The Forest Haven Episode: How Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s Hautdesert Shaped The Lord of the Rings’ Caras Galadhon

Abstract

J. R. R. Tolkien’s long professional involvement with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1400) was at its peak during the writing of The Lord of the Rings (composed between 1937-1949, revised until c. 1954 and published during 1954-1955). Taking the previous fact further, this interdisciplinary paper aims to employ the principles for a meticulous study of Tolkien’s sources (Fisher) in conjunction with ecocriticism (Buell, Cohen, Garrard, Morton, Nichols, Palti, Ralph, Reynolds, Rudd, Simonson, Twomey and Woods) to explore how SGGK influenced LotR. In particular, the journey through the wilderness and the sojourn in the haven of Sir Bertilak’s castle/Hautdesert inside a forest seem to have been borrowed by Tolkien to later incorporate them in the form of the stopover in Caras Galadhon, Lothlórien. The close reading of those passages reveals striking similitudes that cannot be explained unless SGGK is the main source. In both cases, due to the looming natural threats, the narrative justifies Gawain’s and the Fellowship’s wish to find a refuge, which is correspondingly provided by a walled and seemingly protective space. Despite the apparent safety, the protagonists cannot avoid the perilous moral test they will undergo. The most remarkable parallels are those between Gawain and Boromir of Gondor, both of whom fail the trial yet are later revered for their insignificantly stained ethics. The critical lens of ecocriticism becomes key to unearth and analyze the borrowed material and to recover the relevant and central role of the forest in both episodes.