Who Are The House Corrin, The Largest Imperial House In Dune

The history of Dune dates back to 10,191 AD. At that time, the Empire’s leader was Shaddam IV of House Corrino, the eighty-first Padishah emperor of his dynasty.

House Corrinto is the House that has ruled Dune since the Battle of Corrin. This House is part of the Great House. Which is the largest and deadliest that Universe has ever known.

The official residence of the House Corrino is on the planet Kaitain. Being his fief, the ancestral planet Salusa Secundus. We will talk about who are the members of this ancestral House.

The Battle of Corrin

Emperor Shaddam IV (José Ferrer, at left) confronts a Guild Navigator early in David Lynch’s 1984 version of Dune.(Movieclips/via YouTube)

The Battle of Corrin is one of the most important events in the fictional Universe created by Frank Herbert for Dune. According to the author, it is the “Space battle from which the Imperial House of Corrin took its name”.

This battle was fought in the vicinity of Sigma Draconis in the year 88 B.G. There, the rise to power of the reigning House in Salusa Secundus was determined. The actors involved were the machines, or what is the same, the beings of artificial intelligence and the humans.

But, to understand the magnitude of this battle, it is necessary to know that it happened thousands of years ago. Humanity was booming, expanding into deep space, dedicating itself to machines, believing that these would set them free.

But little by little, human beings were entering a kind of indolence. Leaving in the hands of this technological advance would be ordinary tasks. So, in the end, they only got other humans to use those same thinking machines to enslave them. 

Thus, when the machines reached the peak of their evolution, they began to take control of the different inhabited worlds, managing to subject humanity to their yoke.

The humans still at liberty united to overthrow the self-proclaimed God of mechanical logic. This became known as the Great Revolution or Butlerian Jihad.

Thus, when the machines were overthrown at the Battle of Corrin, the technological, socio-political, and religious concept that humanity had spread throughout the Known Universe was completely changed.

The New Empire of the House Corrino

Thus, a new empire arose which would condemn any kind of artificial intelligence at all costs. After some time, in the following centuries, new religious currents appeared that promulgated texts against thinking machines and the government established new organizations that sought the mental development of humans.

The obsolescence or absence of thinking machines was sought to be substituted. The premise promulgated was that a new concept, where man could not be replaced, come what may.

Out of this battle, several organizations were created that predominated over the centuries in the history of Dune. One of them was the Bene Gesserit, a semi-mystical school of mental training composed solely of women.

This school sought through genetic selection, scientific development, political influence and religious discourse to work for millennia to lead humanity on a path to the common good according to its own purposes. 

This program sought through genetic selection to culminate in creating a human that could reproduce the capabilities of a computer. This human was called the Kwizatz Haderach.

The other school was the Mentat order, a school of mental training. In this discipline, they seek to train imperial citizens to reach the highest heights of logic.

Those who converge here have extraordinary mathematical skills, great memory capacity, a very high cognitive perception, and a use of logic that allows them to perform important tactics and strategies. Because of these abilities, the Mentat are hired by different houses of the Known Universe as advisors in the economic, political, and military areas. 

Also, the Space Brotherhood emerged, in charge of interstellar travel. They grant their clients a safe transportation network where they can travel or carry their goods.

The House Corrino Imperial House

Image: Universal Pictures

The Imperial House Corrino was formed after the Battle of Corrin. And its main mission was to capture the governorship of the new Empire. Control that it managed to maintain during later millennia.

For its operation, the Corrino House established an absolute rule and placed one of its members in the Throne of the Golden Lion. Likewise, House Corrino maintained a large vote in the Landsraad Council, much larger than any other house.

As long as House Corrino maintained its imperial dominance, it had the most powerful Universe army, the Sardaukar. They also developed very effective military strategies, with superior skills crushing any military opposition.

Such was the dominance of House Corrino that the only way the Sardaukar could be defeated was if the great Houses of Landsraad combined their forces.

With the Corrino family, no problems outside of Arrakis became known. They maintained their imperial rule at all costs, being able to crush any military opposition. To do this, they could stab anyone in the back and use treacherous tactics to stay in power.

