63-566: Ents are giant tree creatures in the Lord of the Rings fantasy novels. Ent or ENT may also refer to: Ent Ents are 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 The Lord of the Rings as ancient shepherds of
126-478: A baby in a boat, presumably from across the sea, and to whom Scyld's body is returned in a ship funeral , the vessel sailing by itself. Shippey suggests that Tolkien may have seen in this both an implication of a Valar-like group who behave much like gods, and a glimmer of his Old Straight Road , the way across the sea to Valinor forever closed to mortal Men by the remaking of the world after Númenor 's attack on Valinor. Scholars such as John Garth have noted that
189-426: A long sense of time; they considered a three-day deliberation "hasty". 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". Treebeard boasted of their strength to Merry and Pippin ; he said that Ents were much more powerful than Trolls , which Morgoth made in
252-459: 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
315-476: Is clearly biblical, evoking Malachi 's messianic prophecy "See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble ... And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet". The theologian Ralph C. Wood describes the Valar and Maiar as being what Christians "would call angels ", intermediaries between the creator, Eru Ilúvatar, and
378-653: Is described as being around 14 feet (4 m) tall, "Man-like, almost Troll -like", and clad in something that might have been tree-bark, with seven toes, a bushy, "almost twiggy" beard and deep penetrating eyes. Ents vary widely in personal traits (height, heft, colouring, even the number of toes), having come to resemble somewhat the specific types of trees that they shepherded. Quickbeam , for example, guarded rowan trees and bore some resemblance to rowans: tall and slender, smooth-skinned, with ruddy lips and grey-green hair. Some Ents, such as Treebeard, were like beech -trees or oaks . But there were other kinds. Some recalled
441-481: Is exactly right". Tolkien states in another letter that the Valar "entered the world after its making, and that the name is properly applied only to the great among them, who take the imaginative but not the theological place of 'gods'." Whittingham comments that the "thoughtful and carefully developed explanations" that Tolkien gives in these letters are markedly unlike his depictions of the Valar in his "earliest stories". The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey discusses
504-495: Is unrelated to the other languages of Middle-earth. Only a few words of Valarin, mainly proper names, are recorded. The Valar can communicate through thought and have no need for a spoken language, but may have developed Valarin when they took physical, humanlike (or elf-like) forms. The passage at the start of the Old English poem Beowulf about Scyld Scefing contains a cryptic mention of þā ("those") who have sent Scyld as
567-616: The Battle of Helm's Deep by herding a forest of angry, tree-like Huorns there, to destroy Saruman's army of Orcs . Nick Groom suggests some other possible sources, besides Shakespeare. The Gospel of Mark has the speech by a man cured of blindness "I see men as trees, walking."(Mark 8:24) Algernon Blackwood 's 1912 story "The Man Whom the Trees Loved" suggests that "trees had once been moving things, animal organisms of some sort, that had stood so long feeding, sleeping, dreaming, or something, in
630-696: The First Age in mockery of Ents, as Orcs were of Elves . Tolkien wrote almost nothing of the early history of the Ents. After the Dwarves were put to sleep by Eru to await the coming of the Elves, the Vala Aulë told his wife Yavanna , "the lover of all things that grow in the earth," of the Dwarves. She replied, "They will delve in the earth, and the things that grow and live upon
693-672: The Old English view of luck and personal courage, as Beowulf ' s " wyrd often spares the man who isn't doomed, as long as his courage holds." The scholar of humanities Paul H. Kocher similarly discusses the role of providence, in the form of the intentions of the Valar or of the creator, in Bilbo 's finding of the One Ring and Frodo 's bearing of it; as Gandalf says, they were "meant" to have it, though it remained their choice to co-operate with this purpose. Rutledge writes that in The Lord of
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#1732854579985756-431: The chestnut : brown-skinned Ents with large splayfingered hands, and short thick legs. Some recalled the ash : tall straight grey Ents with many-fingered hands and long legs; some the fir (the tallest Ents), and others the birch , ... and the linden . 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
