The plants of middle earth

[William Cloud Hicklin]

This is the sort of fantasy conception that doesn't really bear strict scrutiny- like flying, talking, firebreathing dragons- but I'm not sure Tolkien really envisioned Ents as animated trees, i.e. made of wood. Rereading the initial description of Treebeard one gets the impression of a flesh-and-blood troll-like creature that *looks* tree-ish, like a walking-stick insect on a much larger scale.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by alatar

Another mad idea was to add chlorophyll to human skin cells so that when you're vacationing at the beach you could skip an over-priced meal or two. But that same professor made me figure out how much energy it took to walk, and how much is gathered from the sun via chlorophyll, and the answer is that you'd still need to eat - and having that green tinge to your skin, nobody would order the same dish. . . . Treebeard may or may not have a physical heart. He may use transpiration.

Originally Posted by Lal

Or, errr, a Triffid

Sounds more like Shrek or Gumby to me now with this latest bit of info. Where's Esty? She might be interested.

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

This is the sort of fantasy conception that doesn't really bear strict scrutiny- like flying, talking, firebreathing dragons- but I'm not sure Tolkien really envisioned Ents as animated trees, i.e. made of wood. Rereading the initial description of Treebeard one gets the impression of a flesh-and-blood troll-like creature that *looks* tree-ish, like a walking-stick insect on a much larger scale.

Originally Posted by Tolkien, chapter Treebeard

They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face. It belonged to a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen foot high.

I think this gets us perilously close to the 'like shadows of wings' debate for those other creatures of fantasy conception who for our own good shall not be named here.

It's a good point to make, that the Ents are not precisely trees, but the exact nature of the relationship between Ents and trees is, like many things in Middle-earth, made deliberately obscure, or, in the words of Tolkien about that other fellow who seemed a shepherd over Old Man Willow, an enigma.

some random passages:

Originally Posted by Treebeard chapter

Whether it [Treebeard] was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say. . . .

Treebeard lifted up first one large foot and then the other, and moved them to the edge of the shelf. The rootlike [that word 'like' again!] toes grasped the rocks. . . .

The trees and the Ents . . I [Treebeard speaking] do not understand all that goes on myself, so I cannot explain it to you. Some of us are still true Ents, and lively enought in our fashion, but many are growing sleepy, going tree-ish, as you might say. Most of the tree are just trees, of course; but many are half awake. Some are quite wide awake, and a few are, well, ah, well getting Entish. That is going on all the time. . . .

Some of my kin look just like trees now, and need something great to rouse them; and they speak only in whispers. But some of my trees are limb-lithe, and many can talk to me. . . .[

When that happens to a tree, you find that some have bad hearts. . . .

A bit evolutionary, eh? Frankly, I think ents are Tolkien's revenge upon Shakespeare with his dissatisfaction with Burnham Wood and so to be wondered at but not pondered down to their taproots. . . . but we could wonder which trees might make the best potential Ents.