Ent
Ents | |
---|---|
Entish | |
Leader | Treebeard |
Ents are a species of sentient beings in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth who closely resemble trees; their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn forest. Their name is derived from an Old English word for "giant".
The Ents appear in
Tolkien stated that he was disappointed by Shakespeare's handling of the coming of "Great Birnam Wood to High Dunsinane hill"; he wanted a setting in which the trees would actually go to war. Commentators have seen this as wish-fulfilment, as he disliked the damage being done to the English countryside in his lifetime. Scholars have seen his tale of the Ents as a myth, mostly without analysing it. Corey Olsen interprets the song of the Ents and the Entwives as a myth which warns of the dangers of apathetically isolating oneself in nature, whereas the Ents' song "In the willow-meads of Tasarinan" is a lament.
Inspired by Tolkien and similar traditions, animated or
Internal history
linden.[T 2]
Ents are somewhat treelike, with extraordinarily tough skin; they can erode stone rapidly, but are vulnerable to fire and axe-strokes. They are patient and cautious, with a long sense of time; they considered a three-day deliberation "hasty".[T 2]
Ents are tall and very strong, capable of tearing apart rock and stone when "roused". Tolkien describes them as tossing great slabs of stone about, and ripping down the walls of Isengard "like bread-crust".
First Age
Almost nothing is known of the early history of the Ents. After the
Entwives
The Entwives began to move farther away from the Ents because they liked to plant and control things, while the Ents preferred forests and liked to let things take their natural course. The Entwives moved away to what became the Brown Lands across the Great River
Tolkien spent much time considering the fate of the Entwives, stating in Letters #144: "I think that in fact the Entwives have disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance...some may have fled east, or even have become enslaved..."[T 9]
After Aragorn is crowned king, he promised Treebeard that the Ents could prosper again and spread to new lands with the threat of Mordor gone, and renew their search for the Entwives. Treebeard lamented that forests may spread but the Ents would not, and he predicted that the few remaining Ents would remain in Fangorn forest and dwindle or become "treeish".[T 2]
The Last March of the Ents
The Ents, angry at
Analysis
Etymology
The word "Ent" is from the
In
Improving on Shakespeare
Tolkien noted in a letter that he had created Ents in response to his "bitter disappointment and disgust from schooldays with the shabby use made in
Wish-fulfilment and environmentalism
Commentators have observed that having the Ents march to war against the tree-destroyers represented a wish-fulfilment on Tolkien's part, concerned as he was with the increasing damage to the English countryside in the 20th century.[3][4] In their book Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien, Matthew T. Dickerson and Jonathan Evans see Treebeard as vocalizing a vital part of Tolkien's environmental ethic, the need to preserve and look after every kind of wild place, especially forests.[5] Corey Olsen however criticises Dickerson and Evans's use of the Ents as "mere symbols".[6]
Mythic value: song of the Ents and the Entwives
C. S. Lewis described Tolkien's tale of the Ents as a myth, "a story which has a value in itself".[7] Ruth Noel likened the Ents to Germanic legends of "huge, wild, hairy woodsprites".[8]
Ent:
When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold
Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold,
When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best!
Entwife:
When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown;
When straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest comes to town;
When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in the West,
I'll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is best!