819-516: The "Valaquenta" ( Quenya : "Account of the Valar"), The History of Middle-earth , and Unfinished Tales . Scholars have noted that the Valar resemble angels in Christianity but that Tolkien presented them rather more like pagan gods . Their role in providing what the characters in Middle-earth experience as luck or providence is also discussed. The creator Eru Ilúvatar first reveals to
882-552: The Ainur add harmonious creative touches. Melkor , however, adds discordant themes: He strives against the Music; his themes become evil because they spring from selfishness and vanity, not from the enlightenment of Ilúvatar. Once the Music is complete, including Melkor's interwoven themes of vanity, Ilúvatar gives the Ainur a choice—to dwell with him or to enter the world that they have mutually created. The greatest of those that choose to enter
945-637: The Ainur his great vision of the world, Arda , through musical themes, as described in Ainulindalë , "The Music of the Ainur" . This world, fashioned from his ideas and expressed as the Music of Ilúvatar, is refined by thoughtful interpretations by the Ainur, who create their own themes based on each unique comprehension. No one Ainu understands all the themes that spring from Ilúvatar. Instead, each elaborates individual themes, singing of mountains and subterranean regions, say, from themes for metals and stones. The themes of Ilúvatar's music are elaborated, and each of
1008-576: The Elves are again called to Valinor. During the Second Age , the Valar's main deeds are the creation of Númenor as a refuge for the Edain , who are denied access to Aman but given dominion over the rest of the world. The Valar, now including even Ulmo, remain aloof from Middle-earth, allowing the rise to power of Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron , as a new Dark Lord. Near the end of the Second Age, Sauron convinces
1071-405: The Elves to Valinor meant that the Elves were "gathered at their knee", a moral error as it suggested something close to worship . The scholar of literature Marjorie Burns notes that Tolkien wrote that to be acceptable to modern readers, mythology had to be brought up to "our grade of assessment". In her view, between his early work, The Book of Lost Tales , and the published Silmarillion ,
1134-451: 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
1197-452: 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. 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 ,
1260-700: The Ents numbered about 50, plus an army of Huorns. They destroy Isengard, tearing down the wall around it: "If the Great Sea had risen in wrath and fallen on the hills with storm, it could have worked no greater ruin". Saruman is trapped in the tower of Orthanc . The word "Ent" is from the Old English ent or eoten , meaning "giant". Tolkien borrowed the word from a phrase in the Anglo-Saxon poems The Ruin and Maxims II , orþanc enta geweorc ("cunning work of giants"), which describes Roman ruins. In Sindarin , one of Tolkien's invented Elvish languages ,
1323-551: 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". The Ents, angry at Saruman for cutting down their trees, convene an Entmoot. They decide to march on Saruman's fortress at Isengard - 'the last march of the Ents'. Led by Treebeard and accompanied by the hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took ,
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#17328545799851386-464: The Isle of Almaren in the middle of Arda, but after its destruction and the loss of the world's symmetry, they move to the western continent of Aman ("Unmarred" ) and found Valinor . The war with Melkor continues: The Valar realize many wonderful subthemes of Ilúvatar's grand music, while Melkor pours all his energy into Arda and the corruption of creatures like Balrogs , dragons , and Orcs . Most terrible of
1449-652: The Númenóreans to attack Aman itself. This leads Manwë to call upon Ilúvatar to restore the world to order; Ilúvatar answers by destroying Númenor, as described in the Akallabêth . Aman is removed from Arda (though not from the whole created world, Eä, for Elvish ships could still reach it). In the Third Age , the Valar send the Istari (or wizards) to Middle-earth to aid in the battle against Sauron. The names and attributes of
1512-573: The Rings , and especially at moments like Gandalf's explanation to Frodo in " The Shadow of the Past ", there are clear hints of a higher power at work in events in Middle-earth: There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master ... Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo
1575-539: The Rings: The Rings of Power , set in the Second Age , features Ents. Two of the Ents that appear in the season two episode " Eldest " are Snaggleroot and Winterbloom (voiced by Jim Broadbent and Olivia Williams ). Ents appeared in the earliest edition of the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons in the 1974 white box set , where they were described as tree-like creatures able to command trees, and lawful in nature. In 1975, Elan Merchandising, which owned
