Why Tolkien Hated Dune

Good vs. Evil in storytelling

J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t offer many harsh opinions about his contemporaries. But in an unsent letter, he made an exception — writing that he disliked Frank Herbert’s Dune “with some intensity.”

On the surface, it’s a puzzling statement. Dune is a sweeping myth of prophecy and power, a richly built world with its own languages, genealogies, and histories. In many regards, it’s a natural cousin of The Lord of the Rings — a saga of destiny and leadership set against the fall of civilizations.

Tolkien didn’t explain his intense dislike, but it’s clear that Dune represented something else entirely. It proposed a vision of morality that felt dangerous — a world in which might makes right, and moral clarity is sacrificed for pragmatic ends.

And this vision couldn’t be any more at odds with that of Tolkien’s masterpiece…