Editing Count Fenring (section)

===''Prelude to Dune'' series===
The ''Prelude to Dune'' prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson establishes that Fenring's mother is Chaola, a Bene Gesserit and lady-in-waiting to [[Habla Corrino|Habla]], the fourth wife of Shaddam's father Elrood IX, and served as [[wet nurse]] to both her son and Shaddam. Though Fenring is a failure in the Bene Gesserit breeding program to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, he is a supremely intelligent and perceptive killer. It is noted in ''[[Dune: House Atreides]]'', "Over the years, Fenring had murdered at least fifty men and a dozen women, some of whom had been his lovers, of either sex." One of these was Shaddam's older brother [[Fafnir Corrino|Fafnir]], killed to secure Shaddam's position as heir. In the novel, the Imperial [[concubinage|concubines]] call Fenring "the Ferret" because of "his narrow face and pointed chin."

In ''Dune: House Atreides'', Fenring assassinates Shaddam's father, Elrood IX, using a slow-acting poison administered on orders from Shaddam himself. Shaddam subsequently gives Fenring the title of Imperial Spice Minister and orders him to supervise Elrood's [[Project Amal]], an early attempt by the [[Bene Tleilax|Tleilaxu]] to create synthetic [[Melange (fictional drug)|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 [[Ajidica|Hidar Fen Ajidica]] manages to create an artificial melange (called ''[[ajidamal]]'', or ''amal'') that seems to have the original's properties, it does not work properly. During the events of ''[[Dune: House Corrino]]'', Fenring uses two [[Spacing Guild]] [[heighliner]]s to secretly test the synthetic melange. Disastrously, the first heighliner emerges from [[Holtzman effect|foldspace]] at the wrong point, strikes the defensive shields of [[Wallach IX]] and plummets into the atmosphere to its destruction. The flawed spice also disrupts and confuses the thoughts, feelings and prescience of [[D'murr Pilru]], the [[Guild Navigator|Navigator]] of the second heighliner. Affected by the tainted melange, D'murr misguides his ship out of the Known Universe and collapses; with a fresh supply of real melange he is able to return the ship safely to Guild Headquarters before dying. All records and laboratories of Project Amal are destroyed by Fenring himself afterward when [[House Vernius]] retakes the planet [[Ix (Dune)|Ix]], and Shaddam later denies all knowledge of it. When Shaddam starts to act without Fenring's counsel due to jealousy, he begins making grievous mishaps, in particular  using [[Atomics (Dune)|atomic weapons]] and a biological plague, and threatening to destroy Arrakis. Eventually and with some reluctance, Shaddam again begins following Fenring's advice.