1638-764: The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Treebeard is a combination of a large animatronic model and a CGI construct; he is voiced by John Rhys-Davies , who also portrays Gimli . The Fall of Troy has a song entitled "The Last March of the Ents" on their self-titled debut album released in 2003. 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 . The TV series The Lord of
1701-576: The Silmarils from Fëanor, kills his father, Finwë , chief of the Noldor in Aman, and flees to Middle-earth. Many of the Noldor, in defiance of the will of the Valar, swear revenge and set out in pursuit. This event, and the poisonous words of Melkor that foster mistrust among the Elves, leads to the exile of the greater part of the Noldor to Middle-earth: The Valar close Valinor against them to prevent their return. For
1764-494: The Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came ... and the hosts of Mordor wailed ... and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. The Episcopal priest and author Fleming Rutledge comments that while Tolkien is not equating the events here with the Messiah 's return, he was happy when readers picked up biblical echoes . In her view the language here
1827-544: The Trees". Much later, when Beren and a force of Green Elves waylay the force of Dwarves returning from the sack of Doriath , the Dwarves are routed and scatter into the wood, where the Shepherds of the Trees ensure that none escape. Ents did not know how to speak until the Elves taught them. Treebeard said that the Elves "cured us of dumbness", calling that a great gift that could not be forgotten. At that time, much of Eriador
1890-466: The Valar had greatly changed, "civilized and modernized", and this had made the Valar "slowly and slightly" more Christian. For example, the Valar now had "spouses" rather than "wives", and their unions were spiritual, not physical. All the same, she writes, readers still perceive the Valar "as a pantheon", serving as gods. Elizabeth Whittingham comments that the Valar are unique to Tolkien, "somewhere between gods and angels". In her view they mostly lack
1953-527: The Valar like pagan gods , he imagined them more like angels and notes that scholars have compared the devotion of Tolkien's Elves to Elbereth, an epithet of Varda, as resembling the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary the mother of Jesus . Dickerson states that the key point is that the Valar were "not to be worshipped". He argues that as a result, the Valar's knowledge and power had to be limited, and they could make mistakes and moral errors. Their bringing of
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2016-633: The Valar resemble the Æsir , the Norse gods of Asgard . Thor , for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the strongest of the Valar. Manwë, the head of the Valar, has some similarities to Odin , the "Allfather", while the wizard Gandalf , one of the Maiar, resembles Odin the wanderer. Tolkien compared King Théoden of Rohan , charging into
2079-455: The Valar", and the females are called "Queens of the Valar," or Valier . Of the known seven male and seven female Valar, there are six married pairs: Ulmo and Nienna are the only ones who dwell alone. This is evidently a spiritual rather than a physical union, as in Tolkien's later conception they do not reproduce. The Aratar ( Quenya : Exalted ), or High Ones of Arda, are the eight greatest of
2142-574: The Valar: Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aulë, Mandos, Nienna, and Oromë. Lórien and Mandos are brothers and are collectively called as the Fëanturi , "Masters of Spirits". Ilúvatar brings the Valar (and all the Ainur) into being by his thought and may therefore be considered their father. However, not all the Valar are siblings; where this is held to be so, it is because they are so "in the thought of Ilúvatar". It
2205-499: The Valarin language and its grammar in the early 1930s. In this early conception, as described in the 1937 Lhammas , all Middle-earth's languages are derived from Valarin. In the 1940s, he changed his mind, and the tongue he had developed became Primitive Quendian instead. He then conceived an entirely new tongue for the Valar, still called Valarin; he did not develop this new language in any detail. In this later conception, Valarin
2268-536: 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." 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,
2331-524: The West, Valinor, where the Valar concentrate their creativity. There they make the Two Trees , their greatest joy because they illuminate the beauty of Valinor and delight the Elves. At Melkor's instigation the evil giant spider Ungoliant destroys the Trees. Fëanor, a Noldor Elf, with forethought and love, captures the light of the Two Trees in three Silmarils, the greatest jewels ever created. Melkor steals