Olsen sees in Tolkien's song of the Ents and the Entwives, supposedly written by Elves, "compelling insights on the complexities and conflicts of life in a fallen world."[6] The song goes through the four seasons of the year, each time with a stanza by the Ent and then one by the Entwife. Olsen comments that the Ent is passive, even "languid and somnolent" in summer, the only active process being dreaming; whereas the Entwife's summer season is "simply bursting with activity". These are perhaps, Olsen reflects, not in competition; both contemplation and action are "valuable ways of celebrating natural beauty".[6] He suggests that Treebeard's view of the song is however biased, and that the Ent is not as humble as he claims to be, especially with respect to the Entwives. If the Ents and the Entwives were to be "unified", they would "balance and complete each other", but they face "moral dangers" without such balance: in the case of the Ents, the danger is of letting their life in nature "lapse into mere lassitude". He gives as examples the "apathetic isolationism" of Skinbark, who refuses to come out of his hills, and Leaflock's "somnolent oblivion", just standing in the long grass all summer doing nothing. Olsen calls it "a cautionary tale" and "tragic", quite unlike Treebeard's "In the willow-meads of Tasarinan", again covering the four seasons, but which is a lament.[6]
Anne Petty comments that the song follows traditional gender stereotypes, the Ents liking wild nature, the Entwives preferring the more domestic realm of tamed nature and gardening.[9]
Adaptations
In other media
In
The Fall of Troy has a song entitled "The Last March of the Ents" on their self-titled debut album released in 2003.[11] Permission was granted for a statue of Treebeard by Tim Tolkien, near his great-uncle J. R. R. Tolkien's former home in Moseley, Birmingham.[12][13]In popular culture
Ents appeared in the earliest edition of the roleplaying game
See also
- List of tree deities
- Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology
- Trees and forests in Middle-earth
- Battle of Droizy
References
Primary
- ^ Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 5: "The White Rider".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 4: "Treebeard".
- ^ a b c d Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 9: "Flotsam and Jetsam".
- Valaquenta
- ^ a b Tolkien 1977, "Quenta Silmarillion" ch. 2: "Of Aulë and Yavanna"
- ^ Tolkien 1977, "Quenta Silmarillion", ch. 22 "Of the Ruin of Doriath"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 2: "The Council of Elrond".
- ^ Tolkien 1955, book 6, ch. 6 "Many Partings"
- ^ Carpenter 2023, #144 to Naomi Mitchison, 25 April 1954
- ^ Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 8: "The Road to Isengard"
- ^ Carpenter 2023, #163 to W. H. Auden, 7 June 1955
- ^ Tolkien 1980 Index, entries for Ent, Enyd, and Onodrim.
- ^ a b Carpenter 2023, No. 163, footnote, pp. 211–212.
- ^ Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 7 "Helm's Deep"
Secondary
- ^ ISBN 978-0-618-12764-1.
- ^ Shippey 2005, p. 149.
- ^ Shippey 2005, p. 184.
- JSTOR 43308393.
- ^ Dickerson & Evans 2006, pp. 119–144, 250.
- ^ ISSN 1547-3163.
- ^ Lewis, C. S. (2004). "The Dethronement of Power". In Rose A. Zimbardo; Neil D. Isaacs (eds.). Understanding The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 11–15.
- ^ Noel, Ruth S. (1977). The Mythology of Middle-earth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 130.
- ^ Petty, Anne (2003). Tolkien in the Land of Heroes: Discovering the Human Spirit. Cold Spring Harbor, New York: Cold Spring Press. p. 242.
- ^ Nathan, Ian (23 October 2012) [2002]. "The Making Of The Two Towers". Empire. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
Treebeard will mainly be a CGI creation; this animatronic version is used for the close-ups with Hobbit actors Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan.
- ^ "The Fall of Troy at AllMusic". AllMusic.
- ^ "Moseley Statue". 5 September 2007. Archived from the original on 3 November 2005. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- ^ "Tolkien statue gets the go ahead". BBC News. 2 March 2007.
The statue was approved by Birmingham City Council planners at a meeting on Thursday [1 March 2007] night.
- ^ Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974)
- ISBN 978-0399580949.
- ^ Gygax, Gary. "Gary Gygax (Interview)". TheOneRing.net. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
- ^ "Mods and fixes". Heroes of Might and Magic. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- ^ "Sylvan creatures". Heroes of Might and Magic. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- ^ Skrebels, Joe (6 July 2022). "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - New Teaser Shows Off Ents and More". IGN. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4.
- ISBN 0-8131-7159-8.
- ISBN 978-0261102750.
- OCLC 9552942.
- OCLC 1042159111.
- OCLC 519647821.
- ISBN 978-0-395-25730-2.
- ISBN 978-0-395-29917-3.