A Study of the Hithlain of the Wood-elves of Lorien

"A Study of the Hithlain of the Wood-elves of Lórien" is a work of fanfiction formatted to look like a research paper. It was published in August 1960 in the Tolkien fanzine I Palantir where, along with the story Departure in Peace, it is one of two of the earliest known works of Tolkien-based fanfiction and the earliest known example of an original female character (OFC) in a work of Tolkien fanfiction. The story was authored by the Tolkien fan and chemist Arthur R. Weir and illustrated by Bjo Trimble.
==Synopsis==
"A Study of the Hithlain of the Wood-elves of Lórien" concerns the fictional fiber hithlain, mentioned in The Lord of the Rings as the preternaturally strong and light material used by the Wood-elves of Lórien to make rope. The work opens with a lengthy quotation from Fellowship of the Ring where Samwise Gamgee inquires after the rope he sees his Elven hosts loading into the boats the Fellowship will use to continue their journey.
"A Study of the Hithlain" is structured to look like a research essay but in fact contains primarily fictional material derived from Weir's own speculation, including original characters, plots, and interpretations of canon details from Tolkien's writings. The first section, titled "History Section," begins with material drawn from the Appendices published with the third volume of The Lord of the Rings (LotR), Return of the King. However, partway through the second paragraph, Weir stops referencing Tolkien and begins his narrative speculation about the origins of the hithlain fiber.
According to Weir's text, two nuclear detonations by the servants of the Dark Lord Sauron resulted in the destruction of two regions of Middle-earth: Beleriand (which was flooded by the godlike Valar as a result, as described in the LotR Appendices and later The Silmarillion) and Mordor, the territory that would become Sauron's stronghold in LotR. In the ensuing nuclear apocalypse, "the lands were not merely blasted and burnt, killing all living things therein; they remained poisoned, so that did a man but journey across those lands his bowels melted within him and his hair fell from his head and his flesh from his bones, so that he died horribly."Weir, Arthur R. "A Study of the Hithlain of the Wood-elves of Lórien," I Palantir, Issue 1 (archived via FellowsHub), p. 9. Weir uses this nuclear desolation to not only explain the geography of certain lands in Tolkien's legendarium but the presence of monsters, such as dragons and giant spiders, found in The Hobbit and LotR.
The text goes on to describe one of these monstrosities as a plant called the Fearsome Nettle. Covered in fine venomous spines durable enough to pierce armor, its venom causes excruciating pain and is used as a torture method in Sauron's dungeons. Weir connects this plant with the impenetrable forest surrounding Sauron's fortress Dol Guldur and as a method of torment used to extract information about the One Ring from Gollum.
The transformation of Fearsome Nettle into hithlain was effected by an Elf-woman named Ilmarin, who was trained by the Ents to work with living material. Ilmarin used her skills to remove the nettle's venom while preserving its light texture and extreme durability, making it an ideal material for rope-making. Weir goes on the write that Ilmarin was also associated with the forging of the three Elven Rings of Power, and it was her particular contribution to the ring Nenya that later allowed Galadriel to wield "marvellous powers over all things that lived and grew."Weir, Arthur R. "A Study of the Hithlain of the Wood-elves of Lórien," I Palantir, Issue 1 (archived via FellowsHub), p. 12. Ilmarin was later killed in the attack on Eregion by Sauron.
Ilmarin is the first known original female character (OFC) in Tolkien fanfiction. Later in the fandom's history, during the rise of online fandom and a sharp increase in fanfiction based on Tolkien's world in the early 2000s, OFCs would be strongly discouraged, misidentified as Mary Sue stories and sometimes targeted for sporking attacks.Walls-Thumma, Dawn, "Fandom Voices: Women in Fanworks," Silmarillion Writers' Guild, 25 November 2022.
"A Study of the Hithlain" ends with a section titled "Discussion Section" that functions similarly to how author's notes have been used in Tolkien fanfiction in the online era: a means to demonstrate the canonicity and accuracy of the preceding work. A chemist by profession, Weir uses this section to document the scientific underpinnings of the rest of the text.
