Farad'n Corrino

Farad'n Corrino is a fictional character in the "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert, featured in "Children of Dune". He is played by Jonathan Brüün in the 2003 miniseries "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune".

"Children of Dune"

Farad'n's mother is Princess Wensicia Corrino, the third daughter to the former Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV; his father was Count Dalak Kenola — apparently a relative of Count Hasimir Fenring — who was killed in a suspicious ornithopter accident in 10,204 when Farad'n was four years old.

Unlike his mother and most of the other members of the Imperial House Corrino before him, Farad'n prefers history and books to the idea of becoming an Emperor, making him very much like his aunt, Princess Irulan.

Farad'n is aware of his mother Wensicia's plan to assassinate Leto Atreides II and Ghanima Atreides using two trained and mechanically-controlled Laza tigers. The tigers are later killed by Leto and Ghanima, and Leto uses the opportunity to escape from his aunt Alia Atreides (who has been co-opted by the ancestral memory-persona of her malevolent grandfather, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen) by faking his own death. Ghanima uses self-hypnosis to actually believe Leto was killed to avoid discovery by Bene Gesserit Truthsayers. She promptly vows to kill Farad'n, believing that he had masterminded the death of her brother.

In the meantime, Duncan Idaho and Lady Jessica are delivered to Wensicia on Salusa Secundus at the request of the mysterious Preacher, where Jessica teaches Farad'n the Bene Gesserit prana-bindu training, just as she and Irulan taught her grandchildren. In the end, Jessica succeeds in making him the second male Bene Gesserit in history (after her son, Paul Atreides), which also causes a rift between Farad'n and his mother. Wensicia is later banished, and Farad'n assumes the powers of the Imperial House Corrino.

Alia tries to use Ghanima's vow of kanly to kill Farad'n, by arranging for a false marriage between the two when she knows that he will be killed by his would-be wife. Farad'n is saved by the reappearance of Leto II, clad in his new sandtrout skin, who drives Alia to suicide. Upon his ascension to power, Leto II commands Farad'n to take Ghanima as his wife in a marriage, appoints Farad'n to be Royal Scribe and renames him 'Harq al'Ada', or the 'breaker of habit'. Farad'n also relinquishes his control of the Sardaukar to Leto, effectively surrendering House Corrino's claim to the Imperial throne.

As Leto's joining with the sandworm effectively renders him sterile, the marriage of Ghanima and Farad'n ensures the continuation of the Atreides line, the blood line Leto would manipulate as God Emperor over the next three and a half millennia.

The non-canon "Dune Encyclopedia" invents an extended biography for Ghanima which states that she and Farad'n had 10 children, named Trebor, Lliwis, Regor, Tismenus, Boris, Eleanor, Helene, Elaine, Jeunne and Noree.

In "Children of Dune", many of the chapter epigraphs are from the later writings of Farad'n (as Harq al'Ada) in his role as Royal Scribe, chronicler of the reign of Leto II.

Possible etymology of the name

The meaning of the name "Farad'n" is not mentioned in Herbert's works, however this passage from the prayer of Zakariya in the Qur'an may be noted:

:21:89, he prayed "laa tadhar – ne fard(an)" ("leave me not without offspring;" the word "farad" means "alone, by itself, solitary"). — Qur'an: Surah Mariam, Chapter 21, Verse 089. [ [http://www.jesussonofjohn.com/Quran/Qrn019_001_015.html Translation and analysis of the Qur'an: Surah Mariam, Chapter 19, Verses 001-015 - JesusofJohn.com] ]

References