They did this without being directly involved. A clear example is when House Corrino supplied Sardaukar to the Harkonnen family to overthrow the power of House Atreides.

Corruption, the Reason for the Fall of the Empire

Image: Universal Pictures

The Corrino empire fell due to the corruption, inactivity and complacency of the Sardaukar. This added to the bad decisions of Shaddam Corrino IV and the intrigue of Bene Gessen. Who saw other houses as successors to power, especially House Atreides, with significant respect and credibility in the Empire.

Therefore, the Imperial House Corrino, trying to discredit the House Atreides to retain their hegemony, make a plan. Their Emperor, Shaddam Corrino IV, headed this, and they proposed to the House Atreides to take over the planetary fief of Arrakis.

But, he sought to eliminate that family and all their offspring through his House steal Harkonnen. To do so, a bold and illegal invasion of that planet was planned. What at first seemed infallible ended up being a failure.

House Harkonnen achieved their goal, killing Duke Leto Atreides I, and his family was exiled in the deep desert. They did not count on the mysterious Muad’Dib leading the native Fremen. Thus the House Corrino and House Harkonnen were surprised.

The Marriage of Paul Atreides and Princess Irulan Corrino

All this, the Battle of Arrakeen and the Revolt of Arrakis ended with House Corrino declining the Golden Lion Throne. After thousands of years of government, the House Atreides succeeded them, legitimized by the marriage of Paul Atreides and Princess Irulan Corrino, eldest daughter of Shaddam.

Thus, both Shaddam Corrino IV and the other members of his family were exiled to the harsh planet Salusa Secundus. However, there the youngest daughter of Shaddam Corrino IV, Wensicia Corrino, planned the resurgence of her House.

But, nothing could be further from the truth; the Atreides thwarted all of Wensicia’s plans. The crown princess Ghanima Atreides became the concubine of Prince Farad’n Corrino, being their descendants mixed with the Atreides.

The Sardaukar

The Corrino Imperial House had its own military force; they were called the Sardaukar. They were a legion of elite soldiers trained in fanaticism. They had great combat skills.

These made them almost invincible, finding few rivals in the Empire. To them, it is owed that the Imperial house Corrino has maintained its great pillars of if dynasty. Being feared in almost any corner of the inhabited world.

Who commanded this force was Shaddam during the Empire of the Corrinos. This name, Sardaukar, was very feared by his rivals, highlighting in them his cruelty and fierceness when it was time to achieve the desired objectives.

If there was something that the soldiers belonging to these forces had, it was the well-earned respect of the other members of the Universe. This was not in vain; their great combat skills gave them the reason.

Those who belonged to the Sardaukar were soldiers with an almost suicidal disregard for their safety. What made them forge an empire for more than 10,000 years? These warriors have the same time as their successors, the Fremen.

Both were warrior peoples forged during a religious fervour and a time when revolution prevailed. The Sardaukar had more than an army; they had a warrior religion, which allowed them to rise and stay in power.

The House Corrino Commanding the Confines of the Universe

Thus they managed to have enough strength to dominate and command the ends of the Universe. In fact, the current social and political order that prevails is thanks to the Sardaukar. Bodies capable of preserving the ideals forged by force, are called the Sardaukar Legions.

But how did the Sardaukar originate? To see how this force was forged, it is indispensable to go back to the time of the great Butlerian Jihad. At that time, humans explored the Universe with archaic vehicles in the pre-Star Corporation.

So, by chance, a group of colonists stumbled upon the harsh planet known as Salusa Secundus. The climate was extreme, with long droughts and then heavy rains in short periods.

This meant that the colonists had to adapt to survive amidst the wildlife. Two terrific species prevailed, such as the Laza Tiger and the Salusan Bull. All this situation forced the colonists to organize themselves into clans and populate this planet.

These clans were dominated by a warrior religion, which produced a whole population full of rage and fearlessness. They knew how to survive in extreme conditions and eventually became very powerful.

The Form of Government Became Necessary

They thus forged their own army, with soldiers with unique skills and ruthlessness, calling themselves the Sardaukar. As the population grew, a form of government became necessary, where the ideals of the warriors would prevail.

