In Dune, Count Fenring had been the Governor of Arrakis during the handover period between House Harkonnen and House Atreides. Margot leaves behind a note for her Bene Gesserit sister Lady Jessica, concubine to Duke Leto Atreides, in the palace on Arrakis: Jessica's own training alerts her to the true nature of Margot's message: Unfortunately, Margot's warning is not enough to stop the Harkonnen plot against the Atreides. Duke Leto is killed, and Jessica and her son Paul are forced to flee into the desert of Arrakis. Later in the events of Dune, Margot is sent by the Bene Gesserit to seduce Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and to "preserve the bloodline" by retrieving his genetic material for their breeding program. She also intends to "plant deep in his deepest self the necessary prana-bindu phrases to bend him," which she later refers to as the "Hypno-:wikt:ligation|ligation of that Feyd-Rautha's psyche." As she and her husband discuss what a shame it is that Paul Atreides is dead, Margot prophetically recounts a Bene Gesserit saying: "Do not count a human dead until you've seen his body. And even then you can make a mistake." Near the end of the novel, it is made clear that Margot has shared some of her training with her husband: "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." Hasimir subsequently refuses Emperor Shaddam IV's command that he kill Paul. Soon after, as Reverend Mother Mohiam watches Paul and Feyd-Rautha duel to the death, she comments on the existence of Margot's child by Feyd: "If both died here that would leave only Feyd-Rautha's bastard daughter, still a baby, an unknown, an unmeasured factor, and Alia." Margot has planted a command in Feyd-Rautha's mind through which Paul can paralyze him and thus win the duel easily, but Paul is able to win without using it. Seizing control of Arrakis, Paul deposes Shaddam, who is exiled to Salusa Secundus; Count Fenring willingly joins the former Emperor.
''Prelude to Dune''
Margot is a major character in the Prelude to Duneprequeltrilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
''Dune: House Atreides''
During the events of , unmarried Margot Rashino-Zea is hand-selected by Bene Gesserit Kwisatz MotherAnirul to infiltrate the household of Abulurd Harkonnen on Lankiveil. One of the Bene Gesserit's best commandos, she knows sixty-three ways to kill a human using nothing but her fingers, and has also been trained in the ways of spying and ferreting out information, flash-memorization techniques and connecting mismatched tidbits of data to construct a broader picture. The Sisterhood hopes to find incriminating evidence, perhaps hidden there by the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, that they can use to coerce the Baron into participating in their breeding program. Margot soon discovers that the Harkonnens have been grossly underreporting melange production to CHOAM and the Padishah EmperorElrood IX, and are stockpiling it for their own purposes. Margot and her future husband Count Fenring later convince Emperor Shaddam IV to marry Revered Mother Anirul by explaining the benefits of an alliance with the Bene Gesserit. Through this arrangement the Sisterhood seek influence over the Imperial throne by ensuring that Shaddam will never have a son.
''Dune: House Harkonnen''
In , Margot seeks out the Fremen on Arrakis in search of a group of Bene Gesserit sisters working on the Missionaria Protectiva, including the Reverend Mother Ramallo, who had previously disappeared. The manual from a Fremen desert survival pack called a fremkit, similar to the Bene Gesserit Azhar Book but "adapted to Fremen ways", indicates to Margot that the Bene Gesserit have integrated themselves into Fremen society and implanted the myths of the Missionaria Protectiva into Fremen culture.
Further works
''Sandworms of Dune''
In Sandworms of Dune, the second of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's two-part finale to the original Dune series, a ghola of Paul Atreides is created over 5,000 years after the original's death. Once his memories are restored, Paul recalls that after his ascension to the Imperial throne he "had not been able to escape political struggles, assassination attempts, the exiled Emperor Shaddam's bid for power and the pretender daughter of Feyd-Rautha and Lady Fenring..."
''Paul of Dune''
Hasimir and Margot are raising Feyd and Margot's daughter—whom they have named Marie—as their own in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novel Paul of Dune. Between the events of Dune and Dune Messiah, the Fenrings train their child as both an assassin and a Bene Gesserit, but reject the interference of the Sisterhood itself in favor of their own plans for Marie to seize the Imperial throne from Paul Atreides. Marie has Margot's blond hair and features, as well as Feyd's pale blue eyes. At age six, the Fenrings declare her ready. Marie is accepted into Paul's court as a playmate for his young sister Alia. At a banquet with her visiting parents, Marie and the Fenrings execute their well-planned assassination attempt on Paul. Alia manages to kill Marie, but Margot's revelation of her daughter's paternity surprises Paul enough to allow Hasimir to stab him mortally. Paul's concubine Chani uses the poisonous Water of Life to help save him, and he lives. Rather than kill the Fenrings, he banishes them to Salusa Secundus into permanent exile with Shaddam, whom they loathe.
In adaptations
Both Margot and her husband Hasimir are omitted from David Lynch's 1984Dune. However, Hasimir plays a minor part in the 2000 miniseriesFrank Herbert's Dune, and some of Margot's actions are attributed to Princess Irulan as part of Director John Harrison's expansion of Irulan's role in that adaptation. The character of Margot was to have an increased role in the film adaptation of Dune planned by Alejandro Jodorowsky in the 1970s.
