Sir Orfeo as the Source for the Medieval Romance Topoi of Abduction and Otherworld Rampant within The Hobbit’s Mirkwood

Abstract

In view of Jason Fisher’s (2011) principles for a rigorous study of J. R. R. Tolkien’s sources, this paper aims to demonstrate that the relationship between Sir Orfeo (c.1330) and The Hobbit (1937) is of influence and not of mere similarity. Firstly, by showing that twenty-one years (1915-36) of devotion passed since Tolkien encountered Sir Orfeo in Oxford, till the finished typescript of The Hobbit was sent to the publisher Allen & Unwin. Secondly, by taking earlier source studies further (Anderson, Atherton, Bowers, Hillman, Honegger, Lee, Rateliff, Shippey, Solopova and Wickham-Crowley) and unravelling how the themes of abduction and otherworld, as taken from Sir Orfeo, are incorporated into Mirkwood. This analysis reveals important details on the way Tolkien borrowed material to craft his stories. He exploited the consistencies and contradictions in older sources to weave new seamless tales that cloak their legacy and achieve a new authorial purpose at the same time. With a practical example, the study explores more broadly the important discoveries source criticism yields about the influence of previous literature on the creative process of writing.