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Originally Posted by Mänwë
Alas the "Master" himself suggests that the Ent-wives may have been slaves. I quote and apologise for the long quote but it is needed;
"I think that in fact the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance (Second Age 3429-3441) when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy and burned their land against the advance of the Allies down the Anduin (vol. II p. 79 refers to it2). They survived only in the 'agriculture' transmitted to Men (and Hobbits). Some, of course, may have fled east, or even have become enslaved: tyrants even in such tales must have an economic and agricultural background to their soldiers and metal-workers. If any survived so, they would indeed be far estranged from the Ents, and any rapprochement would be difficult – unless experience of industrialized and militarized agriculture had made them a little more anarchic. I hope so. I don't know." - (Letter #144) [My emphasis]
I therefore find the idea of Ent-wives being enslaved far from ludicrous and rather possible, not just because Tolkien himself suggested it!  But that,'man' is able to subdue and domesticate eliphants which bear the same size ratio with man, as an Ent-wife would to an orc. |
Hmmm. Hmmm. Do I smell the possibility of an RPG? A fairly ambitious RPG as it would involve ent characters, who aren't especially well represented in our RPGs here, and, more so, female ents, who aren't even represented in LotR! Wow, talk about the difficulty in creating canonical characters in an RPG.
It would be a game exploring the biotechnology proclivities of Sauron et al. Perhaps the entwives were, as the elves were, broken and degraded, but not to become orcs; instead, to become genetically engineered ents?
Monsauron!
Frankenents!
On the other hand, a depiction of Entwives becoming, in Tolkien's words, "more anarchic" would have some very interesting mythological possibilities. Amerindian legends are full of stories of how women and female spirits are more daring and imaginative than their male counterparts. Perhaps this kind of RPG would explore how the Entwives became more Eve-like and refused restrictions? Would Tolkien really have wanted Entwives to be like Lilith? What a fascinating avenue to explore.