==Discovery and Identification as Fanfiction==
Although the work has been publicly available for some time via Marquette University's FellowsHub project, "A Study of the Hithlain" was first identified as a fanfic by the fanfiction writer and fiber arts scholar Lindariel. On 18 June 2021, she posted to the Silmarillion Writers' Guild Discord server about tracking down a copy of "A Study of the Hithlain" as part of a research project on hithlain:
Lindariel came to discover the text after she saw "A Study of Hithlain" mentioned on a blog post by the Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson that speculated on when the public first became aware of The Silmarillion. In his post and using information provided by the library holding the text, Anderson initially identified it as a self-published booklet written in 1957,Anderson, Douglas A., "When Did the Public Learn to Expect 'The Silmarillion' as an Actual Forthcoming Book? Tolkien and Fantasy, 15 June 2021, accessed 18 June 2023. which would have made it the oldest known Tolkien fanfic. Lindariel was able to acquire the copy Anderson referred to from the University of California, Riverside library, at which point she read the text and identified it as a fanfic. Later investigation by Anderson revealed that the library was mistaken as to the publication date.Anderson, Douglas A. "'Doc' Weir Revisited, Tolkien and Fantasy, 9 June 2023, accessed 18 June 2023. The 1957 date in fact referred to the edition of Return of the King that Weir used in his in-text citations. Furthermore, the UC Riverside text was not a self-published booklet, as originally believed, but a copy of the manuscript submitted to I Palantir editor Ted Johnstone. "A Study of the Hithlain" was published in the first issue of that fanzine in 1960, making it contemporaneous with George Heap's "Departure in Peace," the oldest known Tolkien fanfic prior to that point.
Prior to Lindariel's identification of the text as a fanfic, it had typically been identified as a research essay or nonfiction-adjacent with its predominantly fictional content minimized. Johnstone, in his editorial introduction, calls Weir's piece "an addition to the previously published lore combined with an erudite scientific paper."Johnstone, Ted, "From the Hobbit Hole, I Palantir, Issue 1 (archived via FellowsHub), p. 3. In his Tolkien Fandom Review, Sumner Gary Hunnewell describes "A Study of the Hithlain" as a "pseudo-scientific and historical account of Hithlain."Hunnewell, Sumner Gary (Hildifons Took), "Tolkien Fandom Review from its beginnings to 1964," eFanzines, 2010, p. 6. FellowsHub classifies it as an "Article," not as "Fiction."Weir, Arthur R. "A Study of the Hithlain of the Wood-elves of Lórien," FellowsHub, accessed 18 June 2023.
The confusion around Weir's work is likely due to its presentation and formatting as a research essay. In addition to the section headings, it contains thirty-nine citations to LotR and three to external sources.Walls-Thumma, Dawn, "Affirmational Fandom, Transformational Fandom, and Two Old Tolkien Fanfics," Silmarillion Writers' Guild, 16 June 2023, accessed 18 June 2023. At this early era, there was no understanding of the term "fanfiction," and Weir's expert scientific speculation rather than the work's fictional and narrative content seems to have prevailed among early readers as they made sense of the text.
==Analysis==
Dawn Felagund's article "Affirmational Fandom, Transformational Fandom, and Two Old Tolkien Fanfics" discussed Weir's "A Study of Hithlain" alongside Heap's "Departure in Peace," analyzing the two stories using the concepts of affirmational fandom and transformational fandom. She concludes that Weir's work illustrates the importance of affirmational fannish practices, such as high valuation of canonicity and deference to Tolkien's authority, to the Tolkien fanworks fandom. (Fanworks are often classified as examples of transformational fandom.) The use of citations within the text of the story and Weir's explanation of the science behind his story are affirmational elements. However, she notes, transformational elements are also present: the introduction of the OFC Ilmarin and the use of nuclear apocalypse, a common fear in the Cold War era during which the story was written, as an explanation for geographical and historical aspects of Tolkien's legendarium.
==Additional Reading==
* I Palantir, Issue 1 (1960, archived via FellowsHub)
* When Did the Public Learn to Expect "The Silmarillion" as an Actual Forthcoming Book? by Douglas A. Anderson
* "Doc" Weir Revisited by Douglas A. Anderson
* Affirmational Fandom, Transformational Fandom, and Two Old Tolkien Fanfics by Dawn Walls-Thumma
==References==
Category:Tolkien Fanfiction
Category:Lord of the Rings
Category:1960 Fanfiction