible for the chaumurky which disposed of Elrood IX." This was proven true in Dune: House Atreides, when Emperor Elrood IX died in the year 10,156 A.G., assassinated by a slow-acting poison administered by Fenring on orders from Shaddam himself. Shaddam subsequently gave Fenring the title of Imperial Spice Minister and ordered him to supervise Elrood's Project Amal. This project was an early attempt by the Tleilaxu to create synthetic melange in order to remove dependence upon the planet Arrakis, by that time the only source of melange in the Known Universe.
Although Tleilaxu Master Hidar Fen Ajidica managed to create an artificial melange (called ajidamal, or amal) that seemed to have the original's properties, it didn't work properly. During the events of Dune: House Corrino in 10,175 A.G., Fenring used two Spacing Guild heighliners to secretly test the synthetic melange. Disastrously, the first heighliner emerged from foldspace at the wrong point, struck the defensive shields of Wallach IX and plummeted into the atmosphere to its destruction. The flawed spice also disrupted and confused the thoughts, feelings and prescience of D'murr Pilru, the Navigator of the second heighliner. Affected by the tainted melange, D'murr misguided his ship out of the Known Universe and collapsed; with a fresh supply of real melange he was able to return the ship safely to Guild Headquarters before dying. All records of Project Amal were destroyed that year when House Vernius retook the planet Ix, and Shaddam later denied all knowledge of it.
When Shaddam started to act without Fenring's counsel due to jealousy, he began making grievous mishaps, namely: using atomic weapons and a biological plague, and threatening to destroy Arrakis ('Dune'). Eventually and with some reluctance, Shaddam again began following Fenring's advice.
The following quotes and excerpts of Fenring's writings are referenced via epigraphs in the Prelude to Dune novels:
-
- The worst sort of protection is confidence. The best defense is suspicion. (Dune: House Atreides)
- In plotting any course of revenge, one must savor the anticipation phase and all its moments, for the actual execution often differs widely from the original plan. — Dispatches from Arrakis (Dune: House Atreides)
- Only fools leave witnesses.(Dune: House Atreides)
- There are obvious pressures of working in an environment where one isn't likely to survive even the smallest mistake. — The Rewards of Risk, written in exile (Dune: House Corrino)
[edit] Dune
In the events of Dune, Fenring served as Governor of Arrakis during the handover period between House Harkonnen and House Atreides (he previously had been the Imperial Agent on Arrakis during the Harkonnen regime). Baron Harkonnen referred to Fenring as "Ambassador to the Smugglers", indicating Shaddam's interest in spice smuggling operations on Arrakis. Fenring was later the Siridar-Absentia of the Atreides homeworld of Caladan while the Atreides occupied Arrakis.
During a subsequent visit to the Harkonnen homeworld of Giedi Prime, Fenring's wife Margot, with his knowledge and following orders from the Bene Gesserit, seduced Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in order to retrieve his genetic material (through conception) for the Bene Gesserit breeding program. Fenring seemed complicit in the Bene Gesserit scheme, saying "I can see now why we must have that bloodline."
In Count Fenring: A Profile (referenced via epigraph in Dune), Princess Irulan wrote of Fenring's relationship with her father, Shaddam IV:
No woman, no man, no child ever was deeply intimate with my father. The closest anyone ever came to casual camaraderie with the Padishah Emperor was the relationship offered by Count Hasimir Fenring, a companion from childhood. The measure of Count Fenring's friendship may be seen first in a positive thing: he allayed the Landsraad's suspicions after the Arrakis Affair. It cost more than a billion solaris in spice bribes, so my mother said, and there were other gifts as well: slave women, royal honors, and tokens of rank. The second major evidence of the Count's friendship was negative. He refused to kill a man even though it was within his capabilities and my father commanded it. I will relate this presently.
When Shaddam was forced into a corner by Paul Atreides in Dune, he and his Truthsayer, the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Mohiam realized "they had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery." Fenring was summoned. Shaddam ordered him to kill Paul, but Fenring refused his Emperor's wishes for the only known time: "The Count focused on Paul, seeing with eyes his Lady Margot had trained in the Bene Gesserit way, aware of the mystery and hidden grandeur about this Atreides youth."
After the so-called "Arrakis Affair" in which Paul ascended the Imperial throne, Fenring joined Shaddam in his forced retirement on Salusa Secundus.
According to Appendix IV: The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected Excerpts of the Noble Houses) in Dune, Fenring died in 10,225 A.G.
[edit] Fenring in adaptations
Both Fenring and his wife Margot were omitted from David Lynch's 1984 Dune. However, Hasimir played a minor part in the 2000 Frank Herbert's Dune miniseries, where he was was portrayed by Miroslav Táborský. Additionally, some of Margot's actions and dialogue were attributed to Princess Irulan (essentially the Fenrings' visit to Giedi Prime) as part of Director John Harrison's expansion of Irulan's role.
