Why I Wouldn’t Abandon Tolkien’s "The Lord of the Rings" for "Dune"

A brief Catholic review and reflection

Dune’s stunning visuals, engaging narrative and intriguing characters have the power to draw you in, inviting you to bask in the ravishing glory of its fallen world.

Many people even say that this is Tolkien’s most formidable rival of our time, and they can be right. Dune is enticing, seductive and alluring. And this is all the more reason why we should be worried about its influence on our time.

The journey of Paul in the story is very similar to the overall theme of the movie.

He starts with all the right intentions, meets the love of his life and intends to protect her. Somewhere along the way, however, the spice becomes more and more intoxicating. It sends him visions that trigger his anxieties. It entices him to see futures no one else could see. In the end, he strives for power and allows it to take hold of his heart, abandoning the very person he wanted to save from all harm.

Why is it so hard to resist the lure of power?

In many stories that we watch, we see heroes falling one after the other as power corrupts their very souls.

Here, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings has succeeded where many others have failed. Here, the hero is not the one prophesied to be the strongest, but the smallest and weakest, the one that nobody would ever consider as a threat. Frodo Baggins battled what many heroes have failed to overcome, the temptation to become the greatest in the guise of being the savior of the people.

And that is why, despite all the amazing things that I was able to see in Dune, I would never abandon my faith in The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien was great not only because he was superb in world-building or character development.

The greatest gift of Tolkien was his expansive Catholic vision.

He had the eyes to see beyond the hopelessness and corruption dominating our world. Despite the horrors he witnessed during the war, he never lost hope. And with the light of this hope, he told a story that invites people to see his ethereal visions.

Tolkien preached religion without even mentioning it in his stories.

Unlike Dune where word about the Messiah had been mentioned over and over again, Tolkien had no need of doing so. He simply wrote with the faith that believes in a Savior, and this faith has seeped into his works, allowing his characters to shine with light amidst the darkness they were in.

As Catholic writers, we must also let the light of our faith guide the works that we do.

Let us not be preoccupied only with writing elegantly and knowing all the technicalities that would make our books great.

Our first and foremost responsibility is to protect our faith in God. It is by protecting our relationship with Him that we can write with wisdom, beauty and truth.

The world awaits your light.

Delay not what God can do through you. And in times when you doubt your gift, doubt not the Giver. It is through Him that we can accomplish anything without losing our souls.

“Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”
- The Lord of the Rings

“Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your weakness.” - Mother Teresa

“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” - John 15:4-5 (NRSVCE)

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