2394-426: The chief Valar, as they are described in the " Valaquenta ", are listed below. In Middle-earth, they are known by their Sindarin names: Varda, for example, is called Elbereth . Men know them by many other names, and sometimes worship them as gods. With the exception of Oromë, the names listed below are not actual names but rather titles: The true names of the Valar are nowhere recorded. The males are called "Lords of
2457-441: The connection between the Valar and " luck " on Middle-earth, writing that as in real life, "People ... do in sober reality recognise a strongly patterning force in the world around them" but that while this may be due to " Providence or the Valar", the force "does not affect free will and cannot be distinguished from the ordinary operations of nature" nor reduce the necessity of "heroic endeavour". He states that this exactly matches
2520-412: The created cosmos. Like angels, they have free will and can therefore rebel against him. Matthew Dickerson , writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , calls the Valar the "Powers of Middle-earth", noting that they are not incarnated and quoting the Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger 's description of their original role as "to shape and light the world". Dickerson writes that while Tolkien presents
2583-468: The early deeds of Melkor is the destruction of the Two Lamps and with them, the original home of the Valar, the Isle of Almaren. Melkor is captured and chained for many ages in the fastness of Mandos, until he is pardoned by Manwë. With the arrival of the Elves in the world, a new phase of the regency of the Valar begins. Summoned by the Valar, many Elves abandon Middle-earth and the eastern continent for
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2646-454: The earth they will not heed. Many a tree shall feel the bite of their iron without pity." She went to Manwë and appealed to him to protect the trees, and they realized that Ents, too, were part of the Song of Creation . Yavanna then warned Aulë, "Now let thy children beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath they will arouse at their peril." The Ents are called "the Shepherds of
2709-515: The enemy at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields , to a Vala of great power, and to "a god of old": Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of
2772-569: 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..." 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
2835-580: The forest and allies of the free peoples of Middle-earth during the War of the Ring . The Ent who figures most prominently in the book is Treebeard , who is called the oldest creature in Middle-earth. At that time, there are no young Ents (Entings) because the Entwives (female Ents) were lost. Akin to Ents are Huorns , whom Treebeard describes as a transitional form of trees which become animated or, conversely, as Ents who grow more "treelike" over time. Tolkien stated that he
2898-698: The game licence to the Tolkien estate, issued a cease-and-desist order regarding the use of the word "ent", so the Dungeons & Dragons creatures were renamed "treants". Heroes of Might and Magic V includes Treants as a part of the Elven alliance; however, due to copyright infringement issues, their look was changed between the beta phase and the retail version, making them quadrupedal . Manw%C3%AB (Middle-earth) The Valar ( ['valar] ; singular Vala ) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium . They are "angelic powers" or "gods" subordinate to
2961-435: 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. 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. In Peter Jackson 's films The Lord of
3024-470: The making of the world. Their power and wisdom is derived from their Knowledge of the cosmogonical drama". He explains that he intends them to be "of the same order of beauty, power, and majesty as the 'gods' of higher mythology". Whittingham notes further that Tolkien likens lesser spirits, wizards, who are Maiar not Valar, to guardian angels ; and that when describing the Maiar he "vacillates between 'gods' and 'angels' because both terms are close but neither
3087-459: The male Ents still visited them. The Entwives interacted with Men and taught them the art of agriculture. The gardens of the Entwives were destroyed by Sauron , and the Entwives disappeared. It was sung by the Elves that one day the Ents and Entwives would find each other. Treebeard indeed implored the Hobbits to send word to him if they had news of the Entwives. Tolkien spent much time considering
3150-416: The need to preserve and look after every kind of wild place, especially forests. Corey Olsen however criticises Dickerson and Evans's use of the Ents as "mere symbols". C. S. Lewis described Tolkien's tale of the Ents as a myth, "a story which has a value in itself". Ruth Noel likened the Ents to Germanic legends of "huge, wild, hairy woodsprites ". Ent: When Summer lies upon the world, and in
