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"If The Lord of the Rings is about the rise of fascism and the trauma of the second world war,"

Incorrect on both counts. LoTR has nothing to do with fascism and if there's any trauma that influences the work, it's from the First World War not the second.

"As for any inner meaning or 'message', it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical. As the story grew it put down roots (into the past) and threw out unexpected branches: but its main theme was settled from the outset by the inevitable choice of the Ring as the link between it and The Hobbit. The crucial chapter, "The Shadow of the Past', is one of the oldest parts of the tale. It was written long before the foreshadow of 1939 had yet become a threat of inevitable disaster, and from that point the story would have developed along essentially the same lines, if that disaster had been averted. Its sources are things long before in mind, or in some cases already written, and little or nothing in it was modified by the war that began in 1939 or its sequels."

   - Foreword : Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)
> It has sold millions of copies, is perhaps the greatest novel in the science-fiction canon and Star Wars wouldn’t have existed without it.

I genuinely believe the Hyperion saga (Dan Simmons) has produced greater novels than Dune. Also, I don’t think implying an Hollywood movie series wouldn’t have existed if not for Dune is a sharp argument to praise how influent it is.

It's a shame that the third book is so unrepentantly a young adult novel, by comparison to the much more mature first two books.