LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 09 - Flotsam and Jetsam

[Aldarion Elf-Friend]

To quote an even small portion of Treebeard's quote:

Many men learned the crafts of the Entwives and honoured them greatly; but we were only a legend to them, a secret in the heart of the forest.

The first thing this makes me wonder is if the entwives were physically different from the ents, and to a degree that they would not even be recognized as the same species.

My reason for wondering is that men honored the entwives greatly, but ents were only a legend. If they look fairly similar, I would have a very easy time believing that the masculine version of what's standing right in front of me could be found in the forests to the south, unless the entwives themselves had come to believe that the ents had passed away.

[Lathriel]

Through Ents Tolkien found nature's voice. They are the true protectors of everything that grows. Because this book is fantasy it is able to show things from a natures perspective in a way that could not be managed in fiction (as in non-fiction and historical).
I think one of the main purposes of the ents was to show that not only does evil damage people and their families but that it also damages nature which causes further consequences down the road.
For me the ents make nature more personal. Already I am very conscious of the environment, and always have been. However tha character Treebeard just adds to my belief that preserving nature is extremely important.
Treebeard says himself that the damage caused by Saruman will take many years to heal. Now just think of all the damage we have caused and how long that will take!! Of course the battle between Saruman and the ents also shows that nature will prevail. I'm certain that Tolkien believed in that. However, seeing our world as it is now it will have to take a lot for nature to reconquer (Not counting big storms).
Someone mentioned earlier that the entwives could be compared to Saruman. I would have to dissagree. It is true that the Entwives manipulated growing things. However they still grew things and cultivated many plants and trees to grow. Saruman didn't encourage anything to grow at all. In fact he destroyed every living plant. He caused much destruction, whereas the entwives created many living things.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Lathriel -

I agree with you. Whatever their failings, the Entwives were not Saruman. As I've argued before, the estrangement between the Ents and Entwives was something that could be laid on both the genders, and was not solely the fault of the Entwives. Tolkien's whole tone in describing the rift is one of sorrow rather than condemnation. Moreover, Tolkien's loving depiction of the Shire shows that he was not insisting all land be kept in a "virgin" state but accepted the fact that there would be places like the Shire where loving hands would tend the earth.

I did notice one other thing in the chapter which brought a smile to my face. In one part of Pippin's narrative, he uses the term "misty, moisty morning" to describe Isengard. I knew I'd heard those words somewhere before and then I remembered the nursery rhyme:

One Misty Moisty Morning

One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man,
Clothed all in leather.
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do? And how do you do?
And how do you do again?

Or here's a slightly different version:

One misty, moisty, morning,

When cloudy was the weather,

There I met an old man

All clothed in leather,

All clothed in leather,

With a cap under his chin.

How do you do?

And how do you do?

And how do you do again?

So in our search for great and mighty sources, let's not forget the humble nursery rhyme. It's not the first time that JRRT made the link between hobbits and nursery rhymes. (Remember Frodo at the Prancing Pony.)

[mark12_30]

Strider in a moment of vulnerability:

‘Now let us take our ease here for a little!’ said Aragorn. ‘We will sit on the edge of ruin and talk, as Gandalf says, while he is busy elsewhere. I feel a weariness such as I have seldom felt before.’ He wrapped his grey cloak about him, hiding his mail-shirt, and stretched out his long legs. Then he lay back and sent from his lips a thin stream of smoke.
‘Look!’ said Pippin. ‘Strider the Ranger has come back!’
‘He has never been away,’ said Aragorn. ‘I am Strider and Dúnadan too, and I belong both to Gondor and the North.’

Legolas in an endearing moment of impatience:

Legolas lay still, looking up at the sun and sky with steady eyes, and singing softly to himself. At last he sat up. ‘Come now!’ he said. ‘Time wears on, and the mists are blowing away, or would if you strange folk did not wreathe yourselves in smoke. What of the tale?’

Pippin counts on his fingers, which I find charming:

Pippin made some calculations on his fingers. ‘Only nine days ago!’ he said.

...which means that Gimli's Two Hundred leagues were covered in that time. Wow.

Strider returns the hobbits' knives:

‘Here are some treasures that you let fall,’ said Aragorn. ‘You will be glad to have them back.’ He loosened his belt from under his cloak and took from it the two sheathed knives.

I went back to the chapter "The Departure of Boromir" and found this quote:

‘See!’ cried Aragorn. ‘Here we find tokens!’ He picked out from the pile of grim weapons two knives, leaf-bladed, damasked in gold and red; and searching further he found also the sheaths, black, set with small red gems. ‘No orc-tools these!’ he said. ‘They were borne by the hobbits. Doubtless the Orcs despoiled them, but feared to keep the knives, knowing them for what they are: work of Westernesse, wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor. Well, now, if they still live, our friends are weaponless. I will take these things, hoping against hope, to give them back.’

"Wound about with spells"-- in which case I would expect Anduril to also be wound about with spells, and Strider would have been well aware of it. No wonder he was so defensive of Anduril at the door of Edoras.

Once upon a time, Saruman's hands were "marvellously skilled." I find this a very interesting value of Tolkien's, and it reminds me of Gandalf's praise of Feanor, later in the palantir chapter.

Once again, Gandalf is "merry"-- almost.

Then Gandalf came back to us, and he seemed relieved, almost merry. He did say he was glad to see us, then.
‘”But Gandalf,” I cried, “where have you been? And have you seen the others?”
‘”Wherever I have been, I am back,” he answered in the genuine Gandalf manner.

Another good chuckle from Treebeard regarding Wormtongue:

‘”The water is not deep,” said Treebeard. “It is dirty, but that will not harm you, Master Wormtongue. In you go now!”

[Formendacil]

"Flotsam and Jetsam" this time around, reminded me especially of "The Last Debate," where Gimli and Legolas tell Merry and Pippin of their offscreen adventures with Aragorn, reversing the situation here, where Merry and Pippin tell the three hunters what befell them offscreen. In each case, we (the readers) got to see part of the story--"The Uruk-hai" and "Treebeard" here vs. "The Passing of the Grey Company" later--but the conclusion of that plot is left to be told after its conclusion, once it has saved the day in the other plot that we are following. Actually, by that reckoning, telling of the end of the battle at the Black Gates in "The Field of Cormallen" fits the pattern a bit too.

Because of who is involved, however, "Flotsam and Jetsam" is a direct parallel with "The Last Debate," and the chief difference, namely that Aragorn is absent from the second one being kingly, is a significant one that tells of his growth in the interim. In the earlier chapter, he could still withdraw from the great events of the moment--not just because he "belongs both to Gondor and the North," but because, having not declared himself to Sauron yet, he still hasn't quite engaged upon his inheritance.

This is a fun chapter, even if it is tucked away between great action and revelations--we already know or can guess what the Ents have been up to, after all. I seldom get as hungry reading Tolkien as during the description of their relatively simple meal. This chapter showcases the personality of these five members of the Fellowship more than most and serves as a welcome lighter moment in the tale. Not "comic relief" (jokes engineered in the middle of an intense sequence for the audience's benefit), but something truer to nature, which generally does ebb and flow in intensity. There are quiet moments of food and friendship between the great challenges or sorrows of our lives.

And, thinking a bit more about the mode of storytelling... by giving us these "look back" chapters, Tolkien gets to exercise his versatility aas a narrator. Someone, Nilp maybe, was talking in the previous chapter thread about how Tolkien uses omniscient narration rather than third person limited. Well, going off that, I think it should be pointed out that he also uses first person narrators--within the larger text, yes, but for substantial portions and not-insignificant moments.