3213-750: The one God ( Eru Ilúvatar ). The Ainulindalë describes how some of the Ainur choose to enter the world ( Arda ) to complete its material development after its form is determined by the Music of the Ainur. The mightiest of these are called the Valar, or "the Powers of the World", and the others are known as the Maiar . The Valar are mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings but Tolkien had developed them earlier, in material published posthumously in The Silmarillion , especially
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#17328545799853276-411: 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". 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
3339-517: The remainder of the First Age , the Lord of Waters, Ulmo, alone of the Valar, visits the world beyond Aman. Ulmo directly influences the actions of Tuor , setting him on the path to find the hidden city of Gondolin . At the end of the First Age, the Valar send forth a great host of Maiar and Elves from Valinor to Middle-earth, fighting the War of Wrath , in which Melkor is defeated. The lands are changed, and
3402-471: The rough brutality of the Norse gods; they have the angels' "sense of moral rightness" but disagree with each other; and their statements most closely resemble those of Homer 's Greek gods , who can express their frustration with mortal men, as Zeus does in the Odyssey In a letter to Milton Waldman, Tolkien states directly that the Valar are "'divine', that is, were originally 'outside' and existed 'before'
3465-450: The same place, that they had lost the power to get away", which Groom remarks sounds just like Treebeard's account of Ents going "sleepy and 'tree-ish'". He notes, too, Arthur Rackham 's drawings with "bristly, twisted, anthropomorphic trees that appear as the guises of Elves and other supernatural beings", while Disney 's 1932 Silly Symphony episode Flowers and Trees features trees that walk. Commentators have observed that having
3528-502: 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 anthropomorphic tree creatures appear in a variety of media and works of fantasy. Treebeard , called by Gandalf the oldest living Ent and the oldest living thing that walks in Middle-earth ,
3591-498: The word for Ent is Onod (plural Enyd ). The Sindarin word Onodrim means the Ents as a race. 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 Shakespeare 's Macbeth of the coming of 'Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill': I longed to devise a setting in which the trees might really march to war". The Ents ensured victory at
3654-660: The world become known as the Valar , the 'Powers of Arda', and the lesser are called the Maiar . Among the Valar are some of the most powerful and wise of the Ainur, including Manwë, the Lord of the Valar, and Melkor, his brother. The two are distinguished by the selfless love of Manwë for the Music of Ilúvatar and the selfish love that Melkor bears for himself and no other—least of all for the Children of Ilúvatar , Elves and Men . Melkor (later named Morgoth , Sindarin for "dark enemy") arrives in
3717-471: The world first, causing tumult wherever he goes. As the others arrive, they see how Melkor's presence would destroy the integrity of Ilúvatar's themes. Eventually, and with the aid of the Vala Tulkas , who enters Arda last, Melkor is temporarily overthrown, and the Valar begin shaping the world and creating beauty to counter the darkness and ugliness of Melkor's discordant noise. The Valar originally dwell on
3780-431: Was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. [Tolkien's italics] Rutledge notes that in this way, Tolkien repeatedly hints at a higher power "that controls even the Ring itself, even the maker of the Ring himself [her italics]", and asks who or what that power might be. Her reply is that at the surface level, it means the Valar, "a race of created beings (analogous to
3843-404: 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
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#17328545799853906-582: Was forested; Elrond stated that "a squirrel could go from tree to tree from what is now the Shire to Dunland west of Isengard." 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 Anduin , although
3969-453: Was the Valar who first practise marriage and later pass on their custom to the Elves; all the Valar have spouses, save Nienna, Ulmo, and Melkor. Only one such marriage among the Valar takes place within the world, that of Tulkas and Nessa after the raising of the Two Lamps. Tolkien at first decided that Valarin , the tongue of the Valar, would be the proto-language of the Elves. He developed
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