LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 04 - Treebeard

[Estelyn Telcontar]

This is a long chapter, and as the upcoming holidays (and the release of RotK EE! ) are keeping us all busy, we will take two or three weeks to discuss it. (The next chapter thread will go up the last Monday of the old year or the first Monday of the new year, depending on how active this thread is in the meantime.)

This is the third chapter in which we are introduced to a new people of Middle-earth, after the Riders of Rohan and the Uruk-Hai. The Ents are a unique creation of Tolkien's, not taken from folklore or previous myths, as other creatures are. As a matter of fact, he wrote that he himself was surprised by their appearance! Here's the small print quote (in its entirety, since not everyone has access to the Letters) from Letter #163:

Take the Ents, for instance. I did not consciously invent them at all. The chapter called 'Treebeard', from Treebeard's first remark on p. 66, was written off more or less as it stands, with an effect on myself (except for labour pains) almost like reading some one else's work. And I like Ents now because they do not seem to have anything to do with me. I daresay something had been going on in the 'unconscious' for some time, and that accounts for my feeling throughout, especially when stuck, that I was not inventing but reporting (imperfectly) and had at times to wait till 'what really happened' came through. But looking back analytically I should say that Ents are composed of philology, literature, and life. They owe their name to the eald enta geweorc of Anglo-Saxon, and their connexion with stone. Their part in the story is due, I think, to my bitter disappointment and disgust from schooldays with the shabby use made in Shakespeare 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. And into this has crept a mere piece of experience, the difference of the 'male' and 'female' attitude to wild things, the difference between unpossessive love and gardening.

This chapter is rich in linguistic aspects, including bits of Entish and some Elvish, and in poetry. There is the list of Middle-earth creatures, 'In the willow-meads of Tasarinan', 'When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf', 'O Orofarnë', and the marching song(s) of the aroused Entmoot. At this reading, I also noticed something magical about Ents - Entdraught is not necessarily supernatural, but doesn't making the bowls of water light up seem magical? The fact that they are two, a golden and a green light, that blend together, is very reminiscent of the Two Trees and their light.

And what about the Entwash itself? After the hobbits drank from its water, they were not only refreshed (normal reaction) but their hearts were cheered, and "the cuts and sores of their captivity had healed and their vigour had returned."

The conversations have a special charm, with too many quotable lines to mention in one post. I'd like to mention a few of my favorites:
the name conversation
"...it is easier to shout stop! than to do it!"
"But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later." (This reminds me of Éowyn's statement that those who do not use the sword can still die by it.)

There are lovely descriptions: "...stars were shining already in lakes between shores of cloud."; the tantalizing comparison between Ents and Trolls; the mention of Saruman’s corruption; and two different Ent characters that we get to know more closely.

Add to that the poignant sadness of the relationship gone wrong between Ents and Entwives, and there's much food for thought and discussion here!