The Grail, George Lucas, and The Da Vinci Code


       The participation of director Ron Howard in the release of the film The Da Vinci Code allows some remarkable observations to be made concerning recent developments in the Grail corpus. Aside from his work as a child actor, it was the opportunity offered by director George Lucas in his film American Graffiti that established Howard as a Hollywood presence, especially since his television career in Happy Days was made possible by the film’s success. Later, Lucas contributed to Howard’s success as a director when they collaborated on the film Willow.

       Lucas’ project immediately following Willow was the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that focused on an imaginary 20th century quest for the Holy Grail. In this story written by Lucas, the Grail is presented in a rather orthodox manner, since in keeping with Catholic teaching, the Grail is simply the cup of Jesus Christ; and it is at least remarkable that there is no trace of the influence of the 1980’s bestseller Holy Blood, Holy Grail that sparked renewed interest in the medieval legend. Still, like the bestseller, Lucas makes special reference to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival. Even though Wolfram’s formulation of the Grail as a stone is rejected in favor of the more perennial conception of the relic, Lucas preserves Wolfram’s notion of an order of Grail guardians. Wolfram calls them templars, in reference to the historic Order of the Templars, whereas Lucas newly christens them a “Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword.” Yet it is in his portrayal of this brotherhood with distinctively Arab characteristics that Lucas follows Wolfram’s precedent, insofar as Parzival is the Grail romance most clearly indebted to Islamic influences.

       This is not to say that Lucas does not graft his own ideas onto the Grail legend. Most significantly, he posits the existence of a “false Grail:” “As the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.” Such a notion is not really innovative; in truth, every symbol has two aspects, luminous and dark, and this must especially be so with a symbol as profound as the Grail. In the film, warnings against the “false Grail” are directed against those who regard the Grail materialistically, and it is for this reason that the Grail must be abandoned, at least physically, in the film’s climax. Still, warnings against a “false Grail” take on greater relevance in the context of Lucas’ almost certain awareness of the unorthodox claims of Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

       In the Grail legend, the mysterious relic is traditionally borne in procession by a woman. This is not extraordinary, since according to René Guénon, “a ‘chivalric’ tradition always requires the preponderance of a principle represented as feminine.”i   The film Willow concerns a chivalric quest, though not for the Grail; and in the story by Lucas, the “expected empress” represents such a principle. In the case of The Da Vinci Code, a story that propagates heretical notions concerning Jesus and the Grail, it is precisely the feminine that is used to bring into confusion so many aspects of the chivalric tradition, including aspects relating to the Order of the Templars. Since the Grail is both “chalice” and “book,” with the latter signifying tradition,ii  it is not surprising that what is offered by The Da Vinci Code should be nothing less than an alternative pseudo-tradition. If there is indeed basis to posit a false Grail in opposition to the true Grail, it should not be overlooked that the false Messiah is called Anti-Christ precisely because he parodies the reality of Jesus.

In the 17 years since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lucas has brought his signature creation Star Wars to fulfillment, and his warnings against a “false Grail” may yet be discerned in these most recent films of his maturity.  As has been explored in The Balance of Star Wars, the opposition of the luminous and dark aspects of symbolism is at the root of Lucas’ opposition of the Jedi Knights and Sith. Just as Lucas has his heroes abandon the physical Grail in his earlier film, there is no physical Grail introduced in Star Wars; nevertheless, his Jedi Knights are quite explicitly templars, and his reference to the “dagoba” of a temple may be compared to the Grail as relic. More importantly, just as Lucas has made special reference to the Egyptian Seth in his magnum opus Revenge of the Sith, it may be mentioned that it is precisely the Biblical redeemer Seth who recovers the Grail in Christian legend, and so the dark and luminous faces of Skywalker have a special relationship to the Grail. Above all, Lucas in his last film has a solution to a preoccupation of his Grail story, the real nature of immortality.iii
 
       To conclude these remarks, it should be noted that the theatrical release date for The Da Vinci Code was 19 May 2006,iv just as Revenge of the Sith was released on 19 May of the previous year. Aside from the significance of May as the “Month of Mary,” the number 19 has a very special relevance to the symbolism of the sacred book and the letters contained therein. In the Holy Qur’an, mention is made of 19 Wardens of Hellfire;v  and in the Traditions, the Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: “Whoever desires immunity from the 19 Wardens of Hellfire needs to recite the basmala.” The basmala may be translated as “In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Munificent,” and is composed in Arabic of precisely 19 letters; this sacred “code” begins every chapter in the Holy Qur’an save one. In relation to Lucas’ Grail story, the significance of this number may be compared to the line of dialogue delivered by “a messenger from God:” “for the unrighteous, the Cup of Life holds everlasting damnation.” More explicitly related to this code number, the climax of Revenge of the Sith is set upon a world of fire named Mustafar, in obvious reference to Muhammad Mustafa, the Messenger of God. The close relationship between symbolism’s beneficent and “infernal” possibilities may even explain why those responsible for bringing The Da Vinci Code to the screen should choose a release date to imitate Revenge of the Sith, and why Ron Howard, an actor from one of Lucas’ many stories focusing on the “way of youth,” was chosen to be its director.