Padishah Emperor

The Padishah Emperor is a title that features in Dune.

History

The Padishah Emperor was the ruler of the Imperium that encompassed the entire universe known to mankind. While the Emperor is supreme sovereign ruler of the universe, power is shared, in a quasi-feudal arrangement, with the noble houses of the Landsraad and with the Spacing Guild, which possesses a monopoly over interstellar travel.[2] Members of House Corrino sit on the Golden Lion throne as Padishah Emperors from the time of the ancient Battle of Corrin until the events of Dune some 10,000 years later.[3][4] Dune establishes that Salusa Secundus had been the homeworld of House Corrino, and at some point the Imperial Court had moved to the planet Kaitain.[3][5]

The 81st Padishah Emperor is Shaddam Corrino IV, successor to Elrood IX; all that is noted of Elrood in Dune is that he had died by chaumurky (poison)[6] and that Shaddam's close friend Count Hasimir Fenring was rumored to have been responsible.[7] During the events of Dune, Shaddam himself is deposed by Duke Paul Atreides in 10,193 A.G. (After Guild)[4] after Paul seizes control of the desert planet Arrakis, only source of the vitally all-important spice melange.[8] Though Paul subsequently rules as Emperor, the term "Padishah" is dropped, and the Imperium as it has previously been known essentially ceases to exist since absolute control of the spice gives Paul unprecedented power over the Landsraad, Spacing Guild and all other factions.

Paul's apparent death 13 years later puts his sister Alia in place as Imperial Regent for his children, Leto II and Ghanima.[9] Young Leto ascends the throne in 1976's Children of Dune, becoming a human-sandworm hybrid to achieve superhuman physical abilities and longevity.[10] Leto rules as God Emperor for over 3,500 years; his assassination in God Emperor of Dune (1981) effectively abolishes the Imperial throne.[11] An early Emperor named Shaddam I is mentioned in the glossary of the novel Dune,[12] and another called Shakkad the Wise is noted in Children of Dune.[13] It is alluded to in the Legends of Dune prequel series by Frank Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson that Shakkad was in fact an Emperor of the Boro family, which ruled centuries before the Time of Titans, the rule of the computer evermind Omnius, and the Butlerian Jihad, all of which were described in the Herbert-Anderson series. The non-canon Dune Encyclopedia (1984) by Willis E. McNelly invents an extensive, alternate chronology of Padishah Emperors.[14] In The Dune Encyclopedia, the first Emperor is listed as Sheuset I Costin, a noble of the House of Ecevit who seized power by defeating the Landsraad's military. Sheuset founded the Corrino line, a branch of which is in power at the time of Dune. The Encyclopedia lists far more than the 81 Padishahs alluded to in the original, canon series; rather, the 81 emperors mentioned are merely the direct ancestors of Elrood IX and Shaddam IV. Furthermore, not all Emperors are listed as Padishahs. This designation seems to have first been bestowed on a line described as the House of Hajus Corrino. As an additional note, families including the Atreides are listed as having fairly brief reigns, as are Sardaukar usurper-Emperors and republican interregnums stemming from revolutions and dynastic struggles.

Members

• Faykan Corrino I :
• Jules :
• Salvador I :
• Hassik Corrino III :
• Idriss Corrino I :
• Raphael Corrino :
• Vutier Corrino II :
• Fondil Corrino III :
• Elrood Corrino IX :
• Shaddam Corrino IV :

Appearances

• Dune:

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