Recently, I’ve finished the finale of the anime Attack on Titan and the novel God Emperor of Dune. Though they are both vastly different stories, they do have a commonality: a man who becomes a monster in order to save humanity (or a portion of humanity).
In Attack on Titan, 19-year-old Eren Yeager becomes a colossal monster, a titan, in order to protect his homeland. He is a citizen of the isolated island known as Paradis. Eren, like all of his people, has the capability of becoming a titan under the right circumstances. This trait is why the rest of the globe are afraid of Eren and his people and want to wipe them out, so that there will be no more titans. In order to prevent this, Eren triggers what is known as The Rumbling. This unleashes a massive army of colossal titans upon the globe. Eren and his army wipe out 80% of the world’s population before he is stopped and killed by his friends.
Eren orchestrated this event, so that his people would have the time they needed to develop defenses for themselves, in order to fight against the world when they should unite and attack Paradis. Eren’s strategy was a success, and Paradis thrived for thousands of years. But sadly, they did eventually come to an end under a barrage of missiles, for the cycle of war is never-ending.
In Frank Herbert’s fourth Dune novel, God Emperor of Dune, the galactic emperor Leto Atreides II is no longer human. He once was, but now he has become something else. He is metamorphosing into a worm. His brain is no longer solely contained in his head, his limbs have become flippers, and his genitals have disappeared. He no longer has the capability of being intimate with humanity, yet, it is his quest to save it.
He has immense powers that allow him to see into the future. Using this capability, Leto has taken drastic steps to save humanity from extinction. Not only has he sacrificed his body, but he has used his power to become a suppressive dictator. For 3,509 years, he has trapped humanity on their perspective planets, prohibiting space travel. Using his military and religion, Leto has created a perceived paradise for humanity, yet this is not the paradise which they want. Secretly, rebels plot assassinations and others create secret machines to try and hide themselves from Leto’s powers. This pleases Leto. He himself revealed to one of his subjects that he is a “predator.” Leto wants his prey to adapt, to be strong enough to defeat him, so that they may have the tools to stand against anything else that they should face, and so that they should spread far enough across the galaxy, that no power like Leto may be able to control them again.
In both Dune and Attack on Titan, both Leto and Eren constructed drastic ways in order to protect humanity. Their ethics for sure can be questioned, but in their eyes, their actions, though drastic and terrible, were justified.
It may take a monster to save humanity in its current form, but it’ll take a God to redeem it. Humanity, at the moment, is fallen. The human world is a one of brokeness, sin, thievery, debauchery, murder, rape, and war. It’s a wonder that humankind hasn’t wiped itself out already. To save this form of humanity from extinction, or from ourselves, it may take a monster with a drastic plan. However, to truly save humanity, it will take a God.
Humanity itself wasn’t always fallen. When God created mankind, He made them without sin; however, mankind disobeyed God and tainted the world with sin, creating the world which we live in today. A drastic plan was then conceived to save humanity, but it didn’t involve titans or worms. The key to salvation can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Son of God left the paradise of Heaven in order to become one of us. He became fully man, embracing mankind in their brokenness. He took on a body that could sweat, defecate, and feel pain. Jesus even embraced death. He sacrificed himself to be crucified on a cross. Yet, three days later, he resurrected from the grave, for death could not hold him. Jesus did all of this, so that whoever believes in him and are washed in his blood, can be redeemed, and one day, live with him in paradise.
So, which do you prefer? A cruel monster to save fallen humanity from extinction? Or a benevolent God who can redeem it?
~Photos Obtained
Forging Our Stories 
Both these stories make me think of Elon Musk trying to save human civilization through technology advancement. It is a hopeless endeavor, and begs the question: Is humanity _worth_ saving? In light of current events, that question is not just cynical rhetoric. The good news is that God thinks we’re worth saving—though not because of our own merits—so much so that he took the punishment that we deserve in order to rescue us!