Thus, a rigid power structure was erected sustained by hereditary families or clans. These clans were united under a single leader, one who would guide them to supremacy in the far reaches of the Universe.

Their goal was to assert themselves as a people in the Universe. To this end, they joined forces in a war against the other planets of mankind. But it was not until the Battle of Corrin that they established themselves in power and found the Imperial House Corrino.

Sardaukar Weaponry

What weaponry did the Sardaukar carry? This evil and the feared army had great martial skills as deadly. Soldiers are trained to kill, often hiding a Shiga thread in their hair to strangle an unsuspecting enemy. The Sardaukar used:

• Laser weapons, they were employed in the Arrakis Revolt.
• Infantry with suspensory terminals, used in the same revolt.
• Hand-to-hand combat.
• Expert swordsmen.
• Expert in shielded combat, using long swords and kindjals.

Emperor Padishah

The “Padishah Emperor” is a title that was forged over generations. It was credited to the ancient Empire and the Known Universe. The term Emperor Padishah goes back to the Persian language, and means “Master Shah”. They were known as “Emperors of the Known Universe”.

Therefore, in the beginning, in the Known Universe and the ancient Empires, the Padishah Emperors were the emperors themselves. But actually, it was the Corrin after the Corrin battle who predominated.

Upon the fall of the Thinking Machines at the Battle of Corrin, the first emperor was given the name Corrino. This was in honor of the battle and the new humanity that was rising.

After a fatal nuclear accident on Salusa Secundus, the Corrino family was forced to move their court to the planet Kaitain, specifically, to the city of Korrinth. There they ruled.

The last Padishah Emperor was Shaddam Corrino IV, who was defeated after losing the Battle of Arrakeen, proclaiming himself as the new Emperor, Paul Atreides. Thus, the Atreides Dynasty was born in the Throne of the Golden Lion.

This new Emperor moved the capital to Arrakeen, the planetary capital of Arrakis, or what is the same of Dune.

Shaddam Corrino IV

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

As indicated, Shaddam Corrino IV was the eighty-first Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe before his successor Paul Atreides I. His physical appearance was that of a handsome, tall white man, very elegant. His hair was red, his face thin and his eyes cold.

Shaddam was born in the Imperial Palace in Kaitain. He was the son of Elrood IX, the 80th Padishah Emperor. As a child, he was raised as the heir to the Imperial Throne of the Golden Lion. At that time, he befriended his maternal cousin, Count Hasimir Fenring, who became his closest friend.

By the year 10156 AG, Shaddam was his father’s successor. He thus became the 81st Padishah Emperor and head of the Imperial House Corrino. After Elrood IX succumbed to the chaumurky.

One story, which the Corrinos have discredited, is that Count Fenring was responsible for the poisoning of Elrood. This gave way to the current Shaddam Corrino IV.

This Emperor married Anirul, a Bene Gesserit of unknown rank. Of this union, five daughters were born, as they were:

• Irulan Corrino, is the eldest daughter of the Corrino family, She is the Imperial Crown Princess, and apparently the heir to the Throne of the Galactic Imperial Golden Lion Padishah.
• Chalice Corrino, is the second daughter of Shaddan and Anirul. She died unexpectedly in Kaitain or Salusa Secundus.
• Wensicia Corrino, is the third daughter of the Corrino family. She is the former sovereign co-regent of the Imperial House Corrino.
• Josifa Corrino, is the fourth daughter of Shaddam and Anirul. She is the Bene Gesserit Truthsayer of Landsraad.
• Rugi Corrino, the fifth daughter, is the youngest daughter of the Corrino family. She is the last princess of the Imperial House Corrino.

The Corrino, the House of the Golden Lion Throne

Image: Universal Pictures

Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune, is coming out in a feature film again, with the same name. So we will see these great houses in action, with betrayals, passions and intrigues.

For this November 3, 20023, director and screenwriter Denis Villeneuve, is expected to release the second part of this plot. Which will feature a luxury cast, highlighting, among many other actors Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista.

Fans are waiting for everything new in this film. Especially because of its controversial characters, so it is not surprising that the plot is a tangled mess to keep viewers in suspense.

Featured Image Via Warner Bros. Pictures / Universal Pictures